Oh, give thanks unto the Lord is what David said in several psalms. You see, for David, it was very important to give thanks to God; it was not only important to himself, but he felt that all of those around him should understand the importance of giving thanks to God. Thanksgiving – we give both the day and the word itself very little significance. Today, I want to focus on the importance of
14 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); 16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
Exodus 23:14-16 NKJV
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Holy Feasts Introduced
After Israel came out of the bondage of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and made it to Mount Sinai, the Lord gave to Moses the Ten Commandments. We must also understand that the Lord gave to Moses more than the Ten Commandments. Along with the Ten Commandments, the Lord gave to Moses several other laws that the children of Israel were to keep (Exodus 20-23). God also introduced three Holy Feasts that the Israelites were supposed to keep (Exodus 23:14-19).
These were feasts that the children of Israel were to keep to the Lord:
14 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:
Exodus 23:14 NKJV
Notice that the Lord says to them, “you shall”, which is to say, “‘you will’ keep these feasts to Me (God) three times a year.” Let’s see what the three feasts were that the children of Israel were to keep.
15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);
Exodus 23:15 NKJV
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is Passover.
16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
Exodus 23:16 NKJV
Now we are introduced to the next two feasts. Both of these feasts are harvest feasts by the way – The Feast of Harvest and Feast of Ingathering. The Feast of Harvest is the same as the Feast of Weeks, but probably better known as Pentecost. The Feast of Ingathering is actually something we have studied about before and is probably better known as Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) or Sukkot.
The two harvest feasts will remind you of our Thanksgiving holiday – in a way. However, there are very great differences in the two harvest feasts compared to our Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving is celebrated for only one day, but both harvest feasts were celebrated for seven days! Try to imagine celebrating Thanksgiving for seven days! A holy convocation, that is an assembly or congregation of the people, would gather together on Sabbath to start things off for the week.
The importance of the feasts
So why were these feasts so important to the Lord? Why did God want Israel to have three feasts to Him? There must be some significance to these feasts? Let’s take a look at to what each feast celebrated.
Let’s start with the first feast that was introduced – Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover). In Exodus 23:15, we are told of the importance of this feast. We read, “you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt.” The Passover feast is a reminder of when Israel was in bondage. While in bondage, they were told to slay the lamb and cover their doorpost in blood so that death would pass them by. After that final plague, the death of the firstborns, Israel crossed the Red Sea and left Egypt. Passover, you will notice, is also a feast to keep in remembrance what the Lord had done for the children Israel.
The second feast introduce was the Feast of Harvest (Weeks). This feast, some say is a celebration of when the Law was first given. In scripture (Leviticus 23:15-16), we see this feast began with the feast of first fruits (Leviticus 23:9-14). They would count 50 days, seven sabbaths, from when they could first put together a sheaf of wheat. This feast essentially celebrated the first harvest. The would gather together new grain and first fruits. Yes, the sowed the seeds, but this feast was a reminder that it is God who provides the sunlight and the rain needed for a crop to grow!
The final feast introduced was the Feast of Ingathering (Tabernacles/Booths). This feast shared some similar qualities in that it was a celebration of the final harvest from the season – again, what the Lord had provided. However, this feast was also was accompanied with the Israelites spending a week living in booths. This served as a reminder of when Israel wandered in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:42-43).
If you notice, each feast was a reminder of what the Lord had done for Israel. Each fast carried a reminder for how God had provided for Israel. So, it was important to God, for the children of Israel to remember Him! God wanted them to remember all that He had done for Him, and that it was not man or anybody else who had brought them out of Egypt, the wilderness, or provided their harvests. With each feast, there was a reminder to be thankful for God.
Our remembrance is important
How often do you remember the Lord? How often do you remember God? We have designated and made a day, called it “Thanksgiving”. Ideally, on this day we are supposed to be filled with thanksgiving and be thankful for what the Lord has done for us. Yet, we do not give the day or the word itself much significance. We give the turkey, dressing, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and sweet potato pie greet importance on Thanksgiving Thursday. We even give those sorry Thanksgiving Day football days just as much importance! A day where we should be surrounded by love and with family, many of us don’t want anything to do with our family nonetheless remember the Lord.
However, God wants us to keep Him remembrance not for just one day but everyday. We have 365 days in a year where we, especially we as believers, should have thanksgiving in our heart. Some will say, what has gone done for me that I should celebrate? Let us consider what God did for our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents, and our ancestors. We would not be here today without any of them. God has not only watched over you in this present day, but the Lord has watched over you before you was even conceived!
More so, we can go to scripture and find that we, the Church, were also cared for and represented and the three holy feasts. What do I mean by this? We have a Passover in Christ! Jesus was our Lamb and He was slain on the cross. The blood of our Lamb does not cover our doorposts, but it covers our soul!
Jesus died, resurrected, and remained with the disciples for forty days and told them to wait ten days before leaving the city to minister. At the start of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks), the Holy Spirit came and dwelt with the disciples and they began to preach in tongues to all who were in Jerusalem. You see, at the start of the feast, the Church was essentially born!
Many will say, “I never wandered in the wilderness.” I tell you today, that all of us have wandered through the wilderness of sin. David sang (Psalm 23), that he walked through the valley of the shadow of death but did not fear anything because the Lord was with Him. We wandered in the wilderness of sin, but the Lord was with us and has given us all a way out from that wilderness!
The Lord has played a great role in our life and has done so much for all of us. The Lord has brought us out when we thought there was no way out. The Lord has made a way for us when our friends thought there was no way for us! When things seemed like they were going well, but something happened to make things worse, the Lord provided for us and look where we are today! We have so much to be thankful for.
The Lord wants us to keep Him in remembrance. It is when we start to forget God that we run into and stay in mess. It is when we forget that we can call on the Lord and that He will provide or deliver us that we end up stuck in a bad situation. If remembrance of God is important to Him, you better believe it is important to us.
This Thanksgiving, I encourage all of you to make your feast a holy feast. Let’s give our feast more holy significance than we have. Let’s also give the word thanksgiving the significance that it certainly has. When we give thanks to the Lord, it shows our remembrance of Him along with our thanks. Living with thanksgiving in our heart will also keep us in the way of the Lord and that, I say, is of the utmost importance to us.