The Fourth Commandment deals with the Sabbath or Rest. This includes the weekly Seventh Day, the New Moons, the Holy Days, the Seven Year Land Sabbaths and the Jubilee system. All of these are tied to the natural astronomical calendar and they are all required to be kept for the benefit of all of mankind (Mark 2:27). They stand together or they fall together (Colossians 2:16-17).

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There are weekly or Seventh day, monthly or New Moon, annual Holy Day, seventh year land and Jubilee restoration Sabbaths. They all are commanded and they all must be kept.

sabbat (SHD 7676) is a word meaning to cease or rest. It is a day of worship (Lev. 23:3) and a day of rest and refreshment (Ex. 23:12). It is a sign of God’s lordship over creation and was the first recorded blessing and was sanctified or set apart from the Adamic creation (Gen. 2:2-3). It was made for mankind (Mk. 2:27) and its observance is tied to faith.

It was observed by Abraham (Gen. 26:3-5)

who was given the truth

and who guided others in the way

By its observance Israel confessed that they were His redeemed people being subject to His law.

By this resting we exhibit our trust in God. Sabbath observance is proclaimed as a blessing (Isa. 56:2-4; 58:13; 66:23; Ezek. 44:24; 45:17; 46:1, 3-4, 12). Israel was rebuked for neglecting it (Isa. 1:13; Jer. 17:21-27; Ezek. 20:12-24; Amos 8:5). The length of Judah’s Babylonian captivity was determined by the abuse of the sabbatical year and the rest for the land (2Chron. 36:21). Our future captivity will be as well.

The Sabbath day is the fourth commandment and is found in both Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15. The Sabbath day is holy, sanctified, consecrated, meaning to be set apart for a specific purpose, to the Lord God (Yahovah Elohim). He made it so (Exodus 20:11) and we are all to keep it (verse 8).

This is so that everyone, even the livestock, may rest (Deut. 5:14).

For six days we are to work (Deut. 5:13) dressing and keeping or maximising and maintaining the creation (Gen. 2:15). We are not to be idle (2Thess. 3:6-11). Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength (Eccl. 9:10) for whatever you sow that you will reap (Gal. 6:7).

The seventh day is the Sabbath. It is calculated as the Saturday from the Adamic creation. It is noted by all nations as being the Sabbath and as falling on Saturday of the current calendar. The seventh day is in a continuous cycle and cannot be allocated to another day regardless of when it falls in the luni-solar cycle. The Roman decision to call the ‘Day of the Sun., Sunday, their Sabbath does not make it so.

The new world calendar and its variants that are presently being proposed strike at the very heart of the law. The World Calendar is a twelve-month, perennial calendar with equal quarters. It is perennial because it remains the same every year.

Our present calendar is not perennial, but annual. It changes every year. It does so because its typical 365 ¼ day cycle is not evenly divisible by the number of days in the week. Neither is the astronomical lunar month of 29.5 days.

The consequence of the one-day remainder is that the year typically begins and ends on the same weekday. So the next year must begin on the following weekday and this requires a new calendar every year.

Technically, our Gregorian calendar is a variously ordered cycle of fourteen calendars. The calendar for the year beginning on Sunday differs from the one for the year beginning on Monday, and so on for all seven weekdays. Since the occurrence of leap year can alter any of these seven calendars, the total is raised.

If we took that day out of the calendar, the New Year would typically begin on the very same weekday as the previous year. We would then have a perennial calendar.

It is proposed that we take a day out of the calendar without deviating from the solar cycle of approximately 365.24 days by simply regarding the day as a twenty-four hour waiting period before resuming the calendar again. These off-calendar days would be known as "blank days" or "intercalary days," and they won't be considered as weekdays. It is proposed to treat them as holidays and that's part of the rationale behind The World Calendar. It and other proposals like the thirty-day month with three ten-day weeks, alter the sequence of the seven-day week from the Adamic creation. The seven-day cycle does not fit either into the lunar month or the annual solar year.

Leviticus 23:32 shows that the day properly ends at and begins at evening and not at midnight or mornings.

The seventh day begins on the end of the sixth day of the week, our Friday at the end of evening nautical twilight, at dark (see the paper Start of the Month and the Day (No. 203)).

This is confirmed by Paul in Acts 27:27-34 and the Mishnah, which is a second century compilation of writings going back to the second century BCE. (See the second division, Moed, Sabbath 1:3, 15:3).

The day does not commence at sunset or sun down which has close to 60 minutes of twilight before dark. The Scriptural definition for the start of the day is found in Gen. 1:5

Twilight or half-light is in the same day and at dark at the end of evening nautical twilight is the start of a new day. The day begins at dark with the nightfall, when the obvious distinction is clear.

There is to be no buying or selling or work that earns compensation on the Sabbath. This does not mean there is no activity. Nehemiah is the example of work on the Sabbath.

