I’m a Gentile Believer, a devoted mother of five wonderful children, and the wife of an amazing husband. Nature, gardening, and dance bring joy and inspiration to my life. In my spare time, I play the piano, care for my garden, or study the Bible in Hebrew. And I’ll drop just about anything for a game of cards.
My unwavering quest for a genuine relationship with the God of the Bible has driven me to delve deeply into His Word, which guides my journey and shapes my life's path. This exploration, combined with dedication to living out my faith, is at the heart of my writing. I seek to share my insights and discoveries with readers, encouraging them to embark on their own spiritual journeys.
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There’s a rhythm woven into Scripture that many of us have overlooked for years. It’s a rhythm of work and rest, of preparation and peace, of setting aside time that belongs wholly to God. That rhythm includes the Sabbath.
For a long time, I knew the Sabbath was in the Bible. I knew it was one of the Ten Commandments. But I didn’t really know what it looked like to live it out in my home, especially with a busy family, young children, and a full schedule. It felt beautiful in theory, but overwhelming in practice.
This little book was born out of real life. Not perfection, but a desire to honor God in a way that is both Biblical and doable for families.
What This Book Is (and Isn’t)
This isn’t a formal or complicated prayer book.
It’s a simple, structured guide to help you bring in Shabbat around your own table, with warmth, meaning, and participation for the whole family.
Inside, you’ll find:
Candle lighting and blessings
Blessings over your children
The Aaronic Blessing
Eshet Chayil (a beautiful blessing over women)
Vayechulu and V’shamru
Kiddush (blessing over the wine)
HaMotzi (blessing over the bread)
Words of Yeshua about the Sabbath
Hebrew, English, and transliteration throughout
A reader format so everyone can participate
It’s designed to be used, not performed.
Why Shabbat Matters
The Sabbath isn’t just about stopping work.
It’s about remembering.
Remembering who God is. Remembering who we are to Him. Remembering that we are not sustained by striving, but by His faithfulness.
Scripture tells us both to remember the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8) and to keep it (Deuteronomy 5:12). These two ideas, zachor and shamor, capture something beautiful. We don’t just think about the Sabbath. We step into it.
We prepare ahead of time. We slow down. We make space for what matters most. And in doing so, we begin to experience the Sabbath not as a restriction, but as a gift.
A Messianic Perspective
This guide is rooted in Scripture and centered on Yeshua.
When Yeshua said, “The Sabbath was made for man,” He reminded us that this day was created for our good, for rest, for healing, and for joy.
Shabbat also points forward. Each week becomes a small rehearsal of the greater rest to come, the restoration God is bringing through Messiah.
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Sometime between Passover and Shavuot, many people “count the omer.” While that may sound complicated, it merely means counting each of the 50 days until Shavuot.
But why count? Can’t we just look at our calendars to see when Shavuot is? What should we be doing while we’re counting the days? Most importantly, what’s the significance of this command? Exactly what is God teaching us through the process of counting? To answer these questions, let’s first look at the omer count and where it came from.
What’s an Omer?
Literally speaking, an omer is a sheaf or bundle of grain. In this case, the grains referred to are barley and wheat. It’s also a unit of measure: 1/10 of an ephah equals about 2-1/2 quarts. In Exodus, an omer is the amount of manna God provided each Israelite each day in the desert.
The Command
In Leviticus 23, God lays out the way of life He desires for His newly freed people. After He covers the instructions for the Tabernacle and the priests, God tells the people what to celebrate, when, and how.
He gives instructions on observing the Sabbath and the seven Feasts—Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. We find the command to count between the instructions for First Fruits and Shavuot.
You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD.
Lev. 23:16
The command to count the omer follows the command for the Festival of First Fruits. After Passover and during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the countdown to Shavuot begins on the day of First Fruits. It may seem random that God would connect these Feasts, but it’s not because they’re directly connected. Here’s a small summary of these spring Festivals in the order they occur on the calendar and are listed in Leviticus 23.
Passover
In the celebrationof Passover, the Hebrew people were to remember God rescuing them from their captivity in Egypt, as well as the provision of the Passover lamb whose blood covered them, protecting them from the plague of the firstborn brought upon Egypt.
At Passover, celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Nissan, we remember what God has done for us, both in supernaturally rescuing the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and from our sin through Jesus. The blood of the Passover lamb caused God to overlook those covered by it in the plague of the firstborn. In somewhat the same way, the blood of Jesus, our Passover lamb, covers our sin and allows our unholy selves to have access to God.
Not literally a “feast,” this is a time of living without the leaven (yeast) that we normally do—both in our homes and our diets. God told His people to go without leaven for seven days, starting the day just after Passover.
Leaven is often used to symbolize sin in the Bible, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread effectively portrays sin in our lives. It’s not only everywhere in our diets and homes; it’s difficult to get completely cleaned out and uncomfortable to live without, just like sin. There are little “crumbs” of sin all over our lives—some we don’t want to get rid of for various reasons, and some we aren’t even aware of!
