Mashiach in Passover

Jerusalem of Gold

Mashiach in Passover (Pesach)


Some years ago, during the Passover Seder (service) at the Synagogue, my Rabbi said: "The most important part of Passover is the matzah (unleavened bread). It is the central symbol. So why is it that we take the matzah, lift it up and break it? Why do we break the most important part of the Passover Seder?" My mild-mannered and highly intelligent Rabbi then continued: "I guess we belong to a religion that asks questions; we are the 'Why?' religion. And Judaism has more questions than answers." With that, our Jewish Passover Seder began.


But, can we, when we are saved in Yeshua, begin to find answers to our Passover questions through His Holy Spirit? There is so much symbolism of Yeshua hidden in plain sight during the Jewish Passover seder. Below, I will share just eight examples. And, if you are Jewish and have not yet read the New Testament, every quote I have used from it below was written by a Jew.


1)  SEASON OF OUR LIBERATION (Zeman Cherutenu):


We call Passover "the Season of our Freedom, or Liberation".  If the Passover Lamb is Yeshua the Messiah, then this becomes a prophetic term for this eternal sacrifice offered at Passover. Once we step out into trusting the Messiah, we truly enter the Season of our Freedom. As Paul, the Jewish apostle, wrote: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1) He is speaking the Hebrew language of Passover.


2)  BEING DELIVERED FROM, AND COMING OUT OF, OUR EGYPTS (מִצְרַיִם - Mitzrayim): 

During Passover, we read from a special book called the Haggadah, derived from the Hebrew root נגד, meaning "to declare, make known, expound". The Haggadah tells of the Biblical account of the Exodus, drawing heavily on the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish discussion through the ages. Every person at the Passover table has their own copy. In my Haggadah, there is the following footnote: "Just as slavery has connotations beyond physical bondage, so the reference to Egypt is more than just geographic. The Hebrew word for Egypt, Mitzrayim, signifies constraint, the feeling of being stifled. A slave is certainly constrained and stifled. And aren't we all? Can't we all admit to ourselves that there are aspects of our lives that seem to be beyond our control - or anyone else's?" There is a modern Jewish song which sings of the "Mitzrayims of the Mind". Only the Living God has the power to change aspects of our lives that are beyond our control. And only the Living God has the power to liberate the parts of our minds that continue to see ourselves as slaves, when we are in fact - through Yeshua's Passover Sacrifice - free. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2)


3)  THE FOUR CUPS:


During the Passover Seder we have four special cups of wine on the table. These represent the four acts the LORD accomplished in Exodus (Shemot) 6: 6-8. "Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”


Viewed through Yeshua, each action of the LORD in Exodus is a pre-echo of His actions for us in Salvation:


"I will bring you out from under the yoke of slavery (to sin)" -  the Cup of Sanctification

"I will deliver you"  -   the Cup of Deliverance

"I will redeem you"  - the Cup of Redemption

"I will take you as My own people...in your own land"  - the Cup of Restoration


This is a beautiful description of the life-walk of all believers in Yeshua. "But of Him you are in Christ Yeshua, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). "And to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:27).


4)  THE MATZAH (unleavened bread) or, as my Rabbi said, "the central symbol". He did not know he was being prophetic:


During the Passover Seder, we take three slices of matzah and place them inside a three-pocketed white cloth. Then, we take out the middle slice of matzah, lift it up and break it in two! So, firstly, why are there three pieces of matzah on the Passover table? And, why do we break only the middle one? Ask any member of the Jewish community, who is not yet Messianic, and the first answer given is: "The three pieces represent Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'akov (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob)." But, this doesn't make sense. Because, Isaac was never broken and he is the 'middle' in this trio - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Isaac was bound, yes, but not broken, because the God of Israel provided a substitutional sacrificial lamb. The lamb was broken, not Isaac. Clearly from the Jewish perspective, if Isaac’s "binding" (Akedah) represents anything it represents the male lamb's substitution for us. The second answer given is: "The three pieces represent the three people-groups you need to make up the nation of Israel - the Cohanim (priests), the Levites and the people of Israel." This doesn't fit either, as the Levites were never 'broken' like our middle slice of matzah. However, if we look at the three slices of matzah through a Messianic lens, and say they represent the three Biblical facets of the One True God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) then this answer fits. We are taking the middle piece (the Son) and breaking Him, to act out His Passover Sacrifice written about in the New Testament. We can see through the revelation of the Holy Spirit that the substitutional lamb is Yeshua: "and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24) He, Yeshua, is the "central symbol" on the Jewish Passover Table. And again, being Jewish, He is speaking in the Hebrew language of Passover.


