UNLEAVENED BREAD – Day 1

Fred Coulter - April 6, 2004

And greetings, brethren, this is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread -2004. And you know as we have learned, as we know and have seen and understand, there is no justification at all for the religious holidays of this world to have any claim that they come from the Bible. Because as we have seen the will of man cannot be the will of God. And remember the model prayer that Jesus gave to the Father, that we are to ask that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So when God spoke to the children of Israel He gave them His will. And that’s what we find concerning the holy days, and the basic outline of them back in the book of Leviticus. So let’s go back there right now. Let’s go to Leviticus 22, and I want to read several verses at the end of Leviticus 22 before we get to Leviticus 23, so that we can emphasize and understand something very important concerning the holy days of God. And that they are just as important as the weekly Sabbath, and as a matter of fact they give the rest of the story in laying out the plan of God. Because without the holy days you cannot understand the plan of God.

So let’s begin here, Leviticus 22:31. “Therefore shall ye keep My commandments, and do them: I am the LORD.” Now whenever you see “I am the LORD” or “the LORD says,” these are the words of God. And it’s the recorded voice of the Word of God. And of course as we see and know and understand that we are to obey the voice of the Lord our God. Verse 32, “Neither shall ye profane My holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you [or, sanctifies you],…” And that ties right in with the New Testament, that we are sanctified by God the Father through Jesus Christ. Verse 33, “…That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD” (Lev. 22:31-33). And not only that, when God calls us He brings us out of the world. And Egypt symbolizes and typifies the world. So this becomes very important. And as we have seen, if you keep the holidays of this world you’re going right back into Egypt. And another name that this is called by - the way of the world - is Babylon. So Babylon and Egypt, and Sodom and Gomorrah give the great definition of the end-time age that we live in.

Now let’s continue right on with Leviticus 23. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD,…” which we have seen and know and understand that they are His. Now you cannot take something that comes from a pagan god, as we have seen, and put the name of God on it and have some high religious figure Christianize it and sanctify it and say, “This is the will of God.” No, it’s very clear these are the feasts of the Lord, so if you want to keep any days to God you have to keep the ones that He says. Everything else doesn’t count. “…Which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations [or, appointed times], even these are My feasts.” And it starts out with the weekly Sabbath because as we know and we have seen, the fourth commandment concerning the weekly Sabbath is the overarching commandment from which the holy days, which are Sabbaths, hang. “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:1-3).

Now we know we keep the seventh day Sabbath every week, week in and week out, and week in and week out, as we go down through the year. And when we come to the spring of the year, which this is, we have the Passover, which we have kept, and I hope that everyone had a profitable and inspiring Passover. And then we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And in these things God teaches us not only His plan but His way, and how He is doing things. So that’s why we have the feasts. And remember the weekly Sabbath is called a feast. So if the weekly Sabbath is called a feast, and the annual Sabbaths are called feasts, they are one in the same and belong together. So the truth is, as we already know, you can’t have one without the other.

Now verse 4, “These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.” And we’ve already had that. “And on the fifteenth day of the same month [which is today] is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.” And God says what He means and means what His says, so we eat unleavened bread. And there’s a lesson in it for us, as we will see. “In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days:…” So that includes that there’s an offering on the seventh day, because if you start on the first day and you have an offering that you have, and of course these were also the ritual sacrifices and they did them every day. You can see them all listed out in Numbers 28. “…Ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD…” (vs. 4-8). And so every one of the holy days we do take up and offering. Now today we don’t offer sacrifices, but we give monetary offerings, and in a way that’s likened unto a sacrifice, if you would.

Now let’s come here to Deuteronomy 16 and let’s see the command. Let’s see what God says and let’s see how that with the offerings that we take up, we are to prepare for them. We are to do the things that God wants us to do in faith and trust, and understanding that God will bless us. Verse 16, “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: every man shall give as he is able,…” Now there’s a gauge. See, every time we come before God to bring an offering we have to measure it by the blessings that God has given. So if you have given and you are living by God’s word and you are trusting in God, you probably have many blessings that you can count. So then God says, “…according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which He hath given thee.” (Deut. 16:16-17). So that’s the gauge on how we are to give our offerings.

