God establishes a cycle of feasts for Israel to observe throughout the year, creating habits and practices that structure their life together in at least two ways. First, these formative meals serve as a way to regularly participate in praise, thanksgiving, remembrance, and repentance. Through years of practice, the feasts help to form the people of Israel into a grateful, believing, and trusting community who share in God’s goodness and life.

Many of us think of the catastrophic end of the world when we hear the word apocalypse, but that’s not what this word means in the Bible. The biblical words for apocalypse (Hebrew: galah, Greek: apokalupto) mean “to reveal” or “to uncover.” So in a literal sense, the Gospel accounts reveal the identity of Jesus.

God enjoys perfect fellowship within himself. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in eternal relationship and always participate in acts of self-giving love toward one another. This fellowship is the essence of Heaven—full of joy, generosity, and peace. Before creation as we know it existed, this mutual and loving participation was God's reality. And he chooses to share this with humanity. He created humans in his image so that we could share in his eternal self-giving fellowship and partner with him to share it with all of creation. So how did humanity respond to God's invitation to shared partnership?