THE PASSOVER CEREMONY

by Avram Yehoshua

Before the ceremony begins there are some things you’ll want to have done. Because God commands that there be no leaven products in the home it’s necessary to go through your cupboards and refrigerator and take them out and either trash them, burn them or give them to the poor or a neighbor who isn’t keeping the Feast, but who would appreciate getting it. In Israel Ruti and I don’t give it away because just about everyone here keeps Passover.

Keep back a very small piece of leavened bread (one inch by one inch is fine) for each participant, placing the pieces in a plastic bag. At the appropriate time after the Passover Meal, after you’ve had His body and blood, they can be taken out and each person can burn or throw away his piece, symbolizing his cleansing from sin by the blood of Messiah Yeshua.

You’ll also want to have enough lamb,  matza  and bitter herbs for everyone present, as well as other foods of your liking, along with enough red wine and grape juice for all.1 Four wine glasses and a water glass for each person is nice, but not necessary, although it does enhance the symbolism of the meal. It would also be good to have a silver coin to give away to the one finding the hidden  matza . Print up a sheet with the three questions on it so the boy can practice it before the ceremony.

Begin the ceremony before dark by blowing the shofar (ram’s horn) and lighting the lamps2. You can sing some songs unto the Lord after the shofar or the lighting, or you can go directly into the ceremony. The meal should be eaten after dark3, darkness beginning the next biblical day. This is 15 Aviv in the first biblical month (called Nisan today by the traditional Jewish community). The Passover meal is eaten on the first day (night) of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread, a holy Sabbath (Lev. 23:5-7).

This paper is a guideline for the Passover ceremony. Feel free to embellish as Yeshua leads you. On page 12 is a simplified outline that you can use at your own Passover (or you can print this out and read it for your own service).

The Passover Ceremony

The blowing of the shofar announces the beginning of the Feast (Num. 10:10) 4. Do it with all your might as onto the Lord. It’s a feast that honors and glorifies God for delivering us from slavery to Pharaoh and Satan and bringing us into His glorious Kingdom.

Light the oil lamps5 and bless Papa God for Yeshua, the Light of the World (John 8:12). Let the mother of the home do this for it was through a Jewish woman by the name of Miryam that Yeshua, the Light of the world, came into the world.

The First Cup  is called the Cup of Sanctification. It is used to ceremonially sanctify or set apart the Passover ceremony which Yahveh commanded to be kept (Ex. 12:14). Fill the first cups with wine or grape juice. A full glass signifies fullness of joy. Then bless God for the fruit of the vine:

‘Blessed are You, Papa God, King of Eternity, for creating the fruit of the vine. Blessed are You for having chosen us from among all the people of the Earth and sanctifying us by Your living Word, Yeshua. You have made our hearts to overflow with your goodness and mercy. Thank you for this first day of Unleavened Bread, a holy Sabbath, which pictures the time of our freedom from slavery to Pharaoh and Satan.’

‘We ask You, Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, that Your Presence, by Your Spirit, would be at this Table with us. Ah-main!6’

(Drink as much as you like.)

Foot Washing

Yeshua springboards off the traditional hand washing ceremony7 (which we don’t do–Mt. 15:1-20; Lk. 11:38) to start His own tradition: read John 13:1-178. Become a servant like Him and wash the feet of your spouse or someone else. Generally, males with males and females with females. This sets the spiritual tone for Passover.

If the group consists of more than two or three people, ‘background’ singing, praising of Yeshua, can go on while people pair-up and take their turns washing their partner’s feet. After everyone is done, continue with the Three Questions.

The Three Questions

The traditional Jewish community has four questions they ask, of which only two are biblical. In our ceremony there are three biblical questions. These questions are usually asked by the youngest son old enough to read. Over the years it allows for each son to be a significant part of the Passover. The father answers his son, addressing the son and everyone present after the questions are asked. The son begins:

  1. Why is this night different then all other nights? On this night we must not eat leavened bread, but we must eat matza .
  2. On this night we must eat something bitter. Why?
  3. On this night we must eat lamb. Why?
We don’t eat any leavened bread, but must have  matza  tonight because we were slaves in Egypt, but God sent Moses to deliver us from Pharaoh’s hard slavery, which had humbled and humiliated us. When we left Egypt (Ex. 13:8) we didn’t have time for the dough to rise because we quickly left Egypt (Ex. 12:39). The matza reminds us both of how we felt in Egypt, but also, how quickly God caused us to leave.

