What Is Meant... 'Nothing Leavened'?

by Leonard V Johnson

For 2025, the Days of Unleavened Bread begin at sunset on April 12th and run through sunset on the 19th of April.

The LORD God commands us ──

“’ In the first month, on the FOURTEENTH DAY of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19) For SEVEN DAYS no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20) You shall eat NOTHING LEAVENED; in all your dwellings you shall eat UNLEAVENED BREAD.’” – Exodus 12:18-20.

Now the leaven here… Is the LORD God saying, “Go grab your box of baking soda and throw it out of the house.” Is that what this here is saying?

No.

The word leaven here is referencing LEAVENED BREAD. And the only other possible meaning is… I don’t know if you’ve ever been around people who make sourdough bread. And I’m told you mix up a batch and then you keep a little lump (the starter) in a moist environment (let it sit out on the cabinet with a moist towel over it). And then you make the rest of the dough go into making the bread–whatever it is, and however it’s shaped. And then the next day, when you’re gonna make some more sourdough bread, you take the starter and mix it in with the new flour and oil and everything else you put into bread. And what happens, the yeast, which is in the starter, spreads throughout the loaf and leavens the whole loaf. So then you also take a chunk of it (probably a little round ball), put that in a moist towel, and save it for the next day. So, that would be a type of leaven that the LORD God would not appreciate on His Days of Unleavened Bread. And, if you’re not making leavened bread, there would be no use in having that around.

But that is what our LORD God is talking about! He is not talking about going through your house and looking for nine-month-old cookie crumbs! And that’s what the Worldwide Church of God taught. They actually made it into what I call a period of ritualistic – as in Jewish traditions – housecleaning. And in doing that, they totally missed the mark, they missed the AWESOME SIGNIFICANCE of the TRUE MEANING of the glorious Days of Unleavened Bread!

Again, the LORD God tells us ──

“’ You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, THE BREAD OF AFFLICTION … 4) And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, …’” – Deuteronomy 16:3, 4.

Now, if you look up in the Concordance, that word “affliction” ── it can mean TROUBLE. The bread of trouble. If you keep the Way of God, you are going to have some problems ever so often! And because of the problems other human beings attempt to create for us, it can at times be very problematic and difficult to be a follower of Jesus Christ. They’ll go out of their way to sort of put things in your path. But, our LORD God here is still speaking of physical leavened bread – no leavened bread shall be seen among you in all your territories for seven days.

Our Lord Jesus did speak of leaven metaphorically ──

“Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6) Then Jesus said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.’

7) And they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘Is it because we have taken no bread.’

8) But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, ‘O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9) Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10) Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?

11) How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? ── but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’

12) Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” – Matthew 16:5-12.

He was speaking to them metaphorically.

The ‘doctrine’ of the Pharisees ──

• The importance of keeping rituals.
• The need to convert Gentiles.
• The Way to God was by obeying the physical Law.
• Extending Jewish practices into life outside the temple.
• Instilling greater piety in “the common people.”

To name but a few.

Additionally, they put significant weight on the “oral tradition,” or the traditions of the elders, believing this interpretive framework helped clarify the written Law. Ancient rabbinic sources and later compilations, such as portions of the Talmud, reflect the Pharisaic influence in codifying and teaching these traditions. This oral tradition functioned to address practical questions about Sabbath observance, dietary laws, ritual purity, and other facets of devotion. 1

Our Lord Jesus is showing us that His New Covenant does not match the old rites of the Pharisees, which required a lot of fasting. Our Lord Jesus taught against syncretism ── which is the mixing of beliefs, such as Judeo-Christianity.

Having a show of piety, without true holiness, is like leaven in that it gradually increases and spreads corruption, puffing up a person with vanity. Indeed, friends, the very nature of leaven (or, rather, yeast) is to change whatever it contacts. Yeast does its job slowly, secretly, and silently, but no one can deny its effect on bread. Yeast is microscopic in size, and only a little is kneaded into the dough. Yet, given time, the yeast will spread through all the dough.

