Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 28, 2021 | Christ in the Passover with Susan Perlman

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March 28, 2021 | Christ in the Passover with Susan Perlman · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that wasn't happened.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I can hear the College Avenue building better than I can hear you.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing today?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: So before I say something about that video and introduce my friend Susan, uh I am Melody and I are both really as you can probably tell.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're both really pleased about the announcement of Connor and Hannah to be uh the next lead couple at Topeka Bible Church.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: We don't, I think uh I mean I know Melody would say the same thing.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: We know of no other uh people in their 20s that we respect as highly and love as much as we love these two incredibly gifted and godly people, Connor and Hannah.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So uh and I'll be able to tell you more, you know, in two weeks uh at the congregational uh approval meeting.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: But uh I'm so excited that with this choice, uh I get to continue on and use my passions and and my gifts here at TBC and continue to help us as we move forward.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, that's that.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to say that.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh yeah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So uh down downside, the bad news is that those of you who are hoping I would absolutely leave, you know, I'm sorry, you're stuck with me.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um so by the way, that video excites me.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't plan on saying this, Susan, but I'm the Israel ministry.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Since I've gotten involved in Jews for Jesus on the inside in the last 20 years and have traveled with him and so forth, the Israel ministry is above all the most the thing that's most exploded, you know, in my time at Jews for Jesus, from one person or two people to now our largest branch anywhere in the world.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's so exciting, as you can tell, to see all of the impact that that Jews for Jesus is having in Israel.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: But now let me tell you, come on up, Susan.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So Susan is a personal friend of Melody and of me, but we're not special there because I I don't think you can find a missions leader.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: You could not find a missions leader anywhere in the world who does not know Susan.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: She's one of the leading missionary leaders in the world.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry about that.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: She also sits on the boards of all of these, of loads of major organizations who value her consulting, like Dallas Seminary, she's on their board of regents.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And um I confess something.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna seem like the perfect close to our Exodus series today.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But when I arranged for Susan to come, uh it was before I'd even chosen Exodus.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this is gonna be this perfect weaving of the ancient Passover celebration, which I taught you on about a month ago in Exodus 12, with modern the modern Passover Seder, with the whole story of the Exodus, it's all gonna sort of come together for you today and point to Jesus Christ as I tried to do last week.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Susan, thank you so much for being here.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Love you, girl.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Pastor Jim, and uh happy Palm Sunday.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's wonderful to be with you here at Topeka Bible Church.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I uh I was here many years ago, but um I see a lot of new faces.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: So and to those of you online, welcome as well this Palm Sunday.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: But it is Palm Sunday, and so I'd like to start my Passover uh with sharing that passage from uh Mark chapter 11 on the triumphal entry.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a donkey tied there, which no one has ever ridden.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Untie it and bring it here.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: If anyone asks you why are you doing this, tell them the Lord needs it and will send it back shortly.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: And when they brought the donkey to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches that had cut in the fields.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, Hoshienu, or you know better as Hosanna.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and this is a this is a time where we celebrate Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: But it's important to remember he came into Jerusalem on a donkey.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: And the rabbis actually had something to say about the Messiah's entry into this world.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: He says, if we are worthy, and this is taken from the Talmudic writings, if we are worthy, the Messiah will come in the clouds, as the prophet Daniel predicted in Daniel 7.13.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: But if we are unworthy, he will come riding on a donkey, as it is written in Zechariah 9.9.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, I mean, that's pretty amazing to me that the rabbis even knew this, yet most eyes are spiritually blinded among the Jewish people to the coming of the Messiah in the person of Jesus.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: But Jesus entered Jerusalem, uh, yet he also sent his disciples to come after that to prepare for the Passover.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we read about this in Luke chapter 22, beginning at the seventh verse.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: Then came the day of unleavened bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed, and Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Where do you want us to prepare for it?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: They asked.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: And he replied, As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you, follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, The teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: He will show you a large upper room, all furnished, make preparations there.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: And they left and found things just as Jesus had told them, so they prepared the Passover.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd like you to step back in time to Jerusalem at that time, and to imagine what it would have been like, Jesus sending Peter and John to make those preparations.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: They went and they found the donkey just as he told them, and then they went to this place for the room that had been prepared, specially furnished for the Passover.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Passover, as you know from your study in Exodus, is the feast of unleavened bread.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so part of that preparation involved having that place clean of anything that might have leaven on it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: And growing up in a traditional Jewish home back far, far away from here in a place called Brooklyn, New York, we cleaned our house of leaven meticulously.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: And not just the food stuff, but even the plates and the uh utensils that were used year-round that touched leaven had to be stored away for the seven days of Passover.