Before I accepted the validity of the feasts, one of my objections was that I thought it was impossible to keep them because we no longer had a temple, we could no longer go to Jerusalem, we no longer have any priests, etc. These are common questions in other people’s minds as well. So we are going to examine some of these subjects in this article. To make a long story short I learned I was wrong on a number of points.
We know that when Jesus died on the cross things changed. Jesus was “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) His death brought to an end “the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death.” (DA, p. 652) He has caused “the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” (Dan. 9:27) So things are different now. But how are they different, and how do we apply the laws God has given us to our day? That is what we are going to look at and see if we can find some answers. First we will ask some questions.
Q: When God commanded the feasts, did He tell the people to go to Jerusalem?
A: No, He didn’t! This is a common misconception. Jerusalem was not even a Jewish city until about 400 years after the Feasts were given. Here is what God said:
Ex 23:17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
In regard to sacrifices, God said:
Deut 12:10-11 But when ye go over Jordan…Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD.
So the people were to come and worship in the place where God chose to put His name. At one time this was at Shiloh (Jos. 18:1), and then later, when Solomon built the Temple, God chose to put His name at Jerusalem (2 Sam. 7:13). The Shekinah glory rested over the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place of the Temple as a visible symbol of God’s presence. Several times in Jewish history the Shekinah glory departed from the Temple because of the rebellion of the nation. (DA 829) Finally, the nation of Israel rejected their Messiah and their time of probation closed. Following is the story:
Luk 19:41-44 And when he [Jesus] was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Luk 13:34-35 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
“This was the most solemn denunciation that had ever been uttered against Jerusalem. After denouncing the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders, who worshiped the temple, but were working with Satanic hatred to destroy the One who made the temple in any way sacred, Christ bade adieu to the hallowed courts. He quitted the temple forever, declaring, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” From henceforth Christ saw a cloud blacker than sackcloth hanging over the once favored nation. Looking into the future, He saw the gates of Jerusalem burst open by the assaults of the Roman legions. He saw the walls, white like walls of snow, broken, and the beautiful stones, which had been laid with artistic skill, torn down, so that not one was left standing. The arm strong to save had become strong to smite.” {ST, December 19, 1900}
“When the loud cry, “It is finished,” came from the lips of Christ, the priests were officiating in the temple….With a rending noise the inner veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand, throwing open to the gaze of the multitude a place once filled with the presence of God. In this place the Shekinah had dwelt. Here God had manifested His glory above the mercy seat. No one but the high priest ever lifted the veil separating this apartment from the rest of the temple. He entered in once a year to make an atonement for the sins of the people. But lo, this veil is rent in twain. The most holy place of the earthly sanctuary is no longer sacred….All is terror and confusion. The priest is about to slay the victim; but the knife drops from his nerveless hand, and the lamb escapes. Type has met antitype in the death of God’s Son. The great sacrifice has been made. The way into the holiest is laid open. A new and living way is prepared for all. No longer need sinful, sorrowing humanity await the coming of the high priest. Henceforth the Saviour was to officiate as priest and advocate in the heaven of heavens. It was as if a living voice had spoken to the worshipers: There is now an end to all sacrifices and offerings for sin. The Son of God is come according to His word, “Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God.” “By His own blood” He entereth “in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Heb. 10:7; 9:12.” {DA 756-757}
To find the answer to our question of whether we need to go to Jerusalem anymore to keep the Feasts, we only need to ask one question. Is God’s Name at Jerusalem anymore?
No, it’s not. The once holy temple has been left desolate. It is no longer the hallowed place of God’s presence. Okay, so we don’t need to go to Jerusalem anymore. Jesus foresaw this when He told the woman at the well, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father… But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4:22-43)
This leads us to ask, “Where is God’s name now?” We will address that question later in our study. But first we must consider some more questions.
Q: Do we have a temple anymore?
A: Yes, we do!
Heb 9:11-12 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Q: Do we have a High Priest?
A: Yes, we do!
Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.
Q: Do we still have a sacrifice that covers our sins?
