Feast of Unleavened Bread, First Holy Day April 11, 2017
The day after Passover begins the seven-day
Feast of Unleavened Bread, with a Holy Day on the first and last day. As with
Passover, Jesus Christ is the central focus of this feast too. Christians
observe this festival knowing that it's a time to focus on striving to put sin
out of their lives and overcoming sin and wickedness.
The 1st festival immediately
follows the Passover is:
Now, another
quiz, where do we find these verses in the Bible
Exodus 12:15-16 Seven
days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove
leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day
until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. (16)
On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the
seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall
be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.
Notice God specifically command His people to eat unleavened bread during this festival.
Leviticus 23:6-8 "On the fifteenth day of that month is
the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you are to eat
unleavened bread. (7) On the first day that you hold the sacred assembly you are to do no servile work. (8)
Instead, you are to bring an offering made by fire to the LORD daily for
seven days. On the seventh day you are also to hold a sacred assembly during
which you are to do no servile work."
Numbers 28:17-18 And on the
fifteenth day of this month is the feast; unleavened bread shall be
eaten for seven days. (18) On the first day you shall have a holy
convocation. You shall do no customary work.
Ezekiel 45:21 NKJV "In the first month, on the
fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven
days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said New Testament Christians
should keep and observe the Feast of Unleavened
Bread? Some said the Christians after Jesus resurrection did
not observe the feast.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be
a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our
Passover, has been sacrificed. (8) So
let's keep celebrating the festival, neither with old yeast nor with yeast
that is evil and wicked, but with yeast-free bread that is both sincere and
true.
Leaving is used as a symbol for sin.
This was written
around 55 AD, 25 years after Jesus resurrection.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which the Corinthian Christians were observing, pictures the putting away of sin. Leavening is a biblical type or symbol for sin because
sin, like the leavening
used in bread to make it rise, can not only cause a person to become puffed up with vanity, but can also spread throughout a group of people.
We learned that the Passover
is to remind us that Jesus paid
a tremendous price so our sins could be forgiven. He offered something
more valuable, the sacrifice of His perfect, sinless life.
Then the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, which immediately follows the Passover, reminds us that we must strive to put all sins OUT of our lives.
This festival pictures putting the leaven of sin
away from us, and our renewed
resolve to live in harmony
with God's Law.
Once we have repented of our sins and been forgiven by God, we must strive to forsake sin completely. We must come out of this world's ways of sin.
Revelation 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven
saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you don't participate in her
sins and also suffer from her diseases.
Hebrews 11:25-26 because he (Moses) preferred being
mistreated with God's people to enjoying the pleasures of sin for a short time.
(26) He thought that being
insulted for the sake of the Messiah was of greater value than the treasures of
Egypt, because he was looking ahead to
his reward.
We must be striving to put all sin away from us. That is our part in as a
child of God. The observance of this feast impresses upon us that we must strive not to return to the
sins
Jesus paid for with His shed blood.
What feast did God command the Israelites to keep immediately after the Passover?
Exodus
12:17
"'You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, since on this very
day I brought your tribal divisions from the land of Egypt. You are to observe
this day from generation to generation as a perpetual ordinance.
Were they to keep it just this one time?
Exodus 12:18-20 In the first month, from the evening of
the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of
the month, you are to eat unleavened bread.
(19) For seven days leaven is not
to be found in your houses. Indeed, any person who eats anything leavened, is
to be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of
the land. (20) You are not to eat what is leavened. You are
to eat unleavened bread in all your settlements.'"
Exodus 13:6-10 You are to eat unleavened bread for seven
days, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the LORD. (7)
Unleavened bread is to be eaten for seven days, and nothing leavened is
to be seen among you, nor is leaven to be seen among you throughout your territory. (8)
And you are to tell your child on that day, 'This is because of what the
LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'
(9) It is to be a sign for you on
your hand and a reminder on your forehead, so that you may speak about the
instruction of the LORD; for the LORD brought you out of Egypt with a strong
show of force. (10) You
are to keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year."
The first and seventh days are set apart as Holy Days on which
the people were to assemble themselves, much the same as they would on a weekly Sabbath day?
Notice that
the Feast of Unleavened Bread was given by God before the people
reached Mt. Sinai-before they even left the land of Egypt. It is also to be kept by all their succeeding
generations - forever
Ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.
A leavening agent is any substance used to cause dough to rise by fermentation. Yeast, baking soda and baking powder
are leavening agents
Leaving is used as a symbol for sin.
Matthew 16:6 Jesus told them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees
and Sadducees!"
Matthew 16:11-12 How can you fail to understand that I
wasn't talking to you about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and
Sadducees!" (12) Then they understood that he did not say to
beware of the yeast used in bread, but of the
teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Leaven is often referred to in the Bible as a type of sin. Leaven puffs up and
so does sin. Unleavened bread is a flat bread that contains no leavening agent, and therefore
typifies the absence
of sin. And since seven is God's special number signifying completion and perfection, the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread remind us that God wants His people to strive to put sin completely out of their lives.
The Israelites were not merely to remove all leavening and leavened foods from their property. That would have only symbolized putting away sin. They were commanded to eat unleavened bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Upon repentance and baptism, Christ's
sacrifice blots out all of one's past
sins. When Paul asked if we should continue
in sin, what did he answer?
Romans
6:15-16 What, then, does this mean?
Should we go on sinning because we are not under Law but under grace? Of course
not! (16) Don't you know that when you offer yourselves
to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience,
which leads to righteousness?
Christ died so that
we would not have to pay the penalty
of eternal death.
Romans 6:23 For
the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in union
with the Messiah Jesus our Lord.
After repentance and baptism, God expects us to strive to obey His Law, to "unleavened" our lives. God does not want us to continue
in sin, for Christ is not the minister of sin.
Galatians 2:17 Now
if we, while trying to be justified by the Messiah, have been found to be
sinners, does that mean that the Messiah is serving the interests of sin? Of
course not!
The Apostle Paul was telling the Corinthian church
members to put out spiritual leaven, just as they had already put out all physical leaven in preparation for this festival.
They were to keep the Feast not only with unleavened bread,
but also with the spiritually "unleavened" attitude
of sincerity and truth.
Are we to continually strive-to expend effort and energy-to put sin out of our lives as it crops up? Heb. 12:1, 4.
Hebrews 12:1-4
Therefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and throwing off
everything that hinders us and especially the sin that so easily entangles us,
let us keep running with endurance the race set before us, (2)
fixing our attention on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith,
who, in view of the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (3)
Think about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you
may not become tired and give up.
(4) In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
If we are to become
Spirit-born members
of God 's Family,
we must prove that we will obey God here and now by striving
to get the spiritual leaven of sin out of our lives and keep it out! This is our part in
God's great Master Plan.
Let’s look at a couple of
questions that was asked. The Passover Week Time Line and
God’s two calendars.
We
cover every spring, the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, which reminds the Saints by our
example by obeying God’s commandments and commands. This is the time we need to renew our resolve
to live in harmony with God's Law, to rededicate our lives to continual
spiritual growth and overcoming.
We are powerless to overcome sin on our own.
And, yet, God commands us to stop sinning and put on Christ, since we are the
Temple of God, with the Holy Spirit living in us.
John 16:13 However, when He,
the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will
not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and
He will tell you things to come.
So, during this week, every time we eat
Unleavened Bread, Yes, we are to eat, unleavened bread, think and mediate about
what it means.
Please enjoy ourselves during this Feast of
Unleavened Bread because of the Truths that the Holy Spirit lead us in.
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