Exodus 18 - Exod 6:6-8 THE CUPS OF SALVATION

We continue with Exod. 6:6-8.  These verses are connected by the Sages/Rabbis of Judaism to four cups of the Passover Seder.  In the previous lesson, lesson 17, we also explored the debate the sages/rabbis had whether there should be four or five cups.  On top of that all this seemed to be related to the end times!  And we explored the possibility that what is known as the "rapture" is nothing more than the "ingathering" of the elect of God.  In Paul's day the INGATHERING was when the dead will rise first and along with those who are alive will be taken up and brought to Israel at the time of the coming of Messiah.  In 1 Thess 4:16-17 ...

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1Th 4:16-17)

So the "rapture" is for all of us "grafted in to the olive tree of Israel" and us who are "joint heirs" with the covenants and promises of God to be taken up and "gathered" to Israel and to then to participate in the MARRIAGE FEAST OF THE LAMB and to be with our "husband" forever in Jerusalem.  This fits the rabbinic ideas of the ingathering of the elect.  Even Jesus uses the word of gathering us in.  See below ...

"But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Mat 24:29-31)

Jesus is God and God said we would be GATHERED.  Any Jew then hearing these words knew it meant the INGATHERING as promised again and again in the Hebrew scriptures.  When Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians all He had was the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.  So who do you believe, some pastor teaching the "rapture" with no background in the Hebrew culture or the historical context of the Bible, or GOD?   The choice seems clear.

 

In this session we continue studying the cups of Passover.  It is possible that the idea of the 5th cup for the Passover meal, today called the Seder, was known in Jesus' day.  What is amazing is that the idea of the 5th cup seems to be related also to the cup of wrath that all nations will drink in the end times ...

For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. "They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them." Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day; (Jer 25:15-18)

And it seems to be related to Jesus and the events in the Gat Sheminim - the olive press where He went to pray after His Passover meal.  I mentioned in this podcast that Jesus went to an olive press and not the garden of Gethsemane.  You can not find any records that there was a place called the garden of Gethsemane and neither is the phrase "garden of Gethsemane," those exact words, found in the Bible.  I did a video on this and here's the link so you can study this further - LINK - click here to watch the 11 minute video  Also, here is an amazing article from :Biblical Archaeolgy REview" from 1995 of the possible actual "cave" that Jesus visited to pray that was an olive press - LINK - click here for the article

The Passover meal of the Messiah, called the Last Supper traditionally, was even more profound.  Those disciples of Jesus knew the meaning of the four cups of wine and the verse in Torah they represented.  They knew of the new covenant at Sinai that Israel entered into with the Lord at the Mountain of God (Exod. 3:1) and it was as if God became their "husband" and Israel was His "bride."  But, they also knew that the Mountain of God moved to Jerusalem (Isa. 2:1-3) and Jesus takes a cup, one of the cups in the Passover meal, and offers it to His talmideem (disciples), as a sign of a New Covenant they can enter at the Mountain of God.  When Jesus lifted up the cup He was giving us an AMAZING PROPOSAL to be His bride and He our Bridegroom - SINAI REPEATED!!  

In this podcast I mentioned other links I would provide.  See these below.

Link - article on Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread as practiced in Jesus' day and that all these events may have occurred in 30 A.D. and not 33 A.D. - click here for the article

Link - to Hayyim Schauss' book, "The Jewish Festivals" at Amazon - click here to access this resource

Link - Ray Vander Laan's DVD and study book entitled "The Path to the Cross" - click here for the DVD and the book

Link - Dennis Prager's audio Torah study - an extremely valuable resource - even better than his books - click here for this important resource

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - click here for the teacher's background