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: Now, to make sure one's home was actually clean of leaven, there was a traditional ceremony that was performed.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's called the Bedekat Chamets, the searching for the leaven.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: You see, it is the woman who actually does the majority of the house cleaning to get the leaven out, but because this is a religious ceremony, her husband gets to um officially clean his home of leaven with this inspection.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: And he takes a feather, a wooden spoon and a handkerchief, and he goes searching through the house looking for the leaven.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: Now, just so he won't be disappointed, his wife has left a little leaven in a very obvious place.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: He levels the spoon at it, flicks the crumbs on with the feather, covers it up in a handkerchief.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: And in Jesus' day, in the little towns and villages as well as in Jerusalem, there would be a big bonfire going.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, in Jerusalem, they used the city dump for this purpose.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: And the men would bring their bundles of leaven, toss it into the flames, thereby everything that had touched leaven was consumed by the fire.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: And they would then go home and read a prayer that goes like this May any manner of leaven that is in my domain that I have not seen be considered null and void and as the dust of the earth.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: You see, for they've cleansed their home of leaven.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now that prayer is found in a very special book.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's called the Hagedah.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: You want to say that with me?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Hagedah.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: It means the telling or the retelling of the story of Passover.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: And parts of the Haggadah date back to around the time of the Babylonian captivity, around 586 BC.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: There is the commentaries, of course, by the rabbis, the Exodus account itself, songs that are sung for the service, and the Seder, the order of the service there.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I couldn't provide you each with a haggadah, but those that are here in the sanctuary, uh, you should have uh picked up one of these at least per family.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's a mini haggadah.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: And uh there are some prayers in here and blessings, and uh you will participate with me in the saying of them.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but uh before we engage in the full Passover, we have to start with the lighting of the candles, which is a ceremony that the woman of the house gets to perform.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if she's married, she covers her head.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not married, but I think it's more dramatic this way.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's also very appropriate that it is the woman who brings light to the festival of redemption, for it isn't through the will of man nor the seed of man that he who is the light of the world came into the world, but it was through the will of God and the seed of the woman.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: And in this way, all women, I believe, are honored and blessed.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the traditional blessing goes like this Baruchhatad and I, Alohenu Melchalam, Asher Kitshanu, Beyashua um Bamisfota Vitzivanu Lehadlik near shell pesach.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to ask you to say that with me in English.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's right in the center of your little brochure, the blessing over the candles.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctifies us by his commandments and commands us to kindle the festival lights.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: Now in Jews for Jesus, we came up with our alternative blessing that goes Baruchad and I Elohenu Melchalam, uh, Bayeshua Hamashiach or Haolam, which translates, Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has given us Jesus, the Messiah, the light of the world.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh and we think that as believers in Jesus, who is the light of the world, we start our Passover that way.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but uh the whole of the Passover can be paced by four cups that are taken, uh one at a time.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: The first, and each time it's it's filled, it's given a new name.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: The first cup is called the Kiddish or the Cup of Sanctification.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I will chant the blessing for you over this cup.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: And if you look again in your brochure, what we will recite it in English.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: And now in English, blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we've now officially begun our Passover.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: In an Orthodox Jewish home, this would take uh four hours to complete, but Jim told me I didn't have four hours.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna just give you some of the highlights here.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um and um and we can all uh uh look at the highlights on this table because uh the whole table is an object lesson to tell the story of Passover.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: It begins by the reciting of four questions by the youngest child in the family.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's called the Manishtana, and uh I will give you one in Hebrew and then explain the other four questions as I go through the items on the table.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: It goes like this Manishtana halala hase mikol halelos.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Why is this night different from all other nights?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then on all other nights we eat all manner of bread, leavened and unleavened, but on this night we eat only unleavened bread or matzah.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: On all other nights, we eat all manner of herbs, but this night only bitter herbs.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: On all other nights we only dip them once, but why on this night do we dip our herbs twice?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: On all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, yet on this night we recline.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: Why is this night different?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I recall my grandfather who would preside at our table would uh stroke his beard and begin to answer the questions.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: He'd first point out that we were all sitting on chairs that had a pillow or a cushion on them, so that we can recline.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: And you'll recall when Jesus celebrated the Passover with the disciples, they reclined at the table.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this was to contrast the very first Passover, which was eaten.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: If you remember in Exodus 12, the instructions that they were standing, sandals on their feet, staff in their hand, ready for a hasty departure out of the land.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: But because we were redeemed, we are to be in a restful position when we celebrate it today.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: We also eat unleavened bread or matza, and it's put in its own special case called a matzah tash.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Matza means unleavened bread, tash means a pocket or a pouch.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: But it's also given another name.