Most feasts celebrated by the people of the old covenant were in some way associated with the harvest. They thanked God for their earthly gifts. This makes it quite clear that sowing, growing, and harvesting were not to be taken for granted, and that they not only came about through human effort, but were also subject to the activity of God in nature. In this connection let us consider the beautiful Psalm: “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions” (Psalm 104: 24).

If we already give thanks to God for the natural gifts we receive, how much more should we thank Him for the spiritual gifts – the gifts of salvation – which He grants us! Intensive prayers, obedience of faith, and corresponding works are ways in which we can express our thankfulness. These include the natural gifts – our offerings – we bring to the house of the Lord. In so doing, we are, in a certain sense, following the example set by the people of Israel, who offered to the Lord in many diverse ways.

Certainly, the significance of offering has changed fundamentally in comparison to the old covenant. We draw a very clear distinction between the offerings and gifts through which we express our thankfulness, and the fully valid sacrifice which established salvation and by which we live. This sacrifice was brought by Jesus Christ. Above all else, our thankfulness applies to this gift of God for us.

Let us just contemplate how far-reaching the sacrifice of Jesus actually is. Even in the beyond, longing souls can still attain salvation as a result!

This sacrifice serves to the benefit of those who have preceded us in faith, and even to those who have left this earth in an unredeemed state. This belief makes us joyful and happy. Thus it surely is not wrong to also include our thanks for God’s activity of salvation in the beyond when we bring our Thanksgiving offerings, as is the practice in some regions of the New Apostolic world.

Of course, our thanks will only become concrete when we think about all the good gifts which we ourselves have received out of the hand of God. In the narrow sense, our thankfulness to God is an individual response to that which He does and has done for us personally. This means that we cannot be thankful on behalf of someone else. Therefore we cannot bring an offering of thanks for others, regardless of whether they are dead or alive. This thought might seem a little surprising at first, when you consider certain events of the Bible. Indeed, the Old Testament relates that offerings were brought on behalf of both the living and the dead. It says of Job that he offered a burnt sacrifice on behalf of others, because he thought to himself: “It may be that my sons have sinned” (Job 1: 5). We also read of an offering for the dead in 2 Maccabees 12: 39-45. Both cases, however, dealt with offerings to atone for possible or actual transgressions. They were not an expression of thanks to God. Just to emphasise once more: our offerings of thanks constitute our personal response to the favours God has shown us and the gifts we have received from Him. Let us therefore pause and act according to the hymn: “Count your blessings calmly, one by one…”

Yours truly,

Wilhelm Leber