Why is the moon called “the faithful witness” by God? What festival is celebrated on a full moon? Why should we use a lunar calendar? What effect does the moon have on the affairs of mankind? How does the Moon proclaim the Appointed Times?
Psalms 104:19-20… Lord, you made the moon to show us when the festivals begin. And the sun always knows when to set. 20 You appoint darkness, and it becomes night, In which all the animals of the forest prowl about.
God intended the moon to be a luminary of the night. Our eyes see better in daylight but at night it is too dark for us to see properly. Animals of the forest prowl at night looking for prey. Should we not be thankful that God provided a moon is a luminary in the night sky. On a full moon we can see easier into the darkness, and it has made traveling safer through the night.
The moon, like the sun, is also considered a constant feature in our skies. The seas of this earth are affected by the moon and the sun as they bring about the tidal changes. These luminaries help move the seas and stir the waters. Fish spawn based on the seasonal moons, men too plant base on the fullness of the moon to maximize plant growth. These facts lead mankind to the use of a lunar calendar because of the consistency in the patterns of the moon from year to year.
Psalms 89:35-37… Once I have sworn in my holiness, To David I will not tell lies. His seed itself will prove to be even to time indefinite, and his throne as the sun in front of me, as the moon it will be firmly established for time indefinite, a faithful witness in the skies.
God referred to the moon as his faithful witness. The moon works with the sun because the sun is the constant feature and the primary luminary of the sky for daytime. Whereas the moon is the primary luminary for the night. These two luminaries is what God provided as the way of calculating the time and the seasons for his Festivals. These festivals are known as Gods Appointed Times, and they are to govern the affairs of mankind. The Sun, Moon, and Stars are the timekeepers for mankind.
Genesis 1:14-18… Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. 15 They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
So, the moon let the people know it was the Appointed Time for God’s festivals. As the earth circles the sun the stars help reveal the position of the earth in relation to the sun helping mankind know the seasons. What festival was celebrated on a full moon?
Psalms 81:1-5… O cry out joyfully, YOU people, to God our strength; Shout in triumph to the God of Jacob. 2 Strike up a melody and take a tambourine, The pleasant harp together with the stringed instrument. 3 On the new moon, BLOW the horn, On the full moon, for the day of our festival. 4 For it is a regulation for Israel, A judicial decision of the God of Jacob. 5 As a reminder he laid it upon Joseph himself, When he was going forth over the land of Egypt. A language that I did not know I kept hearing.
Here the Bible writer mentions the regulation of a festival, The new moon was to mark the head or beginning of the month. He also then speaks of the full moon which would fall on a Sabbath day once in the middle of every month. Then again, this passage of Scripture reminds me of the Festival of Ingathering that is celebrated in the fall.
At that time the fall festivals starts off on Tishri 1 as the Festival of Trumpets, at the time of the new moon then it moves into the Day of Atonement Tishri 10, followed by Tishri 15 as the Festival of Booths or Ingathering that is marked off by the full moon.
What intrigued me the most about that last passage of Scripture was that Joseph kept hearing about these regulations in the language of angels and he was made to know about these deep things of God. We will address more about this a little later under the subheading, The Deep Things of God Revealed!
The Appointed Times of God
What are God’s Appointed Times? How can we celebrate them today?
Exodus 23:14-17… You are to celebrate a festival in my honor three times a year. 15 Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib (Nisan), because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 16 Also observe the Festival of Harvest (Weeks) with the first-fruits of your produce from what you sow in the field and then observe the Festival of Ingathering (Shelters or Booths) at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God.
The Festival of Unleavened Bread happens at the end of March or the first 2 weeks of April when the barley harvest is reaped. This new moon of the month is called Abib in the Hebrew language. Abib began the new year and started the count for all other festivals.
This festival began as the Passover meal for the Israelite nation in Egypt and then on the 16th day of Abib (meaning green ears) the barley was waived by the high priest once they were in the land of Israel. After their captivity in Babylon the month known as Abib started to be called Nisan. For more comprehensive and fascinating understanding about the timing of this celebration please follow the hyperlink below:
https://bible-menorah.jimdofree.com/english/calendar-and-feasts/barley-wheat-harvest-israel
The Festival of Harvest or Festival of Weeks is also known as Pentecost and was celebrated on the sixth day of the month called Sivan, that would follow the two new moons past Abib. That happens at the end of May or the first two weeks of June. It would be counted as 50 days after Abib 16th.
The Festival of Ingathering or Festival of Booths is celebrated in the fall. It would occur in the last two weeks of September or the first two weeks of October. This is the month called Tishri or Ethanim as it was called before the nation of Israel went into Babylon captivity.
These were the appointed times of God that was given to the nation of Israel but were these festivals given to anyone else before they were given to Moses?
Will consider more about these feast days under the subheading The Feast of Weeks.
