Passover Made Simple

This is a simple version of Passover followed by commentary

on the 4 cups of wine and the cup of Elijah.

 

Part I: Remove leaven from the house, apartment or room if you live with parents or others who are not celebrating. This means taking out any yeasted bread, cookies, crackers, anything with leavening agents in them such as yeast, baking soda or baking powder. Leaven symbolizes sin and corruption. See I Cor. 5:6-8.

 

Part II: Preparation – what you will need

Days before Passover, make sure you have all the items you will need. In the afternoon before the Seder begins, the table should arranged with these items, including having the table set for dinner.

 

1)     Optional lamb-based dinner and dinner ware. This and the lamb bone are reminders of the Temple Sacrifice, the first Passover Lamb and of YAHUSHUA.

2)     Matzot, (matzah = one, and matzot = plural, more than once matzah) at least 3 wrapped in cloth. (Unleavened crackers such as Ryvita are okay).

3)     “Seder Plate” (any clean plate can be used) with the following:

·        *Optional Roasted egg (may be hard boiled). This is a reminder of the Temple Festival Sacrifice and also a symbol of life. It was offered at the Temple during the Feast of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. (Deuteronomy 16:16).

·        *Optional Lamb Bone (Z’roa).

·        *Optional Greens (Karpas): Celery or Parsley etc

·        Bitter Herbs (Maror): Romaine Lettuce is okay or Horseradish (Chazeret)

·        *Optional Homemade Charoset–It is usually made of apple pieces & wine, variations on the recipe may add honey, fruit, nuts and spices. A basic recipe is cut an apple into chunks, mix with a tablespoon or more of honey and nuts. Add a dash of wine to taste. Invent your own recipe, or search for one you like online. Charoset literally means “potter’s clay” and mimics the appearance of mortar and is a reminder of the servitude the Israelites endured in the land of Egypt.

4)     *Optional Salt Water in a small dish (mix some water with table salt) for dipping of Karpas.

5)     *Optional hand washing bowl

6)     Wine (or Grape Juice) & Glasses, 1 for each participant (wine will be poured 4 times each) + 1 extra glass for “Elijah” (wine will be added once)

*We suggest using all these items for a full experience, but some are listed as optional because the Bible does not absolutely command the use of the bone and egg, neither the eating of Charoset and Karpas dipped in saltwater. The Torah does not command the use of wine/grape juice, but we know by example to use it because in the gospels YAHUSHUA took wine at least twice, once before and once after the Last Supper.

 

Part III: Passover Seder Made Simple

To meet the Biblical requirements for a Seder, only steps 1, 4, 5, 8, 12-15 as given below must be included but the 2nd, 3rd and Elijah cups are optional. (In other words, you may skip steps 2-3, 6-7, & 10-11; the 2nd, 3rd and Elijah cups may also be skipped).

Note: each “cup” of wine does not need to be a full cup. An alternative is to pour only a tablespoon or so each time, or dilute the wine.

 

1.     Begin Seder with prayer and wine blessing:

a.      Pour 1st cup of wine or grape juice. (Don’t drink yet)

b.     Begin with a prayer of thanks to our Heavenly FATHER ABBA YAHUVEH for all HE has done for us and will do for us, HIS Children, as HE protects us and watches over us through all the trials of our life and to HIS SON YAHUSHUA our MASHIACH and soon coming BRIDEGROOM for HIS Salvation for us on Calvary and to IMMAYAH our Heavenly MOTHER who watches over us and guides and leads us in every step we take if we but obey.

c.      Say the blessing over the wine. Example: “Blessed are YOU ABBA YAHUVEH, our Heavenly FATHER and CREATOR of the universe, CREATOR of the fruit of the vine. YOU have made us Holy through the shed Blood of YOUR SON YAHUSHUA our MASHIACH. YOU have brought us safely thus far and we thank YOU for guiding and leading us every day of our lives. We give YOU all Praise, Honor and Glory now and forever! Blessed be the Name of YAHUVEH GOD ALMIGHTY! The Name of YAHUSHUA our MASHIACH and IMMAYAH, MOMMA SHKHINYAH GLORY, our Beloved RUACH HA KODESH, the only QUEEN of Heaven!” (Please add your own prayers.)

d.     Drink wine or grape juice.

