The season of Passover is almost upon us.
This time is always so special.
It became even more special to me last year; because God was showing me some new things. He wasn’t changing anything that He has already shown me (God never does that); but He was (more or less) fine-tuning the things that He had already revealed to me over the days of my life, and giving me access to some tools that have always been right under my nose; but I just wasn’t completely aware of their necessity in God’s timing.
I guess you could say that, starting last year; I think God has given me a new awareness of how He wants me to begin living out my days.
It is all about keeping God’s calendar in an easier, life-conforming way.
For the longest time I have been aware of the fact that God loves for us to number our days.
He wants us to keep His appointed times and He desires that we cherish those sacred moments that only He can reveal to His people.
As a Christian begins to mature; they become more aware of these things. I feel this last year of “counting my days” has been a time of maturing for me.
Earlier last year, around the date of January 1, 2020 of the secular calendar, I set out on an experiment to see how far I could go with keeping God’s time by using His ways instead of referring to the known calendars and the world’s way.
For many years now, I have been faithful to observe the Annual Holy Days found in Exodus in our bibles; but I have followed the Jewish calendar instead of learning how to determine the days and count them out for myself. It is a wonderful thing that the Jewish calendar helps us with this; but what if it want away? How did God tell them in the beginning to know what to do?
For so many years I used the Jewish calendar and I thought this was a accurate as I could get.
Frankly; I knew that these Hebraic calendars had been recording time since the days of Moses and it seemed safe enough, especially where Sabbath Days were concerned. Even now; it stands as a good solid check for comparing my own calculations that God has taught me to make.
My imagination came to consider the fact that I could get stranded on an island somewhere, or be isolated in a place where I could not find a calendar which told me when to celebrate the holy days; and then what would I do?
I firmly believe that God called His Holy Days appointed times because they were just that – “appointed times.” If you get the calendar wrong; you miss an appointment.
It occurred to me that somehow the ancients had managed to do this without all the modern conveniences that we use today. I wanted to know more about how that was done and I wanted to learn how to do it accurately and with truth.
I decided that somehow I should be able to do this on my own; because I knew enough facts now to arrive at logical conclusions. I knew that God used the lunar calendar instead of the solar calendar. Also, I knew there were all kinds of clues in the scripture passages as to how He kept this calendar on an annual basis.
Being my Father’s child – I wanted to do the same as He.
When I discussed this idea with a few trusted friends who also agreed with the importance of keeping the Annual Holy Days, they all simply shook their heads and smiled and said “Let me know how things go for you.”
I wasn’t to be discouraged though.
Last year I put together all the facts that I had learned from the scriptures and counted all of my own days.
Guess what?
It worked!!!!!!
Somehow I felt called to do this for that particular year and that particular season. Today; I’m ready to start another year doing the same. I’m still not sure why; but I am documenting things as I go along in order to be able to look back and see any defining patterns or know things that were different, or discern things that God decides to show me along the way.
Last year I was not positive that it would all work out; but I hoped that it would. This year too still feels experimental; but hopeful.
The thought is to base my movements around the facts that God has provided everything that I need in order to follow Him and keep His ways.
This is what I know that I know; and it has become my starting place to determine how to move next in counting the days for this year of 2021. Here are the facts that I used:
1. God chose to use the lunar calendar and not the solar calendar.
2. God gave a new beginning of the year to Moses in Exodus Chapter 12 after the people had left Egypt and were still traveling in exile.
3. When God gave this new beginning of the year to Moses, it was during the season of the Passover and the scriptures indicate that the Passover was to be on the 14th day AFTER this new year began in the month of Abiv.
Prior to this change, the beginning of the new year for the people of Israel had always been celebrated in Tishri, which is the seventh month. I took the change to mean that only the beginning date of the year changed. Rosh Hashanah, The Feast of Trumpets (I believe) remained in the month of Tishri, and only the celebration of the new year was changed to the month of Abib.
I know that the Jewish people actually already celebrate four new year’s dates, and these two mentioned are already included in their celebrations; so it isn’t like they didn’t recognize when God changed the date to the new time in Abiv. Now they simply had four new year’s dates to celebrate instead of three. What changed with me was recognizing that the year now started in Abiv instead of Tishri. A new year begins in the spring and goes through the Winter; then starts over again.
I recognized that the beginning of the annual cycle originated in the first month, and not the seventh month.
