Unleavened Bread

The next feast in the yearly calendar was that of “unleavened bread.” It began on the very next day after the Passover and was directly connected with it. The two could not be separated. They are often referred to as one; for example, see Luke 22:1. We may inquire what lesson God would teach us in this feast, and here again we are not left to conjecture, for we read in 1 Corinthians 5:8, joined with the statement about Christ’s being our Passover, “Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Here it is not Israel but us who are exhorted to keep this feast, but not in the outward manner as many Jews do to this day, making diligent search in the house to remove all leaven before the Passover begins. We are to put away “the leaven of malice and wickedness.” Leaven is used throughout Scripture, without exception, as a type or symbol of evil. There is the leaven of Herod, of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and so forth. It is evil that works secretly, corrupting and assimilating to itself. It may be in practice (1 Cor. 5:6) or in doctrine (Gal. 5:9), and frequently the practice becomes a doctrine to support the practice.
So it is plainly evident that the Christian who is sheltered by the blood of Christ, “as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” is called upon to put away evil, and that immediately after conversion; for the feast of unleavened bread followed the Passover immediately. There is still another point, that is, the feast lasted for seven days. Seven is a number always used to signify completeness, and indicates that the complete period of our lives should be marked by “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” There is never a time when the Christian may carelessly sin; he is to remember that he is “unleavened.”