A: Yes, we do!
Heb 9:12-14 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he [Christ] entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Let’s look at a chart that covers more details on this topic.
Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Comparison of the Israelite Nation to the Christian Nation
| Israelite Nation | Christian Nation |
| Jacob’s name was changed to Israel because he was an overcomer (“Israel” = “Prince with God”) | Jesus has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:15). He lived in our world and overcame and now sits on the right hand of God, and will rule the nations (Rev. 12:5). |
| Israel had twelve sons who became the nation of Israel | Jesus had twelve disciples who became the Christian church |
| Israel had been in bondage to Egypt, but God sent a deliverer who took them to Mt. Sinai to teach them God’s law | Israel was in bondage to sin, but Jesus came and took them up on a mount to teach them the deeper principles of His law (Matthew 5) |
| God told Israel that if they kept His Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments He would fulfill His promises to them (But they didn’t!) | Christ was the Seed of Abraham and perfectly fulfilled the law and the prophets. Thus the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16, 18) |
| The Covenant at Sinai was ratified with the blood of a sacrifice | The New Covenant had been made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, but now it was ratified by the blood of Christ (PP 370) |
| Israel had a Temple | We have a Temple (Heb. 9:11-12) |
| Israel had a High Priest | We have a High Priest (Christ) (Heb. 9:11) |
| Israel’s priests made sacrifices | Our Priest made a sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:12-14) |
| Israel had to confess their sins on the head of the lamb | We have to confess our sins to the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) (John 1:29) |
| The sins Israel confessed were transferred to the sanctuary. | The sins we confess are transferred to the heavenly sanctuary (FLB 206) |
| Israel had a holy city named Jerusalem | We have a holy city named Jerusalem (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 21:2) |
| Israel gave their tithes to the Levites | We give our tithes to the ministers of the gospel |
| Israel had yearly Feasts | Paul and the early Christians continued to keep the yearly feasts |
| Israel had twelve tribes | The 144,000 are named according to the twelve tribes of Israel |
| “They could not hope for the favor of God through a covenant which they had broken; and now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feel their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings. Now by faith and love they were bound to God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.” {PP 372} | “The covenant God made at Sinai is for the Israel of God for all time. Herein is revealed God’s purpose for us, if we will only cooperate with Him.” {1MR 108} “Under the new covenant, the conditions by which eternal life may be gained are the same as under the old. The conditions are, and ever have been, based on perfect obedience.–Letter 216, 1906, p. 2.” {8MR 31.1} |
| Maybe the Christian dispensation is not so different from the Israelite dispensation as we had thought. The Israelites were only living in the symbols. We, as modern Israel are living in the reality! Don’t the instructions God gave to ancient Israel apply even more to us today than they did to them in ancient times?“We are to become familiar with the Levitical law in all its bearings; for it contains rules that must be obeyed; it contains the instruction that if studied will enable us to understand better the rule of faith and practice that we are to follow in our dealings with one another. No soul has any excuse for being in darkness. Those who receive Christ by faith will receive also power to become the sons of God (Letter 3, 1905).” {1BC 1110}
After the giving of the law, God gave Moses specifications regarding the law [called statutes and judgments]. These specifications are plain and explicit. No one need make a mistake. In the day of judgment we shall be asked whether we have lived in harmony with these specifications. It is because we do not carry out these specifications in all our dealings, in our institutions, our families, and in our individual lives, at all times, and in all places, that we do not make greater advancement. It is by the directions that God has given that we shall be judged at the last day. {AUCR, March 25, 1907} (brackets inserted) “The words of Moses to Israel, concerning the statutes and judgments of the Lord, are also the word of God to us; he says: “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” {ST, March 21, 1895} “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” (Heb. 8:8-10) |
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Okay, so we have seen that we are not so different from Israel. But there remains another question to be answered: what about the sacrifices that were commanded on the feast days? Since we can no longer offer these sacrifices, does that mean that we can’t keep the feasts anymore?
