“Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ‘And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ‘Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ‘Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ‘And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.” Exodus 12:1-7 NKJV
I don’t recall how old I was when I first watched “The Ten Commandments” starring Charlton Heston as Moses but I certainly do remember the one scene in that movie which affected me greatly as a young child. It was the scene in which the people celebrated the very first Passover while death visited those who had not put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. I have never forgotten that and if you have never seen the movie or know what I am referring to you can still watch it on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpPCnHObVJo
Passover will be celebrated in Israel this weekend and I thought today I would share a few thoughts I have on this particular Feast of Israel, and some possible ramifications it may well have for the Church as we await the blessed hope of our rapture. First of all, in Israel this event is called the Pesach Seder. Pesach is the Hebrew word for Passover, and Seder is derived from the Hebrew word for order. The dinner is an intricate part of the Passover celebration in which the memory of the deliverance of the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt is recalled.
‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. ‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. ‘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. Exodus 12:12-14 NKJV
In the traditional Seder, there are fifteen steps, or observances which each signify and relate to the deliverance on that first Passover in Egypt. I am not going to examine all of these today but will encourage you to do that on your own to better understand why this is such an important event. What I am going to discuss today is four of those fifteen steps which I will call the Four Cups of Wine. This is because during the entire Seder, there are four instances where the participants drink or sip from a cup of wine in remembrance of the promises God made to them when they were still in bondage in Egypt.
“Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ‘And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.’ ” Exodus 6:6-8 NKJV
The four cups of wine are taken to recall the four promises made in this passage which are referred to as the “four I wills”. The first cup is called the cup of Sanctification…”I will bring you out from under the the burdens of the Egyptians”. The second is called the cup of Blessing…” I will rescue you from their bondage”. The third is the cup of Redemtion…” I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”, and the fourth cup is the cup of Acceptance…”‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God.”
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, 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 remission of sins. “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.” Matthew 26:26-29 NKJV
In this passage from Matthew 26, according to many scholars, it is believed that when Jesus said “Drink from it, all of you. “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” during the Seder with His disciples, He was referring to the 3rd cup of the Passover, the cup of Redemption. Jesus was saying that by His shed blood we can be redeemed from our bondage to sin just as the Israelites were redeemed from their bondage in Egypt. He then went on to say, “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.”
Why? In essence Jesus said He would not drink the Fourth Cup, the Cup of Acceptance, until He could do so with those who have chosen to believe in Him when we are together with Him in Heaven. Since this will occur after the rapture of the Church, is Jesus somehow giving us a clue as to when the season of the rapture might happen? Additionally, the fourteenth step in the order of the Seder is the recital of the Hallel, traditionally recited on festivals, followed by drinking the fourth cup of wine. The Hallel is Psalms 113-118, with chapters 113-114 recited before the meal and chapters 115-118 recited now. Take a closer look if you will at what we find in the last chapter;
“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD, Through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalms 118:19-23 NKJV
According to the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral laws and traditions, Jesus is waiting for the marriage feast before He drinks from this cup. (Mishnah, Pesahim 7:13) Since we know that the marriage feast takes place after the rapture, is it possible that Jesus’ statement to His disciples about waiting to drink the Fourth Cup of Passover is actually His way of telling us that we will drink this cup with Him on a future Feast of Passover? Not all scholars agree with that position but I personally believe it to be a distinct possibility.
The first three of the seven feasts of Israel occur this next week, and the one most of the world will celebrate is the Feast of First fruits which we know as Easter. It's the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb where He was laid after His crucifixion. Jesus has told us, His followers, to watch for His return and He went to even greater lengths to tell us what to watch for so we would recognize the time of His appearing. My question to you is this: "Are you watching?" At this most holy of weeks when we celebrate the Resurrection, let us not forget the promise of Jesus' return, and the responsibility that goes along with the command to actively "watch" for it. It's coming soon.
If you have never made the decision to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for you by dying on the cross for your sins, there is no better time than right now to do so. Simply pray to the Father and ask Him to forgive you for your sins and tell Him you believe that Jesus is His Son and died for you. Accept the gift of salvation He has offered you and you too will drink of this cup of along with Jesus on that future day when He will invite all of His believers to join Him. Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb who died for our sins, delivering us so we can spend eternity with Him.
Keep watching.
