PASSOVER

                                             PASSOVER  

   
   

    The observance of Passover by Jewish people (Israel) is the equivalent of Christian's Easter activities. Why should Christians understand the relationship between the two holidays? This relationship illustrates how man can arbitrarily decide to set dates, rules and regulations. It also describes our inability to learn and accept truth. The subject of Jesus Christ has been with us for about 2775 years, yet only a minute number of people have become Christians. Jewish people who follow the strict teaching of the religion continue to ignore the prediction given us in

Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  Behold, the virgin will conceive  and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel." Verse 15 tells us how He will be different from other men. "Curds and Honey He shall eat, that He may know how to refuse the evil and choose the good."

    When Israel was taken into slavery by Egypt, the Pharaoh  refused to let them leave to worship God, and God performed the miracle of Passover. The Jews put the blood of sacrifice over the doorway, and when God sent the Death Angel, all those in the household (including livestock) were spared. Otherwise, all first born of Egyptians or unbelievers, were struck dead. It was the separation of God's people. Over time, future generations lost interest in this miracle which brought truth and freedom.

Just a few books later in the Old Testament we see the people wanted to drop God and the priests from leadership, and replace this heavenly connection with a man king. You should read about this in I Samuel. God told the people what kind of evil leadership they would receive. 

    Because the humanistic part of man fell away from God's teaching, there had to be a second event to provide freedom from the slavery of humanistic thinking that controls the world. Isaiah was the prophet that issued the future step to return believers to freedom and safety. Jesus died on the cross for us, being blameless and free of sin. He brought eternal life if we can make a sincere acceptance of his free gift. That is a simple enough path: just follow His instructions. It's difficult to find a modern day disciple to follow His last directive: teach all nations (Matt.

28:19-20). Too many of our church and political leaders are finding issues Christ didn't teach, and ignoring the clear teaching in the four gospels. These are the anti-Christ dupes leading the church to a partnership in the woes of revelation.

    The Passover Seder observance by Christians is a historical reenactment of the story of Christ's mission on earth. It enables Christians to understand God's plan of salvation and to believe in His power through the work of the Holy Spirit, as well as the difference between right and wrong. The Passover and Easter should occur at the same approximate time on the calendar, but Christian church leaders have set their own dates just as they have corrupted His teaching. Satan has all kinds of goodies to offer us to ignore God and follow his curvy path.

    The difference between the original Passover and our observance today is only the location then and the location today. God sent Israel to a land of milk and honey. It was highly desirable, and we should remember two things. The people weren't able to simply  walk into the land and receive it as a gift. They had to rely on faith in God to take the land, and they had to fight to claim what God set aside for them. Our location set aside for us today is the spiritual realm of eternity. To occupy this realm, we are expected to have faith in God through Jesus. Israel kept falling away, and

many people today who claim to be Christians are falling away. It's not difficult to see who they are, because they are opposing Christ's teaching. They are pursuing their personal agendas that separate people with hate and greed.

    Little has changed in the tradition of the Seder over the years, but something has been added. First, there is the traditional search to find leaven. This is represented by yeast in dough, and must be eliminated before proceeding. The leaven represents mankind's tendency to sin, passed from generation to generation. For this occasion, we use matzoh rather than bread. The new addition is the presentation of the matzoh of hope. This is for those who do not have the freedom of worship, and who can't be with us. 

    A woman begins the ceremony by lighting the festival candles. Women were considered more righteous than men in that  generation, and men haven't improved since then. The opening prayer is from NUMBERS, 6:24-26. We now move to the First Cup, the Kiddush. This is the cup of sanctification and blessing. With this cup, the night is set aside as different from all other nights. We pray, "Blessed art thou, o lord our God, ruler of the universe, who chose us from all peoples and exalted us among

all nations, by making us holy with His commandments."

    The matzoh is bread without yeast to make it rise. When Israel left Egypt, they had no time to wait for the bread to rise. It is a symbol recognizing the speed God may use to accomplish any purpose He may have. Matzoh has another meaning we will  observe a bit later.  Another symbol is the roasted lamb bone, which represents the slain lamb of sacrifice whose blood was sprinkled over the doorpost. The green vegetable represents the hyssop branches used to apply blood to the doorpost. The roasted egg is the symbol of life as well as the baptism of Israel in the Red Sea as they fled to freedom. We now see three pieces

of matzoh representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are wrapped in linen, and we remove the middle one, representing Christ. You see this piece of matzoh resembles Christ's experience on earth. It bears the stripes He suffered, and is pierced as He was. It has no leaven, signifying He was free of sin. Symbolism continues as we see that He was born in Bethlehem, which means House of Bread in Hebrew; He was raised in Nazareth, which in Hebrew means The Branch; was baked in fire, symbol of God's Judgment. He was buried in white linen as the seed of God, and

was resurrected as the first fruit, and came back to earth to give us final directions. He said He was the bread of life, and told us to partake freely. The Jews were actually observing communion without realizing it. We are privileged to be part of communion, but sadly, many who think they are Christians do not follow His teaching in the four gospels. We will share pieces of matzoh in communion with the Cup of Redemption, the third Cup.