Next, during the Passover Seder, the largest piece of this broken middle matzah slice is wrapped in a separate plain white cloth and hidden somewhere in the room, while the children aren't looking! This hidden piece is called "the Afikoman". Afikoman means: "that which comes after". Later in the Seder, the children hunt to find this "broken hidden matzah piece" and bring it back to the Passover Table. When they do this, the Passover leader gives the children a reward. This part of the Passover Service is called Tzafun, which means 'hidden'. We then all eat this hidden piece - that has been found - together.


If the Afikoman represents Yeshua, this part of the Passover service also makes sense. Yeshua is the last covenant, or "that which comes after". He comes after the Noahic covenant (Genesis 9:8-17), the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15, Genesis 17:1-14, and Genesis 22:15-18), the Sinai covenant (Exodus 19-24, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 89, among other places) and then lastly, He appears, as the New covenant:


  • Jeremiah 31:31-34 - Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.
  • Hebrews 8:13 - In that He says, A new covenant, He has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.
  • Deuteronomy 30:6 - The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
  • Ezekiel 36:26–27
  • Matthew 26:28
  • Luke 22:20
  • Romans 7:6
  • Romans 11:27
  • 1 Corinthians 11:25


Listen to what Judaism teaches about the Afikomen in the Mishnah (written collection of Jewish oral law): "The afikoman is a substitute for the Passover sacrifice, which was the last thing eaten at the Passover meal during the eras of the First and Second Temples and during the period of the Tabernacle." This is Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, hidden in plain sight on the Passover Table, as the substitue for the Passover sacrifice. The miracle, genius and love of God is that He inspired His Jewish people to keep this symbolic act in the Passover Seder before Yeshua walked the earth! What a God we serve!


I believe the children in the Passover seder represent the Gentile church, who find the 'hidden' Messiah ('the hidden unleavened bread), and bring Him back to the original family (the Jewish people). And, just like the Passover leader, God the Father will reward those in the Gentile church when they take Yeshua back to show the Jewish commuity! "And [Yeshua] said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3). "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." (Romans 1:16). "His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’" (Matthew 25:21)


Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, was lifted up, like the matzah at Passover, and 'broken', His body wrapped in a white cloth, just like the Afikoman, and hidden in a tomb. The Passover seder therefore acts out the mission of the Gentile church. My heart aches when the Gentile church hasn't brought the Jewish Messiah back to the family Passover table of His Jewish people. Omission is sometimes only a lack of Heavenly knowledge and we've all lived in that 'place', and continue to in many ways, until the LORD opens our spiritual eyes more. But when the church attacks Israel and boycotts the Jewish people on purpose, I see an unwise and isolated child who doesn't understand their role within the family of God, and will not receive their reward from the Father. This also is heart aching. So, at the Jewish Passover Seder, we act out the entire history of Messiah's Love for Israel and the nations without fully realising it! Yet, there is another of Yeshua's Passover miracles that has this Messianic message hidden all through it. It is not often seen as being related to the Passover table, but it is.


5) THE MIRACULOUS FEEDING OF THE MULTITUDES: The first time a multitude was supernatually fed by Yeshua in the New Testament, there were twelve baskets of bread pieces, or remnants, left over (Matthew/Mattityahu 14.20).  I believe this is a sign that after the multitude in the church age have fed on the bread of Messiah, the LORD will collect up His remnant of the twelve tribes of Israel. And, the second time Yeshua performs this miracle (Matthew/Mattityahu 15. 32-39), there were seven baskets left. Seven means perfection or completion. When the LORD has fed the multitude, and collected up His twelve tribes, then His Salvation plan will be perfected and completed. Both the Gentile and Jewish congregation will be satisfied by eating the Bread without Sin, the Bread of Messiah's body broken for us both. And when did Yeshua perform the miracle of feeding the multitudes?  “And the Passover was near, the feast of the Jews.  And Yeshua, lifting up His eyes and seeing a great multitude is coming to Him, said to Phillip,  ‘From where may we buy bread that these may eat?’  But this was to test him, for Yeshua knew what He was about to do.”  (John/Yonatan 6. 4-6) Yeshua even reiterates His meaning of this Passover miracle a few days later by saying “For the bread of God is the One coming down out of Heaven and giving life to the world.”  (John/Yonatan 6.33) As the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua could "see" the "great multitude" of nations "coming to Him" soon to be fed through the next two millenia. He will feed them, because at that Passover, He knew "what He was about to do" in a year's time - give His life for us as the Passover sacrifice. And then with the gopsel overspill in the end times He will collect up His beloved twelve tribes of Israel. And all will be complete.


