Passover and Unleavened Bread #1

Fred R. Coulter—March 3, 2012

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath Services. We've been going through and seeing how the holidays of this world have nothing to do with what's in the Bible. As a matter of fact, all the holidays of this world have been condemned by God.

Let's come here to Mark 9, and let's see a very interesting thing. I have covered this situation numerous times, but now is quite appropriate to do so, because the letter you'll be getting this month—and it's for March and April because of the timing of the Holy Days—I examine all the practices that the world has concerning Lord's Supper, communion, Eucharist, Sacrifice of the Mass, etc. and just wrote down all the things that they do. That's not only, not counting that they don't do it on the right day and the right manner. But it's amazing. We're to be in covenant with God, through the death of Christ and through our death in the watery grave we're conjoined together. Jesus' death is His covenant pledge and the sacrifice has to be at the start of a covenant.

That's why when we come to understand Christ, before we receive the Holy Spirit we have to repent and be baptized. That baptism joins us with the crucifixion of Christ and that is our covenant death. So, Jesus died as pledged in Gen. 15. We die in the watery grave. We're joined together. Since Christ was perfected before He died, we are perfected after we die in the watery grave and growing and overcoming as a way of life, as the way of life is the way that we live our lives, faithful unto the end. We're to grow in grace and knowledge, grow in understanding with the Word of God.

There have always been from the beginning those who would do things that God said not to do. There would be even those who do things in Jesus' name, but were not a part of those who were going to be in the Church of God. Yet they were using Jesus' name. Today the world's filled with them. Mark 9:38: "Then John answered Him, saying, 'Master, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbad him because he does not follow us.'"

Notice Jesus' answer, because this helps bring us some understanding—what happened to all the people that heard Jesus? Thousands and thousands heard Jesus. What happened to the thousands that were fed? The 4,000, the 5,000 twice! What happened to all of those who were healed? Thousands were healed. Where did they go? What were their lives?
Remember the case of the ten blind men? They said, 'Oh, heal us.' Jesus said, 'Go show yourself to the priest.' And as they turned to go, they were healed. Only one came back to thank Him and that was a Samaritan. What happened with all the notoriety of Jesus during that time? And to add a little more to understanding why there were such large crowds, was because the first year of His ministry was a Jubilee Year and there was no planting, there was no plowing. There was release of slavery, and all of this. So there were a lot of people around.

Verse 39: "But Jesus said, 'Do not forbid him; for no one who does a work of power in My name can easily speak evil of Me…. [Does that not fit about 99% of the Protestants? Were they with Jesus? That is, a part of the spiritual group.] …And the one who is not against you is for you'"—or on our part. There are a lot of Protestants that are for Jesus, but they're all mixed up in all kinds of things. Let's see where it leads. Isn't it interesting how when you need to understand what's going on, that you come back to Scriptures that you have referred to over and over again, because they continue to give the answer to it. Jesus even made note of this right at the beginning of His ministry.

Yesterday I talked to a man in Mississippi who had been an Anglican minister. He left the Anglican Church—remember when they ordained that man who was a homosexual as a bishop? He left and he said that split the Anglican Church. He's been receiving our material for a long time.

I asked him, 'Do you have any of our books?' He said, 'Yeah,' he rattled them almost all off. I said, 'Do you have the Passover book?' He said, 'Yeah, I have the Passover book?' So, it's very interesting that through ChurchatHome.com, coupled with CBCG.org we're reaching a lot of people.

We are not up, I think it's this month, combining CBCG.org, audio and video, ChurchatHome.com and the Spanish websites—so those are the four main websites that we have. Last month we reached 67,000 for the month; downloaded all kinds of material. I've got the report at home, just hundreds of gigabytes of material. I think it was 434 gigabytes of material. That's a lot of material; that's a half a terabyte—right? So, we're reaching them.

I wonder how far different ones will go, because Jesus made allowance for it here in Matt. 7, and told the disciple John to let him go. Don't forbid him. But notice what happens at the end, because they're not in the classification of true prophets. These are the ones who come proclaiming that Jesus is Christ and yet will end up deceiving many, as Jesus said, Matt. 24.

Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord'... [or Jesus, Jesus] ...shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father, Who is in heaven." The ultimate question that needs to be asked is: What is the will of the Father that we may be doing it? Because that's a requirement—right? Yes! What is it? Well, obviously it's the commandments of God!

Come over here to John 12, and again we've covered these Scriptures before in the past. But it seems like every time you read them it gives you more understanding even of things that you have already understood.

John 12:37: "Although He had done so many miracles in their presence, they did not believe in Him." What is it going to take to get some people to believe? 'Many are called, but few are chosen!' What they have to do is really seek God, not just listen and criticize or listen and say, 'That sounds good. Hey, I've got a way of doing it here.'

