Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven-day festival, which begins on Nisan 15 (sundown on March 27) and ends on Nisan 21 (sundown on April 3). During this time, God commands that the first day is a day of holy convocation (a Sabbath in which no work is to be done). Moreover, God also commands that the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also a day of holy convocation. In Numbers 28:25 we read, "On the seventh day you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work." What is the meaning of these two Sabbath days?


The first holy convocation
The first holy assembly is directly connected to the Passover, which led to the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt. In Exodus 12:17, we are told, "You are to observe the festival of matzah, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you are to observe this day from generation to generation by a perpetual regulation." After the Destroyer passed over Egypt and took the lives of the firstborn, the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to leave Egypt. The tribes of Israel left in haste. They left in such a hurry that their bread did not have time to rise. Thus they only had matzah (unleavened bread) for their journey. The first Sabbath day reminds us of these events.


The second holy convocation
But what about the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Why does God also command a holy convocation on this day? And what happened on this day in which God wants us to remember? As we continue reading the Book of Exodus, we read about Israel's journey from Egypt. "They traveled from Sukkot and set up camp in Tema, at the edge of the desert. God went ahead of them in a column of cloud during the daytime to lead them on their way, and at night in a column of fire to give them light; thus they could travel both by day and by night. Neither the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire at night went away from in front of the people" (Exodus 13:20-22). And after several days of journeying, we read "God said to Moses, 'Tell the people of Israel to turn around and set up camp in front of Pi-Hachirot, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Ba'al-Tz'fon; camp opposite it, by the sea'" (Exodus 14:1-2).

The seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the splitting of the Red Sea, the final climax of the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt. It was on the seventh day of traveling from being delivered from the Egyptian masters that they reached the Red Sea. It was there that they encamped together; it was there that the people of Israel found themselves trapped between the Egyptian army pursuing them from behind and the waters of the Red Sea, which lay before them. It was on this day that God would perform a final miracle that would completely deliver Israel from their Egyptian masters. However, until Israel witnessed the Egyptians dead on the seashore, they remained in dread of Pharaoh and his military. As Israel was fearing for their lives, many were even prepared to submit to slavery again rather than trusting in God.


Lessons we can learn
After we have taken our first few steps to freedom, walking in the direction in accordance with God's instruction, we often face adversity from the world and from Satan. Troubled with this fear and the demands of this world, we often give into fear and return to our former bondage and taskmasters in the hope we will somehow preserve ourselves instead of trusting God and His plan for our lives, which will ultimately lead us to true deliverance. For those of us who have done this or for those of us who may do this in the future, out of our fear we may think to ourselves, "God understands and surely He would not want me to perish or suffer. I will return to my former way of life; He will understand. I will not be punished." This thinking is quite erroneous. God does not condone our fear and our lack in trusting in Him, especially after we have gotten a taste of His goodness and power, and have seen He is capable of great miracles and deliverances.

Psalm 106:7-12 sates, "Our ancestors in Egypt failed to grasp the meaning of Your wonders. They didn't keep in mind Your great deeds of grace but rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for His own name's sake, to make known His mighty power. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through its depths as through a desert. He saved them from hostile hands, redeemed them from the power of the foe. The water closed over their adversaries; not one of them was left. Then they believed His words, and they sang His praise."

As He brings us to this point in our faith and walk with Him, He gives us a final opportunity to choose Him or choose our former ways of life and our former gods. Likewise, in Joshua 24:14:15 we are told, "Therefore fear God, and serve Him truly and sincerely. Put away the gods your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve God! If it seems bad to you to serve God, then choose today whom you are going to serve! Will it be the gods your ancestors served beyond the River? or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living? As for me and my household, we will serve God!" And the proper response for us is what the next few verses say: "The people answered, 'Far be it from us that we would abandon God to serve other gods; because it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from a life of slavery, and did those great signs before our eyes, and preserved us all along the way we traveled and among all the peoples we passed through; and it was God who drove out from before us all the people, the Amorites living in the land. Therefore we too will serve the LORD, for He is our God!'" (Joshua 24:16-18)

Although some Believers are blessed with a great faith and jump into God's promises and instructions head first, even if we have doubts and if we exercise just a little faith and wait on His deliverance, He will not fail us. He will increase our faith and make us true Believers as He delivers us from what seems like hopeless situations. In Mark 9:23, a man who begins with a little faith cries out to Jesus to increase his faith. "Jesus said to him, 'What do you mean, "if you can"? Everything is possible to someone who has trust!' Instantly the father of the child exclaimed, 'I do trust--help my lack of trust!'"

