Beth Moore
Last year I had the opportunity to go through my first Passover Seder meal. It is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of Passover. It involves the retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. In Matthew 26:17-30, we see Jesus going through the Passover meal with the disciples. What is significant about this is that the Lamb of God would be present at this particular Passover – the last meal before He is crucified on the cross.
Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
Beth Moore gave a pretty good interpretation of what the Passover Seder meal looked like. She talked about Jesus and how He quoted from this passage from Exodus 6:6-7 about the four promises that are given. Each promise is represented by a cup (of wine – the blood of Christ). God speaks of these promises over our freedom and slavery. Here is the condensed version of her talk on these cups:
Cup 1 – I will bring you out. In John 13:5-6 they would typically wash their hands after the first cup. But Jesus washed their feet instead (He changes it). They then sing praises of Dayenu (“it would have been enough for us” or “it would have been sufficient”). But despite all that God has done, it wasn’t enough. Something had to be done.
Cup 2 –I will deliver you from slavery. They dip the unleavened bread in the bitter herbs until their eyes teared up. This represents sorrow. They are sorrowful for they are told one of them will betray Him. They then eat the roasted lamb.
Cup 3 – I will redeem you. Jesus breaks the bread (not pull apart – it’s unleavened) and tells the disciples to drink His cup. This is the offer of Salvation (Exodus 24:8) and we have to receive it. Jesus becomes this cup – the cup of redemption.
Cup 4 – I will take you as my people. We will sit at the table all together to take this cup. As foretold in Revelations, He takes us as His people.
Afterwards in Matthew 26:30, we see that they then sing a hymn together. Jesus has come to set us free. Are we GLAD? All things were made for this day (Psalms 118:24). Rejoice and be GLAD in it! This day (the cross) IS enough!
The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad.
Psalms 126:3
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