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Subject: 7 Festivals Book: Passover - Part 2
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 15:52:54 -0800
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From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: The Seven Festivals of the Messiah: Passover

From the Book:

The Seven Festivals of the Messiah
by
Eddie Chumney

CHAPTER 3

(Pesach): Feasting For Freedom

Part 2 of 2

Yeshua ate the Passover (Luke 22:15). This Scripture passage
refers specifically to the Lamb.
Frequently, there were two sacrifices during the Feast of Passover.
One lamb is the Passover lamb and the other lamb is called the
haggigah or peace offering. These sacrifices are referred to in
Deuteronomy (Devarim) 16:2 where G-d required that the sacrifice be
from both the flock and the herd. This was interpreted to mean that
two sacrifices were needed. The Haggigah (the additional lamb) was
offered in addition to the Pesach (the Passover lamb). The Pesach was
required, but the Haggigah was not because it was a freewill offering.

During the days of Yeshua, in order to have a Seder, you needed
to register at a rabbinical
court in the temple (Beit HaMikdash), and you must have at least 10
and no more than 20 people. Each group of pilgrims who came to
Jerusalem (Yerushalayim had one representative carrying a lamb without
spot or blemish (Exodus [Shemot] 12:4-5). An assembly of at least 10
people (known in Hebrew as a minyan) was required to participate in
the ceremony.

Each group of people entered the temple (Beit HaMikdash) with
their lamb. They were
instructed, "You must slay the lamb, not the priests." The priests
caught the blood and ministered the blood according to the Scriptures.
The only place where a Passover (Pesach) lamb could be killed was in
Jerusalem (Yerushalayim). Therefore, those who couldn't come to
Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) to keep the Passover (Pesach), but still
wanted to keep the meal, would have to have a substitute for the
Passover (Pesach) lamb. That substitute was the shankbone of a lamb.
It has a special name in Hebrew: zeroah, or arm. Yeshua was referred
to as the zeroah or arm of the L-rd in Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 53:1. The
shankbone or zeroah will be a remembrance of the lamb that was slain.

The Passover (Pesach) requirement is that you must eat until you
are full. The entire lamb
must be consumed before midnight on the fifteenth of Nisan. If you had
only 10 people, you would not want to have two lambs because they
could not be totally eaten in time. This would violate the commandment
(mitzvah) that the lamb was to be eaten before midnight (Exodus
[Shemot] 12:8). If you had 20 people, one lamb would not be enough to
make everyone full, and this would also violate the commandment
(mitzvah) given by G-d. Therefore, if you had 20 people, you would
need two lambs.

Once again, Yeshua ate the Passover (Luke 22:15). You can have a
Seder without a Pesach
(or Passover lamb), but you cannot have a lamb without a Seder. Also,
since Yeshua was the Passover Lamb of G-d (John [Yochanan] 1:29), He
had to come to Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) from Bethany not only to be
the Passover (Pesach) lamb, but also for the Seder (Mark 14:3,12-16).
So, Yeshua was having a Passover lamb (Luke 22:15), and it was a
Seder. Today, there is no temple (Beit HaMikdash), so the Passover
Seder is held on the fifteenth or sixteenth of Nisan. The Seder on the
fifteenth is called the First Seder, and the Seder on the sixteenth is
called the Second Seder.

In Mark 14:12, it is written, "And the first day of unleavened
bread, when they killed the
Passover [the Pesach lamb]...." The word translated as first is the
Greek word protos, which means "before, earlier, and preceding."
Because there was a temple (Beit HaMikdash) in Jerusalem
(Yerushalayim) in the days of Yeshua, the First Seder would be on the
fourteenth of Nisan, and the Second Seder on the fifteenth. The Seder
could be held on either night. Yeshua had His Passover (Pesach) Seder
by midnight on the fourteenth of Nisan (remember that the fourteenth
of Nisan begins at sundown, which is roughly six hours prior to
midnight), and was crucified the next afternoon at 3:00 p.m., which is
still the fourteenth of Nisan.

The high priest (Cohen HaGadol) kills the Passover (Pesach) lamb
for the nation of Israel at
3:00 p.m. on the fourteenth of Nisan. At sundown, the fifteenth
begins, so Yeshua would have to eat His Passover lamb by midnight of
the fourteenth of Nisan, which is prior to the time that the high
priest kills the Passover lamb for the nation. To further prove this,
in John (Yochanan) 18:28, when Yeshua was brought before Pilate,
Caiaphas the high priest (Cohen HaGadol) wouldn't enter the judgment
hall of the Gentile ruler because he would be defiled and couldn't eat
the Passover lamb. So, this event must have taken place on the morning
of the fourteenth of Nisan because the high priest had not yet eaten
the Passover. If he was defiled, he would be defiled for one day.
Since Yeshua had already eaten the Passover by the time He was seized
and taken before Caiaphas and Pilate, He had to have eaten the
Passover with the disciples on the evening of the fourteenth. Thus, we
can see how Yeshua ate a Passover meal and could still fulfill being
the Passover Lamb of G-d by being killed at 3:00 p.m. on the
fourteenth of Nisan.

