"Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field:
and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD." - Exodus 23:14-23:17
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Remember and Celebrate! - Part I
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We are breaking for 2 weeks from our regularly scheduled study in Acts to remember and celebrate Almighty God! Congregations all over the world will have celebrated Good Friday as you read this, and it will be a surreal Easter observance this weekend - probably unique in human history!
Why 2 weeks do you ask... Easter is this weekend? Well... the schism between Israel and the Christian church, and the observance of separate (lunar and solar respectively) calendars by the two communions means that Christians are celebrating Good Friday this week, while Israel celebrates the Passover Sabbath (a High Holy Day) next Wednesday evening through Thursday evening.
Christ, as a Torah observing Israelite, obeyed the commands in our text this week - per the Jewish Calendar!
He made it a point to be in Jerusalem all 3 years of His ministry, riding into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass the last time. He died on the day of Preparation, when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple. His body was hastily removed from the cross,and entombed, as the setting sun began to ring in the High Holy day of the Passover Sabbath. A day later, the women disciples went to the market to buy spices to anoint him and came home before the markets closed for the normal weekly Sabbath. On the third day, early Sunday morning (as we know it know) the women went to the tomb and found it empty! He had risen... EXACTLY TO THE DAY PREDICTED!!! Hallelujah!!!
If you are confused, we break it down as follows:
Christ was crucified and died on a Wednesday afternoon.... only that makes sense when tied together with all scripture, including that Christ spoke, when He compared himself to Jonah being in the belly of the whale for 3 days and 3 nights.
Day 1-Wed Evening to Thu morning ("and the evening and morning were the first day" - Genesis 1:5) He was in the tomb.
Day 2-Thu Evening to Fri morning. Friday morning the shops would have opened for the women to buy spices, and they would have come home by Friday evening, as that would start off the 'normal' Sabbath ("and the evening and morning were the second day"..)
Day 3-Fri Evening to Sat morning was the third day, also the customary Sabbath day. ("and the evening and morning were the third day” ...) Everything would be shut, and all work or travel would be forbidden.
Day 4-Sat evening ushers in the first day of the week, and Mary goes to the tomb early on Sunday morning, (going at night makes no sense). He is not there but He is risen!!!
In everything Christ did, He obeyed the exact timings and days, commanded by God Almighty Himself! ... so why don't "Christ"ians obey the same timings?
The quick answers normally given - we are part of the New Covenant, no longer under the Law, which Christ abrogated. It is because the Gentiles were released from having to be circumcised or observe feast days, and new moons, which were just a shadow predicting Christ's work.
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." - Colossians 2:16
We agree with the apostle, and are not judging the church for not observing the traditional feast days God appointed for the children of Israel.
However, ---- if what we as Christians are trying to do, is please God by offering Him worship, and remembering His Son's work for us on the cross on a set day ---- why wouldn't we do it in synchronization with our Jewish brothers, as a witness, and also to honor the PERSON who gave us His Salvation on these days?!
Net net : If you don't observe it, that is fine - but if you are trying to observe it - Shouldn't you do your research so that you can TRULY please the person who made it all happen this way, by doing it at His appointed time?
We feel that the church is missing a huge witnessing opportunity by separating our worship and remembrance from those in our neighborhood synagogue, not to mention that this schism between God's children also grieves His Heart. Would it be such a big deal for the church all over the world to announce a synchronization of Good Friday and Easter services with Passover week?
Yes ... it seems to be that it would .... history, tradition, pride, and a desire to be different, and maybe even anti-Semitic hate will prevent such a thing from ever being considered. Maybe in these times, we can take a look or start a #unified-Easter campaign on Twitter ?
All joking apart, why would God legislate 3 annual days of feasting?
The Preachers Homiletical Commentary breaks it down for us - …
1. The feasts serve as Memorials of God’s past dealings - to bring to our remembrance that we have a saving God 3 times a year!
The word Passover indicates the nature of the feast of unleavened bread. It is a memorial, not of the fact that the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea; but of the fact that the destroying angel passed over the abodes of the Israelites. It is a memorial of a wonderful Divine deliverance. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”
This great memorial feast of the Jews was typical and prophetical. It pointed onwards through the intervening centuries to the greater feast of the Lord’s Supper. The one feast celebrated the deliverance of the natural Israel, while the other celebrates the deliverance of the spiritual Israel.
