As unleavened bread is pure and free from leaven, so is Yeshua is pure. The matzo is a good representation of our Messiah. Let us examine this bread and how Yeshua is typified by this element:

1.    It is pierced.  Yeshua was pierced (Jn 19:24; Ps 22:16; Zech 12:10; Rev
1:7)

 2.  It is bruised. Yeshua was bruised (Isa 28:28; Isa 42:3; Isa 53:5; Matt
12:18-21)

3.  It is striped.  Yeshua was striped.  it is by His stripes we are healed (Isa 53:5)

4.  it is pure. Yeshua was without sin. (2 Cor 2:21; 1 Pet 2:22; Heb 4:15; Jn 14:30)
       a. Only unleavened bread was used in the Temple because the offerings presented there had to be pure.

5.  Yeshua referred to Himself as the "bread of life" in John 6:48.

6.  Yeshua was born in Bethlehem, which means "house of bread." (Heb: bêyth lechem)

7.  Passover typified the substitutionary death of the Messiah, so Unleavened Bread depicts the burial of the Messiah.


UNLEAVENED BREAD DEPICTS BURIAL OF MESSIAH
 
JUST as Pesach (Passover) depicts the substitutionary death of the Messiah, so is the Unleavened Bread depicts the burial of the Messiah.  Yeshua died a criminal's death in the hands of the Romans but His burial was that of a wealthy man. When a criminal dies he would normally be given a criminal's burial but Yeshua was accorded with honour and respect in His burial.  As the Scripture said, Yeshua was buried in new tomb affordable only for the rich people.  The donor of the tomb was His secret follower by the name of Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a member of the Sanhedrin and an influential member of the society.  His burial declared His innocence and purity. Because Yeshua was without sin (leaven), God did not allow His holy body to be treated with disrespect.  His body never decayed or return to dust.  David, king of Israel prophesied in Psalms concerning the burial of the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) . "As a pure, sinless sacrifice, the Messiah was not under the curse to return to the dust."

There is an ancient Jewish blessing of the bread that goes this way: "Barukh Ata Adonai Eloheynu Melech ha olam hamotzee lechem meen ha Aretz, Amen". When translated into English: "Blessed are you Oh LORD our GOD, King of
the Universe who brings forth bread from the Earth, Amen". This ancient prayer has a lot of significance and can be traced as far back to Ezra. Jewish people used this ancient prayer starting from their return from Babylonian exile even up to today. They would use it during Feasts and Shabbat dinners.  If we examine it carefully, does the bread literally come from the Earth? The wheat and other grains, which is the main ingredient of the bread comes from the Earth but not he bread per se.   Technically all foods come from the Earth but why blessing for bread has been singled out as coming from the Earth? Why is this prayer set up this way? 
 
I believe that the LORD GOD inspired His people to pray in this manner as a prophecy then a testimony of Yeshua`s (Jesus) first coming, death and resurrection from the dead. Let us examine a few passages:

 1.      Yeshua is the Bread of life (John 6:48)

 2.      This Bread came down from heaven for men to eat and not die (John 6:50)

 3.      This Bread is the body of Christ (1 Cor 11:24)

 4.      This Bread proclaims the Lord`s death (1 Cor 11:26)

Examining this prayer, "…who brings forth bread from the Earth" makes a lot of sense. You cannot bring something "out from the Earth" unless it was first "brought into the Earth".  Yeshua, who is the Bread of life, the Unleavened Bread (meaning the sinless One), came down from heaven, was buried under the earth for a time (3 days and nights according to the Scripture) and was raised to life from the Earth on the third day! This prayer is a testimony to the Jewish people and it is an utterance of GOD`s redemptive plan to the Jews first then to the Greeks (nations) – Rom
1:16.

It is very interesting to know that the word Yeshua (ישׁוּעה Yeshû‛âh) which literally means "salvation" or "God is my salvation" appeared at least75 times in the Tanakh (Genesis to Malachi). We know for a fact that Yeshua is the Hebrew name of Jesus of Nazareth, our Saviour and Lord. Although many christian believe that Jesus existed from the beginning, they are having a hard time to equate that it was Yeshua or Jesus was literally present in the writings of the Old Testament. Many would assume that Jesus only came into play and became the focus of everything in the New Testament only. This erroneous assumption was unknowingly copied from a false prophet by the name of Marcion from the second century. As a matter of fact, Marcion was the one who divided the Bible and coined the term "Old" and "New" testament. There is no Old or New Testament but rather just a Scripture or Biblios (Bible), which means holy books.

