One thing I didn't fully realize before I started learning about the Feast Days was that God's calendar is quite different from the Roman calendar that we currently use.
It says in Genesis that God created the sun, moon, and stars for "...signs and seasons and days and years... (Gen. 1:14)" While we know that God definitely does NOT want us to worship them, or use them to foretell the future, they were created for our use.
When I was in college I took an astronomy class. Most of it was way over my head, but I remember being impressed with the moon. As I studied the Feast Days I learned even more about this "lesser light." Everything in creation points to our Creator and teaches us about Him. The moon teaches us to watch and wait.
The moon changes shape a little every night.
The amount of days from one visible new moon to the next is not exact! It may take 28-30 days!
The time the moon rises and sets changes every night.
To be clear I am talking about how we see the moon, from the earth, with our naked eye. So, for example, in Bible times, and even now. We don't go by the "astronomical new moon" which is when there is no moon at all, but by what we call the "first visible moon". We can get a pretty good idea of when it will occur, by looking up astronomical charts but we won't really know for sure it is a new moon until we see it!
Do you know how the ancient Israelites determined the beginning of the month? I'll tell you in this article!
I got so excited when I learned this because it is like God is having us practice something in the physical realm that we also need to do in the spiritual!
Every month, the moon grows and shrinks (again, from OUR perspective, not actually!). It is called "waxing" when it grows and "waning" when it shrinks. It appears to grow a little more every day until it becomes a full circle of light. Then it wanes every day until it is a circle of darkness that we cannot see. Then, when we see the new little sliver of light, it is the beginning of a new month on God's calendar!
But, here is the thing, we cannot exactly predict when we will be able to see that little sliver of the waxing moon! Many things determine if we can see it. For example, say the "astronomical new moon" (when it is a black circle) is scheduled for January 21 at 9:00 am.
If the moon rises at 7 am that day and sets at 6:30 pm. AND, If the SUN sets at 4:30 PM. Then, it may be dark enough and the moon may have "waxed" enough that we might see a small sliver of light making January the 22nd the first day of the month on God's calendar (I'll explain the month names in another post.).
However, as I said, the time the moon rises and sets varies, as does the sun!
(I don't know why I get so excited about this, yet it is so hard to explain!)
So, stay with me here.
What if the variables are different?
What if the astronomical new moon occurs at 4 pm on January 21, then the sun sets at 4:30 pm, and the moon sets at 6:00 pm? Even though the moon is up for a couple more hours after the sun set, it isn't illuminated enough for us to see it, so we wait. On January 22 we look up moonset and sunset times and find out that the moon is going to set at 5:30 PM. It is so close to the sun all day that there is no way we can see it, so we have no choice but to wait ANOTHER day! But, we don't give up, because we KNOW that that moon of ours IS going to shine again and soon. On January 23, we look at the horizon shortly after the sun sets and we see a little sliver of a moon shining! So, we finally get to blow the trumpet and declare January 24th Day One!
Did any of that make sense?
I feel like I had to actually DO it a few times before I figured out how it all works.
But, really it is quite simple if you don't worry about the science behind it. When you see the new sliver of the moon, then that is the first day of the month on God's calendar!
Now that I thoroughly confused you, do you want to know how to tell when the first MONTH of the YEAR is on God's calendar?
For that, we turn to Exodus! (If I use one verse from each book of the Bible we will be here awhile! lol)
Exodus 12 tells us when the "beginning of months is". Yep. Passover. Early spring. An in-depth study teaches us a few signs to look for to determine when we are at the right season for month ONE, day ONE. of the New Year. (hint: It's not January! BUT, we already knew that!)
But, I'll just tell you: It is when the barley is ready to harvest.
So, in ancient Israel, the watchmen would watch the moon change.
They would watch the seasons change.
As the barley grew from grass to grain, they watched. When they saw the barley was almost ready for harvest, they would watch the moon. When the first little sliver of the new moon shone, they would blow the trumpet and everyone would know it was the first day of the first month!
Now, get this! ONE person seeing the little sliver wasn't enough! They needed 2 or 3 WITNESSES who found ripe barley and saw the new moon in order to declare it so!
I guess you can probably see the significance here! And this is why I really love the feast days! As I am DOING all these very physical things and becoming more AWARE of the physical world around me, my heart is understanding spiritual things too!
And, quickly my mind is flooded with New Testament verses about harvest and witnesses and promises that one of these days we will SEE the sign in HEAVEN that we are so longing for. When the season is right. We must continue to watch!
Just as surely as the dark moon will shine again, and just as surely as the barley will become ripe and bow with fullness, Jesus WILL once again come in the clouds!
There will be TWO witnesses!
There will be a TRUMPET!
So, why not practice watching and waiting now?
There are several groups that watch for when the barley is ready to be harvested in Israel and when the first visible new moon is seen each month. Of course, they don't all agree. So, don't stress too much about it. We all know in part and see in part. Each year, each month, each day, we learn something new. We realize a truth in a deeper, more meaningful way. So, don't worry if you don't understand all the hows and whys. If God is leading you to go on this journey, do what you DO know and HE will guide you.
And don't forget LOVE!
In fact, if you are going to forget something... PRIDE would be a good thing to forget! Because this journey can be quite humbling!
Start watching the moon phases and tell me what you notice. Just a few more moons until Passover! (which actually occurs two weeks AFTER the new moon, so it is usually a full moon at that time- just in case I haven't confused you enough. See Exodus 12. You'll get it! ;) )
God bless you as we prepare...
