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Afikomen Means "I Come!"

 

On April 10-18, 2017, the Feast of Passover begin. It celebrates the freeing of the Israelites from their Egyptian overlords, as given in the book of Exodus. Its central theme is liberation from the bondage of pagan, secular rule, Egypt being a type of the world. Its central symbols, the cup and the unleavened bread, speak volumes about Christ's first and second appearances upon the Earth. In this study, we shall see how the interplay of the cups with the bread form an actual prophecy of Christ's Second Coming.

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In particular, the unleavened bread, broken during the observance of the feast, is a beautiful symbol. The broken portion, called by the enigmatic name, afikomen, is particularly meaningful. Later, as we examine it, we shall see why.

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 As we have explained in many past studies, the ancient Passover centered about the slaying of a sacrificial lamb. It was killed and eaten on the night of the first Passover in Egypt – the night that the firstborn of Egypt were killed in the tenth and final plague;

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“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S Passover.

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:11-13).

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The symbolism of the lamb's blood on the doorposts of Israel that night is without a doubt, the most compelling prophecy of the crucified Christ to be found in the Old Testament. The blood of the lamb, first seen in Abel's acceptable sacrifice, can be tracked through the Bible all the way to the book of Revelation. It becomes the New Testament's cup of communion:

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“Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20).

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As Jesus took the fourth and final cup of Passover, He fulfilled the prophecy of Passover's four cups. To the Jews, Passover cups are symbolic of completed redemption. Each of them demonstrates one aspect of redemption. Taken together, they are a complete statement of Israel's final disposition in the Kingdom. But in the hands of Jesus, they also opened the Gospel to the Gentiles.

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The first cup is called “the cup of Sanctification” - “I will bring you out.”

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The second cup is called “the cup of Thanksgiving” - “I will rid you out of their bondage.”

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The third cup is called “the cup of Redemption” - “I will redeem you.”

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The fourth cup is called “the cup of Completion” - “I will take you to me for a people.”

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The titles of the four cups, taken as they are from the Lord's own words in Exodus, are nothing less than a progressive, four-step prophecy of His intentions for Israel. The fourth cup, however, extended redemption beyond the original promises made to the House of David. It became the cup of the New Covenant.

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In the book of Exodus, the Lord announces His plan, originating the titles given to the four cups.

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“Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: “And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. “And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD” (Ex. 6:6-8).

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1.) The Cup and the Bread

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But the blood of sacrifice is only half of the picture. Passover is also centered about the various aspects of unleavened bread. The festival begins with the search for leaven and ceremonially ridding the home of every last trace of it. Then, as the time draws closer for the all-important Passover Seder, the cleansed environment becomes the center for the presentation of the unleavened bread:

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“And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it” (Ex. 12:6-8).

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The unleavened bread, called matzoh by the Jews, is “the bread of affliction,” in Deuteronomy 16:3. For them, it is a symbol of divine providence. On Passover, they ask the question, “Why, on all other nights, may we eat chametz [leaven] and matzoh, but on Passover night, only matzoh?” The traditional answer is that matzoh and chametz represent two completely different perspectives. Chametz represents the natural order of things in the world; matzoh represents the directing, providential hand of God.

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In the festival calendar, Passover is inextricably linked to unleavened bread. In Christianity, the symbolism of unleavened bread is extended, becoming the ultimate statement of God's providence – the body of Christ. As He took the Passover with His disciples, Jesus clearly stated that the matzoh was from that time forward, to be viewed as representing His body. He came in the flesh to an Israel still in bondage under the rule of Herod and the Romans. His body and blood are the actualization of the ancient types seen in the Passover.

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“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28).

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2.) The First Cup: Sanctification

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At the beginning of Passover, the first cup of wine is taken after kiddush (the sanctification of the day) is recited. The word kiddush means “to sanctify,” and can be interpreted as a command, “Sanctify (cleanse) yourself.” It hearkens back to the pre-Messianic ministry of John the Baptist. This was his message to Israel.

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 Interestingly, the ritual begins by recounting the story of the Creation. God is exalted in His majesty and sovereignty. The Passover Haggadah [The Shaar Press Edition is quoted throughout this study.] has the following reading:

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“The sixth day … the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their array. On the seventh day God completed His work, which He had done, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work…. God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it He abstained from all His work which God created to make.”

