The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright 2020 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 72

Waiting on God

Why do Christian preachers like to set the date of Christ’s return?

One of the most famous is William Miller. For twelve years he preached that Christ would return on a day in 1843. When that day passed, he then corrected the error of not allowing for a year zero in the Roman calendar, and changed his date to 1844. When that day passed, Miller then said he was just wrong. Others said he wasn’t wrong, and they became the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Repeatedly during the last two millennia, people have tried to set the time of Christ’s return, even though He himself said —

Matt 24
36) But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

People really, really want to know the time of Christ’s return, but God doesn’t tell us that date. Even Yeshua Himself did not know it. Like it or not, we have to wait on the Father to show us that much anticipated special time.

Christians often don’t like waiting on God. Israel probably didn’t like it, either.

After Israel had finished building the Tabernacle, and Moses had placed all the furniture in it —

Exod 40
34) Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle.
35) Moses wasn’t able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle.
36) When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys;
37) but if the cloud wasn’t taken up, then they didn’t travel until the day that it was taken up.
38) For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

So from the time that the Tabernacle was first set up, Israel no longer needed Google maps. They couldn’t plan their trip itinerary ahead of time, either. They didn’t know exactly where they were going, and they didn’t know when they were going.

Num 9
15) On the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the Tent of the Testimony: and at evening it was over the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning.
16) So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
17) Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled; and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Israel encamped.
18) At the commandment of Yahweh, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of Yahweh they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.
19) When the cloud stayed on the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept Yahweh’s command, and didn’t travel.
20) Sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the commandment of Yahweh they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of Yahweh they traveled.
21) Sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they traveled: or by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they traveled.
22) Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year that the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, remaining on it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and didn’t travel; but when it was taken up, they traveled.
23) At the commandment of Yahweh they encamped, and at the commandment of Yahweh they traveled. They kept Yahweh’s command, at the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.

So how would that fit with your schedule?

Many people love strict schedules. I have seen where people might say, ‘we will do such and such and then be back home by five o’clock.’ Their whole day was then controlled by the unyielding requirement to be back home by five. That self-imposed schedule became a burden on the day’s activities, hurrying them along with a load of worry, just to meet their schedule. But the five o’clock deadline wasn’t imposed from on high, and had no real significance — it was must made up on the spur of the moment. The world would not end if home was not reached by five o’clock, because nothing was going on at home after five o’clock. People would sacrifice their day to meet that fateful hour, and when they arrived home at the self-appointed time, then they would be satisfied they had kept their schedule, and would promptly sit down at home and do nothing.

Such people would not have done well in the wilderness. Israel didn’t know where they were going, didn’t know when they were going, and didn’t know how long they would be going. At least they didn’t have to worry about being back home at five o’clock.

And oh! the packing.

And unpacking.

Num 10
33) They set forward from the Mount of Yahweh three days’ journey. The ark of the covenant of Yahweh went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.
34) The cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.
35) It happened, when the ark went forward, that Moses said, “Rise up, Yahweh, and let your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!”
36) When it rested, he said, “Return, Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.”

How strange that plan seems to the human mind. Why didn’t God give Israel a detailed itinerary of their trip to the Holy Land?

Because people were not in charge of God’s plan. Therefore Israel had to watch and wait on God. It wasn’t just the route itself that was important. What was most important was Who set the route.

In the same way as Israel having to watch and wait for God to tell them when to go, we have to watch and wait for the return of Christ. We can’t just pen it into our schedules.

Christ gave signs of His return, to show when the time is near. However, Christians have thought they saw those signs in every generation of Christians, including the first flock.

Jas 5
7) Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.
8) You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9) Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

Phil 4
4) Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”
5) Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

1Pet 4
7) But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.

Rev 22
20) He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I come quickly.” Amen! Yes, come, Lord Yeshua.

So all those examples show that the first flock was expecting the return of the Messiah very quickly.

Christ gave certain signs of the end of the age, but He also said that everyday life would be going on pretty much as normal —

• as life was before the Flood, until people rolled their eyes when the thunder first rolled;
• and as life was before Sodom burned, until the Sodomians said, “What’s that smell?”

Luke 17
26) As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man.
27) They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28) Likewise, even as it happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29) but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all.
30) It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

All those generations of Christians who thought they saw the signs of the end of this age in their time were wrong, but in another sense they were right.

