Passover and
The Days of Unleavened Bread:

Do You Know What They Mean?

Though God’s annual festivals and holy days were first given to ancient Israel (see Leviticus 23), Jesus, His disciples and the New Testament Church continued to observe them, only with deeper spiritual meaning. They represent God’s plan of salvation for all of humanity.

Because God uses agricultural seasons as an analogy for spiritual harvests, His holy days and festivals are divided into three harvest seasons that coincide with those in the Holy Land.

2024 Spring Festival & Holy Day Dates

2024 Spring Festival& Holy Day Dates

* Passover service is always held the evening before.

What Does This
Holy Season Represent?

Passover Passover

Passover
Before Christ

After God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites kept the Passover every year, sacrificing an unblemished lamb to commemorate the shed blood that protected them while the firstborn of the Egyptians were killed (Exodus 12:5-7, 12-14).

Christ and
The Passover

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus observed the Passover in a new way, washing His disciples’ feet as a sign of service and love. He then gave them bread and wine, symbolizing the broken body and shed blood that He would offer for the sins of all mankind (John 13:3-15; Matthew 26:26-28).

Passover
Today

Following Jesus’ example at His last Passover, Christians today should solemnly observe the Passover, reflecting on Christ’s sacrifice for all of mankind and renewing the commitment they made to God at baptism (I Corinthians 11:23-29).

Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. -- 1 Corinthians 5:7

Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 1 Corinthians 5:7

Unleavened Bread Unleavened Bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread gets its name from the requirement to remove leavening from our homes and diets for seven days (Exodus 12:15). During this time leaven is used as another symbol of sin.

Just as Pharaoh held the Israelites as slaves in Egypt, Satan holds us captive. Just as God delivered Israel out of Egypt with the intent that they never return, God delivers us from our sinful life and instructs us never to return. Since leaven typically puffs things up, it represents not only the root of many sins, pride, but also malice, wickedness, hypocrisy and wrong teachings.

Removing leavened foods from our lives for one week reminds us to keep sin out of our lives, and eating unleavened bread teaches us to put the righteousness of Christ into our lives.

The first day and the last day of Unleavened Bread are commanded holy observances, and Christians attend church services on these days.

Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. -- 1 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. 1 Corinthians 5:8

Why Not
Easter Sunday?

Observe Christ’s Death, Not His Resurrection

Easter focuses entirely on Christ’s resurrection from the dead. While His resurrection is of tremendous importance, the Bible actually does not tell us to set aside a day to honor that. Instead, it specifically tells us to remember Christ’s death through the annual observance of Passover.

Christ Was Not Resurrected on a Sunday

With the observance of Christ’s resurrection comes confusion as to its timing. Most people assume Christ was resurrected on a Sunday morning, and thus attend Sunday services rather than worshipping on the seventh-day Sabbath. But Christ didn’t rise on a Sunday!

Why Bunnies and Eggs?

Where did Easter and its customs come from? The Bible doesn’t tell us to worship using rabbits or eggs or sunrise services.

Learn About the origins of Easter

3 Days & 3 Nights

What the Bible Says

The Bible shows that Christ remained in the tomb three days and three nights — a full 72 hours. He was crucified on a Wednesday afternoon and buried just before sunset, and the start of the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He was resurrected three days later, on Saturday, at dusk.

What Comes Next?

Pentecost

God Gives His Holy Spirit

Jesus’ crucifixion on Passover was a pivotal event in history. And just over seven weeks after Jesus’ sacrifice on Passover, at the end of the grain harvest, another watershed event occurred on the Feast of Pentecost.

Learn More

Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles & the Eighth Day

The first three festivals reenact events that have already taken place and are ongoing in the lives of Christians. The last four festivals preview dramatic future events in God’s plan of salvation. These four festivals occur during the fall harvest season in the Holy Land.

Learn More

Learn More

Plan of Salvation: How God’s Holy Days Reveal His Plan

God has an incredible goal in mind for the humans He made in His own image. How does He let us in on the knowledge of that plan of salvation?

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Passover

Paul reminded the Church, both Jews and gentiles, of the vital importance of this memorial that represents Christ’s death and a renewal of our commitment to God made at baptism.

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Hope for the Future Found in God’s Festivals

Wouldn’t it be great if our celebrations helped give meaning to our lives and provided hope for the future? The festivals taught in the Bible do!

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Unleavened Bread

How does God want us to respond to Christ’s awesome, merciful sacrifice for us?

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Biblical Festivals: Does God Want Us to Celebrate Them? Why?

Digging into the biblical festivals yields deeper understanding of what God wants for you and all humanity! They foreshadow His plan of salvation.

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