PASSOVER SCHEDULE FOR 2022
On April 15th, 2022 at sunset begins the time of Passover. This season lasts for eight days and ends at sunset on April 23, 2022.
On the first night of the Passover, Christian families with Hebraic hearts from all over the world will be celebrating a Seder meal inside their homes.
Afterward, the Passover actually continues for seven more days. These seven days are called the Days of Unleavened Bread.
During the Days of Unleavened Bread we spend seven days of eating only unleavened bread. As Christians observing Passover Week; we will celebrate the day of Early First Fruits on the 2nd Day of Unleavened Bread, which is the third day after Passover.
For more about the time of unleavened bread please click here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/seasons-why-do-we-keep-the-seven-days-of-unleavened-bread/
THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPARATION
The homes of the very devout have spent a lot of time preparing for this holy time. They have done their spring cleaning and removed all of the leaven from their homes.
Removing the leaven is symbolic of putting all sinful things out of our lives. This is an act to honor and respect God.
God does not want us living in sin; and if we truly love our Heavenly Father; we do the work and put the sin outside of our lives. Much like our baptism; this symbolic act is a physical representation of a spiritual agreement. The very act of physically casting the leaven out of our houses helps us to remember the spiritual housecleaning of our souls, which is even more important.
REMOVE THE OLD AND BRING IN THE NEW
We replace the old things with the new things.
As we put the sin away; we fill the new and empty spaces with prayer and meditation and worship.
We honor the holy scriptures and follow the instructions of our Father in Heaven.
The symbolic food we eat (the unleavened bread) helps us to remember that God is our True and Only God. It reminds us that Christ, God’s Only Begotten Son, is our deliverer.
THE EMPHASIS IS ON PUTTING MORE OF CHRIST INTO OUR LIVES
Just as the leaven is symbolic of sin; the unleavened bread is symbolic of the love of Christ.
It is even more important to be putting more of Christ into our lives than it is to remove the leaven and concentrate on removing our sins.
By removing the leaven though; we make more room for what really matters. Now we have made more room for the love of Christ to fill our hearts and homes.
When you are filled up with the good things of The Bread from Heaven you become satisfied. It is easier to remember not to live in sin.
The matzoh that we put on our tables this week is symbolic of this fact.
As we take the matzoh into our bodies; we remember to take more of Jesus Christ into our lives.
THE FOOD WE EAT IS SYMBOLIC OF SPIRITUAL THINGS
We can look at the matzoh and see it is pierced and stripped; just as Jesus was pierced and stripped when He hung on the cross for the sake of our salvation.
Taking the matzoh from a white linen cloth and breaking it in half; we remember how Christ’s body was broken for us.
We know that the matzoh is totally leaven free; just as Christ was totally sin-free when He willingly gave his life for us and became our Passover Lamb.
First; we eat the matzoh at the Seder meal and then we serve it in our homes all week. The matzoh is served in place of leavened bread.
Bringing out our very best for this meal is appropriate.
It is appropriate to use white linen table clothes and fine china set aside especially and only for this sacred occasion.
WE ARE EXPECTING A SPECIAL GUEST
There is always an extra plate set on out in the room for Elijah; and we watch the door to see if he will return this year.
We are reminded every time we eat the Seder meal that Christ was the Bread of Heaven. We know the extra place is really for Him, as Elijah told us about the Messiah to come. Christ was the message of Elijah.
We wait for Christ to return, and as we wait on this sacred night; we remember.
With thanksgiving in our hearts, we fill our bodies and our souls with the Bread of Heaven. We thank God for the strength and ability that He gives to us for removing the unwanted sins of our days.
STRENGTH FROM THE BREAD OF HEAVEN
These are some of the ways that we honor God The Father in this holy, sacred week and on this special night of our Seder meal:
We remember by reading the scriptures that explain how God asked us to do this annual ritual.
One scripture is found in Exodus; Chapter 12; verse 24: “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.
When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, observe the ceremony.
And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians.”
OBSERVING THE CEREMONY
Another way we remember is to observe the ceremony of Passover.
We show honor to God the Father and Christ The Son by “observing the ceremony” of the Passover Seder meal on this first night of The Passover; the night that the story of God’s people began.
On this most sacred night God formed a nation from a people who were not a people.
God separated these people out from the rest of the world and called them His own.
