Revelation is a Passover book!  

Matthew 26:17-30.

Yeshua’s last Pesach Seder. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder. Michel Angelo’s Last Supper has it all wrong. From a Jewish perspective it could be used as a “What’s wrong with this picture?” test.

Three Passovers:

1. Exodus 12 – the Passover in Egypt

2. The Passover before Yeshua was crucified

3. Revelation 19 – the Passover at the end of time

 

Matthew 26:23. He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.

There is a ritual in the Passover Seder that involves dipping in the bitter herbs, and one that involves dipping in salt water that represents the tears of the bondage in Egypt. At that moment, Yeshua was dipping with Judas.

Matthew 26:26. The star of the show is the Unleavened Bread. Three pieces are taken and put together in a pouch. One of the pieces is taken out. Matzas are prepared for exactly 18 seconds to ensure that they don’t have time to ferment. Matzas are pierced and striped, as Messiah was pierced and striped. The middle matza is taken and broken, and after it is broken, one piece of it is wrapped in a white linen and is hidden away. After the Seder it is taken out and eaten. It is called Afikomen. In Greek, it means last thing eaten, the dessert. In Aramaic, it means My very presence has come. This is passed around and eaten at the end of the Seder.

Matthew 26:27-29.

There are four cups in the Passover Seder.

1. The Cup of Blessing

2. The Cup of Wrath

3. The Cup of Redemption (represents the blood of the Passover Lamb)

4. The Cup of the Kingdom

He took the cup but didn’t drink it Himself. He passed it around. They drank it, but He didn’t. He said He wouldn’t drink it till the day when He drinks it new with His disciples in His Father’s Kingdom. This means that there will be another Passover Seder in the Kingdom. The Passover will be celebrated in the Millennium.
 

Matthew 26:30.

The hymn they sang was the last step in the Passover Seder. It is a psalm of praise. The Hallel.

 

 

Revelation is a great book to study at Passover, because it is about the Final Passover!

 

But let’s get back to the typical Passover ritual. At the Passover Seder there is a special cup kept for Elijah, in the hope that Elijah will come and announce the Messiah. At the time of the fourth cup, the door is opened to see whether Elijah is standing out there. They expect Elijah at the time of the Passover every year. This is the cup of Judgment and the Kingdom. The coming of Elijah is talked about in Malachi 4:4-5.

The Revelation has several references to Passover. Let’s take them in order of verses, and add a few other references to throw light on these references. We’ll start at Revelation 1:1.

Revelation 1:10

The Aramaic text of Revelation places John’s (Aramaic: Yochanan’s) vision “on the first day “, (KJV: “on the Lord’s day”)that would be the morrow after that Shabbat, the day of the firstfruits offering. See Leviticus 23:11.

Revelation 1:12

Golden candlesticks are Temple Menorahs. They were golden. The seven menorahs with seven branches each represent the 49 days of the counting of the omer. Leviticus 23:15. Shavuot takes place 49 days after the firstfruits offering in the week of Unleavened Bread. Therefore Shavuot is tied to the Passover by a “string” of 49 days. Counting the omer. Counting is used in the sense of reckoning. “I counted him a great man.” This is the reckoning or accounting of the seven assemblies.

Revelation 5:6-12

The Messiah is pictured as a slain Passover lamb.

Revelation 7:1-4; 9:1-5; 14:1-5

The first born and the firstfruits are the same word in Hebrew. During the feast of Unleavened Bread, there is an offering that takes place on the morrow after the Sabbath. This is the firstfruits offering. This is the redemption of the firstfruits of the crop of barley and wheat. Tied to Passover because Passover is about the redemption f the firstborn through the blood of the Lamb.

That is why John had this vision on the first day of the week, at the time of the firstfruits offering.

In Revelation7 and 14, the 144,000 are the firstborn redeemed by the blood of the lamb and are sealed on their foreheads. This protects them from the entities that come forth for the pit of Sheol (Revelation 9:1-5). In the first Passover, the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts protected the firstborn from the destroyer. Exodus 12:23.

