We all believe that the Feast of Tabernacles is a commanded feast. That we must observe it by dwelling in temporary dwellings. So to accommodate this command we drive, fly, or otherwise travel perhaps thousands of miles each fall to be with other brethren from all parts of the globe. Doing this gives us an opportunity to hear some of the best speakers in the church in person, and to have conversations about God with old and new friends each year. So why is it that we don’t do the same for the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Though few know it, in the 1950’s the church used to keep it as a pilgrimage festival and travel to be together during it. So why don’t we today? And how should we keep it, exactly?

Tabernacles is quite simple; we dwell in booths because it is a memorial of the time our ancestors wandered in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. Not to dwell in booths or to travel, unless one was very ill, would be looked upon as a sin by most in the church to day – as well it should be. In establishing the command that we must travel for Tabernacles (and that we must give money to the offering plate!), every year we hear this scripture:

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God IN THE PLACE which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

You no doubt have that verse memorized if you’ve been in the church long at all. But that verse doesn’t speak strictly of Tabernacles – it speaks of THREE times of the year – three seasons or groups of days that are to be observed: Tabernacles, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost. So why is it that we travel to “appear before Lord” “IN THE PLACE which He chooses”… for only one of the festivals?

Notice very clearly that the verse said that ALL the males MUST appear before God IN A PLACE. A specific place – AND THE SAME PLACE! Surely no one can read that verse and conclude that we all “appear” before Him on the High Days of Unleavened Bread in scattered groups of 5 to 100 people as we do every other week! But we must all appear IN THE SAME PLACE. Bear in mind when reading these verses that Unleavened Bread was often lumped with Passover in everyday speech, just as we often lump Tabernacles and the Last Great Day (see Luke 22:7).

Deuteronomy 16, starting in verse 1, tells us to sacrifice our passover “in the PLACE [a SINGLE place!] which the LORD shall choose to place his name there” (verse 2). It goes on to say that following that, for “seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith” (verse 3). So we eat our passover AND unleavened bread after journeying to some special place where God “places His name,” and He gives us a specific reason to make this journey: “that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life” (verse 3).

Just as Tabernacles is a memorial of dwelling in booths, this is a memorial of fleeing Pharaoh! Homeless, tired, with an uncertain future and living in tents! Not a memorial of dwelling in our own comfy beds, going to work 5 days a week as usual!

But it could be argued that God placed His name in every congregation in Israel – or in every church in your particular denomination. So there is no need to travel to obey this command! And yet God has a clear answer to that objection “Thou mayest NOT sacrifice the passover within ANY of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:” (verse 5). The phrase “your gates” is used throughout the Old Testament to mean your town, the place you live, the gates of the city (or church!) that you control. God said you MUST leave those gates to take the passover, therefore not to do so is a SIN!

Verses 6-7 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover… And thou shalt roast and eat it IN THE PLACE which the LORD thy God shall choose:…

But maybe that’s just the passover – maybe He didn’t mean the whole 7 days, right? After all, it’s only at Tabernacles that we’re supposed to “dwell in booths,” and live in temporary dwellings!

Verse 7 …and thou shalt turn in the morning, [the daylight portion of passover, before Night To Be Much Observed, starting Unleavened Bread] and GO UNTO THY TENTS.

They WERE commanded to be dwelling IN TENTS! IN TEMPORARY DWELLINGS! Not commanded to “leave the church building, and go back to home to watch TV!” They were commanded to return to their tents BECAUSE THEY HAD HAD TO TRAVEL TO GET TO THE PLACE GOD PUT HIS NAME!

Verse 8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.

And for the ENTIRE seven days you don’t return to your homes! You don’t go back within your walled cities and your humdrum routine! You STAY out, in those TENTS, living in temporary dwellings to commemorate the time that YOUR ancestors ran from Pharaoh, just as you claim to be doing today! And you eat unleavened bread in those tents for SEVEN WHOLE DAYS after the passover service, and then – only then! – should you return to your home! If you set foot within your doorway, and eat ONE MORSEL of your second-tithe offerings “within your gates,” it is a SIN, just as surely as stealing or committing adultery!

I believe that proves the point by itself. But I’ve scarcely scratched the surface of the examples available. There is one scripture that, alone, proves that you are separated from your homes during the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Exodus 34:24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

They were worried about their land, because three times a year THEY WEREN’T ON IT because they TRAVELED to be where God placed His name! And here is another proof just as good!

Exodus 13:7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen WITH THEE, NEITHER shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.

There is not to be any unleavened bread ON you, OR on the land you left behind! Various translations agree that there is a negative clause – neither, nor – that separates those two statements. Not WITH you, NOR back at home! Which only needs to be said if YOU ARE SEPARATED FROM YOUR HOME!

This is not an onerous burden, and hard to be borne! This is a joyous time when we are given an opportunity to share truths we’ve learned about God in the last six months! Like Tabernacles is now, only THRICE a year! But we can only do that if we are gathered together into ONE place!

2 Chronicles 30:21 And the children of Israel that were PRESENT AT JERUSALEM kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD DAY BY DAY, singing with loud instruments unto the LORD.

DAY BY DAY! Not just on the first and last holy day, but EVERY day before the Lord, feasting together with GREAT GLADNESS!

Verse 23 And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness.

And they loved it so much, they kept ANOTHER seven days, the only recorded example of this in the history of man! And the WHOLE ASSEMBLY was there – this wasn’t done from various church groups scattered around the country, but ALL of them together! JUST like we keep the Feast of Tabernacles today – so why is it so hard to believe that God commanded that for the other two seasons?

2 Chronicles 31:1 Now when all this was finished,… (The Feast of Unleavened Bread, after which they all had an idol-smashing party) …Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

They couldn’t have RETURNED to their cities and possessions unless they had ALREADY LEFT THEM TO KEEP THE FEAST! Surely the weight of evidence is growing ponderous! And yet I have still another proof, the strongest yet, to convince the most tradition-bound church member that they have not been observing Unleavened Bread and Pentecost as God commanded them!

Luke 2:41-43 Now his parents went to Jerusalem EVERY YEAR at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had FULFILLED THE DAYS, as they RETURNED…

Jesus – our prime example – and His exceptionally righteous parents went up, YEAR BY YEAR to the feast! They TRAVELED to get to it – they could have just stayed in Galilee, as it was a long trip to make – but they didn’t, because that wasn’t the COMMAND GOD HAD MADE FOR THE FEASTS, and FAILING TO DO SO WOULD HAVE BEEN A SIN! And they STAYED THERE, presumably in tents, until they had fulfilled ALL OF THE DAYS OF THE FEAST! And THEN they returned home!

So there you have it. This is what the Bible says. You can choose to do whatever you want – God has given you that right – but don’t pretend you’re obeying God if you don’t do what He says. Hezekiah was made king over Judah in a similar time of apostasy as we find ourselves in today. Then as now, among other things, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost were not being kept in the way God had commanded.

2 Chronicles 30:5 (NKJV) So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should COME to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had NOT done it FOR A LONG TIME IN THE PRESCRIBED MANNER.

And so it is time for YOU and the church at large, those who think that they stand as they are (1 Corinthians 10:12) to take heed lest they fall! And time for you to “look for the old ways” (Jeremiah 6:16), for truly YOU have not kept Unleavened bread as it is written in the Bible for a LONG time!

Of course, most in the church didn’t know this; and because of their ignorance, God has winked at this sin for many years. But now YOU know – and now YOU are commanded to repent. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but NOW commandeth ALL men every where to repent:” (Acts 17:30)