WHICH CALENDAR DOES YEHOVAH
USE?
One
question that does not fail to crop up in the fishers of men’s class and in
door to door evangelism is: “How do you know that the day you call Sabbath is
the seventh day? If I count from Monday my seventh day will be Sunday, so any
day can be seventh day depending when you start counting.” This question and
reasoning bothered the writer so much, that he embarked on a study and research
of the calendar in use. It is obvious that the seventh day is the seventh
according to the calendar being used, so the change or confusion in the
calendar rather than the days of the calendar will change the day of worship.
Our first task is to establish the authenticity of the calendar. When Yehovah said remember the seventh day to
keep it holy, was He using the present calendar? Didn’t the devil tamper with
the calendar? “He who controls the
calendar controls the world”, so says an ancient proverb.
The
calendar is an instrument for worship, so that the calendar you use is of the
God/god you worship. The devil says: “I
will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will
sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High”. Isa. 14:
13, 14. Paul says: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall
not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” The controversy has been and is about worship.
Who do you worship and how do you
worship and when do you worship? These three questions are critical now in the
time of the three angels’ messages, the first angel’s message says:” Fear God
and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him
that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters”. It is
not enough to worship, but you must worship the only God that deserves worship,
you must worship Him in the manner He has laid down and on the day He has appointed
according to His calendar.
Daniel
says:” And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall
wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and
they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of
time.” Dan. 7:25. What did the devil change? If someone wants to change time,
he can change the fixed time to a later or earlier time or he can change the
clock so that it shows a wrong time, either fast or slow. The devil could have
swapped the days or he changed the calendar and supplanted it with the wrong
calendar so that he is in control and according to the proverb, controls the
world without the world knowing; both tactics are up his street.
Let’s look at the history of the calendar: the
calendar we are using started as the, Romulus calendar, with ten months of
thirty days each, then the Numa calendar, then the Julian calendar, which had
eight day weeks. In 1 B C the eight day week was dropped and the seven day
planetary week was adopted. On this calendar Saturday was the first day of the
week followed by Sunday ending with Friday. This was the calendar in use at the
first advent of Christ. The Jews were
not using this calendar, as was later proved by William Miller. In 325 A D at
the council of Nicaea Constantine changed the calendar so as to divest it of
all Jewish influence. He also changed the sequence of days, making Sunday the
first day of the week, Saturday the last, and Friday the sixth day. Up until
then, the pagan Easter festival was celebrated at the same time as the Jewish
Passover, at the time fixed by the Jewish Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. It was this
connection to Jewry that he wanted to server. This calendar was/is Solar based
whereas the Jewish one was Luna-Solar. In 1582 in order to re-align it with the
sun, pope Gregory dropped ten days from the calendar, and it was named after
him for that.
From this
brief history, which one can research further from a good library or internet,
it is clear that the calendar in use is not that of Yehovah. When Yehovah said
Remember the seventh day, did He give us a calendar to tell the seventh day?
What does the bible say? In Gen. 1:14, 16 we read: “And God 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 God made two
great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule
the night: he made the stars also.” These lights are for signs of the
end.” And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars.”
Luk 21:25. On the 19 May 1780 the sun and moon were darkened unnaturally, and
on 13 November 1833 the stars fell, as fulfillment of their role as signs of
the end times. The word translated seasons is mowed in Hebrew, meaning
appointed time of assembly or worship. The
texts mean that these lights or one of these lights will tell worship times,
and also tell days and years. Something that tells what day and what year is a
calendar. These lights are Yehovah’s calendar in the sky, a good place to place
it, so that everyone has access to it. This is confirmed in Psa. 104:19 “He
appointed the moon for seasons (mowed-worship times): the sun
knoweth his going down.” Seasons are worship times, so the text may be read:”
He appointed the moon for worship times”; that is to tell worship times.
In Ezekiel 46:1 we are told: “Thus saith the
Lord GOD; the gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be
shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and in the
day of the new moon it shall be opened.” Yehovah’s calendar has three types of
days namely, working days, Sabbath and new moon day. If the calendar in use
does not have or cannot tell these three then it is a wrong calendar. The
Gregorian has two types of days, work days and holy days only. As the text says
the new moon day is treated as a Sabbath, it is a worship day and should be
observed as the Sabbath. With the Gregorian you cannot tell the new moon day,
it is possible only with the Creator’s calendar in the sky.
Isa. 66:23 speaking of worship in the new
heaven and new earth says:” And it shall come to pass, that from one new
moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to
worship before me, saith the LORD.” The redeemed will, worship on the new moon
day every month and on the Sabbath every week, as the holy ones are doing right
now. We have used this text to prove the perpetuity of the Sabbath, but ignore
new moon day, which is important to set the weekly Sabbath. Since the Sabbath
is coupled with the new moon day, ignoring this day or being unable to tell
this day makes it impossible to tell the Sabbath day. As the brief history
showed the Saturday seventh day is according to Constantine not according to
Yehovah. This places us in danger of worshipping that we know not, like the
Samaritans, and having our worship an abomination to Yehovah as the worship of
Israel was for forty years in the wilderness. In Amos we are told: “I hate, I
despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though
ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them:
neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.” Amos 5:21, 22.
