UNDERSTANDING GOD’S CALENDAR

I wrote this article just as The Fall Holy Days of God’s calendar were only a few months away.  His special set-apart times were on my mind.  My heart’s desire and my life focus is to share these days with the ones I love.  I wish the same for all of you.  There is nothing like God’s calendar.  It is full of wonders, and they are different each year.

It is impossible to appreciate or proper;y observe these days for what they are, if you do not understand how God tells time.  Are you aware that God has His own calendar? He hung his clock in the sky on the fourth day of creation.  Elohim created our gift of time on the fourth day of Creation.  Even before we lived and breathed, God’s clock in the sky was placed strageically for us so we would understand how to observe our seasons and times.

To understand this amazing fact we must first observe that Almighty God lives outside of time.  Yet, mankind lives inside of time.  He sees more from where He is.  We need to depend on YHVH’s point of view, especially concerning keeping the calendar.

TIME MEASURES OUR HEARTS TOWARD GOD

Time is one of the greatest gifts God has given to us.  It was designed and made exactly for us.  Having this precious gift of time within the calendar of God has been very helpful for mankind.  It is a great gift and an awsome tool which will bring us closer to YHVH, if we chose to allow it to work in our lives.

Time helps us to remain in motion.  It has either helped us come closer to God, or helped us to move further away from God.  As we move through the sacred process called time, it measures our hearts toward God.  Those who learn to walk within God’s time always grow closer to YHVH. 

WHEN TIME BEGAN

Time was created for mankind and for his benefit.  Our great gift of time began on the day when God created Adam and Eve.  It began as a gift to man on that day, but it was created before they even existed.  God prepared for Adam and Eve to have this gift of time before He created them. Doesn’t that make you feel loved and cared-for?  Then, on the sixth day of creation, God brought mankind to life.  

Time did not officially start until God gave it to mankind on that sixth day of creation.  We know there was evening and there was morning, day and night, for the first six days.  However, we do not know how long those first six days were because we were not officially on God’s clock yet.  It wasn’t until the sixth day that God’s calendar (which includes His clock) began.

So, time for us officially started when God made man and woman.  It began when Adam took his first breath as Elohim placed him into the garden of Eden.

GOD PROCLAIMED A REST  

Bringing man and woman into the world must have been God’s hardest work during the creation.  I say that because the very next day, the seventh day, God proclaimed a rest.  He proclaimed a day of rest for both Himself and mankind.  Of course, God really didn’t need to rest.  Elohim doesn’t tire. He is God.  However, He wanted to rest with us.

The seventh day is for man to rest with God.

This rest of the seventh day was the very first inkling that man and woman had of time. It was a perfect way to start their lives with Elohim.  Their very first day inside of time was spent happily resting with Elohim.  What a great way to get to know one another.

God’s people have been resting with Elohim every seventh day since that first 7th day.  From this pattern Elohim set in motion at creation, each 7th day became a set-aside, sacred time and space for mankind to walk with God without any other distractions.  Elohim called this day The Sabbath.  He hallowed it.  YHVH set this day apart from all other days.  It is sacred time and space.  A gift for all of God’s people.

GOD’S CALENDAR

So, the people following God have been following His calendar since mankind was created.  It shows them time for work and time for Sabbath.  It also shows them other appointed times which God set aside just to be with us.

Somewhere in all of this time though, mankind forgot all about God.  For some reason they wondered from God’s ways.  When this happened they forgot to follow the time (calendar) that God had given to them. 

This pattern happens from time to time in Elohim’s relationshp with mankind.  Whenever this happens, the people begin to miss walking and resting with God.  The people eventually repent and return to God. God always shows them the right days again.  When their hearts are right, they return to keeping God’s calendar.

HOW IS THIS SO?

One way we know this is from observing the Israelite’s journey through the wilderness.  By looking at this journey, we can see the way God gave them manna from Heaven. It rained down just enough for three meals a day every day for five days. On the sixth day it rained down double. The people were instructed to gather double portions on that day only. This was because the manna did not rain down on the seventh day. The seventh day was the day the people were to rest with God. God rested from raining down the manna and mankind rested from gathering up all that they needed.

By sending the manna God brought them back to observing His proper calendar. They found the 7th Day again.  In like manner, it is the Manna From Heaven (Yeshua) who teaches us everything we need to know in order to have a full life. He is our nourishment.  When we follow Him, He shows us how to keep God’s calendar.

The ways of YHVH and this same calendar have been in effect on the Hebraic calendar since the days of God’s people living through the Exodus in the wilderness.  Then and now, the people of God have always received exactly what they need from Elohim.  He has fed them and nourished them, both physically and spiritually.

