What Does the Feast of Unleavened Bread Tell Us about Jesus?
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The Feast of Unleaved Bread is the first Jewish feast of the year, and is deeply important for Jewish people and for Christians. This feast lasts seven days, beginning with Passover, and celebrates the liberation of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. For Christians, it also speaks to how Jesus became far more than just a man dying on a cross.
Where Does the Bible Mention the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
The LORD inflicted 10 plagues on the Egyptian people and the gods they worshipped. In Exodus 12, before the tenth plague, the LORD commanded Moses to tell the Jewish people to paint lamb’s blood on their doorframes so the angel of death would leave them unharmed. They were to eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs as the Passover meal or Pesach.
However, the Egyptians worshipped the lamb as a deity. You can imagine how this angered them when the Children of Israel brought a lamb into their homes, slaughtered it, and then ate it.
The next morning, they took unleavened bread dough with their kneading bowls on their shoulders as they left Egypt. This feast lasted from the night before they left Egypt to the day they crossed the Red Sea.
To understand this feast and how it points to the Messiah, let’s go back to the tenth day of Nisan, or five days before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began.
The Week Leading Up to the Feast of Unleavened Bread
Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the LORD ! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven! (Luke 19:38 NLT)
In Luke 19, John 12, and Matthew 21, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem started what we call Holy Week. On the tenth of Nisan, before the Passover feast, the Jews brought an unblemished lamb into their homes.
The family inspected the lamb to make sure it was free of blemish. How did this parallel with the last days of the Lamb of God? It’s precisely what we find going on in Luke 20:
One day as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” (Luke 20:1-2 NLT)
During this time, the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, rabbis, and scribes challenged Jesus’ authority to test or inspect Him.
Additionally, on the day of preparation before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jewish families cleaned their houses, eliminating any traces of leaven or yeast. Of course, this leaven represented sin.
Jesus demonstrated this by entering the Temple and chasing the money-changers and merchants out of His House:
Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” (Matthew 21:12-13 NLT)
Did Jesus Eat the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
On the evening of the thirteenth of Nisan, Jesus sent His disciples to prepare the Passover.
Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.” “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him. He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’” (Luke 22:7-11 NLT, emphasis added)
The fact the man carried a jar of water tells us he was an Essene. They were a particular sect of Judaism who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls and didn’t marry—hence they carried their own water. The Essenes also celebrated Passover the day before the Orthodox Jews, who celebrated it on the evening of the fourteenth of Nisan.
How Was Jesus the Lamb of the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
After their Passover meal, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, and they went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The soldiers arrested Jesus that night (beginning the fourteenth of Nisan) and took Him to Annas first. They then took Him to the high priest, who questioned Him, and the soldiers mocked and beat Him.
At daybreak on the fourteenth of Nisan, they took Jesus before the assembly of elders, scribes, and the chief priest (Luke 22:66).
Next, they led Jesus to Pilate. Jesus’ armed guards, who were Jewish, didn’t go into the governor’s headquarters because it would defile them (since it was a Gentile place), and they could not eat the Passover feast (John 18:28). Passover had not begun for them.
Pilate sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion:
Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.” When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew). It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!” “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back. Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. (John 19:12-16 NLT, emphasis added)
This verse indicates these events happened on the eve or Preparation Day of Passover (Thursday, the fourteenth of Nisan, about noon).
Every week from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday, is the Sabbath or Shabbat. The Jews also had seven other Shabbats, including the first day of the Passover feast. Each additional Shabbat occurred on the day of each of the other six feasts. That created two Shabbats on each of the weeks having a feast, besides two preparation days (since no one worked on these Shabbat days).
By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46 NLT)
Jesus died in the ninth hour, or about three p.m., while the priests slaughtered the Passover lambs. The Levites hung each of the slain lambs on a hook with their forearms stretched out in a crucifixion position and skinned them.
Did God Really Forsake Jesus as He Hung on the Cross?
While hanging on the cross, Jesus was still instructing His disciples. Jesus spoke the words from Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
As a rabbi, Jesus used a teaching tool called a Remez, in which the rabbi quoted a part of scripture, allowing his disciples to recall the rest of that book or passage, therefore applying its significance.
So, as Jesus said the words from Psalm 22:1, He wanted His disciples to recall verses such as:
But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me… (Psalm 22:6-7 NLT, emphasis added)
My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing. (Psalm 22:16-18 NLT, emphasis added)
As they watched their Rabbi and Lord dying on the cross, these verses literally played out before them. Jesus used the Remez to tell them He was the Messiah.
In addition, as Jesus spoke His last words, “It is finished,” the priest yelled from the altar, “It is finished,” to let the people know the sacrifices were done.
Jesus died on a cross at the very time the Passover lambs were being killed, for he was the Lamb of God. He is our unblemished, perfect Passover Lamb who took away the entire world’s sins with His precious blood. Jesus fulled everything that happened during the Passover, and fulfilled it perfectly.
The LORD wanted His people to see the feast they had kept for thousands of years was all about His Son. Yet, some still missed it. Please don’t miss the precious gift God has given you: His Son.
The Day of Preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread
It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was the Passover). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. (John 19:31 NLT, emphasis added)
Jesus died on the day of preparation for the Passover. He was in the tomb Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night—three days and three nights.
Jesus’ Resurrection during the Feast of Unleavened Bread
John tells us when Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, she saw two angels:
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. (John 20:11-12 NLT, emphasis added)
Imagine Mary looking into the tomb at those two angels sitting where Jesus had lain. They tell her that He is not there. He has risen!
Now read these verses and note the similarity to John 20:11-12 above. In Exodus, God instructed Moses how to build the Ark of the Covenant and its mercy seat (or atonement cover in some translations):
“Then make the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It must be 45 inches long and 27 inches wide. Then make two cherubim from hammered gold, and place them on the two ends of the atonement cover. Mold the cherubim on each end of the atonement cover, making it all of one piece of gold. The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they will protect it. (Exodus 25:17-20 NLT, emphasis added)
Can you imagine? God looked forward to the day His Son was laid in a tomb. He saw Him lay there for three days and three nights until His Resurrection. He saw Mary come to the tomb. He saw the angels placed at each end, facing one another with their wings spread out over the place Jesus’ body had been. Then, He told Moses to build it.
Because He loves us, Jesus the Messiah suffered and died a horrible death for us. This week, thank Him for all He has done and will do.
Remember, He was thinking of you on that cross.
Photo Credit:©Getty Images/Gulsen Ozcan
Stephanie Pavlantos is passionate about getting people into God’s Word. She has taught Bible studies for twenty years and has spoken at ladies’ retreats. She is ordained with Messenger Fellowship in Nashville, TN. Stephanie works for Besorah Institute for Judeo-Christian Studies in the Student Services department as well as teaching online classes.
She is published in Refresh Bible study magazine, Charisma magazine, and CBN.com. She is also a contributor to www.VineWords.net, Feed Your Soul with the Word of God compilation by Lighthousebiblestudies.com, and Love Knots compilation by VineWords Publishing. You can visit her blog at www.stephaniepavlantos.com and other social media sites on Twitter (@DPavlantos) and Facebook.
Her Bible study, Jewels of Hebrews, placed third in the Selah Awards at Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference (2021), and an Honorable Mention at the Florida Christian Writers Conference (2019).
Married for thirty years, she and Mike have three children, Matthew, Alexandria, and Michael. Stephanie loves animals and has dogs, ducks, sheep, and chickens.