Verse 38: "So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled who said, 'Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' For this very reason they could not believe because again Isaiah said" (vs 38-39).

Why do you suppose that that man that John forbad casting out demons, why do you suppose he was using Jesus' name and wasn't following Him? Obviously it had to be because he wanted to do it his way. Astonishing! The comment was made that years ago in Mexico, it's still true today, that those who practice witchcraft have pictures of Jesus and those who come in for the witchcraft things, they pray in the name of Jesus.

How many times have I said that the prophecies will be fulfilled to the maximum? Well, Jesus said, 'Many will come in My name.' But what happens if they're not doing the will of the Father in heaven? So, we're putting Matt. 7 together with John 12.

When you don't believe, when you will not listen, when you don't repent, when you hear you need to repent, here's what happens, v 40: "'He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that they would not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I would heal them.'"

I wonder for how many good Protestants that's a tough pill to swallow that Jesus said He didn't want them converted at that time. After all, the whole work and endeavor of Protestants is to get them all saved, because if they're not saved before they die, they're going to burn in hell forever.
"'...understand with their hearts, and be converted and I would heal them'" (v 40). You can have a lot of things, but unless there's repentance and belief, you can't go any further. In other words, that's the first key to open the door.

Verse 41: "Isaiah said these things when he saw His glory and spoke concerning Him. But even so, many among the rulers believed in Him.… [Now enters in politics. You can't have politics and also when you go up against the establishment. Were the Pharisees the establishment? Yes, indeed! Just like today, Protestants and Catholics, they're establishment Christianity.] ...But even so, many among the rulers believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God" (vs 41-43). If you come to repentance you have to do what Jesus said in counting the cost.

Verse 44: "Then Jesus called out and said, 'The one who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him Who sent Me'" (vs 44-45). Once you're in covenant with God, you're put in direct contact with God the Father. When you pray, you pray to God the Father in Jesus' name. Doesn't mean you can't pray to Jesus, but Jesus said, 'You pray to the Father, for the Father Himself loves you.' So, you're believing in the Father.

Verse 45: "And the one who sees Me sees Him Who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world so that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. But if anyone hears My words and does not believe..." (vs 45-47). That's probably what happened with that man who was casting out demons that wasn't following Him. Probably what happened with those who come along and preach another Jesus. They really don't believe the Word of God. Because, you see, just like today, the more you get into the Word of God, the more that you understand the Word of God is the right way. And the more when you look at what's in the world, you understand, 'How did they do that?'

He says, v 46: "I have come as a light into the world so that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. But if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world" (vs 46-47). He had to accomplish that first. Judgment, and in this case He's talking about final judgment. There are interim judgments along the way, because He said to the Pharisees and scribes, 'I have many things to judge concerning you.' Those were the intermediate things, not the final judgment.

"...for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world…. [There is no way that anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances is going to get away with not giving an account of themselves to God. We all have to come before the judgment seat of God.] …The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has one who judges him; the word which I have spoken, that shall judge him in the last day…. [we find out what the will of the Father is right here]: …For I have not spoken from Myself; but the Father, Who sent Me, gave Me commandment Himself, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore, whatever I speak, I speak exactly as the Father has told Me" (vs 47-50). That's why He was pleasing God. Just like with us.

Anyone who is going to teach and preach, you better preach the words of God, the words of Christ, the way that they are. No politics, no favorites, just straight the way that it is, because that's how it's going to be.

With all of these things in mind, let's come back here to Matt. 7:21, because there will be a lot of people doing this, many different ways. Also, down in Latin America if there's a native practice, they just give it a Christian name—don't they? You just take it, say, 'Okay, this is okay with God. We'll bless it, just change the name, you continue doing that.'

I saw a special of a priest who was—I don't know how he got way back there in the jungle of Peru, down over the Andes in the Amazon Valley, right at the headwaters of it. There was a headhunting Indian tribe there. He prided himself that he converted them and he changed the name of the practices that they did for head hunting. But, now of course, they're not supposed to do head hunting. Yet, you can still find the shrunken heads.

Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father, Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name? And did we not cast out demons through Your name?.… [Just like that man that Jesus said, 'Let him alone.'] ...And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?'" (vs 21-22). Jesus isn't going to say, 'Oh, wonderful, I'm glad you did that.'

Verse 23: "And then I will confess to them, 'I never knew you.… [think about that] ...Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness.'" That means that since they didn't follow Christ and they didn't obey what He said and what He said were the words of the Father and they weren't doing the will of the Father, so they get off on their own course and they get worse and worse. They have lawlessness reign in the name of Christ.

What is so great about the Bible is this: When you go to the Scriptures and you put the Scriptures together and understand what they say, then you get the full picture, because not everything is in one place.

Verse 24: "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and practices them, I will compare him to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock; and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; but it did not fall, for it was founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not practice them shall be compared to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand; and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it'" (vs 24-27).