Matza is known as the Bread of Affliction, and also, as the Bread of Freedom because we eat it in remembrance of our freedom from Egypt.

Matza also pictures Yeshua who referred to Himself as the Bread of Life in John 6. He spoke of Himself being the true Bread/Manna/Matza from Heaven. This Bread would not have been leavened because leaven is symbolic of sin and pride (1st Cor. 5:6-8), but there was no sin in Yeshua and He is very humble. That’s why God originally commanded that no leavened bread be eaten at Passover and why we must eat  matza . It reflects Yeshua, the sinless Matza from Heaven who came to give us freedom from sin.

We were slaves in this world to Satan before we gave our lives to God through Yeshua, who was afflicted and humbled for us. This  matza  is not a proud bread, but a humble bread. God commanded us to eat this bread because it pictures Yeshua in His humility, purity and holiness, which God has called us to. When we eat this  matza  we are truly free, which is the essence of Passover. We become like Yeshua. Bless Papa God for the  matza  of Life:
‘Blessed are You, Papa God, King of Eternity, who causes the  matza  that we eat to come forth from the ground and who caused the Matza of Freedom and Life to come forth from the grave that we might eat of Messiah Yeshua and become like Him.’

Eat a piece of matza .
We eat something bitter tonight because God commanded us to eat bitter herbs in remembrance of our life of bitterness as slaves under Pharaoh. Three times in Scripture (Dt. 4:20; 1st Kgs. 8:51; Jer. 11:4) Egypt is called an ‘iron furnace,’ which Yahveh delivered us from. An iron furnace is a furnace that is so hot that it melts iron. It symbolizes the intense suffering, agony and bitterness we all felt as slaves of Pharaoh (1st Cor. 10:1).

We also realize that our life before we fully surrendered ourselves to Yeshua was one of bitterness, anger, deception and confusion. We trusted in ourselves, which is a very bitter slavery to Satan. Yeshua, too, died a very bitter death, having taken our place so that we wouldn’t have a bitter eternity.

Now, we bless Papa God for taking us out of that life of anger and bitterness. We take and eat some bitter herbs9 tonight on a piece of  matza  to remember the life of grief, hostility and heartbreak we led before coming to Messiah Yeshua. If tears come to our eyes that’s alright. They will help us to remember the slavery and affliction of Egypt and Satan, and what our sins put Yeshua through. We eat it with  matza  to show us that even if there is bitterness and suffering in Messiah, He is always with us and uses the bitter things of life to transform us into His Image.
Thank Papa God for taking us out of our bitter lives into the Joy of His salvation.

Eat some bitter thing and  matza  now.
We eat lamb tonight because God commanded ancient Israel in Egypt to sacrifice and eat the Passover lamb (Ex. 12:1-8). When God saw the blood of the lamb over the doorposts He spared the lives of Israel’s firstborn sons, but He killed all the firstborn sons of Egypt because Pharaoh was very stubborn and wouldn’t let us go. God had warned him many times, but Pharaoh, a type of Satan, was stubborn to the core and it cost him his kingdom, his firstborn son, and his life. The only difference between life and death for the firstborn sons of Egypt and the firstborn Sons of Israel was the blood of the lamb.

The first Passover lamb in Egypt was a picture of the Second Passover Lamb in Jerusalem who would take our sins upon Himself (Is. 53:3-7; Jn. 1:29). God took His own Lamb, His Son Yeshua, and sacrificed Him for both Jew and Gentile that we might come to know God, who is eternal life, and not be condemned to Hell on Judgment Day, but spend eternity with God. The only difference between those sent to Hell and those brought into the New Jerusalem will be those who have Messiah’s blood upon them and eat of the Lamb of God. We eat lamb on Pass-over because it pictures Yeshua as the Lamb of God.

(Don’t eat lamb now, but during the meal.)

