Last night twenty-five of us gathered in our dining room to remember how God miraculously delivered us out of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His son, Yeshua. We recounted the journey of the Israelites out of Egypt, and received fresh revelation of Yeshua being our sacrifice lamb. He was crucified, buried, and resurrected….all during Passover week. The Passover was pre-planned and pre-determined by God with the sacrifice of Messiah in mind. The Passover set the stage for the great act of Messiah’s death and resurrection. The plan of God through the ages was to reveal His extravagant love to His children through His Son. What love! (more…)
The first thing I make the morning of the seder is the charoset. Charoset is a yummy mixture of apples, walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries, honey, cinnamon, orange juice and sweet wine. The consistency symbolizes the mortar between the bricks that the children of Israel had to make. The sweetness symbolizes the sweetness of freedom from slavery.
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Passover starts Monday night, and our community seder is Tuesday night at our house. The final countdown has begun! This particular Feast of the Lord is the most traditional one and is celebrated the most, even by secular Jews. No two seders are alike. You have to decide what you want your guests to leave with and focus on those things. This Messianic blog post boils everything down to seven goals of a Pesach seder. I love this. You don’t even have to focus on all seven. Seders don’t have to be long and complicated. It’s a time for family…for celebrating the love of Abba….for remembering how He brought us out of darkness…for seeing the mystery of the gospel of Yeshua hidden in every aspect of the seder. Have fun!
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I absolutely love the Passover time of year. The weather is getting warmer, the grass is greening and the flowers are beginning to bloom. What better time of year to remember and celebrate the love of God when He brought us out of the darkness and bondage of sin? This is a special time of year for the family to remember together….for the older ones to teach the younger ones about God’s rich, lavish affection for His people. He will stop at nothing to communicate this. He will move heaven and earth to have a remnant of voluntary lovers who put Him above all the riches this world offers. He REALLY loves us! That is what Passover (“Pesach” in Hebrew) is all about.
This year Passover starts on Monday evening, March 29th. I’ve already started preparations for our Seder which is ten days from today. The first step in preparation is to read the Exodus story again. Remember how God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Chapters 1-13 in Exodus tells the story. Also Deuteronomy 6:20-25 tells of how we are to tell the story to our children.
That brings up another point that I feel very passionately about. Romans 11:13-36 says that we, as Gentiles, were wild olive branches grafted in to the cultivated olive tree of Israel. We share in the rich Root of our Jewish brothers and sisters. We cannot boast that we are better than the cultivated olive branches. We were grafted in because of the vast love of our Abba God. The Root sustains us….we don’t sustain the Root. We owe EVERYTHING to that olive tree. That is why our family celebrates the Feasts of the Lord. They aren’t feasts just for Jews. They are for Gentiles as well. Foreigners observed the feasts as well as the Israelites. It is for us as grafted-in branches!
Leviticus 23:4 says, “…the Feasts of the Lord, which you shall declare to be holy convocations…these are My feasts.” Also, II Chronicles says, “…on the set feasts of the Lord. This is an ordinance for Israel forever.” Did Yeshua observe Passover? Yes! Read Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. If He celebrated this Feast (actually He observed them all), then don’t you think there is something in it for us?!
The second step in preparing for Pesach is making sure you have all the necessary supplies and food for the seder. I started buying a few things yesterday. 
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I have been in Belgium for two weeks and I’m slowly getting used to the cold weather. That is a huge statement coming from someone who was born and raised in Texas. I LOVE hot weather. I look forward to the 100 degree days during the Texas summers. I really love the heat. I even like to sweat. That’s why I find it so humorous that God would send me to Belgium where most of the year is spent under rain clouds and 40 degrees. Two days ago it snowed all morning. This morning we had to scrape ice off the windshield before driving to church. It’s not too fun, but you really do get accustomed to being cold. After a winter in Jerusalem and now being in Belgium, I am totally used to the European heating system, which consists of radiators in every room emitting heat instead of wall vents blowing heat like in the States. At night while everyone is in bed, the heat is turned off. I am totally used to this way of heating, and I even think it’s superior to the system in the U.S.. Why waste perfectly good heat while you’re sleeping? That’s brings up another difference. The bedding is SO soft and comfy. Duvet covers enveloping down comforters is definitely the way to sleep. They trap your body heat, and you seriously get too warm at times, even with the heaters off in your room. I haven’t tried it yet, but my best friend, Lynn, in Cyprus, tells me that her hot water bottle is a must during Cypriot winters. One of my friends in Jerusalem always sleeps with a hot water bottle at her feet. (more…)
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