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: This is called a unity.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's an interesting unity because there is one, two, three separate compartments to this unity.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: And in each one is a wafer of the unleavened bread.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Now the rabbis have some interpretations of this unity.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: Some say it's a unity of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Others say it's a unity of worship of the priests, the Levites, and the entire congregation of Israel.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: But what happens at this point in the service is the center wafer is removed from the matzutosh.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: The head of the house then washes his hands, not like in the pandemic, just a little dipping of their fingers into a bowl that has water that's been blessed because they're going to handle what's considered the holy bread.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: And they lift up the matzah and then break it.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I never understood the interpretation of breaking either Isaac or the Levites.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: But this bread is broken, it's then wrapped in linen and uh put in its own special compartment.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's called the Athacomen, which means that which comes after.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's buried for a time, to be brought back from its place of burial later.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Now, what three-in-one unity might that remind you of?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: The middle wafer, broken, wrapped in linen, buried to be brought back.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, the unity of God.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: And the matzah itself reminds me a lot of our Savior.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: For one thing, is it's unleavened.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: And leavened throughout the scriptures is symbolic of sin.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: But this is unleavened as Jesus was without sin.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Also, part of the process of baking matzah has it being baked on a rack, so it ends up having these stripes on it.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: And it also is pierced through so that it will bake evenly.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I can't help but think of the words of our prophet Isaiah in the suffering servant passage, Isaiah 53, where he says of the Messiah, he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't want you to forget about this buried matzah.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: I promise you it will not stay buried the entire service.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: But meanwhile, the other items that help tell the Passover story are also on the table.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: They're put on a special plate, which is called a Seder plate.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: There are six compartments here.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: This is not a devil's egg plate, okay.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: And each one helps tell the story.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: The first item are is called carpis in Hebrew.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: These are greens, and the greens are meant to symbolize life.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: And everyone at the table takes a sprig of the parsley, which is what we have here, dips it into salted water, which represents tears, and then eats it.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: And thus we are to remember that a life without redemption is a life immersed in tears.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: The next item is called cheret in Hebrew.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's a bitter root, either a horseradish root or an onion, as we have here.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: And this is to remind us that the root of life is bitter.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: The third item is the ground-up bitter herb, freshly ground horseradish, and it's to be ground the morning of the evening as eaten, so it's especially uh strong.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: And with a spatula of the unleavened bread, a nice uh heaping amount of the horseradish is ingested by each person at the table.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not going to demonstrate this for you right now, because I want to finish the presentation.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: But I can tell you that this much horseradish will produce a certain physiological reaction.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: Your eyes will start to tear, and in this way, we're to remember the tears that our ancestors shed when they were slaves in Egypt.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: The next item is far more appetizing to take.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's called chorosith in Hebrew.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's a mixture of chopped up apples and nuts and cinnamon and honey and maybe some manashevit sometimes.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: Can I say that in a Bible church?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: But in any case, it's taken on a spatula of the matzah and uh eaten.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it it's meant to be kind of a reddish brown in color, uh, like the mortar by which we built the bricks for Pharaoh's stored cities.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it's asked of the rabbis, well, if this represents our hard labor in the land, why is it so sweet to the taste?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, they reply, when we knew our redemption was close at hand, even the bitterest of labor was sweet to the taste.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: And we take of the matzah with the uh apple mixture.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it it's it's interesting because that neutralizes the bitter taste that's been in our mouth from the horseradish we had just before it.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: The next item should remind you of a holiday that is coming up very, very soon.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Easter, resurrection day.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: And the reason the egg is used in the Passover, it's called hagigah, it represents the morning sacrifice in the temple.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because an egg is used because a hen lays her eggs each morning.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it is a roasted egg over an open fire.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: It was a joyous symbol in Judaism until 70 AD, which was when the temple was destroyed.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: No longer is there a place of sacrifice.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: So now when the egg is eaten at Passover, it's uh cracked and opened and sliced, dipped into the salt water, which represents tears, as a symbol of mourning, uh, because there is not a temple standing in Jerusalem today.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: However, for us as followers of the Messiah Jesus, this is a joyous symbol.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's a symbol of resurrection.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: And the fact that the temple was rebuilt in three days.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: Amen?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: Now the final item on the satyr plate, it's called Zeroah in Hebrew.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's a bone, it's actually the shank bone of a lamb.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: And uh the actual lamb is not the main course at Passover in most Jewish homes because there's no sacrifice of lambs uh taking place anymore in Israel.