CONGREGATION TESHUVAH
CALENDAR FOR GOD'S FEASTS
God uses months based on a lunar calendar which begin on the first sliver of the moon after a new moon. That is what the ancient new moon was; namely, when the first crescent of the moon appears that could be seen from the Mount of Olives.
Jewish calendars base their months on set days for months like the Gregorian calendar, so they are often a day or two off from the actual biblical first day of the month. The Jews changed their calendar around 300 ACE (AD) to this method. If God uses His festivals as signals/signs as it says in Genesis 1:14, then it is important for us to know the true and ancient first day of biblical months.
The word “seasons” in Genesis 1:14 is the Hebrew word “moed” and actualy refers to the moedim, the festivals of God or biblical festivals. We see many prophetic things happening on the moedim, so we should look for prophetic promises to occur on God’s feasts. God’s feasts relate to what God has done, what God is doing, and what He will do. Therefore, finding the actual first day of the biblical month is important.
God's Sabbaths | Days of Rest
God's Sabbaths - Days of Rest
Passover - 1st day no unnecessary work
Passover - 7th day no unnecessary work
Shavuot no unnecessary work
Rosh Hashanah no unnecessary work
Yom Kippur no unnecessary work; fasting commanded
Sukkot - 1st day no unnecessary work
Shemini Atzeret - eighth day no unnecessary work
Shabbat - 7th day of week no unnecessary work
Use good judgment regarding work. I treat God's says of rest in the fear of God. Sometimes we need to work because our livelihood depends on it or there may be an emergency. Rabbinic law sometimes makes keeping Shabbat into a day of work keeping made up law. Isaiah 29:13 NKJV says, "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
Isaiah 58:13-14 NKJV says,
If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable,
and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure,
nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;
How to Find the True First Day of the Biblical Month
Only for the Nerdy:
Here’s how to find the biblical first day of the month for any month. The biblical day begins at sunset or if you prefer nautical sunset. It is easy to see the Sun is set at civil sunset. Genesis 1:5 NKJV says, "Evening and the morning were the first day." Days in ancient times did not begin in the middle of the night; they began at sunset. The viewing of 3 stars is made up. Use your best judgment.
1) Find a resource that can tell you when civil or nautical twilight begins. The sun during nautical sunset is 6 to 12 degrees below the horizon. During civil twilight (the sun is 0 to 6 degrees below the horizon and clearly set) one can only see bright stars and planets. Also, note when the moon sets. One of those resources that has all this information is: www.timeanddate.com.
2) Find out what day the moon is first visible in Jerusalem after the modern day new moon.
3) Check to see if it will be dark enough for the moon to be seen in Jerusalem.
4) The true ancient first day of the Jewish/biblical month is when the first crescent of the moon appears in nautical twilight or after before it sets.