But this points us right to Jesus! He covers the sins we can’t and gives grace for even the whole “loaves” of sin we must throw in the trash. We have him to thank for allowing us to sleep at night even though there are sins we may not even be aware of in our lives.
To summarize the command for First Fruits, God tells the Hebrew people not to eat any new barley that ripens first until they have given their offering. They’re to take a sheaf (omer) of it to the priest at the Tabernacle, along with a defect-free male lamb and wine as offerings. Having no Tabernacle or Temple today, we cannot obey this command.
However, it’s traditionally thought that the day of First Fruits is the day that Jesus rose from the dead, and that’s really something to celebrate! It’s also a day on which we can remember the First Fruits offering and focus on always giving our first and best to God.
God told the Hebrew people to bring bread baked with the flour of the wheat harvest, including twice as much as the First Fruits offering, two omers. If First Fruits is to bring the very first part of the harvest as an offering out of faith that more will be provided, Shavuot is to bring another offering, this time out of the abundance of the later harvest, 50 days later.
For thousands of years, God’s people have celebrated Shavuot, when God gave His Law to the Hebrew people on Mt. Sinai. As newly freed people, they were privileged to be given a way of life that pleased their God and set them apart from the surrounding people as His chosen. In Acts, Shavuot was what the apostles were celebrating when the Holy Spirit was given to them.
During Shavuot, we remember God’s provision, not looking forward to it in faith as we did on First Fruits, but showing our gratefulness for what’s been given.
The Connection
The Spring Feast Days tell the story of our redemption. Passover reminds us of the Lamb’s blood that covers and saves us. Unleavened Bread symbolizes why we need our Savior, and First Fruits is when we look forward to God’s provision! Shavuot then celebrates God providing His rescued people with the way to live through His Laws on our hearts and through His Spirit.
Since counting the omer is from First Fruits to Shavuot, it’s helpful to see the connection between them. At First Fruits, we look forward in faith, and at Shavuot, we celebrate God’s faithfulness and provision.
During the 50-day counting period, we focus on maturing in righteousness—not to obtain salvation but to live as people belonging to people and worthy of being indwelt by His Spirit. It should be a time of cleansing our hearts to prepare them for the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us as people of God.
The number 50 in the Bible represents liberation. Each 50th year was to be the year of Jubilee, where slaves were set free, and the land was returned to its original owner. The word “Pentecost” means 50 and is the name of the Christian holiday celebrating God’s giving of the Holy Spirit.
A Time for Growth
If we focus on the Holy Days, the Hebrew people went from being slaves to Mount Sinai, where God made His covenant with them. In the same way, Jesus was crucified during Passover, raised on First Fruits, and then 50 days passed until the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles. On that Shavuot, a New Covenant was made, as God has now written His Laws on the hearts of His people.
Our Spiritual growth is the same. In the “Passover” season of our lives, we accept Jesus as our Passover Lamb. The Unleavened Bread portion of our faith is where we genuinely repent and continually try to align our lives with God’s desires. Out of our growing faith, we then celebrate that Jesus has risen and his victory over death. As our faith matures, we Christians move toward a place where the Holy Spirit can live inside us, enabling us to follow His Laws and do His work on Earth.
At the beginning of the Counting of the Omer, we’ve just experienced the celebration of Passover. We remembered what God did for the Hebrew people and us. We also observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where we took inventory of our lives, repented, and worked diligently to ensure there wasn’t a mess of sin left that God wouldn’t want there.
Then we arrive at the Feast of First Fruits, where we remember that we give God the best of what we have out of faith. We step forward by putting our faith in God to provide for us in the future. On Shavuot, He will provide His Law and write it on our hearts through His Spirit.
Ready for the Spirit
During the time between First Fruits and Shavuot, we grow in our faith so that we’re ready to have God’s Spirit inhabit us. As Christians, His Spirit already lives in our hearts, so this time of counting allows us to refocus on our faith and ensure that we’re growing in maturity as we should throughout our walk. Starting at Passover, we focus on moving from slaves to free people dedicated to God and in His service.
The Counting of the Omer reminds us daily that God not only deserves our best and is worthy of our faith in Him but that He provides for us at the count’s completion and always! While we count, we examine our hearts and our faith to see if they’re worthy of the Holy Spirit we’ve been given. Spoiler alert: They’re not. But as Jesus covers the sin remaining in our hearts, we do our best to make sure there’s less and less as we grow and continually align our hearts to what God wants in our lives.
Since God has a purpose for all He does, when He told the Hebrew people to simply count, He knew they needed to do that for some reason. It’s the same thing with us. Counting focuses us on the symbolism and lessons of the surrounding Feast Days. It reminds us that God is faithful. He’s provided all we need in the past and will in the future. Counting the Omer is a time of strengthening our faith.
