Unleavened Bread: Leaving Egypt quickly & without delay
1) Unleavened Bread: A Sign
God says eat Unleavened Bread for seven days at His Appointed Time. Unleavened Bread is a ‘sign’. And when children ask why…tell them:
“Unleavened Bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you…You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It (the Unleavened Bread) is because of what the LORD did … and it (the Unleavened Bread) shall serve as a sign to you in your hand, and as a reminder between your eyes, that the law (the instruction) of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you shall guard this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year” Exodus13:7-10 (comments in italics added for clarity by author)
The Unleavened Bread is ‘a sign’ in your hand. So, every time you and your children hold a piece of Unleavened Bread in your hand….it is a ‘sign’ that points to God. Holding the Unleavened Bread causes us to think about the Passover and the way the Israelites left Egypt in such a hurry! The Israelites “took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders….They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, not had they prepared any provision for themselves” Exodus 12:34,39.
*Have a child come up & dress like an Israelite. Put a pole on his shoulder & then get a cloth & put a wooden bowl & Matzah and bind them together in cloth on the end of the pole. (This is a great visual to help the children remember the Israelites leaving in a hurry)
* Give each child a small piece of Unleavened Bread (about ¼ piece of Matzah for each child) and tell them to hold the Unleavened Bread. God said the Unleavened Bread is a ‘sign’ in their hand. ‘Signs’ always point to something. (discuss signs: stop sign = points + alerts us to an intersection + need to stop & look both ways before crossing)
2) Unleavened Bread: Knowing the Difference
Ask if anyone has seen their mother making homemade bread & how leaven (yeast) makes the bread rise or puff up. Open the discussion up to talk about all the different foods we eat that have leaven. We eat leaven all year long except during the 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
“You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for on this day I brought you out of Egypt. So, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance… Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your house… You shall not eat any leaven” (Exd.12:17-20).
God wants each one of us to be looking at & examining everything…every food item… and asking…does this have leaven in it or not? God wants us to be thinking and preparing for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Examination is part of the preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Everyone is thinking about getting all food out of their homes that has any leaven in it. That means eating up all the food that has leaven in it! It also means when you go to the grocery store that you don’t buy more leavened food right before the Feast.
Leader holds up different foods & has the children declare “leavened or unleavened” and makes two different categories on the display table as the children declare “leavened or unleavened”.
These are some foods that have leaven:
Homemade Bread, Loaf Bread, Hamburger Buns, Cookies, Pancakes, Waffles, Pizza, Cake, Pop Tarts, Cereal, Twinkies, Goldfish, Fruit Loops, Animal Crackers, Biscuits, Doughnuts, Wafers, Pita Bread
These are some foods that do not have leaven:
Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes, Onions, Eggs, Cheese, Lemon & Limes
Vegetables (broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, lettuce, spinach, celery, cabbage)
Fruits (apples, oranges, peaches, bananas, grapes, grapefruit, kiwi, avocado, figs, dates) Grilled Fish,
Grilled Chicken, Steak, Tuna, Salmon, Walnuts, Peanuts, Almonds
Wow! Think about cleansing…getting rid of… putting out… all the food in your house that has leaven in it! Many people start in February and begin trying to eat up all the food items in their homes that have leaven so there won’t be any wasted food. It means thinking about the Feast ahead of time.
Getting ready for Passover & the Feast of Unleavened Bread also means cleaning. It’s the time of year when spring- cleaning takes place. Everyone is busy getting all the leaven (yeast) out of their homes. Leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible.
“The Passover of the Jews was near, and Yeshua went up to Jerusalem.
And He found in the Temple those who were selling…
and He drove them out of the Temple…
and overturned their tables and said, ‘Take these things away;
stop making My Father’s house a place of business” (John 2:13-16).
4) Unleavened Bread: In Your Mouth
Hand out another piece of Matzah. When we eat Matzah during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it’s “the instruction of the LORD in our mouth” (Exd13:9).
Let’s all eat Matzah.
During the week of Unleavened Bread, we enjoy Matzah Peanut Butter &Jelly Sandwiches and Matzah Pizza. Following the instruction of God is fun! God wants us to experience, taste and remember His ways.
5) Unleavened Bread: Reminder between Your Eyes
*The Unleavened Bread is also to be “a reminder between your eyes” (Exodus 13:9). After everyone has a piece of Matzah, ask the children to hold up the Matzah like they were reading a book. Notice how the Matzah is “between your eyes” as you look at it. Look at the stripes and the brown spots on the Matzah. Just as the Matzah is stripped and has brown spots that look like bruises, likewise, the Messiah was bruised in His beatings and the stripes of the whips were on His back.
“For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay” Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27
God planned for Yeshua to be in the grave during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. All the Feasts point to Messiah & have their fulfillment in & through Him. Yeshua’s body did not corrupt or decay! HalleluYah! Look again at the Unleavened Bread. It is a picture of His body… beaten & bruised… with stripes …He was scourged with a whip… He was pierced…His hands and feet…they pierced His side with a spear… He was without sin…He never sinned… His body was without leaven… He lived a sinless life. “He was in every way like us, yet without sin” (Heb.4:15). When we take communion, the bread is always to be Unleavened Bread because it is a picture of Yeshua’s body.
Prayer: Thank You, God, for providing Your Son, Yeshua – the Passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:36)…Yeshua, the Passover Lamb, as the substitute sacrifice for our sins. “Like a lamb led to slaughter, He was silent before His shearers & He did not open His mouth” ( Isaiah 53:7). Thank You for redeeming us with His “precious blood- as a lamb unblemished and spotless” (1 Peter 1:19). Thank You for raising Him from the dead after He was in the grave 3 days & 3 nights. Thank You that there was no corruption or decay in His body! HalleluYah! We bless You, LORD.
Let us all eat the Unleavened Bread that is symbolic of His body.