Absolute Thanksgiving, Absolute Blessing (Exodus 23:14-17)
Let us bless one another, happy Thanksgiving. I hope all the individuals and families worshiping in the church, in their homes will be overflowing with happy Thanksgiving. In the 1600s, the pilgrims from Europe came to America, and with the help of the Native Americans, they made their first settlements, and they gave a thanksgiving worship to God, and that has resulted in today’s Thanksgiving. All around America, people don’t even know the meaning of it, but they celebrate this Sunday as Thanksgiving Sunday, as a vacation. During the end of the year, it’s honestly a very important time for businesses because they use holidays like this to make a lot of money.
As time passes, the meaning of this holiday becomes degraded. This “Thanksgiving Worship” was not created by the pilgrims giving thanks to God, but it already has its basis of the Bible. Holidays such as Veterans Day and Labor Day are holidays to commemorate certain types of people; however, this is not the case with the church. There are many feasts in the Old Testament; however, God told them to keep these Three Feasts we read in the main scripture as the most important. I don’t think God was telling us to do this for no reason because we’re just bored.
In America today, there are many churches, seminaries, and people who believe in Jesus. If we’re able to restore the true meaning of the Three Feasts God talks about in the Bible, we can restore all of America. The problem of America is not a matter of poverty. It is not a matter of a weak government or weak human rights. The problems of America are not because of a lack of education. There is nothing that can solve the problems of our minds and our hearts. It doesn’t matter how many Thanksgivings we take to go on vacations and travel to different locations, we cannot solve the inner problem of our spirit.
Because these problems are not being resolved as more time passes, people fall further into mental problems. On the outside, they don’t really show any signs of it, but there are so many people suffering internally. If they were to expose this and have a solution by graduating from an Ivy League school, but that’s not the case. If we can solve this with American citizenship, that would be great, but we cannot solve it.
That’s why God is telling us today to receive Absolute Thanksgiving and Absolute Blessings. This Absolute Thanksgiving is not something you get from some condition being met; in other words, if the only thanksgiving you have is circumstantial, depending on the circumstances, you cannot save America. Everyone must be able to have this Thanksgiving. God has made it so that anyone can have this absolute thanksgiving, whether they’re old or young, rich or poor, educated or not, sick or healthy.
If we have to claim this blessing by ourselves with the abilities of mankind, it’s hard, and you cannot, but God made it so it’s possible for anyone. The reason God tells us to have this Thanksgiving Harvest is because, after we have our first harvest, we must give thanks to God. That’s talking about the physical things. This is something every religion has. It doesn’t matter whether you’re of African or Asian descent; everyone has some kind of ritual where they give thanksgiving to their ancestors. But God desires to give us the absolute Thanksgiving and absolute blessings through those things.
What does everything in the Old Testament exist for? It is talking about Christ. You have to discover this to enjoy absolute thanksgiving and absolute blessings. Last week in Heb. 10, we learned every sacrifice and offering of the Old Testament is simply a shadow, it is imperfect. All of the rituals and sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament are talking about Christ. God did not give the laws in the Old Testament so we could keep the laws, but it was so we can look towards Christ.
God gave us the law knowing we could not keep it, so we’re guided to look towards Christ. But the more you try to keep the law yourself, the more you will face your limitations. If you’re enjoying the covenant with the One Who has already fulfilled everything, then you’re going into the direction where it is naturally already fulfilled. But if someone says, “you believe in Jesus Christ, so you should act like this now,” that’s not how it works. The moment I become the main character or figure, I will be oppressed by my guilt trip of sin. Because I cannot do it by myself, I need Jesus Christ Who has completed it perfectly to be with me, and God regards me as righteous because He sees Christ within me.
1. Passover (Ex. 23:15)
The first of the most important feasts in the Old Testament is the Passover. What is the Passover?
1) Egypt
(1) Sin (Disasters) – Enslaved
(2) Egypt (World) – Enslaved
(3) Pharaoh (Satan) – Enslaved
The Israelites were in Egypt and without reason they were faced with ten disasters. It seems there was no reason. Just one day they were faced with ten disasters. Of course, there was a reason; God was bringing disasters because of their sin. The Israelite people are children of God, though; however, their hearts were separated from God. Their hearts were worshiping idols, that’s why curses and disasters continued to pour down upon them, and they cannot escape from this world of Egypt. And the King of Egypt, the Pharaoh, was blocking them so they could not leave.