What to Do During the Count
However, humans are doers, so being given an activity like counting over 50 days seems ambiguous. I know that it’s a time to examine my faith and growth in righteousness, but I can’t help but wonder what we DO during this time. In Orthodox Judaism, a blessing is said each evening of the count, as well as the number of the day and the week. Some also focus on different attributes of God throughout the count.
Here are a few things that will get your heart and mind in the right place for this time of counting and prepare you for the celebration of Shavuot.
Count, Of Course!
One way to take this command literally is to cross off each day on a calendar or omer counter made just for this purpose. I’ve used this one from torahcalendar.com, but there are many available! Here are some, and there’s even a LEGO Omer Counter that they’ll love!
2. Communicate with God
Wait. That doesn’t sound out of the ordinary at all! It shouldn’t be, but you and I both know that most of us allow things to creep into our daily schedules that threaten our time with God, which should be a priority. Prayer and studying God’s Word often go by the wayside when other things are put first.
During this time of counting, make it a high priority to be in constant conversation with God. Be humble and honest so you can hear what He says – even those things you’d rather not! During times of self-examination, I find it helpful to pray the following verse.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Psalm 139:23-24
Share the Count
During the Counting of the Omer, the Jewish people say a blessing each evening of the count, along with stating the day and week number. This blessing clarifies that each day has been counted and that God is getting the glory.
However you observe the omer count, don’t keep it to yourself! Include your family and your children and encourage them to grow in their faith during this time. And, as with everything you do, make sure God gets all the glory!
Part of the reason for the count is to look forward to the giving of God’s Law on Sinai and the Holy Spirit to the apostles. This makes preparing for Shavuot a very appropriate activity during the count. Make a plan of how you and your family will celebrate Shavuot and what supplies you’ll need. Read the stories of the giving of the Law and the Holy Spirit in Exodus 19 and Acts 1, respectively.
Thank God for His perfect Laws and for the Spirit that allows those Laws to be written on our hearts. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you specifically which of His Laws you need to work on. Soften your heart so you can hear His answer.
The Counting of the Omer is an important time for Believers to grow in their faith and cleanse themselves spiritually. It’s a time for us to respond to the faithfulness and provision God has lavished upon all of us.
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Are Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread the same thing? Although many think they are, they’re described as two separate Feasts in the Bible. The Feast of Unleavened Bread follows right after Passover, though the two events overlap, as I’ll explain below.
Both Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are meaningful celebrations for Christians as we explore our roots and grow in our faith. Our Savior and what he’s done for us can be clearly symbolized through both of these Feasts, and if they’re not yet traditions in your home, I highly recommend you consider adopting them! They give such vivid pictures of who Jesus is and why we need him!
While often referred to as such, Passover isn’t a week or even a
day, but a meal held on the 14th day of the month of Nisan on the Hebrew
calendar. This corresponds to a date in
March or April on our Gregorian calendar.
Although the original command can’t be kept since it includes the
sacrifice of the Passover lamb at the Temple, an annual celebration allows us
to remember what God did for His people in Egypt.
The meal for Passover, called a Seder, isn’t merely to nourish those who partake, but to serve as a memorial to what God did for His people in the Exodus from Egypt. It’s to be eaten on the 14th day of the month of Nisan, at twilight. It’s important to note here that days on the Hebrew calendar start at twilight the night before.
The Passover lamb in Egypt foreshadows Jesus, our Passover Lamb, and this is clearly shown during the Seder. Just as the blood of the Passover Lamb rescued the Hebrew people from slavery, it’s the blood of Jesus that saves us from the slavery of our sin as well.
Unleavened Bread
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is to start on the 15th day of Nisan, the same month as Passover, at twilight. This is a 7-day feast, and the first and last days are to be Sabbaths. These Sabbaths differ from the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) and may occur on any day of the week. Which day of the week they’re on changes from year to year, but no matter what day they occur on, the same rules apply as for the weekly Sabbath – rest and keeping the day holy.
The command for this feast says to eat unleavened bread for seven
days and to remove all leaven from your homes before the feast begins (this is
the period where the Feast of Unleavened Bread overlaps Passover). In our home, we get rid of anything leavened
as well as any leavening agents. For the
rest of the 7-day period, all meals and snacks don’t contain any leavening
agents or leavened products.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread gives those who participate in it
such a great picture of the sin in our lives!
The Bible often uses “yeast” or “leaven” to signify sin. In the process of cleaning it out of our
homes, we realize very quickly how difficult it is to find and remove it
all. There are crumbs in the corners of
our pantries and even under our refrigerators.
In a house like mine, with seven people, is it even possible to get it
all?
But this is the part of this feast that points us right to
Jesus. When we see how difficult it is to
get all the leaven out of our homes, we realize just how difficult it is to get
the sin out of our lives. It’s easy to
find the obvious loaves of bread in the pantry but you have to really hunt for
the Cheerios between the couch cushions (those of you who have toddlers
understand. The rest of you stay with me
on this). In the same way, it’s easier
to get the big, obvious sins out of our lives, but more difficult to get the hidden,
seemingly small ones out before they fester.
