The original instructions given to ancient Israel regarding the first two Holy Days of the annual Holy Day cycle clearly emphasize the isolation of leaven. This applied to both the restriction of eating it and its removal from their dwellings (Exodus 12:15-20). The fact that the days of Unleavened Bread follow immediately after the Passover is important. Christ’s sacrifice paid the penalty for our sins and opened the way for us to come into a close, reconciled relationship with Christ and the Father. The following days of Unleavened Bread serve to reinforce the action required on our part in order to build a relationship with the Father on the foundation of Christ’s sacrifice.
The apostle Paul understood leaven to be representative of “malice and wickedness” – a symbol for sin. Paul also made it clear that once a person is forgiven of sin, they must use that “grace” to remove and overcome that which prevents or damages the relationship with the Father. Sin is to be removed from within (Mark 7:20-22) and from without (Romans 6:19-23).
The eating of Unleavened Bread is also instructional as a key to building a reconciled relationship. Sin is to be put out and replaced by the nature and character of God. His character and nature are expressed in the commandments (Matthew 19:16-17). Sin is to be replaced by obedience – a process enabled by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit opens our minds to be “renewed in the spirit” (Ephesians 4:23). The mind is then empowered to deal with the spiritual nature of God’s law – to stop walking after the flesh and instead walk after the Spirit of God (Romans 8:4, 12-13).
One key to building a right relationship with the Father is to deal with sin at its source – the mind. We are to use the principle supplied by the days of Unleavened Bread to do this. Thoughts which spontaneously pop into our minds – which if harbored could lead to sin – must be isolated and removed. The way to put a wrong thought out of the mind (leaven) is to put the opposite thought into the mind (unleavened). The Word of God is a significant help in this regard. When tempted by leaven, we can open the Bible and read the unleavened words of sincerity and truth. We can use them to reinforce the importance of building reconciliation with the Father.
Brian Orchard