The Hagada

Hagada means ‘story.’ Traditionally it speaks of the telling of the Passover story. I like to begin with,

  1. God creating the heavens and the Earth, Adam, Eve and Satan,
  2. and then I go to Noah and then,
  3. to Fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his 12 sons,
    a. who went down into Egypt and became slaves of Pharaoh.
  4. Then Moses and the great deliverance of Israel from Egypt,
    a. the Red Sea split open and

    b. their Wilderness wandering because of unbelief.
  5. Under Joshua, they entered the Land and conquered the giants.
  6. Then King David, whose Son would sit on the Throne forever,
    a. and then a reference to the many wicked kings in both the northern and southern kingdoms

    b. and the Babylonian captivity because we had worshipped other gods and broken our covenant with Yahveh,
  7. and then to Messiah Yeshua, Son of David the King, who came as the Lamb of God that we might live with Him in glory in the New Jerusalem and who was crucified for us, but rose
Tell the Story, using whatever characters and points you like, and then come to:

The Three Pieces of Matza

Hold up and say that the three pieces of  matza  represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The middle piece is broken to picture the breaking (crucifixion death) of Yeshua, the Second Person of the Deity. Break the middle  matza  in half, wrap it in a linen napkin (Mt. 27:59; or a paper napkin if you don’t have linen) and hide it during the meal, not letting anyone know where you’ve hidden it.

The matza  in the linen and the hiding of it pictures the death and burial of Yeshua.

The Second Cup: The Cup of Remembrance

Fill the second cup, but don’t drink from it, yet.

We don’t need to dip our finger in the wine or grape juice. That’s a rabbinic tradition, that our Joy at being freed by Yahveh ‘is diminished ever so slightly because the Egyptians suffered.’ Taking this concept and paralleling it with Yeshua we can see that the Rabbis would have us acknowledge that Satan has suffered at the Hand of Yahveh and feel sorry for Satan. I don’t see Israel holding back on their Joy at the Red Sea upon witnessing the death of Pharaoh’s Army that was coming to murder them (Ex. 14:1-15:21). Do you? I also don’t see that the Apostles held back their joy at seeing Yeshua resurrected and glorified, even though Satan and his demons will be tormented for eternity.

The Egyptians drank deeply of the wrath of Yahveh because of their stubbornness and so will Satan and all who follow him. We recount with joy, the plagues that Yahveh performed against Egypt on our behalf, culminating in the Red Sea crossing. Yahveh made a way for us to go where there was no way—first out of Egypt and then across the bottom of the muddy Red Sea on dry ground because He loves us! This parallels the Way He made for us to dwell with Him forever—by the sacrifice and resurrection of His Son:

  1. Nile to blood! A picture of the tenth plague.
  2. Frogs!
  3. Lice!
  4. Flies!
  5. Livestock diseased!
  6. Boils on all the Egyptians!
  7. Hail, like Egypt had never seen!
  8. Locusts that covered the entire sky!
  9. Thick darkness!
  10. Death of the firstborn of Egypt!
    a. This parallels the death of Yeshua, the uniquely Firstborn Son of God.
  11. Red Sea splits wide open for us to walk on dry ground! The enemies of Yahveh and Israel are destroyed forever! HalleluYah!
    a. This parallels the resurrection of Yeshua confirming His victory over death and Satan that we might walk into the New Jerusalem, which is pictured in the crossing of the Red Sea!

In the book of Revelation there are similar plagues that God will perform upon the whole Earth. This is God giving Man opportunity to repent and come to Him, as God did so with Pharaoh and Egypt. At any time during the first nine plagues Pharaoh could have given way to God’s will, but Pharaoh chose to walk with Satan, and so, he lost everything. As for Satan’s end, it’s written in Revelation:
‘And the Devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and brimstone where the Beast and also the false Prophet are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever’ (Rev. 20:10).

Look what God has done for us! He has sent Yeshua to die for us that we might have forgiveness of sin and life forevermore. Yeshua has transformed us into His Image and destroyed death for us! Bless Papa God for His two great Passovers and drink from the 2nd Cup of Remembrance!

Now, let us rejoice! Sing (or read) the first two Psalms of the Hallel10 (Psalms 113 and 114).

The Passover Meal

Bless Papa God for the lamb and eat the meal.

Hide the broken matza during the meal.