Now we also know in the New Testament, let’s come here to 2 Corinthians 9 because this is talking about the Feast of Unleavened Bread and sowing and planting, and of course it has reference then to us being the firstfruits, as we will see as we come down toward Pentecost time. Here in 2 Corinthians 9 we have an overall command with the very principles of God, and of course this is based on faith. Everything that we do then must be based on faith – to love God, to serve Him, to keep His commandments, to do the things that are right in His sight.

Now here in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “But this I say: the one who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly;…” And as we covered previous, long before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that the one servant who received the one talent and didn’t do anything with it, he didn’t even sow it into the bank, as it were, to receive interest when Christ returns. So he didn’t even do the minimum. And this is what he’s talking about here. If you give sparingly then God will bless you sparingly, because the results will go hand-in-hand. “…And the one who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.” And there are many, many blessings that come, which are more than just monetary or physical, or blessings that you can look at and see. There are the blessings of love, and joy, and peace, and longsuffering – the fruits of the Holy Spirit. There are the blessings of peace and longsuffering, there are the blessings where then you have God’s Spirit, and God is giving you the strength and help to overcome. Those are all part of the blessings that God will give. “Each one as he purposes in his heart,…” So it’s something that we have to do with deliberation, with thought when we come before the Lord. “… So let him give, but not grudgingly…” See, God wants us to keep His commandments with joy, not with grudging. Not saying, “Well, there goes that preacher again.” You know, as we’re going to see, we have to preach the word in season. “…Or [of necessity] by compulsion [that is, because God requires it]; for God loves a cheerful giver ” (2 Cor. 9:6-7, FV).

Now here is the blessing, here is the promise. This is what we claim when we give to God our tithes and our offerings – verse 8. “For God is able [that means God has the power] to make all grace abound toward you so that in every way you may always have sufficiency in all things, and may abound unto every good work,…” So God gives a promise that you will have sufficiency in all things. So we’ll go ahead and take a pause now, and we’ll take up the offering.

(Pause)

Now let’s go to John 14, and let’s look at the connection between Passover and Unleavened Bread, and a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Now remember, as we have covered, John 14, 15, 16, and 17 are the words of the New Covenant, as we covered during the Passover night. And these words also tell us exactly they way to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father. And it shows that since these words were given on the Passover night, that it is absolutely true you cannot have a connection with, or a relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father unless you keep the Passover.

Now you know we need to be as strong as the Bible is strong and say it exactly as it is. And let’s read it here. John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.’ ” (FV). And Jesus Christ, as we will see, is our Passover. So unless you keep the Passover and the feasts of God you cannot get to God the Father. It is an absolute impossibility. And of course, as we have seen, everything needs to be done exactly as Jesus said it should be done.

Now let’s, since we are in the Gospel of John, and I’m using the new translation from the New Testament that you have received. Let’s come to John 6:53. This also shows that it has to be the way that Jesus Christ has said. Now it is an impossibility for anyone to partake of Communion anytime they want to and have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. They may think they do, but they’re deceived, because no one is going to do anything contrary to the will of God, and God accept it. No one can take the Eucharist and stand before a priest, or sit before a priest who has the unmitigated gall to claim that he can command God to come and put the presence of Jesus Christ – His body and His blood – in the bread and in the wine. No, Jesus clearly showed that to eat His flesh and drink His blood is symbolized by the unleavened bread and the wine. There is nothing literal in it. It is symbolic. And it also has a meaning of what we are to do.

So let’s pick it up here, John 6:53. “Therefore, Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.” See, because all die. And the wages of sin is death. And there is no way out except through Christ. “The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life…” He’s talking about the Passover, as we have seen. So if you don’t take the Passover you cannot have eternal life. Now you may take a false version of it through Communion or the Eucharist, but that has no connection with God. Now it may appear to have connection with God because those who perform the service use the Scriptures, but they misuse them because they are unwilling to obey. Remember where we started – God said, “Therefore, My commandments you shall keep.” And those are part of the commandments of God the Father and Jesus Christ. And He says, “…and I will raise him up in the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56, FV). So the key is again, without the Passover Christ cannot dwell in you. That’s what He says.

