“Where are you going to the Feast this year?” How many times have you heard that question? How many times have you asked it? The question is often asked as a starter to engage someone in conversation, but the importance of and appreciation for keeping the Feast must not be forgotten. Some of you will be keeping your very first Feast of Tabernacles this year, and you are not sure what to expect. Others have been keeping it for decades. But we all share a sense of excitement and anticipation.
While going for a walk one evening recently, I was meditating on how thankful we need to be for the wonderful blessing of God’s ordained Festivals. We can easily lose sight of their importance in the anticipation of planning a road trip or flight to some new location and of sharing meals with family and friends. We love to see the happy smiles on the faces of first-time Feastgoers—but, in all of this, are we thankful to our Creator for giving us the wonderful gift of seven annual Festivals that explain His master plan for humanity?
Many years ago, a prominent evangelist in God’s Church mentioned that you cannot understand the plan of God if you do not keep the Holy Days. Reading a booklet on the subject does not implant in your mind their full meaning. Over the years, I’ve come to comprehend what he meant. Of course, we understand that there are shut-ins who have never been physically able to keep these special days fully, and we know that God does not condemn people for not doing something that is beyond their physical capabilities. God loves for us to be zealous, but He is also the God of wisdom.
Also, due to women bearing and nursing children, God only requires men to attend. “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles” (Deuteronomy 16:16). Requiring only the men would have been especially important at a time when women bore more children and travel to the Feast would have required much more strenuous effort than it may today. In His Olivet Prophecy, Jesus pointed out this difficulty regarding travel at a time of fleeing. “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!” (Matthew 24:19).
However, barring such extenuating circumstances, the Feast of Tabernacles is for the whole family, that “you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household” (Deuteronomy 14:26). Consider also what took place on the Feast of Trumpets after the Jews returned from Chaldean captivity: “Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square… from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law” (Nehemiah 8:2–3).
We then read of their keeping of the Feast of Tabernacles two weeks later: “So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness” (8:17).
To fully comprehend the meaning of those days requires doing something—taking meaningful action. They are not a vacation or convention. We go to the Feast for a very specific reason: “that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:23). What does this mean in practical terms?
The Feast Is Not Just for Fun
Observing the Feast is a learning process that takes place over many years for most of us. At first, we may naturally focus on the physical aspects:
And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks…. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household (Deuteronomy 14:23, 26).
What excited me most after my introduction to God’s commanded observance was how much fun I could have enjoying the desires of my heart with the money I had faithfully saved for the occasion. “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year…. But if the journey is too long for you… then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires” (14:22, 24–26).
God does not give us perfect understanding all at once, and through various experiences I learned that there was a better way. Yes, I still enjoy fine meals, but the focus is not so much on my taste buds as it is on warm fellowship with like-minded individuals. And I have found that the best fellowship is not a planned fishing excursion or taking a sailboat out on the Pacific Ocean, but the unplanned sharing of time with someone I only met at that Feast. To put it succinctly, I have learned from Paul’s example and from what Jesus said: “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35).
It takes time for Christ to be formed within us (Galatians 4:19). As Paul also said, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3–5).
How Thankful Are We?
God’s master plan is spelled out in His Festivals and Holy Days. So, how thankful are we for Christ’s sacrifice as remembered in the sobering Passover service? How thankful are we that we can know what true liberty is—learning to put sins out of our lives and having the burden of our past removed in baptism—as pictured by the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
How thankful are we that God has given us His Spirit to become firstfruits? God’s Spirit is not something we feel, but is the mind of God—His law and way of thinking—written in our minds and on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10; 10:16–17). That Spirit must be nourished by responding to it as it guides us to go against our ungodly desires (John 16:13; Hebrews 5:14). To learn more about the Holy Spirit—what it is and what it is not—see our resource John 3:16: Hidden Truths of the Golden Verse.
How thankful are we that Christ will return, that He will remove the great troublemaker, that He will set up His government on earth and bring peace and abundance to all peoples everywhere? How thankful are we for the hope of the resurrection and God’s gift to reign with His Son? And what can I say about the amazingly encouraging meaning of the Last Great Day?
Of all people on earth, we have been given the knowledge and opportunity that only a precious few possess. Let us be deeply thankful, let us learn to fear the Eternal our God always, and let us never let go of our crown!