Lord of the Rings is one of my family's favorite movies. The special effects, the scenery, and, especially, the story captivated us. We enjoyed finding subtle meanings in Tolkein’s masterful work, especially because we knew his reputation as a Christian and close friend of C.S. Lewis. I appreciate a good story that leaves me reflecting on life lessons. With all of the technology we have available today, someone should make a movie about the Bible. Okay, that might be too big a task. But I would love a movie about the Holy Days…a movie that would depict the fulfillment of the holy days historically and attempt to depict them prophetically. That would be an epic. Families could sit around the dinner table for hours and discuss the subtle meanings of God’s masterful work. It could be the condensed version of the entire Bible. You could begin in the book of Leviticus…

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies” (Lev. 23:1) As the chapter continues, God instructs His people, Israel, in the observance of His ordained festivals. The Israelites were already aware of at least two of these feast days because of significant events that had occurred on them, the Sabbath Day and the Passover. The Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread were introduced in Exodus 12, when God commanded the Israelites to take the blood of a sacrificed lamb and put it on the sides and tops of their doorframes. The blood would be a sign so that He would “pass over” their houses when He struck down the first born in Egypt. They ate unleavened bread for seven days, as a reminder that they left Egypt in haste, with no time to bake leavened bread. They undoubtedly passed through the Red Sea during the days of unleavened bread, as all of Pharaoh’s soldiers pursued and were covered by the water. A few days later, as they began their sojourn in the desert, God introduced them to manna, referred to as “bread from heaven.” The people were told to gather manna each day, but only enough for that day because it would not last until morning. Some folks paid no attention to Moses and kept part of their manna overnight. The next morning, they awoke to maggots and an awful smell! There was an exception on the sixth day. On that day, they were to gather twice as much as they needed because the seventh day was a day of rest and they could not gather on that day. They were able to save it over until the next morning and it did not have maggots or stink (Exodus 16:5, 21-26). Several chapters before the law was given at Mt. Sinai, God says “bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath…(Ex. 16:29). Go back even further, to the beginning of time as recorded in Genesis chapter 2:2-3…God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.”
I am struck that God refers to these days as “the appointed feasts of the Lord.” They are not called the “feasts of Israel,” or the “feasts of the Jews.” As every festival is explained, God states “this is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.” The King James Version puts it even more powerfully…”it shall a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations” (Lev. 23, KJV). It is obvious these holy days are extremely important to God, and that makes them extremely significant for Christians. I believe the holy days weave the Old and New Testaments together in a beautiful tapestry that reflects the glory, power, love and mercy of our God, and that, in them, we are given a picture of God’s kingdom calendar. It makes an inspiring (and fun!) study to find some of the amazing historical events that have occurred on the holy days. The events that took place on the original Passover as God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt are well known and widely understood to have been prophetic. When Christ “our Passover was sacrificed for us” this event became the first holy day to be fulfilled in history. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea during the days of Unleavened Bread, and “were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (I. Cor. 10:2). Forty years later, immediately after they entered the promised land under Joshua, “on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover” (Joshua 5:10). The city of Jericho loomed as their first big obstacle. During the seven days of Unleavened Bread that followed, God commanded them to march around the city of Jericho once each day. On the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times, the priests sounded trumpets made of rams horns, the Israelites shouted, and the walls of the city collapsed (Joshua 6). These are great stories of God’s powerful deliverance that can inspire us and increase our faith. They teach us that becoming a Christian (coming under the blood of the Lamb, leaving the Egypts of our lives, being buried with Christ in baptism) does not guarantee an easy journey. God will not lead us the easy way. We may end up facing an impassable Red Sea, or a daunting obstacle like the heavily fortified city of Jericho. We need to remember God’s promise to Joshua, “I will never leave you or forsake you…be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:5,9). And this is only the first scene of the movie!

I loved getting my first bread making machine. We would dump in all of the ingredients, set the timer, and wake up to the smell of fresh bread. What could be easier? However, there were a few times when I forgot to add the yeast, and we awakened to a warm brick instead of a warm loaf. Yeast is a fascinating organism that we give little thought to (unless we accidentally leave it out of the bread dough!). Yeast microbes have been used for fermentation and baking for centuries. Researchers believe that they were first used in Ancient Egypt when they were discovered accidentally. They speculate that a combination of flour meal and water was left out longer than usual on a warm day and began to ferment due to naturally occurring yeasts. The resulting light and flavorful bread would have been a nice change from the flat, hard bread they were used to.

During this Passover season, yeast takes on a special significance. According to Leviticus 23:5-6, the Passover meal, on Passover night, was to be eaten with unleavened bread, or bread without yeast. Following the Passover were seven days when only unleavened bread could be eaten. In Corinthians 5:8, referring to the Passover, Paul said “Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (KJV). Leaven was clearly pictured as a representation of sin. Paul corrects the Corinthians for being “puffed up” and he explains that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (I Cor. 5). Interestingly, if allowed to grow unchecked, yeast can cause metabolic changes in food and cause the food to spoil. What a perfect analogy for sin!

Years ago, when our family belonged to a church that rigorously kept the letter of the law, we attempted to rid our homes of all leaven before Passover arrived. I say “attempted” because we never actually achieved it! No matter how hard we tried, leaven would turn up in the least expected places. I remember scrubbing the stove, cleaning out the cupboards and the refrigerator, turning up sofa cushions and lifting carpets to vacuum. We threw out perfectly good food if it contained leavening, or even baking soda (which can become a leavening agent). After days of cleaning, we could partake of the Passover service (actually a communion service) feeling righteous, until, a day or two later, we would find we had forgotten to destroy the vacuum cleaner bag (FULL of our old leaven!). Or we would find ourselves enjoying a doughnut right in the middle of the days of unleavened bread simply because we had forgotten about leavening and had let our guard down. We would usually remember after the first delicious bite, and then have to fight the temptation of “just once won’t matter!” I am so grateful to have had those experiences. Although we have come out from under the burden of legalism, the lessons we learned during that time were priceless. Because of my many failed attempts to get rid of leaven, I have learned that I cannot overcome the power of sin by my own efforts. Yeast occurs naturally in the air, just as sin surrounds us. Our enemy is called “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2). It is as if he is leavening the very air around us with sin, so that even we, as Christians, are susceptible to it unless we are partaking continually of the unleavened bread that is Jesus Christ. “The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it and said ‘Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you’…” Passover became the first holy day to be fulfilled in history. “For Christ our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (I Cor. 5:7).

Although I don’t adhere legalistically to the rituals of the Old Covenant, I find such a treasure in them. I understand now that the physical rituals given to the Israelites were actually given “as examples” for us (I Cor. 10:6). We are to “purge out the old leaven (of malice and wickedness) …that we may be a new lump…” (I love the Old King James for these verses!) It’s a process of putting away sin whenever we see it, and it’s harder now because the leaven is not in the cupboard, it’s in the heart. And the only place to get rid of our spiritual leaven is to give it to God, who covers it forever with the blood of His son. “By one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrew 10:14). I think a piece of unleavened bread would taste pretty good right now…