It is commonly held that Unleavened Bread is about putting sin out of our lives. And while that is an aspect, if we were to go through all of God's instructions for Unleavened Bread, we would see that His reason and emphasis are different. What God overwhelmingly emphasizes is His deliverance, not our work of avoiding leavening and thus sin (Exodus 12:17; Exodus 13:3, 8-9; 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:3).
The overarching reason for that feast, and the reason we eat unleavened bread for seven days, is to remember God's deliverance. When we get to the New Testament, Jesus identifies Himself as the bread of God - the bread of life. He was entirely unleavened.
Further, Paul tells us in I Corinthians 5:8, 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. Christ is the embodiment of sincerity and truth. He is the One who delivered us from this present, evil age, from spiritual bondage, from the power of darkness. And it is through the strength that He supplies that we have the means to overcome sin. And that strength comes from ingesting His word and beseeching Him to live His life in us every day.
The unleavened bread that God says we must eat for seven days represents Christ Himself. To miss eating the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth is to miss out on the divine connection with our Savior. Our minds should rebel at the thought of skipping that.
In the same way, we keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days by eating unleavened bread each day and not merely avoiding leavening. Consider what neglecting to eat the unleavened bread of life every day would signal to God. The symbols matter.
Now, we will continue to compare and contrast these feasts. Just as both feasts have dwellings as a significant aspect, so also both feasts focus on eating. The Feast of Unleavened Bread has food in its name. The Israelites left Egypt with little time to prepare, so they could not make bread like they normally would. God calls it the bread of affliction, in part because of their affliction in Egypt, but also because, physically, unleavened bread is simply not as satisfying as bread that has time to rise.
The instructions for Unleavened Bread mentions houses, which implies some stability, if not comfort. However, the bread itself is lackluster because it has not risen. Most of us are relieved to return to normal bread.
That feast keeps us somewhat off-balance regarding our diet. Hardly anything touches us like food does, so a restricted diet affects a major portion of life. When our diet is missing something we normally enjoy, it is impossible to ignore. Each time we have to think about what we are eating or not eating, we have to turn off the auto-pilot and remember what the seven days are about. So, being a little off-balance is part of God's education of us.
Ecclesiastes is often part of the reading for Tabernacles, yet this lesson also relates to Unleavened Bread. Unleavened Bread teaches that true satisfaction cannot come from anything physical. Lasting satisfaction only comes from the Bread of Life. To the world, that perfect Bread of Life seems lackluster, and even revolting. Carnal man cannot imagine the benefit of being strengthened by Christ and letting go of sin. Like leavening, sin seems normal. For the unconverted, it is a shock to think about going without.
But those who know the Father and the Son experience the sense of well-being that comes from a growing relationship. That relationship delivers the contentment, the joy, peace, and satisfaction that eluded even Solomon.
But where they overwhelmingly meet together and reinforce each other is in the centrality of Jesus Christ. He is our Deliverer from spiritual Egypt. He is our Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. He is the source of strength that we must seek every day. He is the one guiding us on our pilgrimage, leading us in ways and … . . .
God continues to reinforce the purpose and meaning of this feast. Verse 3 commands the eating of unleavened bread to remember God’s deliverance. And if you are counting by now, this passage contains two more references to deliverance as the reason for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Numerologists tell us that eight indicates super-abundance and a new beginning, which is an interesting detail. The unleavened bread is a token to remind God’s people each year of God’s liberation so they could have a new beginning. This disruption to our normal food reinforces our memory of His works.
Verse 3 mentions “the bread of affliction.” Various translations and paraphrases call it “hard-times bread,” “the bread of hardship,” “the bread of tribulation,” and “the bread of distress.” One paraphrase says it is “a basic of affliction.” So, the theme of Egypt as a place of affliction or hardship enters the picture. Exodus 3 & 4 refer to Israel’s affliction and oppression in Egypt—same word. This theme begins back with Joseph’s naming of his son, Ephraim. Joseph says, “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.” At that point, Joseph had been liberated from slavery and from prison and was now the second-in-command, but he still refers to Egypt as “the land of my affliction.”
So, each bite of unleavened bread includes with it a reminder of the former oppression and slavery under a hostile ruler. For us, it can recall the days before conversion when we believed we were free to do whatever we wanted, and probably didn’t recognize who we were serving or the ways in which we were enslaved. That is not the only meaning of unleavened bread, because the New Testament gives some additional themes that we will get to. But our former affliction and oppression before God’s intervention are principal parts of what the unleavened bread should call to mind as we eat it each day this week.