.
We begin here with part 1 of a 2 part presentation. I hope to engage both the well studied seeker and newly inspired novice alike, as well as to spark interest in those who have yet to consider these topics. This conceptual overview is followed by a full study companion article that can be found here: Wheel Within A Wheel [A Companion Study].
Truth in Time
.
When caused to stop and consider the concept of time, most people would have to agree that the time the world now keeps is “Roman” – from starting our days at midnight (or 12 o’ the CLOCK) to rendering our months by the Gregorian calendar, brought to us by none other than POPE Gregory XIII in 1582. I would go even further and say that following the time, and especially keeping any “feasts”, set by a Pope makes you CATHOLIC, which actually means Universal. And aren’t we warned in Revelation 12 that the Devil would deceive the whole world?
Some of the strongest warnings we are given from our Messiah were when He said, “Do not be deceived”. The Adversary, or ha’Satan in Hebrew, is a deceiver. He uses lies to pervert the truth of literally every facet of our lives – the depths of which many are just now waking up to.
Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of time, has given us a way to know and be on His time. We are to know the “hours” of the day and the watches over night and to be able to keep His feasts and not profane them. It’s also required in order to be faithful in watching for prophetic events. According to the first page of His Word to us, it is the heavenly luminaries we are to observe as signs with which to mark and keep YHUH’s true time and, you can be sure, this truth is not lost on our enemy.
.
.
Deciphering the Deception
.
Man-made timepieces and pre-printed Gregorian calendars are in opposition to what Scripture teaches and what is clearly seen in nature – where the “first hour” of the 12 segments of daylight1 begins at dawn and the patterns found by observing the sun, moon and stars inform a keeping of months and years.
Skipping over the obvious insult of the names of the days and some months being those of false “gods”, what may be less obvious to some is that even the order of the months have been skewed. Septem(ber) means “seven” and yet is the nineth month; Octo(ber) means eight, Novem(ber) – nine, Decem(ber) – ten. This is almost as blatant as “Sabbado” meaning Sabbath in Spanish, yet a whole culture of that language regards “Domingo” as their Sabbath day!
In light of all this, we can conclude that the clocks on our walls, the calendars on every desk and the watches that many still wear, are “Satanic”. At the very least they are meant to distract and ultimately they are used to deceive!
Gaining a better understanding and getting to the truth of a matter often requires learning the origins of words. The originally intended meanings, definitions and usage of words often give clues to facts that have been obscured to us today.
Our main word for time keeping, “calendar”, comes from the Greek word kalends which means the first day of every month. “Month” comes from moonth which was how a lunation, or a lunar cycle, was once described. This agrees with Scripture which teaches that the proclaimed (annual) feast days are found by counting from the new moon or month2 – chodesh in Hebrew. Chodesh is the noun form of chadash (“to be renewed or rebuilt” as in the Brit Chadasha, or the “New Covenant”) and more literally means “renewal” or, “that which is renewed”.
We can confirm this for ourselves when we read on page 1 of Genesis that we were given “two great lights…and the stars” for “signs, appointed times, days and years”. We can also observe that it is the light of the moon that is renewed in a continuous cycle. As we learned above, it is this lunation cycle that is referred to as a “month”.
So, the act of keeping a calendar is in regard to marking the months, and from the marking of months we are then able to number the days of the month. But, if it is not readily obvious – what phase of the moon would mark it’s “renewal” from which to count the days? Well, this is where a wrestling match would normally begin…
.
.
A Complete Concept
.
There is often debate about many of the elements of the true Scriptural calendar. It can be difficult to consider an alternative viewpoint of any one of the elements in light of the overall picture we may already hold. So, although this article will cover some descriptions and defining of terms, my goal here is to give a “big picture” view while asking the reader to step back from their current understanding so that the concept being presented can be fully grasped as a whole. We will delve further into the details of each calendar element with more supporting Scriptural references in the companion study presentation.
Let’s start with the big picture, along with a parallel concept with a deconstruction of sorts.
The way of salvation is told by the messengers, or stars, in the “heavenly scroll” of the firmament, the mazzaroth in Hebrew, which begins with the virgin birth and continues through to the victory of the Lion of Judah.
.
.
Virgo, as it is called in the Zodiac of constellations (from the root zoad, meaning to walk among the stars) is depicted as a woman holding a (abib) wave sheaf and wheat seed in her hands. This is the first star cluster and it begins the cycle of the constellations. The star Spica, meaning “seed”, is the brightest star in this constellation and is one part of the “sign of the Abib” that marks the beginning of months3 and the start of the harvest cycle. This “seed star” will appear to “plant” into the horizon at the time of the Abib.
To help with the full visual concept, we will use a parallel that hopefully you can see is clearly a rip off and a definite perversion of YHUH’s true heavenly timepiece.
.
.
Like the gears in your watch or the clock on your wall, each of the luminaries that we are given for “signs, seasons (appointed times), days and years” (as stated in Genesis4) has it’s own cycle. The “two great lights … and the stars” are the “three witnesses”5 needed for establishing the fullness of the sign that identifies the beginning of months, or new year, which begins only once all of the luminaries have completed their cycles:
- the observable circuit6 of the “greater light”, or the sun, is 365.25 days from east gate to east gate, covering both the north and the south (at the “equinoxes”) = the 1st Witness
- the lunar cycle of the “lesser” great light, the moon, is 29.53 days = the 2nd Witness
- “the stars”, or constellations must also come full circle to complete the “sign of the Abib” = the 3rd Witness
These three cycles all work together and, rather than there being a static or predetermined beginning and end (as it would be in “Rome”), each year simply flows into the next based on the cycles of all three luminaries. The days of the years average out over the course of the Shemitah (7th year Sabbath) and Jubilee cycles.