Even though we can’t get all of the sin out of our lives, we have Jesus to cover them all. Though we should still strive to live in a way that pleases God, if we believe in Jesus as our Savior, he even forgives the sins we’d rather leave in the dark places under the fridge. Even if the “home” of our life is sparkling clean, chances are that there’s some leaven hiding somewhere.
This is why we need Jesus!
He’s the only one capable of perfectly cleaning the “homes” of our
lives, which allows us to have a relationship with a holy God. What a wonderful picture!
Just like all of the Seven Biblical Feast Days, Passover and Unleavened Bread both point to our Savior in different but clear ways. My family’s faith has grown so much since we included these important days or “Appointed Times” in the Bible. If they aren’t yet traditions in your home, I encourage you to include them, and I’m sure you’ll be glad you did!
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For years, I pieced together our family Passover Seder… so I finally wrote the Haggadah I wish I had all along – Scripture-based, family-friendly, and centered on Jesus, our Passover Lamb.
For years, Passover has been one of the most meaningful celebrations in our home.
Not because it’s elaborate or perfectly done, but because it gives us a way to slow down and tell the story of what God has done, together, as a family.
We gather around the table, read Scripture, ask questions, dip parsley, and remember. And every year, I’m reminded how intentional God was when He told His people to celebrate Passover, not just to remember, but to teach their children. As the mother of five kids, this really resonates with me.
Over time, I found myself piecing things together, pulling from different resources, rewriting parts so my kids could understand, and trying to balance honoring the traditional elements while clearly pointing to Jesus as our Passover Lamb.
A Seder Designed for Real Families
This Haggadah was written with real families in mind: kids at the table, questions constant, and things not always going as planned.
It’s designed for participation, not observation. With a leader, multiple readers, and shared responses, everyone at the table is part of telling the story.
This Haggadah is:
Rooted in Scripture
Faithful to the Passover story
Clearly centered on Messiah
Simple enough to actually use in a family setting
Why This Matters
Passover brings us back to the table, to Scripture, and to the story of a God who rescues, redeems, and keeps His promises. And it miraculously points us to Jesus.
If you’ve ever wanted to celebrate Passover at home but felt unsure where to start, I hope this Haggadah makes it simple, meaningful, and something your family returns to year after year as they tell the story.
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As many followers of Jesus are realizing how important the Biblical Holy Days are to our faith, we look to Passover to remind us of the lamb. This Holy Day reminds us of both the lamb whose blood was spilled to save the Hebrew people from the plague of the firstborn in Egypt and of Jesus, whose blood saved all people from their destruction due to sin.
Passover also serves as a reminder that we were all once slaves
in our sin and that Jesus, our Passover Lamb, freed us from that slavery in his
death on the cross. Jesus also tells us
that he’ll celebrate the Passover with us again in the future (Mark 14:24-25
and Luke 22:15-16)!
Check out my calendar for the upcoming Passover dates. Here are the main elements and supplies you’ll need to host a Passover Seder in your home, church, or other group.
1. Haggadah
This is just a booklet, one for each participant, that leads everyone through the Seder. In recent years, I’ve found more and more Haggadahs that are Messianic. This means they’ll focus on and incorporate the concepts of Jesus throughout the Seder. A Haggadah from a Jewish source (not Messianic Jewish) will cover the themes of the Passover, just without reference to Jesus. Here are a few different ones.
The first part of a Passover Seder is the washing of hands,
signifying a clean and pure heart before God.
Although we wash our hands for other meals, doing it in this way sets
this time apart and puts our focus where it belongs. While not traditional, I’ve heard of some
that use this time to wash one another’s feet like Jesus washed his disciples’
feet, which would be a beautiful way to start a Seder!
3. Seder Plate
A Seder Plate is specifically made to display the elements of the
Seder. Another large plate could also be
used or individual plates for each participant could be used as well. They’re typically an attractive piece to add
to your table but there are also disposable Seder Plates as well as those made
for children with kid-friendly designs on them.
Many have a place for a roasted egg, which has various
meanings. While some say it represents
renewal and new life, others say it’s a symbol of mourning the destroyed
Temple, and still others use it as a representation of the Temple pilgrimage or
festival sacrifice. My family doesn’t
use the egg in our Seder but you have to determine whether it has a meaningful
place in yours.
There are so many choices out there for Seder plates but here are a few to start with.
Matzah is basically a large cracker and serves as the unleavened
bread during the Seder. The bread being
unleavened is important because it reminds us of the Passover story. The Hebrew people had to flee Egypt quickly,
without time to allow their bread to be naturally leavened. Leaven, or yeast, also signifies sin in the
Bible. Eating bread without yeast
reminds us both that we’re to be sinless before God and that Jesus, being
himself sinless, paid for our sin on the cross, allowing us to be acceptable before
God.
You’ll need about 5 pieces per participant at your Seder. Most come in packages of about 10 pieces. You may be able to get it at a local grocery store but here are some you can order online as well.
