´¯`•. April 25, 2011

Fourth Passover Cup

I’m kind of hung up on learning, in case you didn’t know. I want to KNOW more. And I want my kids to KNOW more. And not just Truth (although that is paramount)… we should ‘know thy enemies’, so as to be better equipped for confrontation and battle, whether spiritual, intellectual, or otherwise. Knowledge truly is power. So my goal is to never stop learning things… ever.

I learned something new this week about the Passover. Something I never heard before. Something that really geeked me. See, when we were doing lapbooks, there was an accordion fold called ‘The Four Cups’. I knew that – at different points in Yehovah’s feast, there were different cups we were to drink from. I’d read about it in a feast book (by a christian woman who was dabbling at best and wanted to make some $$ passing her feast practices off in written form). But she didn’t really explain the cups… so when we were filling out our lapbooks, I had to go looking for information about the four cups.

What I found out was that the four cups represent four things Yehovah did for Israel (and will do for us, again). It’s really interesting, actually:

1) First Cup: Yehovah will bring us out.
Originally, this meant bringing the Jews out of Egypt. But Egypt is a physical metaphor for the world/sin/carnality. And the Jews are a physical metaphor for those who are righteous, who have obedience to Ha’Shem via Torah observance, as well as faith in Messiah Yeshua, His Son.

2) Second Cup: Yehovah will free us from slavery.
The Jews were slaves in Egypt. The first thing that happened when they were brought away from that lifestyle was to bring them to the realization that they belonged ONLY to Yehovah… that they were free in Him. Freed by Him. Physical location doesn’t free a person – you have to come to the realization – adopt the mindset – that you’re really free.

3) Third Cup: Yehovah will redeem us.
This may, at first glance, look redundant, but it’s not. They were physically and intellectually saved from slavery to Egypt. But do you remember my ‘More Four’ series? ((Okay, probably not.)) Messiah said that the definition of love (Mark 12:30) is to nuture someone with all your mind (intellectually), with all your heart (relationally), with all your soul (spiritually) and with all your strength (physically). Messiah actually lived this out – look at Luke 2:52 – ALL FOUR were attributed to Him in scripture. And now we have four cups. *grins* So the first cup is Adonai seeing to His people physically (cup one), intellectually (cup two), and now relationally. Here we see Him making the people HIS – establishing them as His own. Making them HIS people. Redeeming them from all the nations and peoples of the world as His.

4) Fourth Cup: Yehovah will take us home.
Think about the Exodus for a moment: Yehovah brought His people away from Egypt, but they still had the worldly mindset. So they had to be ‘reprogrammed’ so that they could accept who they truly were. Then they were aligned properly into a relationship with the Lord. Only THEN would they be ready to go into the Promised Land.

Actually, I see this played out in the spring feasts, too. Passover is the ‘Exodus’ from Egypt. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is where we realize that we are no longer ‘leavened’ (which is metaphor for sin). The feast of Firstfruits is the third cup – in which they crossed the Red Sea by the power of the Lord, crossed over beyond death, if you wish to link this to Messiah’s acts on the cross.

But wait! Stop right there!! Read this:

Mat 26:27-29 And He took the cup, and agave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remissions of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day with I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.

Mar 14:23-25 And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And He said unto them ‘This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink of it new in the kingdom of God.

Luke 22:17-18 And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

From what I understand, this cup that He did NOT drink from was the fourth cup. And why is this? Because He’s making a promise – that the fulfillment of this feast has not come to fruition, yet. Yes, Ha’Shem took the Jews into the Promised Land. The first (physical) fulfillment is complete. But there’s another fulfillment to come, and it WILL be fulfilled in the future – and because He (Yeshua the Lord) has not yet fulfilled it, He did not drink of that cup, as a promise to His own. That there will be a day in our future when we will be taken home.

IS. THAT. NOT. KEWL!?!?!?!??!?!

I’m sorry, that just geeks me, because I didn’t KNOW that!! About Yeshua not drinking… well, I knew that He said He wouldn’t drink, but I didn’t know WHY. Or what it meant in terms of the four cups, and the ‘More Four’ love thing, and all that! Is that not incredible?!