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The following article is directly adapted from a letter that was written to a new convert. The content involves the Agape feasts that we have on New Moon days, which is also the day that the Creation Seventh Day Adventist Church usually participates in the communion ritual. The reasons for this are covered in the article “The Cycle of The Moon,” and like the Foot Washing, Agape feasts are provided to foster a sense of unity, fraternity, and humility in accord with Mrs. White’s statements about the purpose of the institution that the Messiah initiated: “to bring man out of his selfishness, down from his stilts of self-exaltation, to the humility of spirit that will lead him to wash his brother’s feet.” [Pastoral Ministry (1995), page 170]
Dear K,
I hope your Sabbath and New Moon has been and will be a blessed one.
I was speaking with pastor earlier today (Friday) and he told me that you, he and [another new member] had been having a discussion about New Moons, and such things as the communion and Agape feast. He asked me if I had ever written about the Biblical foundation for our practicing what we do on those days. I went through the CSDA forum, where I remembered dealing with a similar topic before, and I found part of the answer there:
Why Do You Keep Communion on The New Moon?
I answer there why we keep the Communion on New Moons, and a little bit on the symbolism of self-examination and living judgment. I do use some Ellen White quotes, as I knew the person asking the question had some background with her writings, but I was careful to give Scriptural backing for all the points that she clarified.
At this point, if you are planning to discuss the matter, please go over that thread carefully, and then return to the material in this email.
[…]
What you have read there is my laying out a number of issues that are relevant to the Agape feast, but not touching on it directly. Here are a few key issues:
1) The Biblical pattern for it is laid out here: “And David said unto Jonathan, ‘Behold, to morrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.’” (1Sam 20:5) This is the first mention of the concept by that title in the English translations, and by the principle of “first use” we use it as the underlying idea behind every subsequent appearance.
This pattern is confirmed for the Christian era by Christ’s statement when having the Last Supper with His disciples, “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” (Mat 26:29) And we know that this invitation is given to the Redeemed: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made Herself ready. And to Her was granted that She should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, ‘Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he saith unto me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’” (Rev 19:7-9)
We note that in the early Church these communal, commemorative meals were called “the Lord’s Supper,” (1Cor 11:20) and it consisted of more than just the bread and wine, for it was enough that the people could be relieved of hunger. (verses 21, 22)
The New Moon’s activities are done for the same reason all the communion-related activities are done, both to remind us of the things that have come before, and to keep us mindful of those things which are, and those things which will be. If the food we eat on the New Moon is both the type of the Last Supper and the antitype of our Monthly Feasts of Humility (and I establish in the CSDA Forum post that it is) and one of the elements of those monthly occasions is partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life, we have to examine the nature of that coming feast.
First of all, we know that there will be no death in the New Earth, for it is written, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” (Isa 11:6) In the New Covenant, Christ replaced the flesh of the lamb with unleavened bread as a symbol of His bodily sacrifice, showing that the ceremony was now to point forward to that deathless day, rather than backward to the original covenant that was ratified in blood. (Mat 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 1Cor 11:24) This is an important concept that should not be passed over lightly.
Further, we know that even vegetable food was added to man’s diet after the corruption of the earth due to the entrance of sin: “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the Tree […] thorns also and thistles shall [the earth] bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.” (Gen 3:17, 18) Before that we had “every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” (Gen 1:29) This means fruit trees and seeds/nuts were to constitute our original diet.
Thus, the King’s Feast to which we are invited, and which will be commemorated kata mem (once a month – Rev 22:2) in the Kingdom will consist of that original dietary material, for most things are to be “restored,” not remade in a new paradigm. The meal that we eat NOW to commemorate that day must not consist of those things that belonged to the old system (flesh meats) or even those things that constitute a part of even the optimal diet today (which includes vegetables) because they are to call our minds to “that day when [Yahshua shall] drink [wine] new with you in [His] Father’s kingdom.” (Mat 26:29)
While the Agape feasts of the early Christians are not explicitly described (and we do not know how much of the light they actually had on this, because they began to keep these feasts before the Gospels were even written to instruct them!) we can easily see from what the Feasts represent what manner of food they are to include. When Israel kept the Passover, and symbolized leaving all their “leaven” behind, they literally cleansed their houses of leaven – this process was instructive for them. Likewise, when Christians consider themselves “buried with Christ” and dead to the old self, they literally bury themselves in water in order to lend permanent value to the symbolic resurrection that follows. (Rom 6:4)
The Agape feast is no less significant or important a ceremony. Those who do not use it to turn their minds toward the coming Supper may well find themselves without a Wedding Garment in the day for which we are to be preparing. (Matt 22:11-14) Some say, “Why do we need to eat literal fruits and nuts to remind us that this is what we will eat in the World to come? What is the importance of actually DOING it?” Such as ask this question do not even understand the basics of the Sabbath rest. If they were not convinced of the importance of the 7th day by means of other evidence they would, like worldly Christians, be asking, “Why do we need to rest on the literal seventh day to remind us of the spiritual rest we will have in the world to come? What is the importance of actually DOING it?” You see, they have not yet entered into the Sabbath rest while on earth, and are looking forward to something yet future but inside of themselves.