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: There's no temple to sacrifice them in.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: But however, we do have the bone to remind us of God's provision.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: And at this point, we tell the story of what God did and how, and you know the story because you've just finished Exodus, um, how our people cried to be redeemed out of slavery and bondage in Egypt, and God heard our cry and uh sent us a deliverer in the person of Moses, and how God spoke to Moses in the midst of a burning bush and said, I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: And at this point, um the plagues were poured out.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Upon the land of Egypt.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yet the Jews in Goshen were unaffected, whether it was the blood or the lice or the hail.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: And yet God managed to keep us safe up until that very last plague and the most deadly one of all.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that was the death of the firstborn of man and beast.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so we tell the story of how the provision was made.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: And again, you can go back to Exodus 12 to see what Moses instructed the children of Israel to do.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: But they were to take a lamb that was unblemished, a male lamb, a yearling lamb, and it was to be sacrificed.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: It was then to be roasted and eaten whole, no bones broken.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: But the blood of that lamb was first drained and poured into a basin, and then with some hyssop, which was a plant, it was taken and it was affixed to the sideposts of the door where the lamb was eaten, and then the lintel of the door at the top.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: The remaining blood in the basin would have probably been left at the base of the door.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: In a sense, sealing that door with a bloody cross.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: And the scripture says, And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live, and when I see the blood, no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, on that night death came, touching a household here, claiming a soul there.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: But wherever the blood of that spotless lamb was on the doorposts of the house, death passed over, hence the name of the holiday, Passover.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: We then drink of the second cup, which is called the cup of plagues, and we remember what God had done.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: And a full cup in Judaism is actually considered a cup of joy.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: So what we do is we remove a drop of the fruit of the vine for each of the ten plagues as we recount them.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: And then we say the same blessing, Baruchhat and I, Elohenu, Melachaulam, Bore, Puri Hagafen.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, after the second cup, we then have a meal.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: The items that are on the table are moved aside, and it's time for us to enjoy a big Passover dinner.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: I could not get assurances you had a kosher kitchen here, so we did not provide a meal for you.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: Also, with all the other restrictions going on, it just wasn't going to work out.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: So, in any case, I do want to tell you a little bit about the Ministry of Jews for Jesus in this break while the dishes are being cleared away and uh the attention is uh off of the ceremony of the Passover.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: This little boy is eating some chicken matzo ball soup.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that is uh one of uh my favorite items for the Passover.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but just remember everything you're eating has to have no leaven in it.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: So the matzo balls are dumplings made out of matzo meal and egg.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um they have to be light and fluffy to be good.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: My grandmother never perfected that.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: We used to call hers matza bombs.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um we thought they were the Israeli army's secret weapon, actually.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but there are recipes, and I think on your brochure there might even be a link to to looking for some.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: I would encourage you to try and make a Passover meal in your home someday.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um But I do want to refer back to that video you saw earlier about um the um the work in Jerusalem and in Israel of Jews for Jesus, because uh later uh in the service, when you leave, the offering that you give will go toward our work in Jerusalem.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want you to be prayerful about that.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh to know that Jews for Jesus is um a faith ministry.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we've been so blessed by having Jim serve as the chair of our board of directors and to uh give us leadership in that way.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but our staff all over the world want to do just one thing.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: We want to get the gospel out and heard to Jews and anyone else who will listen.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: And we do that in some very creative ways and in some very traditional ways.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um we're very pragmatic that way.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: We do what works.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: And um and we can do it only as an arm of local churches like Topeka Bible Church.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: So um, if you would prayerfully consider us, and if you would like, um I would like to offer everyone who gives us their details, even if you already get our newsletter, a special map of Jerusalem that we put together.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll just mail this to you.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh modern Jerusalem, but it is also a map that has the stories of peoples whose lives have been transformed through the power of the gospel in Jerusalem today.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it will give you something to hold on to and to use as a prayer uh guide uh for what God is doing among his people in Israel.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: Now, the uh I've tried to take your attention away from this table for a little while so that we could clear the dishes from the meal.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: And now it is time to come back to the Passover.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um the meal is over, the third cup is poured, and this cup is called the cup of redemption.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this is the cup, the same cup that Jesus referred to in Luke 22, where it says, Jesus took the cup after supper, saying, This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood shed for you.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't take the cup of sanctification or the cup of plagues, but the cup of redemption, and pointing to himself.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: And in the same way he took the bread.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, we buried that bread earlier?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it is taken from its place of burial, and an invitation is given to everyone at the table.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: It goes like this.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: This is the bread of affliction, the poor bread which our ancestors ate when we were slaves in Egypt.