[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

God’s Holy Days: Feast of Unleavened Bread Explained

There’s a springtime biblical feast that is often overlooked by many today, even in the professing Christian world. What am I talking about? It’s called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Believe it or not, the early New Testament Church kept this observance. It’s plainly laid out in the pages of your Bible.

What is this Feast of Unleavened Bread all about?

It may surprise you to find out how relevant it is to the life of a Christian—in particular, to what we do after we’ve been forgiven by God.

What is expected of us after we’ve come under the shed blood of our Savior Jesus Christ and been baptized? Does living under grace mean we are once saved, always saved? Or is there something else we must do?

The Feast of Unleavened Bread provides the answers.

What Is the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the Bible?

A growing number of Christians are discovering the biblical Feast days. For many, this is a surprise. It might be for you, especially if you were brought up on the popular holidays of Christmas and all its trappings; Easter and the sunrise service; and even the bizarre and morbid customs of Halloween.

When you look in the Bible, you won’t find instructions by God to keep these days. What you will find are God’s Holy Days, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread actually comprises a seven-day period—one whole week—and it occurs each spring in late March or April.

Some think these days were done away with by the death of Jesus Christ, but the New Testament says otherwise. What we find is that these days were kept by the New Testament Church. And the Feast of Unleavened Bread has one of the clearest, most obvious explanations in the New Testament of all the Holy Days. It’s found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

Passover and Unleavened Bread Point to Repentance

Paul addresses both the Christian Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in this letter. We find it in chapter 5. The context is that Paul was addressing an on-going sin in the Corinthian church. One of the members was actually committing adultery with his father’s wife—perhaps his stepmother. We pick up the account in 1 Corinthians 5:1.

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! … For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed (1 Corinthians 5:1–3).

Paul told the congregation that this problem was not to be ignored. They weren’t to turn a blind eye to it. He told them this man must be put out of the Church.

The good news is, in the second book of Corinthians we find that this man learned his lesson. He repented. He changed. He stopped that adulterous relationship. And Paul welcomed him back—and he encouraged the members to do the same.

So that was the context. Notice what Paul said next in 1 Corinthians 5:6.

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.

Again, what was happening? Well, the Corinthian members had put up with this man staying in the Church, even while he engaged in a blatant and obvious pattern of adultery. Actually, they were even sort of proud of their so-called “love” and “mercy” in overlooking his actions.

This Is Why Jesus Said Go and Sin No More

But Paul reminded them that condoning sin is not real love or mercy. It’s just the opposite. Breaking God’s law hurts, it destroys, it tears apart relationships, it corrodes character, and it leads to death.

God knows that it hurts the person who’s sinning the most. And that is why He takes it so seriously.

Frankly, that should be a lesson for our day. Too many people in the name of “love” and “mercy” encourage and condone behavior that ultimately causes only pain and suffering for those who engage in it.

Now let’s be clear. We’re all sinners. We have all broken God’s perfect law. Paul makes that clear in Romans 3:23. But we are to repent of sin. We are to come out of it. We are to be washed and cleaned up by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. And then we are told to, as Christ said to the woman taken in adultery in John 8:11, “Go and sin no more.”

Christian Passover Explained: Forgiveness of Sins

Notice 1 Corinthians 5:7. Paul explained:

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

You see, Jesus Christ was the perfect fulfillment of the Passover lambs sacrificed by the Israelites year by year. Those Passover lambs were symbolic of what Christ would do when He gave His life for our sins. Now we don’t sacrifice lambs each spring, but Christians are to acknowledge the ultimate Passover Lamb, our Elder Brother, for what He did for us. And we do that by keeping the annual observance of the Christian Passover.

In fact, later in the book Paul actually walked through how to keep it. That’s found in 1 Corinthians 11:23.

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

So, Paul taught the Corinthians to keep the New Testament Passover, including the symbols that Jesus introduced, the bread and the wine.

Keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread | 1 Corinthians 5:7 Explained

Continuing in 1 Corinthians 5:7.

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast… (1 Corinthians 5:7–8).

What feast was Paul talking about? Well, let’s just read on (1 Corinthians 5:8).

