The
Bridegroom has made an offer of Betrothal to the Bride. He has given her the Covenant promises, and He is
now waiting for the Bride, to accept – or
not accept –
His Betrothal
offer.
According to Scripture, how does the prospective Bride accept the Bridegroom's offer?
The Bride's acceptance of the Bridegroom's offer of Betrothal is to be made by drinking of the
same
Covenant cup from which the Bridegroom drank, both literally and
figuratively. Let's look at the Scriptures, to see what this Covenant Cup is.
The
Bridegroom has stated very clearly:
And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.... And as they were eating, Jesus took
bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the
cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye
all of it; For this is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins. (Matthew 26:18-28 )
And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?.... And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and
blessed, and
brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my
body. And he took the cup, and when he
had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all
drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many. (Mark 14:14-24)
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.... And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake
it, and
gave unto them, saying, This
is my body which is
given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also
the
cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:19-20) The
above passages clearly reveal that the Body and Blood of Yahshua were
eaten and drunk at the Passover meal with Yahushua and His Disciples.
We then note that the apostle Paul gives us a summary of the
above, in the following passage:
For
I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That
the Lord Jesus the same night [at sunset was the start of the fourteenth day of the first month, known as the day of 'Passover'] in which he was betrayed took
bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my
body, which is broken for you: this
do in remembrance of me. After the
same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood: this
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For
as often as ye eat this
bread, and drink this
cup, ye do shew
the Lord's death till he come. (1Corinthians 11:23-26) [note in brackets is in reference to Lev 23:5]
In the above
passage,
Paul reminds us that Yahushua has said, regarding the eating of the
bread,
and drinking of the cup, that we are to "Do this
in remembrance of me."
Have the
followers
of Yahushua, the Believers of today, accepted the offer of Betrothal
given by the Bridegroom? That is, have the Believers of today drunk of
Yahushua's Betrothal cup — of "this"
cup — the same cup of
the New Covenant of which Yahushua told us to drink?
Let's look at the Scriptures.
This Cup of
the New Covenant When someone
gives a demonstration, and then says, "Now, you do this..."
what is the meaning of the pronoun "this?"
In the
above Scripture passages, does "this" bread refer to just any bread,
perhaps a piece of toast
eaten for breakfast each morning, or even a jelly sandwich
eaten
for dessert?
Does "this" cup
refer to any cup of wine, or perhaps a cup of tea —
to be taken as
often as one chooses?
No,
the word "this" refers us to what is being demonstrated, concurrent
with the words being spoken — and the
demonstration is that
of
eating the bread of the Passover
meal, and of drinking the third cup of wine
(the cup of 'Redemption') after
the Passover meal.
Let us
re-examine our understanding, and our practice, in light of
what the Scriptures actually say.
Let
this truth sink in for a moment — let
us remember what
Yahushua was doing when He said, "Do
this in
remembrance of me." He was eating the Passover
meal, and was having the unleavened bread of
Passover;
and He was drinking the third cup (the Cup of Redemption) of the Feast
of
Passover!
And this we know to be true, for Yahushua's own words confirm this
as the Passover meal (Matthew 26:18-28; Mark 14:14-24; Luke
22:15-20).
Yahushua
then tells His Disciples that He expects them to do
the same, but with a renewed understanding of the meaning of
Passover. He now expects us to keep Passover in a new
way —
in
remembrance that the Lamb sacrificed at Passover represents Him;
and that the unleavened bread eaten at Passover is His
body, and speaks of Him
as the Bread of Life, and of every word that proceeds out of
the mouth of Yahuweh; and that the cup of wine speaks of His
Blood of the New Covenant, that was shed or spilled for
us, as the purchase
price of our redemption.
This
is the remembrance of the true meaning of Passover, and is what
Yahushua's Disciples now remember, as they rejoice together, and as
they eat the Passover meal together with a renewed
understanding.
So we see that
in each of the above passages, Yahushua is revealing to His Disciples
the prophetic meaning (the
'now' meaning) of the well-known Passover meal, practiced for
centuries by all of Yahuweh's people. Yahushua did not institute
anything
new, or change anything. He merely revealed the true meaning
of
Passover.
In
the Passover supper, Yahushua simply revealed
to His Disciples that He is the
Passover Lamb Sacrifice, and that He would bring about the redemption
of His people, and the sealing of the Everlasting (New) Covenant by His
Blood (Hebrews 13:20).
But why is the Passover
necessary for New Covenant believers? Lets look at Yahuweh’s Covenant
requirements.
The Blood Sprinkles the Tabernacle
The great importance of our participation in the Passover meal can be
seen in the following passage:
For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the
people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats,
with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both
the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the
blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle,
and all the vessels of the ministry. (Hebrews 9:20-21)
First, we see that the original offer of Betrothal came at Mt.
Sinai, where the Covenant Promise of Betrothal was sealed in the 'Blood
of the Testament' which prefigured the Blood of Messiah. (To see
this account in Scripture of the Betrothal Agreement, see
The Two Witnesses of Devarim by Brick Parrish.)
Most importantly, the Blood of the Covenant was sprinkled on the Book (His Words), the
people, the Tabernacle, and all
the vessels of the ministry.
Beloved,
this pictures the physical Blood touching the physical items of the
tabernacle, and relates them all to Yahuweh's Everlasting Covenant with His people. We recall
that every Covenant between Yahuweh and His people
must be confirmed or sealed by blood (Ex 24:8; Heb 13:20).
