Watch the video, or read the transcript below.

Hello, this is Rick Ridings coming to you with a prayer update. It’s April 1st, which means this evening we’ll begin the Passover here in Jerusalem. And so we’re very excited to celebrate this Passover Seder. I’m going to share about connections between the Passover week and what is happening in the war against the Iranian regime right now. But before I do that, I’d like to share a couple of things.

First of all, I’d like to thank all of you who have been praying for us. So many have been letting us know that you’re praying. And we really need those prayers, we really appreciate those prayers.

Actually, Patricia and I run down three flights, well, we walk down three flights of stairs with all the sirens, and sometimes it’s been several in a night and day. And so we’re very thankful for the Lord’s protection here.

Actually, at the beginning of the war, within sight of Succat Hallel’s window, there was an Iranian missile where the warhead hit and it did not detonate. Just such a miracle, and we thank the Lord.

It was just inside or out our window here. So they brought in a team and defused it. And we thank the Lord for His protection. And we thank you for your prayers. I’d like to also mention a need and an opportunity for you to sow into what we are doing as we continue to watch.

By God’s grace, there are watchmen and watchwomen continuing night and day, day and night. Those who live far away, we let them do it from home and they let us know they’re starting and ending.

But many are doing it here in the prayer room. And this is such a great miracle in the midst of a war to keep up 24/7 watching over Jerusalem.

A Passover Offering

But because it has been such a long time since groups were able to come into Jerusalem and bring offerings, much of our income which was through their offerings or through volunteers who were living in our housing is just way down.

I think we have about two paying in our housing right now. And we still have to pay very high rents, even though there are so few in the housing. And there are no offerings coming in brought in by hand.

Many from the nations would save up and bring their offering with them. So we would encourage you to pray and ask the Lord if He would have you help in some way toward the ongoing expense of doing 24/7 worship and prayer here in Jerusalem and keeping our facilities, our apartments, and the prayer room, and paying the rent.

And so if you want to do that, you can do that on our website, www.succathallel.com, and then just push on the donate button there. Actually, this is a very biblical time to give because in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 16, verse 16, God commanded the Israelites that they were to bring an offering to Jerusalem three times a year.

And one of those three times was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is Passover week. I don’t really understand why they call it a feast of unleavened bread.

If you’ve ever eaten unleavened bread, you know it’s not much of a feast, but it is a wonderful memorial time to remember that Jesus, Yeshua, was the Bread who was without the leaven of sin and offered Himself up that Yeshua was the Passover Lamb who offered His Blood for us.

So what a wonderful special time to remember this Feast of Unleavened Bread: that He alone was that Bread that was without sin, whose Body was broken for us and His Blood shed for us.

God’s Great Miracle in Elam

Now I’d like to share briefly about the connection I see between this year’s war against the Iranian regime and Pesach, Passover, and the whole Passover week.

And I believe it is this: If you remember, right after the start of this war, it was Purim, which was the celebration of what God did in ancient Elam. In ancient Elam, the royal capital province is where Queen Esther and Mordecai lived.

That’s where the evil Haman lived, who wanted to kill all of the Jewish people, operating in his bloodline as an Amalekite and operating in that Amalekite spirit. And of course, as we all know, God totally turned it around in response to their prayers and their fasting and crying out to God.

God allowed the intercessors, Esther and Mordecai, to rewrite the verdict that had been given and to allow the Jewish people to defend themselves against those that were wanting to annihilate them.

So it’s amazing that this whole war against the Iranian regime, right after that was the beginning, was Purim, celebrating God’s great miracle done in Elam province, which is the foundation of Persia. It grew out of the Elam province.

And so that’s amazing. And many of you have been proclaiming verses with us from Jeremiah 49 about God’s judgment upon the officials of Elam, breaking their military might, setting His throne in Elam.

So there’s an amazing connection at the beginning. Well, what’s the connection with Passover, as I have been praying on this? Because God seems to really operate according to His feasts, His Moedim, His appointed times.

And I felt that there would be some kind of major, major turning of the tide during the Passover week. That it would be clear that the Iranian regime was going to finally be brought down.

And I don’t know how, but I have a real sense of that now. The end of this Passover week is April 9th, the daytime at sundown on April 9th. It’s the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, of the Passover week. And I believe that before then or by then, there will be some kind of major breakthrough.

And I encourage you to pray with me for that there would be a major… something like D-Day in World War II, where it was clear that the victory was won.

There were still some battles, but the major, clear victory was won. So we’re praying here that the Iranian regime will be clearly brought down, or at least an event that would show that it will be brought down before the end of this Passover week, before sundown on April 9th.

Parallels with Pharaoh

Now, here are some other connections between the war with the Iranian regime and Passover. Actually, some of the Messianic leaders have been sharing these same things. I was on a Zoom yesterday with Reuben and Benjamin Berger, who were sharing these same things.

It’s amazing, the parallels with Pharaoh. How the Ayatollah was so similar to the Pharaoh, and that God just gave him many, many opportunities to repent.

Here in the Passover meal, we dip our fingers in the cup of wine and we drop nine drops onto the plate for the plagues. Why did there have to be so many plagues?

Because God is so long-suffering and so merciful. He gave Pharaoh nine opportunities to repent. And when he did not repent, then God removed him and his armies from power.