From time to time, I would ask some fellow believers who gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and they would immediately answer with confidence that it was God who gave it.  When I would press further as to who exactly,  whether it was the Father or the Son, their usual answer is the Father after a long pause. Again this is Marcionic belief as he was saying that it was a different god who reigned and was the focus of the "old" testament who ruled Israel with a very tough Law and Jesus triumph over this god and now saved us by grace, thus, we no longer need the Law as we had been freed from this "tough" Law. If I tell them that it was Yeshua who gave the Law to Moses, they hardly believe and many would even disagree.  They cannot connect the gracious and loving Jesus to the tough law-giver in the Old Testament who would punish to death any violators of the Law and who ordered Israel to annihilate their enemies including women and children. They seem to forget that Yeshua drove people selling in the Temple with scourge of cord and overthrew tables and many things.  I will discuss this further in a separate topic.

For many fellow christians, they cannot believe or accept that Yeshua was the giver of the Law (Torah). If I ask them how many and what are the commandments that Jesus gave, they will only say 2 commandments, i.e., To Love God and neighbor (Matt 22:37-40). However, people tend to forget that these two commandments were given to Moses and was part of the Torah (Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). Whether christians will accept it or not, Jesus was the giver of the Torah to Moses, including the Ten Commandments.  This is very clear in James 4:12, "There is one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy...".  Therefore, if Yeshua is the Lawgiver, how do we treat the Law whom He gave? He specifically said in John 14:15, "If you love me, keep my commandments". We are also responsible to teach the Law and His commandments to people as mentioned in Matthew 28:18-20, specifically verse 20, "teaching them to observe ALL that I commanded you..". When He said all, He means ALL.  Can we keep them all? No, we cannot! This is the reason why we need Him, our Saviour but it does not exempt us from doing His commandments.  We keep what we can and those that we struggle with or cannot cope up, His grace kicks in. That is how loving our God is!

Why is it important to know whether Yeshua's name was written in the Old Testament? Because God in His loving mercy has revealed Himself to us in every possible way, even from the very beginning.  If we can understand that He was the Lawgiver and that the Scripture is all about Him (Luke 24:27) then it is easier to understand that we have to follow ALL His commandments, from "Old" to "New" Testaments, from Tanakh (Genesis to Malachi) to Brit Chadasha (Matthew to Revelation).  In those 75 verses as well, the Scripture has literally stated that Yeshua is God!  Not only that Jesus was mentioned in the New Testament, His Hebrew name was literally mentioned all over Old Testament declaring that Yeshua is God.

Shema Yisrael or simply  called Shema (Hebrew: שמע  ישראל‎;  "Hear, [O] Israel") are the first two words of a section of the Torah (First 5  books of the Bible) that is considered as a centerpiece of the morning and evening prayers among Jewish people. The first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism.  Shema runs like this:

 Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheynu Adonai Echad. 
Baruch shem kevod malchuto L'olam va'ed


Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God the Lord is one. Blessed is
the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity.


Shema is considered as the most important prayer among the Jews and one of the oldest liturgies (over 3,000 years old) in Judaism.  They would recite it twice a day, one in the morning and one before sleeping in obedience to Deut 6:7.  The term "Shema" is used by extension to refer to the whole part of the daily prayers that commences  with Shema Yisrael and comprises Deut 6:4–9, 11:13-21,  Num 15:37–41 and Lev 19:18.  As for the messianic believers Jewish  people who acknowledges Yeshua (Jesus) as Lord and Messiah), they would recite  the Shema and V'ahavta(meaning "And you shall love...") as stated in Deut 6:4–9 and Lev 19:18.  The way it is being recited by the Jewish people is thru their traditional song from way back, thousands of years ago.  The commandment to recite the Shema twice daily is ascribed by Josephus to Moses ("Antiquities" 6:8), and it has always been regarded as a divine commandment  (Sifre, Deut. 31.)

To the Jews, other than being recited day and night, 

1.       It is also contained in the mezuzah placed on the doorpost.
2.       It is the prayer said when dying.
3.       It the prayer uttered by millions of Jewish martyrs at the moment of their slaughter. 
4.       It is the prayer with the strongest emotional meaning even for secular Jews. 
5.       It is the password by which one Jew recognizes another in any part of the world.

Shema is one of the sentences that are quoted in the New Testament. The Gospel of Mark 12:29  mentions that Jesus considered the Shema the beginning exhortation of the first of his two greatest commandments: "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, 'Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord'" (KJV). Jesus  also refers to the Shema in The Gospel of John 10:30. A group of Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem at the Feast of edication, or Hanukkah, asks him if he is Messiah, the anointed one of God. Jesus concludes his response with the words "I
and my Father are one" (KJV). This is an allusion to the Shema, which the Jews immediately recognize.

In addition, the apostle Paul reworks the Shema in 1 Corinthians 8:6 vis-à-vis the risen Christ: "yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." (N.T. Wright, The Climax of the Covenant, 1994; E. Waaler, The shema and
the First Commandment in First Corinthians,  2008).