We
are His people, and we are also now in the Tabernacle of this fleshly
body, the dwelling-place of Yahuweh (1Co 6:19). Thus we are required to
be 'sprinkled' by the physical Blood of the Covenant, by that which
represents Messiah’s Blood. This covenant sprinkling is done
when
we participate in the Body and Blood of the Passover meal.
When
we drink of the Passover
cup, the representation of the Blood of Yahushua goes down
into this tabernacle of our
body (2Cor 5:4). Our drinking of the Passover cup, just as the
Bridegroom did, becomes 'our half'
of the Betrothal agreement. When we eat of His flesh (the Passover
unleavened bread, or matzo), and drink of His Blood (the Passover cup of Redemption), we are
in effect saying, "I do" to the Bridegroom's offer of Betrothal!
Our
participation in the New Covenant Passover is so
important, that Yahushua tells us a frighteningly
important bit of news:
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of
the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up
at the last day. (John 6:53-54) Beloved,
let us ask this question. Why is Yahushua here telling us that unless
we participate in His Body and Blood, we have no Life in us?
It
is because Messiah-in-us is our Life! And it is
Messiah who, when living within us, prompts us to participate in the
Passover!
It is likewise the lack
of
Messiah-in-us, that would cause us to reject this Passover participation.
This rejection of the True Passover is perhaps the origin of
the counterfeit
Passover, called 'communion' and 'Lord's Supper'
that most of us in the Evangelical world have embraced as a substitute
for the True. It is time to put away the many
counterfeits –
and
the Doctrines of Men that promote them –
and take the True!
But what is the significance of
Passover? Let's look.
The Significance of PassoverWhen
Israel was in Egypt, it was the Passover blood on the doorposts
that saved the firstborn of Israel from death (Heb 11:28).
From
that time onward, all of Yahuweh's people are commanded to observe the
Passover as a memorial forever, so they might remember that
Yahuweh saved them through the Blood of the Lamb (Exodus 12:13-14).
When
Yahushua was on earth, He participated in the Passover meal with
His disciples. Since Yahushua was to be the 'Firstborn of many'
brethren, His participation in Passover was also a part of the pattern
for the
'many brethren' (Col 1:18; Rom 8:29).
Yahushua
has told us that the Blood of the Passover is His
Blood, and is
represented in the Passover wine (Luke 22:20). His Blood that was
spilled 2,000 years ago is the Blood of the Everlasting
Covenant,
and it was through this spilled Blood that Yahushua was
brought
back from death as the Firstborn of many Brethren (Col 1:18; Rom 8:29;
Heb 13:20). This same
Blood spilled 2,000 years ago likewise saves us
from death (Heb 13:20), as we too are a kind of firstfruits unto Him
(James 1:18; Heb 12:23).
The keeping
of Passover includes the eating of the Passover meal,
the representation of eating of His
Flesh (the flesh speaks of His
'Life' according to John 6:51,53), and the drinking of
His Blood (the blood
speaks of His 'Life' according to Leviticus 17:11). When His life
is in us, we have the inward desire to walk in obedience to all
His Word, and to be a "DO-er" of all that He did
when on earth. It is His life in us that moves us
to keep the Passover in obedience to the Scriptures!
Yahushua
is telling us: "No Passover, no
Life."
The Passover may be symbolic in many ways, but the
keeping of
it reveals the heart of obedience, and the heart of yieldedness, of the
Bride to her Bridegroom. The heart of yieldedness willingly keeps the
Passover — and all the other Feasts ('moedim'),
of Yahuweh, according to the Scriptures. The heart of obedience has the
'Life' of Yahushua living within, for that heart is a "DO-er" of every Word
that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahuweh (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4).
Moreover,
the Passover meal is a Scriptural
Passover meal only if it is done
at the
time of Passover, as prescribed by Yahuweh in the Scriptures
— on the 14th day of either the
first or second Biblical month (Lev 23:5;Num 9:10-11). A
'passover' at any other time, is not according to scripture, and so is a counterfeit passover.
The Final OpportunityThe Feast of Passover is such
an
important event for Yahushua's Born-Again children, that He gives us
two distinct dates each year, and two opportunities to keep
the
Passover. The First Passover of the year
occurs on the fourteenth day of the First
Biblical month. The Second Passover of the
season is the final
opportunity
for the Bride, and it occurs on the 14th day of the Second
Biblical
Month. The calendar dates are determined in mid- to late-
March of each year when the new moon is seen.
Beloved,
the Bridegroom
wishes you to
become Betrothed!! Find several others, or have the Passover alone. Let
us keep the Feast! (1Co 5:7-8).
Conclusion
Unless the Bride Candidate takes the Flesh and Blood of Passover,
she demonstrates she has no Life in her. Participation in the
True
Passover demonstrates the presence of the Life of
Messiah-in-us, who
gives us Grace for the obedience (Rom 1:5; 1Pet 1:2) necessary
to enter in to the
presence of the King.
For Pastors and Leaders
Pastors, direct yourself and your people toward
the Scriptural practices, and away from practices
and Doctrines of Men that you may
have picked up in your Theological Cemetery, Bible School or
Denomination. We will each be held accountable for our respective
works! (Rev 2:23).
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