Jesus - our unleavened bread
This feast begins one day after Passover on the 15th of Nisan (March-April) and continues for seven days. In modern times it is often combined with Passover for an eight day feast. Special sacrifices were given, the first and seventh days were sabbaths in which no work was to be done and leaven was strictly forbidden.
In Jewish homes they begin with taking all the leftover loaves and larger pieces of bread outside and burning them, then a careful search is made with a candle and a feather to sweep up any crumbs that might remain, which are then swept into a wooden spoon. Finally, the crumbs, the feather, and the wooden spoon are all burned in the fire. The symbolism is stark. We need to remove all sin from our lives, not only the gross sins but also the hidden thoughts and attitudes that will lead us back into bondage. Even the things tainted with sin need to be burned.
This feast was fulfilled by Jesus, the sinless one, who did not decay as He was put in the grave. As David prophesied of Messiah, "You will not leave my soul in [the grave], nor will You allow Your Holy One [the Messiah] to see corruption [decay]." (Psalm 16.10). Paul uses this feast to exhort us to live without sin: "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5.7,8).
We have experienced the deliverance of Messiah, the true Passover Lamb and we are now living in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Paul warns us not to leave little crumbs of leaven which will destroy us. "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" (1 Cor. 5.6). The message is clear. We cannot live with one foot in the world and one in the kingdom of God! We cannot fulfill the Feast of Unleavened Bread and still live in sin. Therefore, let us take the candle of the Lord, which is the Holy Spirit, and search ourselves. As Paul wrote, "if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged." (1 Cor. 11.31).