So we believe God has been giving the Iranian regime many opportunities to repent. I believe He felt the Ayatollah’s heart was already hardened like Pharaoh’s, and so He took him out. But we need to pray that if they do not repent, that very soon that ninth drop, whatever that means, will occur.

And God will say those who have not repented will be removed. Many have been removed. But we believe God is calling for, as we have said, the full uprooting of the Iranian regime.

Not just a pruning, but the full uprooting; the full collapse of that wall, not just some cracks in the wall. A second parallel between what happened in Egypt was that when he did not repent, Pharaoh and all of his officers and all of his army were totally, totally destroyed.

Passover Prophetic Significance

This evil spider web was totally destroyed. Another parallel: It was a total liberation of those who were oppressed. It was not just a few; all of Israel were able to leave their bondage and slavery in Egypt and to go out.

So we’re believing for all the Iranians to be set free, not for some partial deal that would probably not be kept anyway to try to put this off to some future date but that now, during this time, may all the people of Iran be liberated from this evil, oppressive regime.

Then another parallel: It was the Blood of the Lamb that protected those who trusted in that Blood over their doorposts to keep them as destruction went over the land, to protect them and keep them.

So we pray for the Iranian believers: the Blood of the Lamb over the doorposts of their homes. We pray that also here for Israel, and may there be a protection of all who put the Blood of the Lamb over the doorpost.

And then a last connection: Many, many Egyptians joined the Hebrews as they went out and were freed from slavery. They saw the power of God; they saw the greatness of God.

And so they followed together with the Hebrews and turned away from their idols to worship the true and the living God of Israel. So God, we believe You that at the end of this war against the Iranian regime and its proxies, multitudes will join themselves to the true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

They will no longer worship a false god, but they will worship the true and the living God in the name of Yeshua. Amen.

Watch the video, or read the transcript below.

Chaos and The False Messiah

So this is a final observation of some parallels between the Passover, the Passover week, and the amazing liberation of the Hebrews from the hand of Pharaoh and God’s amazing judgment of Pharaoh and his army. And how does it apply to this particular war with the Iranian regime?

Because this particular war is against a brand of Islam that takes the Quran very literally at its word. But they also believe that there was a 12th-century imam who will come back as a messiah, a false messiah, obviously, but they believe he is a messiah.

But, he will only come where there is enough chaos worldwide for him to come and intervene. And so they are believing they’re willing to suicide their country if it will bring back this 12th-century imam.

So not only do they replace the true Messiah, Jesus, with a false messiah, a 12th-century imam, they also in Islam replace Isaac who is the full picture of Jesus as the Passover Lamb with Ishmael.

Islamic tradition teaches that it was not Isaac that Abraham brought with him, willing to offer up in order to fulfill the commandment of the Lord, but that Abraham brought Ishmael. Yet on this hill you see right here behind me, the Temple Mount is Mount Moriah, and he was willing to offer his son Isaac.

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

I’m going to share some parallels between Isaac and Jesus, Yeshua. Even though it’s not specifically stated in the Quran, Muslim tradition teaches that it was not Isaac that Abraham brought to Mount Moriah; they teach that it was Ishmael.

And so they lay claim to this hill because, to them, Abraham brought Ishmael and then God provided a ram.

So it’s so important for us to realize, first of all, the Bible says clearly that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not the God of Abraham and Ishmael and Ishmael’s descendants.

He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His covenant promises are as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they’re through the line of Isaac. That is made very clear already in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament, but reaffirmed very strongly in the New Testament.

What are some of the parallels that show why it was so important that we realize that it was Isaac? Isaac was a Hebrew; Isaac was the son of promise that came in a miraculous way as a result of a promise of God. Isaac’s birth was foretold by an angel.

Even like Yeshua, he had a miraculous birth. It was proclaimed that he would be a blessing to the world, which of course Yeshua is. He was beloved by his father. And Yeshua, the Father, God Himself, spoke over Him at His immersion in water: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

He was undeserving of capital punishment. Isaac had done nothing wrong that would be worthy of being sacrificed and burnt to death. He carried his wood to the sacrifice.

The Bible makes it clear Isaac carried the wood, his own wood, not knowing where the lamb was until he got here. In the same way, Yeshua in this city carried the wood for His own sacrifice.

Isaac was about 30 years old when Abraham was commanded to offer him upon the altar of sacrifice. He was brought to this mount, Mount Moriah. And Yeshua was brought to the Mount of Gethsemane, the Hill of the Skull. He was crucified here in this same vicinity.

He went willingly to the slaughter. Isaac is amazing because he wasn’t just some little kid, he was a 30-year-old man who was willing to trust God and trust what his father, Abraham, had heard from God.

And Yeshua was that Lamb led willingly to the slaughter. Then the last parallel: Isaac lived. He didn’t die, but he did live to see his offspring. And Yeshua died as the full, perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sins of the world. But He did live to see His offspring because He rose from the dead in this city.

The Passover Lamb

As we celebrate Passover this year, we are so thankful that we know the Lamb who was slain. We know the Lamb who had perfect, sinless Blood, the only One ever. Isaac’s blood was not sinless, so it could not be the sacrifice for our sins.

God had to provide a ram, a lamb, as it were to be a symbol of the Lamb of God, Yeshua, who would come and willingly lay Himself down, carry the wood for His own sacrifice, and willingly be sacrificed upon that wood.

But the wonderful thing is that Yeshua is risen from the dead, never again to die, and He lives to see His offspring.