For us to demonstrate the minimum faith requirements and break with our former way of life and from our own personal Egypt, we need to take steps with the intent to jump into God's promises with both feet. We must not put only one foot in the water, only to turn back out of fear. We cannot be double-hearted before God. In the Book of James we read, "Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproach; and it will be given to him. But let him ask in trust, doubting nothing; for the doubter is like a wave in the sea being tossed and driven by the wind. Indeed that person should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord, because he is double-minded, unstable in all his way" (James 1:5-8).

If we simply trust God for what He says, even when it does not seem logical, even in the midst of our doubt and fear, He will part the sea that stands between ourselves and deliverance. But if we do not trust we will be delivered, instead of splitting the sea for us we will be like one of the waves being tossed around and driven by the wind. We will once again fall victim to the cruel taskmasters of this world.

It is often worldly and fleshly material, which stands like a vast sea between us and the true freedom that God has for us. But, if we can reject the call of Egypt for us to return to it, we can move in faith toward God's call. If through His Spirit we can see His will and confirm it through His word, even if we move forward and feel like the water will be over our heads and we might drown, we must continue moving forward and move past the great sea. It is only then can we see true freedom and realize God's promises for us.

In Exodus 14:21, we read, "Moses reached out his hand out over the sea, and God caused the sea to go back before a strong east wind all night. He made the sea become dry land, and its water was divided in two." And shortly thereafter in Exodus 15:8 it says, "With a blast from Your nostrils the waters piled up-the waters stood up like a wall, the depths of the water became firm ground." Instead of following the winds and elemental spirits and doctrines of this world, we are to walk straight forward through the path, which the Wind of God makes for us. That is, we are to follow the straight path provided by the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine He gives us. In the splitting of the sea, God shows us that if we walk in accordance with His Spirit and instruction, we can walk in the midst of the world. With God, we will not be overcome and will not be immersed by its raging waters.

Often times we cry and we wail for God to deliver us from certain circumstances in life, but out of fear, we refuse to move forward with Him and follow His instructions. Likewise, we read in Exodus 14:15 God says to Moses, "...Why are you crying to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward!" There is a wonderful story of faith, which is told by the Jewish scholars in connection with the parting of the Red Sea. It is said that after Moses related the message "to go forward", Nachshon the son of Aminadav, the leader of the tribe of Judah, plunged into the Red Sea and was followed by his tribe and then by the entire nation of Israel. However, the sea had not yet split. Nevertheless, it is said that they continue to press onward until the waters began reaching their nostrils. And it was not until this point that the Red Sea miraculously split. Speaking of this persistent faith, Jesus teaches us in Matthew 17:19-20, "...I tell you that if you have trust as tiny as a mustard seed, you will be able to say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there!' and it will move indeed, nothing will be impossible for you!"

Moving forward in faith through the sea, which was divided and crossing over and leaving Egypt behind is a powerful picture of completely leaving our former way of life. We shed our bondage to the kingdom and gods of Egypt, leaving their ways and their doctrines behind us. When we have reached the other side, God rewards us with a substantial increase in our faith. We will have been brought to a place where we have confirmed our resolution to cling to God and commit ourselves to where He is taking us. We see an example of this in Exodus 14:31, "When Israel saw the mighty deeds that God had performed against the Egyptians, the people feared God, and they believed God and in his servant Moses." This is one of the purposes of the 7th day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

May we all personally experience these things with God as He completes our deliverance from our own Egypt. It is these truths that we are to meditate upon on the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When we cross over to the other side, and have chosen to follow God, leaving Egypt behind, this is the true essence of being a Hebrew. The word "cross over" in Hebrew is from the root "avar", which is where we get the word "Ivri", which is translated into English as Hebrew.

It is after we have learned these lessons that we are given a special song that only the redeemed can truly grasp. We read the first few verses of the song in Exodus 15:1-2, "Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to God: 'I will sing to God, for He is highly exalted: the horse and its rider He threw in the sea. God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God: I will glorify Him; my father's God: I will exalt Him.'"


Conclusion
We must demonstrate our faith, as little or as great as it may be, by moving forward while walking according to God's instructions. We must place both feet in the water while trusting that He will go before us, preparing the way. But if we are paralyzed by our fear, or even worse, turn back to our former Godless ways, we will not experience God's true deliverance because we will not trust Him for the path He has provided us that leads to life. It is by faith we choose to walk that path. It is not enough to simply have knowledge of the path and of God's word. If we fail to personally experience it and walk it out for ourselves, we will not grasp the deliverance and true salvation--our Messiah Jesus. And even if we sing salvation, if we have not truly experienced a personal deliverance by trusting in God and turning from our former way of life by clinging to His words, then our song will be meaningless. We will not be able to sing the song as it was intended. With God's help, may all of us be able to sing in sincerity and in truth the following words: "God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation" (Exodus 15:2). Happy Feast of Unleavened Bread! Chag Sameach!