The Sabbath and the Lunar Cycle (No. 156B)

There was a peculiar argument advanced at the end of the twentieth century by some people that assert that the Sabbath is calculated from the New Moon and not by the cycle of the days. They assert that the Sabbath is somehow tied to the Gregorian calendar and the seventh day of the week according to that calendar which has a pagan base.

They ignore the entire body of historical evidence that shows that the seven-day week commences with the first day called Sunday and ends with the Seventh day as the last day, which is termed Saturday or the day of Saturn by the pagans. The proponents of this system ignore the fact of the entire body of liturgical argument that argues that Sunday is the Christian day of worship as the eighth day and which commences the new week. The record shows that this Sunday system entered the church through the sun cults from 111 CE. The week has been settled in Judea and the Temple system for millennia before that time, and the Seventh Day was the Sabbath and had been celebrated as such for millennia.

The proponents of the floating Sabbath ignore the body of history which shows conclusively that both Jews and ALL first-century Christians kept the Seventh Day Sabbath on the seventh day of the week which is the day called Saturday, and Jews and Sabbatarians still, to this day, keep the Seventh Day Sabbath. All scholars are in agreement that the Bible Sabbath is Saturday and always has been. The Gregorian calendar has nothing to do with the cycle of the week and when it was introduced the cycle pre-existed it for millennia.

The argument advanced merely demonstrates the profound ignorance of the groups that advocate such a system and usually they emanate from the US. How then do these people justify their argument for a rotational Sabbath based on the New Moon?

The answer is that they fall back on an argument that is in fact of an Egyptian basis. The New Moon is held to be a Sabbath as the first of the month and then four weeks of twenty-eight days is counted making the Sabbath to fall on the 8^th, 15^th, 22^ndand 29^th days. The Thirtieth day when it falls, as it does every other month or so, is a no day.

As there is no evidence within Christian and Jewish Temple and later history to justify this argument, and there is nothing in the Bible to justify it either, the proponents of this theory fall back on the text of Exodus 16 which deals with the manna.

Exodus 16:1 begins by explaining that the Israelites came into the wilderness of Sin on the Fifteenth day of the Second month. The children of Israel began murmuring against Moses from that time.

The Lord said to the children of Israel that He would provide bread from heaven on the six days of the week and on the Sixth day he would provide enough for the Sabbath Day as well as for the Sixth day. On all other days the manna would not keep for the following day but would go bad and develop worms (Ex. 16:19-20).

The simplistic argument is developed that the quails were sent on the afternoon of the Fifteenth day and then on the morning of the Sixteenth day the manna fell and then the count of the weekly Sabbath began.

Now this argument overlooks some major historical and biblical matters. It rather naively assumes that the Israelites did not know when the Sabbath was until that time. It also ignores the basic Hebrew structure of the week which only has the structure of naming the days as the First of the Sabbath and so on until it reached the Seventh Day which is termed Sabbath, or in this case the Sabbath of Sabbaths. Therefore, this argument relies on the Fifteenth being the Sabbath and the First day of the gathering of manna started on the Sixteenth day. It is then argued that the manna went on falling until the sixth day which is the Twenty-first day of the month.

Now this rather trite argument is almost breathtaking in its ignorance of history and logic. However, there are some people that advance it as truth and reality. We have no concrete evidence that the Fifteenth day was indeed the Sabbath. It relies on an assumption that the Sixteenth was the First day of the week and Exodus 16 does not say that the Sabbath was on the 22^nd day of the Second month. That is an assumption implicit in their argument. The claim that Exodus 16 says the Sabbath was on the 22^nd of the Second month is an assumption. The manna may well have fallen on any day of the week for up until the Sixth day. Every Israelite would have known what the days were and they were keeping the Sabbath for an extensive period beforehand. If indeed the weekly Sabbath did fall on the 22^nd of Iyar in that year, of which there is no actual proof, what does it prove other than in that year the Omer count of the Second month had the Sabbaths fall on the New Moon (1^st), 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd and 29^th days of the month.

It is noted that this year (2009) the Sabbaths of the Second month also happened to fall on the 1^st, 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, and 29^th days of the lunar month. If indeed we assume that the 15^th of the Second month was indeed the Sabbath Day and the Sixteenth was the First day of the week and the First day on which manna fell, it also links this 32^nd year of the 120^th Jubilee with the Year of the Exodus and shows that it has all happened before and is part of the normal cycle of the Sabbath as it relates to the Lunar new year on an ongoing basis.

