What Is Leavening?

What Is Leavening?

What Is Leavening?

The Lord commanded the children of Israel to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the fifteenth day of the first month which is Abib. The feast was to last seven days. Before the feast of the Passover they were to remove all leavening from their quarters or dwelling places. The Lord specifically stated that in all your habitations, you shall eat unleavened bread.

What Is Leavening?

The Lord commanded them to not eat anything that contained leavening, (Leviticus 23:4-8).

He also warned the children of Israel that anyone who ate leavened bread during this feast would be cut off from the congregation of Israel, (Exodus 12:15-20).

What Does Leavening Represent?

Leavening represents sin. The Lord demands that sin must be removed from our lives. This is called perfection (Matthew 5:48). God chose the perfect symbol to represent sin.

Leavening increases the volume of a product which changes the shape and texture.

It transforms something from its original form into another that is different.

Leavening Is Liken to Sin You can easily see what sin has done to our souls and hearts. Sin changed us into something totally different from what God created. If we revisit the Garden, we know that Adam and Eve were not meant to die. They were to be immortal. Because of sin, specifically the sin in the garden, Adam and Eve were now transformed into something totally different; they became mortal. Sin could enter into their minds.

Christ’s Words Christ warned his disciples to beware of the leavening of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He was speaking of their false doctrine and hypocrisies, (Mark 8:14-21, Matthew 16:5-12). Hypocrisy is pretending to have virtues that you do not have. The Pharisees preached about the laws of God, but they were not keeping the law.

They also established other laws for the people to follow. These laws were burdensome and contrary to God’s law.

Christ’s Words Paul instructed the church at Corinth to keep the feast not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness; but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. This is God’s word, and it takes the Holy Spirit to give understanding. “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, (I Corinthians 5: 7-8)

Time of Preparation When God commanded the children of Israel to eat unleavened bread for seven days, he was describing a time line for our ingestion of the word. This represents our time of preparation. We have six days to labor and prepare ourselves to pass over into the kingdom of Heaven. Paul stated that a little leaven, leavens the entire lump, (I Corinthians 5:6-8). He was preaching to them because there was fornication among them and other abominations. He told them not to keep company with or have these people among them.

Being Sanctified Paul was speaking of being sanctified and set apart from those who had sinful practices.

Why? Because it only takes a little sin to change the soul.

Satan only needed Adam and Eve to take just a bite, a little bite. It didn’t matter if they ate the whole fruit. He knew only a little leaven or sin would change the entire soul.

Passover This is why we celebrate the Holy feast of Passover. We celebrate the Passover because it points to the truth and life. We are demonstrating the covenant we made with God, a covenant made by sacrifice. The sacrifice is to live without sin. The Passover is a demonstration of faith in the death and resurrection of Christ. As he rose new from the grave, we shall rise new from the grave, as he did on that Sabbath day, (Romans 6:3-4). We will no longer be influenced by Satan. The blood of Jesus is the anecdote to heal our bodies from sin, (Philemon, 3: 20-21, I Corinthians 15: 40 - 58, II Corinthians 5:1-4)

How to Identify Food Labels We are familiar with products that contain leavening such as bakery goods; but leavening is used in a lot of unsuspected products. Always read labels. We never know when a manufacturer will change formularies of products. Just like package labeling has enabled us to become informed of the contents of foods that are unclean, it also allows us to become aware of foods and other household products that contain leavening. Even though we have package labeling available to us, we are not always familiar with the terminology. Usually these terms are actually preservatives, emulsifiers, or additives. Some of these are Lecithin, polysorbate 80, monosodium glutamate to name a few. Here is a list of key terms to look for when identifying leavening agents on packaging.

Leavening Agents Baking powder Yeast Bicarbonate of Soda (household baking soda) Baking ammonia (used commonly in pretzels and other snacks) NOTE: Cream of tartar is sometimes mistaken as a leavening agent, but it is not. It is used in baking as a catalyst or stabilizer.

It is an acid like molasses, honey, butter etc. These acids help release the gas which leavens products. You’ll usually see this used with baking soda.

Food Items That Often Contain Leavening Toothpaste with baking soda Self rising flour Baking mixes, i.e. cake, cookies, Bisquick, muffins, cornbread Candy bars that contain cookies, like Twix All “ready made� bakery items Turkey bacon (most brands) Snack chips that contain leavening

Food Items That Often Contain Leavening Be cautious of prepared entrees or tv dinners, sometimes yeast is added for flavoring.

Remember to check your home for other storage places for baking soda: Baking soda stored in your refrigerator to use as a deodorizer, baking soda stored in the bathroom, luggage and other areas.

Special Thanks This presentation was based on the class written by Evelyn C. Pointer entitled.... “What Is Leavening?�

Questions?

For questions regarding this presentation please contact us via email at info@householdofisrael.org or by phone at 219.949.9308