5. Matzah Cover or Napkin
To wrap 3 of the matzah pieces in for use during the Seder. One of these pieces will be broken and remind us of
when Jesus was broken for our sin. After
this, some people hide the larger piece, called the Afikomen, and have the
children search for it later, which is reminiscent of Jesus’s burial and
resurrection.
You can use a napkin or a matzah cover made just for this purpose. Here are a few beautiful matzah covers.
Used to symbolize the bitterness of slavery (both the Hebrews
enslaved by the Egyptians and us previously enslaved by sin), these are dipped
in salt water during the Seder. We use
parsley or celery as our bitter herbs. Whatever
you choose to use, you’ll need 1 piece for each participant.
7. Dish(es) of Salt Water
Dissolve enough salt into water to make it taste noticeably salty. There can be a small dish of salt water for each person or a shared dish. The bitter herbs will be dipped into this solution during the Seder to represent the tears of both the Hebrew slaves in Egypt and our tears as we were slaves to sin prior to accepting Jesus
8. Charoset
Charoset is the sweet and tasty mixture of apples, nuts, and juice that is used during the Seder to remind us of the brick mortar the Hebrew slaves had to use to build for the Egyptians. Here’s the link to the Charoset recipe I use. You’ll need about 1/2 cup per participant.
9. Shank Bone
A lamb shank is traditionally used here and you’ll need 1 per Seder
Plate. To simplify, we’ve used a
drumstick and made sure to discuss the significance of the animal sacrificed
being a lamb.
10. Horseradish
This is another of the bitter herbs but is used differently during the Seder. You’ll need about 1 tablespoon per participant, depending on how much spice your family or guests can tolerate. While it can be found at your local grocery store, here are a couple online options.
Whether you use wine or juice is up to you but whichever you use,
have enough for every participant to have at least 4 glasses or cups. Seders often take many hours but if 4 glasses
of wine seems like a lot or if you’re planning on a shorter Seder, use very
small cups or just have participants take a drink in place of each of the four
cups in the Seder.
Not included in the Seder itself, this is to eat together afterward.
The meal can consist of whatever you choose but should be something everyone
will love since this is a day for celebration!
Traditionally, this is a pork- and yeast-free meal.
Now what you know what you need for your Seder, start preparations ahead of time. The most important preparation, however, is your heart. Pray about your Seder and that those participating will have open hearts to what God wants to teach them through it. Go over the story of the Passover and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what parts to highlight. Going through the motions of a Seder (or anything, really) is a waste so make sure the focus stays on God and that He gets the glory!
Rose Publishing makes a pamphlet called “Christ in the Passover” that will really help as you and your friends and family prepare for Passover. It’s a great resource!
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The celebration of Passover is such a valuable tradition for Christians! When planning your Passover Seder, a Haggadah is necessary, as it’s the booklet allowing each participant to follow along as the Seder proceeds. I’ve been asked which Haggadah I recommend for Christians exploring the Hebrew Roots of their faith so I decided to put my list of recommendations all in one place to help others out there who are looking for one.
The word Haggadah means “the telling”. It’s usually a booklet that both gives a background on Passover and leads participants through a Passover Seder meal. Although most Haggadahs are made by and for Jewish people, there are now numerous options for Christians as well, as many are making Passover a tradition in their families and churches.
I’m obviously partial to this one because I wrote it! I needed a Haggadah that included all we wanted to teach my family at our Passover Seder so I created one and published it to share with others. It’s made to be interactive and explanatory, inviting every participant to have a role. It’s just what we needed—Scripture-based, family-friendly, and highlights Jesus, our Passover Lamb.
This one has been a favorite of my audience for years. It’s very commonly used by Believers and is highly rated. The theme throughout is redemption. It includes songs to sing during your Seder and uses the Complete Jewish Bible as the translation for quoted verses.
This is a free download from Chosen People Ministries. It can be used for either (Messianic) Jewish or Christian participants and focuses on the deliverance and redemption
This is another favorite of Christians who celebrate Passover. Made with first-timers in mind, this pamphlet leads the reader through a Passover Seder and also explains the symbolism of each element. It’s focused on teaching the connections between the Passover and Jesus’s sacrifice and how a Passover Seder reminds us of both of these.
One of my family’s favorites, this Haggadah is written by Matthew Van Els of Founded in Truth Ministries. We’ve used this one for two of our Seders and found it such a great way to lead them. It is deep enough to spiritually lead the adults through it but clear and simple enough for the children to follow as well.
By Rabbi Jason Sobel, author of Mysteries of the Messiah, this Hagaddah walks you through the seder with the goal of having all participants grow closer to Jesus. It’s easy to follow even with little previous seder experience and has explanations for each step.
Written and published by First Fruits of Zion, this is a beginner and Christian-friendly book to guide your family or even a large group through a Passover Seder.
Focusing on explanation and clarification of Passover and the elements of a Seder, this Haggadah is easy to follow and will lead both beginner and experienced participants. The author, Darren Huckey, is the director of Emet HaTorah.
