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. 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, 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 God is our True and Only God.  It reminds us that Yeshua, Messiah, God’s Only Begotten Son, is our deliverer.

EMPHASIS ON MORE OF CHRIST IN OUR LIVES

Just as the leaven is symbolic of sin, the unleavened bread is symbolic of the love of Yeshua, Messiah.  It is even more important to be putting more of Yeshua into our lives than it is to remove the leaven and concentrate on removing our sins.

By removing the leaven, we make more room for what really matters.  Now we have made more room for more of the love of Yeshua, Messiah to fill our hearts and homes.

When you are filled up with 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 Yeshua, Messiah into our lives.

FOOD IS SYMBOLIC OF SPIRITUAL THINGS

We can look at the matzoh and see it is pierced and stripped.  This is 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 Messiah’s body was broken for us.

We know that the matzoh is totally leaven free.  This is just as Yeshua, Messiah 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.  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 nice to use white linen table clothes and fine china set aside especially and only for this sacred occasion.

A SPECIAL GUEST

There is always an extra plate set on out in the room for Elijah.  We watch the door to see if he will return this year.

We are reminded every time we eat the Seder meal that Yeshua, Messiah is the Bread of Heaven. Quietly we know the extra place is really for Him, as Elijah told us about the Messiah to come.  Yeshua, Messiah was the message of Elijah.  So, we wait for Yeshua, Messiah to return.  While 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 He gives to us for removing the unwanted sins of our days.

STRENGTH FROM THE BREAD OF HEAVEN

These are some of the ways 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 explaining 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 Yeshua, Messiah, The Son by “observing the ceremony” of the Passover Seder meal on this first night of The Passover.  This is the night 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 Yeshua, Messiah to remove their sins is considered a member of this Holy family God began forming on that first Passover when He led the ancient Israelites out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

FORMED 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.  There were many exaples, such as the time our water came from a Rock.

In the wilderness, Our Father proved to us that He was God.  There YHVH taught us how to worship Him.

We worship Him with our Seder meal tonight, and we remember these things.

THE DEEP MEANING OF THE WILDERNESS JOURNEY

The food in our meal is symbolic of all the things the first members of our great family experienced in the wilderness.

As we have already mentioned, the matzoh symbolizes Yeshua Messiah as the Lamb of God.

We have parsley, called “karpus.” It reminds us of how the Hebrew people were once prosperous.  This was before they sinned.  God had to turn His back away from them.  Their sins 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.  It is  to symbolize the Passover sacrifice (The Lamb of God.) We drink four glasses of wine to remember certain things.

There is an egg on the Seder plate.  It symbolizes the new life God brought by bringing the people out of Egypt and forming a new nation called Israel.  Eventually from Israel, came forth others.  All believers forming the Church of God through Yehsua 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 IMPORTANCE OF  TELLING OF THE STORY

With the celebration of this meal, we always remember by telling the story.  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.  It is told 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.  The telling of it never becomes too old or boring. God shows us something new every time we hear it.  By the telling we pass on the story to our children and to their children in the days 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 Yeshua Messiah.  We are thinking about the way the people were enslaved in a pagan nation.  It is remembered that 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.  The story tells how He 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

We remember all of this with story through the symbolic foods and with the wine that is symbolic of the blood of Yeshua.

Then we speak of how all these things symbolize the way of life Yeshua Messiah provided for us as He became The Lamb of God.

SEVEN MORE DAYS OF OBSERVANCE

Passover season isn’t just one day.

This is a period of time lasting eight days.  After observing the Passover Seder,for seven days we observe unleavened bread.  Unleavened Bread is the symbolic act of leaving the leaven out of our lives.

We eat the matzoh that is symbolic of putting more of Yeshua Messiah 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 Yeshua Messiah, 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.  I pray the faith of His people can overcome the weakness of our world leaders.