When we hear the word “Sabbath”, we usually think of a day that comes regularly each week.  But the word “Sabbath” also can apply to holidays that come regularly each year.

In the Law of Moses, four of these Sabbaths are the Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering. (Exodus 23:14-16).

These Sabbaths for seasons of the year correspond to seasons of our lives and of our civilizations.

The Passover reminds us that the amazing grace of the LORD our God delivers us as individuals from slavery to sin.

And the Passover reminds us that the amazing grace of the LORD our God delivers us as civilizations from slavery to pharaohs who murder us and exploit us.

For the Sabbath of Passover and Unleavened Bread, we must toss out all our old bread. We must not eat new bread that contains leaven. In this context, leaven represents our old way of living as slaves to sin in Egypt.

The Sabbath of Unleavened Bread reminds us that we must be disciplined as individuals to end ways of life that are leftover from our old ways of living.

And the Festival of Unleavened Bread reminds us that as civilizations we must end laws and customs that are leftover from a civilization of the pharaohs, by the pharaohs, and for the pharaohs.

In terms of the annual agricultural cycle, Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread reflect planting the crop. It is a time of amazing grace. It is a time of denial. Seeds that could be eaten are sown instead.

After seeds are sown, an anxious, worrisome period of waiting begins.

Will the seeds actually sprout? So much can go wrong.

Birds can eat the seeds. The seeds can rot in cold, wet soil. The seeds can die in parched, drought-stricken soil. Disease can destroy the seeds. Weeds can smother the first sprouting of the seeds. (Matthew 13:1-7).

When did I first experience this anxious, worrisome period of waiting for seeds to sprout? When we built our first house.

It was summer. The clay soil was dry. Nevertheless, a local landscaper spread a seed-laden, greenish slush across the barren, weed-infested land.

Now I had to keep the seed moist for two weeks while no progress could be seen. Were the seeds dead? Were the seeds choked by weeds?

I had no way of knowing. All I had was faith.

Despite the hot, dry weather, I needed the faith to persevere. I had to keep hoping that, if I persevered by watering my lawn each morning and each evening, my lawn would become good, it would become very good.

Imagine my joy when I first spotted “fur” covering the land—a “fur” composed of short, thin shoots of new grass.

This joy reflects the joy of the Festival of Harvest—when you celebrate the first fruits of the new crops. (Exodus 23:14-16).

The long wait is over. The first fruits of this agricultural year are being harvested. And so, there is a Sabbath to celebrate these first fruits of new life—new life for plants, new life in our lives, and new life in our civilizations.

Much hard work remains during the months between harvesting the first fruits and harvesting all the rest of that year’s crops. The Festival of Ingathering celebrates the end of the growing season when you gather all your crops from the field.

And so, there is a Sabbath to celebrate the blessings we harvest—blessings that feed people physically, blessings that feed people spiritually, and blessings that build a civilization that is good, that is very good.

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To read more about my Visions of the Sabbath, please read my blogs “Sabbath Creation” and “Sabbath Week”.