The Feast of Unleavened Bread

The feast of Unleavened Bread was the first of the three occasions on which Israel is called together by the Lord God.

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16)

The first convocation, that of the week of Unleavened Bread, includes these three celebrations: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and the feast of Firstfruits.

The Passover celebration, one of the most important periods of the Jewish calendar, takes place on the fourteenth of Abib (also known by the post-exilic name Nisan ).

The week of Unleavened Bread lasts seven days, from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of Abib. The first day of the week of Unleavened Bread, the fifteenth of Abib, is a high Sabbath, and is referred to as the feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:23,26).

The sixteenth of Abib, the second day of the week of Unleavened Bread, also is important, being the day of the feast of Firstfruits.

Passover. All Jews, and many—perhaps most—Christians are well-acquainted with the Passover story.

Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: (Exodus 12:3)

And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. (Exodus 12:6,7)

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:13)

Passover is the first of the seven Levitical feasts (Leviticus Chapter 23). The first three of the seven feasts are grouped together and referred to as "the feast of Unleavened Bread" (Deuteronomy 16:16). Passover is the only one of the seven feasts ever to be celebrated in the midst of the Egyptians.

There was one actual Passover, that which occurred over three thousand years ago. However, the feast of Passover has been celebrated annually ever since the Jews left Egypt (perhaps missing a few times due to difficult circumstances). These subsequent observations commemorate the original Passover. The feast of Passover gives Christians insight into salvation, the first area of redemption.

It is worthy of note that the blood on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses of Israel was for a token, a sign. Nothing was said about the sins of Israel when the Passover was instituted by the Lord.

The Passover was an act of salvation, protecting the Israelites while the death angel struck the Egyptians because of their worship of demon gods. The Law of Moses had not been given as yet and so the people of Israel were largely ignorant of the moral demands of the Lord.

This is true of our initial salvation. God invites us to be saved by the blood of His Passover Lamb, Christ. He does not concern Himself with many of our specific sins until Christ has been born in us and the Holy Spirit has begun the work of sanctification.

We do not achieve victory over sin in order to enter salvation. Rather, salvation works in us and gives us victory over sin.

God knew of the multitude of sins that were practiced by the Israelites. He brought them out of Egypt first and after that gave them His holy Law and the various sacrifices by which an atonement could be made.

God did not appear to the Israelites and reprove them for their sins, and then offer the Passover as the solution to their problems of the sins of the flesh. God did not speak to them concerning adultery, fornication, sorcery, hatred, backbiting, idolatry, covetousness, timidity, fear, and so forth, although we know from their behavior in the wilderness that they were filled with such tendencies. Provision for sins and trespasses was made later, when the Law of Moses was given.

The Lord Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save the world. The Holy Spirit works with the unsaved along one line: "Look to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

When the Lord approaches the unsaved men and women of today He does not raise the question of the need for forgiveness for specific sins, except to point out to them their miserable state of bondage. Rather, He invites the person to receive His pardon and to sprinkle the blood of protection on himself and his household.

If a person will apply the blood of the cross by faith, he and his family will not be destroyed when God acts against Satan and the host of unclean spirits that are in rebellion against Him. If the unsaved person were to try to justify himself by disciplining his own behavior it would be of little spiritual profit. He must accept the blood as the atonement for his sins.

When a human being applies by faith the Passover blood of Christ to himself and his household he enables the Lord to "pass over" him and strike down the gods of the world, the evil lords of darkness—Satan and his army of unclean spirits. By this means the believer is rescued from the authority of the kingdom of darkness and the Lord is able to begin the work of judging and destroying the wickedness from his personality.

At the time of the original Passover the Lord came down to execute judgment against the gods of Egypt, of which there were many. Eight of the gods were as follows: Phtah, Neith, Ra, Chnubis, Ammon, Mendes, Thou, and Osiris.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. (Exodus 12:12)

When this judgment took place the Passover blood was the token, or sign, so that when the destroyer from God went through Egypt to execute God's destruction against the gods of Egypt the people of the Lord would be saved.

Consider, if you will, the kindness and the terror of God: kindness toward the unsaved person who is in bondage to sin; terror toward the spirits that practice wickedness and uncleanness.

Three major convocations. The seven feasts of Leviticus, Chapter 23 were grouped into three major convocations (Deuteronomy 16:16):

The first three feasts constituted the first calling together of the men of Israel. This convocation was termed the "feast of Unleavened Bread."

The fourth feast constituted the second convocation, known as the "feast of Weeks" (Pentecost).

The last three feasts composed the third convocation, the "feast of Tabernacles."

It may be noted that we are including the blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the week of the feast of Tabernacles as one convocation, referring to all three observances as the feast of Tabernacles.

As far as we know, nowhere in the Scriptures are the blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement referred to as part of the feast of Tabernacles. We are not expert enough in Jewish tradition to know if the commandment to "appear before the Lord thy God in the place that he shall choose" included Trumpets and the Day of Atonement as part of the third convocation, the feast of Tabernacles.

It is likely, however, that the last three were combined as the feasts of the seventh month. The "Days of Awe" (of Jewish tradition) include the blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, relating these two holy days. The week of Tabernacles began only five days later.