2.     Wash/rinse hands

3.     Dip parsley into salt water and eat explaining that the salt water reminds us of the tears the Jews cried in Egypt and the greens are a symbol of the coming of Spring which brings hope.

4.     Break middle Matzah in two, saying, this is the body of the Lord broken for us. (Usually none is eaten now. Save the larger broken piece for “afikomen” in step # 12, put the rest back).

5.     Introduce and tell the Story of Passover over 2nd cup of wine:

a        Hold up matzah saying, this is the bread of affliction which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt.

b        Pour and pray blessing over 2nd cup. (Don’t drink yet)

c        Tell the Passover Story. (or you may list the 10 plagues [see Exodus 7:14 –ch 11] and then read Exodus 11 – 15).

d        Optional: read Psalm113-114

e        Drink 2nd cup.

6.     Wash hands again. You may say a blessing.

7.     Say general prayer over food.

Blessed are you YAHUVEH our GOD, King of the Universe,

Who brings forth food from the earth

Blessed are You, YAHUVEH our GOD King of the Universe,

Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to eat the matzah/unleavened bread and maror/bitter herbs for Passover.

8.     Eat matzah, explaining the matzah, or unleavened bread is also a reminder of the haste with which the Jews left Egypt on the night of Passover because the bread did not have time to rise.

9.     Eat bitter herbs, explaining the Egyptians “embittered” or made bitter, disagreeable, the lives of the Jews who we are also as we are grafted into the vine through YAHUSHUA. (Rom. 11:17-19) “And they embittered their lives with hard labor: with mortar and bricks, with every kind of work in the fields; all the work which they made them do was rigorous.” (Ex. 1:14)

10. Eat maror and matzah together. This is usually dipped in the charoset.

11. Explain the symbolism of the lamb bone and egg. Eat egg dipped in salt water and then eat dinner. The egg may be eaten at the beginning of the Passover meal or by itself if you are not eating a meal. It is a symbol of the suffering and oppression in Egypt. Everything else in boiling water becomes soft or disintegrates but an egg becomes hard like the Israelites. The more it is boiled, the harder it becomes. An egg also symbolizes new life. Additionally, YAHUVEH has revealed to Prophet Elisabeth Elijah that the 3 parts of the TRINITY are like the egg – each is distinct and yet part of the whole. As ABBA YAHUVEH has said to Elisabeth, “Which part of the egg is the egg? Is it the shell? The white or the yolk?” Of course it is all three – each distinct and yet each making up the whole, the egg. Amazing, isn’t it?

12. Return afikomen and eat of it remembering it represents the Lord’s body.

13. Pray over 3rd cup of wine:

a        Pour 3rd cup.

b        Read Psalm 126 “Those who sow in tears, will reap with joy unceasing!...”

c        Pray Grace after Meals (an abbreviated version is okay)

d        Bless and drink 3rd cup.

e        Pour the 4th cup and the cup of Elijah. (Do not drink yet). Pray for the prayer of Elijah: GOD to restore all things, to hasten the coming of YAHUSHUA and take vengeance on HIS enemies.

14. Praise.

a        Praise session. Optional: read Psalm 115-118. Thank YOU ABBA YAHUVEH for the victory over all the things in our lives that are not of YOU in the Name of YAHUSHUA our MASHIACH!

b        Bless and drink the 4th cup.

15. More praise and prayer that GOD accepts the Seder and is pleased.

THE BLOOD OF YAHUSHUA
The Four Cups of Wine

The Blood of the Lamb made the Passover possible (Exodus 12). We know that YAHUSHUA’s Blood, as HE is the true Lamb of GOD, has bought our freedom and it is our ONLY Salvation. At the Last Supper, YAHUSHUA taught us that the Passover wine was a symbol of HIS Blood, the Blood of the Renewed Covenant, poured out for many for the remission of sins; that as often as we would drink of it, we should remember HIS Sacrifice.

