The Passover celebration like all the feasts of the Lord is historical, relevant now, and prophetic. Historically we recount the deliverance of the Hebrews at the first Passover. Prophetically from that event we look to the cross and then to the wedding feast that celebrates the return of Yeshua as King of Kings. I hope to relate in this article how Passover is relevant now.
At the Passover before His death and resurrection, Yeshua tells His disciples when He blesses the wine, “This is the cup of the new covenant”,and “I will not drink of this cup again until I drink it with you when Ireturn as King of Kings.” We call that the Wedding Feasts. There is much significance in what Jesus said over that cup. He clearly stated to His disciples that with this being the cup of the new covenant He was about to bring the fullness of understanding He stated when He said the following:
Matt.5:
Clearly today heaven and earth have not passed away yet the work of redemption of sins was completed at the cross. So, has the law been abolished by grace? No. The law, or better termed, instruction of God through the blood has become an issue of the heart. Consequences of breaking the law still stand. We suffer the consequences of our wrong choices yet through the blood we have remission of sin as we confess them to the Father. The penalty has been paid in full by Yeshua.
When He said ‘new covenant’ He was not referring to the words of the New Testament scriptures for they were not yet written. To the Jewish disciples sitting around that Passover table, He was referring to Jeremiah 31. They were scriptures that they would have been taught from their youth. By saying ‘new covenant’ He was showing them that the scriptures were about to be fulfilled and that they would have God’s laws written on their hearts and that they would know Him for themselves. If you read verses 35 and 36 you will see Yeshua was telling them this was not a new religion He was offering through this new covenant. Rather, He was bringing Israel into her understanding of what it means to be a nation before Him; that through the shed blood of Yeshua, Israel could be all that God intended her to be and that she would stand in that eternally.
Am I saying that if you believe in Jesus you have to become Jewish? NO! I am saying you are now grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.
Eph.2:[11] Therefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in theflesh,.. [12] That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens fromthe commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,having no hope, and without God in the world: [13] But now in Christ Jesusye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. [14]For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middlewall of partition between us; ( Jews and Gentiles(nations))
You are now entitled to all the promises and privileges of being a people of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and heirs to the covenant provisions of God. I am also clearly stating a Jew who believes in Yeshua has not become any less a Jew but has stepped into their full inheritance. Now we draw together from the rich sap of the olive tree Paul talks about in Romans 11. Now we are all nurtured by understanding the ways of God’s heart which He took great effort in laying out for us in what the world calls the Old Testament. I prefer to say, “the foundational Testament”, for from it all the foundations of our faith are presented. In light of what I have shared now read the following:
Jer. 31: [31] “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I willmake a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,[32] not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I tookthem by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant whichthey broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. [33] “Butthis is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after thosedays,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heartI will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. [34]”They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother,saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of themto the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive theiriniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” [35] Thus says the LORD,Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and thestars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; TheLORD of hosts is His name: [36] “If this fixed order departs From beforeMe,” declares the LORD, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease Frombeing a nation before Me forever.”
The traditional and Messianic Passover celebration is rich in revelation. I will be facilitating several this season. After meditating on the Word, however, at my private Seder in my home this year I have decided to celebrate not in the traditional way but in a more personal expression of what Passover means to me.
The word tells us:
Exodus 12:[8] ‘They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire,and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs… [14] ‘Nowthis day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast tothe LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanentordinance. [15] ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the firstday you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anythingleavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cutoff from Israel. . [18] ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of themonth at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first dayof the month at evening. [19] ‘Seven days there shall be no leaven found inyour houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut offfrom the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of theland. [20] ‘You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings youshall eat unleavened bread.'”
Yes, we will eat a lamb, which happens to be a favorite in our house. We will serve bitter herbs with our meal and when we partake not only will we bring to remembrance the bitter times of the Hebrew children, we will recall the continued suffering of the Jewish people and pray that they might be healed from any roots of bitter judgment so they might receive the love God has for them. We will also take time to pray for the persecuted Church that deliverance might be their portion as was the Jews and for strength until that time. Leaven has been referred to in the word as sin. Seven days is significant. First, 7 is the number of completion. Let us come into true repentance under the blood of the completed work of the cross. On a very practical note, doctors tell us that by fasting yeast products for those seven days our system will be cleansed our immune systems will be built up. God, the “All Wise God”, does all things for our good. We will ask God to examine our hearts and we will have a time of quiet reflection and repentance with the Lord so we can enter into this new season without leven. We will use only unleaven products at our meal and through those 7 days. The word continues:
Exodus 12:[21] Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said tothem, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slaythe Passover lamb.[22] “You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in theblood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in thebasin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outsidethe door of his house until morning.
What about the hyssop and blood? Look here:
Heb. 9: [19] For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the peopleaccording to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water,and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all thepeople, [20] Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hathenjoined unto you. [21] Moreover he sprinkled with blood both thetabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. [22] And almost all thingsare by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is noremission.
I suggest to you that when Moses used the hyssop to sprinkle the blood, he was showing all Israel what happened when they came through the blood spread by hyssop on the lentils of their homes on the first Passover. Not only was death conquered by the blood of the lamb, but the Word of God and the worship of God also comes through the blood. The blood covered God’s written word, which eventually became manifest in Yesuha, the Word made flesh. He also became covered in the blood. The place in the tabernacle where God taught us how to worship Him was also covered in the blood. The type and shadow of our relationship with Yeshua and all that encompasses was sprinkled with blood on the first Shavuot. May I suggest to you that was the foundation of the body of Messiah? As the blood at Sinai sanctified our foundation, so the blood of Yeshua on Calvary sanctified our redemption and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost: the Shavot after the Passover that Jesus kept with His disciples became the vehicle through which God wrote the Laws on our heart and purified our worship. He granted us that gift to help us come to maturity.
So we will pray and apply in the spirit the blood which is the seal of the covenant to the doorposts of our heart, our home, our places of worship and our town and country. The scripture continues:
[24] “And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and yourchildren forever. [25] “When you enter the land which the LORD will giveyou, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. [26] “And when yourchildren say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ [27] you shall say,’It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of thesons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.'”And the people bowed low and worshiped.We will conclude with the telling of the original Passover story and will add our deliverance stories of the times God has delivered us from the bondages in our own lives. Finally, we will rejoice that we have overcome through the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. May you have a blessed Passover Season!!!!!!