THE ORIGINAL CALENDAR

A TIMETABLE FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME

The dictionary defines the calendar as "a system by which the beginning, length and subdivisions of the year are fixed" and as a "timetable of special days or events." Humanity's records of time by using the cycles of the earth, moon, and sun is as ancient as humanity itself. The origin of calendars have been around as long as God has put people on this spinning ball of dirt called Earth. For God created all the heavenly bodies in the vast emptiness of space as signs to mark the cycles of years, seasons, months and days, the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. (Genesis 1:14-19)

The word “seasons” in Genesis was translated from the Hebrew "moed" and is defined as "meeting" or "appointed times." The times which Elohim appointed for us to meet with Him are the original basis for the calendar or recording of cycles. Nowadays, people use the calendar for their own meeting with someone, or a job interview or a date with a future spouse. The most important meetings should be with Him. It is the original purpose of the calendar.

The pressing question many people face these days is: which calendar do we follow? Indeed, it is a dilemma. In Western civilization, the calendar most accepted is the Gregorian calendar. It was named after Pope Gregory XIII who took the Roman Julius calendar and made some adjustment to it. What began as a religious calendar became a civil one. The Gregorian calendar does not contain Elohim's appointed times.

Both the Biblical and Jewish calendars are similar in that they both follow His appointed times, except for 2 things: the Jewish calendar has names for days of the week and months and the Biblical New Year begins in the spring while the Jewish New Year begins in the fall. The Biblical calendar is an agricultural calendar based on the barley harvest... when the barley turns green and the new moon begins, that is when the counting for the new year and the first month begins. Why the difference? The Biblical calendar has always been the original calendar. When the second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews scattered to all the ends of the earth, there was no one to report the new moons or the green barley. Since the Jews have kept records of previous new moons for centuries, they were able to carefully predict the future new moons, making the Jewish calendar match closely with the Biblical one. This “calculated” calendar is the basis for the Jewish Hillel calendar of today. Did the Jews disobey God's command by choosing to do this? It was clearly not their choice but a matter of circumstances ... planned by God since the beginning of time. Yeshua predicted the destruction of the Temple, but in His mercy He also predicted the restoration of all things. The Jews are back in the land of Israel, they are again observing the moon and the barley. In time, everything will be restored.

Had it not been for the Jewish calendar, we would not have understood or recognized the Biblical calendar. Even if many Jews still don't accept Yeshua as the Messiah, the apostle Paul in Romans 11 exhort the Gentiles to love them anyway, "as far as election is concerned, they (the Jews) are loved on account of the patriarchs." The Jewish people have kept the His laws alive for centuries. "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22).

What does that mean for us who live outside of Israel where the calendar is different? We in the United States have incorporated the Gregorian calendar into our daily lives. Matthew 22 gives us some insight: Yeshua was asked whether Jews should be paying taxes to Caesar or not. His answer was, give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what belongs to God. Whether taxes or calendars, it's the same. As long as we, the believers of God's spiritual family, Jews or Gentiles are living in the diaspora, we are required to be subject to the laws of the nations in the same way the ancient nation of Israel had done when it was conquered by enemy nations. We must remember that ancient Israel disobeyed God's laws while living on their own land and the diaspora is a consequence of that disobedience. The punishment was set for a time until the restoration of all things. We live in the world but we are not of it. We follow both the law of the land we live in and still observe the Lord's appointed times.

The calendar is an awesome tool to capture the concept of time as a record. The Creator, a supreme Being who exists outside of time, space and matter (Gen. 1:1) wanted to show us His plan for humanity and captured that essence in the form of calendars and His appointed times. He wanted us to have this tool to understand his plan for humanity and his timing in everything. The human mind is not able to grasp the whole concept of His plan, since we are finite beings trapped in time. Everything that happens has a purpose in His plan. The appointed times that He commands us to observe in Leviticus 23 hold great insights into the patterns of the events that He controls. Yeshua died on Passover, at the same time as the lambs were being sacrificed on the altar. He was our Passover Lamb. He was resurrected on the day of Firstfruits being the first of those who will be raised from the dead. Then counting 50 days from that comes Shavout, on the anniversary of the Torah on Mt Sinai, the Holy Spirit came to empower the believers. Instead of tablets of stone, His Word was written on their hearts. It was the Word made flesh penetrating their hearts. All these and other major events have specific patterns to help us understand His plan in HIStory.

This is what Adonai says, 
he who appoints the sun to shine by day, 
who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, 
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— 
the Lord Almighty is his name. 
“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” 
declares Adonai, 
“will the descendants of Israel ever cease 
to be a nation before me.” 
This is what Adonai says: 
“Only if the heavens above can be measured 
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out 
will I reject all the descendants of Israel 
becauseof all they have done.” 
---Jeremiah 31:35-37

I hope this calendar with the appointed times and the 13 illustrations with accompanying descriptions and devotional is a blessing to you and your family. Shalom and blessings in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach!

This article is written by Veronique, published in the Messianic Devotional Calendar, page 3.  For more information about the calendar, CLICK HERE or click our top menu bar "SHOP."

© Copyright 2012. By Veronique, Signs & Wonders Ministry. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article might be re-printed or posted online without permission.