YHVH has always showed us the best way to live. 

This is even true in relation to time.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Another time, the people were taken captive to Babylon.  Again, over a period of 70 years they had forgotten God’s calendar.  The studious of the Hebraic people have properly recorded time as God intended, though many men from many cultures have tried to change God’s calendar. The Hebraic thinking people have preserved it for us.  Even in these times of captivity God’s faithful have kept His calendar.  They might have left their home, but they did not forget their calendar.

For instance; Daniel, though living in Babylon, observed the Sabbath and the Holy Days of God.  He kept the proper times and he shared them with his people.

After the Babylonian captivity, in the days of the first restoration, God’s calendar was once again restored to the people. Once free and home again, they found the Word and returned to The Word. From the restoration of the reading of the holy scriptures the people heard the words they had not heard while in captivity.  Some of them heard the Word for the very first time.  After they heard, they began to keep God’s calendar once again.  Obeying is truly hearing.  

GOD’S CALENDAR HAS BEEN PRESERVED

Since the very beginning, God’s faithful have kept His calendar.  If they lost track, all they had to do was to look up.  The sun and the moon were created to make up God’s clock for mankind.  The night skies tell God’s story in the stars.  His time is always there for us.  For instance; when Daniel wanted to worship while living in Babylon; he was able to observe the Sabbath and the Holy Days of God.  He knew how to tell time by looking up into the sky.

This must surely make God smile.

It definitely shows Him honor and respect.

GOD’S CALENDAR VS MAN’S CALENDARS

The major difference in God’s calendar and the calendar which different groups of men have tried to implement is that God’s calendar follows the phases of the moon.  Man’s calendar follows the phases of the sun.  God’s calendar days begin at sunset.  Man’s calendar days begin at sunrise.

Since God’s calendar goes by the phases of the moon, this is how God teaches people to count their days. He started His days at sunset instead of sunrise. God’s days on God’s calendar are counted from evening till evening (sunset until sunset).  We must learn to number our days according to God’s days.

THE OBSERVANCE OF THREE STARS

To determine that sunset is official one should wait until they see three stars in the night sky.  The official sighting comes from Jerusalem.  Since Jerusalem is the center of God’s time, that is where time is announced and made official.

I love that the Jewish people are still doing this.

The sighting of the first three stars of the evening so clearly speaks to me.  When I approach this theory from a Christian perspective it is obvious that the three stars are speaking symbolically of God the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.  They seem to say “all is well and time is going on exactly as YHVH planed.”

Christians can look up in the sky and know that our Three-In-One God is still joining us for the Sabbath rest when we see the first three stars of the evening of the seventh day.

JEWISH TRADITIONS SPEAK TO CHRISTIANS 

Almost every Jewish tradition can go deeper than a first-glance-knowing.  They are excellent teaching tools for showing shadows and types of Jesus to Christians.  One day we know our Jewish brothers and sisters will come to believe in Messiah too.  We will all be One. 

It is their well-kept Jewish traditions which have so richly pointed Messiah out to us.  The very scriptures they recorded have meticulously proven to us that Yeshua is The Messiah.

The Jewish people still keep God’s calendar.  Their months are measured by the phases of the moon.  Each new moon begins a new month.  Because the phases of the moon are different in different seasons (sometimes longer and sometimes shorter) the way the days fall on the calendar of God will often vary from year to year.

Yeshua, Messiah, kept and lived by God’s calendar which the Jewish people have alway kept and still keep today.

THE CALENDAR FOR PASSOVER 

If you are looking at a Hebraic calendar and wanting to understand when a Holy Day begins, you will notice that it BEGINS on sunset of the night before the day of the Holy Day. So, as we approach Passover, Passover will begin at sunset. The first two days are appropriate for holding a Seder meal in your home. Jerusalem only observes the Seder on the first day.

We follow that same practice in our home.  We observe the first day of Unleavened Bread on the next day. The first day of Unleavened Bread is also considered a very important Holy Day.  It is observed the day after Passover and is part of the Passover week.  The week of Unleavened Bread which follows Passover lasts for seven days.

So in 2021 the family Seder for Passover began on Saturday evening, March 27th at sunset.  All of the next day (until sunset happened again) was the first day of Passover.  When sunset came we began celebrating The First Day of the Seven Days of Unleavened Bread.  

PASSOVER LASTS EIGHT DAYS

A lot of times people think that the day of the Seder is all there is to Passover. This isn’t correct. Passover contains The observance of the Passover Celebration, then The Seven Days of Unleavened Bread following. This is a season of our gift of time.