Satan is working even now. God never said you could escape from this reality through your abilities. You will never be able to escape by making a lot of money. If you try to escape with your charisma, leadership, kindness, morals, or ethics, you’ll be even less able to escape. Simply put, with all the actions of mankind, we cannot escape. it doesn’t matter what we try, that’s why we apply the blood of the Lamb.
2) Exodus
(1) Blood of the lamb (Ex. 12:13)
(2) Passover – A lasting ordinance (Ex. 12:14)
(3) Seven days, Unleavened Bread, Offering (Ex. 23:15)
God says, “I will see the blood and pass over the curses.” Why are there continuous disasters invisibly flooding into America? Because there’s no blood of the lamb, the blood of Christ, on our hearts; there are only idols. We have the arrogance of being citizens of a superpower nation of America in our hearts, but every superpower nation was destroyed by curses and disasters. All superpower nations cannot last for long. Rome, Egypt, Babylon and Greece could not last for long. Any strength that does not have Christ is bound to be destroyed.
Therefore, God’s method is the blood of the lamb without blemish. It’s impossible with our strength; it’s impossible with our methods. And that’s why it must be God’s method, the blood. When I see the blood, I will pass the curses and death over you. So the answer of mankind’s life must be blood, not just blood, but sinless blood. God told the Israelites to keep this feast for one week, eating unleavened bread and bringing offerings to God.
3) Jesus Christ
(1) Passover – Death on the cross
(2) Sin, Satan, Hell – Liberated
The Passover of the Old Testament is talking about the blood of Jesus Christ who will die in the New Testament. It is a time for all of mankind to be liberated from all the curses, sins, and disasters that they could not escape from through themselves, but when this becomes weak, disasters will plow in. When this becomes weak, Satan holds onto our hearts so we cannot escape.
(3) Problems of the Past, Present, Future – Finished (Jn. 19:30)
But in John 19:30, the incident of the cross finished all our problems on the cross. All the problems of our past, present, future, and eternity are finished. All problems come from the fact that we’re separated from God, in the background of sin, Satan, and hell. Completely finish it with Christ. It’s okay if you don’t have money. You can do this even if you’re not healthy. It’s okay even if you’re not educated or if you’re well-educated. Anybody can receive and believe in Jesus Christ, restore themselves, and have thanksgiving. You don’t restore this by going to church diligently. The moment you understand the meaning of Jesus Christ, you will be liberated and restore the absolute thanksgiving and blessing.
In your heart, does Christ hold the highest value, or is success more valuable to you? How do you think about it? The way to go into Jesus Christ is to restore thanksgiving because thanksgiving solves all problems. Politics, teachers, and the President cannot solve the problems of America; only genuine Thanksgiving will solve the problem, and the church is a place to restore Thanksgiving.
What kind of thanksgiving? The Absolute Thanksgiving. What kind of blessing? The absolute blessing. The Passover lets you enjoy this blessing no matter what’s going on, and God told us to keep these feasts for the rest of eternity. We obey this from the New Testament with thanksgiving. We are going to do Communion today, and God told us to remember His flesh and blood for all eternity. When this becomes weak, the problems of our family line will be repeated. However, when you become certain in this, you will see the absolute blessings of heaven before us. This is the restoration of worship.
2. Pentecost (Festival of Harvest, Feast of weeks)
1) Sow the firstfruits of the crops (Ex. 23:16)
(1) Seven full weeks of Sabbath (Lev. 23:15)
(2) Fifty days (Lev. 23:16)
(3) A freewill offering (Deut. 16:10)
The second feast is the Pentecost, in other words, Festival of the Harvest or the Feast of Weeks. The Israelites began farming in the land of Canaan and the firstfruits of their harvest were given as an offering. Then, seven weeks after that, that is 49 days, then the day after, the 50th day, will be the Pentecost. In Deut. 16:10, it says you will go before God with a freewill offering. Of course we go before God with thanksgiving for what He has given to us.
2) Jesus Christ
When the Old Testament talks about these things, it is talking about the Christ to come.
(1) Firstfruits of the resurrection (1Cor. 15:20)
Firstfruits is talking about Jesus Christ, the firstfruit who crossed over from death to life.
(2) Indwelling, Filling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)
Fifty days after the firstfruits of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, God’s Holy Spirit came upon the Early Church. In Leviticus 23:29 it says “seven weeks after the first harvest, enjoy this feast,” then the resurrected Jesus Christ will come upon us as the Holy Spirit in the Pentecost. How thankful should we be about that? God and Jesus Christ are within me through the Holy Spirit.
