God's Calendar Vs. Man's Calendar

Summary

Full Transcript

When does the day really begin, from a biblical perspective? Is it at midnight, at sunrise, or at sunset? And when exactly does the week begin? On Monday, Saturday, or Sunday? Finally, when does the month and the year really begin, from a biblical perspective?

There are so many calendars today. We have the Roman calendar, the Chinese calendar, the Islamic calendar, the Hebrew calendar, and many others. Since each one is different from all the others, there’s so much confusion about this topic. So, which among them is correct? In this episode, I will share with you the correct, biblical reckoning of time which humans lost when they rejected God in their lives. Let’s discuss.

Our God (YHWH Elohim) is the Author and Creator of time. Therefore, He is the only Authority about the calendar. But we human beings — pagan cultures in particular — have usurped that authority, leading to the present-day calendar confusion in this world. Therefore, let us understand God’s mind on this matter of TIME which He alone created.

In the beginning of your Bible, Genesis, God tells us how to reckon time correctly. Notice:

Genesis 1:14, 16 — 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 (Hebrew “moed,” God’s divine appointments), and for days and years… Then God made two great lights: the greater light [Sun] to rule the day, and the lesser light [Moon] to rule the night. He made the stars also.

Now, let’s look at how the Bible defines the basic units of time...

The Day, the Week, the Month, and the Year.

1. Day

A day — as we know it from the Roman calendar reckoning of time — is a 24-hour period from midnight to midnight.

But a DAY is defined by God is a 24-hour period starting and ending at sunset (or “evening”).

Astronomically, this corresponds to one rotation of the earth around its axis.

Genesis 1:5 — God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

Notice the order — evening precedes morning in a 24-hour “day.”

This “evening preceding a morning” format is consistently repeated in verses 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31, showing us that the true beginning of a biblical day is at sunset the evening before.

Below are three further proofs:

Exodus 12:18 — In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

Leviticus 23:32 — It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath."

Mark 1:32 — At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.

2. Week

The week is a seven-day period from Sunday (first day) to Saturday (seventh-day [Sabbath]). However, beware, because a number of calendars are now incorrectly starting on a Monday and ending on a Sunday, following the European International Standards Organization (ISO 8601).

Also, in the Middle East, the first day of the week is Saturday and the seventh day is Friday. But how does God — the very Author of Time — define a week? When does the week really begin?

A WEEK is defined by God as an unbroken cycle of seven days starting at Creation, from the first day of the week (now called Sunday) to the seventh day of the week called Sabbath (now called Saturday). Since days begin at sunset, the true, biblical Sabbath starts at sunset on the sixth day (now called Friday) and ends at sunset on the seventh day (now called Saturday).

There is no astronomical phenomenon that explains the week. It is revealed by God.

Genesis 2:2-3 — And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Since God does not get tired, He obviously set the example for us on how we humans are to keep the Sabbath holy.

3. Month

What is a month? Some of you remember the nursery rhyme, “The Days of the Month.”

“Thirty days has September,

April, June and November;

All the rest have thirty-one,

Except February alone.

Which only has but twenty-eight days clear

And twenty-nine in each leap year.”

So a month today can have 28 to 31 days. But how does the Bible define a month?

A MONTH is a period of time from “one New Moon to another.” The word “month” is derived from the word for “moon.” The old month ends, and a new month begins, at sunset after the astronomical new moon (or conjunction). CONJUNCTION means the alignment of the earth, the moon, and the sun, in that order, producing a dark (new) moon as viewed from the earth.

Astronomically, a month corresponds roughly to one revolution of the moon around the Earth, and exactly one complete cycle of moon phases, from one New Moon to the next.

The following passage in Isaiah defines both weekly and monthly cycles:

Isaiah 66:23 — And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD.

Today, our months wrongly begin on any phase of the moon. But a true biblical month always begins on a New Moon. And the length of a biblical month usually alternates between 29 and 30 days, since the average number of days from one New Moon to the next is 29.53 days.

4. Year

The Roman calendar in popular use today is the Gregorian Calendar which was introduced in 1582. Our years begin on January 1 — in the dead of winter. This is clearly a mistake.

A YEAR in God’s Sacred Calendar starts and ends on the New Moon on or after the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox.

[An EQUINOX is a Latin word which literally means “equal night.” More recently, the word EQUILUX has also been used which literally means “equal light” but which means almost the same thing except with a slight variation in time as one gets into the higher latitudes.] 

The spring or vernal equinox is that time of the year (usually March 20 in the Western Hemisphere) when the length of days and nights are approximately equal. This is the “heavenly sign” or marker that the winter season is now over and spring has officially begun.

