A Feast

A Feast

It must always be a feast when the church assembles, which means that we are built up together, rejoicing before God’s face with the food that we bring and by serving each other. Deut. 16:1-17. Festive garments: We must come together dressed in our most glorious garments so that everyone can be along in enhancing the glory of the feast. We must put off our filthy garments and put on the proper festive garments. Zech. 3:4. Clothed with salvation and righteousness. These garments must always be kept clean. Eccl. 9:8. Any spots that are found on these garments have to be cleansed away before we gather, so that we do not become spots on the feast. The adornment of the feast: Everyone has to take part in supplying the feast with the appropriate glory and adornment at the appointed times, even unto perfection (Ecclesiasticus 47:13-14), singing with grace and playing before God in our hearts. Food for the feast: No one shall appear empty-handed at the feast. Deut. 16:16-17. Everyone is to bring something according to the blessing of the Lord. However, it has to be clean food, neither with the old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. 5:8. Suspicion, envy, and the desire to dominate must not be brought along; neither old opinions nor doctrines from the time of our ignorance. We must have a clean table so that it does not become a snare for us and we come together not for the better but for the worse. 1 Cor. 11:17. A feast for everyone: Everyone who stands before God’s face can take part in the feasts, for there is a feast that is fitting for everyone—for the afflicted, for the one who is harvesting his first fruits, and for the one who has purified his fruit and has sanctified it. The feast of unleavened bread is a feast in the dead of night and in darkness, with the bread of affliction (Deut. 16:1-8); but this is also a feast for those who love to see everything restored regardless of the cost. The Feast of Weeks is for those who have begun to harvest the fruit of their work, which is great in relation to the voluntary gift they want to give. Vs. 9-12. The Feast of Tabernacles is the feast of perfect works. Vs. 13-15. These feasts can be celebrated only when everything is harmonious, only when everything is pure. Also the strangers and the poor can share in the rejoicing at these feasts when they are within our gates. Longing and sorrowing for the feasts distinguish those who are of God, and God will gather them. Zeph. 3:18. The others are best off when they are alone.