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Stop Sinning: The Feast of Unleavened Bread’s Spiritual Meaning

The apostle Paul taught the brethren in Corinth to keep the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But what did these Feast days represent?

As already explained, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. And when we observe the Christian Passover, we are acknowledging our need for His loving sacrifice to cover our sins.

But after we have been forgiven of sin, what do we do? Do we go right on sinning? Too many people have basically concluded the answer is, “Yes. We can just keep living our life however we want even after we accept Christ.”

Well, that’s not what your Bible says.

During This Feast, Leaven Represents Sin

You see, there’s another step to take after we’ve been forgiven of sin. And the Feast of Unleavened Bread teaches us that. Let’s read it again in 1 Corinthians 5:7.

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7–8).

When we speak of leaven, we’re talking about leavening agents in bread, such as baking soda, baking powder, or yeast. It’s the ingredient that produces air pockets of carbon dioxide in the dough. It actually makes it light and fluffy—it makes it taste good.

But the Bible compares leaven to sin.

In the same way that leaven enters the dough, expands, and permeates the whole loaf, so does sin. It will deepen and spread if not gotten rid of. Our conscience may at first be pricked, but over time we will become hardened to it. It becomes harder to stop.

One sin can lead to another. If we’re caught in a lie, the temptation is to tell another lie to cover up the first. And on and on it goes. Sin spreads like leaven.

The same was true, as Paul explained, in the congregation as a whole in Corinth. He knew if the person who was living in adultery would not be dealt with, others would drift into being careless about their behavior as well. Sin would spread more and more in the congregation.

Replace Sin With Righteousness (Unleavened Bread)

So Passover symbolizes our sins being forgiven by Christ’s sacrifice. But after Passover, we must keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. During those seven days, we eat no leavened bread or bread products—like crackers, cakes or cookies.

In fact, we actually remove and dispose of any of these items from our homes beforehand, and remove any leavening agents. We get it all out.

The avoiding of leaven for seven days symbolizes the fact that after Christ has died for our sins, we must now live a new life in obedience to God. The Bible is full of references to this.

Turn to Romans 6:1.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1–4).

Keeping This Feast Shows How to Stop Sinning

We can’t persist in our old sins.

• If you have a problem with lying, for example, you must begin to speak the truth.
• If you’re addicted to porn, you’ve got to learn not to yield to lust.
• If you fall into anger and rage habitually, you need to learn how to break that habit.

As Paul said, we give up “malice and wickedness,” and we walk in “sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8). Our life changes. That’s what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about.

But don’t think you can do it on your own. Personal change is hard. You can’t do it by yourself. But keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread helps us understand this.

You see, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is not the “Feast of No Bread.” We are not just to avoid leaven, but we are to put something else in its place. We are to eat unleavened bread. It can be unleavened bread that is commercially available, or it might be unleavened bread we make ourselves. (Do a Google search for “unleavened bread recipes” and you’ll find all sorts of ideas.)

Jesus Is the Bread of Life | Unleavened Bread Explained

Eating literal unleavened bread for seven days is a powerful daily reminder that we must feed on the bread of life, Jesus Christ.

Notice John 6:35.

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

Jesus is the Bread of Life. And we must figuratively feed on Him daily. Notice what else He said in John 6:57.

“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:57–58).

In other words, we read THIS BOOK daily. We feed on it and fill our mind with it. The Bible is the mind of God in print. Let it teach you. Let it guide you and even correct you, as Paul also wrote in Hebrews 4:12.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:12–13).

This is what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about—personal change, becoming more like Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven day by day.

We can’t do it on our own. Notice John 15:5.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

The apostle Paul also said (in Philippians 4:13):

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

So with God’s help, we can overcome—no matter how difficult it may seem. That’s what the Feast of Unleavened Bread teaches us.

God’s Law Helps Us Identify and Remove Sin

But some will say, Christ came to do away with all those Old Testament laws. And some may even point to Scriptures which have supposedly been used to debunk the biblical Holy Days.

Let’s look at a Scripture that is often used this way, and see what it really says.

