What is the New Covenant Passover?

In Rabbinic and Messianic Judaism there are many and varied traditions that are associated with Passover. Most are not found in the Torah (first five books of the Bible). Most Jewish denominations, i.e. the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform branches of Rabbinic Judaism as well as Messianic Judaism,  have produced booklets that their constituents follow when celebrating the Passover. These booklets are called the Haggadah which literally means “the telling”.

The point being that the Passover instructions in the Scripture are quite simple. The elements include the slaughtering and eating of a flawless lamb, the eating of unleavened bread for seven days and the offering of various animal sacrifices at the Temple.

This left a lot of room for our Jewish people over the centuries to develop creative extra-Biblical traditions and ways to retell the Passover story that became a part of Passover celebrations. 

This brings me to the New Covenant Passover. Did you know…

…that the Christian Communion, that is celebrated at various times throughout the year, depending on what denomination and church you are associated with, is actually a Passover celebration. In other words the Last Supper was a Passover meal.

Da Vinci's "The Last Supper"

This of course is no accident. The Messiah Yeshua’s (Jesus) crucifixion and resurrection was closely associated with the feast of Passover.

New Messianic Traditions

In I Corinthians 11:17-33 the Messiah follows in the Jewish tradition of creative Passover storytelling by instituting a new wrinkle to Passover observance. At the last Passover supper with His disciples, within hours of His crucifixion, He broke the matzah (unleavened bread) that they were all eating and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.“

Then He took the cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

What did He mean by this? 

Matzah

 Unleavened bread had two important and prophetic meanings in the Scripture. First The Torah calls it the bread of affliction and symbolized Israel’s suffering in Egypt. But leaven is also a Biblical symbol for sin. So Yeshua was saying that when you celebrate the Passover and remember Israel’s deliverance from suffering in Egypt, remember my suffering for your sins. Of course the disciples did not fully realize at that moment what this meant until after His death and resurrection.

Secondly, though the cup of wine was not a part of the Passover in the Exodus account, by the time of Yeshua (and even today) the cup(s) of wine were an established part of Passover observance. In the Scripture wine is often associated with blood and so Yeshua, after the meal was over, instructed His disciples that His blood represented a New Covenant.

So what is the New Covenant?

The New Covenant is the most important of all covenants between God and man. Just as the lamb’s blood in the Exodus account caused the angel of death to pass over Jewish homes and spare the firstborn in each household, so the covenant between God and man is that the Messiah’s shed blood covers the sins of an individual who accepts that atonement for their sins. Only then does God eternally forgive that person’s sins. They pass from eternal death to eternal life.

That’s why we faithfully observe the New Covenant Passover.

We must never forget the incredible and undeserved sacrifice God made by sending Ben Elohim (the Son of God) to take away the sin of the world.

Remember…and always be grateful.

Joel Chernoff

~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~

 

Prophetic Lessons From Passover: Lesson #1

Passover Symbolic Foods

Shalom and Happy Passover,

There are many wonderful and practical lessons to be learned from the Biblical feast of Passover. The Passover is one of the three national feasts of Israel that were commanded by God that Israel as a nation commemorate annually, and they are; Passover, Shavuot (the feast of weeks also know in the Christian world as Pentecost) and Succot (the feast of tabernacles). Each of these feasts also have a powerful prophetic Messianic fulfillment.

Over the next seven days of Passover I will share with you some of the lessons and insights about Passover that I feel might be helpful to you.

Lesson #1:

The Passover, which was the national commemoration of God’s great and supernatural deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 7-13), foreshadowed the Messiah’s first coming, His death and resurrection.

In traditional rabbinic writings…

…what Messianic Jews would refer to as the Messiah’s first coming and suffering for the sin of man is called the Messiah Ben Joseph or the Suffering Messiah. Rabbis throughout the centuries refer to what we believe is the Messiah’s second coming to reign as ruler of the world and king of the Jews as the Messiah Ben David, i.e. the Messiah Son of David. Despite the fact that most modern rabbis in traditional Judaism would deny or avoid admitting that the rabbis recognized two distinct messianic advents…it is a fact of history and can be easily established from rabbinic writings.