However, it is in the spiritual fulfillment that the grouping of the last three becomes compelling, from our point of view. The Lord of Glory comes with the blowing of Trumpets. He then cleanses His Father's House, in fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. Now the House is clean and God and His Christ can settle down to rest in Their eternal Temple, fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles.

The convocation of Unleavened Bread, as we have stated, consisted of the Passover, Unleavened Bread, and the feast of Firstfruits. We have just discussed the meaning of Passover as applied to the first area of redemption.

Unleavened Bread. The significance of the week of Unleavened Bread is that of putting away the leaven of the old creation. When Jesus died, the first creation of God died on the cross in Him. The first creation is that of Genesis 1:1; the second creation is that of Revelation 21:1.

Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. (Exodus 12:15)

Leaven, as used here, is a type of sin. It can be seen from the preceding passage that God did not want leaven in the camp of Israel at any time during the week following the Passover. The prohibition against leaven reveals to us that each person who comes to Christ for salvation must put away the wickedness that characterizes the old nature and come to Christ in the sincerity of repentance. The convert must renounce and forsake his first life and look to God for a new life in Christ—a life in which the leaven of the evil of the world is not present.

Paul informs us that we are dead to the old leaven of sin and he directs us to "keep the feast" with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Corinthians 5:8). When the Apostles preached Christ they included repentance from ungodly living as a major part of the message. Receiving Christ must be attended by the determination to live from this time forth in a manner pleasing to God. It is impossible to truly receive Christ apart from the attitude of repentance.

This was true also of the original Passover. Its observance would have been meaningless had it not been followed by the exodus from Egypt.

When we come to Christ we are not merely attempting to make ourselves presentable to God by renewed determination to behave in a desirable manner. Rather, we count our old life (and the whole world, in fact) as crucified on the cross of Calvary. We are born again of the water and of the Spirit of God.

None of the leaven of our old life is to be brought forward—not one speck. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).

Sometimes a convert to Christ attempts to hold on to some of his or her old ways of behaving. It is not long before he or she is forced to choose between Christ and the old nature. God commands us to put away every trace of the evil practices of the world and of our soulish nature. The Lord has for us a new life of righteousness in Christ into which He intends to bring us as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

Firstfruits. Firstfruits is the third of the seven Levitical feasts. It is included in the week of Unleavened Bread, which is the first of the three annual convocations.

As we have stated, the week of Unleavened Bread lasted from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of the month Abib. The feast of Firstfruits occurred on the second day of the week of Unleavened Bread, that is, on the sixteenth of Abib. It is believed that Christ rose from the dead on the day of the feast of Firstfruits. According to the Scriptures, He rose on the third day. (Passover was the first day. The first day of the week of Unleavened Bread, a high Sabbath, was the second day. The feast of Firstfruits was the third day.)

Barley was the first grain of the wheat harvest to ripen. The main part of the celebration of Firstfruits took place as the first sheaf of barley to be cut was brought to the high priest to wave before the Lord. This ceremony marked the beginning of the barley harvest, which meant the commencement of the grain harvest. (Pentecost celebrated the end of the wheat harvest.)

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:10,11)

What does the feast of Firstfruits teach us about salvation, the first area of redemption?

We have seen that salvation is a first reaping of our life to Christ. God accepts and sanctifies our whole personality on the basis of the shed blood of His beloved Son, even though only a portion of our personality has been touched by His Divine Life.

When we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit communicates with our spirit and we receive eternal life. We are born again by the water of baptism and by the Holy Spirit. At this point most of our personality remains unconverted. The whole is received of God because a firstfruits has been blessed by the Lord.

The feast of Firstfruits portrays our coming up out of the water of baptism and entering our new life in Christ, the old leaven of Egypt (the world) having been left behind and remaining under the judgment of God.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

We now are risen with Christ. What part of our personality is risen? Not our body, for our body will rise at the appearing of Christ. It is the new man of the heart, the portion of Christ that has been born in us, which always is raised up "to God, and to his throne" (Revelation 12:5). When Christ has been born in us He immediately is caught up to the Throne of God. Our new life has its beginning in the heavenlies.

Because God has accepted the part of us that has been born again our entire personality is set aside as holy to the Lord. God already views us as having been perfected and glorified through Christ. The Lord envisions and receives the final result before the work has been completed in us. This is the principle of the firstfruits.

If the firstfruits is holy to the Lord, the harvest is holy to the Lord. The acceptance by the Lord of the new man of our heart signifies that God will bring the remainder of our personality into a harvest of righteousness, to the praise of His Glory.

Because part of us has been born again and is risen with Christ we ought to be following after the heavenly things—the treasures that are located where Christ sits on the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven. Our longing and desire should be centered on the throne of Christ while our inclination toward the things of the world should be growing increasingly weak.

The reason for our change of affection is that we have died to the present evil world and the roots and springs of our life now are hidden away in Christ in God. The fullness of our personality never again will be seen on the earth until Christ returns. Then we shall be revealed together with Him and share with Him the riches of the glory of His Kingdom. We are coheirs with Him.

If what we possess now is but the firstfruits of the Spirit, can you imagine what will be true of us when God has completed the harvesting of our life in Christ?

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