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In these holy seasons of Passover and Resurrection Sunday, I would like to reflect on the phrase the Lord gave me during my preparation for a communion teaching: “Heavenly Substance”.

This year’s dates are:

• Passover (Pesach): April 12–13
• Feast of Unleavened Bread: April 13–20
• Good Friday: April 18
• Resurrection Sunday: April 20

The Slain Lamb: An Eternal Reality

Passover and communion are really part of an eternal reality – the slain Lamb. In Revelation 13:8, we discover God’s plan for the “slaughtered Lamb” existed “before the foundation of the world”.

Many of us will be attending a gathering on Resurrection Sunday. When we partake of the elements, we are partaking of the eternal, slain Lamb.

Bread and wine symbolise divine provision and a covenant meal. One day, we will share the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, where we will eat with our Bridegroom, Yeshua (Jesus), in eternity. This is the meal that Yeshua spoke about (Matthew 26:29).

Whenever we have communion, it is an opportunity to connect with the “Heavenly Substance”, the communion that goes beyond time to an eternal realm where we are dealing with an eternal priesthood. We are connecting with the eternal realm, earth agreeing with Heaven. We are, in fact, stepping into heavenly realities, although we may not fully understand these things at this time.

We are literally being fed “manna from Heaven” by partaking in this bread and wine that began in the heart of the Father.

Melchizedek and the First Communion Indication

On Sunday, 6 April 2025, my husband, Kym, asked me to lead communion that evening on our Canberra Declaration Zoom prayer. When I asked the Lord about what to share, I heard “Heavenly Substance”.

As I pondered this phrase, it came to me that the first indication of communion as we know it was from the time of Melchizedek.

In Genesis 14:18 (NKJV), we find, “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.”

The bread and the wine, the “Heavenly Substance” that the Lord showed me, was present with Melchizedek.

Melchizedek – whose name means “King of Righteousness” – came with bread and wine and blessed Abram “… with these words: ‘Blessed be Avram [Abram] by El ‘Elyon [God Most High], maker of heaven of earth’” (Genesis 14:19 (CJB)).

The bread and wine all occurred before the giving of the Law. So, I see them as divine, eternal principles operating in the spiritual realm that transcend time and dispensations.

Jesus: High Priest in Melchizedek’s Order

Yeshua is not just a priest, but a High Priest (in Hebrew, ‘Cohen Gadol’). He is not a Levitical priest, but a priest in the order of Melchizedek, someone who has no record of mother or father.

Melchizedek is further mentioned in Psalms and Hebrews.

Psalm 110:4 refers back to Melchizedek as a priest in Genesis 14:18 and teaches us about Yeshua’s eternal priesthood: “Adonai has sworn it, and he will never retract — ‘You are a cohen forever, to be compared with Malki-Tzedek” (CJB).

Hebrews 7:1–3 (CJB) draws out the parallels between Melchizedek and Jesus, our Prince of Peace and Prince of Righteousness:

“This Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, a cohen of God Ha ‘Elyon, met Avraham on his way back from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; also Avraham gave him a tenth of everything.

“Now first of all, by translation of his name, he is “king of righteousness”; and then he is also king of Shalem, which means “king of peace.”

“There is no record of his father, mother, ancestry, birth or death; rather, like the Son of God, he continues as a cohen for all time.”

Melchizedek was an enigmatic figure, as the Scripture says, without a record of his father or mother. Perhaps at that moment, Abram understood things in his inner man that are not fully expounded in the Scriptures. If so, it would be similar when we who encounter the Lord do not always find adequate words for these encounters.

Passover (Pesach)

Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 record what was required for the Passover meal. The main Passover elements in Leviticus are the roasted lamb, unleavened bread (matzah), and bitter herbs (maror).

The lamb’s blood was painted on the house’s doorposts and lintels, allowing the family to escape judgment as the angel passed over the house with blood on it.

The meat was eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The unleavened bread represented their hasty departure (there was no time to add yeast and make the bread rise).

The bitter herbs represent their bitter experience of slavery in Egypt.

Leviticus 23:5 gives us the timing: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for Adonai.” (CJB)

Exodus 12:3 tells us about the required lamb: “Speak to all the congregation of Yisra’el, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.’” (HNV)

Further on, we read about the unleavened bread and bitter herbs: “That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror” (Exodus 12:8 CJB).

Each Pesach, the story of the exodus from Egypt is retold. In Hebrew, it is called “the Haggadah”. Haggadah simply means “the telling” or “narration”.

