What do I say? He is my dear brother. He's my dearest friend. We were separated, it appears, at birth sometimes, I think. But I love this man. I not only have put my hands in his life many times, but the life of my family. Look, when we go to Israel, I put you in his hands as well. He's an IDF, Israeli Defense Force, captain and he was the last governor of Jericho. ... Well, let me qualify that. ... Joshua was the last governor of Jericho, until Amir Tsarfati was the governor of Jericho. So, in modern times, Amir shares something with Joshua of your Bible. He was the former governor of Jericho before he committed it over to the hands of Yasser Arafat in those days. But he is a joy. He's your teacher tonight; He is your Rabbi tonight. So, give a warm welcome to Amir Tsarfati tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Please, you're running out of time. This evening is about everything, but religion. That's not a religious service. This is not about Jews, how they are different from Gentiles. This is about the Word of God. This is about something that goes back 3500 years ago. Something that was carried by the Jewish people. Simply because to them, many different instructions were given, were entrusted in their very hands to carry, all the way, to this very day. However, in a couple of days, when all the Jewish people around the world will sit around the table and celebrate the Seder, the Passover. They will most likely not understand fully what it is all about. The interesting thing is that when the angel of the Lord came to strike the firstborns of the Egyptians, back then, it wasn't that he was instructed to skip the houses of the Jewish people. The instruction was very clear. In Exodus 12, verse 23, the instruction was every house where you see the blood on the two door posts, that's the house where the destroyer cannot come in. So, I often think about: What if some Egyptian family overheard that instruction that Moses gave to the people and had that blood on their door posts? I have news for you. The firstborn of that family would not be killed. We are saved, not by affiliation. This is not a matter of the blood that runs within you. It is a matter of the blood that you sprinkle on the doorpost of your hearts. I like to start with Isaiah 46. Many of my messages, I start with these verses, Isaiah 46:9-10, "Remember the former things of old. For I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done." I don't know if you know that, but the Passover is the first event on the calendar, which was just instituted by God himself, 3500 years ago. So, remember the things of old. The Passover is to remind you of the things of old. Then he says, "I am actually declaring the end from the beginning." So, when 3500 years ago, Moses instructed the people of Israel to do certain things, to follow certain instructions, certain rules, certain steps, it was actually, unveiling the plan of God that will be executed in the future. So, here we are trying to present before you this evening the Passover Seder. In fact, Seder in the Hebrew language means "order". There is order in the Word of God and in the way God does things. There is no chaos. There is no confusion. God is the author of order. And when we, who are believers, finding ourselves in areas of confusion and chaos, it is everything but of the Lord. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of clarity and order, and not of confusion and deception. And in that Seder, we do two things. First of all, of course, we are dining. We love eating. In fact, I heard that Calvary Chapel originally was called "Calorie Chapel". However, we are not only dining, we are also telling. We are telling our children the story of the Exodus from Egypt all the way into the Promised Land. The dining, according to Exodus 12, verses 7 and 8, is of three different things. We eat, in those days, when the temple was still there and sacrifices were still done, we used to eat the Passover lamb. In fact, if you read Exodus 12, they were supposed to eat the entire lamb and leave nothing out of it, the whole flesh. And it couldn't be boiled, it couldn't be raw. It has to be on the grill, in a sense, on fire. So, the Passover lamb to be eaten, the bitter herbs to remind you where you came from, and the matzah bread, the unleavened bread. What is that we are telling our children? According to Exodus 13 verse 8, we are telling them the story. The story of our amazing Exodus from the land of bondage where we did not belong to. into the land of promise, where we belong. None of us belong to the land of darkness, confusion and deception. All of us belong to the land of life and truth. The Promised Land, "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son." God has a promise for the whole world. Yet unfortunately, deception is so wide that only some will believe. Those who believe will not perish, but will have eternal life. So, the story, which is in Deuteronomy 26 verses 5-8, how we came out of Egypt. And then we also sing praises. Psalm 113-118 are those 6 psalms that we normally sing at the end of the Passover Seder. They are known as the Psalms of Hallel, praise, and it's beautiful. You'll see that even Jesus, hours before his crucifixion, did not skip that part. Yet praised