Do you have an event that changed your life? Something that altered your whole trajectory, marking life in terms of Before and After for you? Many of us would say that coming to believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah is the most significant watershed moment in our personal lives. What about your family’s story? Is there something in the history of your ancestors that changed the course for future generations?
Passover was a defining moment in Israel’s history. The Children of Israel had been in slavery for hundreds of years when God delivered them by His mighty hand. He liberated the people He had chosen to be His own, calling them out of slavery to the land He had promised their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“This is a day you are to commemorate,” He said in Exodus 12:14. “For the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord — a lasting ordinance.”
Passover was such a momentous event in the history of Israel that the Lord commanded us to observe it every year throughout our generations as one of His moadim — His “appointed times.” Thousands of years later, we still do.
We observe Passover with a Seder, which means “order.” A Passover Seder is the carefully arranged service, set around a table, that commemorates the Passover and Exodus from Egypt. To guide us through the Seder, we use a Haggadah, a printed program outlining the retelling of our liberation. The word Haggadah means “telling,” a key element of our Passover celebration in obedience to the Lord’s command to tell our children its meaning. (See Exodus 12:24–27.)
The Lord commanded only a few foods for the Passover: roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8). Jewish tradition has expanded the Passover Seder to include meaningful symbolism that highlights the telling of our deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
In each of the biblical feasts the Lord instituted for Israel, there is a prophetic picture of future events in God’s larger redemptive plan. Passover reflects the images of Yeshua, who, thousands of years later, would become the sacrifice to deliver us from sin. The Seder elements point to Yeshua, even though the Jewish sages who added them didn’t believe in Him. Here are some of the ways we see Jesus in the Passover Seder.
The Lamb
The 10th and final plague God sent on Egypt was the death of the firstborn of every household. God told the Children of Israel how to be saved from the judgment of death. They were to kill the sacrificial lamb at twilight and paint its blood on the doorframes of their homes. That night, the Angel of Death would pass over every home under the covering of the blood, and spare those inside from death.
John the Immerser announced Yeshua as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29, 36). The apostle Paul identified Jesus as “our Passover,” sacrificed to save us from death — the price of sin. (See 1 Corinthians 5:7 and Romans 6:23).
“Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch — as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
— 1 Corinthians 5:7
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in [Messiah] Jesus our Lord.”
— Romans 6:23
Three Pieces of Matzah
We use three pieces of matzah, or unleavened bread, during the Passover Seder. These three are stacked and kept together. In Jewish tradition, rabbis teach that they represent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the fathers of the faith. Some rabbis say they represent the kingly line of Israel, the priestly line, and the people of Israel. For Messianic Jewish Believers, the three pieces of matzah can also be seen as the three expressions of the one God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yeshua came from Heaven to Earth to be “God with us” and bridge the gap between sinful humanity and God the Father. This becomes even more significant later in the Seder as the middle piece of matzah is broken, hidden away, and then returned.
Matzah
Matzah is unleavened bread. To make these large sheets of cracker-like flatbread, the dough is uniformly pierced before baking. In the oven, the matzah acquires spots of brown or black. When looking at the middle piece of matzah, with its lined piercings and its browning resembling bruises, it’s easy to see a picture of the Messiah who was pierced for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and by whose stripes we are healed. (See Isaiah 53:5.)
“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
— Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
— Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)
Afikomen
Early in the Seder, we break the middle piece of matzah in two. The leader takes the larger piece, called the afikomen, wraps it in a cloth, and hides it in the house. Later, children search for the hidden afikomen. The Greek word afikomen generally means “coming after” and is typically interpreted as dessert. However, some biblical scholars believe there is reason to think it can also mean “I came.” The Seder is not complete until the afikomen is returned. When the children return it to the table, the host rewards them with a prize. Then, all at the table partake of the afikomen matzah again.
Like the afikomen, Yeshua’s body was “broken,” wrapped in grave clothes, and “hidden” away in the grave for three days. He returned victorious having won our redemption from slavery to sin. He then ascended to the Father and remains hidden away until His return when He will usher in the Age to Come and the fullness of God’s ultimate redemptive plan. At that time, our reward will be complete as we live for eternity with Him in His glorious kingdom.
Jesus in the Passover Seder
It's not surprising that God Almighty would place pictures of His forthcoming Messiah in the appointed times that He commanded ancient Israel to observe. From the foundation of the Earth, He knew humanity would need deliverance from sin, and He wove hints of His large-scale redemption plan throughout Israel’s history and the pages of Scripture. What is astonishing is that even some of the traditions added by Jewish rabbis and sages, who did not believe Yeshua was the Messiah, also points to Him as such.
The Lord is faithful and committed to showing Yeshua is the Messiah, and He longs for all Jewish people to come to know Him. For ancient Israel, He placed imagery of the Lamb of God in the Passover observance. For us today and all generations to come, He also oversaw the addition of new traditions that point to Yeshua as the Messiah.
Jesus in the Passover Seder — what a marvelous testimony to God’s power, intention, and love.
To learn more about Passover, to watch Rabbi Jonathan show you how to host a Seder meal, and download a free guide, visit jewishvoice.org/passover-2025