The fact is that the Sabbath and the lunar cycle have never been interlinked and run independently of one another. Both New Moons and Sabbaths are to be treated as Holy and there is to be no trading on those days (Amos 8:5). There never was a link for the weekly Sabbath, only for the Holy Days, and the High Priest robed for both days and the Temple records show clearly that the days fell independently.

The New Testament shows with absolute clarity that the days were independent of one another. We also know that in the year that Christ was killed the Fourteenth day of the First month Abib fell on the Fourth day of the week, which we call Wednesday. We also know without doubt that he was in the grave for three days and three nights and was resurrected on the end of the Sabbath at evening.

Proponents of this argument are then forced to deny the fact of the Sign of Jonah (see the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 013)). The Sign of Jonah is that Christ would be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. They are then forced to adopt the doctrines of the god Attis and advocate a Friday Crucifixion and a Sunday Resurrection. They do this despite it being impossible for any year in which Christ could have been crucified. The timing of the death of Christ is covered in the paper Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159).

The only reason this silly little theory would be advanced is to try to refute the Temple calendar and argue for a system that could not be rationally implemented and thus force all Christians to continue with the pagan system the pseudo Christians have developed in Sunday-worship and using the calendar of the sun and mystery cults and the theology of Attis (see also Binitarian and Trinitarian Misrepresentation of the Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127b)).

The Sabbath has not been lost, nor does it rotate around the month, nor does the week begin on Monday and nor does the Sabbath differ between Jews and Christians.

The Sabbath is the Seventh Day of the week we call Saturday and it has been ordained by God to be kept and has been kept by the church since its inception.

The Fourth Commandment stands and from it hangs the Calendar, the Sabbaths, New Moons and all the Holy Days and Festivals of God, as explained in the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156).

Prophetically, the repeat this year of the calendar sequence of the Exodus and that of the Death of Christ may have some serious implications for this year. This week began with the 5^th Day of Ab and ends the period of the trial of Ab on the Sixth day of the week, which is the Tenth of Ab. The Sabbath this week is the Eleventh day of Ab. The week from 5 to 10 Ab is one of trial in Israel and all sin should be eliminated and repented of or God acts by the 10^th of Ab.

This Sabbath we should be clear of all the misfortune that is leveled at the nation of Physical and also Spiritual Israel.

We should all reflect on that important sequence and the problems that have been associated with it. This year follows the exact same sequence as the Israelites experienced at Sinai. The weeks fall on the exact same days of the month as they did in the Exodus. Thus the 14^th of Abib fell on a Wednesday this year (2009) as it did in the year Christ was put to death on the stake, and also in the year that Christ slew the firstborn of those that refused to obey him in Egypt. That was the year the Great Angel of the Presence brought Israel out of Egypt and fed them in the wilderness, and we know that Rock was Christ (1Cor. 10:4).

Pentecost fell on the Sunday of 8 Sivan and Israel worshipped the Golden Calf in Tammuz and the Ascents of Moses were on the same days as they fall in this year. With that in mind we should go and revisit the Ascents of Moses (No. 70) and also bear in mind that God deals with Judah also as with all Israel over this period up until the First day of the Seventh month. God had an important sequence to deal with the Church in the year 2009 and expanded it in 2010.

We can now also understand why God brought so many people into the church outside of the US and Britain in 2009. This was symbolized by the Mixed Multitude also in the Exodus. By the 10^th of Ab God had put together such a large body of people within the church that had repented and given themselves to God and His system that the church has never seen such a thing before. There are now more people in CCG outside of Britain and North America than there have ever been under the Churches of God for centuries, and more than twice as many as were ever in WCG and COG (SD) among the nations outside of Britain and North America over their entire existence.

God is dealing with the Gentiles of the Commonwealth now, in power. This is the promise to Ephraim given by Jacob at the birthright blessing, for in him shall be the fulfillment of the Gentiles. On the morning of the 9^th of Ab the Tanzanian conference assembled and the reorganisation of Tanzania commenced. On the morning of the 10^th of Ab the Sudan Conference was scheduled and underway. This period completes the sequence for repentance. The reorganisation in the other nations is well underway and will be ongoing. The Sabbath of 11 Ab symbolizes the reorganisation and the building of the Body of Christ among the Gentiles.

God will now deal with the Gentiles and the Churches of God. Until Trumpets God added to the nucleus. From Tabernacles 2009 God commenced to tear the sheep out of the hands of the shepherds everywhere and added to the Great Multitude of the First Resurrection. At Passover 2010 or 33/120 massive numbers were added to the church and the growth is now exponential.