God and sang the hymns before he left that upper room on his way down to the Garden of Gethsemane. Passover is the only festival in which the Hallel is sang at night. Normally, Jewish people are praising God and singing songs during the day on Shabbat or on holidays, inside the synagogue. The only times we sing the Hallel Psalms at night is Passover, itself. The Jewish people when they sit around the table, they're using a specific book which is a collection of different Biblical passages and traditional quotations of Rabbis known as the "Haggadah". Haggadah or the way Americans say, Haggadah. This book is the one we're using. It was not written by one author. As I said, it's a product of many generations. Haggadah in the Hebrew language means "telling". The telling of the story is right here. You can't eat it, so it's not the eating. It's not the dining. This is the telling. Every Passover Seder table will have an interesting plate. A plate with several symbols that are representing certain things, or certain events throughout the story of the Exodus from Egypt. We first have the shank bone. The shank bone itself is, of course, a reminder of the Passover lamb. We're no longer eating the Passover lamb. Remember, the temple is destroyed. There're no more sacrificial ceremonies. Therefore, the only thing left for us to remind us of the Passover lamb, nowadays, is the shank bone, itself. It symbolizes obviously the Passover lamb, itself, that was offered on every Jewish Passover evening. Very interesting. The Jewish people for generations, while the temple was there, sacrificed a very innocent 1-year-old male, unblemished lamb. We know according to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, the second part of verse 7, that Christ is our Passover. The Bible is clearly stating that no one else but Christ, himself, is the true Passover. It's not mentioning Christ as "just a lamb" of God: The Passover, that is what Paul wrote. By the way, Paul graduated rabbinical institution. Paul was a persecutor of the church. Paul was an ultra-Pharisee at that time. When the scales fell, when the eyes were open, when that veil was lifted, he could see who is the true and real Passover. And he said "Christ, Yeshua, Jesus was indeed our Passover." According to Exodus 12:5, 1 Peter 1:19, we were instructed to have an unblemished lamb. Unblemished means that there is nothing wrong in it, and not even a single bone is broken. Remember, Jesus' bones could have been broken to expedite obviously His death. But they did not break even a single bone in His body. He fulfilled the requirement of the Passover Lamb. So, Jesus is not only just our Passover Lamb that was slain, but fulfilled those requirements. According to Exodus 12:46 and John 19:33, "You shall not break one of its bones." So, Jesus is not only the Passover, but the perfect Passover Lamb. Then we have what we call in the Hebrew, bitter herbs or maror in Hebrew, bitterness. Those bitter herbs are coming in two different forms on the plate. We have the parsley and we have horseradish. I am not a great fan of horseradish. But I can tell you something. It is a picture of our slavery in Egypt as you can see on those screens. This brings tears into our eyes. Have you tried to take a spoon of horseradish? It'll bring tears to your eyes whether you want it or not. And make you remember the bitterness, which was our forefathers' portion when they were enslaved by the cruel Pharaoh in Egypt. And, of course, it always reminds us, Matthew 26 verses 37 and 38, in regards to Jesus. "And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. And then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me." Jesus could've left. He could've taken off. He could've said, "Well, that's not for me." Yet Jesus came for that very reason. A lot of people say that "the Jews killed Jesus!" Let me tell you something, Jesus offered himself. He said, "I lay down my life and I can take it back." This is an amazing attribute of only One, which is God himself. God gives life and God takes life. And he demonstrated His divinity, His deity, by saying those words. So, going to die for the sins of the world is not something joyful. He bore the shame and the guilt. But it is for that joy that is set before Him. So, the things of the past and all the sins of the world are nothing to be happy and rejoice over. It brings tears to our eyes just to think about what we've done. And what some of us, sometimes, even stumble and fall and do. But the joy comes in the morning. Jesus suffered that and for that even the bitter herbs represent it. The matzah bread... I want to tell you something. Every Passover, I have a great excuse to leave Israel and go around the world to teach. Because I'm trying to avoid this. Have you ever tried for 8 straight days to eat matzah bread? That's a recipe for some problem. That's a matzah bread. You need to understand the matzah bread doesn't necessarily have to be so hard. The only thing that needed to be away from that supposedly "bread" is the yeast. So when you take flour, and when you take some water, and take some salt, and you make some nice dough and you put it on some fire. It can be still nice and fluffy and still stand the criteria of an unleavened bread. But