The Feast of Unleavened Bread memorializes God's deliverance from the environment of sin rather than our coming out of sin. Christ embodies sincerity and truth.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke each seem to put Passover on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but a closer look reveals the consistency of Scripture.
Jesus and His disciples are shown observing the Passover in a home at the beginning of Abib/Nisan 14. However, a few verses seem to indicate the next day.
We keep Unleavened Bread because of what God did to bring us out of sin (typified by Egypt). While God compels us to make choices, He is with us all the way.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately follows the Passover. In it we see how hard it is to overcome and rid our lives of sin.
The fundamental reason that God gives for the Feast of Unleavened Bread is to remember His deliverance. He delivered Israel physically, but us spiritually.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread signifies far more than the avoidance of leavening. Our focus needs to be on God's management of the process of deliverance.
If we overlook God's deliverance or neglect the eating of unleavened bread, we will be unable to perform the putting away of sin that God requires.
Keeping the leaven out is very important in its own right. However, our primary focus should not be on the leavened bread but on the unleavened bread.
It is self-glorifying to focus more on our own efforts in overcoming—which are necessary—than on by whose strength those efforts will succeed.
Egypt is not directly a symbol of sin, but instead the world. The Days of Unleavened Bread symbolize what God did for us, not what we did by our own power.
We eat unleavened bread because of what God has done, not what we have done. Eating unleavened bread symbolizes following God and displacing sin.
God's command to eat unleavened bread teaches that He rescued His people from the bondage of sin, something they had no power to accomplish of themselves.
Our exodus from the bondage of sin begins and ends with God. He commanded Israel to mark their escape with unleavened bread because of what He did.
Unleavened bread serves as a memorial of God's deliverance from the bondage of sin. We must realize that our part of the salvation process is to follow God.
Christian freedom has nothing to do with location or circumstance but how we think. By imbibing on God's Word, we will incrementally displace our carnality.
The book of James applies to us after the sanctification process has begun. The most effective way of eliminating sin is to do righteousness.
James had to be written as a counterbalance to antinomian elements that twisted Paul's writings to proclaim that that grace nullifies the need for works.
As members of Christ's body, we must function for the good of the whole body, not competing with other parts. We must continually function as a son of God.
The word 'selfsame' refers to a specific commemorative date. The selfsame day is a signal that God is faithfully in control of time over multiple centuries.
God has imputed righteousness to us as His Children because we are in Christ. Our state before God is unleavened provided we maintain this relationship.
Our carnal natures must be displaced by God's Holy Spirit, motivating us to refrain from causing offense, but freely forgiving others as God has forgiven us.
If we do not keep God's holy days, we will deprive ourselves of the knowledge of God's purpose. Jesus and the first century church observed and upheld these days.
We tend to put matters behind us once we are finished with them, but we cannot afford to do this with the lessons we learn from the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Galatians 4:9-10 is a favorite crutch of those who claim Christians no longer need to observe God's holy days. However, Paul's meaning is quite different.
The Passover reminds us of the New Covenant on the anniversary of the Abrahamic covenant God using the original elements of the meal between Melchizedek and Abraham.
In Deuteronomy 16:1, the word 'Passover' is out of context. It applies to the whole season, including the Night to be Much Observed and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Our individual sins (committed in our thoughts, words, and behaviors) are never isolated, but sadly influence every other member of the congregation.
Are we merely performing a ritual or are we making sure the real point of deleavening and keeping these days does not get lost in the physical activity?
God equates belittling His signs with rejecting Him. The signs of the weekly and annual Sabbaths are emphasized by God, but commonly cast aside by men.
At the time of Christ, because of historical deviation, some kept Passover at home at the start of the 14th and others kept it at the Temple at the end of the 14th.
Lonesome Dove contains the story of a cowboy who fails to perceive the line between right and wrong, and for his lack of moral sense, he pays with his life.
The biblical proof that God's people should keep the Passover (the Lord's Supper), explaining that it occurs annually on the evening of Nisan 14.
Try to satisfy a spiritual hunger through any other means than the Bread of Life, such as entertainment, technology, money, travel, etc. will leave us disillusioned.
Why must we put leaven out, yet we do not have to circumcise our baby boys? Is deleavening 'Old Covenant'?
Here are the foundational principles to keep in mind in observing the Feasts of God throughout the year.
The context of Deuteronomy 16:1-3 indicates the focus of these verses is on the Night to be Observed and the Days of Unleavened Bread rather than the Passover.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a remembrance of the release from bondage. We eat unleavened bread as a sign that the Lord's law may be in our mouths.
The temple Passover commanded by Hezekiah was a very unusual circumstance in which the king centralized worship to keep Baalism from defiling the Passover.
Oskar Schindler was determined to rescue as many Jews as possible from the horrors of the Final Solution. God acts in a similar way with His people.
The Protestant doctrine of grace is antinomian, thinking that justification is a synonym for sanctification and salvation, ruling out any need for works.
The truer our conception of Christ, the truer our discernment will be in dealing with spiritual problems or conflicts. Modern Israel has cuddled up to sin.
The Night Much to be Observed is a memorial of the covenant with Abraham, and God's watchfulness in delivering ancient Israel as well as spiritual Israel.
God mandates that we unlearn carnal processes (purging the leaven) and totally adopt new spiritual processes- eating unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The Old Testament examples were given to show us what God had to do to pave the way for our calling, sanctification, and ultimate glorification.
Even though keeping the law does not justify us, it does point out to us what sin is. The law is a guide keeping us within moral and ethical boundaries.
Christ warns that we must do everything possible to annihilate sin - surgically going right to the heart or mind: the level of thought and imagination.
The best way to conquer evil is to do righteousness, serving God and mankind. Sins of omission are every bit as devastating as sins of commission.
Because Jesus is God's Son, we can avoid the rod of His anger by paying respect with worshipful awe. We must know both His instruction and Him personally.
The keeping of the law is a practical response to God, providing us with principles for our lives, establishing our character and implanting God's values.
Amos 8:11 speaks of 'a famine...of hearing the words of the LORD.' Such a famine is occurring today: The words of God are available, but few can hear.
God rewards patient and continual perseverance in good works, reflecting an inner nobility and character.
Nothing happens in our lives (including repentance) until God initiates it. A change of heart, by God's Holy Spirit, results in a total change of direction.