This simple guide is useful for beginners, easy to follow, and can be used for a short Seder and for more advanced participants as well. This one has a Kindle version to download into your most convenient device in addition to the booklet form.
This non-traditional Haggadah boasts that it tells the Passover story through scripture. It’s a unique way to re-tell the story and celebrate Jesus, our Passover Lamb. This one includes Matzah recipes and an interactive craft for kids!
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Passover is a very significant event for Believers. As followers of Jesus, we desire both to walk in his footsteps and to celebrate the sacrifice he made for us. A Passover Seder (traditional “meal” in which the story of Passover is told) is a wonderful tradition in which Christians can both remember God’s faithfulness and celebrate our Savior!
Note: If you’re not familiar with the story of the Passover in the Bible, I recommend you review it, as this article and the celebration of Passover are based on it. The story of the Passover is found in Exodus, chapters 3-15. Here’s a Quick Overview of the Passover Story, but please read the real story in the Bible when you get a quiet moment. It’s amazing!
Here are some of the reasons the celebration of Passover is beneficial to our Christian Faith.
Just like the Hebrew people were enslaved by the Egyptians, we
all were once slaves to our sin. Romans
6:6 highlights this parallel.
“…our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin…”
But like the Hebrew slaves, God sent a savior for us. For them, the blood of the Passover lamb saved them from the last plague, the death of the firstborn. This foreshadowed Jesus’s blood saving us from our sins. John the Baptist recognized that Jesus would fulfill this role for us.
“…he [John] saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
During a Passover Seder, we have two lambs to celebrate. We both remember the lambs whose blood saved
the Hebrew people and Jesus, the Lamb who gave his blood to save us.
The timing of Jesus’s crucifixion also shows us why he came and was crucified. His being crucified during Passover was no coincidence. God shows us through this that he truly is our Passover Lamb whose blood is worthy to take away punishment for the sin of all!
Although much of the Passover Seder points to Jesus, a very interesting part is what’s known as the afikomen. The word means “the coming one,” and it’s the name for the middle piece of matzah (unleavened bread) in a group of three set-aside pieces.
This matzah piece is then broken, wrapped in cloth, hidden, and then found again. When doing this, we remember that Jesus was broken when crucified, wrapped, buried, and rose again! Read this last sentence again if you’re not awestruck by the parallel in this tradition!
Purging the Leaven
Prior to Passover comes one of the best ways I can think of to picture sin and its effect on our lives. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15), which occurs during Passover, is when we not only eat bread without yeast or leaven but also clean the leaven out of our homes entirely!
If you’ve never done this before, let me tell you—it’s difficult, especially if you have a bunch of little people living in your house like I do, who tend to leave crumbs everywhere!
The Bible often uses yeast or
leaven to signify sin. Here’s an
example.
“…Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of
dough? Clean out the old leaven so
that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For
Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the
leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth.” 1 Cor. 5:6-8
Here, Paul tells the Corinthian people that sin spreads. Even a little bit of sin will spread
throughout a family, church, community, etc., just as it takes just a bit of
yeast to leaven a whole lump of dough.
When you try to clean every bit of the leaven from your entire home, you
realize just how hard it is – and that you can never get it all!
This is just like our sin. We come before a perfect God, desiring to be accepted by Him, but we’ve got sin tucked in all the nooks and crannies of our lives. This is why we can be so grateful for Jesus! He covers all of our sin, even the dirty nooks and crannies, so we can appear before God as clean and acceptable!
Jesus Himself Participated
The story of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem is celebrated by Christians on Palm Sunday. This is when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people laid palm branches in his path and waved them, saying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!”.
Why was Jesus headed into Jerusalem that day? To celebrate the Passover! This can be found in all four Gospel books in
the New Testament. It was during their
Passover Seder that Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and instituted
communion. In three of the four Gospels,
he even said that he’d celebrate Passover again with us someday!
A seder plate.
As believers in Jesus, we have the common goal of being more like
Jesus. In celebrating Passover, we’re
not only walking in his footsteps but also practicing and preparing for a
Passover feast with Jesus himself one day!
Wow!
God Tells Us to Remember
Obedience – a Result of Salvation
God’s people want to please and obey Him. We obey not to try to earn our salvation but because we have a God who knows our needs intimately enough to have provided us with a Savior. It’s out of that same love that God provided us with many commands in the Bible. Being our creator, He knows what’s best for us and has shown us how to live.
So, one wonderful reason to celebrate Passover is because God told us to! He knows that it’s in our best interest and that our celebration can bring glory to Him!
The Command
The command to celebrate Passover
is found in many places throughout the Bible.
We know that the most important or notable things in the Bible are
repeated. God must have placed high
importance on the annual celebration of Passover because the command is
repeated many times!
Passover is to be observed on the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) at twilight. It should also be noted that many of the places Passover is commanded specify that it’s to be done forever – not just while wandering in the desert, not just until that generation was gone, and not just until Jesus comes. Forever. Throughout all generations.
