IS THERE BIBLICAL REFERENCE FOR THE CORRECT TIME TO KEEP THE HOLY DAYS?

SHOULD WE KEEP THE NEW MOON TODAY?

HOW DO WE KEEP THIS TODAY?

WILL IT BE KEPT IN THE FUTURE KINGDOM OF GOD?

WHAT IS THE CORRECT OBSERVANCE FOR US TODAY?

This is a very interesting subject, which we have known very little about. We have thought that this special day was done away with the old covenant rituals. But the New Moon is mentioned many times in the Old Testament and a few times in the New Testament.

When is the correct time to keep the Holy Days? Many people have many ideas as to how to calculate the correct days. Why? Many people have reams of writings on how and when these days should be calculated, one has to have a degree in astronomy to have a vague idea of what all these writings mean. Why all this confusion, when there is simplicity in Christ? The Holy Days were meant to be observed by God’s people, God instructed us to observe, remember, and keep the Holy Days. This could not happen if knowing when they fall is difficult to calculate.

Remember we are not wise people, by the world’s standards.

1Co 1:26  For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

Now let’s look at what God says about His Holy Days. The way we know when all the Holy Days fall is by the moon.

Gen 1:14  Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

The New Moon, falls on the 1st of the month, the Feast of Trumpets is on the first of the month and is on the New Moon.

Lev 23:24  “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

Psa 81:3  Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, At the full moon, on our solemn feast day.

The above scriptures show that the New Moon falls on the first of the month, therefore all the Holy Days in any given month can be calculated simply by knowing which day is the New Moon and counting from there. The phases of the moon are available on the internet under the astronomical information put out by the government.

The New Moon is simply the day that is stated by the government for that month.

There is no need to watch for crescents of the moon etc, the New Moon is clearly stated to be on a certain day of the month, and that is the 1st of the month on God’s calendar.

The only thing we need to be careful of is the actual time of the New Moon. The Government site will tell you the exact time of the New Moon, we need to look and see if it is before or after sunset. For example, if sunset was at 6 pm on a Sunday, and the New Moon at 6.30 pm on a Sunday, then the New Moon would be the Monday, starting at sunset on the Sunday night at 6 pm. This is the only tricky bit in calculating the time of the New Moon. Remember the world starts days at midnight and God says the day starts at the setting of the sun.

We need to take the time to look up the scriptures on this subject, check into things, have an open mind, and ask God to lead us and show us the truth.

What does God tell us to do?

Do we believe the Bible, and are we prepared to have a teachable attitude with regard to new truth?

All things will be restored in the end time. God will give new truth and restore all things to His end time church. Be prepared to change, examine and believe what God is showing us. This is important, God expects His firstfruits to be teachable.

Let’s look at the verses about this special day in the Bible, and let’s see what God says about these New Moon observances.

SHOULD WE OBSERVE THE NEW MOON TODAY?

Num 10:10  Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God.”

Notice these points, in the beginnings of your months {this is the New Moon} we shall blow trumpets over our burnt offerings and sacrifices of peace offerings, for a memorial. We know that today we do not have burnt offerings or peace offerings, but these should be substituted by prayer to God, as per the following Psalm.

Psa 116:17  I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD.

We do not blow trumpets today either, but they were used for many reasons in the Old Testament times, for a warning, for festive occasions, meeting of the leaders, meeting of the people, God meeting with Israel at Mt. Sinai. The trumpets were used to herald an important event. So this would indicate that the New Moon is important to God.

The New Moon was for a memorial. We must not forget these days. A memorial is something that has to be remembered.

We see by this verse that it was the custom to seek out the man of God on the New Moon. However, it is not stated in the scriptures that the New Moon is a Holy Day, it is not a Sabbath either, so on the New Moon we need to spend a lot more time on Bible study and prayer than we would on a normal day. If we have a few brethren living close by it would be appropriate to get together for a Bible study. If we do not have this luxury, then we need to fellowship with God ourselves in prayer and Bible study.

2Ki 4:22  Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

2Ki 4:23  So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.”

There is a good possibility that most of the New Moons fall on a work day, so because it is not a commanded religious assembly, we need to spend a good deal of our time on that day in prayer and study.

We see here quite clearly that the New Moons are mentioned along with the Sabbaths and the feasts of God. So it is obvious that God wants them kept today. The Sabbaths and the feast days are binding forever and we will prove in this article that the New Moons are also to be observed by the people of God today.

