Welcome to this week’s blog. Today I am writing about God’s calendar (the Luni-Solar calendar) which is strictly based on the cycles of the moon for observation and calculation, created at the time of Creation, as opposed to the Roman calendar (the Gregorian calendar created by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582). And, which calendar should we proclaim as sacred festivals or holidays to be observed and celebrated?
In 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII introduced his Gregorian calendar, Europe adhered to the Julian calendar, first implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Since the Roman emperor's system miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes, the calendar had since fallen out of sync with the seasons.
Which calendar should society follow, Pope Gregory XIII Gregorian calendar or God’s Calendar? Everything we do should start with God! Our conscious tells us that we should follow God’s truth and not man’s truth. The amazing thing about the human conscious is this...even if you don't believe what I am saying, you believe what I am saying. Even if you reject the truth of what I am saying, there is rooted deep inside you a conviction which you can suppress with the years that is which is nonetheless telling you these things are so. And this truth is the truth that the scripture won't let you forget. - Stuart Loy.
First, we must seek to understand God’s truth and apply His truth in our daily lives. God’s calendar has “appointed festivals or holidays” that He commands we follow and worship. God’s calendar, nor the Bible identify the Pagan festivals or holidays (Gregorian calendar) that has been passed down from century to century as biblical holidays. Pagan’s have mixed truth with what is false, and changed God’s appointed festivals in His Luni-Solar calendar to fit their Gregorian calendar.
Therefore, we all must understand that just because holidays and traditions have been passed down from one generation to the next doesn’t make them biblical or truth. Just the opposite, many of us have been deceived most of our lives. For example, nowhere in the Bible does God have appointed holidays such as Christmas with Santa Claus, or Easter with the Easter bunny or Halloween with witches, ghosts and goblins. These Pagan holidays are nowhere to be found in God’s appointed festivals or holidays in the Bible.
What we have found though is, for centuries, man has been confused and made modifications to God’s appointed festivals. It is God’s appointed times that He has commanded we celebrate. We, meaning all of mankind, not just Jews. God’s commands, instructions and warnings are not just for the Jews, but for all the ways of the world.
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.” – Leviticus 23: 1 (NIV).
In the beginning (Genesis 1:14-16), God created all things from nothing. In the beginning there was no light. And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. – Genesis 1:14-16 (NIV).
God also gave man the Sabbath: a blessed and holy time where we are to give back love and worship to our Creator. All of mankind must worship. God’s appointed times or festivals were not just for the Jews, but for all mankind. But after many generations, many became confused and lost track of days, weeks and months. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. – Ecclesiastics 1:9 (NIV).
At the time of creation, God provided patterns and actions for the sun, the moon and the stars, an ever present, accurate calendar to measure time and clearly designate our work days from our worship days. Nothing new under the sun means that the sun, moon and stars were created to repeat themselves. The sun, moon and stars, simply put are God’s time pieces to help us calculate our days (sun), months (moon), and years (stars) and their annual cycles. The sun and the moon follow the same pattern. But the stars determine the year and are dependent on the sun and the moon.
In order to worship God on the days He appointed, people must be able to understand how God’s calendar works to know which day is the first day, the starting point for counting the six days of work to the seventh day of worship.
God’s Celebrated Festivals:
1. Passover (1 day) – Leviticus 23:5 (NIV)
2. Unleavened Bread (7 days) – Leviticus 23:5-6 (NIV)
3. Firstfruits (1 day) – Leviticus 23:9-14 (NIV)
4. Pentecost (weeks/one day) – Leviticus 23:15-19 (NIV)
5. Trumpets (one 48-hour day) – Leviticus 23:23-25 (NIV)
6. Day of Atonement (one day) – Leviticus 23:26-32 (NIV)
7. Tabernacles (7 days) – Leviticus 23:33-43 (NIV)
Seasons and Festivals from Leviticus, Chapter 23 (NIV):
1. The Sabbath (Saturday on Gregorian calendar) - There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD. – Leviticus 23:3 (NIV)
2. The Passover and Unleavened Bread (Jesus died and was buried) - These are the LORD’s appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present a food offering to the LORD. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. – Leviticus 23:4-8 (NIV)
3. Offering the Firstfruits (Jesus Ascended into Heaven) - The LORD said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. – Leviticus 23:9-14 (NIV)
4. The Festival of Weeks (50 days/Holy Spirit comes and Disciples) - From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the LORD. Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the LORD as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the LORD for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God. – Leviticus 23:15-22 (NIV)
5. The Festival of Trumpets (2nd Coming of Christ) - The LORD said to Moses, Say to the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the LORD. – Leviticus 23:23-25 (NIV)
6. The Day of Atonement (Churches Repent) - The LORD said to Moses, The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the LORD. Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. Those who do not deny themselves on that day must be cut off from their people. I will destroy from among their people anyone who does any work on that day. You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. It is a day of sabbath rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath. – Leviticus 23:26-32 (NIV)
7. The Festival of Tabernacles (Birth of Jesus) - The LORD said to Moses, Say to the Israelites: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present food offerings to the LORD, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work. (These are the LORD’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the LORD—the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the LORD’s Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD.) So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed festivals of the LORD. – Leviticus 23:33-44 (NIV)
God’s Appointed Times:
The 1st day of the first month (Nisan) is the first day of the God’s calendar year. It would begin at the new moon of our March/April, and coincides with the latter rains (Joel 2:23). Each month begins with a new moon. (Numbers 10:10, 28:11, 1 Samuel 20:5, Psalm 81:3, Isaiah 66:23, Ezekiel 46:3, Amos 8:5, Colossians. 2:16.) The 1st day of Tishri, in the Fall, customarily begins the new civil year, God’s New Year.
God established several national holidays each year for celebration, fellowship, and worship. Much can be learned about people observing the holidays they celebrate and the way they celebrate them. Take note of your holiday traditions. What do they say about your values? In what ways do your celebrations and holidays reflect your relationship with God, your Creator. The Creator of Heaven and Earth!
Blessings until next week,
Debra Pauli Unstoppable Believer
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