Because the holiday of Unleavened Bread begins this evening, I have been planning and preparing for it since the new moon was sighted two weeks ago. Yesterday I posted the Torah commands I have collected so far concerning Unleavened Bread.
One command stood out to me in a new way this year:
Leaven shall be removed from our dwelling on the first day, and no leaven shall be found in our houses for the seven days of the Feast (Exo 12:15, 19; Exo 13:7; Deu 16:4).
We all begin our spring cleaning with the sighting of the new moon, to remove the leaven from our houses in time for Passover. Now the Passover feast is to be kept on the evening of the 14th day, at the beginning of the 1st day of Unleavened Bread. But the leaven is not to be removed from our dwelling until the first day.
Let’s say that the timing of everything in this command is intentional. Passover precedes the 1st Day. It is the event of Passover, which is our deliverance from Egypt, which makes Unleavened Bread possible.
Now Passover is prophetic of our deliverance from the kingdom of darkness by the blood of Messiah Yeshua, our Passover Lamb. Leaven is prophetic or symbolic of sin. Thus the command to diligently search our houses (hearts, and households) for leaven (sin) to remove it. No sin shall be found among us for the duration of the Feast! For the one who continues in sin, shall be cut off from Israel. Yeshua also taught us this very principle (Mat 7:21-23).
However, we do not remove sin, clean ourselves up, and then experience deliverance from the kingdom of darkness. For by the obedience to the Law shall no flesh be saved! Our Passover Lamb is sacrificed for us, and then we are swept clean of sin by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives!
What message are we proclaiming, and teaching to our children, by removing the leaven before we celebrate the feast of Passover?
And yet the command to have our houses clean of leaven for the whole seven days is in effect. As I asked the Lord how I was to honor His commands concerning Unleavened Bread, I have decided to do this.
I swept and cleaned out my kitchen, refrigerator, and house prior to Passover (spring cleaning). The food containing leaven, I have been placing (today) in a grocery sack, as I am preparing the Passover meal. Actually it is taking two grocery sacks. Then this evening at the culmination of the Passover feast, I will take the two sacks containing the leavened food to the trash, which I will dispose of in the morning.
That is what I am doing this year. I am conscious, the more I study the Word of God, that there is not even a stray syllable in its entirety, but everything is as it is for specific reasons!
Your point is well taken, but the timing suggested something else to me. Could the traditional sequence – cleaning then Passover – symbolize our need for atoning blood despite our very best efforts? In other words, no matter how hard we try, we still need Jesus. The continuation after Passover points, indeed, to sanctification.
Of course we still need Jesus. That never changes.