What does Passover have to do with our lives today? What's the link between the Lord's Supper and Unleavened bread? Between the Jewish festival of Passover and the observance of Good Friday and Resurrection Day? We'll explore these questions and more in just a moment. Hello, friends. Welcome to Open Line with Michael Riedel. Moody Radio's Bible study across America. My name is Michael Riedel. I'm the dean and professor
of Jewish studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute. And I'm coming to you from the Moody Radio Studios in downtown Chicago. I'm glad to be sitting around the radio kitchen table with you, where every week we talk about your questions about the Bible, God, and the spiritual life. But today is a special pre-recorded Holy Weekend edition of Open Line. So please, no phone calls today. Thanks to Omar Mendoza for handling all the technical issues of this
pre-record and for Tricia McMillan for producing. Tonight starts the last night of Passover, and tomorrow is the day when followers of Jesus celebrate the resurrection. So I needed someone to help us to delve deep into the Jewish and biblical roots of the celebration this weekend. So joining me to talk about the Messiah in the Passover is Larry Feldman. Larry Feldman has been working with Chosen People Ministries since 1974. He earned degrees at Moody Bible Institute in Jewish Studies.
He also went to Dallas Seminary. We were there together. It was a great time together, and that's where we became great friends. He's been a believer since 1972. Larry also contributed a chapter to the book Messiah in the Passover, linked at our website at openline. Most of you know that Larry is my friend who's closer than a brother. I don't know anyone who has a more holistic or thorough knowledge of Scripture than Larry does. And I want to say thank you for joining me today, Larry.
My pleasure to be back on the show. I always enjoy being with you and the listeners for the show.
Yeah, it's always great. Particularly, I know your expertise about Passover because you wrote a chapter in a book. It's actually it appears in two books, a bigger book, which is going to be our featured resource today. It's called Messiah in the Passover. But you also wrote a chapter in a book, the same chapter. It's called The Gospel
in the Passover. And your chapter, sharing the gospel through the Passover is just such an exceptional chapter, such an exceptional piece of work, that really I thought that as we go through that, we're going to talk about it and we'll be able to help our listeners really have a better understanding of the bridge between Passover and the celebration that is happening this weekend for them. So let's get started. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about what
Passover is. What how would how can we describe Passover in just a few words? What would you say?
Well, I would say actually I begin it in my chapter that Passover, the if you're going to think of one word, you think of redemption. Passover is the story of redemption. God purchasing us from our sin with the blood of the Passover Lamb, which was a picture of Yeshua Jesus dying for our sins. And so we're the redemption purchase of the Jewish people out of Egypt was a picture of the Lord's redemption for Jew and Gentile for the whole world. So really, short word. It's redemption for all people.
You know, a lot of times people ask me if if I celebrate Passover and I say always, it's actually it's it's the best holiday of the year for me. And the reason is it's just what you're saying. It's a celebration of redemption. And I say I get double celebration because you and I, when we celebrate Passover, we celebrate redemption from slavery in Egypt, and we also celebrate redemption from slavery to sin through our Lord Yeshua. Our Lord Jesus, our the the Messiah. And so the Passover Lamb.
And so that's why it's a double celebration for those of us who know Messiah, right?
Well, well, you know, also from our Gentile friends, they sort of look with envy upon us because when we become believers, when we accept Yeshua Jesus as our Messiah, the Passover becomes real. It's just it's real for us every year. But now we understand the full meaning of it, and it just doubles our blessing and our abundance and our joy when we realize that our Messiah that we've always seen, actually the redemption story is fulfilled in Yeshua
or Messiah. So it's a real blessing for us. And and it's just the story of our salvation.
I think that's why so many of the non-Jewish friends that we have who love Yeshua, love the Messiah, Jesus, they want to celebrate Passover like here at Moody Bible Institute. I lead a Passover celebration for the student body. And obviously we have a few Messianic Jewish students. But the, you know, hundreds of non-Jewish students come because they want to learn, they want to celebrate. It is so meaningful to them, too. So that's what we're going to talk about.
You know, when I say we have a Passover celebration, what I mean is we have a Passover, a messianic Passover Seder, and so much of what we're talking about revolves around the Seder. So the word seder means order or service. But what are we talking about when we're talking about a Passover Seder?