The Sabbatical system must be understood to be representative of a system that is peculiar to the people of God.

The Law of the Lord is a sign of God’s people (Deut. 6:8) and of His redemption of Israel (Deut. 6:10) which through the sacrifice of Christ, extends to all of those in Christ (Rom. 9:6; 11:25-26). These signs guard Israel against idolatry (Deut. 11:16) being signs and seals of the Lord's elect (Rev. 7:3).

A sign, SHD 226, owth or ot is a distinguishing mark or token reminder of one’s duty. The Sabbaths are listed as signs of God’s people. It is a sign between The One True God who makes us holy, and us.

It is often assumed that the Sabbaths referred to here are merely the plural of the singular weekly Sabbath. That is incorrect. The Sabbaths are extended to the entire range of worship over the New Moons, Holy Days, Land Sabbaths and the complete Jubilee system with its economic implications.

Being put to death is also spiritual and continually protects the covenant people from idolatry.

The Sabbath is not exclusively a sign of the Church of God; it is also a sign of the covenant people not yet called into the Church. If it were the sign of the elect, then Judaism and Sabbath keeping or acknowledging Binitarians and Trinitarians would be part of the first resurrection. They will not be.

The second sign is the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Atonement is another sign of the covenant people (Lev. 16:29-34). Failing to keep Atonement is punishable by removal from one’s people; in other words, from the covenant body of Israel, which is the Church of God (Lev. 23:29; Rom. 9:6-8).

Atonement is also used to declare the Jubilee, for the Jubilee is the basis of God's system for regulating human affairs on earth. It is a Sabbatised Sabbath, a Shabbath Shabbathown which emphasises its holiness (see SHD 7677).

The spiritual significance of the Jubilee will be examined later.

Atonement is specifically excluded from the category of offerings, which are related to bounty and individual blessing. So also is the Day of Trumpets. This is because neither of these days is related to human activity nor endeavour. The Holy Day of Atonement is specifically a census day with a levy applied.

The tax or levy on Atonement was for the numbering of the elect of Israel. It is a set weight per person and is not to vary by the circumstance of the individual. God did this numbering of Israel at the foundation of the world (Rev. 17:8), and Jesus Christ paid the weight by set fee once and for all (Rom. 6:10). The set fee indicates that salvation is paid for, not according to the physical circumstance of the individual, but by the sacrifice of Christ once and for all (Heb. 7:27; 9:26; 10:10; 1Pet. 3:18). The taking up of a collection at Atonement strikes at the very adequacy of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It is for this reason that there are three feast collections only as specified in Exodus 23:14-18, 34:24; Deuteronomy 16:16; 1Kings 9:25. They are not Holy Day offerings and are to be taken before morning of the first day of each feast.

In verse 18 the "fat of my feast" is addressing our financial festival offerings at this time. We may not eat any animal fat.

A sign or owth was first used in Genesis 9:12. The rainbow was God’s token reminder of His promise that He would not destroy the earth with water a second time. God uses signs, which will identify those in a specific relationship with Him.

The initial and primary sign of the covenant people was circumcision (Gen. 17:10-14). This physical act was a seal. It is now spiritual and also includes women from their baptism (see the paper Repentance and Baptism (No. 52)). This was the intention from the beginning (Deut. 10:15-17) but it also requires God’s participation.

Baptism and the receipt of the Holy Spirit is the primary sign of the elect. This is through the blood of Jesus Christ with those who are placed into the one body (Mat. 28:19; Acts 1:5; 11:16; Rom. 6:3; 1Cor. 12:13; Heb. 9:11-28). These signs of the law, the Sabbath and the Passover, are specifically designed to defend against idolatry (Deut. 11:6). These two signs act as the seals on the hand and the forehead of the Lord’s elect.

With the Holy Spirit they form the basis of the sealing in Revelation 7:3 of the last days. The sign of the elect is thus centred on the first commandment. Christ said, You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you worship (or serve) (Mat. 4:10; Lk. 4:8). Our service is worship in biblical terms and this statement shows that there is only one, God the Father, Eloah, who may be worshipped. Yahoshua, His anointed, may not be worshipped.

The Sabbath is a sign of the Church of God but it is not the sign. The primary sign is the Godhead. The Biblical Unitarian structure is that there is One God (Deut. 6:4, 1Cor. 8:4) whom we can know (Hos. 8:2; 13:4). We are required to know both Him (Gal. 4:8-9) and His will (Acts 22:14).

We are told to distinguish between The God and His Christ (Jn 17:3) and it is to our eternal shame if we don’t or can’t (1Cor.15:34). Understanding that Yahovah Sabaoth, the Lord of the Host, is the One True God, is fundamental to the faith. Baptism is the second sign and the receipt of the Holy Spirit is the inner seal.