While the Haggadah was originally just an oral retelling based on biblical passages, it eventually became a written document.

The Passover festival would have been according to oral tradition before 520 BC.

The Rabbinic system of Judaism came about during the Israelites’ exile to Babylon. The Rabbis added many more traditions to the Passover Seder (seder means “order” and refers to the order of service of the Passover meal).

As a result, the Passover Seder today looks different from the Seder of Leviticus.

Communion Echoes with David

Recently, I was reading 1 Samuel 16 in my devotions. The bread and wine that David carried on the donkey to Saul stood out to me.

It was a different time from the first exodus. David had emerged on the scene as the soon-to-be king. His father, Jesse (Yishai in Hebrew), gave David a donkey, bread, wine, and a kid (young goat) for him to take to Saul/Shaul.

1 Samuel 16:20 says, “And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul.”

In my meditations on this Scripture, I saw a brief snapshot of something heavenly. A picture of Jesse/Yishai who could perhaps represent Father God, giving David a donkey, just like Yeshua had to ride on a donkey.

Then there are the elements of the bread and wine – not to mention the kid.

The bread and wine spoke to me of the bread and wine that we understand today in our communion. There was bread; Yeshua is the Bread of Life. This time, there were no bitter herbs like in Leviticus, but wine. The wine is a symbol of the blood of Yeshua and the joy of sins forgiven.

The young goat sent with David would most likely have been roasted and then eaten. For the Passover, a family could have a lamb or a goat. Also, in the Temple, they had the scapegoat, who received the sins of the people and was then released into the wild.

The Last Supper with Yeshua

At Yeshua’s Last Supper, He chose the elements of bread and wine to represent His body and blood.

In Luke 22:19–20 (CJB), we read, “Also, taking a piece of matzah, he made the b’rakhah [blessing], broke it, gave it to them and said, ‘This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me.’ He did the same with the cup after the meal, saying, ‘This cup is the New Covenant, ratified by my blood, which is being poured out for you.’”

There is grace in communion. As we remember Yeshua, we are again partaking of the “Heavenly Substance.”

We eat or partake of Yeshua. He is our daily bread. The wine represents His precious blood spilt for our redemption but also represents the joy of sins forgiven and the restoration of relationship with the One who made us.

Communion: Preparing Us for the Father’s Son

The Father is preparing us, Jew and Gentile, together, to be a bride for His Son. What a thrill it will be when Yeshua and we, His body, come to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! Our Beloved will finally drink of that cup about which he spoke, saying, “I tell you, I will not drink this ‘fruit of the vine’ again until the day I drink new wine with you in my Father’s Kingdom” (Matthew 26:29 (CJB)).

This will be a time of unspeakable joy and full glory. Let us meditate on this and prepare our hearts for our Beloved during this Passover/Resurrection period.

Even if we feel that we might be stumbling, He is faithful. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13 (CJB)).

A True Love Story

The story of Passover/Resurrection is truly a love story from beginning to end. Father God sacrificed His best in order to win us. His Word begins and ends in love, “with everlasting arms beneath” (Deuteronomy 33:27 (CJB)).

As I was preparing for the messianic Seder that we, Celebrate Israel, had here in Adelaide on 12 April, the Lord gave me a beautiful vision about the foundation of the Seder.  The foundation is His love. I will not explain every element of the vision, but I perceived His love coming to us from above, and our love reciprocating from below. The love continues in our relationships with each other as we focus on Yeshua.

Love motivated Father God to send His Son, a decision made before the foundation of the world. “It was the costly bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah, as of a lamb without defect or spot. God knew him before the founding of the universe, but revealed him in the acharit-hayamim [the last days] for your sakes” (1 Peter 1:19–20 (CJB)).

Love provided a way of escape for the Israelites from the land of Egypt.

Love caused David’s father to send him on a donkey with the kid’s provisions, bread, and wine.

Love that allowed Father’s Beloved Son to go to Calvary for you and for me.

The elements have changed over time, but the message has not: God is calling every heart – Jew and Gentile – back to Himself through Jesus’ eternal sacrifice.

We are indeed partaking of a “Heavenly Substance” when we eat at the communion table.

We will have one more gathering where we all, Jew and Gentile, partake together at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. We will be united with Him forever. He is faithful to bring His lambs to the Lamb’s table for this unique meal together.

From then on, “we shall ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Further Reading

My previous articles on Passover:

• “Pesach 2023: Partakers of Messiah”
• “Pesach: Raised to Life by the Lamb of God”
• “The Passover Lamb”

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