Happy
Thanksgiving!
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, November 25, 2024
In the USA (and a few other countries), there is a
celebration called Thanksgiving. This US holiday (i.e., Holy Day) dates
back to times prior to the founding of the United States as a political entity,
originating in the days when the Pilgrims came to America.
Background to Thanksgiving
What many don’t realize is the hardship the Pilgrims endured and their efforts to escape persecution in England. How many realize the Pilgrims were attacked, imprisoned, fined, and had their property and assets confiscated? They were literally fleeing for their livelihood. But why? And who were the Pilgrims?
The Pilgrims were those who believed in the Bible but didn’t follow the official state church of England (the Anglican Church). The King or Queen of England (the highest monarch) is also the head of the Church of England—a tradition that continues to this day.
Kings and queens today, though lifelong positions in the United Kingdom, share limited power with elected leaders, such as members of Parliament (the House of Commons and the House of Lords), the Prime Minister, and the judiciary. However, in the past, the King or Queen wielded much greater power. When disagreements arose, the monarch could use both political and church authority to suppress dissent.
One law from the 1600s stated that no one was allowed to
belong to or organize a church that was not part of the Church of England. The
Pilgrims, desiring to follow the Bible in its purest and plainest sense, sought
to establish a church purified from false teachings. They became known as
Puritans (Presbyterians and Baptists came out of the Puritan line by the way).
Because they refused to conform to the Church of England's practices and methodology and held what they
believed were more biblical views, they were seen as "separatists" opposing the
Church of England.
This was the situation with the Pilgrims—they were
separatists who disagreed with the Church of England on certain points and
wanted to serve and worship God distinctly from the prescribed Anglican
practices.
As a result, they were hunted, fined, jailed, and
persecuted. Some fled to the Netherlands for a time before returning to England
to sail to the New World in hopes of finding freedom. After much strife and
negotiation, two ships were set to sail: the Speedwell and the Mayflower.
However, the Speedwell had to abort its voyage due to leaks. The Mayflower
eventually set sail, and after 66 days, the first wave of Pilgrims (102
passengers) arrived in North America at a terrible time of year—November 1620.
The men signed a government charter called the Mayflower
Compact. They discovered Plymouth Harbor on December 16, 1620, and began
building. The cold, wet, and sickly conditions caused many to fall ill, and
only 52 people survived the winter.
Meanwhile, the Pilgrims developed a good relationship with the natives,
even agreeing to be allies in case of war.
The First Thanksgiving
In the fall of 1621, about one year after landing, the
natives and the Pilgrims held a three-day celebration of thanks to God. Over
the next six years, many other Pilgrims were able to join them from England and
the Netherlands.
The celebration became a regular event and is forever marked as the first Thanksgiving festival. When a fledgling United States was gaining independence from England (e.g., the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776), the new nation wanted a day to honor and thank God.
Thanksgiving
was recommended and voted a success. Though the date has shifted a few times,
it is now always the fourth Thursday of November each year. Thus, it always
precedes the Christmas season, which begins with Advent (the four Sundays
before Christmas).
I think it is worth taking a closer look at the
congressional committee’s recommendation for a national Thanksgiving Day. It
shows congressional unity behind the Triune God, which I will emphasize in bold in the text
reprinted below:
“Saturday, November 1, 1777
The committee appointed to prepare
a recommendation to the several states, to set apart a day of public
thanksgiving, brought in a report; which was taken into consideration, and
agreed to as follows:
Forasmuch as it is the
indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty
God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for
benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need
of; and it having pleased him in his abundant mercy not only to
continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but
also smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the
defense and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties; particularly
in that he hath been pleased in so great a measure to prosper the means
used for the support of our troops and to crown our arms with most signal
success:
It is therefore recommended to the
legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday,
the 18th day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with
one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of
their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine
benefactor; and that together with their sincere acknowledgments and
offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins,
whereby they had forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest
supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus
Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may
please him graciously to afford his blessings on the governments
of these states respectively, and prosper the public council of the whole; to
inspire our commanders both by land and sea, and all under them, with that
wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the
providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States the
greatest of all blessings, independence and peace; that it may please him
to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people and the labor of the
husbandman, that our land may yield its increase; to take schools and
seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true
liberty, virtue and piety, under his nurturing hand, and to prosper the means
of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which
consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
And it is further recommended, that
servile labor, and such recreation as, though at other times innocent, may
be unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, be omitted on so solemn an
occasion.”[1]
Making Thanksgiving Personal
I hope that Thanksgiving is a blessed time for those reading
this. I also hope that you take time to personally thank God who created and
sustains your very existence. God is loving and wants all to come to repentance
and receive the great news of what Jesus Christ has done by sacrificing Himself
on the Cross to die in our place to take our sin upon Him. What a loving God
and Savior indeed.
Consider as a conclusion, the importance of thanking Christ for
what He has done based on Luke 17:11-19 (NKJV):
Now it happened as He went to
Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there
met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
And they lifted up their
voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
So when He saw them, He said
to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
And so it was that as they went,
they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned,
and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His
feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
So Jesus answered and said, “Were
there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? “Were there not any
found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to
him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