(3) Works of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4)
In the New Testament, after Jesus Christ died on the cross, he spoke about the Kingdom of God for 40 days, and 10 days after that, the Holy Spirit came upon the Early Church. So, enjoy the 50th day of Pentecost through prayer and the power and filling of the Holy Spirit. Don’t enjoy something else through prayer, but enjoy the Pentecost through prayer.
3) Prayer
If you keep praying, “Give me this and give me that,” you cannot restore thanksgiving, however, if you ask to receive the filling of the Holy Spirit, you will have true Thanksgiving. There are many evil spirits in America. Not only in America, but all around the world, many evil spirits of Satan exist. That’s why you must enjoy the filling and working of the Holy Spirit through prayer.
How do we enjoy it? Right now, at this time, enjoy it. The resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ, is with me through the Holy Spirit as life. “Lord, at this time, work upon my thoughts, my heart, and my spirit, and my weaknesses with the filling of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus told us to enjoy this blessing through prayer, but instead, we’re praying for unnecessary things, and the Devil finds that laughable.
That’s why the problems of our minds, hearts, and children are not being resolved. In other words, the problems of your family, society, and the nation will not be solved. You can only overcome with the filling and the working of the Holy Spirit of the Pentecost. This is not a problem you can solve by thinking deeply about it. People tell you to think deeply because they don’t know God. You have to go deep into God’s Word, that’s how your mental problems will be restored, that’s how you escape from depression, that’s how you escape from panic attacks; that’s how your children’s problems will be resolved, and your financial problems are resolved, that’s how the problems of America are resolved. There’s nothing else that can do this.
(1)Blessing of the throne of heaven
That’s why in the Old Testament, God told the Israelites to surely keep these feasts in order to conquer Canaan. The One Who is seated at the Throne of Heaven is with me as the Holy Spirit, with me. Whenever I pray, God works transcending time and space. Right now, at this time, you can pray for the Holy Spirit to work upon your family, your field, and everyone you meet throughout the week, but instead, you say, “I’m not going to enjoy this blessing, I’m just going to work diligently,” but your diligence and efforts are not enough because there’s another problem.
If we could accomplish something with our efforts and diligence, then we wouldn’t have to keep the feasts, but you cannot escape from Egypt with your diligence and efforts. You have nothing when you go into the land of Canaan; how could you have a harvest there? You will bear fruits by the work of God.
(2) Transcend time and space
You have to know prayer correctly in order to enjoy it, even as you’re sitting down. Sunday is the time to fully enjoy this blessing. When you restore worship, everything else is restored, too, but I’m sure many people don’t understand these words because they will receive it legalistically, “I have to attend in order to give thanks,” but during the time of worship, the Triune God gives you His Word, and at this time, God works through the Holy Spirit, and invisibly, God has already prepared the ministry of salvation in your field. Your studies and business have to go into that in order for them to be a blessing.
It’s never the case that you receive blessings through your actions. Do you think God is weak? Do you think God needs to borrow your strength in order to bless you? That’s what we call religion.
(3) 237 light
God does not need your strength; God is already doing His work, but when you pray by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Light will shine into all of your fields, then the invisible forces of darkness will be driven out. That’s the first thing you must do; you need to do this first and then work. If your diligence is shrouded by darkness, you cannot resolve anything because the darkness, beyond your control, is going to seize you. Depression will seize you and you can’t do anything about it.
That’s why the Lord even says, “I don’t want your sacrifices”. Restore Christ and His blood. Worship is worship, but it’s not just worship, it must be the worship that restores the blood of Christ and that’s how to resolve the problems of your family line. Otherwise, your family line’s problems will go directly to your children. Even if they don’t teach it, it goes directly in. It’s not because of poor education or because they immigrated here; it’s not because you’re now living in America. This is a problem that’s going all around the world.
Why did God give this to the Israelites? Because God wanted the Israelites to experience this and to relay it to all the nations.
3. Festival of ingathering (Sukkot, Feast of tabernacles) (Ex. 23:16)
Today we celebrate Thanksgiving worship and the Bible also calls it the “Feast of Ingathering.” The festival of the Ingathering is talking about gathering all the rest of your harvest and storing it. This is also called Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles. In the wilderness, they didn’t have houses so they would make tents out of whatever vegetation they had and they would live there.
1)Last fruits (Lev. 23:29)
(1)Store (Ex. 23:16)
(2) Live in shelter (Lev. 23:42)
It’s talking about the eternal Kingdom of God. He is explaining the eternal Kingdom of God here on earth. God did not create these feasts and tell us to keep them for no reason; He’s not a meaningless God, but God is someone who can work in the past, present, and future at the same time.