Toward the end of the meal, release the children (or adults) to search for the hidden matza .

Give the one who finds the hidden matza a silver coin. Silver pictures redemption (Ex. 30:11-16; 38:25-28), which speaks of us being redeemed by the death of the Lamb of God.

This piece of matza now becomes half of the next ceremony—the body and the blood of Yeshua.

The Third Cup: The Cup of Redemption

Put some wine in the cup, but don’t drink from it yet.

The invitation: (After having received the hidden matza , hold it up and say):

‘This is the Bread of Affliction which our Fathers ate in the land of Egypt at the First Passover. It pictures our affliction in Egypt and in this world and what Yeshua went through for us to become the broken and crushed matza of Life.’

‘It also pictures Yeshua as the sinless Bread from Heaven; pure and holy and able to give eternal life to all who hunger for Him who is eternal life.’

‘All who are hungry for Freedom from sin and desire life eternal come to this table, the Passover Table of God, the Table of Messiah Yeshua, and eat of His flesh and drink of His blood! Yeshua is freedom from sin, sickness, death and Hell!’

“I hear the cries and see the tears of many Jewish people asking, ‘Where is Messiah?!’ May they all come to this Passover Table and find Him!”

(Don’t eat the matza yet.)

The blood of the lamb is pictured in the wine. That’s why it should be red because just as the grapes were crushed in order to make this wine, so too, Yeshua was crushed (by His crucifixion) that we might drink of His blood. In Ex. 12:14 Yahveh calls us to celebrate and remember the Passover. This speaks of four different concepts:
  1. REMEMBER: The word ‘remember’ (or memorial) in Hebrew means ‘to re-experience’ and at Passover it means to enter into the First and the Second Passover (by the Holy Spirit). What did it feel like to be a slave in Egypt, coming out under Moses after all the plagues, and also, seeing the Red Sea split open and walking across to the other side (Ex. 12:21-27; 13:8; Heb. 7:9-10)?
    We also enter into the Passover that Yeshua celebrated with His Apostles, asking Papa God to give us an understanding of what happened that night and the feelings that Yeshua felt at the Table, at the Tree and at His resurrection. This is what it means ‘to remember.’

    We can also remember, all too well, how our life was before we came to Yeshua. We have come out of the Kingdom of Satan and into Messiah Yeshua’s glorious Kingdom because of God’s love for us!

  2. FRIEND: Because we are eating with Yeshua at the Passover table, He calls us His friends. This is an ancient Middle Eastern concept. Anyone who breaks bread with another is considered their closest friend. Now we, like Father Abraham (Is. 41:8), are God’s friends. Ask the Lord to reveal His friendship to you.
  3. HEALING: In the sacrificial death of our Messiah there is healing for our soul and for our body. The matza pictures Yeshua being pierced through and crushed for us:
    ‘But He was pierced through for our open rebellion. He was crushed because of our perversions and guilt. He took our (just) punishment, which brings us shalom (peace with Papa God) and by His stripes we are healed’ (Is. 53:5).

    Matza is a perfect picture of Yeshua crucified, the true Bread from Heaven, the matza of Heaven. matza is always pierced through in the baking process to keep the heat from making bubbles in it. Yeshua was pierced through for our transgressions, our open rebellion to God. He took our well deserved punishment.

    As grain is crushed into flour, so Yeshua was crushed by His death that we might be able to eat of Him. He was crushed for our iniquities, perversions and crookedness.

    Notice the burn marks on the matza . These are called bruises or stripes. Isaiah says that by His stripes we are healed! Oh, what a mighty Messiah we serve!

    At His last Passover Yeshua washed the feet of all His Apostles (Jn. 13:3-17), which pictures Him also washing our feet because we were also there, in the loins of the Apostles.

    If we have any bitterness or resentment or unforgiveness, whether toward another or ourselves, Yeshua asks us to give it to Him. This is what Paul meant when he said that we must discern Messiah’s Body (1st Cor. 11:29). Unforgiveness is poison. Let us put away from us all the poison of Satan, all the leaven of sin (1st Cor. 5:6-8), by the blood, flesh and Spirit of Yeshua our Messiah.