Speaking of generations, some of these commands come with an explanation that we’re to teach our children about Passover and answer their questions about God by recounting the Passover story to them. What an effective way to teach them who God is!
The command to observe Passover includes the sacrifice of the Passover lamb at the Temple. Since we currently have no Temple that we have access to for this, we unfortunately can’t fully obey this command. We can, however, obey God when He said to remember when God rescued His people from Egypt. We can also obey Him in teaching our children what God did and who He is through the Passover story.
When we have a Passover Seder, we do just that. We remember what God did for the Hebrew people as well as what God did for us when He sent Jesus to die to atone for our sins. The Bible doesn’t mention a seder, but it does tell us to recall the events of the Passover to our children to teach them about God (Ex. 12:25-27). The seder serves to do just that – to remember what God did and to teach our children so generations after us don’t forget who God is and what He does for His people.
Here’s a list of the verses in the Bible that include a command to observe Passover:
We read and study the Bible not for our own intellectual
advancement but to get to know God. As
we see Him interact with His people throughout the Bible, we can learn His
character. It’s in learning who He is
that we can develop a relationship with Him.
The story of Passover is just one example.
God explains more fully why Passover shows us who He is.
“Then I will
take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am
the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the
Egyptians.” Ex. 6:7
God used His supernatural power to free His people from slavery to show them that they were His people, He was their God, and He was faithful to them. Every year, He wants us to retell the story to our children and remember it ourselves so that we know that the Creator of the universe, the one who freed His people from the Egyptians, will be our God. We will be His people, and He will be forever faithful!
If you’re planning a Passover Seder, check out my calendar for the dates. It’s on this list as an 8-day celebration, like it will be on most calendars but the Seder is traditionally held on the second day. The date of Passover stays the same on the Hebrew calendar but changes yearly on our Gregorian calendar.
If you’re new to the concept of a Gospel-centered Passover, the book Christ in the Passover by Ceil and Moishe Rosen and Jews for Jesus will further explain the themes I touched on here.
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Does God really care that much whether we keep the Sabbath? What difference does taking a day off work make? Couldn’t we take a vacation for rest or worship Him at any convenient time?
A basic rule of Bible study is to pay special attention to the things God repeats in His Word. The concept of the Sabbath is repeated numerous times, beginning at the very beginning when God rested after the creation of our universe. Sabbath keeping is worded as a command 27 times, and there are many other places where it is discussed further. It’s not only one of the Ten Commandments; God also calls it a sign of the covenant between Him and His people forever!
I want to point out that I know the subject of the Sabbath creates some division among Christians. There are Godly Christ-followers on both sides of the Sabbath conversation, and many have strong feelings about it. I’ll present here the conclusion my family has reached in our pursuit of God’s will in our lives, and I hope these words will fall on open ears and hearts, no matter your beliefs on the issue. Like every other aspect of the life of a believer, we must take our questions to God and His Word and use our discernment through the Holy Spirit to decide what we do and do not do.
That one’s pretty simple. Remember it and keep it holy. Got it.
Then it gets more serious.
Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of complete rest to the Lord; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
While we don’t put those who ignore the Sabbath to death, these verses make it obvious how God feels about it. Besides being commanded by God, violating the Sabbath carried a stiff punishment in Old Testament times.
Looking at what God says about the Sabbath through His prophet Ezekiel (Ez. 20-23) is even more sobering. He considered wiping out the entire nation of Israel for profaning the Sabbath and rejecting God’s other ordinances. Yikes!
But why does He care so much? Why does my taking a day off of work – or not – make any difference to God?
The Sign of the Covenant
The Sabbath isn’t just a day of rest. It’s a sign that we belong to God.
I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
God created all people, and many claim to belong to Him, but He clarifies in His Word that keeping the Sabbath is the sign that we acknowledge that He’s our God and we’re His people.
I’ve heard baptism metaphorically explained like a wedding ring. Accepting Jesus as your Savior seals your place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Baptism is your outward expression of that decision to the world, just as the wedding is what makes you married, but the ring is how you show that decision to the public.
The Sabbath is much the same. When we accept Jesus, we belong to God. He is our God, and we are His people. Keeping the Sabbath is the external signal to God, the world, and ourselves that we’ve made that decision. Ignoring the Sabbath is like keeping our relationship with God a secret. We may indeed be His people, but we’re unwilling to expose that to the public in the action of observing the Sabbath.
I want to make this part very clear. Keeping the Sabbath doesn’t save us! Belief in Jesus as the only sacrifice for our sin does (Rom. 10:9-10). However, when we fail to keep the Sabbath, we give up the opportunity to show God and those around us who we belong to. That’s why it’s so serious.
Didn’t Jesus Work on the Sabbath?
