Have a Blessed Passover!

THIS EVENING BEGINS PASSOVER AND THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.

"Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Messiah, 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" (I Corinthians 5:7-8).

This evening Jews around the world will be gathered round tables in obedience to the command in Exodus 12:14, "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." They will have cleaned leaven from their homes (12:19) and will begin a week of eating only unleavened bread. The word "Pesach" (Passover) comes from verb "lifso'ah" which means "to skip". Literally, when the scourge went through Egypt, those with blood on their doorposts were 'skipped' the judgment which came upon the rest of Egypt. The meal is celebrated at a seder table. "Seder" means "order" (In modern Hebrew, 'b'seder' means 'o.k.'-literally, 'in order'). So the seder table is an 'ordering', both through reading and having a meal, of an account of what God did on that occasion. During the course of the meal, most families are guided by a book called a "Haggadah". This word actually means "the telling" and is taken from Exodus 13:8, "And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt'". Although the book contains remarks by revered rabbis here and there, it is primarily a straightforward account of God's deliverance of His people Israel from bondage in Egypt. And it is interspersed with wonderful psalms, and passages-many of which reference God's salvation ("Yeshu'ah") and coming Messiah. At the heart of the "telling" as it has come down to our day is an addition called Afikomen. It comes from a Greek word, meaning literally "that which comes after" or even "the one who came". At the beginning of the seder three pieces of matzo are placed into a three-fold pocket-but the piece going in the middle is first broken. Part remains in the pocket, and the other part, the Afikomen is hidden. At the end of the seder children will seek for the Afikomen.and the one who finds it will be given a redemption-price reward. Then all the participants eat a portion of the Afikomen for dessert. Modern-day matzo is unleavened, pierced and striped from the heat in baking. According to the Mishna, the Afikomen is a substitute for the "Korban Pesach".the Passover Sacrifice which was the last thing eaten at seders during the First and Second Temple periods.

PLEASE PRAY:

*For Light to shine over seder tables around the world, to reveal the Truth of the "Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world"-who atones for and takes away the sin of the world. Who may be found by all who seek, and whose finding brings Life, and Nourishment and Joy.

*For God's protection over Israel during this holy week when children are out of school and many families are out and about enjoying the holidays.