The ’doctrine’ of the Sadducees ──

• Rejection of the Resurrection and Afterlife.
• Adherence to the Written Law.
• Temple Worship and Sacrificial System.

The Sadducees’ interactions with our Lord Jesus were marked by theological disagreements, particularly concerning their rejection of a resurrection. In Matthew 22:29-32, our Lord Jesus addresses their unbelief by affirming that there is a resurrection unto life and correcting their misunderstanding of His living word ──

“ …’ You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30) For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. 31) But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32) ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.’”

Our beloved apostle Paul wrote to the brethren there in ancient Corinth ──

“Your glorying is not good. …”

Speaking metaphorically involving leaven, concerning piety.

“ … Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7) THEREFORE purge out the old leaven [the leaven of piety; of glorying], that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” – 1 Corinthians 5:6-7.

True Christians have kept UNLEAVENED BREAD for Passover, and they have kept the Days of Unleavened Bread. So, in every generation the true Church of God is not called to be leaven. Christians are to strive to be spiritually unleavened, and Jesus Christ is “the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth”!

We, brethren, need to continually purge out of our lives the old leaven ── that being the false doctrines of the churches of this world.

But sadly, most of our peoples will not. They are TRADITIONALISTS.

Our Lord Jesus ── the Savior of all mankind ── has warned us that the overall majority of professing Christians believe that they are “just fine and dandy, thank you!” And, He has told many of us, brethren, that He has a few things against us ──

“ ‘… that you have left your first love. … repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place ── unless you repent. … I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews [or rather, ‘the chosen ones’] and are not, but are a synagogue [or a church] of Satan. … you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam [those who are greedy for power!] … Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. … you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess [some self-proclaimed prophetess; think of Ellen G. White who was the head of the Seventh-day Adventists, also a Jezebel spirit is running rampant within many woman of this present evil age] to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality [Fornications, as in the worship of a false god or goddess] and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. … I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. … So then [and He says to some of us, brethren], because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. … I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.’” – Revelation 2 & 3.

PRIDE CAN PUFF PEOPLE UP, just as physical leaven puffs up bread.

Notice what the LORD God truly wants of us ──

“He has shown you, O man, what is good [referring to God]; And what does the LORD require of you …” – and he lists three things – “…But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” And Jesus says virtually the same thing in Matthew chapter 23, verse 23 – He talks about, “…’ the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.’” – He said, ‘You know, we’ve got these bean counters up there, their tithing of all these little seeds.’ He said, ‘Yeah, you do that, but you forget the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith.’ I think about the fact that even today there are individuals who get hung up on weird little doctrines, and they forget the weightier matters of the law – judgment, mercy, and faith, to walk humbly before God.

Our physical and spiritual enemy, Satan the Devil, refused to walk humbly before God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! He was an “anointed cherub.” He was “perfect” in his ways from the day he was created, until iniquity was found in him ── Ezekiel 28:14-15. He allowed his heart to be lifted up because of his beauty. He corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor ── and he was therefore cast to the Earth – Ezekiel 28:17.

Sadly, a great many people allow the wrong kind of pride to get in their way ──

“A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.” – Proverbs 29:23.

Do you honestly trust Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you able to humble yourself before God and work on changing your faults?

Yes!

With the LORD God’s merciful help!

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13.

The LORD God wants you to forsake piety and the wrong kind of pride, and humble yourself before Them! Sadly, a great many will not humble themselves before Them ── even on the glorious and holy day of the Day of Atonement!

Millions believe in Jesus, but are unwilling to prostrate themselves before the God of gods! To humble themselves before the King of kings and Lord of lords! Such humility takes faith ──

“’ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’” – John 12:25.

Brethren, this time of year, we are to examine ourselves ── are we living by the standards put forth by the LORD God? Are we placing before us anything before the LORD God?

Let us search for any old leaven, before the LORD’s Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread ── and let us put on “the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth”! □