God's Calendar: Foundation for Prophecy and Eternity

My friends, it does start with God's calendar. We have mentioned this so many times: if we understand God's calendar, we are going to understand a great deal throughout the Holy Bible that we otherwise would not — including eschatology, the return of Messiah, and what the prophets have spoken by the blessed Holy Spirit. The goal is to understand the calendar, because that is the calendar He is going to use for all of these prophetic events and also for the commandments He wants us to join with Him on. Understanding God's calendar means understanding the covenants, the everlasting covenants, and the divine appointments — the feast days. If we understand those three basic foundations of the Bible — the calendar, the feast days, and the everlasting covenants — the Holy Bible will read very smoothly throughout, and there will not be confusion or replacement theology.

We find God's calendar in 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, and for days and years." This is a phenomenal passage. God made two great witnesses — the sun and the moon — and those are the two prerequisites His calendar must have. Most of us go by the Gregorian calendar, which is a great scientific calendar but based on the sun only. In Genesis 1:14, God establishes two great witnesses: the sun and the moon. He is going to use His calendar for all prophetic events and for the commandments He gives us to assemble with Him. The word for seasons in Genesis 1:14-16 is moed, which means a divine appointment — a fixed time established by Almighty God.

There are two calendars in scripture. The Genesis calendar — from Adam, starting in the fall in Tishri — is the civil calendar used for prophetic events and the timetable from Adam. The Exodus calendar — starting in Nisan, roughly April — is where Moses was commanded "this is your first month." Both work together. We will be speaking of the Exodus calendar for our purposes here. In Revelation 4:11: "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." This is His calendar — He created the sun and the moon. And in Ecclesiastes 3:1: "To everything there is a season," or moed, "a divine appointment, a time for every purpose under heaven."

When you look at Genesis 2, there is a Tree of Life. When you get to Revelation 22 — eternity — you find that same Tree of Life, yielding fruit every month. Every month it is yielding fruit. So we will have a calendar in eternity, and it will be the biblical calendar He established. The tree producing fruit every month tells us we will not be in a timeless lapse; we will have order, because God is a God of order.

In Psalms 81:3-4: "Blow the trumpet at the time of the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob." This is a commandment, just like the first commandment Moses received in Egypt in Exodus 12:2. Some Gentiles say, "Well, that is just for the Jewish people." But Paul says in Ephesians 2:11-13 that we were once strangers from the covenants, but with the blood of Messiah we are in the commonwealth of Israel. Exodus 12:49 says, "One Torah shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you." There is not two ways to worship; there is one way for Jew and Gentile. And Galatians 3 says if you are a seed of Christ, you are a seed of Abraham and an heir according to the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant.

In Psalms 104:19-21: "He appointed the moon for seasons" — divine appointments. In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 the Apostle Paul says: "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, Peace and safety! then sudden destruction comes upon them. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day." There is a separation between the faithful church and the dead or lukewarm church. The faithful — those who are wise, watching, and understanding God's calendar and divine appointments — will not be caught as a thief in the night.

In 1 Samuel 20:5 we see how important the new moon celebration was to King David: "And David said to Jonathan, Indeed, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king." It was a festival, a feast to rejoice in and celebrate. Psalms 89 correlates the Davidic Covenant to the moon: "I have sworn to my servant David: Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations." And: "His throne shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky." The moon is the faithful witness in the sky. The Jewish people will endure forever — like the moon, they wax, diminish, and are renewed again. God's promises to them are unconditional, irrevocable, and unilateral, depending on His sovereign righteousness.

The new moon celebration is so important that the Lord put it in scripture for the millennial kingdom and for eternity. In Ezekiel 46:1 — part of the millennial kingdom chapters, Ezekiel 40-48: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened." In the millennial kingdom, that gate opens only twice per month: on the Sabbath and on the new moon. He equates the new moon equally with the Sabbath. And in Isaiah 66:22-24: "From one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord." Forever and ever — that is how important the new moon celebration is.