PASSOVER SEDER
Understand the feast of Passover.
- Commemorate the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt
- Learn the spiritual significance of Jesus’ sacrifice as the Passover Lamb
- Experience a prelude to our future Supper of the Lamb with Yeshua (Jesus)
What is Passover?
Passover is an annual celebration God established for the Jewish People for purpose of commemorating their freedom from slavery in Egypt. For more than two millennia the traditional Seder has been celebrated year after year by the Jewish community around the world.
God’s instruction said:
“So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.” (Ex. 12:14).
“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.” (Lev. 23:5).
Passover points to the coming of the Messiah that would come to liberate mankind from the spiritual prison and oppression of God’s enemy. As Christians, we recognize that Yeshua (Jesus) is the promised Messiah who came.
We celebrate the Passover Seder to remember the miracle of freedom God did for the Jewish People, the spiritual prisons God has freed us from, and the freedom from eternal separation from God we received through Yeshua the Messiah.
It does us well to pass on this knowledge and tangible experience from one generation to the next.
Did Jesus observe Passover?
Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples. We know it as “The Last Supper.”
We find the account in Luke 22:15-20:
Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
What was so special about “this Passover” that was different than the ones Yeshua celebrated in years past? (Answer found in verses 15-16).
Should Christians celebrate passover?
Absolutely! Every believer is invited to celebrate the biblical feasts. Each feast demonstrates the redemptive work of Yeshua the Messiah. Passover not only commemorates the freedom of the Children of Israel from Egypt but also points to our redemption from sin and death through the sacrifice of Yeshua (Jesus), the Passover Lamb of the New Covenant. As believers in Jesus grafted into the Olive Tree (Israel), we have the opportunity to sit at the table and participate in this celebration.
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, also instructed believers to celebrate Passover:
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
Celebrating the biblical Passover as Gentile believers help us understand Jesus and the Scriptures in their Jewish cultural context, which enriches our personal walk with the Lord. It also broadens our understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice of making two peoples one by grafting us into the Olive Tree (Eph. 2:11-22; 3:1-7; Rom. 11).
The Passover celebration is part of our spiritual heritage.