First of all, it’s important to notice that when the feasts were first commanded there were no sacrifices mentioned. Neither were any sacrifices given for the Seventh-day Sabbath at that time. But later, when God gave the ceremonial law there were sacrifices specified for the seventh-day Sabbath as well as the feast days.
Also, it’s interesting to notice that the feasts are listed four times in the Bible (Ex. 23; Lev. 23; Num. 28; Deut. 16); but in only two of those places are sacrifices mentioned. In Exodus and Deuteronomy there are no sacrifices or ceremonies mentioned for the Feast days except for the Passover lamb, which we know that Jesus replaced with the Lord’s Supper.
In both Exodus and Deuteronomy God tells the people that they are to appear before the Lord on these special days and have a feast and rejoice with their families, the poor, the widows, and the Levites. When Ellen White describes the feasts she also only describes how they were to be times for rejoicing in the bounties of God’s blessings, for religious instruction, and for holy convocations. She seldom mentions any sacrifices except when speaking about Passover.
I think that many of us have studied the symbolism in the Feasts but have forgotten that they were primarily days for holy convocations, for religious instruction, and for festivals of rejoicing. So the question is, what did God command on the feast days and what can we do on those days in modern times? Remember, the Christian dispensation is not so different from the Israelite dispensation as we might have thought.
In Numbers where most of the sacrifices are mentioned, it may at first seem unclear whether these were sacrifices that the priest was to make for the nation as a whole, or whether they were sacrifices that each person was to make individually. But with closer study it seems that the only consistent conclusion is that these were sacrifices that the priest was to make for the nation as a whole.
There are several reasons for this. First of all, they were very expensive sacrifices. It is unlikely that each individual could afford to bring such expensive sacrifices. For example, the sacrifices for the Feast of Trumpets would cost about $70,000 in modern currency. It would have been impossible for each household to make such a costly offering individually.
Secondly, there were probably about a million people who came to the Feasts from all over the then-known world. For Feast of Tabernacles alone, if each person brought these sacrifices individually, that would equal 175,000,000 animals brought to Jerusalem. That might be enough animals to cover the entire countryside!
Thirdly, there were sacrifices commanded every day, every week on the Sabbath, and at the beginning of every month on the New Moons. But many of the Israelites lived at a great distance from Jerusalem and could not come to Jerusalem to make sacrifices every morning and evening, every Sabbath, and every New Moon In Deut 12:5 God had commanded that sacrifices could only be made in the place where He chose to place His name – which at that time was Shiloh and later at Jerusalem. So this was too far for people to come to make sacrifices so often. God only commanded them to appear before Him three times in the year, not every day, morning and evening, every week on the Sabbath, etc.
In other words, it seems certain that these were sacrifices which God intended for the priest at Jerusalem to make for the nation as a whole. They were not for the individual people to make. The only exception is the sacrifice at Passover, which was clearly brought by the people individually (see Ex 12).
Today our High Priest is Jesus, and He performs the duties which were formerly performed by the priest at Jerusalem. He also provides Himself as the sacrifice and the Passover lamb.
Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Acts 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth.
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
1 Cor 5:7-8 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So, in Christ we have our High Priest, our sacrifice, and our Passover Lamb. With that thought in mind let’s proceed to the following chart to review what God commanded the priest and the people to do on the feast days and how it applies to us.