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Observant Jews are urged to remember that those who deny God's literal creation of the heavens and the Earth see no real purpose in existence. Those who believe in evolution out of some “primordial stew” see the world as the product of some celestial “accident.” In all its rituals, Passover urges its participants to acknowledge that life has purpose and is headed toward a foreordained prophetic outcome.

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These words authoritatively establish an immense concept: the incarnation of Christ took place so that men could also become holy and sanctified creatures. In other words, the creation of man, as recounted in this portion of the Haggadah, would not be complete without the final redemption of man.

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At this point in the Seder, a blessing is read and the first cup (Sanctification) is consumed:

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“Blessed are You, O Hashem, our God, King of the Universe, Who has chosen us from all nations, exalted us above all tongues, and sanctified us with His commandments. And You, O Hashem, our God, have lovingly given us appointed times for gladness, feasts and seasons for joy, this Feast of Unleavened Bread, memoriam of the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen and sanctified us above all peoples, and Your holy festivals, in gladness and joy have You granted us as a heritage. Blessed are You, O Hashem, Who sanctifies Israel, and the festive seasons.” [Note: “Hashem” (the Name) is the Jewish way of expressing the word “Lord.”]

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This blessing links the creation of man with the sanctification of Israel, God's holy nation. There are other blessings associated with the first cup, but they are all based on the sanctity and holiness of Israel and the Passover.

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3.) Afikomen, the First Coming

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Shortly after the taking of the first cup, the head of the household breaks the unleavened bread in a ceremony called yachatz, from the Hebrew, “to divide.” He then reads these words in Aramaic, which is known by its opening words, Ha lachma anya:

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“This is the poor bread that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat! Whoever is needy, let him come and celebrate Pesach! This year we are here; next year may we be in the Land of Israel! This year, we are slaves; next year may we be free men!”

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Michael Strassfeld (The Jewish Holidays, A Guide and Commentary) writes, “This paragraph – which is in Aramaic, the spoken language of the Jews in early centuries of the Common Era – invites all who are hungry to join with us and ends with a hope that next year we will be free and in the Land of Israel. It should be noted that the Seder begins and ends with a hope for the return to Israel and Jerusalem. Confidence in that redemption helps us to celebrate the Seder despite the reality we acknowledge when we say, ‘This year we are slaves, next year we will be free.' Despite our present condition, we still celebrate the redemption of the exodus as a foreshadowing of the redemption to come.”

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This is the “bread of affliction,” referenced earlier from the book of Deuteronomy. It corresponds to the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

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“In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover. “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread” (Lev. 23:5,6).

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The central feature of this ceremony is the afikomen, sometimes called “the middle matzoh.” Earlier, as the meal was being prepared, three unbroken pieces of unleavened bread [matzoh] were bound together in a special cloth container called the matzoh tash.

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At this point in the Passover Seder, the middle piece is removed from the group and broken in two. The smaller half is placed back between the two whole matzos. The larger half is wrapped in a napkin and hidden, to be recovered and used at the end of the Passover.

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Why is the larger half hidden? Because it stands for the redemption yet to come to national Israel. More than that, it is emblematic of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

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Jews teach that this “bread of affliction” represents the food of Egyptian slaves. To them, the ritual of the afikomen speaks of the bread of slaves becoming the sustenance of a free people. Mr. Strassfeld writes, “Matzoh changes from lehem oni (the bread of affliction) to the afikomen, from slave past to Messianic future. All the blows of the taskmasters can be seen on its pockmarked surface; yet fragile as it is, matzoh survives unbroken (until we are ready to break it). Matzoh, in its very plainness, is the symbol of change for all.”

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Note that Mr. Strassfeld acknowledges that the afikomen undergoes a transmutation from affliction to the Messianic future. This, of course, perfectly describes Christ's First Coming as the “Second Adam … the Son of Man.” To His peers, He appeared as an ordinary man. While in that form, He submitted to the Roman slave master’s whip and cruel crucifixion. But after He was broken as the Unleavened Bread (afikomen), He arose as the Firstfruits from the grave. In a blaze of light, He was lifted up as a beacon to the lost Gentile world, and as the Messianic hope of Israel.

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Many Christian commentators have noted that the stripes on the afikomen are an obvious fulfillment of the lash-marks upon Jesus. In fact, when reading the well-known passage in Isaiah that predicts the fate of the Suffering Servant, we find the very word used to describe the bread. It is said to be “afflicted.”

