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UNLEAVENED BREAD

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JESUS, OUR AFIKOMEN

The Passover Seder is a meal representing REDEMPTION, and lasts one evening.
(There is a first and second day of Passover marked on the Hebrew calendar).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts one whole week,
starting with the Passover Meal on April 19 through April 27, 2008.

During the Seder (Passover Meal) a very interesting ceremony takes place.
Three matzot crackers (bread) are placed in a bag of fine cloth.

These 3 pieces of bread represent the Trinity....
the Father, His Son Yeshua, and the Holy Spirit.
The matzah-bread in the center---the one representing Yeshua-Jesus ---is then broken in two.

The larger of the two pieces is called the "afikomen".
Afikomen generally means "after supper", connoting dessert --- saving the best for last.
This dessert-bread---- this which is to be rewarded last--- is now wrapped in excellent cloth and hidden away in the house to be found later, after the Passover Meal....after REDEMPTION.

The significance of this afikomen is clear for all to see.
"The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread (matzah) And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said:
Take, eat : this is My body, which IS broken for you." 1 Corinthians 11:23, 24

Jesus is our bread of life...the staff, broken ( bruised and bloodied ) in body ( but not His bones ) and spirit for our sins.
"He was wounded for our transgressions"-- Isaiah 53

"All my bones are out of joint...they pierced My hands and My feet" Psalm 22

"Reproach hath broken My heart, and I AM full of heaviness:
I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
and for comforters, but I found none." Psalm 69.

After the Last Supper, the mock-trial, the whipping, the beating, the mocking and the spitting......after the abominable crucifixion, our Lord gave up the Ghost and died.

Joseph of Arimethea craved the body of Jesus, and wrapped Him for burial in the finest of linen. Mark 15:43

Jesus is our actual afikomen----pierced and broken, wrapped in excellent cloth----and hidden in a tomb, until the Resurrection .... the reward of the Redeemed ..... the best for last.

Jesus spent three nights in the heart of the earth, wrapped in linen.
Please see : "Crucified on Thursday" for a fuller explanation
www.cybertime.net/~ajgood/crucified.html

Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies
http://web.archive.org/web/19990503164626/http://www.yeshuatyisrael.com/moshiach.htm

On the night before He died, Our Lord shared a meal with his disciples. This most likely was a pre-Passover meal, since Passover was the NEXT evening, with Jesus dying on the cross at exactly the same time that the passover lambs were being slain.
(3:00 pm...Mark 15:34-37).
The Passover Meal emphasizes REDEMPTION from sin and slavery (Exodus 12).

The Last Supper emphasized the Redemptive-Death of Jesus.....
"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's DEATH
till He come."1 Corinthians 11:26
The Last Supper instituted communion: the remembrance of the price Our Lord paid for our sins.

Jesus IS our Redemption, our atonement, our substiute sacrifice for sin by His blood.
"Foreasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold .... but with the precious BLOOD of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:18, 19.

For more on this matter, please see: The Last Supper www.cybertime.net/~ajgood/supper.html

Here are some very good articles on the matzah (bread) and the afikomen
(broken, wrapped, buried, hidden bread).

Eddie Chumney: Unleavened Bread http://www.hebroots.org/chap4.html#CHAP4


The Broken Matzah http://www.chaim.org/afikomen.htm
http://www.chaim.org/

Yachatz: Breaking
Second Matzah is broken. Half is placed rapped in white linen and hidden. The other half is placed back in the 'Matzah Tash'. This represents the second person of the trinity, Yeshua, dying for our sins. His body was wrapped in white linen and hidden away in the tomb for three days. Yeshua confirmed this when he commemorated the Pesach Seder the night he was betrayed.
If you take a minute and look carefully at the Matzah, (You may want to hold it up to the lit candle) notice that it is pierced and also it has stripes running across its surface. This reminds us of Isaiah 53:5-6:
" But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the L-RD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
http://home.sprynet.com/~webartist/passover.html

** Passover VIDEO (Zola Leavitt) last 10 minutes Spiritual application = Jesus
Scroll to "Passover Service"..... Zola Leavitt
www.citv.com/messianic/teachings.html

Finding Messiah in the Passover http://amfi.org/passover.htm

Breaking the Middle- Matzah www.shalom-peace.com/Haggadah.html#6

The Passover Seder www.rke-inc.com/seder2.htm

Shoshannah's Place : Finding Messiah in the Passover
http://members.aol.com/simchatdvarim/page40/

Feasts of Israel http://www.bethhillel.com/holidays.htm

Messianic Directory www.messianicdirectory.com
Festivals of Adonai http://www.messianicdirectory.com/moedim/festivals.html

Unleavened Bread recipe: In a bowl mix:
2 cups of flour
dash of salt ( optional)
1/8 cup of oil or shortening
3/4 cup of warm water.

Mix well and turn out on floured board.

On floured board, knead the dough a little. Then take a small piece of dough and roll out with a rolling pin (on well floured board) to about pancake size. Prick with a fork and place in a non-coated pan ( cast iron, or metal ) with high heat. Let bake for about a minute and a half, or until golden scorch signs appear. Turn the bread and cook about a minute more (both sides should have "scorch signs" on them.)

Then remove from heat and place on a rack to cool. When cooled, layer all cooked bread between strips of aluminum on a plate that can be used later in the oven to heat at meal time.

At meal time, reheat in oven for about 5 minutes at 200- 300 degrees.

Afikomen means: "I am coming"
"Oddly, in the midst of a ceremony that is based on the Hebrew language, afikomen is a Greek word that means,
“I came.” That is the way it is used in Passover Seders all around the world today. But in the times of the Second Temple, the word was actually phrased slightly differently. In that day, the name was not in the past tense, it was phrased in the future: aphikomenos – “he is coming.”*
http://www.remnant.net/messpass.htm


Cup number one (1) is found in:
I Corinthians 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing for which we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
Notice that this is NOT the third (3) cup that Messiah said was the new covenant in His blood (Luqas (Luke) 22:20).
This is plainly the first cup known as the cup of blessing.

Afikomen
It is also note worthy that the only piece of matzah that was specifically "broken" was the middle piece which is known as the dessert matzah or "afikomen".

It is customary to wrap the afikomen in a cloth - in commemoration of "The people took.. the remainders [of the matzah and maror] wrapped up in their garments" (Exodus 12:34) , and to hide it among the pillows so that it will not be eaten inadvertently during the meal.
The matzah is to be broken while it is yet covered by the cloth.

The larger piece is set aside, because afikomen is a significant mitzvah: [it is eaten as the very last thing at the Seder] representing for us the Pesach-offering
The smaller piece is the one we recite the Haggadah over

The broken piece must be between the two whole matzot, because the motzi - which takes precedence to the blessing for "eating the matzah" - is to be recited over a whole matzah; and as "one must not by-pass mitzvot," the upper [thus first accessible] matzah must therefore be whole.

Ed. note: The middle piece represents Yeshua, who was broken for our Redemption.

This "sweetening" then manifests itself in afikomen [for the pieces constitute the afikomen], which means "afiku man" - bringing out mannah - that is, an emanation of nourishment - signifying the attribute of "chesed (kindness; [ mercy ]

It has been suggested that the snatching of the afikomen is alluded in the Gemara: "chotfin matzah' - the matzah is taken in a hurry (i.e., eaten; or removed) on the night of Pesach

Tishby and Mussaf He'aruch state that afikomen is a Greek term for foods eaten at the conclusion of a meal (dessert).Some have said that "afikomen" means "I came".
Others say that "afikomen" means dessert because it is derived from "epikomon" or "epikomion"

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