Now here is what we are to do. This tells us exactly the meaning of it. We don’t do this for some religious ritual so that somehow what we do puts us in right standing with God. We do it because God says if we do, He puts us in right standing with Him. And what are we to do after that? Verse 57, “As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me.’ ” And it is a way of life. It is something that we do. It is something that we live by, we think by, we have our life wrapped up in. Christ is in us, God the Father is in us. It is a way to live. Christ didn’t die in vain to just please men. He died to save the world His way.

Now let’s see what else He says here. Let’s come to verse 63. He says, “ ‘It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” That is, our own physical flesh. And even symbolizing eating His flesh and drinking His blood, it is the spiritual meaning of it, you see. And the spiritual application of renewing the New Covenant, as we have seen on the Passover, which is kept the 14^th day of the first month. “…They are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.’ ” And they didn’t like the saying that Jesus said, “You have to eat My flesh and drink My blood.” So what did they do? They said, “Well, it’s a hard saying. I quit.” See, because it went against their will. And they weren’t willing to follow the will of God the Father and Jesus Christ. So that’s the question. That’s the whole meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as we will see. “For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones that did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, ‘For this reason I have said to you, no one can come to Me unless it has been given to him from My Father’ ” (vs. 63-65, AT). No one – it’s an impossibility. Just like you cannot please God by eating leavened bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It’s an impossibility. So unless you come through Christ and His word, and His gospel, and His way you can’t get to the Father.

Now notice, they couldn’t take that. Verse 66, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.” And then, “Therefore, Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Are you also desiring to go away?’ Then Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed and have known that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ ” So Jesus wanted to set the record straight, because in Matthew 16 Jesus said to Peter when he said, “You are the Christ,” He says, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for My Father has revealed this to you.” (Matt. 16:17, paraphrased). So no one knows the true Christ unless He is revealed by God the Father. So “Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you twelve, and one of you is the devil?’ ” (vs. 66-70, FV). So to believe in your own belief of what you think concerning what the Bible says, and the Word of God, will get you nowhere with God.

Now let’s come to 2 Timothy 3 and let’s see something very profound and important. And to show that the only way that we are going to come to God, come to Jesus Christ and God the Father, is through repentance and a broken heart, and accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and living by the Words of God. Now those who then are teachers will see the command of what they are to do, and it does include the annual Sabbaths. And it does include all the commandments of God.

Now let’s pick it up here in 2 Timothy 3:14. “But as for you [he’s writing to Timothy], continue in the things that you did learn and were assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them;…” Now let’s understand something very important, verse 15. “…And that from a child you have known the holy writings,...” They had, not only the scrolls of the Old Testament in the synagogues before the time of Christ, but they also had personal scrolls. They also had the Septuagint translated from the Hebrew into Greek. “…And you’ve known them from a child…”, which means that he was taught in his home, if you read the first part of 2 Timothy, how that from his Grandmother and Mother, they taught him. So they had the Word of God just like we have the Word of God. Now notice, “…you have known the holy writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:14-15, FV). So this is affirming the need to follow and obey the commandments in what is called the Old Testament.

Verse 16, “All Scripture is God-breathed…” It’s the very Word of God. It’s like when I’m speaking, breath is coming out of my mouth, isn’t it? Well, God breathed. That means that God’s Spirit moved these men to write the very Words of God. So it’s just not the sayings or the thoughts of men. Now because of that “…[it] is profitable for doctrine [from which all teaching comes], for conviction,…” that you have to be, not only know the truth but be convicted of the truth so you can stand for the truth, so you can love the truth, so you can live by the truth. Unless you have conviction you do not have spiritual backbone. And “…for correction,…” because we all need correction – every one of us. We need to let the Word of God correct us. That’s the easiest way. You read the Word of God and you change and repent when you see there’s correction for you.