Well, as we go through the Seder, it's the story actually found in Genesis. I'm sorry. Exodus chapter 12. When God brought our people out of Egypt and they sacrificed the blood of the lamb and that lamb, that blood, was to redeem them from the slavery of Egypt. So when we go through this story, almost all the elements are a picture, really, of that redemption that we've fulfilled in Yeshua, the Messiah. So it's but now a lot
of times the Gentiles. non-Jewish people ask me why they should be doing it, and I really enjoy that when they ask that, because it's so not just meaningful for me, but I tell non-Jewish people that they should be celebrating the Passover for a number of reasons. Actually, I give a very short if I can, Mike, just a couple of reasons. One is that it's going to be a blessing to you. As promised in Genesis chapter 12, verse three, I will bless those who bless you, and I will
curse those who curse you. And the non-Jewish people should realize that The Passover comes about because somebody tried to curse our people. Pharaoh tried it. And I sometimes joke about it that Pharaoh tried it. And then Haman tried it and Antiochus tried it. And I said, so now we have enough Jewish holidays. Now it's time to just bless our people. But there was a great blessing for them to realize it all came about because someone actually
tried to curse our people. But also in first Corinthians chapter five, the Apostle Paul applies his holiday to non-Jewish people as well, and where he brings out the idea of leaven being evil and malice and wickedness. He says to clean out your life. So in some sense, where Jewish people would clean out the leaven, Gentile people, non-Jewish people should also search out when they become believers to
change their life and clean up their life. And also I tell them finally in Luke chapter 22, that they should know that when they take the Lord's Supper, they're really taking a miniature Passover feast. Yeah. It proclaims the death of Messiah.
So every time they have a Lord's Supper, they're celebrating Passover. In a sense, right? Yeah. Right now. But the ceremonial meal, the Seder, I think is interesting because there's a book that goes with the ceremonial meal, the Haggadah, which has all the traditions. And there's a plate that has that. The book kind of follows what's on this plate, and there's these ceremonial objects that before we ever eat any food, we're eating and interacting about these different ceremonial foods on
the Seder plate. And, uh, and so let's talk about one of the elements on the Seder plate that you're going to find. And I think that this is really crucial because it seems like such a inconsequential bit of food. It's called parsley. Why is there parsley on on a On a Seder plate.
Well, I do want to mention that you're going to mention a number that in this book they have some great chapters, but also one of the chapters takes them through the whole Passover Seder themselves. Yeah. So they if they get this book, they'll be able to follow the whole Seder. But the party is really interesting because it's a sponge like plant that it represents a sponge like plant called hyssop from the ancient biblical times, the hyssop.
And it was like a sponge like plant that when the Jewish people would sacrifice the lamb and shed the blood and put it in a bowl, they would dip this sponge like plant in the blood and place it on the doorposts in the upper portion of the door, so that when the angel of death came, they would see the blood they put on the door, and they would pass over that person's house, and they would pass
from death into life. When Jewish people today take that, they explained it in a number of different ways because they would say, first, it's green, which represents the green of springtime when God brought forth our Jewish people out of slavery, out of Egypt, and set them free, but also they dip it in a saltwater solution and they dip it twice, once just to remind us of the tears of our forefathers in Egypt. And second, they dip a second time to remind, remind themselves that they went
through the Red sea, which was also salty. And so it's very, very symbolic of the events that took place. But even finally, what where Jewish people are supposed to remember is what I said before, that it's a dipping in the blood of the Passover lamb and which would cover them, and they would. I don't think they fully understood back in Moses time what they were doing, but
they did it by faith. And today, when we accept Yeshua Jesus as our Messiah, it's as if we've taken that parsley, dipped it in the blood of Messiah, and he covers us with his death, his blood, and that we passed from death into life.
Yeah. You know, the Seder plate has so many wonderful pictures that we need to talk about in just a moment. So what we're going to do is we're going to take a little break here, uh, and we're going to come back in a moment to talk to Larry Feldman about other elements on the the Passover Seder plate. You're listening to a special Passover edition of Open Line with me, Michael Ray Dolnick, and my guest, Larry Feldman. Stay right there. We'll be back in a moment to talk more about Passover.
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Welcome back to Open Line with me. Doctor Michael Ray. This is a special pre-recorded holiday weekend edition of Open Line. And this special Passover hour has my guest, Larry Feldman. He's a messianic rabbi. He leads Congregation Shuva Yisrael in Irvine, California. He also is the Western regional director for Chosen People Ministries,
and he is also my very good friend. Remember, you can stay in touch with Open Line every day with our website Open Line Radio.com when you go there Openlibrary.org. It has links to everything you might need from us, whether you want to send an email or if you want to go on Facebook and interact with us there. It also has past programs. It's got other important links. So remember go to Open Line Openline radio org. Well, Larry, let's let's, uh, pick it up. We're talking about the
Seder or the service plate. The Seder plate that has different elements on it. We've talked about parsley, but I find in my life the most significant element on the Seder plate is a shank bone of a lamb. And that's interesting to me because I come from a tradition in my family where we never ate lamb for Passover, even though that was the biblical food that we were
supposed to eat. Since the destruction of the temple, many Jewish people don't eat lamb at Passover, but we have the the shank bone of a lamb on the Seder plate to make us think of the lamb. What's up with that?
Well, we we as well, like you in our tradition, we did not eat lamb. It is taken from the command in Exodus chapter 12. We see it also in Deuteronomy chapter 16, where Moses tells the Jewish people on a certain day of the month they shall take the lamb, and they shall sacrifice it. And so and then they shall eat the whole lamb that night at Passover. So today we traditionally our families would go to the butcher and get a shank bone of a lamb, and we
would have that on our plate. And the father would traditionally hold up that lamb, and he would say that we don't have a lamb today. We don't have the sacrifice anymore. All we have left of the ancient sacrifice is this shankbone. And so, symbolically, the shankbone is supposed
to represent the lamb that was slain at Passover. And so where they would say the shankbone is symbolic of the Lamb of Passover, we would say that the Messiah, that that lamb, Passover, was symbolic of the Messiah yet to come.
Yeah. And even more significantly, when we celebrate Passover, we hold up the shankbone of the lamb, and we're reminded of what John said. Yochanan, John the Baptist, the Immerser, said, when when he saw Yeshua coming to be immersed, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. That lamb was spotless, had no fault or blemish. Yeshua was sinless. That lamb was slain and
so was the Messiah, Jesus slain on our behalf. And just as God passed over the the, the, the, the, the sentence of death on the firstborn, on those homes that had the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts. So when we apply the blood of Messiah Yeshua to the doorposts of our heart, God passes over judgment on us. It is a wonderful picture of what Paul says that Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. It is, I
think that's the. Wouldn't you say that that is the most crucial part of the.
I would say. Yeah. I see, I happen to be an evangelist and I love sharing the good news of the Messiah. And so I love the whole Passover meal, but I love when we do get to that shankbone. And I'm able to focus in on the importance of the sacrifice. And as you said, I love holding it up very high and showing the people that when John Yohannan walked and he saw the Messiah, he pointed to him, and I hold up that shankbone and said, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
It all points to our Messiah Yeshua. That's the beauty of this whole holiday, and that Shankbone is the centerpiece of it.
And, you know, there's a couple of other things on the Seder plate that that are significant. There's salt water and there's horseradish or bitter herb. Uh, and it's become almost a little bit of a joke at seders, you know. How hot is the horseradish? And.
Right.
And. Right. And oh, if it gets really hot, people run up and down. I once led a Seder at my home, and I had a student at Moody, and when he took some of the horseradish, we had some of the hottest horseradish that year that I've ever had. And he couldn't breathe. He ran out of the house. He was choking it up. And, you know, that's kind of funny, but there's a very serious part of having horseradish. What's the point of that?
Well, you know, it's funny, because if the horseradish isn't strong to make you cough. And I joke, I said it's for a few reasons that we take it, but one of the reasons I say is to clear out our sinuses. But if it's not really, really strong, I don't really feel like we've had a good Passover.
Yeah, it's got to be strong. Yeah. What's that? It's got to be strong. Yeah.
Very, very strong. So you can really feel part of it. But the idea is that it's supposed to remind us of the tears and the suffering of our people in slavery, and it's supposed to remind us of the bricks and the mortar and the. And the what? They were working for the Egyptians by slavery. And so it's supposed to remind us of the harsh bitterness of slavery in Egypt.
Yeah. That's the it is supposed to bring tears to our eyes, which is why we also have salt water. We dip the parsley in the salt water because it reminds us our lives were immersed in tears when we eat the horseradish, to remind us of the bitterness and the tears of of slavery. But there's another element. It's called charoset. And charoset is a mixture of apples and nuts and honey and wine, and it's all mixed together
into sort of a pasty consistency. And the apples are obviously are graded and, and it's called charoset, which means mortar. And obviously that fers to the mortar with which we built bricks when we were in Egypt. And there's a certain point in the Seder, we take it off the Seder plate and we eat it, and we actually eat it on top of horseradish. I think that's a great picture, don't you?
Yes, I do. I love doing that part because the people usually when I'm doing the Seder, first they have the bitter herbs, the horseradish, and they're choking. And then I say, now I'm going to give you another mixture. And I know they don't trust me or believe me. And so we mix it together with the horseradish, and I try to assure them it'll be okay. The apples do help us. And I love the idea that almost everything we do in the Seder, it's God doing repetition
all the time, reminding us of different things. And so here, as we dip it in the sweet, uh charoset, we remind ourselves that in the midst of our suffering, in the midst of our slavery and remembering the the bad, we also remember that it was sweetened with the hope of freedom that comes with Messiah.
Mhm. Yeah. It shows how the sweetness of redemption overpowers the bitterness of slavery. And the same way we put the sweet on top of the horseradish, the sweet rosette, even though it represents something that was so bitter, which was the mortar with which we built bricks, even though it represents that, it shows how the sweetness of God's redemption overpowers the bitterness. And so, you know, a lot of times believers will say, oh, my life was better.
Before I knew the Lord, I didn't have any restraints, I didn't. I could do whatever I wanted. I, you know, moral freedom. No, no, no, that was slavery. And and we don't want to go back to the tears. And instead, we want to celebrate the sweetness of redemption. That Messiah's sweetness that that he's turned our. He's brought us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son. That's what God has done for us. So yeah, that's
I think that's a wonderful picture. But, you know, okay, I want to shift here for a moment off the Seder plate, and let's talk about what most people think when they think of Passover, which is matzah. You know, some someone once said, oh, you revel in in celebrating Passover. And I thought, revel. And they said, yeah, you probably sit in a room going, matzo, matzo, matzo. No, no. But I do love celebrating Passover. But matzo is like
a dry, crusty cracker. Right. So what is it? Talk about that, Larry.
Well, um. Well, talk about the matzo. I it's another part of this. I just love the whole Seder and everything about it. But when I get to the matzo, I really, really do like to preach the good news of our Messiah because of the picture of the matzo. And I have everyone look at that matzo, which when we know.
Well, let me just say, Larry, matzo is unleavened bread. It is like a cracker, but it's unleavened bread. Yeah. So go ahead.
You're right.
It's unleavened bread. And so when you look at it, first of all, you notice a few things I tell people. One is it's it's until 11, which is 11, was a symbol of sin. So the masa is a picture of our Messiah who had no sin. But also when we look at that masa, we see their stripe marks on it. And then there's two major things. We see their stripe marks and there's pierce marks. And this is
a picture of our Messiah. And I, I remind the people that we see this in the Scripture in a few different places specifically, and in Psalm 22, which speaks about the death of our Messiah. It says that they pierced my hands and my feet, and we hold up that masa. And you see those pierce marks? I remind them that in Isaiah chapter 53 it said he would be despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And it goes on to say that that he would be pierced through for our transgressions, he'd be crushed for our iniquities. And I'm holding that masa up, showing them it's such a picture of our Messiah.
And then finally, the last verse I always love to quote is in Zechariah chapter 12, when the Lord returns and God says, I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, so they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son. So this masa is such a great picture of our Messiah, and I look for every opportunity to take out the Bible verses and share the good news of our Messiah.
Yeah. So we look at a piece of masa and we see the stripes. We're reminded of Isaiah 53 that by his stripes we are healed, the stripes of a Roman whip. And when it talks about he was pierced through for our iniquities. That's the piercings of Roman nails and a Roman spear. Uh, and and the, the bumpiness of it. The bruises that were were given to our Messiah. What a picture. You know, and I love to tell people that. And we're going to talk a little bit
more about the Lord's Supper. But symbols have meaning. And when when Yeshua held up matzah and said, this is my body, it wasn't some random piece of bread. He wasn't picking up a piece of Italian loaf bread. He was picking up a piece of matzo because of this symbolism. Don't you think that's why he chose that?
Yeah, definitely. We see God always has symbols throughout all the scriptures with the prophets. And so these the mass is just such a perfect picture of our Messiah. And being, like you said, bruised and pierced. There's such a great verses, as I just read in Isaiah and Zechariah, he would be pierced. And so it's very moving during the Seder to actually hold up that matzo and show the stripe marks that we see in Isaiah 53 and see those
pierced marks and pointing everyone to our Messiah. People really get moved and see the true meaning of Passover, even through the matzah.
Yeah, the matzah is it's very, very significant. We're going to talk about the very important piece of matzo called the afikomen when I'm back with Larry Feldman. This is Michael, right on open line. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Jewish people will complete our annual Passover observance this weekend. This festival is such a meaningful celebration of redemption to help us learn the rich significance of this holiday. Chosen People Ministries, one of our partners, is offering a free booklet,
Passover A time for redemption. Chosen People Ministries is an organization that reaches Jewish people around the world with the Good News of Yeshua Jesus. Besides explaining the significance of the Exodus from Egypt, Passover a time for redemption will open our eyes to the way the Passover sacrifice foreshadows the death and resurrection of Yeshua our Passover Lamb. Additionally, comprehending Passover will deepen our understanding of Yeshua, the Bread
of Life. Celebrating the Lord's Supper will never be the same. After grasping the significance of this festival for a free copy of Passover A time for redemption, just go to the Openline website. That's Openline radio. Scroll down and you'll see the link that says A free gift from Chosen People Ministries. Click on that and you'll be taken to a page where you can sign up for your very
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to Open Line with me, Doctor Michael Riedel. And this is a special holiday weekend edition of Open Line. My guest is long time Chosen People Ministries Bible teacher Larry Feldman, and he is also my longtime friend. We became friends. We met actually, oh, I don't know about 1975 or 6, but then went to seminary together starting in 1979 and became great friends right that year in seminary and have remained gotten just closer and closer all through these years.
I was just joking, Larry, that you are the person whom I consider to have the the most broad, holistic knowledge of Scripture. And that's because you read the Bible every day and you said it's because you are obsessive. Right. But you know what? I think the Lord uses that. I wish I had that kind of obsession with reading scripture every day. And so that's what gives you that special ability. Okay, Larry, let's talk about the matzo tash. That means the matzo bag. There's a of all the
different things on the ceremonial table for Passover. There's this kind of bag that has three compartments, and it's called a moustache, Tash. And it's got a piece of matzo in each of the compartments. Now, the rabbis say it's represents either Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or perhaps it represents the three categories of Jewish people priests, Levites and laymen, the Israelites. But Messianic Jews, we give it a special meaning, don't we?
We do. We give it a special meaning. And I like to share with people that most Jewish people don't really know the three categories that you just said. And so a lot of times when I'm sharing with you people, I mentioned that that among our Jewish people, there's various traditions of what it means, and they're not clear on what it means, whether it's Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or the priests, the Levites and all the Jewish people. But I say it's a very, very interesting thing that where
there's three of them, they're not allowed. When they come to this ceremony, they're not allowed to take out the top matzo, which there's three, and they have to take out one, and they're not allowed to take out the bottom one. So in a very dramatic ceremony, the father takes out the middle piece of matzo. He breaks it and he holds it up high. He wraps it in
a linen cloth and he buries it. And interestingly enough, it comes back where was resurrected actually, at the end of the meal, during the third cup of redemption, in which our Messiah said that that was the new covenant in his blood. But as they break this metal matzo and he wraps it up, we realize probably over the years, rabbis had added things to the Seder, and probably in this instance, maybe the disciples and people way back put it into the Seder to remind themselves of the second
person of the triune nature of God, the Messiah. And it has stayed as one of our Jewish traditions. So we think that the middle matzo is symbolic of the Messiah. The top one being the father and the middle one the son, and the bottom one, the Holy Spirit.
You know, the founder of Chosen People Ministries, Rabbi Leopold Cohen, who came to the Lord when he came looking for life and meaning in in the about 1890. He came to the Lord, and then he founded Chosen People in 1894. But his wife, Rose Cohen, she had. She couldn't believe that her husband, this rabbi, had come to faith in Yeshua, in Jesus. And it was at their Seder, and she had this real block against the triune nature of God.
And it was at their Seder, he held up the matzo tash, the matzo bag, and he talked about it, representing 3 in 1 father, son, and Holy Spirit, 3 in 1 right there. And it's just an object lesson. But that's what convinced Rose to put her trust in the Messiah.
And so that's really the only explanation when you when you see it. And why the middle one? Why would anyone pull out the Levites? Why would anyone pull out? Well, Isaac, I can understand because there's a little picture of Messiah from Genesis, but they pull out the middle one, the sun, and he's broken. He's wrapped in a linen cloth. He is buried. That is a perfect picture of our Messiah. And that's probably the best explanation for it.
Yeah. And particularly what the bringing it back, you know, at a at a regular Seder, A traditional Seder. It was said that in ancient times, the rabbis encouraged leaving a piece of the lamb that you ate like an olive sized piece, and keep it separate and make that the dessert. So after you've finished the whole meal, you ate the piece of lamb. Now, at the last Supper, the last Seder, I like to call it the Lord Jesus Yeshua. He took not a piece of lamb, but
a piece of matzo. And he held it up and said, this is my body which is given for you. And I mean, obviously, we've talked about the symbolism of the matzo. What a perfect symbol of his body. Uh, and then he takes the third cup. There's four different cups at a Seder meal. The third cup is the cup of redemption. Uh, which reminds us of the blood that was poured out by the lamb and placed on the doorposts and bringing redemption. And so he takes the third cup and says, this
is the new covenant in my blood. I mean, that is remarkable to me, but let's just focus on the piece of matzo that was broken, wrapped in linen, hidden away, brought back. And it is called the Afikomen. I am convinced that that tradition began with early Messianic Jews, and many Jewish study scholars agree with this, not just Jewish followers of Yeshua, but that early Messianic Jews started this tradition of taking the piece of matzo just like Yeshua
had taught them. The the broken matzo, the little matzo wrapped in linen, bringing it back at the third cup. And they they would have that as their last piece of, of food that they ate to remind them of Messiah. And then this kind of found its way when the when there was no longer a Passover sacrifice. This piece of matzo, the wrapped, wrapped in linen and brought back.
It became part of the traditional ceremony, which just remarkable, especially because what it's called, it's called the afikomen, which means Larry.
Well, there's a couple definitions. One, one of the definitions is just as a dessert, but I think there's probably a tradition, a Greek tradition that means that I have come.
Yeah. The one who has.
Come have come back.
That's the.
Amazing thing.
And I think what the beauty of this whole Seder and the beauty of what God does in the scripture, his repetition constantly to to get truth into us. He I believe Yeshua was there at that Seder, and he pointed to the lamb, and he said, This lamb is my body. And he says, when we take this, you're remembering me. And then at the end of the meal, when he takes that cup of redemption, he's basically saying that every time you take this cup, every time you
take this Afikomen this dessert, it's me again. The body of Messiah, which is given for you. You don't have to wait once a year for Passover, but every time you take this cup and every time you take the bread, you are celebrating the Passover of Messiah. And that's what the beauty to tell non-Jewish people that they are remembering the Passover. That's the roots of it. And there's such
beautiful roots to our faith. And so that when we take that matzah at the end, that dessert, we remember that he's come back and he's died for our sins, and he was resurrected so that we might have life.
Yeah, it's a great picture of the resurrection. It's a great picture of Messiah's offering with that body and the cup of redemption. You know, what I think is interesting is, you know, different people in the past have gotten caught up in what does it mean? This is my body and this is the new covenant in my blood, and that some people actually believe that the matzah turns mystically, or the bread turns mystically to the body of Messiah, Or it turns the the cup turns mystically, the the
wine turns mystically into his actual blood. But no one who has ever been to a Seder would think that.
No, no. The. Yeah. The symbolism of the the lamb symbolic of the Messiah, the the the cup symbolic of the Messiah. It's a symbol that's trying to teach us something. The body was the Messiah, his body, and the third cup of redemption. Yeshua instituted this. And a lot of believers don't realize that the Lord's Supper was instituted at the Last Supper, with Yeshua reminding us that there would always be reminding us of Him and His death and his shed blood.
Yeah, and so no one thinks when we hold up the salt water and say, these are our tears. No one thinks that they literally become tears. And so when we hold up the matzo or the cup, when we say, this is the Messiah's body and this is Messiah's blood, we're not saying it mystically becomes that which is saying this is a symbol of Messiah's body and a symbol of his blood. Well, I'll be back with Larry Feldman in just a moment to talk about the fourth Cup
and other important parts of Passover. So don't go away. You're listening to a special Passover edition of Open Line with me, Michael. And my guest, Larry Feldman. Stay right there. We'll be right back. Open line is designed to take your questions and provide you with straightforward, honest answers from
Scripture about the things that matter most. When you join our team of Kitchen Table Partners, your monthly gift will help us stay on the air to continue to share the truth of the Bible with those who need to hear it. Become a kitchen table partner by calling us at 886447122, or sign up online at Open Line radio.org. Welcome back to Open Line with me. Doctor Michael Ray Dolnick. And this is again a special Passover edition of Open Line.
Next hour we're going to talk about the resurrection narratives. My guest this hour is Chosen People Ministries, Western regional director, leader, rabbi of congregation Shuva Israel, Larry Feldman. Larry, how do you keep all those things balanced? My goodness.
It's sometimes not easy, but the Lord is good.
Well, we're going to keep talking about the Passover. One of my the song. I think if people know one song from Passover, even if they're not raised in a Jewish home, it's the song Dayenu, which is just one word in Hebrew. Uh, so we sing it over and over. I'm not going to sing it for our listeners. Uh, nor will you. I know how you and I sound on the radio singing, but we sing dayenu and it goes, die, die die die die die die die, ya know? Over
and over and over again. So long that I always say, uh. People are surprised. And that's the chorus. And then there's a verse, and then we sing it about 25 times. Dai dai dai dai dai inu. And I always say it's because when they find out what it means, it means enough already. So enough singing. But that's not really what it means. So. Uh, you love singing, don't you?
I do, I love singing the song because it's just fun. And the kids get into it. And the parents, everyone gets into it. But the there is rich meaning in it, because throughout the whole song, it's really. If God just brought us out of Egypt, that would have been good. We're thankful if God just gave us his law, his word. Diana, that would have been enough if God just gave us the Sabbath. I know he does, but the whole idea of the song is he goes way beyond. God does
way beyond what we ever ask or think. And so of all people who should be able to say dayenu, it's Its messianic believers, Jew and Gentile, who put their trust in Yeshua. If the Lord just saved us and took us home immediately, we decided to say Diana for all eternity. A lot of times I joke that when I'm in churches, usually a big scrappy man comes up and says, brother, I'm just praising the Lord. I woke up today and I look at him and go, you praise him more if you didn't.
But aside from.
That, that if he just took us on. But the promise in the scripture is I came to give you life and give it abundantly. At the beginning of our salvation, it would have been enough right there. But he goes on to give us a whole great life of faith in him and a changed life. So it's a tremendous blessing for us. The idea of Diana.
Yeah. You know, it would have been enough had he saved us. But he's given us the abundant life. It would have been enough had he gave us abundant life. But he also gave us the Holy Spirit to indwell us. It would have been enough had he given us the Holy Spirit. But he's given us gifts to serve him with. It would have been enough to give his gifts to serve him with, and it would have been all for, you know, we were unworthy servants. But he promises us
rewards if we'll serve him faithfully. I mean, every time we think God has done enough and we want to say, Diana, what does he do? He gives us abundantly far more than we ever asked.
Well, Michael.
Um, when I say Diana, I tell people also that when I first became a believer, when we first become believers, back in 1972, when I did, one of the first things we do is we ask, Lord, just save my mom, save my dad, save my sister. That'll be enough. If you just do that, I will be happy and content. And so I shared with my mom for 20 years who had, uh, emphysema. And she struggled tremendously with it. And she really, really struggled with it. And finally, she
prayed to receive the Lord toward the end of her life. And, uh, and my father, an Orthodox Jewish man grew up Orthodox. It took him 20 years and he with me prayed twice to receive the Lord. And then my sister. She also prayed to receive the Lord. And the beauty of all this of them accepting the Lord. Dayenu. It would have been enough, but he goes beyond. He saved them.
And I say, Diana, for the rest of my life, because he's been so good in my life, saving my family and allowing me to share the good news.