4. Lunar months are 30 days in length. They start with the first sliver of the new moon and they end with a full moon.
5. God’s years seemed to be 350 days in length instead of our 365 day calendar where we allow fifteen extra days.
6. How will I know when the extra days need to be added to the calendar of God that I’m using now?
For starters; until I know a better way, I will follow 30 days for each month and when I reach 350 days for the year; I will wait to start the new year until the first sliver of the moon begins after the Abiv barley has been spotted.
All days after 350 days will just be the extra days that I will need to add to the count to balance the year with God’s timing of the moons.
The Abiv announcement (when the right barley has been spotted in Israel) is how I will know the first day of every year.
All of the days in between the 350th day and the Abiv barley spotting will be the extra calendar days that need to be added as part of the previous year.
This is my own logic (which could turn out bad) and if God shows me a better way or gives me something else to work with that is visible and tangible for me to use; I will change it. For now this makes perfect sense and it is completely doable. It worked perfectly in 2020!
So here we are at the beginning of the springtime.
We will come to the time when the Abiv barley is officially proclaimed from Israel.
When I count 14 days from the day the barley is proclaimed official in Israel on the calendar, the date for Passover will begin. On the Jewish calendar this year it is noted as being at sunset on March 27th, 2021.
As I mentioned before; I did this same count last year the same way. Last year the date on the calendar and the lunar count actually were the same. I hope that happens this year; as it will be encouraging to me to have the comfort of knowing the calculations I’m using are the same as the Jewish calendar. If it doesn’t turn out that way – I’m going with the calculations that God leads me to calculate. More than likely though; the dates will turn out to be the same.
In using this method, getting this year’s calendar started is not hard at all. Determining the date for Passover isn’t hard either.
I’m excited to have reached the timing and ability to calculate these days. It is a great new life-experience that puts emphasis on trusting God for EVERYTHING; even the days of the calendar.
“Wiser than me” people were watching for the barley harvest in Jerusalem last year; and I was waiting and listening to them to see and know when the first day of the new year began.
From the same folks we will verify the official first spotting of the first sliver of the new moon in the middle east for this year and I will mark the first day of this new lunar calendar.
Then I will count 14 days from that day and know that it is time for The Passover to begin.
The only thing different about doing the counting this way is that there isn’t much official planning time because you could not know exacts until the time has arrived.
All the more reason to live life by keeping short accounts with God and with your fellowman. I took note of this fact as my first lesson in this “time experiment” that I was conducting.
That is how my lunar year (using the tools that God has made available to me to follow His days) is going to operate again in 2021.
In the meantime; I’m studying the facts around the barley harvest. These facts really matter in the counting and different experts can believe different things. I wanted my experts to be exact and correct; since everything else in the year centers around knowing this exact day.
The barley harvest is mentioned in Exodus 9:31: (Now the flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom; but the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.)
This passage was speaking about a time right after the plagues of the hail had happened in Egypt. What a coincidence. Here we sit waiting right after the plague of the COVID-19 virus in America. Is this why God keeps bringing these things to mind?
During that time in Egypt, the barley had been destroyed, but the wheat had not bloomed yet, so the wheat was going to be okay for a good harvest.
So we know that the plagues led Pharaoh to relent and he decided to let God’s people go.
Each true believer observed the Passover according to God’s instructions. They left in haste right after the Passover. This tells me there is a barley harvest each year around the time of the Passover.
After Passover I know there are the seven days of Unleavened Bread and in the 2nd day of Unleavened Bread (three days after Passover) we come to EARLY Firstfruits.
Latter Firstfruits is celebrated during Pentecost, which comes later during the wheat harvest, but the Barley Harvest brings us to Passover and EARLY first fruits.
At Pentecost two wave sheafs are offered to God from the wheat harvest; but on EARLY firstfruits a wave sheaf of barley is offered up as an early firstfruits offering. This is on the 2nd day of Unleavened Bread, 3 days after The Passover.
This EARLY firstfruits is symbolic of Christ rising from the grave.
To those who follow God’s calendar; EARLY Firstfruits is Resurrection Day.
Jesus Christ became the firstfruits of humanity; the early harvest that made all of the other harvests happen.
So far, with these natural lunar calendar tools I am able to determine the day of the barley harvest. I do this by watching for the official announcement that comes to tell the world that the barley is ripe and ready for harvesting in Jerusalem. When that announcement is made I realize that this is the first day of the first month.
As soon as that barley harvesting announcement becomes official, I look for the first sliver of the moon to appear. The first sliver of the new moon (in Jerusalem) after the barley has been official, begins the first day of the sacred year. The announcement is again made in Israel; and that is the date that I use for beginning the year. Day 1 can be written down on the new year’s calendar.
Then I watch that moon grow, and I count the days from sunset to sunset until we reach the 14th day. That evening I know is the Passover.