when you have to deal with it for days, that's what you get. The interesting thing about the matzah bread as you can see, is that it has stripes and it has piercings. For it not to rise and not to burst, those little holes are there. And it is an amazing picture of the body of Jesus Christ, of Yeshua HaMashiach, that was striped. By His stripes we are? Healed. And the pierce... Those piercings, all around reminds us of Zechariah chapter 12 [verse 10], where it says that He will come and they will look at Him whom they pierced. And they will mourn and they will cry. In Luke 22, verse 19, "And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them saying, 'This is my body which is given for you. Do it in remembrance of me.' " I cannot eat the matzah bread just for fun. I always am reminded when I look at it, of Jesus himself, the stripes and the pierced hands and legs. Then we have something very interesting. We have, here, a brown roasted egg. Well, that's not Easter now. Jews don't do Easter eggs and all of that. I don't understand this whole bunny and eggs thing. But I just want you to know, though, egg hunting, we don't do that. But a roasted egg is supposed to remind you of the temple in Jerusalem, and the special sacrifice known as, Hagigah, celebration. Every festival that sacrifice was made. However, why is it roasted? It is roasted because the temple was burned down. The temple was destroyed. The Jewish people are reminding themselves of the destruction of the temple, not only on Passover. But every Jewish groom when he is marrying a Jewish girl, he is breaking a glass. And breaking the glass is a remembrance of the destruction of the temple. When he breaks the glass, he says, "If I forget Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skills." So, remembering the temple, remembering Jerusalem, it is in the DNA of every Jew. Unlike other religions that call Jerusalem so important, yet they don't even pray toward Jerusalem nor is it in their holy scriptures. And that's what the roasted egg... We don't eat that egg. It is there to remind us of the temple and its very destruction. I'm always reminded of Matthew 26, verse 61,... well, somebody said, "This fellow [about Jesus] said, "I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days." Of course, Jesus was talking about himself. Then, of course, in Ephesians 2:19-22, "Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself, being the Chief Cornerstone. In whom the whole building being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." We're all the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in us. As much as we can remember the destruction of the temple, at my wedding, I did not break a glass. The reason why I didn't do it is: A. Because I'm a stubborn person. I don't like to do what everybody does. However, it's because I thought that I am not going, on the happiest day of my life, I'm not going to remember the destruction of the temple, where God left it long before it was really physically destroyed. The Spirit of God left the temple already in Ezekiel chapter 8. That temple was way gone. The only time God returned to the temple was when Jesus came. Being God in the flesh, whenever he entered the temple, that's the only time in the 2nd temple period, God was in the temple. So, we must remind ourselves that, that temple did not have the Spirit of God anymore, while Jesus was there. So, we are not to mourn over the destruction of a temple, but to rejoice over us becoming the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Then we have the parsley. The parsley, itself, is not coming all by itself. But there's a bowl of salt water on the table, water with salt. Normally what we do according to the tradition, when we eat the parsley... And you'll see it in a few seconds. We dip the parsley in the salt water and that's when we eat it. It is a reminder of several things. One, of the hyssop that was dipped in the blood of the lamb. And then they sprinkled the blood of the lamb on the 2 doorposts with the hyssop. But it is also a great reminder of how Moses touched with that staff, at the waters of the Red Sea, and the Red Sea, the salt water, parted. However, I cannot run away from what the "salt water" is all about. In Luke 19 verse 41, and we just talked about it last Sunday. The triumphal entry, when Jesus saw Jerusalem the Bible says, "He drew near, He saw the city, and He wept over it." Jesus came to save the world in his first arrival, not to judge the world. But he could see that the city is missing his visitation. He could see how blinded they were. He could see how much suffering it was going to bring upon that nation and upon the city that will be leveled to the ground. So, the salt water reminds us, the people of God, even the tears of Jesus, himself. Another thing that we have is a mix of apples, dates and cinnamon supposed to look like mud. The idea is that it will remind you of the mud bricks that the Hebrew slaves were using to build all those buildings back then, in Egypt. It is called "charoset". It is the mud bricks as you can see on the screens. That is actually, although it is supposed to remind you of mud, it is something tasty and very, very sweet. The charoset, speaking of the stones, of the bricks. In John 