The Feast of Unleavened Bread

The feast of Unleavened Bread is not a part of Passover. They are two distinct festivals. The only symbol connected with the Feast of Unleavened Bread is unleavened bread. The Feast is commanded in both the old and the new covenants.

Coming out of Sin

The first references are found in Exodus 12 and were set out along with the instructions for the first Passover. It demands that unleavened bread be eaten from the end of the Fourteenth day of Nisan for seven days straight. According to this scripture it represents coming out of Egypt (sin).

Notice that I said to eat unleavened bread seven days straight, but this scripture says from the 14th to the 21st which can be eight days since days both begin and end at even in the old Testament. We know from verse 16 that it is only to be seven days but also from other scriptures.

I think that it might be helpful at this point for me to explain that, depending on the context, the Hebrew word for day does not always mean 24 hours. Take the following definition from Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries:

It actually took them a whole week to leave Egypt therefore when God says for in this selfsame day he is not talking about one day here. So when do the seven days start? They actually start at even which is the end of the Fourteenth which begins the Fifteenth.

Haste or Urgency

Unleavened bread also represents haste or urgency.

It indicates an urgency in coming out of Egypt where Egypt is a symbol of bondage to sin.

Affliction

Finally unleavened bread represents affliction.

This feast was a time for offerings or gifts to God to compensate for sin, which is the cause of separation from God.

The feast of unleavened bread continues into the New Testament. It can be used to mark the period of time when Christ was crucified. Christ was Crucified just before Unleavened Bread.

It is kept in the New Testament by gentiles as well, as is confirmed by Paul and the Corinthian brethren, however in the New Testament there are not sacrifices or burnt offerings.

The meaning of Unleavened Bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates an event that started with leaving in a hurry and ends with being stuck at the border. Why can't we use leaven with the wine that represents the blood? For some the short answer is that God said so, Exodus 23:18 [KJV] Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning and Exodus 34:25 [KJV] Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning. But there are several reasons why that can be considered as irrelevant to the New Testament, not least of which is that it is talking about blood offered and we do not offer anything in the New Testament. As pointed out before, unleavened bread means coming out of sin, with urgency, while to escape affliction. There was one sacrifice (or blood offering) and that was by Christ and it was the end (Hebrews 9:27-28, 10:8-11).

The Allegory of Manna in John 6

A more plausible reason is manna. The manna was unleavened. It could not be allowed to ferment. Manna is introduced in Exodus 16:1–36. Let us focus our attention on verse 20

You could not make sourdough with manna because when left it stank (Exodus 16:20) and without sourdough they could not make leavened bread. Sourdough is made by leaving dough exposed for a long time because it needs to gather yeast from the atmosphere. Once you understand the above then what Christ says makes it abundantly clear.

Since Christ is the manna here then He is unleavened (although He is not only unleavened; He is all and for every occasion). The background to this speech comes at the beginning of John 6 where Christ had fed 5,000 men with five normal barley loaves and two small fishes. These people were looking for more normal food, not unleavened bread, but Christ used it as a springboard for talking of the New Covenant. The common issue that forms the crossover from the bread and fish to the manna is food not leaven. He is claiming that He is food in general not that He is unleavened alone and just like the manna He can preserve life.

The meaning of Unleavened is Preserved from the Old Covenant

This was an allegory drawn from the Old Covenant understanding because Christ had not yet died and so they only knew the old Passover. Christ changed only Passover in the New Testament but did not alter Unleavened Bread. The Old covenant significance of unleavened bread remains the same in the New Testament. There is a subtle reference to change in covenants in the allegory because the new bread (whether conceived of as barley loaves and fish or new manna) is the Christ of the new Passover which did change in the new covenant. We must maintain the standard set by God because He knows what He is talking about and does not make mistakes. Now that we know His standard we can extrapolate and explore within those constraints.

• it represents affliction (Deuteronomy 16:3-4 [KJV])
• Unleavened bread also represents Haste or urgency (Exodus12:39 [KJV])
• According to this scripture it represents coming out of Egypt/sin (Exodus 12:15-20 [KJV])

The blood came from Passover and once that glorious sacrifice is made we must show a sense of urgency to reach the place of deliverance while there is a window of opportunity. The window of opportunity came by a miracle that allowed them to cross the Red Sea. If we reach there after the Red Sea closes then we are lost. While all bread represents life, in response to Passover (which is gone when unleavened bread begins) that life must show that we appreciate the marvelous sacrifice that is made for us and hurry to our escape. That haste demonstrates three things:

• 1.. a willingness to disregard the temporary pleasures of this life,
• 2.. an appreciation of the unique and unrepeatable cost so that we do not take chances with it and
• 3.. a vision of a kingdom of wonders beckoning to us.