    Ask Him to take it from you. This is why He died and we must believe that He will hear us and that He will do it. This is our faith or trust in Him.

    Now we are properly discerning His Body, Who He is and who we are in Him. We are almost ready to eat of His body and to drink of His blood.
  4. REJOICE! Bless our Father from our hearts for His Son who sets us free and gives us life! In Ex. 12:14 God commands us to rejoice! He has destroyed our greatest enemies: our carnality, death and Satan by the death of His Son. This is the great and mighty deed of our God! Let us enter into what Yeshua has done for us and rejoice as our Fathers did at the other end of the Red Sea and as the Apostles did when they saw Yeshua alive from the dead! Look what the Lord has done for us!
    The Scriptures record of the Passover night:

    “As they were eating Yeshua took some matza , blessed His Father and broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, ‘Take and eat it for this is My body.’”

    “Then He took the cup and gave thanks to His Father and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the removal of sins.’”

    Yeshua describes Himself, who is Freedom, as now being pictured in the matza and the wine, which already meant freedom from Egypt. Now we can more fully understand why God set up the First Passover like He did: matza always pictured His Son, our crucified King. God set it up this way so that when Messiah came He could walk into, and amplify, the meaning and symbolism of the First Passover.

    Yeshua gives us to eat of His flesh and His blood that we might be free and delivered from sin, sickness, death and Satan. Just as we need natural food and drink to live, which the matza and the wine symbolize, so too, we need the flesh and blood of our Messiah for life eternal, which the matza and wine also symbolize.

Bless our Father for the matza and the wine, the flesh and blood of His Son and the New Covenant that God promised Israel (Yeshua is the New Covenant, torn asunder for us; Gen. 15:1-21; Is. 42:6; Jer. 31:31-34). Eat the matza and drink the wine. Receive the new life that is Yeshua! Let us experience Abba El’s (Papa God’s) great Redemption now, today, this moment! Take a theme and lift it up to the Lord: Remember, Friend, Healing and Rejoice!
Wait upon the Holy Spirit to move among the people. Then, after awhile, ask if anyone would want to share what they just experienced. After that then say…

Let any that need healing come forth for prayer. Let any that desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit come. Let any that need forgiveness of sin, come for prayer. Invite others to come and pray with the people for their needs.

The Removal of Sin

We symbolically remove sin from us by removing all the yeast or leaven products from our homes. This is what Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures: God removing sin from us so we can be holy, pure, humble and modest (which is a facet of holiness). Leaven is a picture of pride in our life. Passover is a living reminder that God delivered us from Egyptian slavery and the Kingdom of Satan, not to do his own thing, but to be holy unto Him and be like His Son.

Now, it’s time (Ex. 12:15; Mt. 26:26-28; Heb. 12:1-2) for our remaining sin to be consumed by the fire. After having taken of His flesh and His blood it’s time to symbolically remove the last remnant of sin (pictured in a small piece of regular leavened bread). Place it in the fire of either an open fire or a barbecue grill so that it totally goes up in flames (or flush it down the toilet if you can’t burn it). Do not put it in the garbage as leaven is not to be found in your home11. Thank Yeshua that He has taken all your sins upon Himself and transformed you into His Image!

Yeshua’s Place at our Table

In recognition of what Yeshua has done for us, and His Presence with us, we have a place setting for Yeshua. Traditional Jews have a place setting for Elijah because they believe, and rightly so, that the prophet Elijah would come before the Messiah comes (Mal. 4:5) to announce the Messiah’s coming. We know that Elijah, in John the Immerser, and Messiah, have already come.

What better time for Elijah to have come, announcing Messiah who is freedom, then at the Feast of Freedom—Passover?! Scripture says that John was born six months before Yeshua (Lk. 1:26). With Yeshua coming at the Feast of Trumpets12 it seems that John was born around, during or on Passover. Thirty years later, John most likely began proclaiming to all Israel at Passover time:

‘Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ (Mt. 3:1-13; 11:14; Lk. 1:17).

About six months later, Yeshua was immersed in the Jordan with John acting as witness. Now, we honor Yeshua as our Messiah by having a place setting for Him at our Passover Table.
Take time to thank Yeshua for all He has done for you!

