The three feasts are appointed for the people to celebrate each year; Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of weeks (Harvest or Firstfruits - later called Pentecost) and Feast of Tabernacles. Prior to Feast of Tabernacles is Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) and Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).  These feast and festival days are times of celebration, remembrance, and thanksgiving.

There is a promise given to the Israelites for observing these feasts.  God promises in Exodus 34:24 to drive out the nations and enlarge their territory.  This was a specific literal promise.  What does God promise us today for our observance of these feasts?  Does He enlarge our spiritual territory?  Does He give us spiritual blessings?

Honoring the feasts and festivals was not just for the Israelites.  Numbers 9:14 has provisions for anyone who wants to celebrate these days.

All of these feast and festival days were celebrated in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah.  As Believers in Jesus, we should look back on these days and remember with thanksgiving Jesus' fulfillment of the prophecies of all these feast and festival days. Hebrews 10 gives clarification concerning the parallels with Jesus.

In giving the specifications for the offerings for the three feast days and the festival days, God says, “Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you”
Wow! If we really contemplated the ways that the Lord has blessed us, how would our offerings back to Him look?

There are several types of offerings listed. Gifts are variable and can be whatever the giver feels in his heart to give. The tithe is not. The tithe is the Old Testament way, a tax so to speak, of ten percent for the support and upkeep of the Levites.

In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, leaven is prohibited. Even today, many Jews remove all leaven from their homes. My Jewish friend, Miriam, has often spoken about what procedures she must go through each year during Passover.

It’s intriguing about the scapegoat, being used for the atonement for sin. Is that what we do when we blame someone else for mistakes, problems, sin in our lives? Do we transfer blame to a “scapegoat”?  Jesus is not only our sacrificial lamb, He is our scapegoat as well.

The Lord gives this promise to the Israelites if they will keep His commandments. “God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.”
Complete joy…have we claimed this promise today?