It is one of God's great ironies that He inspired the Jewish rabbis over the years to add to the Passover Seder ritual so that it would foreshadow Christ's death and resurrection. Every year at the Passover Seder, the Jewish people celebrate Christ, and they do not even realize it. This article will show how this occurs.
The Passover Seder has morphed from what God described in Exodus into the lengthy meal described below that with the readings from the Scriptures lasts about three hours. By the time Christ celebrated it, it had many of the elements below, but not all of them. God seemed to direct their choices of what to add to it so that by the time Christ came, there were a lot of elements that represented Him and His ministry. After losing the temple in 70 AD they had to replace the sacrificial lamb with something, so somehow the afikomen ritual came about.
It seems that the Jews are not sure where the ritual of the afikomen originated, but it has been hypothesized by some sources that it was borrowed from some Messianic Jews in the late first century, who did this in remembrance of Christ, and since lamb could no longer be eaten (since it couldn't be sacrificed at the temple) and the lamb was supposed to be the last thing eaten at a Seder, they substituted the matzoh or bread (Since Christ is also the Bread of Life as well as the Lamb) and ate it again at the end of the Seder after the meal, just as Christ did when He broke the bread and drank it with the Cup of Redemption during His last Seder, changing the meaning of the ritual to reflect His sacrifice. They added the 3 matzoh in three slots in the matzoh tosh bag and breaking the middle one (the afikomen) and hiding it for the reasons given below. That is the hypothesis, as nobody really knows how it began, since it really makes no sense in Judaic terms, only in Christian ones.
This is the basic order of a Jewish Seder taken from looking at multiple Jewish online sources which describe the Seder. This is Jewish Seder, not a Messianic one, which would reflect Christ openly throughout the ritual.
I have underlined the important part of the steps that have significance to Christ (of which the Jews are unaware) and put the fulfillment of it that He accomplished in bold print and parentheses. This is only an order of the ceremony, not the particulars of it.
1. Kadesh— Kiddush
Fill the cup for the first cup of wine. Blessing the wine at the start of the meal. On Friday, the biblical section specific to the Sabbath is added. On Saturday evening, add the Havdalah section separating sanctity of Sabbath from the sanctity of holy day. 1st cup of wine. The Cup of Sanctification. (Christ was sanctified or set apart as the perfect and holy human for service by God when He began His ministry.)
2.Urhatz—Wash
Washing preparation for eating vegetable entree - Karpas. Since the need for such washing was questioned, no blessing is required. It is good to go around to each of the participants, pouring water over the hands from a pitcher into a bowl. (Christ's ministry starts with baptism by water).
3.Karpas— Spring vegetable
Any vegetable that is not bitter may be eaten. Common vegetables used are celery, parsley, onion, or potato. Dipped in salt water for purification and seasoning they remind us of the vegetation of spring, or the baby boys cast in the Nile, or the tears shed by the slaves. The blessing said is the usual benediction of thanks before eating any vegetable. (The tears shed by those at the cross who loved Jesus.)
4.Yahatz —Divide the Matzoh
Three matzoh are placed in a matzoh tosh bag that has three slots and is on the table before the Seder begins. (Judaism say this stands for the priests, Levites and Israelites or Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but it really stands for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.) Take the middle matzoh or afikomen (Christ) out. Break it into two parts. (Crucifixion) Take the larger part, wrap it in a napkin (burial cloths) and hide it (bury it in tomb) to save for the conclusion of the meal. Try to keep it from being stolen by the children (guard the tomb) because it must be available for the end of the meal (resurrection). (Jesus is killed and buried and the Pharisees put a guard on the tomb so Jesus body couldn't be stolen.)
5.Magid— Narrate the story of the Exodus (the miracles of God's power, Christ performed miracles to show His power.)
Lift up the plate with the symbols of affliction. The traditional invitation to the stranger to join the seder is offered.
The wine cups are filled.
The youngest person at the seder asks the Four Questions.
The Response to the Questions. Read portions in unison. Have other portions recited by different individuals at the table.
The Ten Plagues.Since our “cup of salvation” cannot be regarded as full when we recall the suffering of the Egyptians, a drop of wine is removed from the cup with the mention of each plague.
Dayenu (It Would Have Been Enough). Let all present join in the refrain thanking God for all the miracles he bestowed upon the Israelites.