The Deep Things of God Revealed
The rejected writings of faithful men from the past hold answers to the deep things of God. They were not meant for the ordinary hearing of mankind. The angels of God revealed them to the patriarchs like Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. These writings are known as the Apocrypha and once were part of the Bible canon. In the 1940’s a shepherd boy found these collections of holy writings known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Scholars have been studying them for the last 60+ years and have reproduce them so that you and I can now read them. Even in the book of Enoch he claimed that these writings were for the time of the end, and they were to be hidden away until the time of revealing for the called ones of God.
We will now look at the deep things of God that were revealed by means of his angels to his faithful servants of the past. As you read these writing you will notice that there are a lot of cross-references. We encourage you to read them in your own so that you two can realize the validity of the words found in what’s being presented to you.
Enoch 1:1-9…The words of the blessing of Enoch, how he blessed the chosen ones (elect) and the righteous, who were to live (exist) in the time of tribulation (trouble), (Matthew 24:7-13, 21-22) (Those rejecting) when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. 2 And he took up this parable and spoke, Enoch was a righteous person, whose eyes were opened by God, and he saw sacred vision in the heavens about the Holy One and told about it. The angels showed me this. I heard everything from them and understood what I saw. It will not take place in this generation, but in a generation which will come at a future point. 3 I spoke and conversed with him about the chosen ones, so I took a up parable concerning them: The sacred mighty one (The Great Holy One) will leave his dwelling. 4 The eternal God will tread on the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai. (Amos 4:13) He will appear with his hosts and (from his camp he will) appear with his powerful strength from heaven. (2 Ezra 13:1-13) 5 Everyone will be afraid, and the Watchers will be terrified. Great fear and trembling will grip them, as far as to the ends of the earth. 6 (Micah 1:3-4) The high mountains will be shaken, (Matthew 24:29-31) and the high hills brought low, melting like wax (honeycomb) in the flame. (Enoch 52:6, Psalms 97:3-5) 7 The earth will be ripped open, and everything in it will perish, (2 Peter 3:7, 10-12) and there will be judgment on all of mankind. 8 But he will give peace to the righteous. He will safeguard the chosen and show them compassion (he will make peace with them). Then they will all belong to God, and they will be prosperous and blessed. (He will help them) (Revelation 7:14-17) His light will appear to them. (Deuteronomy 33:2) He will make peace with them. 9 Behold the Lord comes with tens of thousands of his devoted Holy Ones, to carry out judgments (as he executes righteous decrees upon the wicked and the ungodly) on everyone, to cross-examine every soul among them who has committed sacrilege (their ungodliness), about their sacrilegious acts, and about all the harsh things those sacrilegious wrongdoers (sinners) have said about him. (Jude 1:14-15)
Next I would like to introduce you to the writings of the book of Jubilee. Hopefully you can see the importance of this writing. Once you come to terms with the validity of the writing will introduce the festivals that God had introduced to these patriarchs of old. Under the subheading The Feast of Weeks
Jubilees 1:22-29… And the Lord said unto Moses I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stubbornness, and they will not be obedient until they confess their own sin and the sin of their fathers. 23 And after this they will turn to me and all uprightness and with all their heart with all their soul, and I shall circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed, and I shall create in them a Holy Spirit, and I shall cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from me from the day and into eternity. 24 And their souls will cleave to me and to all my commandments, and they will fulfill my commandments, and I shall be their father and they will be my children. 25 And they will all be called children of the living God, and every angel with every spirit will know yea, they will know that these are my children, and that I am their father in uprightness and in righteousness, and that I love them. 26 And do you write down for thyself all these words which I declare unto you on this mountain, the first and the last, which shall come to pass in all the divisions of the day in the law and in the testimony and in the weeks and the jubilees and fill in the eternity, until I shall descend and dwell with them throughout eternity. 27 And he said to the angel of the presence; write for Moses from the beginning of creation until my sanctuary has been built among them for all eternity. 28 And the Lord will appear to the eyes of all, all will know that I am God of Israel and the father of all the children of Jacob, and the king on the Mount Zion for all eternity. And Zion and Jerusalem will be holy. 29 And the angel of the presence who went before the camp of Israel took the tablets of the divisions of the years from the time of creation, of the law and of the testimony of the weeks, and of the jubilees, according to the individual years, according to all the number of the jubilees divisions of the years from the time of creation of the law and of the testimony of the weeks, of the jubilees, according to the individual years, according to all the number of the jubilees, according to the individual years, from the day of the new creation when the heavens and the earth shall be renewed in all their creation according to the powers of heaven, according to all the creation of the earth, until the sanctuary of the Lord shall be made in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and all the luminaries be renewed for healing and for peace and for blessing for all the elect of Israel, and that thus it may be from the day until all the days of the earth.
These holy writings are made available to you so that you may read them in their full context. Follow the hyperlink below.
The Feast of Weeks
There is to be found exciting information about the festivals that God had given to the patriarchs of the nation of Israel. We too will benefit from this information because all of us today come through the lineage of Noah.
