Since God first brought us here, I keep being drawn in prayer to the significance of Pesach (Passover). During passover meal, the Jewish people get three pieces of unleavened bread. They break and hide the middle one for the kids to find somewhere in the home. Messianic believers see this as even one more embedded tradition in the rituals of Passover of the bread of life that was broken and hidden later for the Jewish people to find again. We continue to cry, may unbelievers find you in your feasts!
Even in our prayer team during this season (post-Passover/Pesach, Pre-Pentecost/Shavuot), we have been drawn again and again to repentance and entering through the blood of the Lamb. I want to take today to really fully move into intercession from the place of worship. That Yeshua is the lamb who was slain and ALL must go through Him to find life from the dead.
Repentance from sins and trust in Yeshua’s blood is the one way to God. The “passover doorway” represents the only doorway to life and protection from the wrath of God that is coming on the whole world. His blood is the substance of life and protection from death, the wages of our sin. In the days of Moses, the blood of the lamb was offered as protection from the wrath of God, but each person had to make the decision to believe, make the sacrifice needed, and take action to cover their doorposts. In the same way, now, each person must make the decision to believe and cover their family by repenting and coming “under the blood.” This is an offering to all the world, including the Gentiles (John 3:16), but the sacrifice must be received and applied to our lives. And no one can receive it if they do not believe that death is a real threat. And it is (Romans 3:23, Romans 5:25).
The Beauty of the Blood
As believers, we often sing with great love for the blood of Yeshua. We call it beautiful, and it is, because it gave us life. But we should also understand that it is offensive to the Jewish people on many levels.
First, from the Jewish mindset, it’s kind of disgusting. It’s bloodshed. To think of a man being sacrificed to God instead of an animal seems brutal and unnecessary. But was this God murdering His own son? No. It was a sacrificial offering for sin because He loved us and He loved His Son. God offered Him and crushed Him because He was taking the scheme of the enemy and turning it for good. In this way, it was God’s good plan to crush Him. He knows the hearts of people. All of the ways of God are mysterious to us, but we have to make our peace with the need for His blood to be shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. It was atonement for our sins because the life of the creature is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). That is His reason. It was payment for sins. It is disgusting. It is a human sacrifice. It was substitution. And all of this was foreshadowed in the story of Abraham. God provided a substitute for Isaac and for those through His lineage, there would be another perfect sacrifice, this one for all time.
Second, the Jewish people have been accused ever since the early church fathers of the ones who killed the Messiah. As “Christ killers” by Gentile believers. Can you imagine this being your first encounter with “Christians”? They are accusing you of murdering their God? (Many Jewish people do not know that Christians worship Yahweh. They see Jesus as the Christian God that they are accused of killing.) But Gentiles have no right to take the position of accusation. First, the gentiles (Romans) had a hand in sentencing Yeshua to death. Second, without Yeshua’s death, Gentiles would not be saved.
What is Our Response?
Whether Jew or Gentile, we welcome Jewish people through the doorway of Yeshua. It is the same door of mercy that Gentiles went through. It is the doorway of repentance of sins through the cross. The connection to passover is crucial to understand that the cross is a doorway of mercy. The blood of the Lamb, Yeshua, fulfills the promises of God for Israel.
We need to understand and be able to explain this part of the good news of Messiah from the prophetic standpoint. He fulfilled the promises made to Israel for forgiveness of sins. He makes a way for them to be forgiven of all sins, for all time, in one day.
…I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. Zechariah 3:9
“He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” Matthew 26:1-2
“So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.” Hebrews 13:12
“Each Passover lamb must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of its meat outside, and do not break any of its bones.” Exodus 12:46
“So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs.” John 19:32-33
After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.” Luke 22:20
And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.” Revelation 12:11
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” Hebrews 10:19-23
Let’s Pray for Israel
Let’s pray in pictures today. On every doorway, Adonai, we plead the blood of Yeshua. May each head of each family take it on as a personal responsibility to make sure their house is covered by the blood of the lamb. You will passover the Jewish people once again. Your wrath will be poured out on the earth. Lord, I believe you are waiting for the Jewish people to cover their doorposts; to yield to your way of the blood. Even before the Day of the Lord, we ask that you would give us a partial fulfillment of the scriptures, that you would pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:37)
Father, we know that your covenant remains with Israel. That your covering of them has not stopped and that your love for them remains.
Thank you Yeshua for being the High Priest that sprinkles the blood of atonement on the altar for the Jewish people. You are the Lamb and the High Priest.
You wash the Jewish people and make her clean. They are filled with your Spirit because of your blood poured out for them.
Lord, even for those who hate you or are ignorant, we ask that you forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing. Open the eyes of their understanding to see their need for you, the depth of their sin and the invitation to new covenant, which is a fulfillment of the old one. Your covenant with Israel remains and so the old one loses power as a better way is made and a better word is spoken (Hebrews 12:24). Instead of vengeance, you cry FORGIVENESS! You are the keeper of the covenant.
Worthy worthy worthy are you, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Let the living water of your Spirit flow to the people at Shavuot/Pentecost this year. Surprise those who are seeking you with an outpouring. We long for new pouring out of the Holy Spirit across the lands of the earth.
Because of you, Israel will find mercy when their mourn for their sins and look on the one they have pierced. There is so much mercy in your eyes for them. So much love. Fresh and new every morning.
We receive your mercy into our own lives and we pour it out. Make our lives an offering of praise to you!
Your Blood Speaks a Better Word (Chill version)
Your Blood Speaks a Better Word (Hyped version)
Great!