• Their lives were short, like grass, so they were living in their last days.
• Watching helped them keep their lamps burning.

Luke 12
35) “Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.
36) Be like men watching for their lord, when he returns from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.
37) Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you, that he will dress himself, and make them recline, and will come and serve them.
38) They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so.
39) But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into.
40) Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.”
41) Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?”
42) The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times?
43) Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes.
44) Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has.
45) But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,
46) then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him, and in an
our that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful.
47) That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,
48) but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.

So, Christ said let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning. Watch and wait for Him.

Why do people really, really want to know the time of Christ’s return?

They want to slough off for most of their lives and then, right before the big event, cram for the test. They don’t want to watch every day, but only when it counts most.

It does seem as if it would be quite handy to be able to pencil in Christ’s return on your calendar, even a 2000 year calendar. Why doesn’t the Father tell us more plainly the time of His Son’s return?

Because we have to watch and wait on God.

This is an important principle, hard to fathom in its fullest meaning.

Ps 5
2) Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God; for to you do I pray.
3) Yahweh, in the morning you shall hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and will watch expectantly.

To watch expectantly, even in our everyday lives.

Israel in the wilderness had to watch and wait on God, to find out when and where they were going. Christians for two millennia have had to watch and wait on God, for the return of their King.

And in the same way, God set the Feasts so that we have to watch and wait on Him, just to see when they are. We cannot calculate them ahead of time. We have to watch the creation and know by those signs when the Feasts are. It’s very handy to calculate them for a hundred years in advance, or for next year, or next autumn. Ultimately, though, people with their calculations are not in charge of God’s Feasts, any more than William Miller with his complicated prophetic calculations was in charge of Christ’s return. God is in charge of Christ’s return and God is in charge of setting His Feasts.

People cannot use mathematical calculations to predict the time of Christ’s return. God planned it that way. You can’t just calculate the second coming and then forget it. And people cannot use mathematical calculations to set the Feast days. God planned it that way. You can’t just calculate the date and then forget it. Like it or not — and people really don’t like it that way — if we will keep the same Feast days that were kept at the Temple, we must watch and wait on God.

The timing of the Feasts, which look forward to the return of the King, are themselves a lesson of His return. In both cases, we have to watch and wait on God.

This may not seem too handy, but it sure is a beautiful plan.

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright 2020 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 71

How God Sets the Feasts

For most of history, humans had no personal timepiece they could carry with them.

The personal watch came along about 1500. It was called a clock-watch and was like a clock you carried with you. It was bulky and expensive — those were pre-Timex days — and was worn around the neck or carried inside a coat. The clock-watch also lost several hours a day and was more for showing off than getting off on time.

“These early clock-watches were not worn to tell the time. The accuracy of their verge and foliot movements was so poor, with errors of perhaps several hours per day, that they were practically useless. They were made as jewelry and novelties for the nobility, valued for their fine ornamentation, unusual shape, or intriguing mechanism, and accurate timekeeping was of very minor importance,” Wikipedia, “History of watches.”

Those clock-watches were kinda like the Apple Watch of the time, but since they didn’t really work, they were more like a rotten Apple Watch.

An early watch from around 1505 by Peter Henlein
CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75187046

Since humans mostly had no timepiece they could carry with them, what did they do?

They went by the two great lights in the heavens. The sun and moon were always there, everywhere, for everyone on earth. The sun told the time of day, in a general way. For example, when the sun was highest in the sky, that was noon — sun time, not time zone time.

And the moon told the time of the month.

The lunar cycle — the period of time between one full Moon and the next — has been a common timekeeping device for human beings across the world. Each lunar cycle is 29.5 days long, a constant and handy time unit… https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/native-american-full-moon-names/1/2/2020

When TV westerns were popular, Indians were often depicted saying, “Many moons ago…” Like many peoples around the world, Indians used the moon to mark time. You couldn’t miss when the moon went dark, you noticed when the silver sliver of the new moon slid down the western sky, and you gazed in awe at the awesome full moon. Just as the sun marked the days, so the moon marked the moonths, or months.

That’s what the sun and moon are for, to mark the passage of time; and to set Yahweh’s appointed times, the annual Feasts.