14:2-3, "In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Jesus is now the General Contractor of a huge building site. He's preparing mansions for all of us. While we're here thinking about mortgage and houses and all of that, mansions are being built for all of us up there. And He said that He is going... "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will also come again and receive you to myself." He will come in the clouds and receive us to himself. In other words, he is going to separate us from the rest of the world and receive us to himself. And take us to those mansions where we are going to have streets of gold. And we will be with our glorified body so we can eat whatever we want. Amen to that? Amen. Then He said, of course, "Where I am there you may be also." It is not an "if". It is a promise. It is a fact. "Where I am, you will be also." So, when we believe in Him, we have an assurance not only of the Salvation. But of our departure from this evil world and our entrance to those beautiful mansions. Can you imagine? Mansions, not just houses! Then of course, in 1 Peter 2 verses four and five, "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by man, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." You are high priests. I always say, because there are a lot of Gentiles that have insecurity with their status. They think, oh, you're a Jew? Well, I'm a Gentile. So? Do you know what? You got a shortcut. From those who were not His people, you are now priests. Whoa! What is going on here? Then we have four cups of wine. I am not going to drink four cups of wine. After the first one, the ambulance will be outside. But I am going to tell you that the wine represents the 4-fold rescuing of God, the rescue of the Jewish people from Egypt. Exodus 6:6-7, "Therefore say to the children of Israel, 'I am the Lord. I will bring you out of them from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great judgment. And I will take you as my people and be your God.' " Four-fold salvation as it is mentioned in that portion of Scriptures. And for that, we have four cups of wine. Bear in mind that the redemption is the third one. The 1st cup is normally a cup of .... excuse me, sanctification. Then we have the 2nd cup, then we have everything else. Basically, we have talked about: The Cup of Sanctification, the 1st one; The Cup of judgment which is the 2nd one; The Cup of Redemption, which is the 3rd one; And the Cup of Blessing, which is the 4th one. It is important that you understand that that Passover, 2000 years ago, was a very unusual Passover. Jesus gathered all the disciples around the table. And that was the first Passover in their lifetime that they are not with their family members. Normally, Passover is with the wife and the children and there is an interaction between all of them. This is the only Passover where Jesus was there and there was only the disciples. The funny thing is that almost everything was different in that Passover, even when it came to the drinking of those cups of wine. Jesus did not drink all of them. In fact, we will see: Some he skipped; Some he took later; And some he leaves for the future. So we come now to the order of the Passover Seder. That is what we do when we sit around the table. There are certain things that we do as part of the Passover Seder, itself. The order of the Passover is the following things. First of all, we sanctify. We pray. Then we "lave", we wash our hands. We eat the parsley. We divide the matzah bread. We recite different things that we are supposed to: Different questions, different songs and different things that the children are saying. Then comes the portion of the washing: Who washed and what? We will see when we get there. We bring forth the matzah bread. We bring forth the bitter herbs. We combine them. And that is when everybody sits around the table and eats. I want to tell you something that is a big meal. Just to start with the matzah ball soup, that kills it already. And then every type of dish is there. By the time we are done with the meal, half of the people in Israel don not continue the Passover Seder. But after that comes probably, the most important thing: Finding the hidden piece of matzah that is hidden somewhere in the house. Then comes the blessing, the praise. And we all believe and hope that God had accepted this offering of praise. All right. Shall we start? Normally what we do, we take the 1st cup. We pour, this is grape juice, dont worry. We take it and we bless. This is the cup of blessing. I want you to understand that in Luke chapter 22, in Luke chapter 22:17-18, "Then Jesus took the cup, and gave thanks and said, 'Take this and divide it among yourselves for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' " Wow! He gave us a great hint. "And so they all took the cup and they gave a blessing, the blessing of the fruit of the vine, and they all drank it." In Mark 14:23, "Then He took the cup and when He had given thanks He gave it to them and they all drank from it." We have, on every Passover table, an interesting cloth that has 3 compartments. In each one of them, there is a matzah bread, three. Very interesting. People are asking themselves, why three? Well, some of the Rabbis say, it is