Even right now, when it comes to the time of the Feast of the Tabernacles, the Jewish people will go somewhere with their kids and live somewhere in a tent. And the kids will say, “Dad, why are we doing this?” and the Dad has to explain the Passover. “God brought us out of Egypt and allowed us to remain in the wilderness in this way,” and through the harvesting, they are conveying the same meaning.
(3) 7 days, descendants will know (Lev. 23:43)
Leviticus 23:43 says, “Relay this to your generations.” In other words, let them know even today. When is the Kingdom of Christ established here? When Christ came to earth, He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near,” so it’s already been established, but there will be a day when the perfect Kingdom of God is established.
2) Kingdom of God
(1)Eternal kingdom of God
(2) Kingdom of God on this earth
(3) Proclaim the Gospel to all nations – Second coming, judgment of Jesus Christ (Mt. 24:14)
When is that? Matthew 24:14 says, “When this gospel of the Kingdom has been preached to the whole world, then the end will come and all nations will receive the light.” In other words, when the missions and evangelism have proclaimed this gospel to all the rest of the world, then Jesus Christ will come for a second time and bring about the completion of the Kingdom of God here on earth. This is what we’re restoring today. You don’t need strength or money to enjoy this; you can enjoy it even in the hospital. Enjoy the Kingdom of God there.
3) Church – Evangelism, mission
(1)Body of Jesus Christ
(2) Jesus Christ is the head
What is the church? The Church is the Kingdom of God. It is the kingdom where Christ is reigning, and that’s why the head of the Church is Christ and we are His body. We live on this earth for a temporary time but we live in an eternal kingdom of God. Even right now, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Throne of Heaven. What does it mean that we are joining him there? It’s not talking about the location; the spiritual world does not have locations or time, but it is talking about being unified with God.
We are spiritually united with Jesus Christ, so we’re not people living on this earth with the things of the world; Christ becomes our head and we become His body. There’s never a time when God told us to worry about the things of the world. He says, “First, seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.” Change the kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of God, and this is the direction that the church must go. We don’t come to church to try to do something well, we restore these things to restore the Word in the fields, but if the churchgoers lose hold of this, this is no longer a church.
(3) Proclaim Jesus Christ
People gather in religious organizations and even today, all the religions will gather, and families will also gather in their homes, so wherever you go in the world, there are many gatherings, but the sincere and genuine Thanksgiving, the Kingdom of Jesus. By the death of Jesus Christ and the Passover, all problems have been finished, then He resurrected and by the Pentecost, He comes upon us as the Holy Spirit, with the indwelling, filling, and working of the Holy Spirit, and within the feast of the Ingathering, we restore the Kingdom of God. Therefore, concentrate all our studies and businesses for missions, evangelism, and world evangelization that will fulfill his covenant. Then, all these things will be added unto you as well.
“All these things” refer to all the things that unbelievers and Gentiles strive for, in other words, it’s talking about all the human concerns, but God says, “I will give it to you as a bonus.” You just live for the Kingdom of Christ.
Conclusion
1.Liberated through Jesus Christ – Thanksgiving
I hope you will be thankful for being liberated from all problems through the Passover of Jesus Christ.
2. Filling, working of the Holy Spirit – Thanksgiving
I hope you will enjoy and be thankful for the filling and working of the Holy Spirit after Jesus resurrected at the Pentecost through prayer.
3. Kingdom of God – Evangelism, mission – Thanksgiving
I hope you will enjoy the eternal Kingdom of Christ to which we are headed towards through missions and evangelism on earth. If you just work or study, you’re going to die that way. God never told us to live with our strength. He told us to live for God’s Kingdom, and that’s when God’s work takes place. I hope you will enjoy this Passover, Pentecost, and Ingathering every day because Christ has completed it and He is within us.
The absolute thanksgiving and absolute blessing is enjoying salvation, the guidance, working, and filling of the Holy Spirit, and missions and evangelism, all three at the same time. Then, even if you don’t speak about something or if you’re even unaware of it, God will resolve it. God will resolve your children’s problems. The Light will shine wherever you go, so one day, you’ll become the main figure. You don’t become the main figure because you go to church, but it’s the one who is centered on Christ and is living for the Kingdom of Christ.
The Devil must fear you. If the Devil can laugh at you, you’ll be eaten up by the Devil. Yes, even though today is a holiday we should enjoy, I hope you will enjoy the absolute thanksgiving and absolute blessing that will break down the curses and disasters and make Satan fear and tremble.
Prayer:
God, we thank You. Please allow us to restore the absolute thanksgiving and absolute blessing though today’s worship. We pray that this thanksgiving and blessing will be relayed to all America. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.