How Yeshua (Jesus) fulfilled Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Passover 

The Israelites flourished in Egypt for centuries but had fallen under the cruel dictatorship of an oppressive pharaoh who enslaved their people. Through a series of miracles Moses and Aaron appealed to Pharaoh that he should let God’s people go. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened until the final devastating act of God: A plague upon the households of Egypt that would rob each family of its most cherished possession, their firstborn sons (Exodus 13:15).

The sacrifice of a lamb, and that lamb’s blood, would protect the Israelites at the first Passover in Egypt. The Israelites remained in their homes while the destroyer passed over them, but the firstborn in those households that were not protected by the lamb’s blood perished. It was this event that would point to the ultimate sacrificial act that would save us from a fate that we could not avoid, a sacrifice that would open the path to eternal life.

The apostle Paul describes Yeshua (Jesus) as our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).

The Israelites were instructed, “…every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household” on the tenth day of the first month (Exodus 12:1-3). In fulfilling this, Yeshua (Jesus) entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of this month prior to his arrest and crucifixion.

Here is how we can conclude that Yeshua entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month: Biblically a day starts at sunset and ends at the following sunset (Genesis 1, Leviticus 23:32, Nehemiah 13:19, Luke 23:54). The Passover lamb is slaughtered in the afternoon of the 14th day and eaten after sunset, which is the beginning of the 15th day of the month (Exodus 12:6-8). Jesus entered Bethany “six days before the Passover” (John 12:1) and entered Jerusalem “the next day” (John 12:12), which was five days before Passover, or the tenth of the month.

The lambs needed to be examined and found to be without defect or blemish (Exodus 12:5). Similarly, Yeshua was examined by Pontius Pilate, who told the chief priests and the people, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:4).

The Passover lambs were slaughtered in the afternoon of the 14th day of the first month (Exodus 12:6). Yeshua fulfilled this when he died on the cross about the ninth hour (about 3 p.m.) on the same day of the month (Matthew 27:46, 50).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord‘s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work” (Leviticus 12:4-8).

Yeshua was buried shortly before sunset, as the Sabbath was about to start (Luke 23:50-56). The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath (Leviticus 23:7), which does not always coincide with the weekly Sabbath. The Passover meal is therefore eaten at the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Before this Feast the Israelites and all foreigners with them are instructed to purge their homes of leaven and eat unleavened bread for the duration of the Feast (Exodus 12:14-20, Leviticus 23:6).  

Leaven is another name for yeast. It represents sin in the way that it puffs up and turns that which is sweet sour.  Yeshua fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread by describing Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6:35) and being without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22).

As believers in Yeshua’s salvation by grace, we continue to celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We do this because as Gentile believers we are grafted into Israel and the promises given to Abraham (Romans 11:11-31). We have become part of Abraham’s spiritual offspring (Romans 9:6-8) and the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:14-16).  

The apostle Paul encourages believers to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).