Saturday 20 January 2018 Shevat 4 5778
Exodus 10:1-13:16; Jeremiah 46:13-28; John 19:31-37
The Two Remembrances
The first commandments God gave directly to the entire community of Israel concerned the Passover, the Passover lamb, and the seven days of unleavened bread. Messianic Jews note the significance. The first laws God assigned to the nation involve the Passover sacrifice (which foreshadows the death of Messiah) and the preparation for redemption from Egypt (which foreshadows the final redemption). Before receiving any other commandments, the nation needed first to keep the commandments of redemption.
Passover has messianic significance. The Messiah Himself has obligated us to keep the Passover in remembrance of Him. He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). Did He have in mind only the breaking of bread and drinking the fruit of the vine? No. He issued that directive to His disciples within the larger context of the annual Passover celebration. He said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15).
The commandment to do “this” in remembrance of Yeshua is not merely a commandment to take a cup and bread. The specific “this” to which Yeshua referred was Passover and the seder meal. He did not take only one cup; He shared four cups with His disciples. He did not break just any bread; He broke the unleavened matzah with His disciples.
If we desire to really do “this” in remembrance of our Master Yeshua as He commands us, we cannot do less than the whole “this,” that is, the whole seven-day festival of Passover, not just the seder meal and not just a cup and bread. This includes the commandment of casting out the leaven from our homes on the fourteenth day of the month, the commandment of keeping a Passover Seder on the eve of the fifteenth day of the month, the commandment of eating no leavened bread for seven days, and the commandment of keeping the first and last days as festival Sabbaths.
The authentic cup and the bread of the Master comes only in the context of Passover. Jewish and non-Jewish believers both have the privilege of keeping the Passover in remembrance of our great salvation, Yeshua the lamb of God.