The Two Festivals for Christians - Passover VS Feast of Unleavened Bread

 

The Two Festivals for Christians - Passover VS Feast of Unleavened Bread

 

Corinthians 5:6-8 "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

 

Item	Passover	Feast of Unleavened Bread
Symbolism	Christ's redemption	Christian life
Description	Commemorates when God passed over the blood-marked doorposts, saving the Israelites' firstborns during the Exodus from Egypt	Seven consecutive days after Passover, removing all leavened food
Example	"For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Cor 5:7)	"Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor 5:8)
Application	Accepting Christ's redemption, being born again	Living a holy, sinless life, removing the old nature, living out the new life
Relevant Scriptures	Exodus 12:1-14 "The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 'This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household... The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.'"	Exodus 12:15-20  "For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel ... Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread." 1
Timing	At the moment of salvation	Throughout the entire Christian life
Duration	One day	Seven days (symbolizing a complete period, from salvation to rapture)
Life Supply	Lamb's flesh (Ex 12:8 "That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.")	Unleavened bread (Christ)  (1 Cor 5:8 "but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.")
Focus	Redemption	Holy living
Characteristic	One-time experience	Continuous lifestyle

 

This table elucidates the significance of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as well as how they apply to Christian life. The scriptures related to Passover emphasize the importance of redemption, while those concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread stress the necessity of continuously living a holy life. Both festivals point to Christ, who is our redemption and the source and supply for our holy living.

 

*Please refer to Life-Study of 1 Corinthians, Message Thirty-Six: Dealing with Evil Brothers