The cup is again lifted in joy, thankful for God’s deliverance, ready to praise Him with the first word of the Psalm of praise (Hallel).
First two Psalms of the Hallel. (Ps. 113-114)
Drink the 2nd cup of wine, Cup of Deliverance or Salvation. (Jesus has delivered us from our sins and is our salvation).
6.Rohtza —Wash
Ready to eat, the hands are washed before the meal, as is required at any meal. It is similar to the previous hand-washing, but now all wash with the usual benediction as the hands are dried. (Jesus washed the disciples' feet.)
7.Motzi Matzah— Eating Matzoh
The first food at the meal is the matzoh, the unleavened bread (leaven stands for sin). The usual blessing over bread, Hamotzi, is recited. However, before eating the matzoh, a second blessing thanking God for the requirement to eat matzoh is recited. (Jesus is the sinless Bread of Life).
8.Maror— Bitter Herbs
Small pieces of horseradish are dipped into charoset or some people mix ground horseradish with the charoset. (a sweet paste symbolic of mortar) (this was probably the sop Christ dipped the bread in), to indicate that overemphasis on material things results in bitterness. Before eating it, a blessing thanking God for this requirement is recited. (Jesus dipped the bread in the charoset and gave it to Judas to indicate to John who the betrayer was. Judas leaves and the disciples think he is either going to get something which had been forgotten for the main meal, which was yet to be eaten, or to give money to the poor.)
9.Korekh— Hillel Sandwich
In ancient times, the Talmudic scholar Hillel ate the three symbolic foods (lamb, matzoh, and bitter herbs) together so that each mouthful contained all three. Thus the symbols of slavery and liberation were intermingled. Now that we do not have the Paschal lamb, we eat just the matzoh and horseradish in a “Hillel sandwich.” No special blessing is said, but we do read the words recalling Hillel’s practice.
10.Shulhan Orekh— Meal
(Originally lamb, now some other meat and the other foods are eaten, and the sweet dessert would be eaten now at the end of the meal, as the afikomen is the last thing eaten. The Lord's Supper in the earliest Christian churches was celebrated at the end of a communal meal, after they gathered for assembly. Hence the eating of bread (and wine) at the end of the meal from which the afikomen ritual may have come.)
The joyous feasting gives us the feeling of human fellowship in harmony with God.
11.Tzafun— Dessert
Now the afikomen. Parents hid the afikoman (burial) when it was first put aside and now they let the children look for it during or after the meal to win a prize. (This is the resurrection.) Break the afikomen into small pieces to hand out and eat it. (This is my body which is broken for you. When Jesus gave the bread at the end of His last Seder, He instituted the Lord's supper by adding the bread at this point in the Seder, which did not exist at that time. Now the Jews celebrate that with the addition of the afikomen where Jesus added it.)
12.Barekh— Grace After Meals (Prayer - blessing the communion, is usually said before distributing it.)
This is the usual “bentschen,” grace after meals, including, of course, thankfulness for the Passover holiday. Fill the 3rd cup before this grace and drink the third cup at its conclusion, with the usual “bore p’ri hagafen” blessing. The Cup of Redemption. (This is my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Our redemption.)
At this point in the Seder, we open the door for Elijah, who by tradition (actually it is by Scripture) is the forerunner of the Messiah, the harbinger of hope. Sing “Eliyahu Ha-navi.”(Looking for the Second Coming and Day of the Lord [which is preceded by the appearance of “Elijah,” one of the two witnesses in Revelation]. Maranatha)
13.Hallel— Psalms of Praise Psalms 115-118
The rest of the evening is given over to hymns and songs. The Hallel is completed, and all join in singing songs: Adir Hu, Had Gadya, etc. Drink the 4th cup of wine. The Cup of Hope (Hope of the millennial kingdom of God. Jesus did not drink this last cup. He said after the third cup (communion cup) that He would not drink of the wine again [this cup] until He would drink it with us in the millennial kingdom – at the marriage supper of the Lamb)
14.Nirtzah— Conclusion
With the traditional formula, the Seder is concluded, and the we sing L’Shana HaBa’ah B’Y’rushalayim [Next Year in Jerusalem] (Finally all Israel will be saved and in the land and have their Messiah reigning).
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