Jesus and his disciples gathered grain on the Sabbath as they traveled. While this was permitted by law, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus since he did it on the Sabbath. But gathering grain wasn’t against any biblical command concerning the Sabbath. Not gathering grain was a Rabbinical addition to God’s command. When asked about this, Jesus didn’t say, “I’m here now, so the Sabbath is no longer relevant.” Although this would have been the perfect time to point out that we no longer needed to keep the Sabbath, he instead tried to teach them what God says about mercy (Matt. 12:1-8).
Did Jesus’s Crucifixion and
Resurrection Nullify the Sabbath?
Nowhere in his recorded words does Jesus say to stop keeping the Sabbath – before or after his resurrection. In fact, Jesus says that he came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17). He clarified that the Law isn’t gone because of his arrival on Earth or his work on the cross. He’s the Messiah, the one who kept every one of the commands in the Torah – The Holy Days, the 10 Commandments, eating a Kosher diet, Keeping the Sabbath, all of it. We could say he just did those things because he was born of Jewish heritage, but remember that it was his perfect keeping of these “Jewish” laws that made him the only one on Earth throughout history that qualified as a sacrifice for the sin of all. Let that sink in.
The Sabbath is Forever
If the Sabbath was meant to be temporary, why didn’t God say that? Sabbath-keeping was such a big deal in both the Old Testament and among the Messianic Jews who made up the early church; why didn’t God clarify that it was no longer necessary?
Exodus 31:16, Leviticus 16:31, and 24:8 all say that the Sabbath is permanent. It doesn’t say that it will be abolished when the Messiah comes or that it’s only necessary during the wandering in the desert or while the Temple is standing. It’s forever—throughout all generations of God’s people.
The Ten Commandments, including the fourth—the one about the Sabbath—were given to the Hebrew people, later called the people of Israel. In other places, such as Isaiah 56, it was stated that foreigners would receive blessings from keeping the commands of God—the Sabbath and others. Exodus 20:10 says that even a sojourner staying with a Hebrew should observe the Sabbath with the rest of the household.
Unless you’re Jewish by heritage, you’re a Gentile and cannot change that by obeying the commands God gave to Israel. However, the apostle Paul lays out how we’re grafted in to the promises God gave Israel through our faith in Jesus. It’s important to realize that, because of this, the promises, commands, and blessings God gave to Israel are now extended to us as well.
For All God’s Creation
The Sabbath is not only for people everywhere but also for other parts of God’s creation. He commands that the land and livestock should also have a Sabbath. Many places say this, and here are a couple.
but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
We all know why it’s essential for humans and even animals to rest, but God also sees benefit in the land itself taking a break from its job of producing.
But it’s not just creation that takes a Sabbath. We can look back at Genesis to remind us that even the Creator Himself took a Sabbath after His miraculous creation work. Chapter 2 tells us that that’s when He blessed the day, making it holy, as only God can do.
You may be feeling awkward right now if you learned something new about the Sabbath or have recently been convicted of not keeping it God’s way like I was. Don’t throw in the towel, though. Just because those around you don’t keep the Sabbath or think it’s optional or unimportant to God doesn’t mean you have to follow their path. Even if you’ve never kept the Sabbath, here are a few things to set you on your way to a peaceful and God-pleasing one.
Consult God.
While we know this should be where we start in any step we take in our faith walk, we sometimes forget it. Ask God what He wants for you and your family regarding the Sabbath. Be ready to hear His answer, even if it may not be what you were expecting. Dig into His Word to see what He has to say about the Sabbath, and ask Him to show you what that should look like in your life.
Get started.
When our family got serious about Sabbath-keeping, it wasn’t easy at first! We had to restructure our whole week to incorporate the Sabbath, and it took a few years to get it right. We’re not perfect at it now, but we regularly have holy, peaceful Sabbaths and continue to learn and grow more toward that each week.
Here’s what my family does on the Sabbath to give you ideas of where to start. Don’t strive toward your expectation of what a Sabbath should look like. Instead, make it a day to grow closer to God, your family, and others. Continually learn and grow in the direction God takes you.
Embrace tradition.
Our family finds it most beneficial to observe a traditional Jewish-type Sabbath. While this may not work for all families, it has given us the focus, discipline, and other tools we needed to make Sabbath-keeping a tradition in our home. Learning about and employing one Sabbath tradition at a time may help everyone adjust.
Keeping the Sabbath doesn’t work well without this one—trust me—I’ve tried! Make a list of things that need to be done ahead of time to ensure the Sabbath is as work-free as possible. Organize that list according to when each item can be done and spread the work over the days of the week. Planning this way will prevent you from trying to squish a week’s worth of chores and cooking into your Friday afternoon, causing you to arrive at the Sabbath worn out and stressed.
The Bible clearly shows that the Sabbath is essential to God and should be to us. Just that should cause us to take our Sabbaths seriously and remember them as God told us to. But Jesus also pointed out that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mk. 2:27). While we do it to show that we belong to God, we also keep the Sabbath because we know we’re all in desperate need of some quality rest – both the kind you get from taking a day off of work and the perfect and eternal peace we can only find in our Savior.