Lastly, why do we use matzah (unleavened bread)? Yeshua - the central matzah symbol - had to be One without sin, in order to atone for mankind. "For He made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Both Testaments speak of leaven representing sin and corruption. The first Passover instructions were: "For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land (Exodus 12:19). The New Testament apostle Paul - being Jewish - also speaks of leaven representing sin: "Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch - as you really are. For Mashiach, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth"  (1 Corinthians 5 v 6-8). Again, this new testament Jewish apostle is speaking the Hebrew language of Passover.


6)  THE CUP OF ELIJAH: During the Passover Seder we have another special cup on the table, filled with wine. It is called The Cup of Elijah. We do not drink from it. We leave it untouched, as if waiting for an invisible guest. And at the end of the Passover evening, a child is asked to open the front door of the house and welcome in the Spirit of Elijah! This is quite literally acting out the prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.” I believe one level of understanding to this passage is as a prophecy of the One New Man in the end times, just before Yeshua's return, the fathers being the Jewish people. Christianity was birthed out of the Jewish faith and Tanakh (Old Testament). So the children represent the Gentile church. Through this end time miracle, the LORD is therefore fulfilling His Promise in Ephesians 2.11-22: “He is making both one and breaking down the wall of hostility...and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, slaying the enmity in Himself.” Sadly, not all the church think of Yeshua dying to join the Jewish person of God to the Gentile person of God. But I believe that is what the LORD God of Israel is saying in Malachi and Ephesians; like two chambers in one heart, without one both suffer.


7) MIRIAM'S CUP: One more special cup adorns the Passover table. This one cup, however, is not filled with wine but with water. This Passover symbolism also makes sense through Messianic eyes. Water represents cleansing, new spiritual birth and baptism in the New Testament, through His Holy Spirit. "Yeshua stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; (John 7:37-39). But, why is the cup of water called Miriam's Cup? It is a beautiful mystery to us that Yeshua was in the wilderness with His Jewish people, long before He appeared in human form in the New Testament. "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses (Moshe) in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that accompanied them, and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10.1-4) Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, literally travelled through the wilderness with His Jewish people, hidden in plain sight. Miriam's Cup on the Passover table is a prophetic cup. Miriam is called a prophetess (Exodus 15:20), and yet what she sung about happened in the past (Exodus 15:21), whereas a prophet sees into the future. So, what is she prophesying about the future in her first Passover and Exodus song? That the leader of all our Egypts will get thrown into the sea. This is a perfect prophecy of what happens to our sins in our baptism in Yeshua. The prince of this world, satan, is washed away, his power to pursue, condemn and enslave is cut off through the LORD, washed away by the living waters of our LORD Yeshua (1 Peter 3:21). Yeshua is the same as the waters that flowed from the Rock to His Jewish people in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-4) as they came out of their Egypt. And we see this paradigm of Water in the New Testament, when Yeshua washes us with the Word (Ephesians 5:26). He is the Living Word, He is the Living Water (John 4:14, John 7:38). Miriam's cup is a prophetic cup, prophesying of the coming baptism in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), to mirror the mikvah (מִכְוָה), the Jewish washing in the physical (Leviticus 11, 15, 17, John 2:6-7, John 9:7), to the spiritual washing in the Holy Spirit to come (Titus 3:5). And incidentally, Miriam is Hebrew for Mary in the Greek. How was Yeshua conceived? Through Mary and the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-38).


In conclusion, Yeshua is hidden all through the symbols on the Passover Table. And I have only covered seven! What is beyond my comprehension - in awe of Him - is how He gave these symbols in the Passover Seder into the hearts of His Jewish people centuries before He came as the Messiah! To not see their Jewish Brother in these symbols on the Passover Table can therefore only be a supernaturally imposed blindness. A blindness that is only there to give time for the Gentiles to come into the Kingdom of Heaven too. "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in" (Romans 11:25). Such amazing Grace! Thank You LORD God of Israel for Your Salvation Plan for Your Jewish and Gentile bride. In Yeshua's Name, amen.