A Christian’s Perspective to Understanding our Jewish Roots & To Increase your Faith and Knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ -Series...

PASSOVER – The first of all the Jewish Celebrations and coming up Soon!

Time of Preparation - Mark (Chapter 14)

The upcoming Jewish Time of Preparation and Remembrance is coming soon.  Passover is a time of reflection and is a very important time for both Jews and Christians.  Yeshua’s (Jesus’s) final 24 hours began in Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem on the slope of the Mount of Olives.  It was here that the weary Messiah periodically found refuge and comfort in the home of his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Here Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead before the grieving eyes of the two sisters. IT is also here, just a short time prior to the events described in the Bible, that a woman with an alabaster jar had poured expensive oil over His head. You will recall that when she did so, some of his disciples had complained about the waste of money. But Jesus stated, “she came beforehand to anoint My body for burial” (Mark 14:8). In this passage, Jesus sends two of his disciples into Jerusalem with very detailed instructions for identifying an “upper room” in which they can prepare and partake of the Passover meal. Of course, the two disciples “found just what Jesus had told them”.

Food for Thought & Prayer:  When the voice of the Lord gives me clear instructions, do I respond quickly and fully – with a heart filled with trust and confidence that everything will work out as He has planned?

The Passover Celebration – (Leviticus Chapter 23) (1 Corinthians 5:7) (Mark 10:45)

When God commanded the institution of a yearly Passover observance for His people, He made it the first in an annual cycle of celebrations of remembrance. At the Passover Seder meal, the Jewish people commemorate the event in Egypt when the spirit of death passed over the Israelite nation on the night before their great deliverance from bondage. On that night, they were saved by placing the blood of a lamb upon their doorposts. This event foreshadowed the coming day when all humanity would be offered deliverance from slavery to sin and eternal death through the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Sadly, through the centuries many Christians have lost sight of the Jewish roots of their faith. As a result, many Believers have no idea that the meal we’ve come to know as “The Last Supper” was a Passover Seder. Every detail of the traditional Passover Seder is filled with Messianic symbolism. And when you understand that Yeshua (Jesus and His disciples were celebrating a Seder, many of the details of the biblical narrative come into sharper focus. For example, Leviticus 23:5 says, “The Passover was to begin at twilight” and concerning the Last Supper we read in Mark 14:17, “When it was evening, He came with the twelve”. It wasn’t a coincidence that this meal was held at sundown; it was a direct command from God the Father.

Food for Thought & Prayer:  Timing and order are clearly important to God. And his instructions to “rest” regularly are a key element in our worship of Him. Are there any areas of my life in which I have disregarded God’s designated order of things? Am I resting as I should? IF not, why not?

The Sacrificial Lamb – (1 Corinthians Chapter 5) (Exodus Chapter 12)

The very first Passover shows God satisfying both His justice and His love by providing innocent blood to spare His beloved Children. He delivers them not only from bondage but also from death through the blood of the Passover Lamb. This shedding of innocent blood for the forgiveness of sins is a central theme of God’s atoning work. But it’s much more than a literary or symbolic act. It’s the literal lifeblood of our faith. Of course, this all was pointing toward the future arrival of the ultimate Pesach sacrifice – the Lamb of God, Yeshua (Jesus). The apostle Paul recognized this and directly identifies Yeshua’s execution as the Passover’s fulfillment:  … for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).          Did you know that the Aramaic word for Lamb is Talya, which can mean either lamb or servant? Isiah chapter 53’s famous “Suffering Servant” passage describes Yeshua (Jesus) as a Lamb led to the slaughter. Hence, describing Jesus carrying the wood cross down the path leading to his public death or slaughter. The New Covenant also calls Yeshua (Jesus) “the Lamb” – no fewer than 34 times! In fact, the number of parallels between the Passover Lamb and Jesus is nothing less than extraordinary. Taken as a whole, these passages show that God had been preparing for Yeshua’s (Jesus’s) atoning sacrifice since the dawn of human history (post flood).

Food for Thought & Prayer:  Jesus once said that He “did not com to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) What is my attitude and expectation today? Will I allow a deeper understanding of Jesus’s atoning work – the forgiveness, safety, wholeness, and acceptance I have in Him - to free me to serve others today?

