Last night we enjoyed fellowship with a few families from church as we together worship and "remembered" the past and what God has done for His people through the exodus from Egypt. We spent a good amount of time teaching the children the different elements of the Seder, what they mean to the practicing Jewish community, as well as the symbolic theme relating to Jesus- our Messiah and what He did for us.
Eph 2:7-10 says "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
NIVThe observance of these times is by no means to be construed as some alternative method of salvation... we merely like to celebrate these traditions of old when we can... when the Lord prompts us to, for the benefit of our understanding of Him as well as means to remember Him, grow in our relationship with Christ through a better understanding of what He has done for us, and to teach these truths to our children.
Here are some basics on the topic as well as some ideas of what we taught here in our home last night:
There are
Four cups of Wine drank through out the night- Representing four
distinct
redemptions promised by G-d to the Hebrews as told in Ex. 6:6-7
(1)" I will take you out of Egypt", (2) "I will deliver you from Egyptian
slavery", (3) "I will redeem you with a demonstration of my power", and (4) "I will acquire you as a nation". We drank one... the third cup called the
Cup of Redemption- since last night for Good Friday and Jesus died redeeming our souls with
HIs last sacrifice. You can also replace wine for grape juice which we did of course for the kids and us pregnant mamas.
The wine symbolizes the Joy of the Lord
Ps 104
The Karpas: Parsley dipped in Salt Water-salt water symbolizes the tears shed by all who have experienced bondage- also represents the Red Sea which God brought the Hebrews through
Parsley- Green Vegetable to represent a new nation also greens represent hyssop, which was used to place the sacrificial blood above the door.
The Roasted Egg-In my previous post I went into detail about some of the meaning behind the egg... please refer for more info
Another meaning is that the egg represents the
beginning of a new nation... just as an egg represents a new life of a chick to one day be hatched... so the Israelites had a long journey until they had reached their "promised land" and were
beginning their new life as a "new nation"
Also the egg represents
Pharaoh's hardened heart towards the Hebrews
The Unleavened Bread-There is so much I could share here in the form of symbolism... the
unleaved bread for me has been the most significant study this year. I would
encourage you to inquire about the history and ask God to reveal Himself to you through it.
First of all there is typically 3 loaves of unleavened bread (
Matza) served - representing the
Trinity... the 2 loaf is typically broke in two by the Father... (Jesus, the Messiah broken for us)... then one half of the loaf is wrapped in a towel and stored under a pillow (which represents the burial in the tomb)... amazing!
I love this part at the end of the meal if you were to buy
matzah (store boxed) and serve it at the end... the
matzah has punctured holes all over it so it would not rise at all...
symbolic of the holes in Jesus hands and the puncture in His side. There are burn marks and lines from the grate to which the
matzah was cooked on... symbolic of our Savior's bruises and stripes of blood from the beating he endured on Good Friday.
In case you did not know
yeast is symbolic of sin, which is why the Jewish community
typically will clean their homes of all yeast for Passover.
The unleavened bread (yeast free- sin free) represents our Christ- sinless. You can see how much you could get out of this.
1 Cor 5:6-8 "Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."
NIVThe Bitter Herbs- horseradish- Maror
To remind us of the bitter cup Jesus drank for us- the vinegar in the wine while being crucified
The Charoset-
An Apple, walnut,
brown sugar, wine salad that represents and looks like clay and mortar (bricks) like the Hebrews had to work with in Egypt as slaves under
Pharaoh
The Lamb Shank Bone-
represents the sacrificial lamb of passover...
the blood of the lamb over the Hebrew doors... when the Lord PASSED-OVER them and the sons were saved
1 Cor 5:7
"Our passover lamb has been sacrificed"
Rom 5:6-7
You see, just at the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."
We didn't not eat lamb for our meal b/c Jesus was sacrificed for us so we wouldn't need to make these kind of sacrifices any longer. All is forgiven!
Jesus last words on Friday when he died for the sins of the World:
"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do"
Luke 23:34
"It is finished"
John 19:30
"He Is Risen"
Video/ DVDs
Hope this Helps.... I know there is really a ton more resources out there... if you have any other suggestions please leave a comment so others can get more ideas!