Prophetic Foreshadow

Pharaoh & Moses

What makes the Passover a prophetic foreshadow of the Messiah Yeshua’s coming and sacrifice for sins is contained in the account of the final plague God sent on Egypt. Because Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let Israel leave Egypt as God called for, God visited the plague of death to all of

The Blood of the Lamb

 the firstborn of both animal and man in Egypt. In order for Israel to avoid the angel of death’s visit to their households God told the Israelites to sacrifice and eat a lamb. More importantly He commanded them to take some of the lamb’s blood and put it on the doorpost of each household. As the angel of death passed over their houses and noted the blood on their lintels they would be spared…and they were.

Messianic Fulfillment

In the same way, we avoid the eternal death for our sins that we richly deserve when God sees the blood of the Suffering Messiah, Yeshua, on the doorposts of our hearts. This is exactly what happens when each of us obeys God and accepts what God so sacrificially provided through His Son the Messiah’s death and eternal atonement. God’s eternal judgment is averted and for those who have accepted His atonement the debt of their sins is covered for eternity.

Mercy was extended to all of those households under the blood of the sacrificed lamb of old and mercy is extended to all of those who dwell under the eternal blood of the Messiah Ben Joseph, Yeshua (Jesus).

Joel Chernoff

~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~

A New and Unique Perspective

Blog Focus

This being the first blog entry in The Joel Chernoff Report (TJCR) I take the liberty (since it’s my blog) to give some direction as to its future content. TJCR will look at and comment on a wide range of issues and events surrounding the Biblically prophesied physical and spiritual restoration of Israel.

ISRAEL

Since I am very aware of these prophecies as I study them in Scripture, I believe that we live in a time when we are seeing Biblical prophecy come alive and be fulfilled. We know from Scripture what the prophetic trajectory looks like and now we have the privilege of seeing these events unfold before our eyes. These are both terrifying and exciting times.

The interesting thing about Biblical prophecy is that God chooses to share with us what I call “prophetic/signpost events”. He chooses not to tell us exactly when and where or even in what order various important prophetic events will happen. He simply states that these events will transpire in the prophetic period called the “Last Days”. In Scripture the “Last Days” is that time period just before the Messiah returns to Jerusalem and sets up His Kingdom over the whole earth. The reason these prophecies were given to us by God was to help us know that His return was imminent.

What do Messianic Jews believe about the Messiah?

Many within today’s Jewish world either do not believe the Messiah has come or don’t know or care. Messianic Jews (like me) believe that the Messiah has come and that He is returning at the end of the prophetic period called the “Last Days”. He is known to Messianic Jews by His Hebrew name, Yeshua while the western world knows him in English as Jesus.

How do we know we are in the “Last Days”?

There are two significant prophetic events” that confirm with certainty that we are in the “Last Days”.

Israel is Born

1.  The Physical Restoration of the Nation of Israel: (ie the Jewish people being re-established in her original land grant) This event was prophesied over and over both in the Tenach (Old Testament) and in the Brit Chadasha (New Testament). This was only to happen in the “Last Days” and indeed this was fulfilled in 1948 after almost 2000 years of exile, with the re-establishment of the State of Israel. Significantly, this is the only time in history that a nation was disbursed from its original homeland and later restored to the very same homeland as a people. This was indeed a miraculous prophetic fulfillment.

2. The Spiritual Restoration of Israel: The Jewish prophets foretell a massive spiritual awakening will sweep the nation of Israel in the “Last Days” and move our people to a place of right relationship with God. I believe that Messianic Judaism also known as the Messianic Jewish Movement is that revival.

Why I believe Messianic Judaism is that revival?

In 1967 there were fewer than 2000 Messianic Jews in the US. Today that number, according to Jewish population studies in the US, estimates the number at between one to two million in the US alone. In 1967 there were zero Messianic synagogues and today there are over 700 worldwide and those numbers are increasing faster than anyone can keep track.

National Messianic Conference

Consequently, I can confidently assert that since 1967, Messianic Judaism is the fastest growing stream of Jewish religious life on the planet today. This movement is not the product of any person or organization but simply the work of God’s Spirit in fulfillment of prophecy according to God’s purposes and plans.

Middle East Conflict

Having said all of the above you can see why the events and continuing conflict surrounding Israel are so important. The spiritual and physical restoration of Israel is central in God’s prophetic plan for planet earth and the Messiah’s second coming is inextricably and prophetically connected to Israel’s restoration. Indeed Yeshua himself said that He will not return to Israel until the Jewish people say “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Last word on TJCR focus

TJCR will specifically focus on events surrounding Israel, her allies and her enemies and bring a Messianic Jewish and prophetic perspective to those events.

For Messiah’s glory,

Joel Chernoff

-The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA-