Passover Symbol - Elijah's Cup

Passover is a wonderful and spiritual time of the year. A time when the Jewish people remember the days of deliverance from Egyptian slavery and a time when Christians acknowledge that Jesus is the ultimate and true Passover Lamb - a celebration we know as Easter or Resurrection Sunday.

So why in 2005 did the Western Christian church celebrate Easter on the last Sunday in March while Passover does not begin until the end of April? The basic explanation is that the Council of Nicea in AD 325 established Easter as the Sunday after the first full moon of the Spring equinox. Complicated? Go to the Christian History Institute (www.chi.gospelcom.net) and type in "Nicea ruled on Easter" in the search box to learn more about the Council's decision. The article also explains the anti-Semitic attitudes that caused the celebration of the Resurrection to be disassociated from Passover.

Another tragic element of the Passover story is Elijah's Cup. Elijah's Cup is a presence at every Passover table but the beginning of this tradition began long ago in Malachi 3:1-2. Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, promised that in the days of the Messiah, a messenger (Elijah) would come and announce the arrival of the Messianic Age. This coming, according to Jewish tradition, is to occur during Passover season. And so for 2,500 years, the Jewish people have been waiting for Elijah to come and bring the Messiah with him.

Unfortunately, Jewish people today are still waiting for the "Days of Elijah" and observe this waiting time by setting a place at the Passover table in hope that this will be the year that the Messiah comes. Little realizing that the spirit of Elijah came in the testimony of John the Baptist who proclaimed in John 1, "Behold, the Son of Man who comes to take away the sins of the world."

And so Elijah's cup is set every year but it has become little more than a symbol of waiting and longing. This seems so tragic for us who know that Messiah Jesus has come and that this waiting is not only in vain but a wait that ended 2,000 years ago.

Therefore, we must take the opportunity this Passover season to proclaim to our Jewish friends and family that the wait is over. "Elijah" came and proclaimed that the Messianic Age is here through the Passover Lamb sacrifice, the glorious resurrection and majestic Ascension of Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the Risen One!

The Holocaust

To be confronted by the horrific reality of the Holocaust through World War II film footage is one thing. However, to develop a friendship with an actual survivor changes a person and one is never quite the same. A person is now forced to look at themselves and wonder "what might I had done if a Jewish person had knocked on my door in 1942 Europe and begged for help?"

Would I as a professing believer in Jesus the Jewish Messiah opened the door as Corrie Ten Boom did? Or would I have been like most "Christians" who pretended not to notice that my Jewish neighbors were disappearing day after day?

Yom HaShoah (Day of Remembrance) is May 6th this year. It is a day for remembering the six million people who were murdered simply for being Jewish - including 1.5 million children.
So how can we as believers in Jesus respond to this horrible reality? The first thing we must not do is try to assuage our guilt by giving into the false theology of Dual Covenantalism - Jewish people are saved by the Law while Gentiles are redeemed through Jesus. We can, however, be ready with an attitude of contrition for pact inactions and responsive to questions such as, "Where was God?"
Tzedakah Ministries wants to help. Please visit www.tzedakahministries.org/questions.htm for guidance on how to answer this impossible question. And please remember to pray on May 6 for spiritual and emotional healing for the Jewish people that is only possible through Messiah Jesus.