| Priest’s duties | People’s duties | Notes | |
| 7th-day Sabbath | * 2 Lambs for burnt offering * Flour, oil, and drink offerings * Prepare the 12 loaves of Shewbread and set them out |
* Assemble for a holy convocation * Do no work |
|
| Passover | * Eat unleavened bread * Sacrifice and eat the Passover |
Christ replaced the Passover supper with the Lord’s Supper, so we no longer eat a lamb: 1 Cor. 5:7; PP 539; DA 652 | |
| Unleavened Bread | Every day for 7 days offer these sacrifices: * 2 Young bullocks * 1 Ram * 7 Lambs * Flour mingled with oil * 1 Goat for sin offering to make atonement |
* Appear before the Lord * Eat unleavened bread 7 days First and last days: * Holy convocation * No work |
|
| Wave Sheaf | * Burnt offering of male lamb of the 1st year * Flour and oil * Wine * Wave the wave sheaf |
“Christ was…the antitype of the wave sheaf.” {1SM 305} | |
| Pentecost | * 2 Wave loaves * 2 Young bullocks * 1 Ram * Seven lambs of the 1st year * With flour and oil * One kid of a goat to make atonement * 2 Lambs of the 1st year for peace offering |
* Appear before the Lord * Holy convocation * No servile work * Bring a freewill offering * Rejoice before the Lord, you and your servants, the Levite, the fatherless, and the widows |
|
| Trumpets | * Blowing of trumpets * 1 bullock * 1 ram * 7 lambs of the first year * With flour and oil * 1 kid of the goats for sin offering to make atonement |
* Holy convocation * No servile work |
|
| Day of Atonement | * 1 Bullock * 1 Ram * 7 Lambs of the 1st year * With flour and oil * 1 Kid of a goat for sin offeringThe following were used for the atonement ceremony: * 1 Bullock as a sin offering for the High Priest * 2 Goats (1 for scapegoat, 1 for the Lord’s goat) |
* Holy convocation * No manner of work * Afflict your souls |
We are living in the real Day of Atonement! Jesus our High Priest is right now cleansing the Sanctuary. More than ever we must be afflicting our souls and confessing our sins, because the Day of Atonement will soon be over and probation will be forever closed! |
| Tabernacles | First day: * 13 Young bullocks * 2 Rams * 14 Lambs of the 1st year * With flour and oil * 1 Goat for a sin offering (This pattern of sacrifices continued every day for the seven days, with the number of bullocks decreasing by one each day) |
* Appear before the Lord * 1st and 8th day holy convocations * No servile work on 1st day and 8th day * 7 Day feast * Rejoice in thy feast with your children, servants, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow * Rejoice before the Lord with tree branches * Build booths of tree branches and live in them 7 days |
Feast of Tabernacles points to Jesus Second coming. This is the event we are preparing for right now! |
Again we see that things haven’t changed so much as we thought. In ancient Israel the priest offered the sacrifices on the Feast Days; and the people assembled to have Holy Convocations, to rejoice before the Lord, and to recall God’s goodness to them. In modern Israel our High Priest, Jesus, offered the sacrifice of Himself, and we as the people are to fulfill our part in assembling to have Holy Convocations, to rejoice before the Lord, and to recall His goodness to us. It’s very simple! Jesus is doing His part; we do our part!
So where is God’s name now?
At the beginning of this article we saw that God told His people to assemble for the annual feasts in the place where He had put His name. At one time God had put His name at Jerusalem; but as we saw, Jerusalem is no longer God’s holy city. It has been left desolate, and the Temple has been destroyed, because the Jews rejected and crucified the Messiah who had come to save them. So God’s name is no longer at Jerusalem. Which means that we do not need to go there to keep the feasts anymore. But where is God’s name now? We must know this so we know where to go to worship Him when we celebrate His holy days.
First of all, we can learn a lot from the example of Paul. He told the Philippians, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Phil. 4:9) What did they see Paul do? “At Philippi Paul tarried to keep the Passover…The Philippians were the most loving and truehearted of the apostle’s converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them.” (AA 390) What did Paul do? He kept the feast of Passover (the Lord’s Supper) and the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread with his Christian converts at Philippi. Philippi was a gentile city that apparently didn’t even have a synagogue (Acts 16:13). Obviously he didn’t consider it necessary to go to Jerusalem anymore to keep the feast. And neither did he instruct his Philippian converts to go to Jerusalem to keep the feasts. It was fine for them to celebrate the feast right where they were; God’s name was no longer at Jerusalem.