This parallels the Passover passage in which is to be “for frontlets between your eyes” (Ex. 13:6-16).

Frontlets between your eyes are the Teffilin upon the forehead. (See specially Ex. 13 verses 9,16; repeated in Deut. 6:8-9; 11:18.) This represents the blood of the Passover lamb was placed on the doorpost.

For the same reason, the Mezuzah box is affixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home. The Mezuzah contains the same Bible verses as the Teffilin. The Mezuzah thus represents the Blood of the Lamb on the doorposts. Many Jews place the Mezuzah on the doorpost but do not wear the seal on the forehead and the forearm. Both are in the same commandment.

The 144,000 are sealed on the forehead.

Just as the blood of the lamb on the doorpost redeemed the firstborn from the angel of death, the seal protects the 144,000 from the demonic spirits from the pit (Rev. 9:1-5).

This parallels the sealing of the righteous in Ezekiel 9:4.

Ezekiel 9:1-11 verse 4: the man with the inkhorn had to mark certain individuals on their foreheads; these were the ones who cried and sighed because of the abominations done in the midst of the city. These people were redeemed because they had received the mark on their foreheads, the seal placed there by the writer clothed in white linen who had the inkhorn. These people were spared when the six men with the slaughter slew unsparingly the sinners in the city. What were these people crying and sighing about? They were crying about the abominations in the form of worship of Tammuz and participating in Easter sunrise services. (Ezekiel 8:16.)

All this ties up with the prophecy of what will happen when Elijah comes for the Last Passover.

In the first Passover, Egypt faced Ten Plagues. And in the Last Days, Babylon will face Seven Plagues.

Revelation 15-16; 18:1-8

These are the chapters introducing and detailing the seven plagues of God’s wrath.

The book of Revelation is about an exodus from Babylon in the wake of plagues. This parallels the exodus from Egypt. Towards the end of chapter 16, in verse 19, Babylon comes in remembrance before God, “to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.” This is the cup of wrath, the cup of plagues.

Revelation 19:1-10

The book of Revelation concludes in the “marriage supper of the lamb” – a Passover seder.

When Messiah returns, He returns for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

At Messiah’s Last Passover, He said He wouldn’t drink the Cup of Redemption till the day when He will drink it new in the Kingdom of the Father. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is a Passover Seder. The Passover to end all Passovers. The Last Supper. Elijah sits down and has his cup!

1 Corinthians 5:6-8. Christ our Passover, therefore let us keep the Feast.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Description of the Last Supper. As often as you do this, is not an institution of communion, but a reference to the Passover Seder of Exodus 12, which was to be repeated through all generations.

2 Corinthians 2:6-8 speaks of the mystery of the wisdom of God, even the hidden which God ordained before the world. (The original doesn’t say hidden wisdom, just “hidden”). Verse 9 speaks of the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. See also Isaiah 64:4. Since the beginning of the world men have not seen by the eye nor perceived by the ear what has been prepared for him that waits for him.

There’s a Rabbinic Tradition (Rabbi Joshua ben Levi) that speaks of yayin mismo (the same wine) that has been preserved in its grapes from the six days of creation. The tradition is that when Messiah comes at the end of time, He will take a cup filled with wine prepared from grapes that were kept from the beginning, from the six days of creation. “The wine which is kept for the righteous in the world to come has been preserved in the grape ever since the six days of creation.” (Ber. 34b).

1 Corinthians 2:6 ff. We speak wisdom … eye hath not seen … prepared for them that love Him. Speaking of the wisdom of Elohim. Quotes the passage of Isaiah. It is called a mystery that has been hidden from the creation of the world. The word sod for mystery has the same numerical value 70 as yayin. The cup represents the wine of Elohim that has been kept from creation for those who wait for Him.

1 Corinthians 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things [this includes the wine] which God hath prepared for them that love him.
 

Isaiah 64:4  For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

 

See also:

Passover in the New Testament

Feast of Pesach – Passover

Passover and the End Times (How Revelation corresponds to Passover)