-          The Feast of Unleavened Bread – Who, What, When, How, and Why?

Last week we covered the fundamentals of how to know when an equinox occurs and how it’s measured, which is very important because if we were to have a grid-down scenario and could no longer rely upon one another for information, we are properly equipped to be able to keep the Feasts locally.

This week we are going to be doing a brief review of three of The First Four Feasts known as the Summer Feasts, some might refer to these as I have previously as the “Spring Feasts,” but according to Genesis 8:22 the only two seasons are Summer and Winter.

Brother Jose showed us this a few weeks ago when he did his presentation of Dovetailing Part 3 and spoke about the Summer Feasts.

To keep things consistent, we will refer to them as the Summer Feasts.

Gen 8:22  "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease." 

The Seven Feasts of Yahuah are split up into two sections:

The Summer Feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Wave Sheaf, and Shavuot.

The Winter Feasts: Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.

 

The Summer Feasts have already been fulfilled Prophetically, our current prophetic placement is in between the 4^th Feast of Shavuot and the 5^th Feast of the Feast of Trumpets.

There are three Feasts that occur within or are paired with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, those being: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits which takes place within the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

There are three pilgrimage feasts mentioned within the Book of the Covenant in Exodus 23:14-17

-          The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover, ULB, and First Fruits all included)

-          Shavuot

-          Sukkot (Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles)

Passover takes place on the 14^th day of the 1^st month of Abib, which is April 3^rd for us on the Gregorian Calendar.

Pesah or Passover represents The Lamb which was to be selected on the 10^th day of the month according to Exodus 12:3, slaughtered on the 14^th of the month and its blood taken and placed upon the doorposts and lintel of each of the Israelite’s homes in Goshen (Exodus 12:7).

Now, if you’re new to Torah to the Tribes and maybe you recently came from a Messianic or Hebrew Roots congregation, what I am about to say might trigger you, but we are not required to eat lamb at Passover under the New Covenant.

We celebrate Passover as a memorial, not a physical rehearsal where you would literally take a lamb, slaughter it, place its blood on your doorposts, roast it in fire, and eat it with bitter herbs etc.

One key thing we have to remember is that The Passover Lamb represents Yahusha, the lamb slain and its blood taken with hyssop and stricken upon the doorposts and lintel was merely a prophetic shadow picture of Yahusha the slain Lamb from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8b) and His future advent where He would walk among men and completely fulfill it to become the FINAL sacrifice that was needed.

Now, let me take a moment to pause and recognize our brother Matthew and the wonderful teachings that the Ruach has given through him on the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. 

I would recommend that we all go back and watch the following:

Vayikra “Melchizedek Passover”

The Passover of the Master 2016 Parts 1 – 3

The Feast  of Unleavened Bread

Passover of the Master 2017

Passover – Being Restored Back to the Image of Elohim Part 1 & 2

And we also did a teaching last year entitled “Behold the Lamb” – Learning how to gaze, which is available on our Yahuah’s Servant YouTube Channel.

I want to emphasize that we do not have to eat lamb on Passover, nor do we have to gird our loins and have a staff in hand like they did during the actual Passover where the death angel came through the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt).

This act of slaughtering the lamb and placing its blood upon the door posts of their homes, and staying in their homes while death “passed over” them is a prophetic shadow picture of taking The Lamb into the home of our hearts to dwell acknowledging His death for our sins and Him taking the punishment upon Him that was due for us (Isaiah 53).

The blood upon the door posts is the prophetic shadow picture of us having His blood upon the door posts and lintel (covering) of our hearts and that we abide in Him and He in us (John 15:1-9) then eternal death will “pass over” us just like physical death within the 10^th plague of Egypt passed over the Israelites on the 14^th day of the 1^st month of Abib when Yahuah poured out His final judgment upon the land of Egypt.

Passover is a time of internal reflection, examination, and cleansing (mikvah).

Passover itself is not a meal, but you can certainly have a meal beforehand. (1 Corinthians 11:33-34)

Passover is simply a time to take the Bread (which represents Yahusha’s Body) 1 Corinthians 11:23-24 and breaking it, which represents the sharing and partaking of it together in our homes.

Then we take the cup of wine or grape juice, and we acknowledge His shed blood for us and we drink it in remembrance of what He has done for us.

But we must make sure to take inventory of ourselves beforehand and deal with any areas of unrepented sin BEFORE we partake in the bread or wine.

1 Corinthians 11:26 – 29

1Co 11:26  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Master’s death till He comes. 

1Co 11:27  Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Master in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Master. 

1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

1Co 11:29  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Master’s body.

Not being careful to examine ourselves causes us to eat and drink judgment upon ourselves, which leads to weakness, sickness, and even death. (1 Corinthians 11:30)

Passover is simply a time to gather to remember Yahusha’s sacrifice for us as He was beaten and whipped with the cat of nine tails which tore open His flesh and caused His precious blood to be spilt upon the ground. (By His stripes we WERE healed 1 Peter 2:24) 

And ultimately, it’s about Him not only shedding His blood for us by overseeing His OWN Passover sacrifice as the ONLY qualified High Priest not under the Levitical (Aharonic) Priesthood, but under the greater Order of Melchizedek.

So, we can gather for a time of the breaking of bread, wine sipping, Scripture reading, and being a servant to one another and washing one another’s feet, just as He washed the feet of His disciples in John 13.

 

Unleavened Bread – begins on the 15^th day of the 1^st month of Abib (April 4^th) and ends on the 21^st day of the 1^st month (April 10^th)

The 1^st and 7^th day of the Feast are book end Holy convocations or miqra qodesh –

Exodus 12:16 states:

And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.

So, April 4^th and April 10^th are Set-Apart Gatherings where no work is to be done, except that which every man must eat.

*Side note* I am not here to judge anyone or here to tell anyone what to do or not to do on these Appointed Times, I’m just relaying what the Word has to say about it.

ULB is a time of reflection and taking inventory of not only our cupboards for ingredients of leaven, but taking inventory of the cupboards or pantries of our hearts (the inner man) for areas of leaven which represents pride, self-righteousness, and sin in general.

We do the physical of removing the leaven from our homes and only eating unleavened bread to remind us of the greater Spiritual act of cleansing the inside of the cup.

During these 7 days from the 15^th day of the 1^st month to the 21^st of the first month, we give Yahuah full access to every part of our being.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O Yahuah, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

It’s a time for us to allow the Ruach to plow the soil of our hearts and break up the fallow ground.

Hos 10:12  Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek Yahuah, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. 

The Unleavened Bread that we eat is not a Matza crumbly cracker (using Matthew’s terminology).

The Unleavened Bread that was made and eaten was the bread of haste, it had all of the ingredients to rise, but had to be taken out of the oven before it had time to rise.

It’s a time for us to allow ourselves to be broken and contrite before Yahuah which represents and acknowledges the brokenness of His Body which was broken for OUR behalf.

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 

Isa 53:4  Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by Elohim, and afflicted. 

Isa 53:5  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And Yahuah has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 

Isa 53:7  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 

Unleavened Bread represents His broken body, death, and burial the time in the tomb, which the three day’s journey was a prophetic shadow picture of in Exodus 8:27.

After this three-day journey, they were birthed into a new life through the waters of the Sea of Reeds, just as Yahusha was resurrected on the third day.

 

First Fruits –

- Yahusha - The Wave Sheaf -

What is a wave sheaf?

 

A Wave Sheaf is a free-will offering to Yahuah of the First - Fruits of the Harvest, so that Yahuah would continue to bless the land in which we dwell.

 

According to Lev 23:10 - The sheaf was to be waved on the morning following the Shabbat after Pesah/Passover.

 

This year we will celebrate Passover on Sunday Apr. 3rd, Shabbat is Saturday Apr. 9th, so the next day being Sunday is the Feast of First Fruits April 10^th.  

 

The day of the wave sheaf and the beginning of the Omer Count to Shavuot.

 

Can we see Messiah within the wave sheaf?

 

According to 1st Corinthians 15:20 - He is the First - Fruits of the Resurrection.

 

The Wave Sheaf was made up of three parts:

 

1.      Burnt Offering - A male lamb, a year old, a perfect one. - Yahusha the pure, spotless Passover Lamb of Yahuah who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29

 

2. Wave Offering - Fine Flour mixed with oil - Yahusha's body was the Bread from Heaven according to John 6:32-35, mixed with the oil of the Ruach Ha'qodesh - Yahuah's Spirit.

 

3. Drink Offering - Wine - His blood of Atoning sacrifice. - The Blood of the New Covenant. 1 Corinthians 11:25.

 

This is why when Mary Magdelene sees Him as the gardener in John 20:15-17 He tells her not to touch Him yet, for He had not yet ascended to the Father.

 

Yahusha had to go and place His pure blood of atonement on the altar of heaven as the Kohen Hagadol over His own sacrifice under the order of Melchizedek.

 

The Wave Sheaf was a free-will offering, just as it was with the life of Yahusha, for He said in John 10:11 - "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."