We see the same lesson again portrayed in Paul’s life in Ephesus, where he lived for several years. In his letter to the Corinthian church Paul tells them, “For I will not see you now by the way…But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. (1 Cor 16:7-8) Here again we see Paul planning to celebrate the feast of Pentecost with gentile believers (Eph. 2:11-12), in a gentile city. So we can conclude from these example in the life of Paul that it is perfectly fine for Christians to celebrate the Feasts in whatever place they are located. We should have a holy convocation and a time of fellowship and rejoicing with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
So how did things change after the death of Christ and where is God’s name now? In ancient times God’s name was located wherever His presence was located – first this was at Shiloh, and later at Jerusalem – where ever the Shekinah Glory was, that’s where God’s name was. Of course we no longer have a visible Shekinah Glory, but nonetheless God’s presence is just as real today as it was in Bible times. Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mat. 18:20) And He said, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16)
Peter says, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ…ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Pe. 2:5, 9, 10)
We are:
- Built into a spiritual house for God – a temple for God’s presence to abide in
- A royal priesthood
- To offer up spiritual sacrifices which are made acceptable to God by Jesus Christ
My conclusion from all that I have studied is that God’s name, which was once at Jerusalem, is now in His church, because “where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them.” We are His temple, a “spiritual house,” for God’s Shekinah glory to dwell in. This is the reason we can now celebrate the feasts wherever we are gathered together in Christ’s name.
In the same way that the tabernacle built by Moses was a copy of the true temple in Heaven, so God’s Church here on earth is like an extension of the temple in Heaven, where our great High Priest is ministering in our behalf. When we enter the house of God to worship, we are entering into God’s presence!
“To the humble, believing soul, the house of God on earth is the gate of heaven. The song of praise, the prayer, the words spoken by Christ’s representatives, are God’s appointed agencies to prepare a people for the church above, for that loftier worship into which there can enter nothing that defileth.
“From the sacredness which was attached to the earthly sanctuary, Christians may learn how they should regard the place where the Lord meets with His people. There has been a great change, not for the better, but for the worse, in the habits and customs of the people in reference to religious worship. The precious, the sacred, things which connect us with God are fast losing their hold upon our minds and hearts, and are being brought down to the level of common things. The reverence which the people had anciently for the sanctuary where they met with God in sacred service has largely passed away. Nevertheless, God Himself gave the order of His service, exalting it high above everything of a temporal nature.
“The house is the sanctuary for the family, and the closet or the grove the most retired place for individual worship; but the church is the sanctuary for the congregation. There should be rules in regard to the time, the place, and the manner of worshiping. Nothing that is sacred, nothing that pertains to the worship of God, should be treated with carelessness or indifference. In order that men may do their best work in showing forth the praises of God, their associations must be such as will keep the sacred distinct from the common, in their minds. Those who have broad ideas, noble thoughts and aspirations, are those who have associations that strengthen all thoughts of divine things. Happy are those who have a sanctuary, be it high or low, in the city or among the rugged mountain caves, in the lowly cabin or in the wilderness. If it is the best they can secure for the Master, He will hallow the place with His presence, and it will be holy unto the Lord of hosts.” {5T 491}
Notice, the order of God’s service in the ancient Sanctuary is just as applicable to us today as it was back then. We are entering into God’s presence just as much as they were. And the reverence that the people had anciently for the sanctuary where they met with God, has largely passed away. We must revive a reverence for God’s church, which is “the sanctuary for the congregation” – it is the place which God will hallow with His presence, and it will be holy unto the Lord of hosts!
So my conclusion from my study is that God’s name is now in His Church. Where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in the midst of them, and “happy are those who have a sanctuary, be it high or low, in the city or among the rugged mountain caves, in the lowly cabin or in the wilderness. If it is the best they can secure for the Master, He will hallow the place with His presence, and it will be holy unto the Lord of hosts.”
This is where God’s name is now, and this is where we can appear before the Lord to celebrate His holy feast days. We need not make any Passover sacrifice, “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:7-8) Our duty is to assemble before the Lord and have a holy convocation, to rejoice before the Lord, and to bring our thank offerings and praise offerings into the house of the Lord (Heb. 13:15).