Deut 16:16  Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles…

Our text today mentions three yearly festivals. They are called “pilgrim” feasts because the Israelites had to make a journey—a pilgrimage—to the central altar to gather for these events. And Moses is reviewing the stipulations of these feasts. He’s already given the rules for these feasts in Lev and Numb, so this is just a review.

Cf. Colossians 2:13–16  … He has made [you] alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross…. 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

Christians don’t have to be concerned about the OT festivals. We are not under the stipulations and regulations of the OT law. We don’t have to travel to Israel to participate in these feasts three times a year. In fact, no one has kept these feasts according to the biblical pattern since 70 AD, when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

So why bother thinking about these feasts? Why not just skip over them? These events were important for OT Israel, and these feasts still have some connections to NT Christian life. So although we don’t keep these feasts today, we still need to understand why they were important to Israel and what timeless principles they contain.

Let’s look at the three yearly pilgrim feasts and consider what we can learn from them today.