 

He also stated in John 10:17-18 - that no one takes His life, but that He lays down His life Himself that He may take it up again.

 

Yahusha was the Wave Sheaf - He was the First Fruits of the Resurrection so that we could be resurrected with Him at the End Time Harvest.

 

John 12:24 - Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it will yield a harvest.

 

- He was offered up by Yisrael –

 

Caiaphas as the high priest said in John 11:50 "It is better for us that one man should die for the people than that the entire nation should perish.'

 

Now, this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Yahusha would die for the nation,

 

and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of Elohim who were scattered abroad.

 

Yahusha becoming the Wave Sheaf/First - Fruits enables us to be gathered in the wheat harvest together at Shavuot.

 

HalleluYah!

 

First Fruits is the representation of Yahusha’s resurrection from out of the grave, and first ascension.

John 20:11 – 17

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.

And she saw two angels in white sitting, one and the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Yahusha lain.

Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Master, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

Now when she said this, she turned around and saw Yahusha standing there, and did not know that it was Yahusha.

Yahusha said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Yahusha said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (Which is to say, Teacher).

Yahusha said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My Elohim and your Elohim.’”

Yahusha ascends this first time and places His pure spotless blood upon the Yom Kipper altar of Heaven and if He were to had been touched by Mary Magdelene then He would have been unclean and His blood would no longer had been the sufficient sacrifice for the payment of the Genesis 15 death penalty that would allow us to be set free from the imposed Book of the Law and enable us to walk in the New Covenant with Him as the patriarchs once did.

Yahusha Himself is the First Fruits of the resurrection from the dead, of which we Yahuah-willing will get to partake in later.

1Co 15:20  But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

John 12:23-24

“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.”

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

Other translations say seed, Yahusha is the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15). 

Yahusha’s death and burial which are represented in Passover and Unleavened Bread are the Wheat falling into the ground or being planted into the ground (placed into the grave) and with the Seed dying His death, burial, and resurrection (First Fruits) will yield a Great Harvest of grain (people) at the End of the Age.

After Lazarus’ public raising from the dead, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered to plot to kill Yahusha.

John 11:47-52

Then the chief priests and Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.

If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”

Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Yahusha would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of Elohim who were scattered abroad.

*Think Ezekiel 37:15-22*

Eze 37:15  And the word of יהוה came to me, saying,

Eze 37:16  “And you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it, ‘For Yehuḏah and for the children of Yisra’ĕl, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Yosĕph, the stick of Ephrayim, and for all the house of Yisra’ĕl, his companions.’

Eze 37:17  “Then bring them together for yourself into one stick, and they shall become one in your hand.

Eze 37:18  “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you show us what you mean by these?’

Eze 37:19  say to them, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I am taking the stick of Yosĕph, which is in the hand of Ephrayim, and the tribes of Yisra’ĕl, his companions. And I shall give them unto him, with the stick of Yehuḏah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand.” ’

Eze 37:20  “And the sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes.

Eze 37:21  “And speak to them, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I am taking the children of Yisra’ĕl from among the gentiles, wherever they have gone, and shall gather them from all around, and I shall bring them into their land.

Eze 37:22  “And I shall make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Yisra’ĕl. And one sovereign shall be sovereign over them all, and let them no longer be two nations, and let them no longer be divided into two reigns.

Mat 15:24  And He answering, said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Yisra’ĕl.”

Joh 12:32  “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto Myself.”

Joh 12:33  This He said, signifying by what death He was about to die.

1Co 2:6  However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of Elohim in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which Yahuah ordained before the ages for our glory, 

1Co 2:8  which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Master of glory. 

Yahusha is the First Fruits of the Resurrection which is also known as the Wave Sheaf.

 

The Wave Sheaf begins the Omer Count to Shavuot.

Brother Jose did a teaching last year entitled “The Omer Count,” it’s available on our Yahuah’s Servant YouTube Channel as well.

Our prayer is that you now feel better prepared and confidently equipped to celebrate the Feasts of Yahuah with great joy and anticipation.

 

 

 

All three of these Feasts are all about our Messiah Yahusha:

Passover – His death

Unleavened Bread – His Burial

And

First Fruits – His Resurrection and Ascension.

 

 

May Yahuah bless you and keep you.

Yahuah make His face shine upon you.

Yahuah lift up His countenance towards you

And give you peace (shalom).

 

For more information on The Mystery of Melchizedek, please visit Torahtothetribes.com

Shalom and blessings to you all

Baruk Habasham Yahuah!  

- Brandon