The outward signs are the Sabbaths, and the Lord’s Supper/Passover which is the sign of the laws of God. This is followed by the New Moons and Holy Days. The Sabbaths are denied to humanity because of their idolatry.

The pollution of the Sabbaths stems from idolatry. The Sabbaths include all of the days set aside for worship by God according to His Calendar. This is based upon the correct observance of the New Moons at the conjunction of the natural astronomical cycle. God punishes the nation for failing to honour Him and keep His laws.

The Sabbaths are inseparable from the first commandment and the law. The nation is punished for failing to keep all of the aspects of the laws of God (Zech 14:16-19).

The Sabbath is a sign of our faithfulness and of our redemption into the rest of God. To abandon the Sabbath is to abandon our hope in God. This is the reason that we are presently persecuted for keeping the Sabbaths of the Lord.

Anyone who defiles the Sabbath shall be put to death (Ex. 31:14; Num. 32:36). It is a sign between God and the children of Israel forever (Ex. 31:17). The word translated forever is from SHD 05769; Olam, a word that carries the meaning of ‘age abiding’ as well as perpetual, a long duration, everlasting or forever etc.

We, the New or the Renewed Covenant keeping followers of the Way, are spiritual Israel (Rom. 9:4).

The preparation for the Sabbath is to be undertaken on the previous day (Ex. 16:5). The food is to be gathered and prepared from the example of the manna. Everyone is to abide in his or her place (Ex. 16. 29-30). They are to rest both in earing time and in harvest time on the Sabbath day (Ex. 34:21). The actions of the Lord in picking ears on the Sabbath was condemned by those who had made the Sabbath into a burden by the adding of numerous erroneous oral traditions.

We may not light industrial fires for work on Sabbaths. This is clear from Exodus.35:1–36:2. The fire lighting referred to in verse 3 was related to the heavy work in construction on the six working days, which is forbidden on the Sabbaths.

We must light fires in our homes and feed them, as this is required for the necessary warmth in northern or extreme southern climates. We had better light these fires for the sick or elderly or for those with infants. Keep warm and enjoy the Sabbath. This is the mind of God and His commandments are not a burden (1Jn. 5:3; Isa. 43:23) but can be made so by incorrect application (Luke 11:46) and our sins (Isa. 43:24).

Verses 35:6 to 36:2 explain the extensive work being referred to and for which no fires are to be lit on the Sabbaths.

The Lord demonstrated that he was Lord of the Sabbath not by intending that it need not be kept, but rather showing condemnation that it was kept in the manner that it was. It is lawful to pick enough food or prepare food to eat on the Sabbath from this text.

Verse three above refers to 1Samuel 21:6 where David had eaten the prohibited shewbread (Ex. 25:30; Lev. 24:5-8). More particularly, the priests in the Temple profane or render common the Sabbath and are blameless (Mat. 12:5; cf. Num. 28:9-10; see also Neh. 13:7; Ezek. 24:21; Jn. 7:22-23).

Our work on the Sabbath as the elect in the worship of God is blameless. In fact there were more sacrifices carried out on the Sabbath than any other day. It is the certain kinds of activity we may involve ourselves in that can condemn us, not in our being active.

Christ also gave a command regarding the healing of the sick. This is to be conducted on the Sabbath. It is lawful to heal and to feed the sick and maimed on the Sabbath (Lk. 6:8-10; 13:14-16; 14:3; Mat. 12:10-13).

Luke 14:5 shows that it is important to deal with emergencies on the Sabbath.

This in fact, dealt with the concept of healing on the Sabbath. The proper care and preparation for the sick and the afflicted on the Sabbath is a serious issue. That any one person should eat and remain alone on the Sabbath is to our shame and discredit. People must prepare for the Sabbath so that they may confer maximum benefit on their brethren.

The lesson of the ox in a ditch is that of emergencies, but we must plan in advance. Asses are not to be laden (Neh. 13:15) and the gates are to be shut (Neh. 13:19). This means that we must stop even the opportunities for work. Burdens must not be borne (Jer. 17:21) and sticks may not be gathered (Num. 15:32-35). Sheaves may not be brought in and the wine may not be pressed (Neh. 13:15).

With preparation, all of this day-to-day work on the Sabbaths can and must be stopped. We must even remove it from our thinking (2Cor. 10:5).

Fringes (RSV) or bands (KJV) of blue are to be worn on the corners or borders of our garments as a reminder of the law.

This is personal between you and Yahovah your Elohim. It is not subject to a penalty for its neglect as are other breaches of the Law. It is required though, and we will wear them but they are not to be used for show (Mat 23:5).

Food and wares may be neither purchased (Neh. 10:31) nor sold (Neh. 13:15). We will not go to restaurants on any Sabbaths. Both buying and selling are prohibited activities.