In our parallel picture, as seconds on a clock tick by, we move closer to the next minute, but that next minute does not fully start until the last second ticks off. Then as minutes pass, the next hour arrives, but also not until the last second ticks off. The hours pass, one by one, until we have arrived at a new day – think moving from your clock to your calendar now – and a new day begins at “morning” (dawn or first light are other acceptable translations of the Hebrew word boqer that also includes daybreak). So, by the definition of the word most often translated “morning”, a day begins when the day breaks at first light. [Genesis 1]
This is part of the circuit of the sun, the “greater light” that rules the day. Then there is the “lesser” great light given “to rule the night”. We finally find our moon clues here, where it was first set to it’s task of being a great light and for signs (from the Hebrew word owth which also means mark, token, or beacon), and to rule the night. We can observe and therefore confirm it to be only the full moon7 that qualifies as a great light that is able to serve as a beacon for signs and which is the only phase that can be found to rule all night.
Now, in keeping with our parallel picture, the sun ticks off the days from morning to morning, and the moon marks the months (lunar cycles) from full moon to full moon. As just mentioned, it is only the full moon that can be seen rising in the east at or after sunset, shining as a beacon all through the night, and then found still on the horizon in the west at daybreak, where it will not set until after sunrise.
.
.
This is what is being described in a more accurate translation of Psalm 104:19:
“He appointed (made) the moon for seasons (appointed times): the sun knows it’s [the moon’s – subject of the sentence] going down.”
The risen sun will witness the full moon going down.
This return of the sun and moon to their opposing positions is an actual monthly “renewal” (chodesh) of Day 4 of creation, when the “two great lights” were first set in place, and as such, they are the sign and the “two witnesses” of the dawn of every New Moon Day. No priests on a hillside at night required!
So, the cycles of the three witnesses must all be complete to start a new year. First, the sun returns to the east gate (vernal equinox); second, the lunar cycle continues to the full moon; and third, the constellations must reach the Abib where the Spica star and Virgo are in position for the full moon to be “at her feet”8 after rising in the east and for the “seed star” to “plant” at sunrise. Occasionally, because the lunar year falls short of the sun circuit by 10-11 days, a 13th lunar cycle is required every 2-3 years to reach this Abib sign and to be in the correct time for an abib harvest. (I know, that’s a whole other wrestling match!)
And, on that note, it’s also important to see that no matter what day the new year or a new month falls on during the week, the days must continue on to the seventh day Sabbath for a complete shabuwa9. A shabuwa is a seven day week, which by definition is it’s own cycle; and a cycle by definition is repeating or continuous.
“Wheel within a wheel…”
.
Be Inspired to Shine
.
We will not get the world to change their clocks or calendars, in fact they will continue to try to obscure and hide YHUH’s time keepers from us. But as Daniel prophesied, the wise will be like the stars: a shining light, or a sign along the path, to those caught in deception when we as the people of YHUH are all of one accord and can be found keeping His time according to His Word, which will turn many to righteousness. – Daniel 12:3
.
.
References
.
The following are the noted supporting Scriptural references to some of the concepts offered here (although there are much more, these are the basics to keep it simple). The follow up companion study will go into more detail. Versions used are noted with names and titles restored:
1John 11:9 KJV YHUShA answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
2Lev 23:4-6 KJV These are the feasts of YHUH, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons (appointed times). In the fourteenth (day) of the first month at even is YHUH’s passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread …
3Exodus 12:2 KJV This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Exodus 13:4 KJV This day came ye out in the month Abib.*
Exodus 23:15 KJV Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib* for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exodus 34:18 KJV The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib*: for in the month Abib* thou camest out from Egypt.
Deut 16:1 KJV Observe the month of Abib*, and keep the passover unto YHUH thy Elohim: for in the month of Abib* YHUH thy Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
*month [of] Abib – In Hebrew it is rendered: chodesh ha’abib, which means the Abib new moon. Though new crops can also be described as ‘abib’, it’s usage throughout Scripture shows that “Abib” refers to a month, or the new moon or sign of a certain time. There are cultures that still name their moons according to what that month is known to bring, i.e., February’s full moon is the Cold Moon, in May it is the Flower Moon, the Harvest Moon comes after the autumnal equinox, etc.]
4Gen 1:14-16 KJV And Elohim said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: and he made the stars also.
5Deut 19:15 KJV One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
Mat 18:16 KJV But if he will not hear take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Psalm 89:35-37 ESV Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. [and] Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the heavens.
6Exodus 34:22 KJV And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end*.
Psalm 19:1-6 KJV The heavens declare the glory of Elohim; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heavens and his circuit unto the ends* of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
*year’s end – tequwphah: circuit, revolution (of the sun)
7Isaiah 30:25 KJV Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that YHUH bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
8Author’s note: I believe this three witness sign of the new year to be the sign referred to in Revelation 12:2 – the woman (virgin/Virgo) clothed with the sun (at dawn) and the moon at her feet – full moon past the Spica (seed) star.
9H7620 shabuwa – literally sevened; seven, a week; from shaba – to be complete, to seven oneself, to swear an oath.
.
.
About the Author
.
Lisa lives in New Braunfels, Texas, where the full moon shines like a spotlight on her backyard.