Chag Matzot (Unleavened Bread), one of the festivals of the Lord is not primarily about eating lots of matzoh, but about “eating” and absorbing Yeshua’s pure and true testimony about God. As you nibble on the matzoh, think about God’s word and how you can absorb God’s word into your inner being.
This Passover seder may be a little different from most. This year, the recounting of the Passover — the plagues, the Pesakh lamb, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs — will be led by readings from Scripture, rather than stories based on Scripture.
The account of the 10 plagues on Mitsraim (Egypt) before Israel’s exodus has a pattern of mercy and judgment. Moses delivered warnings to Pharaoh followed by plagues, then a plague comes without warning.
In preparation for Passover, we consider the theme of Psalms 22, 23, 40 and 88 is not death but the willingness to die despite one’s fear of death. Yeshua (Jesus) had fear God because He knew God’s awesome power first-hand. He feared death, not the Devil.
We are continuing our Passover discussions leading up to the Passover itself. This is some additional background we need to cover before we partake of our annual Passover feast.
Yitzkhak (Isaac) understood something that is hard for us to picture. He knew he was going to be killed, that is huge. Yitzkhak also believed in the promise of God and he knew that God would resurrect him, one way or another. Abraham tied up Yitzkhak, and that put the fear of God into Yitzkhak.
The Festival of Dedication, or Chanukah, does not just commemorate a battle of Greeks vs. Jews, but it was a civil war as well. Hellenized people of Israel fought against Israelites loyal to God and His instructions for life, the Torah. Antiochus IV (Epiphanies) only got involved when the Hellenized asked him to intervene to avoid losing to the “rebellious” faithful.
When asked if He were the Messiah on one Chanukah, Yeshua told the leaders of Israel, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me” (John 10:25). His faithfulness to the original and true intent of the words of God testified to His messiahship.