Gen 1 Lexham English Bible
14) And God said, “Let there be lights in the vaulted dome of heaven to separate day from night, and let them be as signs and for appointed times, and for days and years,

Using the moon and sun to mark God’s appointed times is very handy and very simple. Simple, that is, if you just go by what you can see and don’t try to calculate the appointed times for all eternity.

What happens if you do try to calculate God’s appointed times for all eternity?

You have the Jewish calendar.

Since the Pharisees became Judaism after the fall of the Temple, the Jewish calendar is the Pharisee calendar. There are other Jewish calendars, such as the Karaite and Essene, but the most used Jewish calendar is that of the Pharisees. So the well known Jewish calendar is the Pharisee calendar. They made it.

As you might expect, the Pharisee calendar is very, very complicated.

May I quote from an article about the complicated Pharisee calendar?

San Diego Jewish World, 9/17/14, “You Think Your Personal Calendar is Complex?”
Jewish days are divided into 24 hours, each hour into 1080 parts (ḥalaqim), and each part into 76 moments (regaim). The time of the new month, or molad, is counted from 6 P.M., sunset, the start of the Jewish day.

Using the appropriate equations, for example, the molad of the new moon for Rosh Hashanah 5775 is 4d 14h 339p, which we read as: day 4, 14th hour, 339 parts. This corresponds to Wednesday (day 4), 14 hours, 339 parts after 6 P.M. Fourteen hours after 6 P.M. is 8:00 A.M., the next day, and 339 parts computes to 18 minutes, 50 seconds. So the molad of Rosh Hashanah 5775 takes place on a Thursday at 8:18:50 A.M. (The actual date of Rosh Hashanah is determined by finding the number of days in a given calendar year and then counting forward from the previous Rosh Hashanah.)

In the secular calendar, the Gregorian calendar, common years have 365 days and leap years have 366 days. Leap years occur every four years, except on century years not divisible by 400. Regular or common Jewish years can have 353 (defective year), 354 (normal year), or 355 (abundant year) days. A Jewish leap year, a year in which an extra month of thirty days is added to the calendar, takes place at fixed intervals seven times (the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years) within a nineteen-year cycle, known as the Metonic cycle, giving rise to leap years with 383 (defective year), 384 (normal year), or 385 (abundant year) days.

Why so complicated?

First of all, because that’s the way the universe is.

Trying to calculate what God set as appointed times is necessarily very complex, because it involves both the moon and the sun and God did not intend for people to calculate it. He intended for people to observe it. The Roman calendar only goes by the sun, and the Muslim calendar goes only by the moon, but the Feasts are set by the moon and the solar season, so that is naturally complicated to calculate.

It’s actually impossible to calculate.

However — given how the Pharisees are — they took already complex calculations and then complicated things still further. As usual, they added their own rabbi-rules. When rabbis rule, they add their rules.

“You Think Your Personal Calendar is Complex?” Continued —
Unfortunately, the Jewish calendar is not really a lunisolar calendar either; it is rabbinic-Judaism’s mandated lunisolar calendar. Here’s why. Reason 1: if the molad of 1 Tishri (Rosh Hashanah) falls on a Wednesday or Friday, then Yom Kippur, ten days later, would fall either the day before or the day after Shabbat, a terrible, if not impossible inconvenience for observant Jews who cannot, among other things, prepare meals, as no work can be performed on either Shabbat or Yom Kippur. If the molad of 1 Tishri were to fall on a Sunday, then the holiday of Hoshana Rabbah (Seventh Day of Sukkot) would fall on the Sabbath, precluding the required Beating-of-the-Willows ceremony. Consequently, if the molad of 1 Tishri falls on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, then Rosh Hashanah is postponed one day.

There are three other reasons for Rosh Hashanah being postponed for up to two days in any given year:

Reason 2: since the Jewish day begins at 6 P.M., the day is three-quarters over at noon the next day, and the rabbis consider it an “old moon.” If the molad of 1 Tishri occurs after 12 P.M. on any given day, then Rosh Hashanah is postponed one day. If, as a result of this postponement, Rosh Hashanah now falls on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, the holiday is postponed one additional day.

