"The Feast of Unleavened Bread"

Leviticus 23:5-6 "The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth (14) day of the month. V.6 On the fifteenth (15) day of that month the Lord's festival of Unleavened Bread beigns; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast." This feast is to be "rehersed' at the "appointed time" each spring in the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of the religious year and the month of March or April on the Gregorian Calendar.In Jewish tradition, the eating of unleavened bread commemorates the original exodus from Egypt. Since there was not enough time for the dough to rise in the bread when the Jews fled from Egypt, the Lord memoralized the event with the commandment to eat only unleavened bread (matzah) for seven days. Deuteronomy 16:7 "Seven days you shall eat unleavened (matzah) bread, the bread of affliction, (to remember the affliction of Egypt and to remember deliverance from that affliction)for you came out of Egypt in haste, that all the days of your life you may remember the day you came out of the land of Egypt.

To fulfill this commandment the Jewish people, to this day, prepare themselves by removing all traces of "chametz" or leaven from their homes. Leaven(yeast) produces fermentation, especially in bread dough, and it is the result of the natural process of decay. So then, the removal of the leaven is in obedience to God's command to remove it from their dwellings (Exodus 12:15; 13:7; Deuteronomy 16:4).

But what is the connection with Yeshua the Messiah? First, unleavened bread is a picture of Yeshua's holiness, purity and sinlessness. Consequently, His life and sacrifice were "unleavened," without the taint or curse of death! As the second man from heaven, Adam being the first man God made of the earth, Yeshua/Jesus was without fault; no imperfections were found in Him. Again, Yeshua was and is the God-man. Therefore it is absolutely blasphemous to compare Him to Muhammed or Buddah or any other earthly person! There simply is no comparison. Yeshua is and remains eternally unique!

As we have seen, Yeshua laid His life down as the Passover Lamb on Nisan 14. His body was wrapped in linen and placed in the tomb on that same day before sundown. Therefore, His body was in the grave on Nisan 15, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. However, because Yeshua was sinless, His "unleavened body" did not suffer the natural processes of corruption or decomposition! Something was going on inside that tomb that had not happened before! Yeshua's body did not and could not return to the dust. God was at work writing another and exhilirating part of the incomparable redemptive narrative! One of the mysteries of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was unfolding inside the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea! The Messiah's body was not decaying. But why, how could it be?

It was simply the fulfillment of the Messianic Psalm that was prophesied through King David a thousand years earlier. In Psalm 16:9-10 we read these amazing, prophetic words, "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay!" The Apostle Peter applied this prophetic Word to Yeshua in Acts 2:25-28,31, "David said about Him (the Messiah):'I saw the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.'"v.31 "Seeing what was to come, he (David) spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah,(Yeshua) that He was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did His body see decay." Yeshua's body could not decay because there was no leaven of sin in it! He was the Unleavened Bread from heaven! Therefore the natural processes of death (leaven/yeast) were not present in the tomb of the Messiah!

So what are we to take from this Feast of Unleavened Bread which was fulfilled perfectly by Yeshua the Messiah? First, we should allow WHO HE IS to fascinate our hearts--the perfect, sinless, incorruptable Son of the Living God! Secondly, we should allow what happened, or should I say what didn't happen in that tomb, to fill us with hope about our future in Him! And third, we should simply put all of our trust in Him as THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE! Everything you could ever want or need is found in Yeshua the Unleavened Bread from Heaven! Shalom friends!

I am a voice of one crying in the wildernes, prepare the way of the Lord, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!

PS. How brilliant is our God? He reveals His eternal plan through His seven feasts in the Old Covenant through His chosen nation Israel. He then perfectly fulfills those feasts through the revelation of His Son in the New Covenant! Next week we will look at the Feast of First Fruits.