Saturday, November 28, 2015

God Never Made A Calendar

God Never Made A Calendar


Did you know that the calendar that we follow has nothing to do with God’s original plan? God did not have names for the days of the week, nor did he have names for the months of the year. That’s why in the bible you see dates like this one from Genesis 7:11, which is only an example of the numerous dates that are given throughout the bible. “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”

Additionally, are you aware that most of the days of the week and months of the year of our current calendar are either named after a pagan god or an emperor of Rome? God never intended for us to be ruled by a calendar. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m telling everyone to toss their calendars out, though sometimes I’d like to. Let’s take a look at how God, in His law, actually intended that our days, weeks, months and years were to be carried out.

Let’s begin by the marking of a day.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. – Genesis 1:14 & 15


In creating the sun, moon and stars, God developed his system of marking time and also a system of providing signs and seasons in the heavens. A day and a night were to pass in order to count a day. When seven days passed, the final day, the Sabbath was to be the end of a week and was to be the day of rest. Be careful with this one, because it was not only a stumbling block to the Jews, but is also a stumbling block to many Christians and False Religions. Let’s continue forward before we deal with this, because it will be easier to see how this stumbling block affects us today.

We’ve defined a day and a week, but how was a month to be counted? A month, which is obvious, was the full cycle of the moon from its first crescent to its final crescent. Pretty simple, right? Well, no exactly. This is where it becomes interesting. The first crescent might appear on the 29th day after the preceding one or it might appear on the 30th day after the preceding one. No one ever knew for sure. They had watchmen appointed to look for the appearance of the first crescent and it was so important that the sighting of the crescent had to be confirmed by a second witness who also saw it. Why was it so important? It was important, because the following morning after sighting the first crescent would be the first day of the week and the first day of the month. The Sabbath would then fall on the seventh day, the fourteenth day, the twenty-first day and the twenty eighth day.

A year, was, obviously, twelve cycles of the moon. There wasn’t a set number of days to a year, just a set number of months.

SO WHAT! Right? So, our calendar is way off from God’s calendar. What difference does that make? Only two really. The first difference is to destroy any idea that we, in the modern age, might have concerning our keeping of the Law of the Sabbath. Some want you to keep the law of the Sabbath on Sunday and others on Saturday, but the reality of the situation is that it is impossible for us to truly keep the Law of the Sabbath, because the true Sabbath, on God’s calendar could fall on any day of our modern week, because it would be based on the cycles of the moon, which often begin mid-week.

The second difference is to point out that God has been, is and will always be in control of the cycles of the sun and moon. 


We take for granted that tomorrow will come in exactly the same way that it did today; more than likely it will, but if you consider that the first sliver of the moon comes when God determines it, then you have a picture of what God truly intended for us.

In reality, just like with the people of Israel, our week, month and year begin and end as God determines. You see, God never intended to create the world and then just turn it loose to spin until time was up. Neither did He intend for us to be born, turned loose and allowed to live our days without His hand being right in the middle of the mix on a daily and weekly basis. The best example of this comes from Exodus 16.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” – Exodus 16:4 & 5


God not only wanted to test the faithfulness of the people of Israel, but He was also making it very clear to them that they would be provided for daily, if they would look toward God for their provision instead of trusting in themselves.

We now live in an age where something far greater than manna is being provided for us daily, and yet, we continue to lean on our own understanding and trust in our own wisdom and strength for daily living.

Jesus Christ is both the manna that feeds us and our Sabbath rest. He is the fulfillment of the law of the Sabbath as well as every other requirement given. Rather than finding any justification within ourselves, whether it is good things that we do or by keeping certain laws, we MUST find our justification in Christ and Christ alone.

Brothers and Sisters, the days before us are rapidly becoming less in number and we need to be finding ourselves in Jesus Christ in every single one of them. Our days, our weeks, our months and our years need to be marked by the light of His glory that shines day and night. Therefore, look to that which builds up your faith and encourage those things in your families and friends.

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being. – 1 Corinthians 10:23 & 24.

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