What’s today’s date? What do you have going on for the rest of this week? Did you have to think about two different calendars? A family calendar and a work calendar? Does your fiscal year start at a different point than the new year? What’s with all the questions? I wanted to prepare your mind for what comes next; God’s calendar doesn’t look like ours, it has different months, and the months have twenty-nine or thirty days, unlike the calendar we are used to; it also has holidays you may not be familiar with or celebrate.
This is what God’s calendar looks like:
Exodus 12:1-3 TLV “Now Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2 “This month will mark the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family one lamb for the household.”
God’s calendar begins in our month of March or April, and they celebrate what we call New Year’s in the seventh month, which is September or October. So what’s up with the difference? Why can’t God just operate on our calendar? I’m pretty sure God’s calendar came first. As believers, we want to be in God’s timing; we obviously can’t throw out our calendars; just as you operate on a yearly and fiscal calendar, you can use the natural calendar and God’s.
God’s calendar gets us out of the natural realm and into God’s way of thinking and doing; it gives life a new order and rhythm. In Exodus 34, Leviticus 23, and Deuteronomy 16, God outlines three feasts for Israel to attend. These are the feasts of the Lord, they were given to the Jewish people, but they are God’s feasts; they are His way of operating.
If you’re wondering, do I have to do this, the answer is no. However, I submit that the right question is, as a Christian, can I celebrate the feast of the Lord, and the answer is yes.
The first set of feasts is Passover, Unleavened Bread, FirstFruits, and fifty days later is Pentecost. Jesus died at Passover and rose on FirstFruits, and He sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1-4.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 TLV “Get rid of the old hametz, so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz, the hametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth.”
Jesus is the fulfillment of Passover, and therefore as Christians, we can celebrate the feast in its fullness. Just as Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts, He will fulfill the fall feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles; this is the second coming.
I’m sure you’re thinking, but what about Paul saying, don’t let a man judge you concerning feasts and new moon celebrations? As I said earlier, you don’t have to do this; however, there is a blessing in it. Now, that is not to imply a curse if you don’t. God wants to be close with his people; that’s why He instituted these feasts, to begin with, to call His children to a celebration.
Look at this prophecy concerning the Millenium in Zechariah 14:16-21 TLV “Then all the survivors from all the nations that attacked Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, and to celebrate Sukkot. 17 Furthermore, if any of the nations on earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptians do not go up and celebrate, they will have no rain. Instead, there will be the plague that Adonai will inflict on the nations that do not go up to celebrate Sukkot. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate Sukkot. 20 In that day “Holy to Adonai” will be inscribed on the bells of the horses and the pots in House of Adonai will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. 21 In fact every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be Holy to Adonai-Tzva’ot, so that everyone who comes to sacrifice will take them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the House of Adonai-Tzva’ot.”
Isn’t it interesting that the nations must go to Jerusalem for the feast? What about the end of Isaiah’s prophecy where he speaks of the new heaven and the new earth?
Isaiah 66:20-23 TLV “Then they will bring all your kinsmen from all the nations, as an offering to Adonai, on horses and in chariots, and on litters, mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says Adonai, “just as Bnei-Yisrael bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the House of Adonai. 21 I will also take some of them as priests and for Levites,” says Adonai. 22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“so your descendants and your name will endure.” 23 “And it will come to pass, that from one New Moon to another, and from one Shabbat to another, all flesh will come to bow down before Me,” says Adonai.”
“from one New Moon to another, and from one Shabbat to another…” If these things were done away with when the Church was established, why is God reinstituting them? Could it be they were never meant to go away? Could it be that the rhythm of a weekly sabbath and yearly feasts are a blessing from God that we have missed out on in the Church?
I’m going to make a statement that will be hard to deal with; it was hard for me to grapple with when the Lord first showed it to me through some books I read. The question is, did God change His calendar, or did “church fathers”? Did God replace Passover with Easter, or did man? Did God change the Sabbath to Sunday, or did man? Was it God’s original intent for the giving of the Spirit to overshadow the giving of the commands? Without Chanukah, there would be no Christmas. Without Purim, there would be no Passover fulfillment. God doesn’t change. Jesus accomplished the purpose of the sacrificial system, yes, but He is also the celebration point for God’s calendar.
God’s calendar isn’t just for the Jews; it’s for those of us who have been grafted into the olive tree of Israel. These celebrations are a celebration, and they bring a blessing. Each month has specific benefits and warnings, and it is to our advantage to know them. Each month I post about this on Instagram. God has rhythm, and we can enter it when we walk in His time according to His calendar.
Again, this isn’t a legalistic thing or a you have to thing; it’s an opportunity God gives us three times each year to course-correct if we need to (how many times did Israel need to?), and it’s a time to grow in our relationship with the Lord in a unique way. So why pass up such an invitation from the Lord?
Hebrew calendar resources:
Print or order a Jewish calendar from the TLV Bible Society
Teachings on individual feasts can be found here
Casey D. Bell 