Reason 3: if the molad of 1 Tishri falls in a common year on a Tuesday at or later than 9 hours (Wednesday, 3 A.M.) and 204 parts, then Rosh Hashanah is postponed two days, since it cannot fall on a Wednesday for reasons listed above. In addition, the rabbis understood that under this condition, the molad of 1 Tishri of the following year will fall after 12 P.M. on a Sabbath, thereby moving it to Sunday, which is not allowed and making the present common Hebrew year 356 days long, which is also not permitted.

Reason 4: if the molad of 1 Tishri falls in a common year following a leap year on a Monday at 15 hours (Tuesday, 9 A.M.), 589 parts or later, Rosh Hashanah is postponed one day for reasons similar to Reason 3; the preceding year will have only 382 days, which is unacceptable.

So we see that trying to calculate the Feast is already complex, but then the rabbis added all their rules, making a complex calculation even more so.

Okay, that article continues on with those fascinating complexities and the author even has a thrilling book about the world’s most complicated calendar, but we’ll ask for your forgiveness and stop quoting there. The point is already made. The Pharisee calculated calendar for setting Yahweh’s appointed times is very complex.

How complex?

That article concludes:
Now you know why people like Chassidic Rabbi Yanki Tauber say, “the Jew has what is probably the most complex calendar known to man,” and the late Wolfgang Alexander Schocken, mathematician, Jewish calendar expert, and concertmaster of the Israel Radio Orchestra, referred to the Jewish calendar as “the most sophisticated calendar system.”

The most complex calendar known to man — Is that the way God chose to set His Feasts?

Uncomplicated answer —

No.

Genesis 1:14 cited above says that God put the lights in the heavens as signs for the appointed times.

How did that work?

How were the Feasts set during Temple times, before the rabbis ruled?

In Egypt, Yahweh said to Moses:

Ex 12
2) This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

The Hebrew word translated “month” is “chodesh.”

”H2320 (Mickelson’s Enhanced Strong’s Dictionaries of the Greek and Hebrew Testaments),
H2320 ×—(cho’-desh).
1. the new moon.
2. (by implication) a month.”

So chodesh means new moon, and then by extension a month.

For people all around the world, including the Hebrews, the month began when the moon reappeared. That was the natural way to note the passage of what we call months. So chodesh is a new moon.

The Pharisee rabbis later changed the definition of chodesh to mean the dark moon, when the moon can’t be seen at all. They did that for purposes of their calendar calculations. The maximum dark period of the moon can be calculated. The visible new moon cannot be exactly calculated. So for the Pharisee Jewish calendar, the Pharisees changed the application of chodesh to mean dark moon instead of new moon, so they could calculate it.

Pharisee rules notwithstanding, Chodesh means “new moon.”

The original meaning of the term new moon, which is still sometimes used in non-astronomical contexts, is the first visible crescent of the Moon after conjunction with the Sun.
“new moon”. Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005.

When the rabbis changed the meaning of chodesh from new moon to dark moon, that was a very big change. That’s similar to saying that day is night or that Sabbath is Sunday. Chodesh means new moon, when the moon is newly visible. It does not mean dark moon, when the moon is not visible.

When Exodus 12:2 says that the month when Israel left Egypt “shall be the first month [chodesh] of the year to you,” that literally said the first new moon of the year. That first month was called “Abib,” or green ears relating to the barley stage. The Jews later adopted the Babylonian name Nisan for this month.

Exod 13
3) Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
4) This day you go out in the month Abib.

The name of the first month was what it was, the time of green barley.

So Exodus establishes that a new moon begins the month, and Abib is the first month of the year, at the time of green ears of barley. When the plague of hail struck Egypt, shortly before Israel left, the barley was in the ear.

Exod 9
31) The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom.
32) But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up.

That was the time shortly before Israel left Egypt and the barley was in the ear. Abib.

Leviticus 23 is the Feast chapter in the Bible, with the most instructions about the Feasts.

Lev 23
5) In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Yahweh’s Passover.
6) On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

24) “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

27) “However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement:

34) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tents for seven days to Yahweh.

In those feast instructions, the word translated month is again chodesh, literally “new moon.” Rendering chodesh as month tends to overlook its basic meaning of “new moon.” Chodesh is taken to mean month only because that is the period between new moons. Reading chodesh literally in those Feast instructions gives a different emphasis —

In the first new moon, on the fourteenth day of the new moon at evening, is Yahweh’s Passover.

On the fifteenth day of the same new moon is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh.

In the seventh month, on the first day of the new moon, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets.

