There are two passages assigned for today!

SCRIPTURE: Ezra 6
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
The Passover meal was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile and by the others in the land who had turned from their immoral customs to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. Then they celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There was great joy throughout the land because the Lord had caused the king of Assyria to be favourable to them, so that he helped them to rebuild the Temple of God, the God of Israel. [Ezra 6:21-22]
Imagine what this must have meant for the Jews to finally celebrate the Passover again in the temple.
The exile was finally over, God’s throne (symbolized by the Temple) was once again re-established among them, and they could hope again that God’s messianic promises would come true.
They saw the hand of God working even through King Darius; they were encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to keep trusting that one day, God’s messiah would come to this temple.
And now – after an extremely hard time of hardship -they are finally tasting the passover again, the sign of God’s protection and deliverance from exile.

And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.” [Matthew 26:27-29]
Jesus is taking part in the passover meal with His disciples, but then He says that He will not taste it again until the new Kingdom comes.
There will be a pause, a time of hardship, but it will not last forever.
The time is coming when Jesus will once again sit and eat with all people who put their hope in His, who persevered through hardship and waited for the protection and deliverance of God.
The blood of the covenant, not the lamb’s blood painted on the doorposts (part of the old testament passover), but the blood of Jesus smeared on the posts of the cross, is His guarantee that one day we will eat together again.

In the passover, Jews will finish their celebration with the closing words, “next year in Jerusalem”.
This gives them comfort and hope while they are in exile, while the temple is not rebuilt.
As christians, we do not look for the restoration of the temple, but the restoration of the kingdom.
We are anticipating that the whole creation will be restored; right now we wait in exile, as aliens and strangers in this world… but one day we will share in the final feast, the final celebration.
Every time we take part in the symbolic Lord’s Supper, we look ahead in hope to the day when Jesus will join us, the creation will be made new, and there will be no more hardship, suffering or tears.
We too can finish our meal with the words: “next year in the Kingdom!”

PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for assuring us that this season of exile will end, and we will feast with You in the celebration supper for the Kingdom. With joy and anticipation we say, “next year in the Kingdom!”