the 3 different levels in the Hebrew society. It is the priests, the Levites and the rest of the people. Oh, really? So, why am I supposed to take the middle one, pull it out, break it, take half, put it back and the other half I should put it in what we call, "afikoman"? Afikoman in the Greek means "what comes at the end". This one is something we hide somewhere in the house, and whoever finds it is being rewarded. Wow! So, why do I have to break the middle one? If it is not about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? The only one that had his body broken for us. He is revealed to those who believe in Him, and those who knew Him, then. Yet He is hidden from the eyes of His own people, whom God blinded according to the Book of Romans chapter 11, [verse 8] "Because they hardened their hearts, the Lord said, I gave them the spirit of stupor, eyes that they cannot see and ears that they cannot hear." Jesus is hidden from his people. They cannot see him. The Jewish people that God chose, that God preserved, are there yet not believing or understanding what the Messiah is all about and who the Messiah is. Yes, God is revealing to some in small numbers. But the day will come, according to Romans 11, that all Israel will be saved. Amen? But when that day comes, obviously they will be greatly rewarded. So, we divided the matzah. In Romans 11, as I said, in verse 11, "I said and have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through the Jewish people's fall, in order to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles." How great is God! Even when we fall, he uses it to something great. It was actually the fall of the Jews that you owe your salvation to, in a sense. Because through their fall, in order to provoke them to jealousy, salvation was given to the Gentiles. So, every Gentile that sits in this room must understand that your duty to is to provoke them to jealousy. Provoking someone to jealousy is not by taking him, putting him into an interesting device and stretching his body until he accepts Jesus. That was the Inquisition. To provoke someone to jealousy is to make him want what you have. Romans 11:25, "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. Lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." The day will come. This is the day of salvation; Tonight is a night of salvation. Because the day will come when the door for the Gentiles is going to close. When there will be no more option for Gentiles, until all Israel will be saved. Do you understand that God, by his grace, gave us that time period? When Jesus did not come to judge or to fight, but he came to save. Jesus rode a donkey, which is how a king rides when he comes in peace. But the day will come when he will come riding a horse. And that is how a king comes when he goes to war. He will come and he will fight the enemies of Israel and he will defeat them. You do not want to be in front of him. You want to be behind him, on your horse. 2 Corinthians 3:15-16, "But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." You saw a Jewish believer in Jesus, in Yeshua, sings praises that the heavenlies are pleased by. Now comes the part where we sit around the table and we recite, we talk, we ask our children certain things. Exodus 13:8 says, "And you shall tell your son in that day saying, 'This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came from Egypt.' Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." We have to understand when we sit around the table and we ask the children to ask the "famous question". "Daddy, why is this night different from any other night?" Wow! I can only imagine what the disciples thought during that last Passover. Because they are used to Passovers. They are used to things and now Jesus is changing all the rules. You will see why and you will see even how. So it is interesting. We have an interesting song that we sing. I am going to ask Marty to come and sing it to us. It is called Dayenu. Dayenu means, "it would have been enough." We always say that, "Even if He only stopped Pharaoh, it would have been enough." But no, He parted the Red Sea. And even if He would have only parted the Red Sea, it would have been enough. No, He took us through the desert. And He brought us into the Holy Land. And He restored us and there He did so many things. And the word for "it would have been enough" is "Dayenu". This is the song that we sing around the table, every Passover Eve. Marty. Here is your part, children. It goes like this: It would have been enough, Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu, Dayenu. And then the men want to go: Dayenu. It's kind of cool. Day day enu Dayenu, dayenu Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu, dayenu. That part was only in the first part, men. OK? Now the verses I'm going to sing are: "If God had only brought us out of Egypt". Mitsrayim, Egypt in Hebrew. His Hebrew is really authentic; Mine's Cleveland, Ohio, Hebrew. And then it says, "If He only had just given us the Sabbath, it would have been enough. Dayenu. If He only had given us the Torah, the 5 books of Moses, it would have been enough. Then we're going to, of course, end with as Amir is so beautifully, exalting Yeshua. If you only had given us Yeshua, well, thats... more than enough. He is enough. So, let's sing it. Amen. We thank the Lord for Him. It goes like this: Day day enu Day day enu, Dayenu Dayenu! Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Why don't we stand up and sing this? It's much more fun that way. And if you want to clap? Amir can tell you, if you want to clap in Hebrew? It's from right to left. Right, Amir? Ilu ho-tsi, ho-tsi-a-nu, Ho-tsi-a-nu mi-Mitz-ra-yim, Hot-si-a-nu mi-Mitz-ra-yim, Dayenu! Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! The Sabbath! Ilu vi-nu na-tan la-nu Na-tan la-nu et a Shabbat Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! And Lord, you also gave us the Torah, your Holy Law, your Holy Word. Ilu na-tan, na-tan la-nu Na-tan la-nu et-ha-Torah Na-tan la-nu et-ha-To-rah Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Ilu Ilu na-tan la-nu Na-tan la-nu et-Yashua Na-tan la-nu et Yashua Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Dayenu. Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Day day enu Dayenu Dayenu! Very good, children! Hallelujah! Very nice. Thank you, Marty. You can say a lot of things about Jesus, but he was very unorthodox. And I can tell you one thing: So far, the disciples didn't feel around the table in the upper room anything wrong. Everything went according to the plan. Now, comes the first bomb that he is dropping. Normally, this is the time when we take the second cup. The second cup, we pour the wine. We take it. We remember the second thing, which is the cup of judgment upon the Egyptians. judgment, that's how it's called. Yet, for some strange reason, Jesus skipped that cup. And they all look at each other. What's going on here? Peter looked at John, John looked at Matthew, I mean, they're all, "What's going on here?" Yet, Jesus does something completely different. But before I say what he did, it's not the first time that Jesus does something out of the ordinary. Remember, when he was in Nazareth and he read from the book of Isaiah chapter 61? He did not complete the whole section. He did not talk about the judgment, remember? He stopped short of the judgment. And he only talked about him coming to save the world. He talks about how the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him to bring the good news. The Bible says "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And instead of continuing about the year of the vengeance of the Lord? He is closing that scroll. "Then He closed the book and he gave it back to the attendant. And He sat down and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him." They knew he did not complete the verse. They knew he only read a part. Remember, the first coming of Jesus was not to judge. It is to save. So, it's not the first time he does something different. Then he moved to that part where he's actually, coming to the disciples in the most humble way. The Bible says in John 13, verses 3 to 17. This is the part where all the Jewish people normally are washing their hands. Look what it says, "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God. Rose from supper and laid aside his garments. He took a towel, [and what he did] and he girded himself with it. After that he poured water..." He poured water into the bowl. The same bowl that normally you are washing your hands with. And look what He did... Then what happened is that He came... "... and He went to wipe [them] with the towel with which He was girded. He came to Simon Peter and Simon said to him, 'Lord, are you washing my feet?' " First of all, the astonishment that it's not the hands, and it's the feet. Then the astonishment of the fact that He is washing his feet. And the fact that He is washing the feet. So, everything was wrong there, in his mind. I love Peter! Because he always speaks out immediately what he thinks. Most of the time he's wrong. But it's interesting because, "Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." Sometimes we just have to trust God. We may not understand the things he does, but we will. And then he says, "Peter said to him, 'You shall never wash my feet!' " I love him! He's the only disciple that rebukes Jesus on and on. Remember in Caesarea Philippi when Jesus talks about his coming death? Then Peter took him aside and says, Lord, what are you doing? You can't talk like that! He's the only one that sees that white sheet coming all the way down with unclean animals. And he's the only one that says, "Not so, Lord". ... It's amazing how He says to him, "What I am doing you do not understand..." And he said, "You shall never wash my feet and Jesus answered and said, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.' " Uh-oh!. Mmm... No, no, I think you misunderstood me. "Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not only my feet only, but also my hands and my head.' " Everything! Take charge! He got it. It's not about washing the feet; It's about servanthood. Peter got it and once he got it? Boom! He was ready. It's interesting because, " Jesus said to him, 'He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.' " Uh-oh? Somebody in and around the table is not really a believer, nor someone who follows Christ. "And then He said to him for he knew who would betray Him. Therefore He said, 'Not all