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“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isa. 53:1-4).

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4.) Jesus, the Bread of Life

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In the sixth chapter of John, we find Jesus and the disciples in Galilee. Passover drew near, the time of Unleavened Bread. A great multitude had followed Him along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus inquired of His disciples about how this huge throng of five thousand might be fed.

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Peter's brother Andrew pointed to a small boy, with a lunch of five barley loaves and two small fish. These, in the well-known narrative, were multiplied so that they fed the huge mass of followers.

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Jesus' miraculous action produced such adulation among the people that they desired to make Him king. Jesus, perceiving their intention, withdrew across the sea to the northeast shore. But the next day, many had followed Him, and were perplexed at His actions. They couldn't understand why He had left them.

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His answer to them is perhaps the greatest illustration of the principle of judicial blindness in all Scripture. Jesus clearly told them that their motives were twisted. He told them that they had followed Him for the common bread in the miracle of the loaves and fishes, not the spiritual Bread of Life. Then, He proceeded to lecture them on the source of spiritual nourishment. His statement to them was so filled with stark truth that it could not be misunderstood: “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. “Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:32-35).

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At this point, the Jews who had so enthusiastically followed Him began to express doubt. They heard Him saying that He was the bread of life that came down from heaven … that He even called Himself God. Could it be? They knew His family; they had seen Him grow up. How could one of their neighbors call Himself God?

Jesus did nothing to calm their growing alarm. Rather than placate them, He told them, “I am that bread of life,” [v. 48] and “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever…”[v. 51].

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When they became even more disturbed, expressing the opinion that He was committing blasphemy. Jesus did nothing to allay their growing repugnance for the fact that He was claiming Deity for Himself.

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Rather, He elevated the force of His rhetoric, saying, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Here, in verse 54, Jesus proclaims the truth to an audience that will not receive it. Blinded by unbelief, they became infuriated. Rather than explain Himself, Jesus chose to allow the faithless followers to convict themselves by their own unbelief.

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After this, the Jews sought to kill Him. At this point, even many of His close disciples fell away. Their growing distrust became blindness, as Jesus, the “Bread of Life,” proclaimed Himself to be the long-hoped-for fulfillment of Passover. He was hidden from their eyes.

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Listen to the words of two modern Jewish sages, as quoted by Michael Strassfeld:

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“If one of the three matzot signifies our liberation from Egypt, and the second the Messianic redemption yet to come, the middle matzah stands for our present situation in between. We break off a piece and hide it, as redemption is still hidden from us – though, because of the exodus, we know that it is there – and then at the end of the meal our children find the piece we have hidden, so that we can all eat of it and so taste the redemption yet to come. We are forbidden to eat anything after that afikomen, so that we leave the seder with the taste of redemption on our lips.” [Alfred Eisen]

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“When we break the middle matzah of binah (a sefirah of wisdom), the smaller part we retain symbolizes how we understood before eating the afikomen, the larger part that we set aside symbolizes how we understand after the afikomen.” [Zalman Schacter-Shalom]

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Among the current spiritual leaders of the House of David, there is the tacit recognition that for them, redemption is yet to come. Thus, the Lord has placed the symbols of remembrance among them, even while blinding them to the true appreciation that Jesus, the Unleavened Bread, has already come. His body was broken to achieve the promised redemption:

“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” (I Cor. 11:23,24).

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Clearly, the New Testament is based upon the Unleavened Bread of Passover and its fulfillment in the broken body of Christ. His own people didn't believe Him even when He told them who He was and what He must do.

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“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:7,8).

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5.) The Second Cup: Thanksgiving

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At this point in the Passover Seder, the afikomen has been hidden and the meal proceeds. The rest of the matzos are covered and preparation is made to take the meal.

The second cup of Passover, in a detailed recounting of events, celebrates Israel's deliverance from Egypt. The ten plagues are recited in great detail, each one represented by a drop of wine splashed on a platter. The dayeinu (“It would have been enough...”) is offered as a responsive reading. It celebrates God's grace, saying in effect that if God had only brought Israel out of Egypt, it would have been enough, but He did so much more.

