Sermon Tone Analysis

God is not governed by our time, and how we observe time and count it down.

God is the creator of time and He has placed us within His appointed time and keeps a close watch on what time it is.

In fact God Himself said about His creation in Gen. 1

The Feasts of the Lord are His appointed times and convocations for a purpose.

We come now to the second of Israel’s seven feasts.

You will recall that the first four, Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost are Springtime feasts, and these relate to Christ’s first coming, to His death, burial, resurrection and Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit.

It should be noted that Christ himself fulfilled the first four feast on the very days of the feast back in around 33-35AD

The last three are autumn feasts, Trumpets, Atonement, and tabernacles and they relate to the regathering, and restoration of Israel followed by the Millennial Reign of Christ.

These are all tied in to Christ’s second coming.

So now lets consider the meaning of The Feast of the Unleavened Bread which begins the next night after the Passover and celebrates Israel being delivered from bondage in Egypt.

Lev.

23:6

THE LEAVEN

Exodus 12:19 states the seriousness of the commandment from God.

Leaven is symbolic of sin and the Passover was a memorial to God’s delivering them from slavery in Egypt, but also a time of repentance and the putting away of sin.

Galatians 5:9 says,

The picture is that of one diligently searching for and getting rid of sin even the smallest sin in one’s life.

Even as a little leaven (sin) will spread within the whole lump, therefore any and all sin is to be confessed and put out of one’s life.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8.

Paul referred to the Passover and Unleaven Bread.

THE BREAD

The Bread is a direct reference to Christ, who is the Bread of Heaven or the Bread of Life.

God subtly emphasized this truth in choosing the spot where His Son would be born.

The meaning of the name "Bethlehem" is "house of bread."

A it was foretold by the prophets that the Messiah would be born in the city of David which is Bethlehem, and guess what, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Listen to what Jesus says recorded for us in John 6:48

God fed the Israelites in the wilderness with manna and He feds those who come to Him “the bread of life.”

John 6:48

The Fact that this bread is to be without Leaven shows that Christ who is the Unleaven Bread of God depicts His sinless nature....

Unleaven bread is equal to who the Messiah would be and what He would accomplish.

It pictures the suffering of the Messiah.

Isaiah 53 prophesied of the suffering of the Messiah.

The unleaven bread used in the Passover and during the feast of the Unleaven Bread is called “Matzo or Matsoh”.

Matzoh has stripes

Matzoh has holes:

Matzoh has no leaven:

Now a very interesting practice is placed within the Passover and the unleavened bread that is quite fascinating.

The bread is placed in the middle section of the linen cloth with three pockets.

Most Jews have no idea why the Matzoh Tosh (Tash) has three pockets.

Some rabbis teach that these represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; others say they portray the unity of worship -- priests, Levites and congregation; still others say they stand for the crowns of learning, priesthood and kingship.

But there's no explanation for breaking and hiding the middle one.

Now the middle matzoh is broken during the Passover, then hidden or buried.

Jesus's body was broken for us, He died, and was buried.

But He didn't stay dead -- He came back to life, came out of the tomb!

That is represented by bringing out that matzoh later in the ceremony.

It is then broken into pieces, and passed out to each person.

And by the way, this is the exact spot during the Last Supper, when Jesus said, "This is my body which is given for you."

What this is representing involves the "bread of heaven," spoken of again in John 6:32-59.