of you.' So, when He had washed their feet, taken His garment and sat down again..." Every time Jesus sits down, he's teaching. "He said, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call me, Teacher and Lord; And you say well, for so I am. But if I then your Lord and Teacher, has washed your feet; You also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.' " God did not need to rest on the seventh day. Trust me, God wasn't tired. But He set an example. Jesus did not have to go and baptize himself because of sins, but He set an example. Here, once again, He's setting an example. Isn't that great that we have a Savior that understands our weakness, understands that we don't get it sometimes? So I'll sit down, I'll give you an example. "Most assuredly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master. Nor is he who is sent greater than he was sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you." Not if you just know them, if you do them. A lot of Christians know the Scriptures. But it's one thing what they know and it's another thing what they do. Well, let me tell you something. The blessing follows the doing, not only the knowing. And that's what He says. Then comes the part when He brings forth the matzah bread. In John 6:35, "And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. And he who believes in me shall never thirst.' " [John 6:41] Then the Jews then complained about him because He said, 'I am the bread which comes from heaven.' " He knows what he's talking about. He was there from before the sun was there. He came from heaven. He left the heavenly throne and He came to earth. Then, of course, in Exodus 12:8 it says, "Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it." What we normally do, we take a piece of the unleavened bread. We combine the horseradish... ... and then we take another one with the sweet charoset. We combine it and we eat it. Now we don't have the flesh, so we don't do it. But we do all the others: The bitter herbs, and the matzah bread. Interestingly enough, Rabbis in the history of Israel said that when you dip the bread in the charoset, or the horseradish, and you give it to someone? It is a token of love, respect and warning. Wow! If I'm giving it to you? I love you, but I'm warning you. Uh-oh. John 13:21-27, "When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit. And He testified and said, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.' And the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. Then there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of His disciples whom Jesus loved.'" I wonder who he was. And then the Bible says, "Simon Peter therefore mentioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke." Can you imagine? John is right there and Peter, who is at the end of the table said, "Pssst, John, ask him, who is this?" He can't stand tension! Can you imagine, if I said that one of the people here is a terrorist? He's strapped with a bomb. Aren't you going to be alarmed? Who is it? Well, think about it. Somebody is about to cause the death of Jesus. So, they're all alarmed. Then look at what what Jesus said. "Leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said to him, 'Lord, who is it?' Jesus answered, 'It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread, when I have dipped it.'" A token of what? Love, because Jesus loves the sinner. He never hated Judas. He hated that which entered into Judas and caused him to be a betrayer. "And He said, 'It is to whom I will give the bread, the piece of bread when I dip it.' And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after this piece of bread, Satan entered him." Remember, Jesus loved him, warned him, and that's when Satan came in. And look what happened. "And Jesus said to him..." What I tell all my tourists when they go to the bathroom, "Whatever you do, do it quickly." This is the part where everybody sits around the table, and we all eat the meal. After the meal, as I said, comes the amazing part where the children are all running to look for the hidden piece. I have a special surprise for you. Someone here has the hidden piece, taped underneath his seat. And, if you come and show it to me, I'll give you a gift, a present. Look around. There you go. Come, come over here. She found the afikoman. If I knew it's you... There you go. We reward... That's a symbol of how the children of Israel will be rewarded with national salvation. Once they see the One that is still now hidden from their eyes. Now comes the part... Jesus skipped the 2nd cup. But he took the 3rd cup, the cup of redemption. He said, "I am the true vine, [in John 15:1], and my Father is the vinedresser." And in Luke 22, [verse 14-20] "When the hour had come, and He sat down and the 12 apostles with Him. He said to them, 'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, 'I will no longer eat of it until it's fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' And then He took the cup, and He gave thanks and He said, 'Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them saying, 'This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' Likewise also He took the cup after supper." The cup after supper is the 3rd cup. What cup was it? The cup of? Redemption. Wow! Jesus