Passover and Redemption

Most of you know, but some may not, that we keep the biblical feasts and festivals. My very favorite feast is Passover. It is the perfect picture of what Yeshua did for us on the cross. So, this Passover we got together with our home church (6 families with a total of 18 kids!) and a few other families and friends and had a seder at our dear friends, the Kniseley's, home. We had the best time. For those of you who have never attended a seder, they usually last a long time. So we were there for about 8 hours. One activity that was a lot of fun was each family was given 2 chapters from Exodus and each family acted out their chapters! We got chapters 1 and 2. Caleb got to be baby Moses! He was so cute. Elijah was the big Moses and Matt was Pharoah. I had a more complicated role (being the only girl in the family)... I had to be Moses' mother, Pharoah's daughter and Zipporah!
Passover is my favorite feast for several reasons, but the most important one is that it is a perfect picture of our redemption through Yeshua, our Messiah. In a traditional seder there are what is called the "four cups". The first cup that we drink out of is the cup of sanctification(to be set apart), the second is the cup of deliverance, the third cup is the cup of redemption, and the fourth cup is the cup of hope. In a traditional Jewish seder there is a cloth with four pockets and the matzah(unleavened bread) is placed in the middle pocket and it is broken in half at the beginning of the ceremony and half is placed back inside the cloth and the other half is set aside for the afikoman. After drinking the second cup and eating the meal the afikoman is hidden and the children get to search for it and once it is found it is broken for each person to have a piece and at the same time the third cup of redemption is filled.
For believers the breaking of the afikoman and the drinking of the third cup of redemption is the most important part of the Passover meal, for it points directly to our Saviour. Most christians call it the "Last Supper", but Jesus was sharing the Passover meal with the disciples. In Mark 14:12-17 it says "And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover? And He sent two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher says, Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?' And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready for us there. And the disciples went out, and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening He came with the twelve."
Then in Matthew 26:26-28 it says "And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after a blessing He broke it and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks He gave it to them, saying "Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many of forgiveness of sins." In these verses Jesus was breaking the Passover unleavened bread and telling the disciples to drink of the third cup of redemption and was telling them that it represents His redeeming blood... that He was going to die for the sins of the world for the sake of redemption. We most commonly recognize these verses from communion, but when Messiah tells us to do these things in rememberance of Him, I believe He is talking about keeping the Passover feast. Don't get me wrong, we can break bread and remember Him any time we join together to worship, but I also think that He specifically wants us to keep the Passover feast because it is the perfect reflection of what He did for us on the cross.
Again he mentions the cup of redemption in Matt. 26:39 "And He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt" and v.42 "He went away again a second time and prayed, saying "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done." He knew He had to die in order for us to have redemption! I just want to praise Him for that sacrifice.
So as many jewish people are celebrating the story of their deliverance from the bondage and slavery that they experienced in Egypt, the believer in Yeshua, our Messiah, can celebrate that through redeeming blood of the Lamb, God passes over our sins and we are saved and set free from our bondage and slavery to sin.

I just want to end this reflection on Passover with a few other verses.

"But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our wellbeing fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgement He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth." Isaiah 54:5-9 ...and "By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, and He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the stron; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors" Isaiah 54:11-12

"John answered them saying, I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:26-29

"And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him wo sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and dominion forever and ever" Revelation 5:11-13