Guillermo gave us that example down in Mexico—now I'm going to give you another example of how far people go astray still using the name of Jesus. They use it very literal and they use mostly what Paul teaches, but they claim they use this Scripture: Rom. 15:8. Just because they use the Bible doesn't mean they're correct. Do they use the whole Bible? That's the question! Do they believe the whole Bible? They come to this one verse, read the Bible and then preach a sermon based upon this one verse.

Romans 15:8: "Now I tell you that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the Truth of God, so that He might confirm the promises given to the fathers." They stop right there and say, 'Therefore, everything that Jesus taught in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John was for the Jews and now we follow Paul and his gospel.' You see where it's gotten us, but isn't that true.

What are the Holy Days of God? We've seen what are not the Holy Days of God, so let's come back here to Lev. 23 and let's see all the Holy Days are listed back here. People say, 'That's in the Old Testament.' I know it, but every word of God is inspired—right? Remember this: there are physical applications for the children of Israel and there are spiritual applications.

• Physical applications were for the children of Israel and the Old Covenant.
• Spiritual applications are for those who are Christians and who have the Spirit of God.

There were lessons for the children of Israel for the Holy Days for them and there are lessons for us today built upon that foundation as to why we keep the Holy Days. But here is the main thing that's important to understand. This is how we know that whatever Moses spoke, it was from God. I wonder how many times it says that in the first five books.

Leviticus 23:1 "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts"'" (vs 1-2). We've covered the appointed times. We've covered some things concerning the Passover, so today we're going to cover a little more concerning the Passover.

Notice, the key thing that sanctifies all the annual Holy Days, v 3: "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings." You have the 4th commandment introducing all the Holy Days—the seventh-day weekly Sabbath. All the Holy Days are the annual Sabbaths.

Verse 4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons…. [God is the One Who appointed the seasons. God is the One Who set the time and He keeps track of the time.] …In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD'S Passover" (vs 4-5).

There's a little star right after 'two evenings,' and the star in the margin is between sunset and dark. I have a very thick Passover book—The Christian Passover—which is quite detailed and you need to have a certain grounding in the Bible before you start reading that because that is really some very heavy reading and writing. So, you need to be grounded.

Needless to say, what one day has religion polluted more than any other day? The Passover! Why? Because that's what God used to start His covenant with the children of Israel! He finished it at Sinai. That's what He used for the day for the crucifixion of Christ, as we saw, chosen from the foundation of the world. If you're Satan the devil, and you want to cause a lot of confusion, what do you do? You ask: What is the main thing that I can do to confuse more people than anything else? What day is the most important day which puts them in contact with God?' Sabbath! Passover!

Passover becomes the most important for Christians because that is the covenant day. If you can get them moved away from the Passover Day to something else, what are you doing? You take them out of covenant with God! Then you move them away and they get used to it and then you add a little change in the practice.

Move them a little farther; add another change to the practice. Move them a little farther—look at where it's led. That's why we have that Christian Passover book that's 500 pages, because it has been attacked so much by so many in so many different ways that it is really unbelievable. Between the two evenings is between sunset and dark. We will see how that fits in with the Passover.

Verse 6: "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days." That means just what it says. I've heard questions in the past: 'Do I have to eat unleavened bread every day during the Feast?' How do you read it?

Let's come to Exodus 12; I'm not going to go through the thing with Abraham and God in Gen. 15. You can do that in The Christian Passover book or in the book, The Day Jesus the Christ Died. The children of Israel were in Egypt and they were all wrapped up in the Egyptian way of doing things. God even said in another location when the children of Israel were rebelling, He said, 'Well, nigh, I should have exterminated them in Egypt.' That's how bad they were in Egypt and Egypt is the epitome of absolute wrong things to do and Satan worship and all of that.

It's very likely—if you read the account of Exo. 31 about Aaron making the golden calf—he was an idol maker in Egypt. They were really far away from God. Yet, because of the promise that God gave to Abraham, He was taking them out of their slavery. You can read of all the miracles and all the plagues and everything that took place.

So then, before we get into Exodus 12, God told Moses, 'There's one more plague that's going to happen. I'm going to kill the firstborn of man and beast and that includes the firstborn of girls,' girls who are firstborn because He said, 'even the girl slave…' That's a lot of people. Pharaoh got angry and said, 'Get out of here and never see my face again.' And that happened.

Exodus 12:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you'" (vs 1-2). Who set the time? God did! Today we have the calculated Hebrew calendar.