Jubilees 6:15-23… And He gave to Noah and his sons a sign that there should not again be a flood on the earth. 16 He set His bow in the cloud for a sign of the eternal covenant that there should not again be a flood on the earth to destroy it all the days of the earth. 17 For this reason it is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets, that they should celebrate the feast of weeks in this month once a year, to renew the covenant every year. 18 And this whole festival was celebrated in heaven from the day of creation till the days of Noah, twenty-six jubilees and five weeks of years and Noah and his sons observed it for seven jubilees and one week of years, till the day of Noah’s death, and from the day of Noah’s death his sons did away with (the celebration) until the days of Abraham, and they eat blood. 19 But Abraham observed it, and Isaac and Jacob and his children observed it up to thy days, and in thy days the children of Israel forgot it until ye celebrated it a new on this mountain. 20 And do thou command the children of Israel to observe this festival in all their generations for a commandment unto them: one day in the year in this month they shall celebrate the festival. 21 For it is the feast of weeks and the feast of first fruits: this feast is twofold and of a double nature: according to what is written and engraved concerning it, celebrate it. 22 For I have written in the book of the first law, in that which I have written for thee, that thou shouldst celebrate it in its season, one day in the year, and I explained to thee its sacrifices that the children of Israel should remember and should celebrate it throughout their generations in this month, one day in every year. 23 And on the new moon of the first month, and on the new moon of the fourth month, and on the new moon of the seventh month, and on the new moon of the tenth month are the days of remembrance, and the days of the seasons in the four divisions of the year. These are written and ordained as a testimony forever. 24 And Noah ordained them for himself as the feasts for the generations forever, so that they have become thereby a memorial unto him.
This is a lot of information to digest. Now we should start to understand why God made it part of the law covenant with the nation of Israel. But there would be consequences of breaking the law and the forgetting the celebration of God’s festivals. The consequences of turning our backs on the true God will be painful and deadly. Read what God told Moses at Deuteronomy 8:1-19.
The Great Day of Wrath
There are a few prophecies that speak about the moon changing color before God comes in his anger like Joel 2:31 and Revelation 6:12-14. In both these passages of Scripture it speaks about the moon becoming blood red, this typically happens on a full moon especially during a lunar eclipse.
Revelation 6:12-17… Then I saw Him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair; the entire moon became like the color of blood; 13 the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind; 14 the sky separated like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the military commanders, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of Their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?
Did you notice that God does not use this sign as something good. In that day the moon will definitely bear witness against you for your acts of bloodshed, and it will become a remembrance that will need to be atoned for. Who of you will be able to stand in that day and give an answer to God? Now let us look at the next prophecy found in Joel.
Joel 2:7-11… The invaders charge. They climb barricades. Nothing stops them. Each soldier (of God) does what he’s told, so disciplined, so determined. They don’t get in each other’s way. Each one knows his job and does it. Undaunted and fearless, unswerving, unstoppable. They storm the city, swarm its defenses, Loot the houses, breaking down doors, smashing windows. They arrive like an earthquake, sweep through like a tornado. The Sun and moon turn out their lights, stars black out. God himself bellows in thunder as he commands his forces. Look at the size of that army! And the strength of those who obey him! God’s Judgment Day is great and terrible. Who can possibly survive this?
Mankind has always gotten itself in trouble when it failed to live up to the covenants that God made with us. From the time of Enoch, the time of Noah and in the time of Abraham. These covenants were made with these patriarchs of the past and he has called for man to observe the timing of these covenants by means of God’s Appointed Times of his festivals.
Joel 2:30-32… And I will put wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire, and columns of smoke.31 The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes. 32 And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As Yahweh has said, Even among the survivors whom Yahweh calls.
Let No Man Judge You!
What council is given here at Colossians chapter 2 with respects to the celebration of the moon and the timing of the things that pertain to Christ?
Colossians 2:16-17… Therefore, let no man judge YOU in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath; for those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.
For something to cast a shadow, that would mean it is something of substance standing between the light source and the shadow that has been cast.
Take note, these observances of God’s festivals, that are witness to by the sun the moon and the stars and are of great importance to God, Christ, and his angels. By our ignorance, disinterest, and our preoccupation with life we are refusing to observe the festivals of God, his communion meals. This is very disrespectful in God’s eyes. What do you think will happen to you if you fail to show up for the marriage of his son to the bride?
Matthew 22:2-14… The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, but they would not come. 4 “Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I have prepared my feast. My oxen and fattened calves are killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his business; 6 the rest took his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 When the king heard about it, he was angry. He sent in his army and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the streets and invite to the wedding banquet as many as you find.’ 10 So those servants went out into the streets and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. So, the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man who was not wearing wedding garments. 12 He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding garments?’ And he was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Can you see the pattern in the Scriptures, do you discern what God is saying?
Joel 2:12-15… Yet even now,” declares Yahweh, “Return to Me with all your heart And with fasting, weeping, and wailing; 13 And tear your heart and not your garments.” Now return to Yahweh your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting concerning evil.
14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For Yahweh your God? 15 Blow a trumpet in Zion, Set apart a fasting as holy, call for a solemn assembly.
Writingwithlogos.com – Last Revised 5/25/24