By that I mean, the fulfillment of the Sabbath in its ultimate form is yet future, but we experience the reality of it now by faith. Similarly and directly related, the manifestation of the Marriage is yet future, but every CSDA, upon being baptized and accepted into membership, is partaking of the King’s Feast NOW in a spiritual (and very real) sense; the physical rituals that the Spirit has shown to us through the Scriptures are for our direct benefit as the body, mind and spirit are intimately connected. Furthermore, and this is also hugely important, we recall that in the Passover, the day was to be used as a teaching tool for the children of the Israelites.
What a healing, instructive thing this Agape feast is for families and friends! The children see the fathers pouring the wine and serving the bread, and they ask, “Why do we eat unleavened bread on this day? Why do we drink grape juice?” The priest of the home, which every father is to be, will answer, “It is to remind us that we are set free from the curse of this earth, and that we are being invited to an eternal celebration with Yahshua.” Then when we sit at the table the child may ask, “Why is our food different today than other days?” The priest replies, “It is to remind us that there will be no more curse. There will be no more death, and Yahweh will restore all things as they were before sin, and Yahshua Himself will serve us.” What greater blessing, what more Biblical mode of life, can we choose than this?
2) There is a practical reason for attuning our bodies to the diet of the world to come. Today, many are ruled by appetite in a manner that goes far beyond physical food. Men, women and children are addicted to work, to recreation, to activity. All these things are blessings, yes, and useful – yes, they are necessary for a successful life both materially and spiritually; but without rest in addition to these they become curses.
By doing something different on New Moons, we take a practical step toward conquering worldly appetites. The food we eat on New Moons is to be the best we can obtain, the most clearly original to the Creator’s Garden than we can find, because we are learning to rejoice in HIS providence, not the things that our hands can make, or modify, or “improve” as men count improvement. We may teach ourselves, our bodies, on a very practical level, the truth of this Scripture: “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” (Eph 2:8, 9)
If this is a true principle, it will have its manifestation in every area of the Christians’ life: the way we work, recreate, and rest. It will also have its manifestation in the diet we choose for ourselves. Particularly on the New Moons, when we sit at the King’s table, we remind ourselves of the things Adventists have always understood about diet: “God's people will learn that the food God gave Adam in his sinless state is the best for keeping the body in a sinless state.” [Manuscript Releases Volume Twenty-one, page 286] In later publications, such as Counsels on Diet and Foods and The Health Food Ministry, that last part was altered to read “as he seeks to regain that sinless state,” but this is merely a damping-down of the Victory message that flowed so beautifully from the pen of inspiration.
We need to guard against fanaticism in the area of diet as in every other area, and some have taken the above quote too far, because it is preceded by the statement, “We are coming to the time when recipes for cooking will not be needed.” Some have tried to make it be that time, to their own hurt and to the damaging of their witness to others. Health Reform must be progressive, and it must also be in harmony with the Third Angel that gathers the Tribes together.
On New Moons in particular, when we are acknowledging that we are “dead” without the light that shines from Yahshua, we must let no impulse, no earthly desire, tarnish the witness that the ceremonies of that blessed occasion enshrine. If we are truly looking forward to the coming Feast, let us give evidence for it in an open way, as we did with Baptism. Indeed, the Communion-related ceremonies are tied to baptism in an unbreakable bond, and that bond was revealed by Yahshua just before He washed their feet, for “Yahshua said to [Peter], ‘He that is washed [i.e., baptized] needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all.’ For He knew who should betray Him, therefore said He, ‘Ye are not all clean.’” (John 13:10, 11)
I hope this clarifies the Scriptures at the foundation of our practice regarding the Agape feast, and I will be online most of this weekend, in case you would like to have a discussion in real-time. These are just the factors that come to mind at first, but like every true Christian doctrine, the more you meditate on it, the more deeply the beauty and underlying meanings come to light.
Yah bless,
David.