Verse 3: "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father's house, a lamb for a house. And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, you shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish... [because that's a type of Christ] ...a male of the first year... [male is also a type of Christ] ...You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats'" (vs 3-5). I want you to notice—no bovines. Make note of that; no calves. We'll talk about that a little later. It is only from the sheep or from the goats.
Verse 6: "And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month... [we've covered that already] ...And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings." As soon as the sun went down below the horizon there was the mass slaying of all the lambs, all at once. This was quite an occasion. Then they put the blood on the two sideposts and up on the upper doorposts of the houses in which they shall eat it. They were told, 'Do not go out of your house until morning.' Some people who think that's midnight. But morning in the Hebrew means sunrise.

You can only still have a terrible hangover from being really drunk if you wake up and sunrise and say it's midnight. Here's what they were to do with it. I want you to note something else here, because it will come up a little later on.

Verse 8: "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water..." (vs 8-9). That's important to understand, especially when we come to Deut. 16, because misread can give the appearance that the Passover was changed in the Scriptures, but that's not the case.

"...its head with its legs... [be one whole] ...and with its inward parts…. [That's the heart, the liver, and the kidneys.] …And you shall not let any of it remain until the morning. And that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. And this is the way you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in trepidation…." (vs 9-11). The King James says 'haste,' and that's very misleading. It's trepidation, because of the fearful things that were going to happen that night.

"…It is the LORD'S Passover" (v 11). Not the Jews, not the Israelites, the Lords, because

• He's the One Who created the day
• He's the One Who gave the instruction
• He is the One Who gave the time

So, it belongs to the Lord, it is His Passover.

Verse 12: "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD."

This refers right to the first commandment—doesn't it? Which is: 'I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before Me.' The reason He executed the judgment against all the gods of Egypt was to show the children of Israel they are not to worship them. These are not gods. Whatever the image is, it's not God. If there seems to be a spiritual presence with it, it's because there are evil spirits accompanying it. Did He not destroy it?

I'll give you a reading assignment: You go ahead and read all the plagues that occurred. Because here at the time of giving this Bible study, think about this: We've had tornados yesterday and today—I think it's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday back there in the Midwest. A couple of towns got hit twice, 38 people are dead. Look at those wasted places. Think of that when you're reading all the plagues that came along and what God did. Don't you think with the wind, with the rain, with the hail, there were tornados with it? Of course! So, He judged all the gods of Egypt and especially the Pharaoh. You know the movie The Ten Commandments the Pharaoh has his crown. What does he have on his crown? A cobra, a serpent and he represented the manifestation of the sun-god in the flesh.

The last emperor in our age to do so was Emperor Hirohito of Japan. He was allowed to live by Douglas MacArthur, only on the condition that he would tour the country over and over again and make the people look him straight in the eye and tell them eye-to-eye that 'I am not God,' because they couldn't look at him. The emperor would come, they would have to put their head down. That's a good way to fool everybody; you can never look at them. That that's why Exodus is important. This tells us about all idols. And then what is the second commandment? You shall not make any graven image, etc.

Verse 13: "And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you... [that's where you get the name Passover] ...And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt…. [Then He gives the command—after all these instructions]: …And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast as a law forever" (vs 13-14).

So, the time it's to be kept is forever. And it continues on in the true Church of God, with true Christians, who are in covenant with God. We'll cover some of those things a little later.

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Let's continue on and see the instructions that God gave concerning the Passover.

Exodus 12:21: "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them..." He had to give them the instructions and they had to go back and tell the people directly. Today we can use telephones, we can use e-mail, we can use printed word and all of that sort of thing.
"...'Draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.... [last sentence of v 22]: ...And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise'" (vs 21-22).

The King James says 'morning.' Sunrise! Everybody can tell when sunrise is sunrise—right? Sunrise does not mean midnight. In fighting for the Truth concerning the changing of Passover, those who want to keep the 15th Passover say, 'They did it on the 15th and they left their houses at midnight, because that was morning.' But the Hebrew is sunrise, so we translated it correctly.

Verse 23: "For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as a law to you and to your children forever'" (vs 23-24).

I want you to note v 25-26, because one of the false teachings is to combine the Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread together, but they are two different things. We have to establish why the Passover:

Verse 25: "And it shall be when you have come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as He has promised that you shall keep this service. And it will be, when your children shall say to you, 'What does this service mean to you?' Then you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S Passover...'" (vs 25-27). They were doing the sacrifice of the lamb at their houses and the children were asking the father, 'Daddy, what are you doing?'

"...'It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S Passover, Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses.' And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did" (vs 27-28). They stayed in their houses.

We will see the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is connected with the Passover, but separate from and different.

Verse 29: "And it came to pass at midnight and the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive that was in the prison, also all the firstborn of livestock." You talk about a lot of dead people. That's about one in five.

Verse 30: "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And during the night he sent word to Moses and Aaron saying, 'Rise up! Get away from my people, both you and the children of Israel! And go serve the LORD, as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone. And bless me also'" (vs 30-32).