skipped the cup of judgment. And told everyone, "Take the cup of redemption." [1 Cor. 11:23-26] "For I received from the Lord that which I have also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on that same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take it, eat it: This is my body, which is broken for you. Do it in remembrance of me.' In the same manner, He also took the cup, after supper [the third cup] saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink [it] in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat the bread and drink of the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.' " So, you are not really taking just communion. You are actually having a glimpse of that last Passover. And isn't that beautiful? Jesus skipped the cup of [judgment]. The cup of judgment because He knew one thing: I'm going to take that cup myself, alone. You don't need to. You can raise up the cup of salvation. And enjoy it. Because in a few hours, I'm going to go to the garden all by myself. And I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask God, If it's possible, take this cup from me. Knowing that it's impossible, knowing this is what he came for. He had a choice to escape. He had a choice to run away. Yet He chose to stay there. And to take the cup of judgment upon himself, all alone, by himself. An interesting thing is that when he took that, right in that horrible moment, the sins of the world, the oppression of the iniquities of the entire world were on his shoulder. And out of his pores, blood started dripping. The first time Jesus shed his blood is not on the cross. It is in that Garden of Gethsemane, when He took alone that which we should have... taken. And He spared that awful moment from us. And that is, of course, what later on becomes the communion for all of us: To take the third cup of redemption. Remember that through the broken body and the shed blood: We have redemption. Redemption in Him. Then, of course, comes the whole idea of Elijah. Did you know that every Passover table, there is an empty seat? And there is a cup that is reserved just for Elijah. The Jewish people really, truly wait for Elijah to return: Why? Malachi chapter 4, verses 5 and 6, "Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to children and the heart of the children to their fathers. Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." In Luke 1:17, ... "He will also go before him in Spirit and in power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient of the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." This is all about John the Baptist, of course. In Matthew 17, "And His disciples asked Him saying, 'Why then, do the... scribes say, that Elijah must come first.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already. And they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of man is also about to suffer at their hands.' " Ladies and gentlemen, John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah, and he was beheaded by Herod. Jesus was the One to come to save, and He was crucified. Nothing was hidden from the eyes of God. But Jesus tried to make it very clear. Don't sit and expect Elijah to come. Elijah had to come before I did, and he did come. So, if anything, you don't need to wait for Elijah to return. You need to wait for the Lord to return. It's interesting that all the Jewish people every morning, they pray and say, [Amidah Prayer in Hebrew] "May our eyes behold your return to Zion with great mercies." They prayed for his return, yet they don't even believe that He came. Wow! We proclaim that He came. We ask that He will return, and He will return. Amen? Amen. I want you to know that Isaiah 66, [verse 12-13] "For thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river.' " It is all about Jersusalem. When we bless that 4th cup and when we look at... Elijah's seat, we think about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is important to the Jewish people. "For behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and... the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. ... then you shall feed, on her sides shall you be carried, and be dangled on her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem." When you will see the Prince of Peace returning with glory to Jerusalem. This is the very end of the Passover Seder, when we come and we actually sing the songs of praise. I want you to remember, before Marty comes now and concludes the evening as he sings. That Jesus, knowing what is awaiting around the corner, Jesus did not skip that part. The Bible says in Matthew 26, [verse 30] "And when they had sung a hymn, then they went out to the Mount of Olives." So, with all the terrible things that you may go through, none of you is about to go to the cross. So, don't ever stop praising God. Always remember to finish your day, whether it was a good one or a bad one with a praise to the Lord Almighty. Amen. The Passover Seder is a beautiful picture of Jesus, and His redemptive power and salvation. Not only to the Jews, but to the whole world. [Romans 1:16] For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. For it is the power upon salvation... to the Jew first, and to the Gentiles." God bless you all.