The time of Early First Fruits tucked into the middle of the seven days of Unleavened bread.  It occurs on the 2nd day of Unleavened Bread, the 3rd day of the Passover Week.  This is when Christians keeping God’s Holy Days observe The Resurrection.  It is called The Day of Firstfruits of the Barley.  

BEST DAY IS IN THE MIDDLE

Notice that our day for observing Resurrection is tucked into the middle of the eight days for a Passover observance.  In Hebraic tradition the middle of something is its most important part.  The beginning, Passover, is very important.  Also the end, the last day of Unleavened Bread is also important.  However, the best and most important observance comes during Firstfruits of The Barley and the observance of The Resurrection of Yeshua. 

In the years before Yeshua came, this was a barley harvest festival.  God’s people would bring the first of the sheves of the barley into the Temple for an offering.  Yeshua became that offering for us.  He is the most important part of everything on God’s calendar.  This middle day of observance is His Resurrection from the Grave, His victory over death and the grave forever.

CELEBRATING WITH FULLNESS

So actually Passover is a season of eight days in all.  We observe the day of the Seder meal, called Passover, and the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread that follow.  Tucked within the seven days of Unleavened Bread is the day of Early First Fruits of the Barley.  Christians celebrating Passover and Unleavened Bread come to realize that the 3rd day of Passover week (Early First Fruits of the Barley) is symbolic of the Resurrection of Yeshua, Messiah.  We celebrate this day with a fullness which the Jewish people who do not yet believe in Messiah do not yet understand.  

All of these days are counted from sunset to sunset.  They each begin and end at sunset.

MONTHS OF THE HEBRAIC CALENDAR

Passover usually happens during the month of Nisan on the Hebraic calendar. This usually corresponds with the world’s secular calender during March or April.

The Hebraic months are Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishri, Heshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat and Adar. There are twelve months that are calculated by the phases of the moon instead of the rising of the sun.  If you study the scriptures carefully you will find there is something about each of these months which reflect the history of God’s people.  There is a pattern or rhythm God put into time that will teach us better ways about how to love God and love our fellowman.  Because the words are Babylonian that name the months, the scriptures usually use numbers instead of words.  The same rule applies to days.   

MANY NEW YEARS

The sacred year begins in Nisan.  It originally was scheduled on Tishri 1.  However, when God was leading the Children of Israel out of bondage from Egypt, He changed the beginning of the year to Nisan.  Nisan begins the sacred year. The civil year is still calculated from Tishri 1.  God’s calendar distinguishes between the sacred and the ordinary.  There is a separate calendar date for civil responsibilities and another calendar for sacred observances.

This first day of Tishri is symbolic of the first day of creation.  Because of the duality of calendars, the civil new year and the sacred new year occur on different calendar dates.  The civil years were once used in calculating the reign of kings and kingdoms.  The civil days were used for governing and governments as well as some agricultural traditions.  On the other hand, the sacred calendar and days were used for sacred religious events, such as Sabbath and God’s appointed Holy Days.

Therefore, we can see a pattern of several new year beginnings on the Hebraic calendar. There is a beginning of the sacred year.  Also, there is a beginning of the civil year.  There is a beginning for agricultural events. An example of this calendar would be what we have come to call The New Year for the trees. 

These new year beginnings (usually according to the purpose of something) all happen on different dates.  New Year on the Hebraic calendars occur many separate times instead of on the same date for everything which is typical for the securlar calendar we are familiar with today. 

So, you might say when you are thinking Hebraic, there are several new year passages to consider according to the subject you are noticing.  You have a different calendar cycle for governing.  There is also a different calendar cycle for sacred days of worship.  In addition, there is a different calendar for planting and harvesting crops.  They all have their own annual beginning dates, which are different and unique.

HEBRAIC SEASONS

The Hebraic calendar has four distinct seasons.  Thse are the same as those we see recorded on the secular calendar. The recognized seasons are Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

The Spring Season brings God’s Holy Days of Spring:  The appointed times for Spring include

Passover,  (To know more click here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/seasons-passover/ )
Unleavened Bread, (To know more click here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/seasons-why-do-we-keep-the-seven-days-of-unleavened-bread/ ) and Early First-Fruits of the Barley.  (To know more click here:  https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/seasons-celebrating-early-first-fruits-during-passover-week-in-gods-spring-holy-days/)
The last observance for the Spring/Summer season is Pentecost (This day ALWAYS occurs 50 days after Passover.) (To know more about Pentecost click here:https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/pentecost/ .)