THE BREAD AND CUPS OF THE PASSOVER SEDER

During the celebration of Pesach, three cakes of unleavened
bread (matzot) are placed one
upon another, with a napkin between each cake. At a certain point in
the Seder service, the middle cake, known as the afikomen, or "that
which come after," is broken in two. One piece is distributed among
the people present, and the larger piece is hidden in a napkin. Toward
the end of the Passover Seder, the hidden portion is brought to light
and eaten by those surrounding the Passover table. The Messianic
understanding is that these three pieces of matzot represent G-d the
Father, the Messiah Yeshua, and the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh). The
central piece, the afikomen, is broken, a portion is eaten, and the
remainder hidden and then brought forth to testify of the death,
burial, and resurrection of Yeshua.

During the course of the Seder, the four cups of wine that are
served to the people present at
the Seder are used in the following manner, and are called:

1.The cup of blessing (Luke 22:17; 1 Corinthians 10:16). This cup
is called the cup of sanctification, or the Kiddush.

2.The cup of wrath (Luke 22:42-44). This cup is not drunk, but is
poured out on the table
as the plagues of Egypt are recited. Yeshua drank of this cup for
us in the Garden of Gethsemane and when He died on the tree.

3.The cup of blessing, salvation, or redemption. This cup is filled
to overflowing,
symbolizing an overflowing salvation (Psalm [Tehillim] 116:13).

4.The cup of the kingdom (Luke 22:18,20; Matthew [Mattityahu]
26:28-29). Yeshua
spoke of eating and drinking afresh in the Messianic age with His
disciples after His resurrection.

In addition to the four cups of wine served to the people,
another cup, called the cup of Elijah
(Eliyahu), is also a part of the Seder. This cup is poured out at the
end of the Seder. Only Elijah (Eliyahu) himself, or one coming in the
spirit and power of Elijah, or the Messiah, was allowed to drink of
this cup. When Yeshua referred to Himself drinking of this cup, He was
saying in no uncertain terms that He was the Messiah.

HOW DID YESHUA FULFILL THE PASSOVER?

The Feast of Passover (Pesach) was given by G-d to be a
rehearsal (miqra) of the first
coming of Yeshua. The Passover ceremony was observed in remembrance of
the past and in preparation for the future. Many years after the
Passover in Egypt, a person named John (Yochanan) the Baptist
(Immerser), pointed to Yeshua and declared that He was the Lamb of G-d
(John [Yochanan] 1:29). After John (Yochanan), a type of Elijah
(Eliyahu) who would prepare the coming of Messiah, proclaimed Yeshua
as the Lamb of G-d, Yeshua ministered for three-and-a-half years. At
the end of that time, on the tenth of Nisan, the high priest marched
out of the city of Jerusalem to Bethany where a lamb was to be slain.
The lamb was led back into the city through streets lined with
thousands of pilgrims singing the Hallel (Psalms [Tehillim] 113-118).
The liturgy for Hoshanah Rabbah says that the Messiah will come to the
Mount of Olives and weep over the city. This happened in Luke 19:41.
The people also waved palm branches as Yeshua rode into the city on a
donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. Today, Nisan 10 is known as
Palm Sunday in the non-Jewish community.

The lamb that was to be slain by the high priest was led into
the temple (Beit HaMikdash)
and put in a prominent place of display. Likewise, Yeshua the Lamb of
G-d went on public display when He entered the temple (Beit HaMikdash)
and spent four days there among the people, the Sadducees, the
Pharisees, and the scribes, as the leaders asked Yeshua their hardest
questions. Yeshua was questioned in front of the people for four days,
showing Himself to be without spot or blemish, fulfilling Exodus
(Shemot) 12:5.

On the fourteenth of Nisan, at the third hour of the day (9:00
a.m.), the high priest (Cohen
HaGadol) took the lamb and ascended the altar so he could tie the lamb
in place on the altar. At the same time on that day, Yeshua was tied
to the tree on Mount Moriah (Mark 15:25). At the time of the evening
sacrifice (3:00 p.m.) for Passover (Exodus [Shemot] 12:6), the high
priest (Cohen HaGadol) ascended the altar, cut the throat of the lamb
with a knife, and said the words, "It is finished." These are the
exact words said after giving a peace offering to G-d. At this same
time, Yeshua died, saying these exact words in John (Yochanan) 19:30.
Yeshua died at exactly 3:00 p.m. (Matthew [Mattityahu] 27:45-46,50).

In Exodus (Shemot) 12:8-9, we are told the lamb was to be
roasted before sundown.
According to the tractate Pesahim in the Mishnah, the lamb was roasted
on an upright pomegranate stick. This pomegranate stick is
representative of the tree upon which Yeshua died. The lamb was to be
gutted, and its intestines were to be removed and put over its head.
Thus, the lamb is referred to as the "crowned sacrifice." This is a
picture of Yeshua in (Psalm [Tehillim] 22:13-18).

Deuteronomy (Devarim) 16:16 says that all the congregation of
Israel was required to be
present at the feasts of Passover (Pesach), Weeks (Shavuot) or
Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Sukkot). This explains why all were
gathered to witness the death of Yeshua on the tree (Matthew
[Mattityahu] 27:1-26).

The night of the fifteenth of Nisan, G-d commanded the people to
eat the lamb with
unleavened bread (matzah) and bitter herbs (maror), their sandals on
their feet and their bags packed and on their backs (Exodus [Shemot]
12:6,8,11), for on this night they are to leave Egypt. Likewise, we
are to be quick to accept Yeshua into our hearts and leave Egypt,
which represents the sin and idolatry of this evil world.

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If you would like your own hard copy of this book (230 page),
please make out a check for $12 to me (Eddie Chumney) and send to:

Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l
PO Box 81
Strasburg, Ohio 44680

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