The one feast has become absorbed and lost in a greater feast; but the other feast will be perpetually celebrated. We shall pass away from drinking the symbolical wine of earth to the glorious privilege of drinking the new wine in our Father’s kingdom. The one feast was local, but the other was intended to be universal.
It is a significant fact that the feast of the Lord’s Supper has been so widely observed. Churches that have departed from the faith and lapsed into idolatry have stuck to this Christian ordinance. And we may consider it prophetical of the destined universality of Christ’s kingdom.
2. The feasts serve as Memorials of our dependence upon God’s care.
While the feast of unleavened bread brings into prominence the lesson that God is a deliverer to His people, the feasts of harvest and of ingathering bring into prominence the lesson that God is a provider and a sustainer.
They make impressive, and teach by appropriate symbolism, the utterance of the great singer of the Israelitish Church— “He maketh peace in thy borders, He filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.” They have a manifest tendency to raise the heart in adoring gratitude to “God, who gives rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, and fills our hearts with food and gladness.” Let us never forget that it is God who makes the earth fruitful.
While some keep their feasts in honor of “natural causes,” the “uniformity of Nature’s laws,” and a “fortuitous concourse of atoms,” let us keep our feasts to celebrate the goodness of Him who is the first cause of all so-called natural causes, the Giver and Enforcer of Nature’s laws, and the Glorious Designer who causes the atoms to consort together, so as to produce the useful and the beautiful.
3. Memorials of our present condition.
Not only and merely in the sense of being dependent creatures, but that while in this world we are but pilgrims.
The feast of ingathering was the feast of tabernacles. During this festival, the Jews were to dwell in tents or booths. It was a reminder of their wilderness life. Even in our feasts let there be the chastening thought that here we have no continuing city. Our feasts are but temporary as were the booths in which the Israelites dwelt. The only perpetual feast is that which shall be celebrated in heaven. This earth is not our rest.
The wisdom of God in appointing these feasts.
I. The wisdom of Divine arrangements is seen in the appointment of these feasts.
The Passover was observed in the month Abib—the month of the ears of corn; the Feast of Pentecost, after the corn had all been safely gathered; and the Feast of Tabernacles, after the vines and fruit-trees had been stripped, so that no feast interfered with those times when work was most pressing.
II. Diligence in business is, or may be, religious worship.
God may be honored by the work of this life. Those are divine who do lowliest acts in a divine spirit. The Jew was religious, not only when he brought the first fruits of his labours as an offering to God, but when he ploughed, and sowed, and reaped, that he might have first-fruits to place upon God’s altar.
III. Stated religious feasts are helpful to a religious spirit. “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.” “Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.”
There are some who object to set times, and say that set times develop mere empty formalism, and that we ought always to be in a religious spirit. The Divine Legislator did not follow this method. And while the gospel sets us free from the trammels of the law, it nevertheless shows the propriety of stated religious observances. And we are “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.” The more loyal a man is, the more he will rejoice in stated seasons for the expression of his loyalty. The more spiritual a man is, the more thankful will he be for opportunities of public worship, to break up the course of his earthly life, and to develop his spiritual nature.
IV. Religious feasts must promote the social and benevolent instincts of our nature.
All are to appear together before the Lord God. The separateness brought about by daily pursuits is to be broken up. There is to be a commingling of feeling and sentiment. This is an Old Testament provision which is greatly needed in these times. Cold isolation pervades the business, the social, and the religious worlds. We do not appear together before the Lord God. None are to appear empty before the Lord. The grasping spirit of selfishness must not be allowed to move on without being disturbed. The best way to uproot selfishness and to develop benevolence is to give unto God’s cause.”
- Preachers Homiletical Commentary, Baker Publishing Group
We celebrate Passover and Easter this year as we have never done before - virtually, cut off from touches and hugs of our friends and family - but let the times remind us that God is sovereign, He is a Deliverer, and His Word can be trusted. All time is under His control, just relax and enjoy the ride!!!
We pray you have a most joyous Easter Celebration this weekend --- we will hold off on ours till next week ?, and now you know why... but we rejoice always, for His mercies are new every morning. Every day is a GOOD day - filled with promise and potential.
God is gently reminding us how dependent we are on Him.... we can remember Him with feasting, or it will take a plague for us to think back and remember that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" ... in His image.
Hallelujah!