Did you know that God loves celebrations?
When God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery, He instructed Pharaoh, “Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness” (Exodus 5:1).
God didn’t simply want His people to leave Egypt. He wanted them to gather, celebrate, and remember His goodness.
Throughout the Old Testament, He established appointed feasts and celebrations for Israel. These weren’t merely opportunities to take a break from ordinary life. Each celebration carried spiritual significance and pointed toward God’s greater plan of redemption.
The Feasts Pointed to Jesus
Consider the Feast of Passover. The Israelites remembered how the blood of a lamb on their doorposts protected them from death and made their deliverance from Egypt possible.
But Passover also pointed toward something greater: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, whose blood would deliver humanity from the slavery of sin and the power of death.
The Feast of Firstfruits celebrated the first evidence of the coming harvest. It also pointed toward the resurrection, anticipating the day when Christ would conquer death.
Then came the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, which celebrated the harvest and the giving of God’s Word. It also pointed forward to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the great harvest of souls entering God’s kingdom.
The Day of Atonement revealed another important part of God’s plan. The blood of the sacrifice was brought into the Holy of Holies, and the people’s sins were confessed. Yet this was only a picture of the greater redemption Jesus would accomplish through His death on the cross.
Through His sacrifice, our sins are not merely covered for a season. We can receive forgiveness and cleansing through His blood.
Our Earthly Home Is Temporary
The Feast of Tabernacles reminded Israel of their journey through the wilderness and God’s faithfulness in bringing them into the Promised Land.
But it also points us toward an eternal truth: this earthly body is not our final home.
We live in temporary bodies, but God has promised eternal life to those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Jesus said in John 14:2–3 that He was going to prepare a place for us and would come again to receive us to Himself.
What a wonderful promise!
What Should We Be Celebrating?
I believe we need to make room in our lives for celebrations that remind us of God’s greatness and goodness.
We should celebrate His deliverance, His provision, His forgiveness, the resurrection of Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the eternal hope we have in Him.
But we must understand what we’re celebrating and why.
Our celebrations should turn our hearts toward the One who has given us every reason to rejoice.
God has given us so much to celebrate. Let’s never become so occupied with the routines of life that we forget to rejoice in His goodness and faithfulness.