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123_The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Lev 23:6-8 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8 But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

Ex 12:15-20 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

Once a rich man bought a beautiful old house in the countryside. Its structure was sound and its design delightful. However, as he proceeded to renovate some areas, he was horrified to discover mold growing behind the walls. It was hidden, subtle, and spreading. But unless dealt with, it would soon make the house unlivable. Invisible on the surface, he still had to tear out the affected walls and purge the house of every trace of it.

Sometimes, we see the need to deal with some areas of our life. But often, the most dangerous problems are the subtle ones—hidden sins, attitudes, affections—growing quietly, able to take over our lives. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is God’s message, showing us how seriously He takes what we often ignore. It also demonstrates his more than sufficient provision for a new life free from hidden corruption.

This feast follows immediately after and is closely linked to the Passover. The Passover commemorated God’s act of deliverance—rescuing His people from slavery in Egypt through the blood of the lamb. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is one of only two feasts to last seven days. In Scripture, the number seven often signifies fullness or completeness. This feast is therefore symbolic of a celebration that lasts through the whole of life.

Before the feast began, every Israelite home was to be cleared of all leaven. Not a speck of yeast was to remain. Leaven, or yeast, is a picture of sin—how it spreads silently and puffs up the whole lump. The removal of leaven was a sign of newness of life.

The feast of unleavened bread was celebrated because of the Passover that came just before it. The passover marked the redemption of the Israelite firstborn by a slain lamb, one lamb per household and the exodus of God’s people into liberty. Christ is our Passover lamb. Christ’s death was not the end—it was the beginning of something entirely new. Resurrection followed sacrifice.

Death, in biblical terms, is not mere non-existence—it is separation from the life of God. God warned that the day Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, he would surely die. Physically, Adam died many centuries later, for he lived 930 years. But he was no longer in the garden of Eden with God. Not his breath, but his fellowship with God, was stopped by his wilful rejection of God. Likewise, the prodigal son’s father declared, “This my son was dead, and is alive again.” Death is a severing; resurrection is a restoration.

The death of Christ ended his earthly existence in the flesh. His resurrection marked the beginning of his new life in the spiritual and immortal body. Paul put it plainly in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” As Romans 6 says, “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead… we too might walk in newness of life.”
This is the life we share because through faith in him, we died with him. As one with Christ, we also share, gloriously, in his resurrection.

1 Corinthians 5:8 tells us, “Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
This feast speaks of the believer’s new life in Christ.

In the New Testament, leaven appears in several forms. The Lord warned His disciples about the “leaven of the Pharisees”—hypocrisy. Let us not pretend to be what we are not. Let our words and deeds reflect our inward attitudes and our heart-deep changes. Let us not pretend or perform spiritually for the approval of others, but live for God’s approval alone.

The “leaven of Herod,” mentioned in Mark 8:15 is a different kind of danger altogether. It represents unbelief in God that leads to trust in the world. Herod was Jewish by background but Roman in allegiance. He lived for power, pleasure, and popularity, unrestrained by God’s law and truth.

Paul warns the Corinthians about the “old leaven”—their former way of life, before Christ. He urges them in Ephesians to “put off the old man,” with its corrupt desires and practices. Then there’s the “leaven of malice and evil”—hidden hostility, bitterness, unresolved anger. It’s possible to appear loving while harboring resentment, but that too is leaven.

The Israelites searched carefully and removed every trace of leaven. We are called to vigilance. Sin is the intruder now, not the ruler. We have to search it out and remove it, rather than tolerating or excusing its presence. We celebrate the resurrection of Christ by walking in new life, obeying his spirit and not our own will and desires.

It was not enough for the Israelites to simply hide the yeast. Exodus 12:19 says, “For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel.” Let us never compromise with the tyrant sin, for it is intrusive and foreign to us. Christ died to sin but is alive to God, and so are we.

Interestingly, the first and the seventh days of this feast were to be days of rest—holy gatherings, sabbaths of rest. The life of Christ is not striving and performing for approval from men. It is a rest in the faithfulness and goodness of God, no matter what, and joy in obeying him. Christ said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” When we abide in him, when we give up our doubts and simply follow him in trust, we find, unexpectedly, holiness.

In such a life, we have a single heart and a clear conscience. The hidden mold of sin has been purged through our death with Christ. We recognize that we are not determined by what we did or what was done to us. Our old nature no longer has a say. We walk after Christ.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:10, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” Every day we carry His death—not in despair, but as a declaration of freedom from our sin. And every day, we display His life as hope, as joy, as power. We are free now—free to walk in love, without fear, knowing what Christ has kept for us.

The leaven of pride, fear, bitterness, lust, or the subtle pull of the world is widespread and insidious. We are to “purge out the old leaven” as soon as we recognize it, rather than excusing or hiding it. so that we may be “a new lump.”

For us who celebrate the Passover, let us also live the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Let the Risen Lamb define your new life. Let’s get rid of the leaven without fear, trusting God with lives of sincerity and truth. We are an unleavened people—set apart, made new, and filled with the life of the risen Lord. God bless.