Taking time during the Seder to sing traditional Passover songs, but also traditional songs and hymns about the Blood of YAHUSHUA is definitely worth while. Songs such as “There is Power in the Blood”, “Now Behold the Lamb”, “Nothing but the Blood”, “There is a Fountain”, “The Blood will Never Loose it’s Power” among others about the Cross and the Blood are good choices. You may spontaneously add songs into your Seder thru the night. We suggest adding  such songs while going over any or each of the “Four Cups”. (See more on the Four Cups later in this booklet).

THE FOUR CUPS
and the cup of Elijah

Traditionally in the Passover Seder four cups of wine or grape juice are consumed throughout the Seder though this is not mandated by YAHUVEH, but YAHUSHUA is recorded as having used wine as an integral part of HIS Seder. Here, we must add GOD would NEVER tell you to get drunk, intoxication must be avoided. We suggest replacing the wine altogether with juice if there is an issue. The Four Cups are said to represent the four types of redemption ABBA YAHUVEH uses in describing the Jews’ exodus from Egypt as written in Ex. 6: 6-7. These four cups also represent the Blood of YAHUSHUA. Therefore, instead full cups, we highly suggest either giving small symbolic portions (like 1 tablespoon) for each of the “Four Cups”, or dilute the wine in a pitcher - ready to pour. Watered down wine or grape juice may be preferable to regular wine. (Ancient wine did not have the alcohol content it has today and it was the custom of the Ancient Romans, Greeks and Israelites to dilute their wine several times over. Also remember that yeast, which is prohibited during Passover, is what gives wine a high alcohol content).

Cup #

1

2

3

4

 

recite the Kiddush over it

we read the Exodus story over it

we recite Grace After Meals over it

we sing the "big Hallel (Praise)" over it

[generally, first pour cup, then recite what is mentioned above + fruit of the vine blessing, and finally afterward, all would drink]

Name of Cup

Sanctification

Deliverance/ Judgment

Redemption

Restoration/
Praise

 

Exodus 6:7-8

I am the LORD, and I will take you out (from under the burdens of the Egyptians)

I will deliver you (from their bondage)

I will redeem you (with an outstretched arm)

I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God

*John 15; Luke 22: 14-19*

*Luke 22:20; Mt. 26:26-30;
Mark 14:22-26*

5 - The Cup of Elijah

[poured w/ 3rd or 4th cup, and drunk by Elijah only]

Exodus 6:8 – Malachi 4:4-6

And I will bring you to the land (which I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), and I will give it to you (as an inheritance)

*In the gospels, YAHUSHUA is recorded as taking the wine at least twice, once before and after the Passover meal. It is important to realize that participating in a Passover Seder for a Messianic Jew contains the elements of communion and you must examine your heart as you would otherwise do.

There is also a 5th cup of wine called, “The Cup of Elijah.” This cup is poured but not drunk and the door opened in anticipation of the coming of Elijah the Prophet to announce the MESSIAH, the MASHIACH, YAHUSHUA. The Prophet Elijah is considered the bearer of good tidings of joy and peace. The name of Elijah is associated with the coming of the MASHIACH, whose advent Elijah is expected to announce. We read: “I will send you the Prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers;” (Malachi 4:4-6a)

Jewish tradition has it that Elijah visits every Jewish home at the Seder and sips the cup. When Israel was exiled from the land, the cup of Elijah was filled, but not drunk. It remains on the table as a sign of ABBA YAHUVEH’S further Messianic promise of renewal. YAHUSHUA said of John the Baptist in Mark 9:13 & Matthew 11:14:

“And they asked HIM (YAHUSHUA), ‘Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’
YAHUSHUA replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the SON of YAHUVEH must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.’” “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.”

“Elijah has come” - This was true in the person of John the Baptist who heralded YAHUSHUA’S coming when HE came to earth 2000+ years ago. Scripture promises that as John the Baptist was sent with the anointing of Elijah to prepare the way for the LORD YAHUSHUA’s First Coming, Elijah would also come to prepare the way for the Return of the LORD. Who is this End Time Elijah, a person, with the mantle of the first Elijah of Old, like John the Baptist?

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.   “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD comes.  He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (Malachi 4).

Visit amightywind.com and almightywind.com for the full prophecies and more prophecy excerpts arranged by topic.