Almost 1500 years before the birth of the Messiah, God freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and commanded Moses to lead them toward the Promised Land. The idolatrous Egyptians had enough of the Hebrews and their powerful God and arrogant Pharaoh was in defeat after the death of his own son, (due to the tenth plague – death of the firstborn) Since the Egyptians thought that Pharaoh was divine, this final plague settled the matter over Who was the more powerful God. 33 The demoralized Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” So the rushed Israelites took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs. God told His people that for "seven days you shall eat unleavened bread" (Exodus 12:15).
“On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.” (Lev. 23:6) This is not the 15th day of April, rather it is the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nisan, according to God’s way of keeping track of time. In 2011, Nisan 15 fell on sunset, Monday, April 18th.
God commanded the Israelites to keep this festival by removing leaven (yeast) out of their homes for seven days and to avoid eating any leavened foods during this time. The first and last days of this week-long festival are set apart as holy convocations (required Sabbath days devoted to rest and meeting together to be taught and to worship God.)
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is symbolic in many ways. The kick-off event - what Christians call “the Last Supper” - was really a Passover Seder (SAY-der) which the Master attended with His Disciples. Just as He ate the Passover lamb, He Himself was led like a lamb to the slaughter, to shed His blood for us. Just as the unleavened bread is pierced when baked, and appears to have stripes when finished, the Bible tells us that Jesus ("the Bread of Life" according to John 6:24) was pierced for our sins, and " by His stripes we are healed" (from sin). He never accepted the leavening influence of sin in His own life, and was raised from the dead - UNleavened, as it were, - during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
Jesus warned His disciples about the leavening influence of sin. " But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 They understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matt. 16:6-12). The Days of Unleavened Bread remind us that, with God's help, we must remove and avoid all types of sin—symbolized by leaven—in all areas of our life. Today, removing leaven from our homes for seven days reminds us that we, too, through prayer and God's help, must literally UNleaven our lives by getting rid of sin. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is, therefore, a time of personal reflection. We should meditate on our attitudes and conduct, and ask God to help us recognize and overcome our shortcomings, and find the leavening sin of which we may be unaware.These seven days of self-examination prove invaluable in helping us to devote our lives to God and Jesus.
Part of God's instruction for the Days of Unleavened Bread is to put leavened bread products out of our homes altogether. "On the first day remove the yeast from your houses" (Exodus 12:15). Many Kosher unleavened products such as Matzah are available in grocery stores. Matzah is much like the unleavened bread baked by the exiting Israelites. There are online recipes for making Matzah. It is a commandment to eat Matzah the first and last Holy Days of the Feast as a reminder of God's deliverance and the hasty departure from Egypt. God is so good to give us these enduring and meaningful visual lessons. As I munch on a Matzah, I am reminded of the leavening influence of sin. I ask myself, “what kind of sin-leaven is invading my spirit?” It is a great time to take an inventory on TV programs and movies I am viewing, music, and internet habits. I ask myself “what manner of people may be influencing me?... What am I permitting to leaven my life? – Scripture and Spiritual reading? The Father, Son and Holy Spirit ? Or Oprah, Ellen, and Cosmopolitan magazine (God forbid ! )
The Feast of Unleavened Bread --- Jesus kept it, Paul kept it, the early Church kept it……Matzah anyone?