Tell Him how much you love Him and how grateful you are for what He has done for you, as though He were sitting at the Table with you.

The Fourth Cup: The Cup of Praise

The fourth cup praises God for His completed work of redemption: Passover and the Red Sea, but Matthew (26:29) writes that Yeshua didn’t drink from this cup. After the third cup Yeshua says,

‘But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom.’

It’s as though time has stood still for 2,000 years and allowed us, who weren’t literally at that Passover Table with Yeshua, to sit and eat of the matza and drink of the wine from that third cup that pictures His flesh and His blood. This is the Passover table that we invite all to eat from. It’s a Table of Life and Freedom.

This open-ended time period will cease on the Day of Yahveh, the Day of Judgment, when all those who have really eaten of His flesh and drunk of His blood will be glorified and be just like He is now. Then we will drink of the fourth cup with Him because our Redemption will be complete, to the glory of Papa-God at the eternal Passover, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9).

Overturn the fourth cup.

HalleluYah!

Matthew 26:30 says, ‘After singing the Hallel (hymns) they went out to the Mount of Olives.’

Hallel means ‘praise.’ It’s a specific reference to Psalms 113–118. These Psalms are sung at Passover because they exalt God, His creation and His salvation. Matthew Levi wrote that Yeshua and the Apostles sang these praise psalms to the Father.

As we’ve already sung (or read) Psalms 113–114, let’s sing (or read) Psalms 115–118 now. Hallelu-Yah means ‘Praise Yahveh!’ (Let the Holy Spirit lead you in making up the tunes for the Psalms.)

The Ceremony Concludes

Because God commands that we thank Him after we eat for the good Land (of Israel) that He has given to us (Dt. 8:10), we use Psalm 145:16 for it and other things:

‘You open Your hand and you satisfy the desire of every living creature, and we thank You for the good Land, Messiah Yeshua, Your holy Torah, the people of Israel, and our family.’

The Passover ceremony concludes with, ‘Next year may we celebrate Passover with Yeshua in Jerusalem!’

The Passover ceremony is officially over now, but there is more. Until dawn we read Scripture, sing praise and pray for one another and others, and try to encourage each other to stay awake. Praise and worship music will help us to stay awake and focused on Yeshua when we grow tired and weary.

Yeshua commands us to stay alert13! and God commands us to stay awake all this night (Ex. 12:42). Why?

On this night, 15 Aviv , Yahveh moved in Egypt in such a way that He never did before and would never do again. At the First Passover He freed the Sons of Israel from Egyptian slavery by the blood of the lamb and the death of Egypt’s firstborn sons.

At the Second Passover Papa God moved in such a way that He had never done before and would never do again—He sacrificed His Firstborn Son to free us from slavery to sin, sickness, Satan, death and Hell and to give us life eternal with Him and Yeshua in the New Jerusalem.

Yahveh commanded that Israel remain awake all night (Ex. 12:40-42) in honor of what He did that First Passover and in recognition that the Hebrews didn’t get any sleep, as they left about dawn. They were coming out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Light, an appropriate time (dawn) to leave Pharaoh.

Staying awake all night is a way of identifying with our Fathers in ancient Israel in their loneliness, agony and pain, and also, in their anticipation of freedom and new life.

This time period, of being awake all night, figures prominently into the Second Passover with Yeshua. He also remained awake all that night. He wanted His friends to do the same and pray for Him (Mt. 26:36-46), but they were very tired and probably had too much wine to drink and thought that this was going to be ‘just another Passover.’ They didn’t realize that what was about to happen was the ultimate event of the Universe and would never be repeated again. 14 The Creator Son was about to be sacrificed—for His Creation.

Remaining awake for us symbolizes our night in Egypt and our night with Yeshua, and also, that we won’t be asleep in the darkness of this coming year when the Lord, by His Spirit, would want to move upon us in a way that the Spirit never did before and might not ever do again.

It’s symbolic of our not being ‘asleep in the dark’ when the Spirit of Messiah would want to move upon us during the coming year. One day, a unit of time, symbolizes another unit of time; the coming year. The darkness of this night symbolizes the darkness of the world that we live in, even when the sun is shining brightly. The darkness of Passover night pictures our life in this world of darkness; in it, but not of it. These are the reasons we remain awake all night, singing praise, reading Scripture and praying, eating and rejoicing in Messiah Yeshua.