Astronomically, this corresponds to one revolution of the earth around the Sun, the starting and ending point being the Spring or Vernal Equinox.

The first full month after the Spring Equinox was named by God as “Abib” or “Aviv” which literally means “green ears,” when most vegetation begins to sprout new leaves. After the Babylonian captivity, the Jews began to use the name “Nisan” to also represent “Abib.”

Doesn’t it make more sense that life should begin in spring, rather than in the dead of winter?

Two Scriptural passages which bears on this topic are:

Exodus 13:4 — On this day you are going out, in the month Abib [begins in late March to April].

Exodus 12:2 — "This month [Abib] shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

God plainly says that Abib or Nisan is the first month. Not January or any month we like.

Historical Proof

We know that the Jews were taken captive to Babylon in the sixth century B.C. The prophet Daniel and his friends became very influential over the wise men of Babylon and later even Persia. The prophet Daniel has been given by God special wisdom and revelation on this. 

Today, the Babylonian and the Persian calendars are known to be one of the most accurate in existence. We can examine the Babylonian calendar from 499 B.C. onward, as preserved and available on their ancient clay tablets, as found in the British Museum and in eastern Europe.

Although the Babylonian calendar was not always perfectly identical to the Hebrew Calendar, from 499 BCE onward, it did show that it followed the calendar prescription based on Genesis 1:14 as used by the Aaronic priests. After Aaron, the special astronomical knowledge and wisdom was continued by the priest Zadok and his descendants as specially appointed by God in Ezekiel 44:15,16; 24b; because they alone remained faithful (Ezekiel 48:11).

Please note that the first month began in the spring, meaning they did not allow the first day of the first month to come before the vernal equinox.

In fact, modern astronomy software, when comparing Babylonian eclipse dates in their history, can confirm that the Babylonian Calendar from 499 BCE onward never began years until the first visible New Moon on or after the Spring Equinox.

NOTE: Our “New Moon” today is known as the conjunction or “astronomical new moon.” Since that kind of moon is dark and invisible, it was the visible first crescent "new moon" they looked for, right after sunset on the first day of the month, confirming that the month had already begun.

The Perfect Calendar Will Be Restored

The Scriptures show that we once had a perfect calendar, before sin entered the world. It had a year of exactly 360 days. It had a month with exactly 30 days, and each day exactly 24 hours.

Our calendar today is no longer perfect. Instead of 24 hours, we now have 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds. That’s how long it takes for the earth to rotate around its axis.

Our month, instead of 30 days, takes 27.3 days to complete one orbit around the earth, but 29.5 days to complete one cycle of phases, from New Moon to New Moon. The Moon spends the extra 2.2 days "catching up" because Earth travels about 45 million miles around the Sun during the time the Moon completes one orbit around Earth.

Finally, the earth goes around the sun, not in exactly 360 days, but it takes 365 days, 5 hours, 59 minutes, and 16 seconds.

Why is this so? It started when Joshua fought in defence of the Gibeonites and asked God to stop the sun and the moon on their journey across the sky as we read in Joshua 10:12-13.

Also, this astronomical disturbance was further compounded during the time of King Hezekiah when God turned the sundial back ten degrees as we read in the Book of Isaiah 38:8.

The Bible shows that when Christ returns, He will restore all things as we read in Acts 3:21; and to the world a perfect calendar as we read about in Isaiah 66:23.

The Bottom Line

So, to wrap up, what is the correct calendar, according to God’s true, biblical reckoning of time?

1. The day begins and ends at sunset — not at midnight.
2. The week begins and ends at sunset on Saturday (which is already the start of Sunday).
3. The month begins and ends on the day after the astronomical New Moon (conjunction).
4. The year begins and ends on the day after the first astronomical New Moon on or after the Spring (Vernal) Equinox (March 20 in our generation.)

I hope you can see how God is the author of time, and He alone is the authority on the calendar. Now, why is this important? In a future video, we will discuss God’s seven annual Holy Days.

But for those who firmly believe in keeping God’s ordained Holy Days (rather than pagan holidays such as Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas), it is absolutely necessary to know precisely when these days occur. For those who are convicted in obeying Yahweh Elohim, we can offer you a copy of the Sacred Calendar, so you can know precisely when to observe these Festivals and Holy Days.

Knowing this truth, you are now left with a choice. To follow the calendars of men, or the calendar of God as confirmed by the signs in the heavens. I hope you will make the right choice. Since this is a technical subject, please feel free to review this video as may be necessary. Likewise, feel free to read the four related articles in our BiblicalTruths.com website.

Until next time, this is Daniel Macaraeg, of BiblicalTruths.TV, reminding you to always be growing, to always be giving, and to always be grateful.