Then they left. They spoiled the Egyptians. They have the unleavened bread all ready to go, packed up in their knapsacks. And the children of Israel did as God and Moses commanded them. They took articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing from the Egyptians. They had to take the spoils of the Egyptians on the day portion of the Passover Day, because it started out right after sunset. You go all night, midnight there's the Passover. You stay in the house till sunrise. What do you do at sunrise? You come out of the house and you go from your houses to Rameses! They had to assemble at Rameses, because we will see, that's where they began to leave Egypt.

Now the movie by Cecil B. deMille is on what was the Exodus, he did an excellent job and stuck to the Scriptures very well. Here's the part that he doesn't cover.

Now let's come back to v 15, because here we talk about the Feast of Unleavened Bread. "You shall eat unleavened bread seven days... [that's in addition to the Passover Day] ...even the first day you shall have put away leaven out of your houses..." And we do that today. Why do we do it today? Because leaven is pictured as a type of sin, as we'll see a little later on. Leaven is everywhere, just like sin is everywhere. During the seven days, leaven is a type of sin—we put it out.

For them it was a special eating of the unleavened bread, because they couldn't carry the other bread. And they couldn't take any other food with them, just the unleavened bread. When they would take a break, they would eat the unleavened bread that they had cooked. When they stopped for the night, then they would take some of the dough and obviously then they would roll it flat and cook it very quickly over the flames.

"...for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel" (v 15). How is a person cut off from Israel? Did He remove them from the land? No, just withheld blessings! That's how you're cut off. You're cut off from the blessings of God.

Verse 16: "And in the first day there shall be a Holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a Holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. And you shall..."'" (vs 16-17). Here's the reason now.

• There was a reason for the Passover
• There is a reason for the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Just like everything that God does, there's a reason.

• There's a reason for the Sabbath
• There's a reason for all the Holy Days
• There's a reason why God says don't eat unclean foods—He wants you healthy

But today, we have to fight more than that, because some of the foods we eat are not good for us, even though they may be clean foods to eat.

Verse 17 explains about the Feast of Unleavened Bread: "And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread... [notice the difference between this and the Passover] ...for in the very same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep this day in your generations as a law forever."

The first time that I read that in the King James—v 18 compared to v 6—it said in v 6 you shall kill it at even. Here it would read 'in the evening.' And a minister said, 'Verse 6 is one day, v 18 is another day, the next day.' I said, 'Okay, but how do I know that?'

Let's read v 18, and then we'll understand very clearly. We already know the 14th day of the first month is the Passover Day when the lamb was to be killed right after sunset, between the two evenings. Sunset begins the day—correct? Yes! And it also ends the day. You come to end of the day. You have the beginning of the day and the end of the day.

Verse 18: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset..." How do we know this is the sunset that ends the day? It can be confusing! I'll show you in just a minute.

"...you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at sunset. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread" (vs 18-20).

Leviticus 23:32 tells us about the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is very important, because

• no work was to be done
• not any work was to be done
• no one was to do any work of any kind

He said it three times!

Also it was important that everyone keep the day at the same time. Why? Because if you didn't keep it, God said He would cut you off and destroy you from among the people! You don't want that happening to you. So, He defined it very clearly concerning the sunset.

This is for the Day of Atonement, which is a Sabbath, Leviticus 23:32: "It... [the Day of Atonement] ...shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves.… [by fasting] ...In the ninth day of the month at sunset, from sunset to sunset, you shall keep your Sabbath."

Think about this for a minute. Since it says, v 27: "Also, on the tenth day of this seventh month, is the Day of Atonement…." The 10th day.

Verse 32 again: "In the ninth day of the month at sunset... [evening; that has to end the 9th day and it must begin the 10th day; very clear] ...from sunset... [of the 9th day] ...to sunset... [of the 10th day] ...you shall keep your Sabbath." That defines the 10th day, from sunset on the 9th day to sunset on the 10th day.

Let's take what we've learned with this and come back here to Exodus and we will solve the problem very easily. Since the 14th day is the Passover and at midnight God passed over, in the day portion of the Passover Day, still the 14th, they spoiled the Egyptians. They went and gathered at Rameses. Sunset is coming, sunset of the 14th.

Exodus 12:18: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset... [That's ending the 14th, because the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the 15th, just like the Day of Atonement. Ninth day of the month from sunset to sunset, that's the 10th day. The 14th day of the month at sunset, that ends the 14th, and begins the 15th] ...you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at sunset"—which ends the day of the 21st.
Let's do some counting: 15-16-17-18-19-20-21—7 days. It begins over here as the 14th day ends, the 15th begins; 15-16-17-18-19-20-21—and it ends it. I remember the first time I heard that, as I said, and I wondered and wondered at that a good number of years. But there it is when you understand the Hebrew—it's right there. So, in the Faithful Version, we have translated it correctly to remove that stumbling block.