Staying awake all night also speaks of us being attentive to our walk with Messiah in this world, that we would not fall into complacency. Yeshua is returning and we must not be ‘asleep.’ We, too, like the faithful virgins, must always have oil in our lamps (Mt. 25:1-13).

At the Passover meal we eat the Bread of Affliction, which is a perfect picture of Yeshua crucified. Isaiah 53:5 says that Messiah was pierced through15. He was crushed16 and bruised and with His stripes17 from the lashes of the Romans we are healed. We are commanded to stay awake all night as Yahveh did when He brought Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 12:40-42) and as Israel did that night, also, and as Yeshua did that last night in Jerusalem. This begins our ‘affliction.’ Affliction or humbling makes us like Yeshua, and in the natural as we do our part by obeying Papa God, He does His part by making us like Yeshua.

Matza is the bread that pictures our crucified Messiah. This is what the Feast of matza is all about: Papa God making us holy, like Yeshua, as we humble ourselves before Him, pictured in the eating of the matza of Affliction-Life, the drinking of the wine of His sacrifice and in our staying up all night. Yeshua, always obedient to His Father, stayed up all night (Matt. 26:26-30, 36-50ff). He was very much discomfited that night and the next day—for us.

The ‘affliction’ continues for the seven day Feast of matza (Unleavened Bread) where we are commanded to eat this bread every day18. These seven days are God’s perfect, holy number and symbolize that He will cause us to become like His Son19. We can trust Him to do that as He gave His own Son crucified as a guarantee of His promise.

May this be a Wonder-filled Passover for you!

Avram Yehoshua

Ramat Gan, Israel

www.SeedofAbraham.net

28 April 2010

Outline for the Passover Ceremony

1. Blow the Shofar

2. Light the lights

3. The First Cup: Sanctification

4. Foot washing (or massage)

5. The Three Questions

1. Why is this night different then all other nights? On this night we must not eat leavened bread, but we must eat matza .

2. Why must we eat something bitter?

3. Why must we eat lamb?

6. The Hagada

7. The Three Matzot

8. The Second Cup–Remembrance
1. Nile to blood! Pictures the 10th plague.

2. Frogs!

3. Lice!

4. Flies!

5. Livestock diseased!

6. Boils on all the Egyptians!

7. Hail, like Egypt had never seen!

8. Locusts that covered the entire sky!

9. Thick darkness!

10. Death of the firstborn of Egypt!
a. This parallels the death of Yeshua, the uniquely Firstborn Son of God.

11. Red Sea splits wide open for us to walk on dry ground! The enemies of Yahveh and Israel are destroyed forever!
a. Parallels the resurrection of Yeshua and His victory over death and Satan that we might walk into Heaven.

12. Bless the Lord for the Second Cup and drink.

13. Read Psalms 113 and 114

9. The Passover Meal
1. Hide the matza 

2. Give a piece of silver to the one who finds the matza 

10. The Third Cup–Redemption
1. Remember–the ability to place yourself in the First and Second Passovers

2. Friend

3. Healing

4. Rejoice!

5. Eat the body and drink the blood
11. The Removal of Sin–cast the leaven out!

12. Yeshua’s place at the Table

13. The Fourth Cup–Praise

14. Psalms to sing–HalleluYah!

15. ‘You open Your hand and you satisfy the desire of every living creature, and we thank You for the good Land, Messiah Yeshua, Your holy Torah, the people of Israel, and our family.’
1. Next year may we celebrate Passover with Yeshua in Jerusalem!


 

ENDNOTES
1.  See How to Prepare for Passover for Ruti’s matza, hazeret and haroset recipes, as well as the Pass­over foods you’ll need.

2.  This Passover ceremony assumes that you’re acquainted with the basics of Passover. If you’re not you’ll want to read these at the website or ask for them in PDF from Avram:

      *Passover and Jesus at http://www.seedofabraham.net/feasts1.html.

      *Passover at http://www.seedofabraham.net/feasts2.html.

      *The Feast of Unleavened Bread at http://seedofabraham.net/feasts3.html.
              
