What the Last Passover Seder Taught Us About Remembering Jesus

As we enter this season our attention turns to the remembrance of Passover. We remember the deliverance of the children of Israel from their slavery and bondage in Egypt by the mighty hand of God and through the Passover lamb. 

For those who celebrate the Passover annually, we enjoy continuing in our celebration. However, we remember another deliverance, a greater deliverance (within the context of the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Israel). We come to the remembrance of what the Messiah did. Another lamb. A spotless lamb. The Lamb of God. He came to deliver not only Israel, but the nations. It was always God’s intent to bring salvation to the nations — through Israel and Israel’s Messiah:

Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. (Isaiah 42:1)

5 “And now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, And My God shall be My strength), 6 Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that you should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Isaiah 49:5-6)

13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; 15 So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. (Isaiah 52:13-15)

So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. (Ezekiel 39:7)

Back to Israel and that first Passover in Egypt. The Jews were slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. They cried out for help. They cried out for a deliverer. And God heard their cries and sent them a deliverer. He sent them Moses. And God, using Moses, delivered the children of Israel. 

What is interesting is that that generation of Jews did not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief. And after 40 years in the wilderness, a new generation is being readied and is about to cross over the Jordan River into the Land. It is at this time that God, through Moses tells them: 

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18)

Here’s a question: If you didn’t realize you were in serious trouble, why would you call out for help? YOU WOULDN’T!  Did Israel realize they were in trouble in Egypt?  YES.  Did they cry out for help?  YES.  And God sent them one to deliver them. That was Moses.

Fast forward some 1,500 years later. God promised He would send another deliverer — He would raise up a prophet like Moses “from amongst your brothers.” We were told to listen to him. This time God sent a greater deliverer for a greater deliverance — from the bondage of slavery to sin. That was Yeshua (Jesus) — the prophet who was to come. And we missed it. 

Israel will cry out for deliverance again during the Great Tribulation, a time of great distress for Israel that the prophets warned of – the Time of Jacob’s Trouble:

Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7)

And what else do the prophets say about this time of distress and tribulation:

I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. (Hosea 5:15)

This is God speaking. In order to return to His place he would have had to first leave His place. When did God ever do that?  He says He will return to His place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek His face. In their affliction (distress / tribulation) they will earnestly seek Him. 

Listen to what Jesus said would happen in fulfillment of this: (Matthew 23:37-39)

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” 

The one who has returned to his place will not come back until Israel says, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  And when will that day be? 

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look unto Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)

It will be a terrible time that Israel and the whole world will go through. At the end of that time of great tribulation Israel will cry out once again for their deliverer. They will look unto Him whom they pierced; they will cry out “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai –Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” On that day, all Israel will be saved, as Paul writes in Romans 11:26. However, Zechariah (13:8-9) tells us that a remnant, one-third who survived the Great Tribulation, will be saved and enter the kingdom. However, two-thirds will perish. 

We should also be aware that there are many in the world who are living day to day and don’t even realize they are in serious trouble. And so they don’t cry out. Even those who claim to be believers. It’s a classic picture of unregenerate sinners. 

Fellow believers, time is short and we must be busy about the Lord’s business bringing the message of the good news of Messiah “to the Jew first, and also to the gentile” (Romans 1:16).

And so we remember the first Passover as God told us: You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ (Exodus 13:8). God gave a great deliverance that day. We are told to remember and tell each generation what the Lord did for us in delivering us out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt. 

There is yet a greater deliverance when, at that last Passover Seder, He took the bread and the cup and established the new covenant. As He took the bread and the cup He said as often as you do this do it in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:14-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). 

The Jewish people have been celebrating the Passover for 3,469 years this year. However, some 2,000 years ago the Messiah Jesus taught us at that last Passover seder that as we celebrate the Passover, we are to do it now in remembrance of Him. A greater deliverance than the deliverance out of Egypt. We celebrate Messiah in the Passover. 

The day is coming when Israel will know that He is the Lord:

8 But you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come home….11 I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly and will treat you better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the Lord. (Ez. 36:8, 11)

And the day is coming when the nations will know He is the Lord:

27 My dwelling place also will be with them (Israel); and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever. (Ezekiel 37:27-28)