Passover 2016

As we do each year, we gathered together yesterday as a fellowship to commemorate the Passover, studying the types and shadows of the events in the Old Testament, foreshadowing Christ and the salvation of His people!

Here we are gathering:

This is our seder plate, and we also have a cup of wine/juice. The lamb represents Christ, the Lamb of God; the bitter herbs (horseradish here) represent the bitterness of bondage; the “matzah” is unleavened, representing how quickly the Israelites had to leave Egypt; and the “haroset,” a mixture of apples, nuts, grape juice and cinnamon, represents the mortar the Israelites used to build the Egyptian cities, and the sweetness of a better world. And there are four cups — the cups of sanctification, judgement, redemption, the kingdom; Christ drank only the first two, and we drink only the first and third, skipping the second cup because Christ took God’s judgement on Himself, and the fourth cup in waiting for joining with Christ in glory one day, we pray:

Here Mrs. Bunker lights the Passover candles as we ask God to bring light into our hearts, and honor and remember Christ, the Light of the world:

Mr. Bunker washes his hands as God commanded Aaron to wash his hands and feet before approaching the alter of the Lord. This is a token of our desire to live a clean life of acceptable service to the Lord God Almighty:

The “karpas” (parsley here) symbolizes the new life for the Jewish people and the hyssop used to sprinkle the blood on the door posts, and is dipped into salt water representing the tears of slavery:

Here, Elijah reads the four questions that are answered during the seder:

1. Why do we eat unleavened bread on this night when all other nights we eat leavened bread?
2. Why do we eat only bitter herbs on this night when all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables?
3. Why do we dip our vegetables twice on this night when we do not dip our vegetables even once all other nights?
4. Why do we eat our meals reclining on this night when on all other nights we eat our meals sitting

We dip our fingers in the cup and place a drop on the seder plate, one for each plague brought down on Egypt:

This is during the ceremony, where the Passover story is recounted and compared to Christ and His redemptive work. We also sing Psalms 113-118, psalms of praise and thanksgiving referred to as “Hallel”:

And here are the finely prepared food provisions the Lord granted us for dinner:

This is just a sampling of the seder event, but we are thankful for the opportunity to remember these things, together as a group, and we pray the Lord glorify Himself and teach us all, especially the young ones, through this means of grace!

— David