      *First Sheaf at http://seedofabraham.net/feasts4.html.

3.  In ancient times, when the Temple or Tabernacle was functioning, the lamb would have been slain in the late afternoon of 14 Aviv. It would then have been roasted in or near one’s home and eaten that night, 15 Aviv. 15 Aviv is the beginning of the seven day Feast of Matza (Unleavened Bread).

4.  In ancient times when the Tabernacle or Temple stood, the Passover was announced by the priests blowing the silver trumpets (Num. 10:1-2, 10). Today, with no Temple, priesthood or sacrifice in Jerusalem, we as a family or community announce the Passover with the blowing of the shofar.

5.Because 15 Aviv is an annual Sabbath we should light the lights before dark (Ex. 35:1-3). God allows food preparation on annual Sabbaths like this one (Ex. 12:16) and lighting a fire is certainly part of food preparation, but lighting the ceremonial lights (or any other fires) is not, and so, should be done before dark.

6.  Ah-main is the Hebrew way of saying, Amen.

7.  Guests to a banquet would have their feet washed by slaves in the days of Yeshua. In 2010 we instituted a 21st century complement to foot washing—foot massage. 2,000 years ago Yeshua performed a practical and spiritual service in washing the Apostle’s feet, but today, foot washing isn’t necessary. A foot massage, though, would parallel both the practical and spiritual aspect of the ancient foot washing ceremony, especially for feet that have been in the kitchen preparing all the Passover food. Of course, if you still want to do foot washing that’s alright, too.

8.  The rendering ‘supper being ended’ (KJV; NKJV) for Jn. 13:2 is not correct. It should be ‘supper having arrived’ (Marcus Dods, The Gospel of St. John, p. 815) because John 13:26f. obviously speaks of the Passover ceremonial meal being in progress. Dods’ translation is supported by both the rendering of the Textus Receptus by Berry (p. 286) and the Nestle-Aland text translation of Brown and Comfort, p. 376. Therefore, ‘supper having arrived’ speaks of the Passover ceremonial meal having ‘begun.’

9.  The bitter ‘thing’ maror מָרוֹר can be radish, horseradish or different kinds of bitter lettuce, etc. The word ‘herb’ is not in the Hebrew for Ex. 12:8 or Num. 9:11. What will bring tears to your eyes is grated horseradish root. This most likely appeared among Jews living in cold climates, such as Russia and Poland, that didn’t have access to bitter vegetables in the spring of the year.

10.  Hallel is Hebrew for ‘praise.’ Passover uses Psalms 113–118. Alfred Edersheim states that Ps. 113-118 were known as the Egyptian or common Hallel (Praise). They were sung during the Feasts and also while ascending (coming) to Jerusalem. These Psalms bring out five important points: 1. The deliverance from Egypt; 2. the splitting of the Red Sea; 3. the giving of the Torah; 4. the resurrection of the dead; 5. the Messiah.

11.  All the leaven should have been burned or gotten rid of before the Passover ceremony, but we need to save a small portion of bread for every person until after we eat of His body and blood because it’s only now, having eaten of Him, that we are set free (Ex. 12:15). Also, it was only after the Passover meal that Israel left Egypt. Hence, the burning of the last of our sin nature in testimony to the purging Fire of the Holy Spirit within.

12.  See Yom Teruah: The Feast of Trumpets at http://www.seedofabraham.net/trumpets.html for why Yeshua was born on this holy day and not Sukote (the Feast of Tabernacles) as some think.

13.  Mt. 24:36-44; 25:13; 26:38, 40-41; Mk. 13:33-37; Lk. 12:38.

14.  Rom. 6:10: Heb. 7:27; 9:12; 1st Pet. 3:18.

15.  NASB, pierced through; KJV, wounded.

16.  NASB, crushed; KJV, bruised.

17.  NASB, scourging; KJV, stripes.

18.  Ex. 12:15, 17, 20; 13:6-7; 23:15; Num. 28:17; Dt. 16:3.

19.  You might want to place some songs within the outline, etc. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. This outline is geared for people who already have some understanding of the Passover ceremony, hence the basic outline form. If you don’t, you can read the articles about Passover in note 2 above.


Email Avram — avramyeh@gmail.com

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