Yeah. You have these two wonderful daughters who are adults now, and they both know the Lord and love and serve him. It is God. Boy, it is true. When God does those kinds of things, we sing over and over. Diana.
Diana. Yeah.
Okay, let's let's move on to near the end of the set or near the end of the Seder. We go to the door and we open it and to see if Elijah is there to announce the Messiah, because it's traditional that Messiah will come at Passover. And there's actually a whole cup and a place setting for Elijah, who is the special guest we're going to invite in at this point. So far, no one has gone to
the door and found Elijah. But it's interesting because at the last Seder, they drank the third cup, and there's still a fourth cup. The cup that's related to Elijah. Now, when we opened the door for Elijah, the fourth cup is the cup of the kingdom or the cup of Praise? The cup of blessing. The idea that there's going to be a messiah coming. He's going to establish his kingdom. And yet the disciples, they went out. They. It says they they ate the meal. They had the matzo, they
had the third cup. And then they sang a hymn, which are the praise psalms, the halal. And then they went out and they didn't drink the fourth cup. What's up with that? Why did they leave the fourth cup standing?
Well, in the scripture, actually, it tells us that, you know, Elijah will come before the day of the Lord And, uh, a lot of times people say we're still waiting for him. But it's interesting that Yeshua did tell us and compare John the Baptist to Elijah and where John actually, uh, was like Elijah. He was out in the wilderness. He had a special outfit. He wore a special garment, a
special belt. He preached a special message. And Yeshua said at two different points, if they had cared to accept it, John was Elijah. He was playing the role of Elijah. He was preparing the people for Elijah. And the sad thing today is that our people missed John or missed Elijah,
and they missed who the Messiah was. And so this fourth Cup standing there and where we take it, it's we take it for a number of reasons where we sometimes they leave it standing because it reminds us of we thank him for what he's done in this Passover, but it reminds us of the future kingdom of him returning. And so Yeshua said at that Passover that this couple would be left standing. And I will not drink it again with you until I come, and I drink it
with you. And so it's a picture of when the Messiah comes and the blessing that we will have with him entering into the kingdom. And as we leave it standing, we say, when our Messiah returns, we will drink it together with him entering into the kingdom. A great, great final finish for the Seder.
Yeah, it's great to me when I think about what Yeshua said, that he won't drink it again until he comes into his kingdom. And so at my Seder, I know some people, some Messianic Jews finish the Seder with drinking the fourth cup as a reminder that we will drink it with him again in the future. But I leave it standing, and we don't take it at the Seder, because I want to remember that the Lord has been raised from the dead. He's ascended and he is coming back.
And then there's going to be a great messianic seder, a great messianic banquet together with him. Yes. And then we're going to drink that, that cup. And you know, that's what Paul's talking about there in first Corinthians 11 when he talks about in this way, we show forth the Lord's death until he comes, because we're not looking for his first coming now. We're looking for his return. You've got 40s last comment, Larry.
It's just great. And to celebrate the Passover, I encourage Jewish and non-Jewish people to celebrate it. Learn the full meaning so you can share it with people. Share the joy of Passover and the true meaning of our Messiah and the redemption he brings for all people.
Yeah. You know, I just think, you know, no one is obliged. You don't have to have a Seder. Our redemption is in the Messiah, the Passover lamb. But if you can get to a Passover Seder and see a messianic Seder with all its significance, I think it will really greatly benefit you, because it is a great celebration of what Messiah Yeshua, the Lamb of God, has done for us. What a great thing. Thank you for being my guest today, Larry.
My pleasure. Mike. It's always good to.
Be with you.
Yeah. As I say, Larry Feldman. No one knows the Bible better. And that's why not only. I mean, I'm glad he's my friend, but that's why I have him on the program. Thanks for listening, everyone. The first hour of this special Passover edition of Open Line is a wrap. Stay by your radio. There's a second hour of Open Line on most of these stations, and we're going to be talking about the resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus, as recorded in the New Testament Gospels. I have a special
guest next hour as well. During the break you can check out the web page Open Line radio.org. That page has links to past programs to email, Facebook, Twitter, whatever you need. It's there. There's also a link to my personal web page so you can find out what I'm up to and even about trips to Israel. There's a link also to the Chosen People Ministries free resource. Open Line with Michael Radonich is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.