Recitation of Shema was commanded by God in Deut 6:4-9 as a testimony to the Jews (and to us all) that God is existing in compound unity.  If we look carefully the shema, it says there, Shema (hear) Yisrael (Israel) Adonai (the Lord) Eloheynu (our God) Adonai (the Lord) Echad (is one/united).   The repetition of Adonai in-between Eloheynu is forced and grammatically appears as over description.  However, this is a revelation of the compound unity of the Triune God (Trinity).  This message was given away by the use of the word Echad.  Why Moses did use the word Echad which means compound unity (united as one or simply one in compound form) instead of  the word Yachid which means one (and only one)?  If he did use the word yachid then there is nothing more to say. However, he used Echad declaring to the Jews and to all people about the compound unity of God. Every time a Jewish person would recite the shema, he is practically confessing with his mouth the compound unity of God and it is also a testimony to him day and night.

For us believers, this is a wonderful truth that we can ponder upon day in and day out. Isn`t it a good thing if we recite the shema day and night as part of our  prayers in the morning and at night time.  Come to think of it, they are Scriptural verses anyway and was commanded by God that even Jesus recited it Himself.  I don`t believe that you have to do it  legalistically especially if you don’t feel doing it but for a believer who wants to obey this command and wants to joyfully confess God`s compound unity  together with God`s chosen people, then we are free to do so and nobody should  stop us or judge us. After all, we have freedom in Christ!

Passover is probably the  best known of the Jewish holidays simply because it ties with our Lord`s Last Supper, which was a Passover Seder.   We believe without a doubt that what Jesus (Yeshua) did on that night was very messianic in nature and a lot of its observances and practices are types and shadows pointing to Jesus.

Passover begins on the twilight of the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan. It is the first of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are Shavu’ot and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it represents the beginning of the harvest season in Israel, but little attention is paid to this aspect of the holy day. The primary observances of Passover are related to the Exodus from Egypt after 400 years of slavery. This story is told in Exodus 1-15. Many of the Passover observances are instituted in Exodus 12-15.

The name “Passover” refers to the fact that the angel of death “passed over” the houses of the Jews and God
fearers, those who placed blood in the door post, when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt. In Hebrew, it is known as Pesach, which is based on the  Hebrew root meaning “pass over”. The holiday is also referred to as Chag
he-Aviv (the Spring Festival), Chag ha-Matzoth (the Festival of Matzahs), and Zeman Herutenu (the Time of Our
Freedom).

Many of us know about the first Passover in Egypt and the last Passover of Jesus with His disciples but we kind of neglect many of its significance in relation to our faith.  Probably the most significant observance related to Passover that we fail to see is the removal of chametz (leaven) from the homes. The removal of the leaven is also a symbolic way of removing the“puffiness” (arrogance, pride) and ultimately the sins from our souls.  In many instances, the Bible equated leaven with sin (1 Cor 5:7-8, Luke 12:1)

The prohibition against leaven is beyond question.  Leaven in Hebrew literally means "sour." The term "leaven" refers to any fermenting product such as yeast or baking powder.  Another Hebrew word for leaven used in Exodus was sehore (Exo 13:7) which means“swelling”.  Eating of bread with leaven during the feast carried severe consequences,
as mandated by God in the Scripture (Exo 12:15; 13:7). All leaven or anything made with leaven are to be removed from the dwelling places should not to be found anywhere in the land (Deut 16:4).  Chametz includes anything made from the five major grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt). 

The process of cleaning the home of all chametz in preparation for Passover is an enormous task.  Most of them would start at least a month prior to start cleaning their homes not only with anything with leaven but everything that are undesirables and considered garbage. They would spend several days scrubbing everything down, going over the edges of their stoves and fridges and eventually the whole house. The spring cleaning practices was taken from this. After the cleaning is completed, the morning before the seder, a formal search of the house for chametz is undertaken, and any remaining chametz is burned.  For them, as they clean their houses of leaven and dirt, they also
prepare themselves spiritually as they approach the holy day.

These practices would give us a lot of lessons.  The  removal of leaven from among us is a  physical manifestation of spiritual truth.  Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor 5:7-8, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.”

Some people would argue that practicing this is legalistic but is there anything unbiblical about this?  If we can learn something about these practices that will make our walk with God better, why not do it in the  context of our faith instead rather than completely reject it?  Are we sinning against God if we intentionally refrain from eating anything with leaven during the time of Passover/Unleavened Bread just as He commanded the Israelites in the Scripture(Ex. 12:14-20; 13:6-8; 23:15; 34:18;  Lev. 23:6; Deut. 16:3, 8)?  If we do not judge those brethren who came from catholic who won’t eat meat during the holy week, are we suppose to pass judgement to those who won’t eat leaven during the Passover?  Since we are doing our sping cleaning in time for the season, why not remove the leaven from among us both spiritually and physically in time for the season?  It is just a thought.