The next easiest way is for a minister to teach you and read the Scriptures and then you are corrected by that. Then it becomes a little more difficult. If you’re not willing to listen… And many times it’s not a matter of willing to listen, but because some things are hard to learn that we need the experience of trials and difficulties so that we can learn the profound importance of what God wants us to do, and how we are to live. And remember, don’t complain about any trial or difficulty that you’ve come through. Always think on and remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – His beating, His scourging, and His crucifixion – that He went for, for every one of us because He loved us. So that’s why Paul says all these heavy trials are just but for a light moment. And remember this: there is no trial, there is no difficulty, there is no situation that is too great for God. But in those He wants you to turn to Him. Now you see, “…for correction, for instruction in righteousness;…” that we may learn how to be in right standing with God through the power of His Holy Spirit “…so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work” (vs. 16-17, FV). And that’s not only just those who are teaching, but that’s for everyone. That’s why the Word of God is here. That’s why we are to prove all things. That’s why we are to hold fast, which is good, see.

Now then chapter 4, verse 1. “I charge you, therefore, in the sight of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is ready to judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the Word!…” (2 Tim. 4:1-2, FV). Now what does this tell us? How can he preach the Word if he didn’t have it written down? This tells us at the time that Paul was writing to Timothy, that they had the Words of God. They had all the epistles of the apostle Paul.

Now let’s come over here to 1 Timothy 6, and let’s see something that’s very important here. 1 Timothy 6:3. We’ll come back to 2 Timothy in just a minute. 1 Timothy 6:3, “If anyone teaches any different doctrine, and does not adhere to the sound words, even those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine that is according to godliness, he is proud and knows nothing. Rather, he has a morbid attraction to questions and disputes over words, from which come envy, arguments, blasphemy, wicked suspicions, vain reasonings of men who have been corrupted in their minds and are destitute of the truth [sounds like Biblical scholars today, to me] —men who believe that gain is godliness. From such withdraw yourself ” (1 Tim. 6:3-5, FV). Now the point is this: Timothy had to have all the gospels to know the sound words of Jesus Christ, right? Yes, indeed. So this whole thing that the Bible wasn’t written until hundreds of years after the apostles, is nothing more than a Satanic lie given by atheistic scholars who don’t believe the Word of God and have a secret hidden agenda that they want to destroy the Word of God and corrupt it. And in this New Testament you can read the commentary, which absolutely proves that that’s so and that’s their motive. There are very few honest scholars out there in the world, but just enough so that the Word of God and the history and preservation of the text will not be lost.

Now let’s come back to 2 Timothy 4. “Preach the word!” So what is a minister supposed to do? Preach the Word. Not stories, not his ideas, not what he thinks, but the Word of God. Which means in order to preach the Word of God you have to have it. And we have the evidence right here that Timothy had the Old Testament from a child, and that he had the writings of the apostle Paul, that he had the Gospels. So by the time this second epistle is written, every book of the New Testament was available to the New Testament church except the book of Revelation. So that’s amazing to understand.

Now look at the next sentence here. “Be urgent…” Not slovenly, not ho-hum. “Be urgent in season and out of season;…” Now what did we read back there in Leviticus 23? That these are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim in their seasons, right? Therefore all Scripture is God breathed. Therefore this is absolute proof that they were keeping the Passover and the holy days in the early New Testament church and that all of these pagan intrusions came later when the state religion was instituted by Emperor Constantine. “Be urgent in season, out of season; convict, rebuke, encourage, with all patience and doctrine. For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine;…” Now people don’t like that. “Well, that’s harsh. Well, that’s too rigid.” You tell it to God. See if He will accept those excuses. “…But according to their own lusts…” That’s where these things come from. People have lusts. They want to have it their way. They don’t want to do God’s way. They want their own way. They want to be satisfied in their lusts. “…According to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings; and they shall turn away their own ears from the truth; and they shall be turned aside unto myths” (vs. 2-4, FV). That’s exactly what has happened.

You know, I got a letter just a couple of weeks ago… Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 5 now. I got a letter just a couple weeks ago where a man wrote and said, “Well you know that in the New Testament there’s no place which shows that we should keep the feasts of the Old Testament.” Well, as we have already seen in the sermons leading up to the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, yes. Right here in 1 Corinthians 5 you find a direct command by the apostle Paul, the apostles to the Gentiles, writing and speaking to the Gentiles commanding them to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread because they kept the Passover.