The woman drank the blood but we share the cup. One woman drained the life blood from many, but many Christians drink one blood. Sharing the cup means that whatever happens to one happens to all. The cup that the woman drank was accompanied by self indulgence but the cup we share is in solidarity with our martyred brothers including our elder brother. In the context of this world leaven (indulgence in the good life) is of Satan. The Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread is in the context of this world. It cannot occur in the Kingdom. Nobody will be martyred for the Kingdom in the Kingdom.  Nobody will be urgent to leave the Kingdom for anywhere else. It does not make sense to share the cup of our brothers (their suffering) with leaven (the good life). But when there is no blood (suffering) leaven has a meaning completely different from self indulgence.

Christ as Passover (the Crucified Lamb) was unleavened even though not only unleavened. Christ alone made the offering or sacrifice. He blazed a trail for us to follow AFTER Passover. He gave up all before He died. We could see his glory and it was about grace and truth (John 1:14) not the dreadful image that could have killed Moses at Sinai (Exodus 33:20). All that He did was through the Father and not on His own steam (John 14:10). He gave up all of His power and glory but He took it all back up again after He was resurrected (John 17:5). He does not remain perpetually unleavened.

Putting Out Unleavened Bread Does Not Mean Putting Out Sin

We would have seen that Christ is bread in general; including Unleavened Bread, but what is the specific significance of Unleavened Bread?

Unleavened bread DOES NOT MEAN SINLESS. It means much more. Putting out unleavened bread DOES NOT ONLY MEAN PUTTING OUT SIN. It means much more. If we insist that it does then we are short changing ourselves. It does mean escaping the bondage of sin and that is more. Unleavened bread is proactively living for the future, not just trying to avoid sin, but of course it does include putting out sin.

Earlier we would have looked at unleavened bread in the Exodus. The points that should be emphasized are:

• If they in fact left Egypt at the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread then that would mark the end of Satan's power (i.e. drowned in the Red Sea) and no more bondage to sin (Egypt).
• It would mark the end of hardship.
• It would mark the point from which they would be able to rest at their own leisure and allow their dough to rise in peace.
• It should have marked them entering God's rest and enjoying milk and honey not forty years of wandering.

I am going to add another point because of the insistence by some that unleavened bread means putting out sin. You or I CANNOT put out sin. What happened in Egypt was that the yoke that Satan had over Israel was broken by the Passover Lamb. It was a yoke of extermination because he determined to kill all the males. ONLY after the yoke was broken could they leave and they left with URGENCY. They followed the pillar of fire and cloud to safety and NEVER did it on their own. Repentance has to do with FOLLOWING not choosing our own way. The issue of sin comes in because they had been forced to serve Pharaoh with rigour and he would not allow them to serve God, he would not let them go. Serving Pharaoh / Satan means being in bondage to sin. Leaving Egypt means leaving that life behind but you or I do not put out sin. God does it and we follow. It is a growth process as He guides us step by step.

For Christians the Passover marks the beginning of a life of some hardship (indicated by unleavened bread) that would end with the removal of Satan's kingdom. Baptism actually represents us dying with Christ our Passover (Romans 6:3-11) as Israel did to Moses in the cloud and sea (1 Corinthians 10:2) instead of like the old world which perished in the flood (Genesis 6-9, 2 Peter 2:5, 3:6). They followed Moses through death. In the New Testament unleavened bread should also remind us that our freedom came at a cost. The cost to Israel was a lamb but to us it is the death of the Son of God. Unleavened bread is a light yoke compared to the rigour with which they had served Pharaoh. The grumbling in the wilderness arose because they left some comforts behind. They have now chosen to follow a new master. The hardship would result from attempting to leave Satan's world in HASTE. Even though it would seem that there is plenty of time and plenty to eat and drink all around; unleavened bread means that in our haste to leave Satan's world we ignore the temporary pleasures in pursuit of a greater rest. Unleavened bread is not important because it is flat but because it represents an attitude. It is bound up with the fact that their staff was in hand and their loins girded.

It demonstrated the willingness of Israel to hurry out of Egypt to follow the true God. They took what they could and left and God gave them the spoils of this age to take into their rest. They did not try to convert people, but God chose those Egyptians whom He wanted to go with them and become part of them. All they had to do was welcome them. Egypt represented something that they would leave behind forever. They publicised their departure but they did not compel anyone although many did choose to follow.