Colossians 2:11-14 Explained

The context was Paul’s writing to the Colossians. Let’s pick it up in Colossians 2:11.

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:11–12).

Again, if we accept Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, we’re buried with Him in baptism. And then we come out of that watery grave and walk in newness of life. We stop sinning. Going on in Colossians 2:13.

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:12–14).

God’s Law Is God’s Protection for Us

Now some people will say the Law of God—the Ten Commandments—was nailed to the cross. But does the Bible say the Ten Commandments are “against us”? Not at all. The Ten Commandments protect us.

The law against murder, even in our civil society, protects us and is good for all of us. What about the law against adultery? Is that against us? Who doesn’t want to be protected from the pain and suffering caused by an unfaithful spouse? Clearly, the law against adultery in the Ten Commandments is not against us, but it is for us. It protects us.

So what is against us? What was Paul talking about?

Well, what is against us is the penalty for breaking God’s law. You see, every one of us has earned the death penalty by our own personal sins. Death and the death penalty—for our sins—is what’s against us. And Christ took that penalty away—not the law—when He died on the stake.

Explanation of Colossians 2:16 | “The Body of Christ” Is the Church

Going on in Colossians 2:16, I’ll read in the King James Version.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ (Colossians 2:16–17, KJV).

Some read this as if you shouldn’t keep the biblical Holy Days, but that’s not what it says. It says don’t let anyone judge you in regard to what you eat, what you drink, or how you keep one of God’s Holy Days.

In other words, if you are faithfully keeping God’s biblical Holy Days, don’t be intimidated by what your neighbor thinks. Don’t worry about what a friend or relative might think. Serve Christ and worry about what He thinks.

Actually, there’s even a phrase at the end that gives it better clarity. At the end of verse 17, Colossians 2, the New King James Version says:

But the substance is of Christ.

So some will say, “See, get rid of all the Holy Days, and just focus on Christ.” That’s not what this verse says either. It is more accurately translated in the King James Version in Colossians 2:17.

But the body (is) of Christ.

And “is” is in italics. That means it’s not in the original Greek. So it really says, in Colossians 2:17 (KJV):

But the body of Christ.

So let’s put the whole verse back together now. Again, reading in the King James Version without the word “is” incorrectly inserted by the translators (Colossians 2:16–17).

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body of Christ.

Paul was saying, “Don’t let outsiders judge you for keeping the biblical Holy Days. Rather, let yourself be guided and taught by the body of Christ.” The body of Christ is the Church. That’s found in numerous scriptures.

So contrary to doing away with the Holy Days, Colossians 2:16–17 actually reinforce their importance. And they indicate that the Church Christ built will be keeping them and should teach us how to keep them.

What a difference from what is often being taught today. The Holy Days should be kept, not swept away. And the Church should be keeping them and teaching them. That’s what the Apostle Paul said.

The Feasts of the Lord—God’s Holy Days | Leviticus 23

We find further information about these Feasts back in Leviticus 23. What it reveals is that these days were times for God’s people to gather together to worship Him. We can find this [in] Leviticus 23:1.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts” (Leviticus 23:1–2).

Notice whose feasts these are. These are God’s feasts. And when you further understand that it was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, the Word, who was working with these Israelites—you realize, there’s no way that these are done away, because this was the One who became Jesus Christ teaching them in the first place. Notice again Leviticus 23:4.

These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it…. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it (Leviticus 23:4–7).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread Represents Our Journey Out of Sin

But did you know, the children of Israel came out of Egypt during this Feast as well. You can read about that in Exodus 13:3.

And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. On this day you are going out…. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. And you shall tell your son… saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt’” (Exodus 13:3–8).

Remember God’s Holy Days—and Teach Your Children About Them

Moses told the Israelites: Don’t forget this day that you’re coming out of the land of Egypt. As Christians, God is calling us out of this world. He’s calling us to forsake our sins and our spiritual Egypt. The Feast of Unleavened Bread can be a powerful annual reminder for us about our journey out of sin and the suffering it causes.

As we forsake our old habits, feed on Christ, and ask Him to change us, we will begin to enjoy the fruits of living God’s way and really walking in His grace and in His love. And what a joyous life that is.

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