God's Sacred Calendar 71-72
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God's Sacred Calendar 71-72

A new and true calendar, combined with the Roman calendar so widely used by today's Christian-professing world.

   HERE IS the true calendar for all mankind. Its principles go back to the very first chapter of the Bible where the sun and the moon were appointed to be for signs, seasons, days and years. (Gen. 1:14.)
   This is the calendar God gave to Israel when He led them out of the pagan practices of Egypt. It has been in continual use for over 3400 years. In all major respects except one, it is the same calendar used between Adam and Moses. Thus in reality, God's Sacred Calendar dates from Creation!
   Combined with God's true calendar and printed in black (except for Sabbaths) is the Roman calendar. Rather than follow the God-given principles, the Roman calendar begins a new year in the dead of the winter, its day in the middle of the night, and its months without reference to the moon.
   God made His Calendar known to Israel when He brought them out of Egypt. But our nation, composed (mainly) of the descendants of ancient Israel, rejects God's way. Our nation has gone back to observing the very calendar which our ancestors used during their slavery in Egypt. Few follow the ways of God; the many follow the ways of Rome.
   But isn't our Roman calendar of Christian origin? Doesn't it have the approval of almost all Christian sects? History answers: "Our (Roman) calendar is not Christian in origin. It descends directly from the Egyptians, who originated the 12-month year, 365-day system. A pagan Egyptian scientist, Sosigenes, suggested this plan to the pagan Emperor Julius Caesar, who directed that it go into effect throughout the Roman Empire in 45 B.C. As adopted it indicated its pagan origin by the names of the months — called after Janus, Maia, Juno, etc. The days were not named but numbered on a complicated system involving Ides, Nones, and Calends. It was not until 321 A.D. that the seven-day-week feature was added, when the Emperor Constantine (supposedly) adopted Christianity. Oddly enough for his weekdays he chose pagan names which are still used." From "Journal of Calendar Reform," Sept. 1953, footnote p. 128. (Italics ours.)
   Further study brings one to the realization that the entire Roman calendar is of pagan origin with the single exception of the seven-day-week feature. Ironically, the "Journal of Calendar Reform" would have men give up this feature also by adopting their World Calendar. This proposed calendar contains one day each year (two in leap years) that is not counted as a day of the week. The seven-day cycle of the week which has persisted since creation would then be broken. The World Calendar has features which look right to men, but in adopting it the one remaining feature of keeping time God's way — the weekly cycle — would be lost. It would be a totally heathen calendar.

God Ordained This Way

   A new year is to begin in the spring. "This month (Nisan) shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." (Ex. 12:2.) The beginning of this month and of all God's months is determined by the appearance of the first faint crescent of the new moon in the west just after sundown. (Observed from Palestine.) The astronomical new moon calculated for the United States is, in general, a day or two earlier.
   Proof that the new moon begins the month is found by comparing Psalms 81:3 and I Chr. 23:31 with Num. 10:10; 28:11; 29:1 and Lev. 23:24. The terms "beginning of the month" and "new moon" are used interchangeably.
   The word month means moon. A new month begins with a new moon. At first quarter the month is one quarter gone, at full moon half a month has passed.
   A third unit of time, the day, was correctly observed by most people till only a few hundred years ago. The proper time to end one day and begin another, the way the Pilgrims followed, is in the evening at sunset as the last rays of direct sunlight fade from the countryside. Notice the description of the Day of Atonement occurring on the tenth day of the month. "In the ninth day of the month at even (evening), from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath." (Lev. 23:27-32.) Man's way has been to change to the practice of beginning the day at midnight.
   The division of days was correctly understood at Christ's time. A Sabbath was drawing to a close. Those who wished healing waited, and "when the sun was setting all they that had any sick with diverse diseases brought them unto Him," not being aware of the fact that Christ would have healed on the Sabbath day also. (Luke 4:40.) Mark records that they came to be healed "when the sun did set." (Mark 1:32.)
   A comparison of Lev. 22:7 with Lev. 15:5 gives the exact moment for a new day — "when the sun is down." Individuals were considered free from their uncleanliness at sunset.
   The final division of time, the week with a seventh day set apart for rest and holy use, has been preserved for us by its continual observance. The Sabbath, the seven-day-week, and all God's ways were given to mankind at Creation to be kept by all generations. But the Sabbath, the Calendar, and the Law had to be made known anew to the children of Israel when God brought them out of the paganism of Egypt; for they had lost not only the Sabbath, but much of the knowledge of the true God and His way.
   God has not changed. When He calls men out from the pagan practices of this world to the Christian way of life He will reveal His Sabbaths, His way of keeping time, and His Law. In delivering us from paganism God does reveal to us the ways He ordained.
   The first day of this new year begins at sundown March 26. The first month continues through 30 days till April 25 at sundown. Months have 30 and 29 days alternately with a few minor variations in some years. Seven years of a nineteen-year cycle have a 13th month called Veadar. The present year contains but twelve months and a total of 355 days.
   God's Sacred Calendar is printed in purple; the Roman calendar in black except for the weekly Sabbaths and Annual Sabbaths which are in outline type and purple also.
   Purple, the color of royalty, has been chosen for God's calendar and for His rest days, in contrast to the red or scarlet with which the holidays of Rome and this world are generally set apart. The world has chosen scarlet, the color of a fallen woman, for its days — days which have had their origin Babylon and have been branded upon the Christian-professing world by the daughter of Babylon described in Revelation 17 and Isaiah 47.