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Participants then reflect that in every generation, it is one's duty to regard himself as having personally gone out of Egypt. Before drinking the cup of Thanksgiving, the following recitation is given:

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“Therefore it is our duty to thank, praise, pay tribute, glorify, exalt, honor, bless, extol, and acclaim Him who performed all these miracles for our fathers and for us. He brought us forth from slavery to freedom, from grief to joy, from mourning to festivity, from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption. Let us, therefore, recite a new song before Him! Hallelujah!”

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This, and Jesus' declaration of divinity is perfect in keeping with the theme of the second cup of Thanksgiving: “I will rid you out of … bondage.”

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6.) The Third Cup: Redemption

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It is quite remarkable that the third cup of Passover (called the cup of Redemption) contains a blessing that speaks of this great Passover miracle:

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“Blessed are You, O Hashem, our God, King of the Universe, Who nourishes the entire world, in His goodness — with grace, with kindness and with mercy. He gives nourishment to all flesh, for His kindness is eternal. And through His great goodness, we have never lacked, and may we never lack nourishment for all eternity. For the sake of His great Name, because He is God who nourishes and sustains all, and benefits all, and He prepares food for all of His creatures which He has created. Blessed are You, O Hashem, Who nourishes all.”

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Before the third cup is consumed, there are several more blessings, concluding with the one that follows. Like the others, it is structured around the theme of redemption:

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“Fear Hashem, you — His holy ones — for there is no deprivation for His reverent ones. Young lions may want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good. Give thanks to God for He is good; His kindness endures forever. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.  Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, then the Lord will be his security. I was a youth and also have aged, and I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, with his children begging for bread. Hashem will give might to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.”

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As the third cup is raised to the lips, participants remember that God is the Redeemer; that God will strengthen, bless and sustain His people.

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Remember, Jesus made the great announcement that His body represents the Unleavened Bread of the festival. Furthermore, He proclaimed His body to be the source of the most important elements of the Passover, the cup and the bread: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life…”  (John 6:54).

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7.) Afikomen, The Second Coming

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It is most interesting that the word for the broken middle matzoh — afikomen — does not have a Hebrew origin. Rather, it is Greek. Jews say the best guess as to its origin is that its name comes from a blurring of the Greek word, epikomios, meaning “the after dish,” or “that which comes last.” This is because the hidden half of the matzoh is not recovered until long after the Passover seder and the dinner which follows it are completed. When the plates are cleared, children search for the afikomen, in a little game of hide and seek. The finder knows that he will receive a reward for it.

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But what about the mysterious name afikomen, and the game in which the broken half is “resurrected” at the end of the meal? One can hardly resist thinking about the resurrection of Jesus and of His Second Coming.

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Actually, it is a real stretch to make epikomios sound like afikomen, when in fact, there is a Greek word that is pronounced exactly in the same way.

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Actually, there is no mystery in this word … not at all. Any student of New Testament Greek can look in a standard lexicon* and discover that the word is clearly presented under the declension of verbs meaning, “to come.” There, we find that afikomen (aphikomen) is the Greek word that directly translates as “I come!” [*The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, edited by Harold K. Moulton, p. 62, provides a good example.]

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When viewing the Passover for the first time, Christians are always struck by the symbolism of the three matzos (representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The upper matzoh represents the Father. The middle matzoh represents the Son. The breaking of this middle matzoh speaks of Christ's sacrifice.

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As we have already noted, the Christian communion service records Christ's own words, about His body, which was broken in sacrifice for the sin of mankind.

 

Finally, the third matzoh represents the Holy Spirit. Together, they do the work of redemption and deliverance — the very subject of the Passover.

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In His First Coming, He offered His body as the “Bread of Life,” and it was broken. In His Second Coming, He will return as the larger portion of the middle matzoh. This speaks of His return in glory: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen” (Rev. 1:7).

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Note that even this prophetic statement of His glorious return speaks of His broken body. Like the unleavened bread, He is striped and pierced.

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How much clearer could it be? The middle matzoh points to the broken body of Christ, resurrected with the promise that He will return again. Hallelujah!

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After His phenomenal feeding of five thousand, Jesus walked upon, and calmed the troubled waters of Galilee. His disciples had encountered a great wind on the sea while rowing toward the sea's northeastern shore. It became dark, and they had rowed over three miles, filled with fear that they would not make their destination.

Then, Jesus came across the water — walking! He climbed into their boat and immediately they were transported to their destination. Again, we are reminded of the troubled waters of the Red Sea and the miraculous crossing made by the Israelites. The symbols of that first Egyptian Passover are found interwoven throughout this Gospel.