Redemption is what the Sabbath system points to and so life is to be saved (Mk. 3:4; Lk. 6:9). Rescues are to be made where it is possible (Mat. 12:11). Scripture does not present us with a Bill of Rights but with a Compact of Responsibilities.

We will study and learn to keep this complete Sabbath system, not because we are afraid of punishment but because we love our One and Only True God.

The Sabbaths and the Feasts are not burdensome but they must be kept in spiritual purity (Isa. 1:13-14). They must not be polluted or profaned (Isa. 56:2-7).

The Sabbath is to be a delight, not a day of mourning (Isa. 58:13-14). All will keep it when they will come to worship before the Lord. This will be from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another (Isa. 66:23).

No burden is to be borne on the Sabbath, as it was not to be brought or carried into Jerusalem (Jer. 17:21). Rejoice in the Sabbath and bring joy to the house of God. We are to carry no burden out of our houses on the Sabbath (Jer. 17:22) showing that work on one's property is also forbidden on the Sabbath. It is to be hallowed and kept separate from the other days.

Christ was greater than the Temple as we are greater than the physical Temple because we are the living stones of the living Spiritual Temple (2Cor. 6:16). This living Temple with Spiritual stones was made for us (Mk. 2:27).

So too must we all keep the seventh day Sabbath as a preparation for the home that we must be to God. This is for all of mankind, as it was given as a test for Israel

The Sabbath is the prerequisite to the inheritance of the kingdom of Israel providing no burden is brought in through the gates of the city. Kings and princes shall sit upon the throne of David. But if this warning is not heeded then the city shall be destroyed by fire.

The heathen will mock at the Sabbaths KJV (Lam. 1:7: RSV downfall) in the day of her affliction. Thus the Sabbath is the sign and the source of scorn in affliction for those of the house of God. The king and priest will bear the indignation of His anger for the profanation of the Sabbath (Lam. 2:6).

The Sabbaths are for mirth and rejoicing but they have been forgotten and as a punishment the mirth of the Sabbaths is taken away (Hos. 2:11).

The right attitude must be kept on the Sabbath. One must wait for it to be completed at dark to undertake business. That will carry on into the attitude of honesty, sacrifice and giving (Amos 8:5). Be always conscious of doing good and of healing the infirmities of all (Lk. 13:10-16).

Luke 23:54 shows that you must prepare for the Sabbath. Think ahead, do good to one another. Show that we love one another as Christ loves us. Let us grow in faith, as we are all made whole (Lk. 5:5-14).

As it is lawful to circumcise on the Sabbath, so also is it lawful to circumcise your hearts with giving and the power of the Spirit. Judge each other with righteous judgment by the good you do on the Sabbath (Jn. 7:21-24).

Blessings will accrue to those who keep the Sabbath system and to those who preach the profaning of the Sabbath, we read:

Shepherds of spiritual Israel who do not inquire by diligent study and obedience to the word will be judged and their flocks will be scattered! This judgement can mean death to individual shepherds who preach the profaning of the Law (Isa 66:16-24).

In the period after Messiah we require adult baptism for acquiring the Spirit and the renewing of the Covenant. The Sabbatismos (SGD 4520) obligations remain.

The seventh day Sabbath rest remains in place! We, who are baptised spiritual Israel and who have renewed the covenant with our God, will keep it and cease from our work.

In the future in His good time, God will take from the nations, individuals to be Priests and Levites who will function according to the order of Melchisedek. They and everyone will come to worship Him on the Sabbath day.

The seventh day Sabbath is to be kept (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15; Heb 4:9-11) as an express commandment of the Lord and one of the Ten Commandments. These are inviolate statutes forever to all people. The Sabbath is holy, meaning time set apart for a specific purpose. Anyone who profanes the Sabbath suffers death and is cut off from their people (Ex. 31:14-15).

The seventh day Sabbath remains for the observers of the renewed covenant (Heb. 4:9; Col. 2:16-17). The seventh day begins on the end of the sixth day of the week, our Friday at the end of the evening nautical twilight, at dark. (Gen. 1:5; Ps 104:20; Lev. 23:32; Acts 27:27-33).

The EENT times are published here http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay html or you can wind red and blue thread or ribbon together and hold it to the west as the dusk deepens and when you cannot distinguish the colours, it will be dark. This will be very close to the published local time of EENT depending on our eyesight.

It is a perpetual covenant between the people of Israel and is a sign forever between them and God, acknowledging Him as creator (Ex. 31:15-16). All true Christians are spiritual Israel and all gentiles are ultimately to come into the nation of Israel (Rom 9:6; 11:16-25). The punishment for profaning the Sabbath is the death entailed in forfeiting the Holy Spirit and being consigned to the second resurrection (Rev. 20:5).

