Passover. It's all about Jesus

Let’s go back, about 2000 years ago, to where Jesus and his disciples are reclining around a table in an upper room, in Jerusalem, to have the Passover meal. It is one of the seven feasts that God commanded the Israelites to keep. A feast to commemorate the night in which the Lord “passed over” the homes who had the blood of a lamb on their door frames.  Death entered into the homes that did not have the blood of the lamb. (Lev. 23:4-6, Ex. 12:1-15)

Jesus knows, as He is sitting there, that He is that Lamb. God’s Lamb. (John 1:29)

He takes the bread in his hands, a matzah, unleavened bread.

Leaven represents sin. Matzah is without leaven. Without sin. (Luke 12:1, 1 Cor. 5:7-8)

He breaks the bread and passes it on to his disciples: “This is My body, which is for you.”

The body without sin. The bread of life. Broken to give life. (John 6:32, 35, 48)

Then He picks up the last cup of the Passover Seder, called the Cup of Redemption.

“This cup,” He says, “is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.”

The blood of God. Poured out to redeem people. To buy them back at a prize much more valuable than gold or silver. To establish a new covenant between them and God. For all who have the blood of the Lamb to come boldly before His throne. (Heb. 10:19, Rev. 12:11, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2 Cor. 3:6)

They all sing the hymn, Hallel, traditionally sang after the Cup of Redemption. It includes the words from Psalm 118:22: “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” He is that cornerstone. (Matt. 26:30, Matt. 21:42, 1 Peter 2:7)

He knows that soon, His body would be broken and that His blood would be shed and that He will die.

But He also knows that He will rise again on the third day. (Luke 18:33, John 10:18)

On the Feast of First fruits.

He will be the first to be resurrected. The First fruit of all the redeemed people. Those who confess and believe that He is the resurrected Son of God and are born again into a new covenant with God, will also one day be resurrected. (1 Cor. 15:20-23, John 5:28-29, Rom. 10:9, 1 Pet. 1:23, John 3:3)

The Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread and First fruits are celebrated together as Passover from 14–16 Nissan. It was established by God almost a 1000 years before the birth of Christ. It is simply amazing that everything about this feast points toward the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

This year, 14 Nissan will start at sundown on 30 March. Good Friday.

There were no Easter bunnies in the upper room that night.

No, there was the Afikomen, the last matzah of the Passover Seder. Afikomen means “I came” in Greek.

There was the third cup of the Passover Seder, called the Cup of Redemption.

There was a hymn called the Hallel, which included Ps. 118:22.

There was a Lamb about to shed His blood as an atonement for the sins of all the world.

It was, and still is, all about Jesus.

God bless

Madeleine

Read about the last Passover meal Jesus had with His disciples in Matt. 26:17-30, Luke 22:1-20 and 1 Cor. 11:23-26

Recourses: Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps & Time Lines, Rose Publishing, Peabody, Massachusetts

                 Tree of Life Version, Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society