Dear Explorer,
Read Matthew 26:17-19
And
Read Mark 14:12-16
and
Read Luke 22:7-13
Passover is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the final plague brought against Egypt that caused the Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. During this celebration, a lamb was killed, cooked and eaten. But before it was cooked, the blood of the lamb was placed on four specific places on the doorway to their homes. One splash of blood on each side of the doorway (about shoulder high) and one splash of blood at the top of the doorway and one splash at the bottom. If you saw it, it would remind you of a cross! In Exodus 12:1-32 you can read about the first Passover.
Isn't it amazing that God was pointing people to Jesus' cross at the time of Moses! And isn't it amazing that the Jews were still celebrating Passover in Jesus' day, almost 1500 years later, much the same way as it was celebrated that first night in Egypt.
Passover beautifully pictures that a people in slavery would be set free by the blood of a lamb so that the Death Angel would pass over them. A beautiful picture of Messiah.
Every year they celebrated this feast because God was preparing them to receive His Messiah who would be the Lamb that took away their sins and ours!
One detail of the feast was that God asked them to eat unleavened bread. That's just bread without yeast. It was to symbolize the great haste or the urgency to get out of slavery – they didn't even have time to let the bread rise – they just cooked it without yeast. The results were very similar to our modern-day crackers.
You should also know that yeast is often used in Scripture to symbolize sin. The Jewish homes were supposed to remove all yeast from their homes in preparation for the Passover.
So, our Jewish friends celebrate Passover much the same way today. They have a day of preparation to remove any yeast and to prepare the special meal, called the Seder. They eat cooked lamb, unleavened bread, wine, and several other things that symbolize their time of slavery – such as bitter herbs, etc.
You can read about a Jewish Seder on the internet. I've attended 2 or 3 of these Seder meals and they are beautiful pictures of the Messiah.
So, with that background, Jesus sends Peter and John to prepare the Passover meal or Seder. And once again Jesus gives them directions that reveal that the Holy Spirit is guiding Him for each detail.
I wonder how many of the women went along to “help”? But of course, they are not mentioned!
In His service, dale
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