I’m thankful to have a front porch that reveals the phases of the moon to me each night. Now I’ve become accustomed to sitting out there (I used to sit on the back deck) at night and wondering what the moon is going to tell me next about God’s plans for my days.
I have scripture references that tell me the Passover is on the 14th of Abiv; or the 14th day after the beginning of the first month.
After the first seder of Passover is complete; I observe the seven next days of Unleavened Bread.
On day 2 of those days of no leaven; I know it is Resurrection Day!
That is the day that tells of Christ rising from the dead and saving the world from eternal death. He is the first fruits offering to God for all of humanity. The perfect offering that came forth from the grave on the 3rd day after the Passover; which is always the 2nd day of Unleavened Bread.
I observe the rest of the days of Unleavened Bread; 4 more days.
I count the 30 days of the month beginning from sunset to sunset for a day, from that first day of the year’s beginning when the barley is officially announced ready for harvest in Jerusalem, and the first sliver of the new moon is officially spotted.
Next, I continue to count from day 1 to day 30 to know the days of the first month.
I watch the phases of the moon progress and change and then disappear.
When we have had 30 days I know to begin the next new month. It too should start around the first sliver of the spotting of a new moon.
Instead of calling the months by a name; I say Month 1 and Month 2. As the days tick off I say Month 1; day 1, Month 1 day 2, etc.
In my counting after the Passover though, I also begin to count the Omer. I start counting it on the 3rd day of Passover, the day of Resurrection, and I mark off 49 days on my Omer sheet as I continue to count the regular calendar days also.
At the end of those 49 days of the Omer (the days since the firstfruits offering to God), on the 50th day; I will know that I have come to The Day of Pentecost.
This special time on God’s lunar calendar occurs seven weeks after Unleavened Bread (49 days or 7 weeks of 7 days) and it represents the firstfruits of the wheat harvest; when we will bring two loaves of bread ready to waive before God as a latter firstfruits offering. (Lev. 23:17.)
I will continue to count the 30 days of the phases of the moon for each month, and change the months according to the numbers where they fall (as God originally did in the inspired scriptures) instead of giving each month and day a name.
On the seventh month and the 15th day, I will know to begin to celebrate The Feast of Tabernacles. (Ex. 23:16.)
This represents the harvest at the close of the year when everything is gathered in from grains to vegetables, melons, nuts and fruit.
All of these harvest festivals point to the harvest of souls in The Kingdom of God for those who are saved. (Ex. 9:31) (Ex. 13:4)
You can see from all of this that the very first consideration; that of the stating of the readiness of the crops of barley is the only criterion that God gives for establishing the timing of the first month of each of the years. It has taken me over 40 years of observing God’s Holy Days to understand this little fact.
Most who follow the holy days and understand how significant they are haven’t grasped this fact yet. It is important to know because the rest of the calendar spins out from it.
Nothing else in the bible explains how to establish the first month of the year in any other fashion than the developing state of the barley crop. Can’t you just see God looking at the earth and saying, this year I will bring the barley into season on this day….
We are to observe the first day according to Lev. 23:14 when the barley head is green. It must be the time in the month when the barley grain is formed, but still green.
Still; I have another problem. I live in the southern states of America.
Whose barley is this talking about?
Some of it will ripen and be ready before others; depending on where you live on the globe.
Seasons are opposite on both sides of the equator.
The answer seems pretty simple. Just to be on the same page we all use the barley season for Israel as a standard. Israel is close to the area of the world where God first told the people to keep Passover. I suppose Egypt and Israel would probably be on about the same harvesting schedule???
Barley actually originated from this area of the world; so it seems even more appropriate. The law requires that the waive sheaf be of the firstfruits of the barley. So whatever barley field produced the first green ears determines the beginning of the year in Israel; and we all can follow after that is determined.
This is so different from the churches of the western world that still use the Vernal Equinox to determine the time for Passover.
The vernal equinox is that instant when the sun is directly above the earth’s equator while going from the south to the north. This is the time that the world uses to establish the first day of Spring. The Bible doesn’t tell us to use the vernal equinox to establish Abib. The Bible doesn’t ever mention the vernal equinox.
There is a reason for this; the patterns of the vernal equinox center around the activity of the sun.
God uses the phases of the moon for His calendar.
I’m sticking with God’s way.
The only time the sun is referenced is to divide the day from the night. The calendar in the scriptures is always set by the moon.
The Abiv is a condition of the grain of the harvest as much as the time that it has been labeled on the Hebraic calendar. I don’t even use the names of the months and days on the calendar, but I am using the numbers of the months and days. That seems to follow a scriptural pattern.