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Some Jews take the symbolism of the afikomen literally. In The Jewish Festivals, Hayyim Schauss writes, “These Jews of Morocco carry away with them from the seder a piece of the afikomen, the matzoh saved for the end of the meal. They carry it as a safeguard on ocean voyages and throw it into the waters in time of storm, claiming that it has powers to calm the sea.”

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Their action is a symbolic casting of the “Bread of Life” upon troubled waters. Now, where could they have gotten such an idea? Obviously, when Christ, as the fulfillment of the afikomen, calmed the storm-tossed sea! Though it may be deeply buried, the idea is there.

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What a wonderful realization it is, to recognize that Jews the world over often take bits of the afikomen with them after the Passover meal. They keep them through the year as treasured remembrances — sometimes even regarding them as something of a good-luck amulet.

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Sadly, they are still judicially blind to the identity of the afikomen. But soon, He will come in the clouds of glory, and the scales that cover their spiritual eyes will at last, be taken away.

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8.) The Fourth Cup: Completion

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After the third cup is taken, the fourth cup is poured, and along with it, the “cup of Elijah.” During each Passover, there is the expectation that Elijah will return to minister his prophetic gifts to the Jews. This action is freighted with the knowledge that one day, the prophet will really return to foreshadow the judgment of the nations and the coming of the Messiah:

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“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5,6).

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These, the closing words of the Old Testament, are a prophecy of the Tribulation and the judgment that will bring forth the Kingdom.

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Traditionally, Elijah's cup is a large, ornate chalice, unlike the individual seder cups given to each participant. It is taught that the prophet will be the herald of the ultimate redemption, and that he will personally drink from this cup.

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Its contents are then distributed equally among those present. This, too, is symbolic of the prophet's activities, as he brings the Jews into a new level of fellowship, in preparation for Messiah's soon appearing.

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With the pouring of the fourth cup, these words are recited:

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“Pour Your wrath upon the nations that do not recognize You and upon kingdoms that do not invoke Your Name. For they have devoured Yaakov [Jacob] and destroyed His habitation. Pour Your anger upon them and let Your fiery wrath overtaken them. Pursue them with wrath and annihilate them from beneath the heavens of Hashem.”

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This cup is also raised as the “Cup of Salvations.” Its invocation paints a picture of martyrdom: “I will raise the cup of salvations and the Name of Hashem I will invoke. My vows to Hashem I will pay, in the presence, now of His entire people.”

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Prophetically speaking, Israel must endure difficult times as the nations are overthrown. In a reading called “Between the Straits,” we find these words:

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“From the straits did I call upon God; He answered me in the broad places of Hashem. Hashem is with me, I have no fear; how can man affect me? Hashem is with me through my helpers; therefore I can face my foes. It is better to take refuge in Hashem than to rely on nobles. All the nations surround me; in the Name of Hashem I cut them down! They encircle me, they also surround me; in the Name of Hashem I cut them down! They encircle me like bees, but they are extinguished as a fire on thorns …”

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The reading continues in this vein, looking forward to that day when Messiah will come and liberate them from their enemies. They conclude with a thought that graphically depicts the Second Coming of Christ: “I thank you for having answered me and become my salvation.”

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Then the fourth cup is consumed. A final blessing is recited. In part, it reads: “Have mercy, we beg You, Hashem, our God on Israel Your people; on Jerusalem, Your city; on Zion, resting place of Your glory; Your Altar and Your Temple. Rebuilt Jerusalem the city of holiness, speedily in our days.”

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Then comes the traditional cry, “Next year in Jerusalem!”

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9.) Afikomen: “I Come”

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One cannot read a Passover Haggadah without seeing that the Lord has provided it to national Israel as a mechanism for maintaining the memory of His promises to them. Generation after generation, the seder replays their victory over the ancient Egyptian oppressors.

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More than that, it reminds them that He will lead them to a future victory over the nations, with Jerusalem as their capital in the Kingdom. The broken afikomen is hidden away, to be later discovered by the children. Both symbolically and in actuality, they represent the future generation that will one day discover the true identity of the hidden “Bread of Life.”

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Soon, there will be a generation that hears Christ, at His Second Coming, shout the blessed words, “Afikomen, I come!”

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“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

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