It still means that today. Christ did not change ANY of the symbols relating to Unleavened Bread. The concept that it means sin is not supported by the Bible although it does picture a life that is in a sinful world. This is what Paul was talking about. Get rid of your leaven and endure the hardship that it causes for a short period, and move into an age where you will have a better leaven. At this point we can digress and go into what Israel actually did that made God so angry. After they did get to freedom they demonstrated a heart of longing for Egypt which frustrated the symbolism and they did not step into the life of New leaven but began to reconstruct with Old leaven.

Another way of stating this is that unleavened bread in the Feast of Unleavened Bread represents an attitude not an event. It means that we should be in a hurry to leave without regard to the minor inconvenience, and not that we have achieved or successfully put out sin. Paul emphasizes that it is minor (light affliction) in 2 Corinthians 4. As a matter of fact this chapter describes Unleavened Bread particularly well as we find in 2 Corinthians 4:1-18.

This is exactly what happened in Egypt. Pharaoh was blinded by what Satan did to contradict what God said. Even though the truth was right there he could not see it for the deception. In spite of God's miracles they continued bound to Satan by the glamour of Egyptian society and his wonders that appeared, for a time, to match God's. They could not see that the whole society was destined for destruction.

This is what took place during the journey. Their way was miraculously lighted. Now we have the meaning of unleavened bread i.e. bread of adversity.

This is what unleavened bread means. We have treasure. We are rich in the plunder of this world that can be taken to the next to build a new society. It means that we are in a hurry. We are too focused on the eternal things to worry about comforts like allowing our bread to rise. It means that we are urgent to obey God and not be enticed by the cares of this world.

Leaven is not the opposite of unleaven in its spiritual sense.

Christ's concept of Leaven

Leaven like, the Pharisees, has been given a worse reputation than Christ ever intended. We humans tend to believe things when other people constantly repeat them without analysing the truth of the foundation of our beliefs. Everyone says leaven is sin. Is that what Christ said?

Before we continue with what Christ said let us look back at what concept the Israelites were given and maintained. Unleavened bread meant HASTE or urgency (since they did not have time to allow the dough to rise) and by extension the POWER of God and the JOY of deliverance to Israel. It represented the urgency with which they were thrust out of Egypt because of the power of God (Exodus 12:39, Exodus 13:3, Deuteronomy 16:3). It came as a package with the girded clothes and so on showing the sense of urgency to follow God but IT DID NOT MEAN PUTTING AWAY SIN. I will not go through the scriptures here because in the back of our minds we all know it but we will come back to it later.

Let us now look at what Christ’s concept of leaven was in the New Testament. In Matthew 13:31-33 and Luke 13:18-22 it represents the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 16:5-12 and Mark 8:15 It meant doctrine and to be more precise, a doctrine of hypocrisy Luke 12:1.

Why did it mean those things to Christ? We find the answer a little later in Galatians 5:9 (KJV)  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump and 1Corinthians 5:6. (KJV) Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Because a little takes over the whole! That is what it meant to Christ.

This same chapter in Corinthians goes on to speak more on leaven. It talks about the condition of Christians in the context of verse 6. What He means in verses 7-8 is already explained by verse 6.

Malice and wickedness will eventually take over one's whole personality if we do not root out the smallest little bit. That is what it meant to Paul. There is another question here of whether Paul is talking about Passover or  the same night in which he was betrayed but that is not the point of this discussion.

There is nowhere in the Bible that God equates leaven and sin. Not one place that I could find but because people have repeated it so often we believe it.

In 1 Corinthians Paul is describing what naturally happens to bread. You can punch and knead out all of the leaven but it will naturally blow right back up with the same leaven unless you get rid of that dough from your premises and start fresh. You can throw all of the leaven away but a new starter will naturally emerge and it is up to you whether it is bad or good. There is good leaven outside of Egypt and bad leaven within its borders and we want the good one representing the Kingdom of God but we do not want the Pharisees’ leaven. This is the problem that Israel had. They left willingly and with a high hand but they left their hearts in Egypt and did not focus on the Promised Land. Christ sets about at the beginning of Passover to emphasize the problem and gives us new symbols that pinpoint this problem so that we should not fall prey as well.

This is what Christ was describing in Luke 17.