After we have finished with Pentecost, the season of Summer has no more holy days. Many of us call these summer days “green growing days.”  That is because they feel like days we can live out what we have learned during the other seasons.  We can exercise our growth and maturity. Depending on when the phases of the moon fall, there are occasional years when Pentecost will fall into the summer months instead of the Spring months.

Some reduce God’s calendar down to only three seasons, those being spring, fall and winter, because there are no set-apart observances in the midst of summer.  

FALL BRINGS GOD’S FALL HOLY DAYS

The Feast of Trumpets/Yom Teruah –  (To know more; click here:  https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-feast-of-trumpets-2017-rosh-hashanah-from-a-christian-perspective-seasons/)
The Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur (To know more; click here:  https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/a-christian-observance-of-yom-kippur-the-day-of-atonement-seasons/)
The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot(To know more; click here:  https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/feast-of-tabernacles-christian-sukkot/)

TWO POST-MOSAIC HOLIDAYS

Purim  (To know more click here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/how-to-celebrate-purim/)
Hanukkah  (To know more click here: ( https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/becoming-a-light-bearer-series-part-one-exploring-the-history-and-the-mystery-of-hanukkah/)

HOLY DAYS ARE ALSO SABBATHS

In the Hebraic way of thinking, a Sabbath is a day spent resting and visiting with God by pondering the Holy Scriptures.  This happens both on the Sabbath and on the other seasonal Holy Days.  Because this is true, Holy Days are also called Sabbaths.  You might hear someone referring to observing the Sabbath (a day of rest with God) in the middle of the week, or on another day of the week.  They would most likely be speaking of keeping a holy day and not the regular weekly Sabbath.

POST-MOSAIC HOLIDAYS CELEBRATE GOD’S DELIVERANCE

These last two days (Hanukkah and Purim) are not commanded days.  However, they witness to the significance of God’s love for His people.  Therefore, most observant people love to join in their celebrations.  They recognize these are days that have made the other days possible.

These commemorate two times when God’s people have miraculously survived under impossible circumstances. These are not the only times the Jewish people have survived extinction in history.  However, we know we have a Messiah because these days did not wipe out the Jewish nation.  The Purim celebration and the celebration of Hanukkah could be considered symbolic of ALL times in history that miracles from God saved God’s chosen people.

So if you have had trouble understanding God’s calendar, we have just shown you the basics in simple layman’s terms. There are a million other details, but they will come to you as you observe.  Just get started. The important thing is to begin.  God is merciful, He will bless you.  These explainations are recorded from a person who believes in Messiah and celebrates each day.  I’ve kept them for over forty years now and can’t imagine life without God’s calendar.

SEASONS AND TIMES OF COUNTING 

There are seasons of counting that are observed too. These are like waiting and learning times.  They increase our anticipation for the next sacred time.  One such time is the season of Elul which counts the days up to the Fall Holy Days.  Also, in the Spring just after Passover we have the days that have come to be called “The Counting of The Omer.” This counting is a system used to count the 50 days from Passover to Pentecost each spring.

If you are not following God’s calendar, and you are only following man’s calendar, your seasons of counting will never work out biblically or accurately. In some years, you will find yourself counting to the Resurrection (the time of Early First Fruits of the Barley) before the remembrance of the crucifixion (during the time of Passover) which would not be logical at all.

You can’t have a Resurrection until you first experience a Passover.  That counting just isn’t logical to the Messianic believer who is thinking correctly.

The world however, continues to do this year-after-year.  They do so without realizing God gave us an accurate way of keeping time from the beginning of the world.

GOD WILL SET US STRAIGHT 

Eventually God always corrects how the people keep time.  Somehow, He brings them back to His calendar. As long as God allows time to continue, this pattern will present itself whenever God feels it is appropriate.  I suspect this may happen next at the time of the return of Yeshua, Messiah durng the Millennial rule.

Time will tell.

PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE 

Once you have the details of this calendar of God set firmly in your mind and heart, you will begin to see prophetic patterns in the meanings of the days.

These Holy Days are one of God’s greatest teaching tools.

They unravel and reveal many truths.  These are important truths we would not normally understand.  The symbolic meanings of these days actually tell the Gospel of Yeshua, Messiah.  You must observe them in order to see this.  It is something you have to live out. The total and extensive realization builds over time.  The more you observe the Holy Days, the deeper your understanding becomes.  

I hope this makes the Hebraic calendar easier for you to understand. My prayer is that you come to love God’s calendar as much as I do.  Also, I hope you can keep these days too.  I wish that for you because the times always make our joy fill up and run over.  When that happens, it always spills out and splashes others with God’s love.