In Exodus 13:10 and Numbers 9:2, 3, 7, 13 the KJV of the bible translates “moed” as “season” leading some people to think of springtime and the equinox, but “moed” actually means “appointed time” or “set time” and it is not always about a season.
Passover is established around the time of the harvest, not the vernal equinox; even though they sometimes happen simultaneously. It doesn’t mean they have the same definition or meaning.
We know that certain Roman leaders acted to separate God’s people from God’s calendar and deliberately changed certain dates in the name of political unity. They made “Passover” be known as “Easter” and they calculated a calendar that involved the vernal equinox.
In 325 CE the Council of Nicea decided that Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. This man-made observance took the man-made name of Easter. Until that time the followers of God had always followed the lunar calendar, watched for the Abiv and observed the Passover.
This one strategic change made the pagan observances coincide with the churches observances.
The time of observing the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah was being joined with the time that the pagans celebrated a Teutonic lunar Goddess called Eostra (this is where we get the name of the female hormone, estrogen.) Her chief symbols were bunnies (for fertility) and eggs. Her holiday was always held during the vernal equinox and a full moon. It was called Lady Day.
Some Catholics mistake that name and think it applies to Mary, the Mother of Christ. It absolutely does not. Just as God gave us reasons to celebrate the times of His harvests; the pagans have perverted these times into celebrations of the works of nature and pagan gods and goddesses.
I tire of bringing up these facts; though they are true. I simply want to remember the things of God. Our culture and its ignorance make it necessary though.
Witchcraft is so much a part of our culture today.
Many do not even understand that it is wrong in the eyes of God.
Modern Pagans also celebrate the universal principle of resurrection at the equinox – where the pagan goddess of Spring comes forth for offerings of cake and colored eggs and white rabbits at the Vernal Equinox. These three things that Christians use without thinking are sacred to her. She has been said to take the form of a white rabbit at times. She loves the rising of the sun in the east and the tradition of sunrise services stem from this pagan tradition.
Does this mean that the use of eggs and bunnies is wrong for Christians?
I believe that many Christians are simply ignorant and do not understand what they are doing. God knows they are ignorant. They are not attempting to do pagan worship; so I think God simply looks the other way, waiting until they have a better understanding. Our God is merciful and forgiving and loving and kind.
However; I do not think that such things please God.
We really should focus our worship around as much accuracy and honor and respect as we can find. It should be pure and without blemish. If we truly want to worship God and honor Him with our whole hearts; we will stop emphasizing these things and begin to emphasize the things that He has pointed out to us with the Passover and Unleavened Bread and Early First Fruits. We will truly concentrate on the sacred things of God; and not the vain imaginations of mankind.
I began this article talking about the calendar though.
Because of the Abiv harvest I am able to begin the year on the right date and because God hung the moon in the sky; I can determine the time of Passover as being 14 days after the official spotting of the first green heads of grain of Abiv in the middle east.
So far so good! I admit I am still, for the second year, doing this as an experiment; but at the same time I have faith in the God who is leading me to conduct it. He will show me SOMETHING; even if it is that I still have much to learn.
I have the tools I need to get through Passover, Unleavened Bread and Early First Fruits only using the lunar calendar that God hung in the sky for me.
Also; I know to count 50 days from Passover/Early Firstfruits to arrive at Pentecost. I’m already halfway into this lunar year with no trouble at all. For so many years it seemed so confusing to me; but now it appears just all so simple and orderly.
Every answer is in the bible.
When God sends Christ to return for us; what calendar do you think He will use?
Will he use the one that the Roman Church devised, or will he use the one that the Jews who don’t believe in Messiah keep; or will he keep using the lunar calendar that He established back in the days of Moses?
I vote for the lunar calendar.
Personally; I’m glad to have this figured out; simply for my own sanity. I’m keeping a diary of days too that I’m calling my THE ALL MY DAYS CALENDAR, which parallels the thoughts that each day of the lunar calendar presents. Will this calendar throw me a curve or change my mind? I don’t know yet. Perhaps I will share it with you later.
Until then; thanks so much for following my experiment of the first official year of following the lunar calendar without consulting either the Jewish calendar or the secular calendars of the world.
I’m so happy to know that God has provided everything that I need.
That is usually always the case; but sometimes it takes most of us a lifetime to figure it out. It has only taken me 40 years and I’m still calling it an “experiment” just to be safe.
Please pray for God to guide me; and I’ll do the same for you. May God bless you and keep you as you number your days and come to the time of Passover this year.