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Then we were slaves, now we are free.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: All who hunger come and eat of it.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: You see, as Jews in 2021, we're to think of ourselves as having been slaves in Egypt.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, isn't it true for us as followers of Jesus that we're to count ourselves as having been at Calvary when the Lord was crucified?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think of that old spiritual.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: Were you there when they nailed him to a tree?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Brothers and sisters, I was there because my sins put him there, and your sins put him there.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yet somehow this bread has the power to change slaves into free people.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: And everyone is invited to take a piece of it.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and a small piece is broken off for each person at the table.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: And this bread of affliction is the bread that Jesus took at the same time as that third cup, the cup of redemption, and said, Take eat, this is my body which is given for you, this due in remembrance of me.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes I think about it.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: The disciples sitting at that table had gone through this ceremony year in and year out, and here these symbols, these items that they had taken every year, now all of a sudden were given their greatest meaning in Jesus and what he was about to do for them and for you and me.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: The bread of affliction, the cup of redemption.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: We continue on, we read through uh Psalms 113 and 118, uh Psalms that are called the Halel Psalms, and we take of the fourth cup, which is called the cup of halel, uh, which concludes the service almost, but then we come to a fifth cup.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's actually a place setting for the prophet Elijah.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: He has his own place at the table.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: No one else sits at it.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: His own cup of the fruit of the vine, no one else drinks from.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: For in Jewish tradition, it is thought that the prophet Elijah would make an appearance at Passover time.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we hope and pray that he will come because we know uh from the book of Malachi that when he returns, he will usher in that great and terrible day of the Lord.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: And a child is sent to the door to open the door to see if Elijah is there.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and of course he's not.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: And yet we hope for next year in Jerusalem with the Messiah coming.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, one did come.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: And he came in the spirit and the power of Elijah, and Jesus said of him that he would have been Elijah to us had we let him.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: His Hebrew name was Jochnan, you know him better as John the Baptist, a man dressed in animal skins, eating honey and locusts, and preaching a powerful message to the people.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: And scripture records John down by the Jordan River with a group of Jews one day when his cousin Jesus appeared, approached him, and he said of Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now let me tell you that any Jew who had been through the Passover understood what John meant by that.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: We were waiting for the Messiah.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: We were waiting for him to come in the clouds.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: We were waiting for a king messiah to free us from Roman slavery.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, the Messiah came into Jerusalem on a donkey.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: A suffering Messiah, a lowly messiah, a sacrifice messiah, who opened not his mouth, but was obedient to death, even the death of the cross, so that you and I could pass over from spiritual death to new life.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: You see, unlike that lamb of old whose blood was just enough to spare the firstborn son in the Israelites' home, God sent his son to die for you and I, to shed his blood, that blood flowing all the way back in history and all the way forward, to cover the doorposts of our heart, that we might pass over from death to life.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think the Apostle Paul said it best when he said, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: Christ in the Passover, Christ throughout this week as we begin this holy week.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um my prayer is that you would meditate on some of this teaching and just continue to look to see what God has for you as it leads up to our celebration of His glorious resurrection.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: So this is it's pretty special during Holy Week to have a co-founder of Jews for Jesus, who's a co-founder with Moish Rosen, be here to share with us the table of Passover.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: And a special word to anyone who online or not Jewish or not Jewish would like to talk more with anyone about this, I would be glad to talk with you.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Susan will be here for a couple of days at our house.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: She could talk to you.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can go on the Jews for Jesus website if you've never done that.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: You ought to do that.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: And within within 30 seconds of you going on there and just starting to look at that, there will be a chat box will open and a young Jewish believer will come on and say, Would you like to talk about anything?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you you can actually uh talk to someone else about the meaning of the Jewish Messiah and so forth.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we invite you to do that.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to say thank you to Susan, and I'm going to say thank you for being here today or for watching online, and I'm going to close this in a word of prayer.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think behind me, yeah, uh that funny number, 602-847, just an insider knowledge, that happens to be the number of Topeka Bible Church out in San Francisco, California.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's why that number is there.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Bow your head with me and let's pray.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you that uh here we are in 2021 A.D.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we are talking about something that happened in probably 1445 B.C.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: or something like that, thousands upon thousands of years ago.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then moving forward to the time of Jesus, still 2,000 years ago, and we're talking about this as though it is modern and relevant to us today, and in fact, life-changing for the world and for ourselves.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it is.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: The items on this table and the discussion that Susan has had is so absolutely critical to our eternal destiny individually and as a body.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, we thank you for that.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your Son, God the Son, Jesus Christ, the Officomen, who came, who was whose body was broken, who was buried, and then who rose again to give us eternal life.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: For Him, we all say, Thank you, Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming.