The Radiant Mission Podcast | Episode 34
Host: Rebecca Twomey @theradiantmission
Co-Host: Rachel Smith @rachelsmithsmith
Thank you for listening to The Radiant Mission podcast! We are on a mission to encourage and inspire you on your walk with Christ and as you journey through life.
In Episode 34 we’re talking about the Spring Biblical Feasts: Passover and Unleavened Bread. We discuss the significance of each and details about each feast.
In This Episode on The Biblical Feasts for Christians: Passover & Unleavened Bread:
We discuss the Spring Biblical Feasts starting with Passover.
There are seven Biblical feasts described in the Bible in what’s known as the Torah, which is the first 5 books of the Bible. Four of the feasts are in the Spring, and three are in the Fall.
The 7 feasts in the Bible:
- Pesach (The Passover) This is the foundational feast. …
- Unleavened Bread. This feast was to last for 7 days. …
- First Fruits. …
- Shavuot (Pentecost or Feast of Weeks) …
- Rosh HaShanah (Feast of Trumpets) …
- Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) …
- Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) …
- Purim.
The two spring feasts, Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, are intertwined.
Rachel is passionate about recognizing the Biblical feasts as a Christian because of how she finds Jesus (Yeshua) in each and every one of the feasts and how He has or will fulfill them. This is especially significant as His followers and disciples because at His first coming He fulfilled all 4 of the spring feasts, exactly. The fall feasts have yet to be fulfilled but will be at His second coming.
Many Christians will ask, “aren’t these Jewish Holidays?” The short answer is no, these are Yahweh’s feasts that HE appointed to the nation of Israel as a way to commune with and honor Him. Each has a different meaning and significance. But, He lays it all out for us very clearly in the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy that these are feasts that belong to Him.
It’s important to acknowledge that this is all from His Word. Yes, there have been traditions formed around the feasts that are specifically Jewish traditions that aren’t necessarily Biblical. But the fact of the matter is Yeshua and all of His disciples and apostles including Paul, celebrated these feasts. There are many places in the New Testament where Paul references the feasts and understanding each of their significance brings deeper understanding to his words.
Why are the feasts called “feasts?”
All of the feasts are meant to be kept in communion with others. They aren’t meant to be done alone. Many do include a “feasting” element in terms of food. But some, like the Feast of Atonement, are very solemn and can even be associated to fasting. Our interpretation on this is that the word “feast” is akin to “holiday,” which actually means “holy day.” However, the word “holiday” is often used to describe many of the world’s holidays. So, referring to the feasts as the Biblical Feasts allows them to continue to be set apart from the world’s holidays.
The first Biblical feast, Passover, is incredibly important to not just the Jewish faith but the Christian faith. Many may not realize that Yeshua was crucified on Passover. This means the Last Supper that He had with his disciples was actually a Passover Seder.
The elements of the bread and wine that He passed around are traditional components of every Passover Seder. When He said, “do this in remembrance of me,” He was literally talking about doing Passover in remembrance of Him. This was later made into the catholic sacrament of communion. But the original breaking of the bread and passing of the wine was part of Passover.
Passover is explained clearly in Exodus 12.
The Lord (YHWH) wants to use Moses to deliver the nation of Israel out from under their yolk of slavery to Egypt after 400 years there. He’s performed great miracles in the plagues but the Pharoah’s heart was hard and wouldn’t let the people go. So, at this part we’re at the 10th and final plague of death of the first-born child from every household.
YHWH is not only giving Moses this instruction to command every person to do these things to be spared and PASSED over by the angel of death, but He’s also commanding this be kept by the Israelites every year on this very specific date as a memorial of His deliverance. And very specifically He wants us to teach it to our children. He says in verse 25-27, “and when your children say to you what does this rite mean to you? You shall say it is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians but spared our homes.”
The first born of every household that is covered by the blood of the lamb is saved from death. This brings us to why this memorial is so significant to the Christian faith and how Yeshua fulfilled this feast.
The final week before Yeshua went to the cross, He knew He would be sacrificed on Passover because that is what YHWH had planned from the beginning. It was all along the deeper meaning behind the original Passover in Egypt. Once again YHWH would deliver His people from the yoke of slavery, but this time it was from slavery to sin. This is exactly why the Gospel writers refer to Yeshua as the Lamb of God.