The Sabbath is a delight and is to be honoured as the Holy Day of the Lord. It is not a day of idle pleasure but one of sacred assembly (Isa. 58:13-14). Work for income, or unnecessary burdens are not to be carried out on the Sabbath (Jer. 17:21-22) and on it we will neither buy (Neh. 10:31) nor sell (Neh. 13:15).

All humanity is commanded to attend the inner court and worship on both the Seventh day Sabbath and the New Moon Sabbath.

The sacrifice of the New Moon is in fact greater than that of the Sabbath (Ezek. 46:4, 6). There is no distinction made between the New Moon and the weekly Sabbath. Both days are holy and no trading is permitted on either day.

The significance of the sacrifices in regard to the New Moons relates to the Church and the councils of Israel. Unless the New Moons are kept, it is impossible to understand God’s Calendar (see the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156)). The modern Jewish calendar with its postponements and crescent observation is not a correct calendar and obstructs the restoration.

God’s Feasts are set by the natural astronomical cycle. When they are set incorrectly with postponements, the Feasts and the New Moons cannot be held correctly and so the restoration is delayed. Only by restoring the New Moons at the conjunction can the Calendar and the Feasts be kept correctly and understood.

The New Moon is one of the memorials of the Lord listed at Numbers 10:10

The Lord your God is Yahovah your Elohim. The sacrifices were fulfilled in Christ. The Sabbaths, New Moons and set Feasts were not eliminated. We must not agree with those who bring us to a negative judgement regarding the keeping of the New Moons.

The Feast of the New Moon was treated as a Shabbatown or Holy Sabbath. Sacrifices were offered, as we see above, as a memorial.

We know from the text above in verse 14 that the New Moons were to be observed as Holy on every month throughout the months of the year and not just on the first and seventh month. The same requirements apply to the New Moons as they do to the other Feasts and Sabbaths.

New Moons are intermediary between the Sabbaths and the Feasts.

Ezra 3:5 also notes that the New Moons were restored. Both major restorations involved the restoration of the New Moons.

The New Moon is the beginning or the first day of the month (Num. 10:10; 28:11) The lunar calendar is the mark of the Holy People. In its notation to Exodus 12:2 the Mekilta states that "the nations" reckon by the sun, but Israel by the moon (Ps. 104:19). The Sabbaths and the New Moons together both enjoined rest from work as we read in Amos 8:5. It was to be a day of rejoicing. When kept on the wrong days, in the wrong ways, the mirth intended for the Holy Days, New Moons and Sabbaths was removed.

This was because of unfaithfulness and idolatry. God destroys His people because they do not keep His laws. The end result is that He destroys the wealth of the nation.

Genesis 1:14 shows that God set the lights in the heavens to determine the days and the nights and as signs and for seasons. The New Moons determine the order and timing of the feasts and logically precede the Sabbath, which represents the act of completion as the seventh day, whereas the Moons commenced from the fourth day. The lights are to separate light from darkness (Gen. 1:18). The moon demonstrates the light of the world within the darkness that rules it. The sun is used to depict Christ.

The fear of the Lord is the remembrance of the Law of God. The Sabbaths and the New Moons were treated in the same way in regard to the conduct of business. The conduct of commerce or of buying and selling is, and was prohibited, on both the New Moon and the Sabbath.

The months are twelve in all with a thirteenth or intercalary month added seven times in every nineteen year cycle, as is required from Exodus 12:1. The heavenly bodies determine the sequence of the calendar as established by God in the creation. The movement and position of the heavenly bodies is the determining factor of the calendar. This is developed throughout the Bible and is central to the law.

The moon is the determinate factor, not the sun. The sun is operative for the day only and as a pivot for the beginning of the year from the equinox or turn of the year at Exodus 34:22, from SHD 8622 {tek-oo-faw'} or {tekquphah}, meaning:

1(b) at the circuit (as an adverb)

For Israel and all people in the northern hemisphere, winter solstice is the time in December when the sun reaches its southernmost latitude. At this time we have the shortest day, typically around 21^st/22^nd December. Summer solstice is the time in June when the sun reaches its northernmost latitude. At this time we have the longest day, typically around 21^st /22^nd June.

The Vernal equinox is the time in March when the sun passes the equator moving from the southern to the northern hemisphere. Day and night have approximately the same length. The date is typically around 20^th/21^st March. The Autumnal equinox is the time in September when the sun passes the equator moving from the northern to the southern hemisphere. Day and night have approximately the same length. The date is typically around 21^st/22^nd September.

A tropical year is 365.24219 days and a synodic month is 29.53059 days. Nineteen tropical solar years are close to an integral number of synodic months. The actual length of a particular year may vary by several minutes due to the influence of the gravitational force from other planets. Similarly, the time between two new moons may vary by several hours due to a number of factors including changes in the gravitational force as well as from the sun and the moon's orbital inclination.