He brought them out of the land of Egypt beginning the 15th. We're going to start talking about the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins as the sun sets on the 14th the 15th begins.

Verse 37: "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from little ones." Also a mixed multitude, they baked unleavened bread, etc.

Verse 40: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.... [This goes back to Gen. 15—430 years.] ...And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day..." (vs 40-41). Just like God selected the Passover Day for the Lamb of God to be slain, Jesus Christ, from the foundation of the world, He selected this very day and told Abraham that they would come out with substance from the land that they were enslaved in. Here it is fulfilled. To the same day that God told Abraham that it would occur. That was right after sunset that that occurred.

Verse 41: "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It... [beginning the 15th day] ...is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD... [He owns it] ...to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations" (vs 41-42).

I got an e-mail just yesterday and a man said that the Night to Be Observed was something that Herbert W. Armstrong invented. I wrote him back. I said, 'No, he didn't invent it.' I quoted the verses here: it belongs to the Lord. He said that you shall observe it. That's why we observe it.

For the children of Israel, they were coming out of Egypt. For us spiritually, we come out of the world—right? And the world is pictured as Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8), so we are coming out of Egypt. As Guillermo has been telling us, that witchcraft is everywhere in the world and becoming more and more.

You know how many witches there are in the United States today? 2-million! And they even have Wiccan chaplains in the services! How far off has the world gone? Think of it!

Yes, there's meaning for us. Aren't you glad that God has called you, told you come out of the world? How do you live in the world, but come out of the world? You live God's way and practice His way, rather than practicing the way of the world and living their way! It's not easy, but that's what God has said.

Verse 42: "It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations."

Let's put it together with this year: Thursday night as it's getting dark we keep the Passover, because the Passover Day begins at sunset on Thursday night, April 5. At sunset April 6 we begin keeping the Night to Be Much Observed. Then on the day portion of that day we have regular services for the Holy Day, which then is April 7, which happens to fall on a regular Sabbath this year.

I want you to pay particular attention to this year in relationship to the day Jesus the Christ died and the three days and three nights. The only year that Jesus could have been crucified in was the year 30A.D. The Passover was in the middle of the week on a Wednesday. This year it's on a Friday. How could you have Jesus crucified on a Friday, put in the grave Friday night, was there Saturday day, and was there Saturday night, and make that be three days and three nights? There's no way! If anyone says there's a Friday crucifixion when Jesus was crucified, is incorrect.

The only reason they selected 33A.D. with a Friday Passover was why? So they could have it fall on 'Good Friday'! They change everything that is in the Bible and they make it suit what they want it make it suit and then they have to then build all kinds of myths and fables and lies to try and portray that they're telling the truth to people that don't know.

That's the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We're to remember this day, and here's something that's also important. This day became a day to sanctify all the firstborn, because God says, 'All the firstborn are Mine. All the males belong to Me, man and beast.'

Exodus 13—notice I put the last verse of chapter twelve before the first verse of chapter thirteen, because that's how it reads in the Hebrew.

Exodus 12:51: "And it came to pass the very same day, when the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. [13:1]: Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Sanctify... [or that is set aside to Me for a Holy purpose] ...all the firstborn to Me...'" (vs 1-2).

This is important for us to understand so when we go to Deut. 16 we can understand. Granted, there are some things that are difficult to understand, but if you take it step-by-step and you apply the rules of Bible study and you understand when a day begins and when a day ends and what was to be done, then you know what it's talking about.

"...whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, of man and of beast. It is Mine. And Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for the LORD brought you out from this place by the strength of His hand. There shall be no leavened bread eaten'" (vs 2-3).

Spiritual application, did God call us out of the world? Did it have to be by the strength of His Spirit? Yes, we had to choose we wanted to come! There's the spiritual lesson. We'll look at the physical lesson and the spiritual lesson.

Verse 4: "On this day you are going out, in the month Abib"—which then is green ears. Then it talks about when they get in the land they'll keep this service.

Verse 6: "You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, and in the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD…. [The 1st day is a Holy Day, the 7th day is a Holy Day.] …Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with you, nor shall there be leaven seen with you in all your borders. And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out from Egypt'" (v 6-8).

What are we to remember concerning the Passover compared to this? He passed over their houses at midnight and spared the firstborn! Now. the 15th is: 'this is because what the Lord did for me when I came out from Egypt.'

Verse 9: "And it shall be a sign to you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD'S law may be in your mouth...'" Today it's to be in our minds. Of course, in unleavening, getting rid of the leaven, where does sin reside in human beings? In the mind!

We need to be unleavened in Christ, and with the Spirit of God, God is doing the housecleaning of getting the leaven and sin out of our minds and out of our lives and replacing it with

• His laws
• His commandments
• His Word

And today we have the whole Bible, so what God can do if we yield to God and understand is fantastic.