Anyone who eats of the Bread of Heaven and trusts Christ to remove their sins is considered a member of this Holy family that God began forming on that first Passover when He led the ancient Israelites out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
GOD FORMED HIS FAMILY FROM A PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT A NATION
With the Passover Seder we remember how our Father reached down from Heaven and began all the things that make us a family today.
God removed us from the bondage of sin. Next He took us on a journey toward a land flowing with milk and honey.
All that time; He fed us and kept us clothed.
He showed us mighty miracles; miracles that no pagan god could ever come close to performing; such as the time that our water came from a Rock.
In the wilderness, Our Father proved to us that He was God; and He taught us how to worship Him.
We worship Him with our Seder meal and we remember these things.
THE DEEP MEANING OF THE SYMBOLS FROM THE WILDERNESS JOURNEY
The food in our meal is symbolic of all the things that the first members of our great family experienced in the wilderness.
As we have already mentioned the matzoh symbolizes Christ; as the Lamb of God.
We have parsley, called “karpus” and it reminds us of how the Hebrew people were once prosperous before they sinned. God had to turn His back away from them; and their sin lead them into a life of bondage and slavery in Egypt. Dipping the parsley into salt water helps us to remember the tears of slavery.
We eat horseradish on our matzoh to remember the bitterness of slavery.
Tasting the Charoset, a mixture of sweet red wine, raisins, nuts and apples, reminds us of the mortar the slaves used to make and lay the bricks in Egypt.
There is a shank bone on the table to symbolize the Passover sacrifice (The Lamb of God), and we drink four glasses of wine to remember certain things.
There is an egg on the Seder plate which symbolizes the new life that God brought by bringing the people out of Egypt and forming a new nation called Israel, and eventually from Israel, forming the Church of God through Christ as Messiah.
FORMING GOD’S FAMILY
This is the miracle of the forming and evolution of God’s Holy Family.
We dip our fingers into our wine. With this act we remember the ten plagues that came upon the people who refused to listen to God.
We place a drop of wine on our napkins to represent each plague.
THE TELLING OF THE STORY IS MOST IMPORTANT
We always remember by telling the story with the celebration of this meal.
The telling of the story is actually the most important part of the night.
We tell the story of redemption from slavery in a million different ways; by speech, by symbolism, by the food we eat, by the way we prepare, by poetry, by drama, by song, by prayer, by scripture readings.
All of us love the story and the telling of it never becomes too old or boring.
God shows us something new every time we hear it; and by the telling we pass on the story to our children and to their children to come.
WE ALWAYS HEAR SOMETHING NEW IN THE STORY
We must never stop telling the story.
Remembering all the parts of the story is important. We cover the way God saved Moses as a child and brought him to lead a nation out of slavery. Someone speaks of how all of that was symbolic of Christ; thinking about the way the people were enslaved in a pagan nation and how God delivered them by sending 10 plagues.
Then we note the way God told Israel to prepare by placing the blood of an innocent lamb over their doorposts. We explain how those who did not obey God with this sacrificial act lost their firstborn.
Those who honored God kept their families intact and were delivered from the bondage of slavery.
THE PARTING OF THE SEA
We remember how God parted the sea and let the people cross on dry land, and how He protected them from Pharaoh’s army.
God fed and clothed and blessed the people in the wilderness.
We do not forget this.
The wilderness was the place where God taught them how to become His family. This barren landscape was the route God used to bring them into a land of milk and honey.
We must remember all of these things.
WE SEE THE LAMB OF GOD IN THE DELIVERANCE STORY
We remember all of this with story through the symbolic foods and with the wine that is symbolic of the blood of Christ.
Then we speak of how all of these things symbolize the way of life that Christ provided for us as He became The Lamb of God.
OUR OBSERVANCE CONTINUES FOR SEVEN MORE DAYS
Passover isn’t just one day!
This is a period of time lasting seven days. For seven days we observe unleavened bread; the symbolic act of leaving the leaven out of our lives.
We eat the matzoh that is symbolic of putting more of Christ into our lives.
The most holy night of the year begins the most holy week of the year.
I pray that your Passover is blessed with the presence of God. I hope that your family can celebrate together and rejoice in Christ our Savior.
My prayers go up for those who are alone and separated from all that is familiar tonight. May God’s Holy Spirit bring you comfort and rest.
I ask God to intervene in the events of the world and that the faith of His people can overcome the weakness of our world leaders.