Nineteen years mark the complete cycle. The moons themselves determine this period, as they rotate through the seasons. There are nineteen years in the cycle.

The Start of the Month is NOT set from seeing a first crescent moon. That is extremely variable and this makes publishing a calendar with the Holy Days identified impossible. For the references please study the paper (Start of the Month and Day (no. 203)). http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p203.html

The year begins in the spring with the First day of the First month established from the conjunction during Jerusalem time. This month is the first month which has the 15th day, the Passover, catagorized as the full moon follows the vernal equinox. The New Moon may be up to thirteen days before the equinox.

(Schurer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, First Divison, Volume II, Appendix III).

This important rule will not be found in Scripture.

This rule is still followed by Roman Catholics after 1800 years, in determining their Easter. This year of 2005 it coincided with the true Wave Sheaf on Sunday 27^th of March. They saw no conflict, as the Jews were one month late as in 1997. (See the paper ‘Why Is Passover So Late in 1997?’ (No. 239)

In that case it was late in order to accommodate the rabbinicaly designated, but astronomically meaningless Blessing of the Sun. This is a modern tradition that causes all of Judah to sin.

The start of the month at the conjunction is critical in understanding when the start of the New Year is.

The Start of the Year is NOT contingent on the ripeness of barley in modern Israel. This can vary by many weeks in any given year and this makes publishing a calendar with the Holy Days identified impossible.

This looking for a sign falls into the category of ‘looking’ for a crescent or ‘looking’ for a full moon on which to base these critical cycles and days. These days, people are using modern grains that ripen at different rates and are very different from the primitive grains. Some people actually plant them in protected environments to be close to accommodating their assumptions. Even then certain conditions can alter their desired effects.

Noah entered and the Ark was closed (Gen. 7:16) but at the flood’s end he knew when New Year’s day was and he then removed its covering (Gen. 8:13). This knowledge of the start of the New Year was not based on visual signs and certainly was not based on a barley harvest near Jerusalem at the end of the flood.

This year (2005) is the seventh year in the cycle and is a sabbatical year in which we do not plant annuals. In the Millennium no one will have planted an annual grain like barley. Therefore, no one will be able to see what is the state of the growth of green ears during March or April in a seventh or a Jubilee year. This knowledge is not required to identify the start the year and then identify the subsequent Feasts and Holy Days.

The Holy Day Calendar until the next Jubilee is published here http://www.ccg.org/english/s/c3.html

The New Moons are required to be kept under the law (Num. 10:10, 28:11-15; 1Chron. 23:31; 2Chron. 2:4, 8:13, 31:3). Trading is suspended at this time as for the Sabbath (Amos 8:5). Israel kept the New Moons (Isa. 1:13-14; Ezra 3:5; Neh. 10:33; Ps. 81:3; Hos. 2:11) as did the Church over the centuries. The Church kept the New Moons with the Sabbath and Holy Days (Col. 2:16). The New Moons will be kept in the restoration under Messiah (Isa. 66:23; Ezek. 45:17, 46:1, 3, 6) as a Sabbath and they are incumbent on us now. The New Moon is a commanded observance even before the Holy Days, which they establish as a set time (Ps 81:3). This day is observed from the conjunction of the lunar astronomical cycle which takes place during Jerusalem’s time zone (Isa.2:3) and is not according to observation. (Ps 104:19)

The annual Holy Days are found in Leviticus 23:1-44, Numbers 28:16-29:35 and in Deuteronomy 16:1-16. These annual Holy Days are mandatory days of sacred assembly (Lev. 23:4). They are memorials (Lev. 23:43) and they mirror the plan of salvation of the Lord.

The seven annual Holy Days are:

Passover (Lev. 23:7; Num. 28:18);

Last Day of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:8, Num. 28:25);

Pentecost (Lev. 23:21; Num. 28:26);

Trumpets (Lev. 23:23; Num. 29:1);

Atonement (Lev. 23:26; Num. 29:7); Tabernacles (Lev. 23:35; Num. 29:12);

Last Great Day (Lev. 23:36; Num. 29:35).

There are three annual Feasts (Ex. 23:14). The timing of these Feasts are set or fixed (Ezra 3:5 Neh. 10:33). This word set is from mow’ed (SHD 4150) meaning an "appointed" time and they cannot be postponed for any reason.

First is the Feast of Unleavened Bread which has two Holy Days; Passover on the fifteenth day, and the last day of Unleavened Bread on the twenty-first day of the first month or Nisan (Abib). The first 36 hours of the Passover, including the Lord’s Supper and the meal of the 15^th may not be held at home or within your gates.

This meal is a physical representation of the Spiritual Declaration that our Father, Eloah, will reconcile and redeem all of His creation.

