Friends, Passover is just around the corner and I get excited about the way Jesus reveals Himself in the Jewish feasts.  We have taken a week-long look at Pesach (Passover), the first of three pilgrimage feasts of Israel.  Take a look back at previous days’ study together to put all the pieces together, then rejoice as we celebrate Jesus as the fulfillment of this incredible Jewish feast!  (Yesterday, we looked at the first and second cups and blessings.  Click here if you missed it.)

Today, let’s examine the third and fourth cups and blessings celebrated in the Passover Seder.  During Barech, the leader at a Messianic Passover Seder holds up the cup and recites:

“This Cup of Redemption represents God’s New Covenant,
and the very blood of Yeshua that was shed for the forgiveness
of our sins.  Drink this, all of you who are trusting
in the Lord’s great salvation.”

The Jewish blessing is the familiar:

“Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the universe,
Creator of the fruit of the vine.”

The New Testament tells us that Jesus took the bread and wine “after the Passover” (Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25), indicating that the cup He raised was the Cup of Redemption.  He then said, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.”  (Matthew 26:28)  He shed His blood for our redemption!  We “drink of that cup” during communion when we commemorate His redemption of us!

The fourth cup, the Cup of Restoration, is a special one indeed!  Jesus told His disciples that He would not drink that fourth cup until He does so with them in the coming Kingdom.  (Matthew 26:29)  He then left planet earth to prepare for that day when He returns to drink that fourth cup with His followers!

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
~Matthew 23:37-39

It is the Cup of Restoration and will be fully savored when “all Israel shall be saved.”  (Romans 11:26)  On that day, all Israel will say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  This cup commemorates the King coming back to redeem His chosen people…the Jews!

During the Hallel (“praise”) portion of the Passover Seder, the fourth cup of wine is poured and the participants recite:

“O Israel, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield!
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield!
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield!
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good,
for His steadfast love endures forever!”

That is followed by the familiar:

“Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the universe,
Creator of the fruit of the vine.”

Now consider 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Our Cup of Restoration, Jesus Christ, is soon to come, to bring restoration to the Jewish people and to the world!  Passover is approaching, so encourage one another with these words!