The Elements of Passover – (Exodus Chapter 12) (Matthew 26:26) (John 1:29)

There are three vital elements that comprised the Jewish Seder that Jesus and His disciples would have observed – matzot, bitter herbs, and lamb. Matzot was unleavened bread, or bread made without yeast. It is a tangible reminder that when the Israelites left Egypt, they left in haste and therefore had no time to allow the bread to rise in the traditional way. This is the same type of bread Yeshua (Jesus) held in his hands at His final Passover: “Now while they were eating, Jesus took matzah; and after he offered the Bracha (Blessing), he broke and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat, this is My body broken for you’” (Matthew 26:26). Why bitter herbs? They served as a reminder to the Jewish people that were slaves in Egypt before God brought them out. When they entered the land of promise, God wanted them to have an annual reminder of the bitter hardships of which He had rescued them. Perhaps Jesus also consumed these bitter herbs with thoughts of the disciple who would soon betray Him, and the Father who had ultimate authority. In fact, I believe it was bitter herbs in the bowl he shared with Judas when he declared, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me". The roasted lamb was the third piece of the Seder meal. As we have seen, it was the Lamb’s blood that marked the doorpost of the Israelite houses as a sign for Death to “pass over.” Roasting symbolized trials and judgement. As Yeshua (Jesus) partook of this final meal with His closet associates, He was surely keenly aware that all of these elements ultimately pointed to Him as the prophesied Messiah of Israel and Savior of mankind. He knew, as John the Baptizer had declared, that He was “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Food for Thought & Prayer:  Through Jesus’s atoning death, I have been delivered out of slavery to sin and death. I will take a moment now to ponder and remember, with gratitude, all the Yeshua (Jesus) died to make possible for me. Today I will give Him thanks and praise.

Teacher and Lord – (John Chapter 13) (Philippians 2:5-7)

Unpretentious, Accessible, and Real. These words are why people found Jesus’s blend of authority, authenticity, and compassion irresistible. Yes, He communicated truth powerfully through sermons and parable. But He also delivered truth through His example. He modeled it. This is precisely what we see Him doing near the beginning of His final Passover. Recognizing that His time for teaching and training His handpicked followers was rapidly running out, Jesus knew He had to do more than tell them that servanthood was the key to advancing in His kingdom. He had to show them. In washing His disciples’ feet as the lowest servant in a household would do, Yeshua modeled for them the kind of life He wanted them to live after he was gone. He said, “I have set you and example that you should do as I have done for you” (verse 15). As His disciples jockeyed for position and argued about which of them was the greatest, Jesus showed them the paradox of greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven – even as He stood on the threshold of the greatest ordeal any person ever faced.

Food for Thought & Prayer:  The apostle Paul said, “Have this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Messiah Yeshua, Who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped. But He emptied Himself – taking on the form of a slave…” (Philippians 2:5-7).

Jesus Predicts Betrayal, Denial, and Abandonment – (Matthew 26:20-25) (Exodus 12:3)

In His final hours with His closest friends and companions, Jesus must reveal that one of them will betray Him. But Judas isn’t the only disciple who falls short during His final 24 hours. Just a few verses later, Jesus says to Peter: “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matthew 26:34). Peter of course declares: “’Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’ And all the other disciples said the same” (verse 35). But by verse 56 we read: “All the disciples deserted Him and fled”.    Let’s remember for a moment the passage from Exodus about the Passover lamb: “Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household” (Exodus 12:3).

Food for Thought & Prayer: In what ways have I betrayed or denied the Savior in my life? Today, I will seek and receive the free gift of forgiveness and restoration made possible through the blood of the lamb.

My Shalom, I Give You – (John 14:25-31) (Philippians 4:7) (Exodus 12)

                In John 14, it seemed an odd moment for Jesus to speak of “peace”. It was probably the last thing the disciples felt at this point, as their Teacher and Leader told them He would no longer be with them. But Jesus assured them that they would indeed have peace – not the ephemeral worldly form of peace that we experience when everything is going our way, but the peace in the midst of the hardest of trials. A peace that passes all understanding (see Philippians 4:7). In exodus 12, as the Lord directed Moses and Aaron as to how the Israelites were to celebrate the Passover, He said that first they were to apply the blood of the lamb over their doorpost, then they should enter the door of their home to eat the Seder meal in peace. They had to apply the blood first so that death would not pass over them, and then they could eat in peace and safety. In the same way, the blood of Jesus allows us to enter into His peace, because after the blood has been applied, then we are covenantally sealed under God’s favor, protection, and saving power. Most importantly, we have His presence in our lives. As the psalmist David wrote: “Even though I walk in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (Psalm 23:4)

Food for Thought & Prayer: Revelation 12:11 declares, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”. When I feel troubled or afraid, it is important to recall that the blood of the Lamb is painted upon the doorposts of my life.