The MEANING of the Holydays

   The first of God's holydays is the weekly Sabbath, which is a memorial of creation and a symbol of the millennium or the 7th thousand-year period when Christ will have put down all opposition and the Kingdom of God will rule this earth.
   The Passover, Nisan 14, is a memorial of the death angel's passing over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt and sparing the firstborn.
   The sacrifice of the lamb was a shadow of Christ the true Passover Lamb and His sacrifice for our sins on that day. The Passover is now a memorial of both events.
   The Feast, Nisan 15, commemorates the night in which God brought Israel out of Egypt. It is an Annual Sabbath and the first of the seven days of Unleavened Bread. These seven days begin April 9 at sundown and continue through April 16 at sundown, the seventh day, Nisan 21, also being an Annual Sabbath. These seven days show our complete deliverance (seven denoting completeness) from our natural tendency to commit sin.
   The Wave Sheaf offering took place on the first day of the week (Sunday) after the weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. It pictured Christ, the first of the firstfruits from the dead, being accepted by the Father before the early harvest (the Christians of these last 2000 years) could be reaped. The resurrection of Christ had occurred the previous day — the Sabbath — near sunset but the acceptance of His sacrifice by the Father did not occur till that "Sunday." Mary was not allowed to touch Him early in the day, yet later other disciples, after His acceptance, did touch Him (John 20:17; Matthew 28:9).
   Pentecost, the 50th day from the day on which the Wave Sheaf was offered, is always on a Monday during Sivan, the 3rd Month; but the day of the month varies from year to year and must be counted. It is Sivan 7 this year, May 31, 1971 beginning the previous evening. Pentecost symbolized the coming of the Holy Spirit and thus is a memorial of the beginning of the New Testament church. In a larger sense it depicts the entire time of this New Testament church from the arrival of the Holy Spirit till the soon-to-occur second coming of Christ when the reaping of the first harvest of souls will occur.
   The Feast of Trumpets, the first day of the 7th Month, points forward to that day when the last trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ rise to meet Him at His second coming. Christ will then put down the Devil's rule and set up His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, at Jerusalem, to spread progressively over all the peoples of the earth.
   Nine days later on the 10th of Tishri is the Day of Atonement, picturing that day in the future when the responsibility for sin will be placed justly upon the head of the Instigator of it, Satan the Devil. Man — kind will then become "at one" with God or in complete accord, all sins having been forgiven and forgotten. The 10th of Tishri is observed as a day of fasting, a day in which we afflict our souls by abstinence from food and drink.
   The Feast of Tabernacles begins Tishri 15 at sundown and continues seven days through Tishri 21, the first day being an Annual Sabbath. These seven days picture the millennium when the resurrected Christians, then immortal, rule the earth under Christ.
   The day following the Feast of Tabernacles is called the Last Great Day and is a symbol of a still more joyous occasion in the future. The rest of the dead, those never having had their eyes opened to the truth in their former life, will be resurrected to mortality after the millennium. They will go through a time of trial and test pictured as the great white throne judgment of Revelation 21. Those overcoming trial and temptation with the help of God's Holy Spirit will then be given immortality and a new heaven and new earth will follow where no sin or wickedness can occur.

GENERAL INFORMATION

   In brief, God's Holydays are to be kept in the following way. On two of them no work is to be done: The weekly Sabbath and the Day of Atonement.
   On the following six no servile work is to be done (food, however, may be prepared): The feast (Nisan 15), which is the first day of Unleavened Bread; the last day of Unleavened Bread; Pentecost; the Feast of Trumpets; the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day following the feast (Tishri 22). The Passover, Nisan 14, is observed with the service of footwashing followed by taking the symbols of unleavened bread and wine. This is the only festival that is not a Sabbath.
   For Christians these holy days are convocations or commanded assemblies. Historians of the early Christian era record that these days, often misnamed "Jewish holidays," were kept by the Christians with a new spirit and a new and fuller understanding of their significance.

God's Current Holy Day Calendar

Publication Date: 1971
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