V. Disqualified people to participate in the holy feast

We can easily say that the people who have been mentioned in the previous section “People who are qualified to take part in the holy feast” alone are eligible to part take in holy feast but not others. However, in order to identify people who are not eligible to participate in the holy feast it is good to know the following points. From that we can understand clearly who are not eligible to participate in the holy feast.

1. Visitors

People who like Christianity, read Bible every day. They pray every day. They also participate in Sunday service. They also give offering. But they do not like to have the experience of true repentance, salvation, baptism in their lives. They are considered as visitors. They are not eligible to participate in the holy feast.

2. Person who have part in devil’s cup

There are few believers who participate in the holy feast given in the church of God and at the same time they also get involved in drinking liquor, and eating offerings made to the idols. ”You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too. You cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” (I Corinthians 10:21). As bible says a believer should not part take in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demos.

3. Person abiding in sin

Those who have received the forgiveness of sins through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ are all brothers or sisters. “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people“ (I Corinthians 5:11). A believer should not forget this bible verse.

Some people can claim that they are Christians but continue to sin. Such people who continue in sin are not eligible to take part in holy feast. It is good such people can avoid taking part in the holy feast.

4. Festival with the unleavened bread

People who are participating in the holy feast should be transformed in their character. We understand that people who have malice and wickedness are not eligible to take part in the holy feast according to I Corinthians. 5:8. “Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. It is very important and necessary to rectify the mistakes before taking part in the holy feast.

A husband and a wife did not talk with each other for few days because of the misunderstanding they had. They took part in the holy feast the next Sunday. While the service was going on Holy Spirit was taking to both of them and working in their hearts. The husband got up and went out. Wife had also gone out before him. Both asked forgiveness from each other and reconciled. Then they took part in the holy feast with peace within their hearts. Characters like malice, wickedness, bitterness, anger, jealousysuch bad qualities are actually hindrances in participating in the holy feast.

5. People who were perishing

Some believers talk about things that they do not know and commit sin. Cain had the character to hate his brother, Balaam had the bad nature of prompting others through his bad counseling and making them fall into sin, Korah spoke against the servants of God, they all perished because of such sins. “Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct – as irrational animals do – will destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. ” (Jude 10 - 11). So the word of God says that people who commit such sins perish. Therefore they are not eligible to take part in the holy feast.

6. People living in pleasure

In Revelation 22:11 we read “Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.” A believer should take effort to become more righteous and more holy. The act of participating in the holy feast is also an opportunity given to the believer to test him and become more holy. Some believers do not involve themselves in things that are of eternity. They wrongly think that living in pleasure for one day is more precious than that of eternal things. “But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. “(II Peter 2:13). Believers who have to live a life focused on heaven should not get wrapped in the pleasures of the world. Suppose if they live in worldly pleasure then they are not worthy to participate in the holy feast.

7. Backsliders

Believers should continuously grow in their spiritual life or else we can understand that they are living a life of backsliding. “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.”(II Peter 2:20)

Spiritual experiences a person had, becomes the reason for him to take part in the holy feast. When a person looses those spiritual experiences he also looses his qualification to take part in the holy feast. Backsliders in the spiritual life loose their eligibility to participate in the holy feast.