Verse 10: "You shall therefore keep this law in its season from year-to-year. And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and shall give it to you, You shall set apart to the LORD all that opens the womb, and every firstborn that comes of any animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD'S" (vs 10-12).

There should be a special thank offering for the daughters. Notice how important the firstborn is and when you understand and we'll cover this when we get toward Pentecost, the Church is called the Church of the Firstborn. Those who are in the first resurrection will all be the firstborn. There's the spiritual lesson. Jesus was the first of the firstfruits, the first of the firstborn. Let's see how important this is.

Verse 13: "And every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck.… [You're confronted with a choice. Do you want the lamb or a dead donkey that can do work for you? Choose giving a lamb!] ...And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem."

Meaning, they had to give an offering of thanksgiving to redeem them, because they were all dedicated by birth to God. Only the Levites could be used in the service of God directly. All the rest of the firstborn of the rest of the tribes of Israel were not used in the service of God, but to show the particular blessing of being the firstborn, God said you shall redeem.

God explains why, v 14: "And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'The LORD brought us out of Egypt by the strength of His hand, from the house of bondage. And to came to pass when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that opens the womb, that are males. But all the firstborn of my sons I redeem'" (vs 14-15). This is also showing spiritually how God redeems us—correct? Yes!

With that in mind, let's come to Deuteronomy 16. Now, Deut. 16 is a little problematic. The reason it is problematic is because of the wording; the way that Ezra wrote it, but we can understand it. Here is where a lot of people turn, especially the Jews, because they believe in a fifteen Passover—and let me just mention this:

Why do the Jews today believe in a 15th Passover, instead of a 14th Passover? That has been an enigma to a lot, a lot of people. They can read in the Bible, the Passover's on the 14th day. You go to a Jew and say, 'What day is the Passover?' 'The 15th.' How did that happen? Two reasons:

• They had to be within the land of Israel to keep a 14th Passover. (We can cover that later. That's in the Passover book and that's found in Num. 9.)
• If they were out of the land, they couldn't keep a 14th Passover, but they could keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning on the 15th.

What happened when they were exiled in 586B.C. and sent off to Babylon in captivity? They couldn't keep a 14th Passover, because they weren't in the land. What did the Jews do? Those who came back to the land after 70 years kept it again on the 14th, the way it should be.

Those in exile kept a 15th and they called Passover, all eight days, because they added an extra day the 22nd day to make it eight days all together. A little sleight of hand? 'Hocus-pocus-dominocus.' The shell game! Put it under the shell—which one is it under? That one, no this one. That one, no this one. Yup!

Deuteronomy 16:1: "Keep the month of Abib... [observe or keep, they're interchangeable] ...and observe the Passover to the LORD your God... [Full stop in the Hebrew. We have the Passover in the month of Abib unto the Lord your God. Now, more happened—didn't it? Yes, so it continues!] ...For in the month of Abib, the LORD your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night." They started going at sunset, beginning the 15th.

I want you to listen very carefully. This took me years to figure out. Dolores will verify that after I had done the first A Harmony of the Gospels and we were confronted by Jewish experts who came to the Worldwide Church of God and said, 'Passover's on the 15th, not the 14th.' That's when I really started digging in to find out about this. That's how I discovered all of these things. But I said, 'If the Jews are correct, we should do what they say. But if they are not correct by the Scriptures, we should not do what they say.'

Here's the key, v 2: "And you shall therefore sacrifice the Passover offering to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place His name there"—instead of your house.

You see anything there that catches your attention? The herd! What were the instructions in Exo. 12 that we read? You shall select it from the flock, a lamb or a kid! How did the herd get in there? Have you ever heard of the Passover calf? And why 'in the place which the Lord shall choose to place His name'? What are we talking about? What did we just cover concerning the firstborn in Exo. 13? They were to redeem them—right? After they kept the Passover on the 14th and they were in the area of Jerusalem where the temple was, what do you think they did for the male children that were born during that year?

On the day portion of the Passover Day, they would go to the temple and they would offer the sacrifice to redeem—correct? To redeem the unclean animal and to redeem your sons! These became known as Passover offerings. They could offer the flock, they could offer the herd.

If you were especially proud of your firstborn son, you could offer a whole bullock, but you're certainly not going to take that and use it as a Passover house offering. Can you imagine? It would take you more than one night on a spigot to roast a full bullock; 600 pounds dressed, and you want it well done and the meat is this thick.

I remember pondering this. Why do they say the 15th and they point here to Deut. 16? Why do they say the 15th? I read that and I remember I was lying in bed reading this and I read the herd. BANG! A light went on and I said, 'That's it! This is not the Passover sacrifice. This is not called the Passover sacrifice, but a Passover offering, which was the redemption offering during the Passover Day to start the Night to Be Much Observed, preparation for it.'