Second is the Feast of Harvest or Weeks or the Holy Day of Pentecost (Ex. 23:16). This is fifty days following the Wave Sheaf Offering on the first day of the week, the Roman Sunday, within Unleavened Bread.

Third is the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering (Ex. 23:16; Num. 29:12-40) with the fifteenth day of the seventh month as a Holy Day, as well as one on the Last Great Day as a Feast in its own right. (Lev. 23:34; Deut. 16:13-15, 31:12-13).

The tithe system is tied to the feasts and operates with the complete Jubilee system.

The second tithe is to be used for attendance at the Feasts except in the third year where the distance is too great.

Those who have not prepared to take the Passover or who were travelling are to take the Passover in the second month (Num. 9:6-12; 2Chron. 30:2-4).

It is important for everyone to keep Passover and even strangers living in Israel are also to celebrate the Passover (Ex. 12:48 & 49; Num. 9:14).

Their salvation includes the salvation of the Gentiles, meaning all of mankind, who will be in the congregation. If we are baptised and in receipt of the Holy Spirit, then we are circumcised and we are clean. This includes all women who are not excluded from the Lord’s Supper or the Passover meal, the Sabbaths and Feast’s because of their natural menstrual cycle.

The feast is to be celebrated at a place designated by God through the Melchesidek Priesthood (Deut. 16:5-7) and is to be celebrated with unleavened bread (Ex. 12:8, 15-20; 12:3, 6; 23:15; Lev. 23:6; Num. 9:11; 28:17; Deut. 16:3, 4; Mk. 14:12; Lk. 22:7; Acts 12:3; 1Cor. 5:8).

The penalty for neglecting to observe the feast is to be cut off from the people or the congregation, (Num. 9:13) except where unclean or on a journey. There is one statute for both stranger and sojourner (Num. 9:14) and it is not to be kept at home.

The law of Deuteronomy 16:5 was the reason why Christ sent the disciples out to find the room described in Matthew 26.

In the Wave Sheaf Offering, the sign of Jonah requires that it be completed exactly in all of its phases. The first phase was that Christ was in the grave for three days and three nights, no more, no less. Christ also had to be resurrected before the morning of the first day of the week following the weekly Sabbath, because he was the wave or sheaf offering which was the firstfruits of all the harvests (Ex. 29:24-27; see also Lev. 7:30, 34; 8:27, 29; 9:21; 10:14, 15; 14:12, 24; 23:11-20; Num. 5:25; 6:20; 18:11, 18).

The Wave Sheaf was offered at 9 AM or the third hour. He was waiting to ascend and this is the reason Christ said to Mary when she came to see him, "do not hold me".

Only after his acceptance as the sacrifice and subsequent return did he allow himself to be touched (John 20:27).

The first day of the week, or Sunday Wave Sheaf Offering, is not a Holy Day but it must be kept, as it commences the count to Pentecost.

This Roman year of 2005, the Catholics used the same calendar rule to start the year they have for 1800 years and kept Pentecost on the same day as we did. They saw no conflict, as the Jews were one month out of sync.

Neither of the Holy Days of Trumpets nor Atonement are part of the festivals which include the offertory systems.

There are three Feasts a year.

That is, the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.

Those attending the Feast shall not appear before the LORD, Yahovah, empty-handed:

There are three times a year to make an offering. This must be done at the beginning of, meaning before morning of the first day of each of the three Feasts.

Commanded offerings may not be demanded of Christians on every Holy Day or at weekly meetings. Freewill offerings are between the individual and God and may be made at anytime but are to be without any form of compulsion. The Feast offerings were made weeks in advance with the livestock and grain and fruit selections taking place. This way, suitable offerings could be used at the Feast.

Cash and cheques were then, and are still, perfectly acceptable as freewill offerings and for these commanded Festival offerings and tithes.

He priests used his source of cash to hire the workmen and the choir and others in the Temple service. They were paid in cash and they would have tithed in cash (2Kings 12:1-19; Ezra 6:8; Jer.22:13; James 5:4).

That is, gold, silver and bronze or copper coins. These are much easier to carry and had an assigned value that worked bowls, utensils etc. didn’t have (Deut.14:24-25).

Trumpets is called a Memorial Sabbath and a Holy Gathering (Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:1-6). Atonement is called a Sabbatised Sabbath and a Holy Gathering (Lev. 23:27-32; Num. 29:7-11). Both are called Holy Days and not feasts.

Numbers 10:10 gives the occasions when Trumpets were blown. That is on all of the New Moons and all of the Holy Days and Sabbaths when the burnt and peace offerings were made. We also blow the Shofar as a summons to the army of God to receive its battle orders during the Sabbath services.

The biblical Holy Days and Feasts are found in Leviticus 23 and there we find a fuller explanation than the extension of Exodus. Exodus 23 extends Exodus 20, and Leviticus 23 amplifies Exodus. Numbers 15, 28 and 29 amplify both, including the New Moons. Further reiteration and amplification occurs in Deuteronomy 5 and 14.

