The Truth About God’s Calendar

Next Part The Calendar as Presented to Moses

Back to The Truth About God’s Calendar

What is the “sacred calendar”? Where did it come from? How does it work? Of what importance is it to the Church today? Why is it important to you? Here are the basics, and more...

If you are learning the true doctrines of the Bible for the first time, this booklet is not the place to begin—it will not be helpful. However, if topics such as the calendar interest you, we strongly urge returning here after studying the basic truths of God’s Word first—found in our many books, booklets and articles. By doing this, you will not be confused by details and calculations that carry little meaning in terms of the “big picture.” To study some of the basic doctrines, [please click here. http://www.thercg.org/books.html]

Here is the truth about God’s sacred calendar. A major identifying sign of the true Church of God is its observance of His annual Holy Days. This would be impossible without understanding the calendar, which reveals how to compute these days. God charged the Levitical priesthood of ancient Israel, and later the Jews, to preserve His oracles—the Scriptures, the Sabbath and the calendar. Yet, never has the calendar come under such baseless attack (as is occurring with many time-honoured institutions) as during the last decade or so—and this by so many self-professed “experts” ignorant of the mechanisms built into it.

Genesis 1:1-31 establishes that the sun and moon were appointed for signs, seasons, days and years. With this understanding, only the sacred calendar harmonizes the solar and lunar cycles. The Truth About God’s Calendar explains why the 19-year time cycles are an astronomical fact. It also reveals the purpose of leap years and the real meaning of postponements, among other things.

Understand, however. This is a more technical booklet than all others offered by The Restored Church of God. Most readers will not find it either easy to understand or necessary to fully grasp all the details of God’s calendar. While there is no evidence that the Church in previous ages felt it necessary to write a booklet on this subject, circumstances today have necessitated such a publication. This booklet is probably the first of its kind ever written by the Church of God—and the picture that it presents, for those interested in truly comprehending its content, will inspire awe for God’s handiwork in structuring His calendar! But it is also intended to strengthen those who might be swayed by subtle deception. (It also offers an Appendix, containing a series of calculations for the reader who wishes to explore certain aspects of these calendar calculations—with examples and tables—in greater detail.)

Since the Church Began

The sacred calendar—generally referred to as the Hebrew calendar or God’s calendar—has been accepted without question by true Christians since the inception of the Church of God. This unconditional acceptance sprang from the confidence placed in the apostles who had been trained by Christ. Very few converts in the following generations were required to have first hand knowledge of the workings of the calendar. We know this to be the case, since these following generations of the Church continued to look to the Jewish authorities for determining the new year and other calendar details. Knowledge of the details and mechanisms of the Hebrew calendar was never a prerequisite to understanding the truth of the Bible, and few ever needed to look into this matter. From every indication, as we learn from such well-researched works as The Sabbatarians in Transylvania by Samuel Kohn, the Church of God through the centuries continued to draw upon the knowledge shared by the Jews with all who had interest.

The true Church of God was never commissioned to oversee calendar calculations, which had been the responsibility of the Jews for many centuries. Likewise, the Church had never been commissioned to preserve the New Testament, this responsibility having been given to the Greeks. The Church of God has always been few in number and fiercely persecuted throughout most of its existence. Therefore, it was never in a position to manage the Hebrew calendar, any more than it could preserve the Scriptures. The majority of those tested and tried through the centuries to the point of martyrdom were in no position to spend their time in detailed mathematical calculations or copying Greek manuscripts. Thus, God saw to it that such detailed matters were assigned to others.

The Calendar at Creation

It must be recognized that some background in early history is important here before continuing. This will help set the stage for all that is to follow.

Many have accused the Jews and others whom God entrusted to preserve the calendar of being guilty of “changing times and laws” (Dan. 7:25). However, the Jews did not invent the calendar—they did not contrive it from imagination. Its principles go back to the first chapter of the Bible, where the sun and the moon were appointed “...for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Gen 1:14).

We have no concrete, documented evidence pertaining to the calendar in use at the time of creation. It has long been understood that at the time of Noah, months had been counted to be 30 days each, in that 150 days were attributed to 5 months (Gen. 7:11, 24; 8:4). These and other accounts in Genesis chapters 7:1-24 and 8:1-22 had led many to ponder whether a pre-flood 360-day year—consisting of 12 months of 30 days each—had been established at creation. If so, such a balanced calendar might have continued up to the time of the Flood. If this were the case, as evidence seems to support, then the lunar and solar cycles would have been in perfect harmony, as were other facets of God’s creation.

Proponents of the existence of such a harmonized pre-flood calendar cite what has been called the prophetic year, based upon 360 days as additional evidence of this original cosmic configuration—or the orbit of the earth at Creation—(The Chronology of Ezra 7, Horn and Wood, p. 53). Although the biblical record appears to validate such a balanced year in various accounts in Genesis, it is evident that this did not continue indefinitely. Cosmologists site such events as the Flood of Noah’s time, among such causal factors in effecting the intricate balance of the earth’s orbit, as well as the alignment of its axis. Cosmologists have also come to recognize that major catastrophes had left their mark in far more significant ways than merely the geological and fossil records (Biblical Cosmology and Modern Science, Morris, pp. 29-31).

Other events of potentially cosmic impact could have occurred at the time of the destruction of the Tower of Babel, the parting of the Red Sea, Joshua’s long day, the movement of the sundial of Ahaz and its return (II Kgs. 20:11) during the time of Hezekiah—to mention a few. As a case in point, the destruction at the tower of Babel was much more than an isolated event, but was accompanied by a global phenomenon, in which changes in the stratosphere cut mankind’s life-span more than in half—as had already occurred in the wake of the Flood. An average of the listed life-spans from the Flood to this event was 484 years, while afterwards it was quickly reduced to 195 years, according to the biblical record.

The net effect of a number of upheavals in the cosmic alignment could have readily altered the earth’s orbit around the sun, the moon’s orbit around the earth, the tilt of the earth, or other intricate variables in the immediate solar network. Such events were spread out over hundreds of years. We do know that a discrepancy between the lunar and solar cycles occurred in ancient times and the calendar had to be adjusted to reconcile these differences.

Next Part The Calendar as Presented to Moses

Back to The Truth About God’s Calendar

Back to By David C. Pack