Finally - we have the silver sliver of the new moon. It should be visible over Jerusalem tonight. It began to become visible last night after it passed Israel. That makes tonight the start of the new month, new civil year, Feast of Trumpets and the Shemitah! If you have been reading articles that said Trumpets and the Shemitah have already started, and you are slightly confused - it is natural. In a nutshell, the Jewish calendar is lunar. Most of you know this. It relies on the phases of the moon to set the days of the month, year, Sabbath cycles and Feasts of the Lord. In the days of ancient Israel, the priests knew the general timing as the moon runs on a 29.5 day cycle. So, as the moon completed its cycle and went dark, the old month would end. However, the dark phase of the moon typically lasts two days, and sometimes three. So, to keep the calendar straight, it was a requirement that Israel set the calendar on the appearance of the first silver sliver to appear over Israel. When the moon went dark, the High Priest would set watchers through out the land, and the citizens would likewise watch. When someone saw the first silver sliver, they were required under the law to present themselves before the Sanhedrin and testify that they saw the moon reborn. Once two witnesses were presented, the council would certify the report and notify the High Priest. At that time, the High Priest would order a blowing of trumpets to announce the start of the new month. If it was Tishri 1 - the first sacrifices would commence for the Feast of Trumpets to prepare for the following days celebrations. When the witnesses would testify to seeing the silver sliver, they would literally point to images of the phases of the moon. If what they saw did not match the expected phase, their testimony was declared null and void. If they were found to have purposely misled the council, there would be fairly harsh penalties extracted under the Law of Moses. The setting of the calendar for the first day of the month was critical, and prophetic in its inception. It would be the setting of the days for the Feasts that would serve as confirmation that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah. This would become a debate that raged for 2,000 years as the Jewish faith struggled to reconcile the truth of the times in which Christ was crucified, buried, raised from the dead, ascended to purify the Heavenly Temple - and returned for the completion of the 40 days prior to Pentecost. All on the perfect calendar days of Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits. That is what many orthodox Jews struggle with. I will copy in a piece from Tribulation Rising that speaks to all of this. Fast forward to modern times. As you will read from the TR snippet, Paul tells us that the Jews are blinded until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. One such issues that arises from this blindness is the setting of the Jewish calendar based on Lunar predictions, and the celebration of the feast days based on those same predictions. Any article that speaks of the Feast of Trumpets having come and gone, and the Shemitah having started, does so based on the predicted calendar dates. These dates do indeed fall at the new moon. However, it was not the new moons dark phase that sets the calendar. It is the appearing of the silver sliver. Since the dark phase can last several days, you cannot know the exact count of the days until the sliver appears. For the record - the Law of Moses was never changed. This will be one of the factors that comes into prophetic play with the times and seasons, and the shortening of the days spoken of in Daniel, the Gospels and Revelation. Here is the text from Tribulation Rising: On that Easter Sunday, Christ redeemed the whole of creation back to God – including the very Temple of God himself. There is a reason why he could not rise on any other day of the week – save one: It was written into the Torah long before Christ ever came to earth as a man. If you are reading this, then you most likely have an idea of what happened on the day the Passover meal is prepared. On that day, the 14th of the month, Jesus Christ was captured, tried and crucified on the cross. He was nailed to the cross and died at the same hour the Passover Lamb was slain in the Temple. The blood of his body, from the crown of thorns on his head and the nails that pierced his hands, were set upon the cross in the place of the blood on the two door posts and lentil. The death of Jesus occurred at approximately 3:00PM. At the moment of his death, the veil in the Temple was torn in two. This was the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple. It was the veil that separated man from God. Upon the death of Jesus the veil was no longer required. There would be no more separation of God from men. From the cross, Jesus was taken by Joseph of Arimethia to a freshly hewn tomb, wherein no man had laid before. Jesus was placed in the tomb, dressed only in a loin cloth. Then, he was wrapped in the burial linens and the burial napkin for his head. This was the custom for burying the Jews. Once this was complete, the two Mary’s and Joseph departed the tomb and stood witness that Jesus was indeed sealed inside. Upon completion, they departed the tomb for the observance of the Passover Seder, or meal. This is the part of the story that most are familiar with. It is what happened after the tomb was sealed that sets the stage for all eternity. The process to secure Jesus in the tomb had to be completed before the start of the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Likewise, it must be complete in enough time for the three witnesses to return to the place wherein they would celebrate the Passover. They could not be found in violation of the law, lest their testimony regarding Jesus sealed in the tomb be made of no effect. This puts Jesus in the sealed tomb most likely at about 7:00PM – several hours before the start of the 15th – the first day of Unleavened Bread. At this point we must address something. Jesus is the fulfillment of the seven major feasts of Israel. There is a reason that Passover is the first of these seven feasts. The process to fulfill each feast is specific. On the day that the Passover lamb is slain, Jesus Christ became the last and final blood sacrifice. Once and for all, every sin offering and blood sacrifice required in the Law of Moses as fulfilled. Here is what that means. From Passover forward, there would be no more blood sacrifices required. They were all done at the cross. That would include the sacrifices of bulls and goats as well. However, there are still other requirements for each of the feast days that would likewise be fulfilled. On Passover, the requirements of the meal, such as the hyssop and bitter herbs were fulfilled during the process of the actual crucifixion. The next day – the first day of Unleavened Bread required a food offering to the Lord. This was done with the unleavened bread. Likewise, the unleavened bread was wrapped in linen and hidden away. As Jesus was the perfect unleavened bread, he likewise fulfilled the seven days of the eating of the unleavened bread when he was wrapped in linen and hidden in the heart of the earth. He would complete this fulfillment when he was “found” at the end of the seven days of Unleavened Bread. Now we come to the heart of the matter – the resurrection. The resurrection of the Lord occurred in the first day of the week, the day after the weekly Sabbath. This was the Feast of First Fruits. Now, there is something that we must address here. When you look at a modern Jewish calendar, you will see that First Fruits begins on the second day of Unleavened Bread, and likewise the counting of the omer. However, there have long been disputes about this in rabbinical circles. Here is the text of the Torah with regards to when the Feast of First Fruits was to occur: Leviticus 23:9-14 – And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. There are additional scriptures that likewise establish the 49 days of the counting of the omer. These are established in the law regarding the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. According to the Law of Moses, the feast was to be the day after the Sabbath. The question becomes “which Sabbath”, to which modern Judaism ascribes that this means the annual Sabbath, or the Sabbath of the Passover. That is currently what we see displayed on the Jewish calendar. However, this presents a problem. When you go back to the original Hebrew text, the word Sabbath here is “Sabbat”, which literally means “7th day of the week, with an emphasis on worship”. Likewise, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) are not declared in the Law of Moses as Sabbath days. They are declared days where no work (laborious work in the original Hebrew) is to be done, but not as a Sabbath. This is further evidenced by the declaring of the 7th day Sabbath, or “Sabbat” in the same chapter of Leviticus – which shows that the 7th day Sabbath is clearly understood and not forgotten. Likewise, when we get to the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles, we see that these feast days are specifically declared either a Sabbath (Sabbat), or they are declared a “Sabbath Rest” – or Sabbaton – which is Sabbat by extension. So, this leaves a question – how was Unleavened Bread determined to be the Sabbath by which the Feast of First Fruits was to follow? As it is even in our day, mankind has a habit of redefining the law as the year’s progress. So it was by the time Jesus was born. Given that the Sabbath and the High Holy Days both required a period of rest to celebrate, the “Sabbath Rest”, or Sabbaton came into existence. Now, this does make sense to a degree. After all, the Feast Days are the Holiest days of the year, worthy of a yearly – or annual – Sabbath status. However, this would lead to the difficulties in determining the proper date for the celebration of First Fruits. This was a problem that was further complicated by the Greek writing of the New Testament. By the time the Gospels were written, there was one word in the Greek for Sabbath – sabbaton (pronounced the same as the Hebrew word sabbaton). However, in the Greek, Sabbaton is used for the weekly Sabbath, the annual Sabbath, the Sabbath rest and the Sabbath days. It requires the context of the passage to determine which version of Sabbaton we are looking at. Now, you should understand something. Everything I just shared here really bothered me. Here is why. I am a great respecter of academic knowledge, and for those that dedicate their lives to their given professions. The same holds true of the rabbinical scholars that have determined that the Sabbath day which starts the Feast of First Fruits is in fact the high day of Unleavened Bread – just one day after the Passover lamb is slain, or the second day of Unleavened Bread. Understand, that when I began my own research, I could clearly see – with no difficulty – that the Sabbath day written in the Law of Moses for setting the Feast of First Fruits was in fact the Sabbat, or the 7th day Sabbath. I will be honest- this grieved me. How could genuine Rabbinical Scholars miss what I could clearly see? Likewise, what many Christian scholars could also clearly see (along with many Messianic Rabbinical scholars)? Then the Lord impressed something upon my heart very clearly: 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 – But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. On a side note, we see yet one more time that the heart is the key piece of your worship of God. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Jews have been blinded. There are several other scriptures that confirm this as well. Though many rabbinical scholars are well meaning in their research, they are never the less operating at a disadvantage. Then something else I had discovered made sense. During my research on this, I found where the disputes over the meaning of Sabbath stemmed from modern Jewish scholars declaring corruption of the Pharisees, and that it was their corrupt interpretation that declared the Sabbath in the Feast of First Fruits as the weekly Sabbath, not the first day of Unleavened Bread. This corruption is given as the reason why modern Judaism accepts the Passover Sabbath as the Sabbath that sets the timing of First Fruits, and not the weekly Sabbath. All of this made sense now. If the Feast of First Fruits is acknowledged by modern Judaism as beginning the day after the 7th day Sabbath, then it has no choice but acknowledge what I am going to share with you. Understand, there are ultra-orthodox Jewish Rabbis that spend the bulk of their scholarship in an effort to deny that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. As such, there can be no connection to the events of his death and resurrection and the fulfilling of prophecy and the feasts. Mark 16:9 – Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. When rabbinical scholars research the claims of Jesus and Messiah, there are a few things from the text of the four Gospels that would stick out to them, which many Christians will miss. It is in these details that we find the proof the Jesus was the Messiah, and why the celebration of the Sunday after Passover is a far more necessary celebration than we realize. Indeed, it is what happened that Sunday that sets the stage for all eternity.~ You can read the rest at the link below. In the name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here is the link to the entire article: tribulationrisingcom.fatcow/542-2/#.VCXC_fldVS0 whenisthenewmoon/
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 20:02:25 +0000
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