Whether you want to argue that it means among you or within you it boils down to the same thing. They wanted to enter into the Kingdom of God as citizens so they were looking for it. Christ told them that they could not enter it, that it entered them instead. They of course did not understand. They still had the old leaven in them and they needed to purge that out and allow a new sour-dough to start. He then turned to the disciples who already had citizenship in the Kingdom in them and told them how it would appear.

Old leaven

We find that one particular scripture is often quoted in support of leaven meaning sin and unleavened meaning purity or sinlessness.

Now what is Paul saying? This is happening during the Days of Unleavened Bread. In verse 6 he shows that whatever leaven you use will permeate the whole of the lump. He is using a symbolism for leaven as was used by Christ in the Gospels. In verse 7 he says therefore. In other words he is saying that since the leaven that we will use eventually will take us over then this is what we must do. Knowing that Christ is sacrificed for us to obtain a new leaven we must replace the old one with what He will provide. His sacrifice (Passover) marks the preparation for the seven Days of Unleavened Bread leading to our freedom and rest. If we preserve the old leaven then that represents clinging to the pleasures of this world, but we must be ready to leave them behind in HASTE as we advance to the Promised Land. Paul was a Pharisee. He was thinking of the Bible. The symbolism here is that since the Passover has now been sacrificed, we must be ready with loins girded and staff in hand. The symbolism represents what Jews typically understood by unleavened bread: it meant haste to get out of Egypt. All Jews understood about the meaning of unleavened bread and that would have been taught to the new converts. Is this talking about making bread? No! It is talking about the cleaning out of your premises that was done before their Passover. Does it indicate that there is never to be any leaven on those premises again? No! The concept of being a new lump does not suggest that it will not become fermented or that fermented is bad. You are to become a new lump but not remain that way. I will deal with starter dough later. What this is talking about is replacing an attitude of leisure with one of haste, urgency for the kingdom. It is talking about removing self indulgence. It is true that the genesis of Paul's reaction was a sin but Paul is not only talking about sin in his response, he is admonishing us not to seek gratification in this life at the expense of the Kingdom. In this particular case the gratification was a vice but unleavened bread goes beyond vices and includes other distractions. The leaven of this world will be plentiful but we must put that away. Paul is not only saying don't sin (which is passive), he is saying take hold of the opportunity for the Kingdom of God, be proactive. The leaven of the Kingdom of God will be just beginning. The Kingdom of God is also likened to leaven. We do not remain unleavened indefinitely. If leaven means being overcome then unleaven means that you are not overcome; neither by God nor by Satan. We are starting new but we seek to be overcome by the leaven of the Kingdom. When we reach our rest we will take in the leaven of God's rest not remain not overcome i.e. unleavened.

Leaven puffs up. First let me say that although this is true I cannot find it in my Bible. Nevertheless, what is wrong with that? You can have an inflated ego and pride but you can also be bursting with love and joy. It is what puffs you up that becomes the issue. Get rid of the old leaven and put in the new.

As we end the feast of Unleavened Bread it is important that we each go on to ensure that Christ's sacrifice is not abandoned or corrupted but totally imbibed. It is important that we join united in the covenant of His blood and it is important that we ignore the leaven of self indulgence and stand ready and alert not encumbered by the enticements of this world.

Egypt is Sin

What the Old Testament does portray as sin is Egypt. Pharaoh was not the only one that had them in bondage, And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant (Exodus 6:5 [KJV]). Egypt is sin and Pharaoh is the chief henchman. What the Feast of Unleavened Bread shows is that we are trapped in sin. God tells us to haste or run away as fast as we can, but we can never get completely away on our own. We get trapped at the border and the henchman sends troops to bring us back or destroy us. The way out is always created by the Holy Spirit, pictured to them as the water of the Red Sea. Notice also that they had to wait at the border and not return into sin.

The leaven of Egypt, like the leaven of the Pharisees, is evil leaven. We must not imbibe it because leaven takes over the whole lump just as Christ said. If you apply that reasoning to the scriptures talking about leaven we will see that it fits exactly with a few notable exceptions.

Meat here is referring to grain. Let us examine the reason because it is typical of most others. Meat offerings should be translated as grain offerings. Grain offerings were not sacrifices because they had no blood and so paid no penalty for anything. They were gifts. What sort of gift does the Lord want?

Our gifts to God should represent the condition of our hearts. We are not sinless. We are however willingly afflicted to serve Him.

The unleavened bread represents our afflictions in our haste to serve and follow Him by getting out of Egypt (sin).