    We have already answered why tonight we eat only unleavened bread. Another question concerns why we eat bitter herbs. The bitterness represents the oppression Israel suffered under the Egyptian rule. We do not dip our herbs on other nights, but tonight we dip twice. Jesus identified His betrayer by saying it would be he who dipped after Him. A fourth question asks why the feast is eaten while reclining, the customary manner by wealthy and ruling people. God is freeing Israel, and the people can now eat in leisure.

    The story of how Israel became slaves in Egypt is an excellent example of how Satan's evil can be turned into something good for people of faith. Scripture tells us Joseph's brothers were jealous of him, and sold him into slavery to a passing caravan, and eventually to the Egyptians. Because of Joseph's faith, he was patient and survived the rigors of false accusations and rose on the strength of that faith to be what we would call the prime minister. He predicted the upcoming famine, and became the administrator of food, only second in command of Egypt. When the predicted famine came, Joseph's family journeyed to Egypt to buy food. Joseph was reunited with his family, and the Pharaoh provided that Joseph's people and flocks could settle in Egypt. They were not slaves, but accepted as free people. God replaced the evil act with His merciful

act of physical salvation.

    As the continuing pattern of humanistic man proves over and over,

generations change, and faith is lost as people begin to value material things more than spiritual things. Israel was blessed in its new land, and the people increased as did their flocks and  material possessions. A new Pharaoh became Egypt's ruler, and he feared Israel's people would be a threat to his leadership and the dominance of Egypt's own people. The eventual result was lowering the Israel people to the status of slaves. This is interesting, because we then had slaves who also had slaves. There were two levels of slavery. 

    Under the new Pharaoh, Israel could not worship God. Egypt had a religion of many false gods. The birth of Moses, and the miracle of his upbringing in the household of the Pharaoh continues the string of miracles bringing about the departure of Israel from Egypt. When Moses sought approval to let the Israeli people go out to worship, the Pharaoh refused. That brought a series of plagues on Egypt,  each of which resulted in continuing refusals by the Pharaoh. This takes us to the SECOND CUP. This is the cup of plagues and iniquity. Usually, the Passover meal occurs now. We see that is how we come to be here today on Passover. Finally, God said enough was enough, and He gave Israel the PASS to spare them the final plague. The first born of all of Egypt would die as the Death Angel passed over Egypt. By placing the blood of sacrifice on the doorpost, all Israeli families would be spared. As Egypt suffered the loss, Israel was directed to flee with their flocks, material 

possessions and spoil of the Egyptians.

    As we review this series of historical miracles, we see the planning

of God. By realizing the power of faith and the promise of God, we should understand our place as Christians. Christ not only taught the value of faith, he demonstrated it with miracles. The very people who should have supported Him refused to accept Him and were  responsible for His death. When He died on the cross, he provided for the final stage of mankind's journey. His sacrificial blood replaced the blood on the doorposts in Egypt, and the meaning for us is freedom from spiritual death and a place in eternity with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. The location then was Egypt. The location today is  America and anywhere anyone will accept God's offer through His Son, Jesus Christ.

    We come now to the THIRD CUP, the cup of redemption. This was God's method of saving Israel while the Egyptians refused to permit His worship by the Chosen. It was the sacrifice of blood provided through slaying of an animal. It was the original slaying of a lamb, the symbol used to describe Christ in scripture. We make this connection today with the Old Testament resurrection by examining the burial of the matzoh as we did earlier. When we eat this Bread of  Life, we drink the third cup, fruit of the vine that represents His blood. 

    There is a fourth cup as well as a full place setting for another guest. This remains empty and is called the chair of Elijah. He was the prophet taken directly to heaven in a chariot of fire. Jews expect Elijah to return and keep that chair available for him. Christians keep that chair for Christ's return. We fully believe in the prophecy of Isaiah, and that the Son of God was born of the virgin Mary, that He gave us directions for eternal life, suffered, and died that we may live spiritually in eternity. We close this Seder with the prayer that we shall all meet in the New Jerusalem.

Rev. Walbear