THE PASSOVER - PART 5
THE PASSOVER 2020 SERIES - PART 5
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DESCRIPTION
This is Part 5 of a seven (7) part series to help you understand the Biblical roots of the Passover. Also, to help you understand WHY and HOW the Passover being celebrated today is different from that given to Moses in the instructions by God in Exodus Chapter 12 in Torah. HOW did the changes come about and WHY? These questions are answered here. You will have a deeper understanding and love for your LORD after this study!
Also, the reason for the mysterious APHIKOMEN – the “middle cake” – and WHY it is hidden away!
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THE PASSOVER – PART 5
It must be evident to you now that the description of the Passover service mentioned in Parts 1 thru 4 of this study are NOT mentioned in the Passover instructions recorded for us by Moses in Exodus Chapter 12. In this story there is NO mention of wine, or four (4) special glasses of wine, or an egg. Instead of a dry shinbone, the main feature of the original Jewish Passover was the roast lamb. And certainly there is no mention of three (3) special unleavened cakes and the ceremony of burying or hiding away half of the middle cake and bringing it forth at the end of the feast.
This marks a radical change from the feast initiated by Moses. When and how did this change come about? Nowhere in the writings of Moshe (Moses), nor in those of the Rabbis during the 1500 years that followed the days of Moses, is there any question of wine as being necessary for the keeping of the Passover, or that it MUST BE RED! This presents three (3) QUESTIONS:
- Who substituted the bread for the Passover lamb?
- Who made the wine an essential part, and why should it be RED like BLOOD? And;
- Why does the Jew today – while eating of the middle cake called APHIKOMEN – believe that he is eating the Passover lamb?
Although most of my Jewish friends today do not realize it, the origin of the use of the bread comes from the Brit Chadashah (the New Testament). The Jewish followers of Messiah made the change during the immediate years after the Lord’s resurrection. Almost ALL of the early Messianic Believers in Messiah Yeshua were Jewish. It is because Yeshua (Jesus) took matzah (unleavened bread) the day before He was sacrificed and said: “This is my body,” then gave His talmidim the matzah and told them, as they were eating it, to believe that they were eating the sacrifice of the Passover.
The half piece of cake called APHIKOMEN is wrapped in a cloth and hidden, because when Jesus died on the cross two Jewish leaders who believed He was the promised Mashiach (Messiah) took His body -- wrapped it in grave clothes -- and placed it in a new (never before used) tomb, or sepulchre. The APHIKOMEN is later brought forth from its hiding place because on the third day the LORD God raised Yeshua from the grave.
The APHIKOMEN is eaten as the last act of the Passover feast because the institution of the Lord’s supper took place at the close of the meal in the upper room in Jerusalem. The members of the family share it because the followers of Messiah were regarded as the family of God. Jesus (Yeshua) is the bread of life to all that believe in Him!
Every single act done to the middle cake by the Jewish people today is descriptive of what happened to the Lord Jesus. It is therefore He whom the APHIKOMEN represents. And all the three (3) cakes are really symbolic of the Holy Trinity, the threefold revelation of the Godhead: God, the Father and Creator … God, the Savior or redeemer … and God, the Holy Spirit. The middle cake, which represents the Mashiach Yeshua (Jesus, the Messiah), is the one that is broken. He was broken and He was crucified.
Notice, also, the fashion of the Passover cakes: with the stripes and holes pierced in them. There was NO New Testament during the early church years, and only a few copies of the TANAKH (Old Testament Hebrew scriptures) in the hands of the leaders. The early followers of Messiah wanted to impress and perpetuate the story of Messiah Yeshua for their children and children’s children … and generations to follow. They wanted to teach them that Yeshua HaMashiach was the One Who fulfilled Isaiah Chapter 53:
“Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”
-- Tanakh: Isaiah Chapter 53, Verses 4 and 5
"And I will pour out on the house of David and on those living in Yerushalayim a spirit of grace and prayer; and they will look to me, whom they pierced.
They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son; they will be in bitterness on his behalf like the bitterness for a firstborn son."
-- Tanakh: Zechariah Chapter 12, Verse 10
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