1Ch 23:31  and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the LORD on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the set feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the LORD;

Again, we see the New Moon mentioned with the Sabbath and the feast days, but notice the last line of the above scripture, this is an ordinance forever to Israel.

2Ch 2:4  Behold, I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to Him, to burn before Him sweet incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

Some people might read this scripture below and think that the New Moons are hated by God. This is not so, notice it says your New Moons and your appointed feasts. That means that the people keeping them are not doing so in the right heart and spirit, these festivals and times are God’s when they are kept correctly. If we don’t talk about God on the Sabbath day amongst the brethren, if the sermons are weak wishy-washy stuff with no meat and no meat in due season, if they are not truthful and only man’s ideas and not God’s words, how can God be pleased with them? It is not the Sabbath or festivals or New Moons that God hates it is the way some people keep them that is upsetting to God.

Isa 1:13  Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.

Isa 1:14  Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.

Isa 1:15  When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

HOW DO WE OBSERVE THE NEW MOON TODAY?

Here we see that the king held a meal with family and friends on the New Moon.

1Sa 20:5  And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.

This scripture indicates that it was also David’s custom to have a meal with family and friends on the New Moon.

1Sa 20:24  Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.

1Sa 20:25  Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.

It would seem appropriate that on the New Moon we have a family meal or a meal with brethren. If this is possible, also as stated above 2 Kings 4 v 22-23 it is also a time to consult a man of God. As stated above if we cannot meet together on this day, it is appropriate to spend the day with God in prayer and study. This is as much as possible if the New Moon falls on a work day.

Eze 46:1  ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.

Eze 46:2  The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening.

Eze 46:3  Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the LORD on the Sabbaths and the New Moons.

This scripture indicates that the people will worship on the New Moon at the door of the gate to the inner court. Notice that it is shut the rest of the week but on the Sabbath, it is open and on the New Moon.

Col 2:16  So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

The New Moon is mentioned in the New Testament, so it would appear that the disciples observed the New Moons.

Col 2:16  So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

It is plain that we should have a meal with family and friends and spend as much time as possible in prayer and study on the New Moon.

WILL THE NEW MOON BE OBSERVED IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

In the kingdom of God, the New Moons will be observed.

Isa 66:23  And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.

WERE THERE ANY MAJOR EVENTS ON THE NEW MOON?

Here we see that the first sighting of land, after the flood in Noah’s day occurred on the New Moon.

Gen 8:5  And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

On the New Moon the tabernacle was set up and the ark put inside. Notice that work is done on the day of the New Moon thus proving that it is not a Sabbath.

Exo 40:2  “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.

Exo 40:3  You shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil.

The Israelites were numbered on the New Moon.

Num 1:1  Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying:

Num 1:2  “Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually,

The sanctification of the Lord’s house was started on the New Moon.

2Ch 29:17  Now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD. So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

On the New Moon all the men whose wives were not Israelites pledged to put them away.

Ezr 10:14  Please, let the leaders of our entire assembly stand; and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

Ezr 10:15  Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite gave them support.

Ezr 10:16  Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of the fathers’ households, were set apart by the fathers’ households, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

Ezr 10:17  By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan wives.

On the New Moon the book of the law of Moses was read to all the people who could hear with understanding. This was the feast of Trumpets.

Neh 8:1  Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel.

Neh 8:2  So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.

The following scripture shows the feast of Trumpets falls on the New Moon, the first of the seventh month.

Lev 23:24  “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

We see quite plainly that the New Moon was and still is important to God.

Amo 8:5  Saying: “When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit,

We know by other scriptures that the new moon is not a Sabbath. This verse is talking about abolishing God’s calendar so business can be carried out on every day of the week. Remember that the moon is used to calculate times and seasons, so if the moon was not observed then God’s Sabbaths and Holy days would be lost in time by man.

God sets the sun and the moon for signs, seasons, days and years. They are a method of telling the start of the day and the month. God has set them for us to know these things. They are for light and warmth as well.

Gen 1:14  Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

Gen 1:15  and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

For today, on the New Moon, it would be appropriate to have a meal with family and friends, do as much prayer and Bible study as is possible and observe it from the sunset to sunset.

There are many schools of thought on when the actual New Moon is, but we have to follow our calendar as we do for the Sabbath.

As stated above the Government of your country should have a web site showing what time the new moon is. Each person will need to check these times for themselves. Remember to note the exact time stated for the full moon, because God tells us the day starts and ends at sunset. The New Moon times at the Government sites will change days at midnight.

We must be extremely careful to worship God and not the moon. The New Moon is for a sign. It is God who we worship.