He continues” Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the
wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of
your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to
yourselves.” They were doing worship practices of Chiun for Yehovah. Who is
Chiun? Without going into much detail, it is Saturn, also known as Apis the
calf or Nimrod.
The birth,
life, death and resurrection of Yehoshua if studied carefully will approve or
disapprove many if not all our doctrines, beliefs and practices. Yehoshua was
crucified on the 14th Abib which was both preparation and Passover day.
He remained in the grave on the 15th, which was both unleavened
bread and Sabbath day. The question is what days of the Gregorian week were
these days? Sir Isaac Newton who wrote more on religion, than science went on a
quest to confirm the Friday crucifixion. He discovered that a Friday crucifixion
is impossible. Dismissing Julian years that did not align Friday with Abib 14,he
stated: “The years 31 and 35 are
excluded, because in them the Passion cannot fall on Friday, without making it
three days after the full moon, or four days before it: errors so enormous,
that they would be very conspicuous in the heavens to every vulgar eye.” Newton had earlier admitted his assumption: “I
take it for granted that the passion was on Friday the 14th day of Nisan, the
great feast of the Passover on Saturday the 15th day of Nisan, and the
resurrection on the day following.” For the same reason, Oswald Gerhardt
rejected A.D. 31 as the year of the crucifixion: “In 31 the 14 Nisan came
either on Wednesday, April 25, or on Thursday, April 26, but not on a Friday.”
Astronomer
Karl Schoch says: I now come to the year 31 A.D. when the new moon [astronomical
conjunction] for the Nisan new light came on April 10 . . . After 28 hours, on
the eve of April 11, at this time of the year, every new light is quite easily
seen in Jerusalem . . . 1 Nisan = April 12; 14 Nisan = April 25, Wednesday; 15
Nisan = April 26, Thursday.
From the
above emerge that, Yehoshua was crucified on the 14th Abib/Nisan A D
31, which was the sixth day of the week according to Yahovah’s calendar. It was
25 April A D 31, the fourth day or Wednesday, according to the Gregorian
calendar. This makes Thursday, of the Gregorian calendar, the Sabbath of that
week. This disapproves our belief and practice that Saturday is the seventh day
and Sabbath.
In
Revelation 12:1 we read:” And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman
clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars.” Revelation restores what was lost or destroyed in Genesis. In Genesis
1: 14 we are given Yahovah’s calendaring, which over the years was lost or
ignored. According to revelation, the church of the end will be guided in its
worship by the sun, moon and stars calendar of the Creator. In the light of
this sister White’s statement ,in Great Controversy page 451 assumes its full
meaning ; quote;” The work of Sabbath
reform to be accomplished in the last days is foretold in the prophecy
of Isaiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My
salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the
man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth
the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil."
"The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that keepeth the
Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I
bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer."
Isaiah 56:1, 2, 6, 7. {GC 451.1}. Sabbath
reform has yet to be accomplished in these times of the end; it was not yet
accomplished in her day. Isaiah says:” And they that shall be of thee
shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer
of paths to dwell in.” This is a prophecy about reform. Daniel says:” And he
said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary
be cleansed.” Dan. 8:14. The cleansing of the temple began in heaven at the end
of the prophetic period, a similar work began also on earth, that of cleansing
the church of all spurious doctrines and practices.
As a movement we were set up for Health
reform, education reform, worship reform and evangelism, if we falter in any of
these, Yehovah cannot use us. Isaiah says:” And it shall come to pass, that
from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh
come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” If we worship on the Sabbath,
because as the text says we will still worship on the Sabbath in the new heaven
and earth, shouldn’t we be worshipping on the new moon day, which we will do in
eternity? The work of reform involves clearing and getting rid of some long
held errors. It is not an easy work; it was not easy in Nehemiah’s time: “And
Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is
much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.” Nehemiah 4:10. This is a type of those who will rebuild true
worship; there are too many spurious and specious doctrines and practices to
unlearn. Sister White says we have many lessons to learn and many, many lessons
to unlearn.
This
article is to lead us to investigate our position as regards the Sabbath as
presently observed. Is it indeed the
seventh day God and the unfallen worlds are keeping? Are we joining all flesh in worshipping God on
the new moon and Sabbath now, as Isaiah says we will in the new heaven and new
earth, when all is restored?
May Yehovah
lead us to the truth about His Sabbath and His calendar, and give us the
courage to embrace that truth.
Elohiym
Bless you.
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