In John 1:29 John the Baptists says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” when he sees Yeshua approaching at the Jordan river before he was baptized and began his ministry. Then, in Revelation 5 John says, “then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne…”
The Passover meal is described in a few places in the Bible.
In Luke 22 Yeshua sent Peter and John to go and prepare the Passover meal for Him and His disciples to have together for His “Last Supper,” as the church likes to call it. But what the Bible calls it is the Passover meal.
All of the gospels describe this meal, but we highly recommend reading all of John chapters 12-17. It doesn’t necessarily give us the semantics of how they kept Passover. But, read those chapters keeping in mind that everything he is saying to the disciples in that moment was over the Passover meal and it just adds a layer of significance to both his words and the Passover.
The most significant parts of the Passover meal are the bread and the cups, which represent the flesh and blood of Yeshua during the cup of redemption.
Traditionally, the Passover Seder includes four cups. The first is the cup of sanctification which remembers: “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
The second cup is of plagues which remembers: “I will deliver you from their bondage.”
The third cup is of redemption which remembers: “I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”
The fourth cup is of praise which remembers: “I will take you for my people.”
It is believed that when Yeshua said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” He was referring to the third cup in the Seder, the cup of redemption… how beautiful is that?!
There is also significance for Christians in the Afikomen, which is a bag that contains exactly three slices of matzah. This bag of matzah is also called the Echad or unity.
The Jews have different meanings for this but we can’t help but notice how this perfectly symbolizes the Trinity, especially the echad-ness of the trinity since that’s the best word we can think of to sum up the Godhead.
At this point in the Seder the head of the meal, so in this final Passover that would be Yeshua, would remove the middle piece of matzah and break it in half and wrap it in linen cloth and hide it and this piece is what’s called the afikomen which means “that which comes after.” In the Bible we can see Yeshua breaking the bread saying, “And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
This is yet another element of the tradition of the Passover meal that represents Yeshua.
Even a piece of matzah itself is a depiction of Yeshua, pierced through with holes and striped by the baking process.
The look of matzah gives an illustration of the Messiah’s suffering prophesied in Isaiah 53:5, “for he was pierced through for our transgressions and with his stripes we are healed.”
In both the Old and New Testament, the Bible also uses leaven to represent sin, and matzah is the bread without any leaven, or sin, as part of the command for keeping this feast.
There are so many other elements of the Passover are significant and we’d like to refer you to Sam Nadler’s book in the resource section below.
Why don’t Christians keep Passover?
The answer is complex, there are many layers. Originally, gentiles were keeping the feasts. But after the first apostles were dying out, there was strong antisemitism occurring in the early church. Many wanted to be separated from the Jews who did not recognize the Messiah. Also, the Jews who did not recognize the Messiah wanted to be separated as well.
When Constantine came into the picture there was a continued push for things to be separated. Many laws were passed including ones that stated that if a person was found keeping the Sabbath or Passover, they would be killed.
There was a strong push to prevent anyone, believers and Jews alike, to keep the Passover.
Unfortunately, the history of the antisemitism that took place is often forgotten today. Including the fact that Martin Luther was one of the biggest antisemites in history who perpetuated this separation. In his writings he calls people to burn down synagogues and murder Jews. This undertone has remained in the Christian church where it did not exist in the first century. In the first century everyone was following the feasts. However, the changes that occurred over the course of history have also shaped the way that the feasts are followed (or not followed) today.
As we’re getting closer to the end of times, many Christians are being called to the ancient ways of the Lord.
How can Christians keep Passover today?
In A Christian Guide to the Biblical Feasts by David Wilber, he provides lots of ideas. You can keep it simple with what it says in Exodus: have lamb, bitter herbs, unleavened bread, wine.
Bible Verses Mentioned:
- Exodus 12
- John 1:29
- Revelation 5
- Luke 22
- John chapters 12-17
- Deuteronomy 16
- 1 Corinthians 5:6-8:
Resources Mentioned:
Subscribe to receive emails from The Radiant Mission
A Christian Guide to the Biblical Feasts by David Wilber
Messiah in the Feasts of Israel by Sam Nadler
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