But He was PIERCED because of our transgressions,
CRUSHED because of our iniquities.
The CHASTISEMENT for our shalom [peace] was upon Him,
and by His STRIPES we are healed. Isaiah 53:5, TLV
A Kosher* Deliverance. At sundown in Israel, the Feast of Unleavened Bread will end (Leviticus 23:4-8). Observant believers in Yeshua (Jesus) along with other Jewish souls will re-introduce leaven — yeast or any rising agent — back into their diets.
Our family celebrates Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and like our brothers and sisters in Israel, we will go back to leaven in our diet. (Although, after 25 years of celebrating, we use less and less.)
Have you ever visited the Kosher/Jewish section of your local grocery store? One can buy matzo/matzah or unleavened bread all year long. But, Passover matzah is different than regular matzah.
They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over a fire. With matzot [plural for matzah] and bitter herbs they are to eat it. (Exodus 12:8, TLV, notation mine)
Passover matzot must have these four qualities:
- Only ingredients flour and water. (No leavening agents such as yeast, baking soda or powder, etc.)
- Made quickly (over thousands of years, the optimum time before flour and water rises on its own, is 18 minutes).
- Pierced completely through (so that if you lifted the matzah to the light, you could see through the piercing).
- Baked in a 500 degree oven or over fire giving the matzah its distinctive striping marks.
Compelling similarities to our Messiah’s torture and death, wouldn’t you say?
Get rid of the old hametz [leaven], so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz, the hametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8, TLV)
The context of Paul’s message to the believers in Corinth is that they were caught in the sins of sexual immorality, idolatry, greed . . . well, you get the idea, sin. Paul refers to hametz as a representation of sin. Paul explains that our Passover Lamb was sinless, without hametz — leaven.
Then the governor’s soldiers took Yeshua into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe around Him. And after braiding a crown of thorns, they placed it on His head and put a staff in His right hand. And falling on their knees before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and they took the staff and beat Him over and over on the head. (Matthew 27:27-30, TLV, Emphasis Mine)
Jesus took brutal beatings from the time He was “captured” in the Garden. His body was striped with His blood. The scourging was unbearable. But, because, this was the reason He came — to atone for our sins — He bore it.
But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. (John 19:34, TLV, Emphasis Mine)
His body was pierced as proof of Yeshua’s death.
“Then I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, when they will look toward Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10, TLV, Emphasis Mine)
All of the Biblical Feasts (Leviticus 23) were intended as reminders of the LORD’s mercy and miracles. They were also prophetic signposts to the coming Messiah and all He would do. As the Heavenly Father’s redeemed children, celebrating these Biblical Feasts creates profound opportunities to remind our children and grandchildren of thousands and thousands of years of His workings in our life. In fact, they were lesson plans for us to teach others — and ourselves — of the wonder of our Creator.
Sundown tonight ends the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but it begins the Feast of Shabbat — the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:1-3). Tonight we celebrate our rest and peace (Hebrews 9). As we prepare to celebrate our rest, may we remember Isaiah 53, and all that our Messiah accomplished on our behalf — for our shalom — and live a “leaven-free” life.
Shabbat shalom.
*Kosher foods are those foods that conform to the Jewish dietary regulations of kashrut (dietary law), the Jewish dietary law is primarily derived from Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14:1-21.