Now let’s see it here. Verse 6, “Your glorying is not good.” And of course they were glorying about the situation with the man who had his stepmother in immoral sexual relations. But any kind of glorying is not good over things which are sin. It’s a sin to say that God has delivered us to do all these abominations, meaning the pagan holidays as we already have seen and know, you see. “Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6, FV). A little bit of sin starts it. That’s why God uses leaven as a type of sin during the Days of Unleavened Bread. And He wants us to understand, just like leaven is everywhere, leaven is in the air. And who’s the prince of the power of the air that brings people to sin? Satan the devil. Leaven is so common, it’s in the basic food staples that we eat. It’s in bread, it’s in crackers, it’s in cakes, it’s in all of the things that we just normally take for granted. So during the Feast of Unleavened Bread He wants us to put out the leaven and to eat unleavened bread for seven days as He has said so we learn the lesson that as God has called us out of Egypt, we have our part. And if we don’t put the leaven out of our homes, and I’ve seen this time and time again down through the years for now 38 years as a minister, that when people don’t put leaven out of their homes – a simple little thing – within a short period of time they no longer understand what sin is. And they redefine sin according to their own ideas, sin according to their interpretation of the Scriptures.

No notice what He says here, verse 7. “Therefore, purge out the old leaven,…” We’re go get it out of our homes, and also there’s a spiritual lesson here. Purge out the old human nature, see. “…That you may become a new lump,…” that is, that you may be molded into that new person in Christ. “…Even as you are unleavened.” Showing that they had their houses unleavened. It couldn’t mean anything other than that. Now here’s the reason. Some people say, “Well why do you keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread?” Turn right here, here’s the answer. “For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us” (vs. 7, FV). Because of Christ we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now most people think because of Christ we keep Easter. God never said so. “Because of Christ we keep Lent. Because of Christ we keep Ash Wednesday.” Where do you find that in the Bible? It’s not there. Those are things that men who did not want to hear the truth, as we read back there in 2 Timothy 4, wanted to turn to myths and lies and have new teachings that please men, that accept all the sins of the world. That’s what those are. See, we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread and put the leaven out of our homes, and eat unleavened bread seven days because God said so. Because Christ was our Passover Who was sacrificed for us. So if you want to claim the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you do not keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and you do not keep the Passover, you have no part with Him. Now you see, that’s very clear.

Now notice verse 8, here’s the direct command. “For this reason,…” Because of the fact of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Passover day. That’s why He’s called our Passover. “For this reason, let us keep the feast,...” There can be no doubt it’s the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It’s not Easter, it’s not Lent, it’s not Sunday-keeping. It is the Feast. Now notice, “…Not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (vs. 8, FV). And that’s what God wants us to have. He wants us to have a nature that is filled with truth from the Spirit of Truth by the God of Truth and Jesus Christ, Who is the way, the truth, and the life. And the only way that that can be is if we understand that we must have our natures unleavened spiritually that we become the new creature in Christ. And that eating the unleavened bread shows us that we are to live by every Word of God and to understand that God’s way is the way that it is.

Now let’s come to Psalm 34. Let’s see something that’s very important which ties in with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and ties in with the meaning of living by every Word of God. And this is New Testament doctrine here that we’re going to read in Psalm 34. Very profound. Very important for us to understand. And this is the whole meaning of it. You see, Christ is the sinless one. Christ, Who knew no sin, became the sacrifice for us, and He is the one that we are able to continuously come to, to come to God the Father to have our sins forgiven, to grow in grace and knowledge, to understand the Word of God.

Now let’s see what it says here. Psalm 34:4, “I sought the LORD, and He heard me [so you’ve got to come to God], and delivered me from all my fears.” See, we’ve got to trust God. That’s what the whole Feast of Unleavened Bread is picturing – you trust God. “They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Part of the blessings of God. Part of the blessings that you hardly ever see or know or recognize. Maybe you can look back and see how angels may have delivered you from some things, but you don’t know that they are there. Now notice verse 8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good:…” That’s why we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We taste the Word of God, we digest it spiritually speaking, it becomes a part of us. That we think with the Word of God, we have it written in our hearts and in our minds. “…Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psa. 34:4-8). Now you see, so that’s what we need to do.

Let’s come down here to verse 14. This shows part of how to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “Depart from evil [put the leaven out], and do good [put righteousness in]; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.” Now verse 18, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (vs. 14-15, 18-19). Those are the promises that God gives for keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread.