Lesson 3

God’s first Unleavened Bread holy day season took place when God freed the children of Israel from Egyption slavery. Previously there were no annual holy days, nor was there a Jewish religion. God began to give his new religion to the Israelites just before they fled Egypt and headed to the promised land. The Passover sacrifice and painting it’s blood on the doorposts established the idea that humans are unable to live sinlessly and need to have their sins covered for life. The next object lesson demonstrates how difficult it is to root sin out of our lives. God had the Israelites remove all leavening from their possessions for seven days, as they fled Egypt. With no time to bake bread and needing to travel fast with only a campfire for cooking, they were to eat unleavened bread for seven days. The weekly Sabbath commemorates creation. This new week long festival would commemorate God freeing the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. As these first holy days remind us how God freed his people from bondage, it is easy to draw a parallel to how Jesus shed his blood, covering our sins and saving us from death. Doing the labour of cleaning our property and abstaining from leaven for seven days can drive home the point that staying free of sin is no easy task. 

Exodus 12:23 New Century Version
23 When the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes, and he will pass over that house. He will not let the one who brings death come into your houses and kill you.

Exodus 12:29-30 New Life Version
29 At midnight the Lord killed all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first-born of the one who was held in prison, and all the first-born of the cattle. 30 Pharaoh got up in the night, he and his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a loud cry in Egypt. For there was no home where there was not someone dead.

Exodus 12:14-17 New International Reader’s Version
14 “Always remember this day. You and your children after you must celebrate this day as a feast to honor the Lord. You must do this for all time to come. It is a law that will last forever. 15 For seven days eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your homes. For the next seven days, anyone who eats anything with yeast in it must be separated from Israel. 16 On the first and seventh days, come together for a sacred assembly. Do not work at all on these days. The only thing you are allowed to do is prepare food for everyone to eat. 17 “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I brought you out of Egypt on this very day like an army on the march. It is a law that will last for all time to come.

What lessons was God teaching the children of Abraham with his holy days? Who are the new covenant children of Abraham? How long is ‘for all time’?