On the tenth day of this seventh new moon is the day of atonement.

On the fifteenth day of this seventh new moon is the feast of tents.

Reading chodesh literally emphasizes over and over that the month begins with the new moon. And it is very important that the months begin with chodesh, not darknesh.

As an academic site hosted by McGill University says:
The first commandment the Jewish People received as a nation was the commandment to determine the New Moon. The beginning of Exodus Chapter 12 says “This month (Nissan) is for you the first of months.”.
https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/h/Hebrew_calendar.htm

And again that verse says, “This new moon is for you the first of new moons.”

The Bible clearly teaches that months begin with the new moons.

The just cited article goes on:
Two major forms of the calendar have been used: an observational form used prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and based on witnesses observing the phase of the moon, and a rule-based form first fully described by Maimonides in 1178 CE, which was adopted over a transition period between 70 and 1178.

Two forms of the calendar were used: an original one used at the Temple and a later one created by the rabbis, over a thousand year period. The Temple calendar was based on witnesses observing the chodesh, the literal, visible new moon. The Jewish/Pharisee calendar — “a rule based form” — is based on their rules.

The Temple Institute exists today to enable the building of a third Temple. They are trying to recreate everything that was involved with the Temple, so they discuss the chodesh and the Temple.

The commandment to declare the new moon and establish its appearance for all the children of Israel was the first commandment received by the Israelites, even before they had emerged from their bondage in Egypt,(sic) Establishing the new moon was of such great import for the entire nation of Israel, that it became a matter for the Great Sanhedrin – the highest court in the land. Two witnesses who had seen the appearance of the new moon were required to testify before the Great Sanhedrin, which convened in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, which was located on the northern wall of the Inner Courtyard of the Holy Temple. There they would be questioned and cross examined to verify their fitness as witnesses, and the truth of their words. Only when this had been done to the satisfaction of the sages of the Great Sanhedrin, would the new moon – Rosh Chodesh – be declared. Messengers would be sent forthwith to inform communities of Israel as well as the far flung villages of the diaspora.
The Temple Institute, “Introduction to the Holy Temple Calendar”

At the Temple, the Sanhedrin did not set the new moons and Feasts. They only confirmed what God had set and people had seen. And note too that when they executed their Messiah, the Sanhedrin was forced out of the Chamber of Hewn Stone.

The McGill University article confirms the chodesh:
In Second Temple times, the beginning of each lunar month was decided by two eyewitnesses testifying to having seen the new crescent moon. Patriarch Gamaliel II (c. 100) compared these accounts to drawings of the lunar phases. According to tradition, these observations were compared against calculations made by the main Jewish court, the Sanhedrin.

So, how about that?

The Feasts in Temple times were set not by myriad rules of men but by the creation clock put in place by the Creator. This creation clock is far too complex to ever be accurately calculated, and the Pharisees now admit that their calendar has failed in its attempt to do that. Moreover, if the sky was cloudy or hazy so that the new moon could not possibly be seen, the expected new moon day was automatically the next day, when it would definitely be visible.

How do you calculate that? How do you calculate “cloudy” a thousand years in advance?

You don’t.

God does.

You see, it is absolutely impossible to calculate a chodesh calendar. You have to wait on God and see what He does with His creation.

So that’s it. The two forms of calendar — We have the most complex calendar known to mankind, the Pharisee/Jewish calendar, compared with —

“Hey, there’s the new moon. It’s a new month.”

God makes things simple. Man makes things complex. Especially, Pharisee men.

Going by the creation clock with its visible new moon means you’re never sure which day will start a month. Even if you calculate that a new moon should definitely be visible, you never know — for sure — that the sky will be clear. And until you know the chodesh, you can’t know when God has set His holy days.

But not being able to calculate the Feasts a year, or a decade, or a millennium in advance —

How do you plan around that?

In our modern, helter-skelter, torrentially torrid pace of life, how do you plan for a holy day without knowing exactly what day it’ll be? Yeah, sure, they did that during Temple times but, hey — times have changed! We’re busy!

Can such a watch-and-wait visible system really be from God?

In the handy Pharisee calendar, you can calculate a holy day a hundred years in advance. You can plan for a holy day when you won’t even be alive. How convenient!

Isn’t the Pharisee system better, where you don’t have to wait on God?