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From the very beginning of the Bible God establishes for all HIS people, a mechanism for counting time and the foundation for developing a calendar. Very early on in the book of Genesis we find the creation of the elements in the sky that mankind uses to calibrate time and track his days. In Genesis, (B’resheet)1:14-19 CJB.

“God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night; let them be for signs, seasons, days and years; and let them be for lights in the dome of the sky to give light to the earth”; and that is how it was. God made the two great lights — the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night — and the stars. God put them in the dome of the sky to give light to the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. So, there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.”

There are 50 chapters in Genesis, just a few pages into the book, we see GOD naming the months using a basic numerical naming system labeling each month in the year on HIS calendar. The Hebrews in future generations would add cultural names to these months. Thank goodness the Jewish people also kept permanent records of the numerical names of each month which has helped us to this day the know what time it is on God’s Clock!

It is amazing to me that throughout the Bible God uses HIS calendar to organize biblical history in the scriptures. HE is a God of order and the system HE established continues to withstand the test of time. Thousands of years later we can use His timetable to unlock biblical archeology and study the people, cultures, and artifacts related to the Bible.

The people of God are commanded to observe His Appointed Times and to actively participate in sacred assemblies with HIM.  Only His Calendar allows us to determine the dates of God’s Appointed Times, and we would be lost without it.  The biblical calendar system must be important to God and therefore important to us because we see His time tracking system throughout His Word. Let’s look at the Great Flood of Noah’s day.

Genesis 7:11-12 “On the seventeenth day of the Second Month (Ziv) of the 600th year of Noach’s life, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the sky were opened. It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.” B’resheet (Gen) 7:11-12 CJB.

The consistency with which God names months and dates is a clear indication that they are important and something HE wants us to know. Using the Gregorian calendar that we have in the USA, we see that the Great Flood began in the spring. The Second Month is April-May on today’s calendar, and it is called Iyyar on the Jewish calendar today. What we also see in Gensis 7:11-12 is an early indication of man’s tampering with the infallible calendar naming system established by God! I found some research on this revelation on the website Hebrew4Christians.com.

“In the Torah, this month is simply called “the Second Month” (i.e., chodesh sheni: חדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי), though later it was called Ziv (זִו), a Canaanite loan word that means “glow” or “blossom,” perhaps suggesting the growing season of early spring (1 Kings 6:1).” {https://hebrew4christians.com}.

What is clear here is that mankind has decided to rename the months on God’s Calendar, giving them names related to their cultural language and geographical locations.

 Counting the Days

As we continue to look at the Great Flood of Noah’s day, read closely and you see the counting of days continues which is extremely important in identifying the dates of significant events in the Bible. Throughout scriptures God leaves us far more than breadcrumbs to follow HIS calendar and timeline.  In fact, HE leaves us an explicit road map of dates and times.

“It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.”B’resheet (Gen) 7:12 CJB

Let’s count 40 days from the 17th day of the Second Month which is roughly the middle of the Biblical month, and we land near the end of the Third Month or the beginning of the Fourth Month on HIS calendar.

“The water held power over the earth for 150 days.”B’resheet (Gen) 7:24 CJB

The water sat on the earth for a period of five months which is 150 days. You can do the math yourself looking at the dates God has given us.

“And the ark rested in the Seventh Month (Tishri), on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.” Genesis 8:4 KJV.

“And the waters decreased continually until the Tenth Month. In the Tenth Month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.”Genesis 8:5 KJV.

“¹³ It was in his six-hundred-and first year—in the First Month, on the first(1^st) day of the month—that the waters had dried up from the land. Then Noah removed the cover of the ark, and he looked, and behold, the surface of the ground had dried up. ¹⁴ By the Second Month, on the twenty-seventh(27^th) day of the month, the land was dry. Gen. 8:13-14 TLV.

What jumped off the page at me as I read Gen. 8:13-14  was the “new beginning” for the earth after the flood was in the First Month of God’s Calendar. We find the same pattern when God brought the Hebrew out of Egypt, in the First Month in Exodus 12:1-2. Once again God launches a “new beginning” for His people Israel, and the time He chooses is the First Month on HIS Calendar!  God reminded Moses and instructed him saying:

Now Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, ² “This month will mark the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you.  Exodus 12:1-2 TLV. 

Well, it cannot get any clearer than that as to when God’s calendar year begins! The First Month is in the springtime of the year when the earth is giving birth to new life. It is the time of the Passover which celebrates the exodus and another new beginning for the people of God. It may also be an indication of how much the Hebrew slaves had been indoctrinated into the Egyptian culture including their calendar system based on pagan gods.

As we move from Exodus to Leviticus, we see God setting the month and date of all HIS Appointed Times with HIS people Israel. We must know God’s Calendar to observe these dates HE has set for His people so they can obey HIS command to celebrate these Appointed Times forever!

Does God Care About HIS Appointed Times in the Bible?

God has set aside several special dates each year for us to celebrate with HIM. Those Appointed Times or Holy Days can only be determined by using God’s Calendar.  Lev 23: 5-8

Does God Care We Keep HIS Appointed Times?

The answer is “Yes” He does. He commands the holy people that belong to God to observe these holy days forever. He dictates the month and date for each “Appointed Time” in Leviticus 23, making easy for everyone to know when these events are to occur. The LORD says that these times are set aside for worship and remembrance of the great works in God’s Plan and should be observed faithfully by believers. This means that God values the timing and structure of these sacred occasions.

Yeshua kept all His Father’s Appointed Times and performed some of His greatest work on the special Holy Days. So, there is much for us to learn about the character and nature of our God and our Messiah in each of the special Appointed Times that HE has established for HIS people.

The time we are required to spend with God is not just Saturday (Shabbat) or Sunday services or Wednesday night bible study. All of these are beautiful ways of worship, but our time with the FATHER is daily, hourly, moment by moment. Our Father desires a strong bond with us and has set everything in place for us to know Him and remember Him. God should never take a back seat in our lives. These “Appointed Times” reveal to us God’s Plan for mankind.  The festive celebrations for the Appointed Times with Him are joyous worship and celebrations of remembrance of biblical milestones in the earth.  They also remind us how HE has shown up and delivered us personally in our individual lives!

GOD knew that today we would be living in a fast-paced world that keeps us busy 24/7 and stresses us about everything. Satan and the modern world have labeled every minute of our days, squeezing out the quiet time we should be spending in prayer and meditation. Today our personal calendars are filled with :