[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Monday, April 14, 2014

[Rob Kaiser]

Great thought.

Thank you for that great information.



-----Original Message----- 
From: Paul
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 2:35 PM
To: Jason Meyerson
Subject: [Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Monday, April 14, 2014

Hello and good day to you all and, for our Messianic Jewish believers, a 
happy Passover.  I don't know if it's tonight or tomorrow night, but I pray 
that, when it takes place, it will be meaningful for those who receive it, 
along with their families.

Sorry to be a little late today, but my computer guy came to the house and 
hopefully fixed the issue I had with Windows XP, at least for the time 
being.  It also helps to know that he's a Christian in every sense of the 
word and also a family man.

And now for the article in question.  It was written several years ago by 
Pastor Robert Rathbun, the blind pastor of the First Baptist Church of 
Lowell, MA as well as being the head of the Bible Department at the Hadley 
School for the Blind, the world's only institution of that kind.  He also, 
as I stated previously, conducts a Bible study over on the New Visions 
Network.  With that as background let's delve into his contribution for 
today entitled "Passover," rendered as follows:

The Jewish feast of Passover finds its origin 3500 years ago when the Jews 
were enslaved in Egypt.  God had performed nine devastating plagues on the 
land of Egypt, and the tenth and final plague was soon to follow.  God told 
the Jews that He was going to slay the firstborn of every family and of all 
cattle in Egypt.  The Jews, however, would be spared this judgment if they 
would kill a lamb and and place its blood on the doorposts and above the 
doorway of each Jewish home.  The lamb was to be roasted and eaten that 
evening together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  Passover derives 
its name in that the judgment of death passed over Jewish homes because of 
the blood at the entrance way of each house.  As the hymnwriter has 
declared:  "When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you."

It was this Passover meal that Jesus celebrated with His disciples the night 
of His betrayal (Matthew 26:17-30).  As with all these Jewish feasts, Jesus 
is its fulfillment.  "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole 
lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye 
are unleavened.  For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: 
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the 
leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity 
and truth" (I Corinthians 5:6b-8).  Jesus is the Christian's Passover Lamb. 
When a person turns in faith to Jesus as his/her sacrifice for sin, judgment 
passes over and will not touch that believer.  That's great news!

The Jews have continued to celebrate Passover to this very day.  The meal is 
called the Seder.  It contains much ceremony and a lot of good food.  A 
little booklet called the Haggadah gives the ceremony, and it tells the 
story of the Jews' enslavement in Egypt and of how God delivered them out of 
Egypt.  Of special interest to the Christian is the matza.  Three matza 
crackers are covered with a napkin, and the middle matza is broken.  After 
the first of four cups of wine, the middle matza is carefully wrapped in a 
napkin by the father of the household and hid away.  This middle matza is 
called the afikomen, a Hebrew word meaning, "I myself have come." The bitter 
herbs on the table represent the bitterness of slavery, and a dish 
consisting of raisins, apples, and cinnamon, looking much like mortar, 
represents the mortar with which the bricks were made.  After all of this is 
explained, they have the main meal with the second cup of wine.  Then the 
children look for the afikomen.  When they find it, it is unwrapped, and 
everyone breaks off a piece and eats it.  The rabbis say that the afikomen 
represents the Passover lamb.  Then they drink the third cup of wine, called 
the cup of redemption.  What a beautiful picture of Messiah this is--His 
body broken for us, hid away until the third day wrapped in linen, and then 
found and partaken of for spiritual nourishment; "this do in remembrance of 
Me." Thus, a beautiful picture of Christ is eaten at every Seder meal, yet 
they do not understand the meaning of it.  Blindness in part has happened to 
Israel.

People sometimes wonder about how the dates for Passover and Easter are 
determined.  Passover falls on the full moon.  The full moon at the start of 
Passover is always the one that follows the first full day of spring, March 
20 (in 2014).  The date of Easter is linked to the same full moon.  It is 
the Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after March 21.  Therefore, 
it falls between March 22 and April 25.  The decision to establish Easter in 
that manner was made at the first Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.

The Eastern Orthodox faith calculates Easter by the same method except that 
the holiday must always occur after Passover.  The celebration of Easter by 
the two groups can range from the same day to five weeks apart.  The Julian 
calendar is used by the Greek Orthodox Church, while the rest of Christendom 
uses the Gregorian calendar.  The former is thirteen days behind the 
Gregorian calendar, and thus spring does not come till April 3.  Passover 
begins on the evening before the 15th day of Abib (Nisan) in the Jewish 
calendar.  Since the first day of Abib is determined by the new moon, 
Passover falls on the full moon.  The Jewish calendar is a lunar one, and 
Passover is always in the spring.  This is ensured by adding an extra month 
seven times in a 19-year cycle.

Jesus, our Passover Lamb, died on Passover, rose on Easter Sunday, and is 
alive for evermore.  Praise be His name!

And there you have it for today.  My pastor, Jason Meyerson of Calvary 
Morning Light, may wish to comment or add insights to Pastor Bob's article, 
as he is also a Messianic Jewish believer, which I'll share with you all, if 
he doesn't mind.  I hope that you found the article spiritually enriching, 
and that you learned something that you didn't know before.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, 
individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord 
willing, tomorrow there will be another Daily Thought message for you.  Your 
Christian friend and brother, Paul
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