You will see that everything is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The only thing having to do with Passover is in v 1, you're to observe it.

Verse 2: "And you shall therefore sacrifice the Passover offering to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place His name there…. [That's where you go to redeem it at the temple.] …You shall eat no leavened bread with it... [That is, with the offering of redemption.] ...Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it..." (vs 2-3). Because those offerings they could eat until the third day. Anything left at the end of the third day, they were to dispose of it, because they didn't have refrigerators and 'Ziplock' bags. Today we can put things in a refrigerator in zip lock bags and if we want to keep it longer, in the freezer.

The unleavened bread is called: "...the bread of affliction, for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day that you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life" (v 3). Unleavened bread—correct? Yes!

That's why the Jews relabeled Unleavened Bread as Passover. If you would ask a Jew—and I only found one quote by a Karaite rabbi who admitted the truth and that quote is in The Christian Passover book. You wouldn't want to ask a Jew, 'Well, why do you keep a 15th Passover instead of a 14th Passover?' He is not going to tell you, 'Because we have sinned and God is angry with us and He has exiled us away so we can't keep a 14th Passover.'

All you have to do is repent and accept Jesus and you can. Because that's what Jesus kept and that's what Jesus told His disciples to teach all that would be converted. No! He said, 'They changed it from a domestic sacrifice to a temple sacrifice. Yeah, that's it.' Then they quote Deut. 16[transcriber's correction] and they stay away from Exo. 12. The problem is you have to have agreement between Exo. 12 and Deut. 16 from the point of view there are no contradictions in the Scripture. There has to be a proper and a right answer as to what the difference really is. This is the difference. Let's notice something else. And this also got me out of bed the second time.

Verse 4: "And there shall be no leaven seen with you in all your borders for seven days. Nor shall any of the flesh which you sacrificed in the first day at sunset remain all night until the morning…. [They were to eat it, so they stayed up all night.] …You may not sacrifice the Passover offering within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you" (vs 4-5). It doesn't say you may not sacrifice the Passover lamb. This is the Passover offering, which is the redemption of the firstborn, not the Passover lamb for the Passover that you could observe in your own home.

Verse 6: "But at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place His name in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover offering at sunset, at the going down of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt"—which was ending the 14th, beginning the 15th.

Here's another jump-out-of-bed experience, v 7: "And you shall boil and eat it..." Boil? What did it say in Exo. 12? Most translations say you shall roast it, but the Hebrew—I was reading the Hebrew Interlinear—said boil. I got out my handy-dandy trusty King James, found out it was wrong. It said you shall roast. I went back to Exo. 12 and what does it say? 'You shall roast it with fire. You shall not boil it at all with water.' What is this? You shall boil it. This can only be the offerings for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the redemption offering that was offered in preparation for the Night to Be Much Observed unto the Lord.

Don't you think how happy they were and what a wonderful occasion it was, they have say, maybe a year-old son. You come up to Jerusalem and you offer the offering and sacrifice for him to redeem him. Then God lets you also participate in the eating of that sacrifice and you know that your firstborn son is going to be blessed of God because you redeemed him. Think what a great celebration that that was for these people. They didn't have spiritual understanding.

Verse 7: "And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents." So, they stayed up all night for the Night to Be Much Observed, an all night celebration—meat and wine and strong drink; no work in the morning; no time clocks; no cars to worry about; everybody camping out around in Jerusalem, thousands of people together celebrating and having a wonderful, wonderful Feast. Go to your tents in the morning and you can sleep most of that day.

Verse 8: "Six days you shall eat unleavened bread.… [This is also a mystery, because everywhere else it says you're to eat unleavened bread seven days. After you've observed the first day of Unleavened Bread, how many are left? Six! Sometimes the answer is so simple.] ...And on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work."

I hope you understand the difficult Scriptures in Exo. 12 and Deut. 16. You need to have all the information and know what it's talking so you can understand the difference. You're learning it very early on. It took me a long time to understand this. When we did the Old Testament, Michael Heiss doing all the Hebrew work here on it, we made sure that the Faithful Version was faithful and that we did give the right meaning of evening and morning and the right understanding concerning Deut. 16.

Scriptural References:

• Mark 9:38-40
• Matthew 7:21
• John 12:37-50
• Matthew 7:21-27
• Romans 15:8
• Leviticus 23:1-6
• Exodus 12:1-6, 8-14, 21-32, 15-20
• Leviticus 23:32, 27, 32
• Exodus 12:18, 37, 40-42, 51
• Exodus 13:1-4, 6-15
• Deuteronomy 16:1-8

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 15
• Matthew 24
• Exodus 31
• Genesis 15
• Revelation 11:8
• Numbers 9

Also referenced: Books:

• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
• The Day Jesus the Christ Died by Fred R. Coulter
• A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 03-06-12
Formatted: bo—3-15-12

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