The power of Christ relates to the power to keep the law in the Holy Spirit and hence, through grace. Being under God’s grace is being under His favour because we keep His Commandments and so do not sin (Rom. 6). Christ kept all the Sabbaths, New Moons and Feasts. The apostolic Church also kept the Sabbaths, New Moons and the Feasts (Col. 2:16) as has the Church for over two thousand years. The nations in the Millennium will also keep all of these Sabbaths, New Moons and Feasts (Isa. 66 23; Zech. 14:16-19).

The nexus between the feasts and the sacrifices noted in Deuteronomy 12:8-14 was abolished along with the nexus between the sacrifices and the weekly Sabbath. One cannot link the calendar and feasts and the sacrificial law without applying the same concept to all other aspects of the law, including the Sabbath. All of the system of God’s government was freed from the sacrificial system including the Sabbath and Holy Day systems. The Passover itself was introduced before the law was given at Sinai. Christ is the Passover sacrifice (1Cor. 5;7) and no animal sacrifice can now be made to cover our sin.

The entire process of the introduction of the elect within Christianity is predicated on the Holy Day sequence occurring up until the general resurrection. The Holy Days cannot be abolished until the Last Great Day completes this portion of the plan. Each feast represents an ongoing part of the plan of God that is still unfolding. They are, by definition of the harvest system, still existing and presently unfolding.

The elect presently are the sacrificial offering.

The law was the shadow of things to come (Heb. 10:1). The shadow shows the reality and it is not removed from it. There can be no shadow without what it is that is casting it. That shadow was tied specifically to the sacrifice (Heb. 10:1-10), and not to the feasts.

The Bible holds that the blemishes on the feasts are caused by those in the body who abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perish in Korah’s rebellion (Jude 11-12). In other words, they teach for hire and they pervert the feasts and the understanding of the law and the testimony. There is no light (Isa. 8:20 KJV) or dawn (RSV) in them. They are twice dead and uprooted. These people, devoid of the Spirit, set up divisions in the last days (Jude 19). Korah’s rebellion is thus an ongoing process against the word of God.

The elect are judged by their knowledge of the one true God. Through the knowledge of God (Jer. 9:24) the understanding of the law flows and becomes entrenched within the mind and heart of the individual.

The issue is not the Sabbath or the New Moons, or the Feasts, or the Law in the keeping of the covenant. It is the fact that God the Father is the only One and True God (Jn. 17:3; 1Jn. 5:20) and that He alone is immortal (1Tim. 6:16).

One can keep the Sabbath and still be a heretic. If you do not hold fast to this truth you will be removed from the elect and be given over to strong delusion and the belief in a lie (2Thess. 2:11). Marshall’s Interlinear translates this verse as an operation of error so that they believe a lie. They cannot help themselves any longer. They cannot understand even if they wanted to see their error. The plan and purpose of God, is revealed by the structure and sequence of the feasts, established as ordinances in the Bible.

Trinitarian Christianity does not adhere to these feasts and consequently is without direction and understanding concerning the biblical plan. These churches are disregarding the instructions which the Bible commands for the protection of society through the family structure. Centralised government cannot replace the family and the protective Jubilee land system. (Mic 4:3-4).

The laws governing the feasts occur in four sequences in the Pentateuch from Exodus to Deuteronomy. The first sequence is found in Exodus over multiple chapters. Exodus 20 deals with the Ten Commandments which are repeated in Deuteronomy 5. Exodus 21 deals with the question of marriage and households and family responsibility, which amplifies the structure of the commandments within all types of societies. Exodus 22 deals with the extension of property rights and obligation under the commandments. Exodus 23 deals with false witness and respect of persons and the extension of the tenth commandment. Exodus 23:10 ff. then takes the fourth commandment and broadens it to show its application in the structure of the society. Not only does it relate to the week, it involves the Jubilee and the complete Sabbatical system. Exodus 12 had dealt with the Passover.

These were feasts of the Lord and he called them My feasts (Lev. 23:2). They are referred to as the feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23 and 2 Chronicles 2:4. The term your feasts was also used in Numbers 15:3 and 29:39. The term their feasts is used in Isaiah 1:14 and 5:12 in a negative aspect as below. The feasts were not of secular or earthly provenance. They could not logically be changed or abandoned unless the Plan of Salvation, which they represent, had been changed or abandoned.

Messiah was indeed the primary and essential part of the harvest of God as portrayed by the Passover and the Wave or Sheaf Offering. He had a pre-existence as the Elohim of Israel as subordinate to his Elohim who was Eloah. It was in this capacity that he gave the law to Moses and with whom he spoke face to face.

Moses did not speak with The God (The Father as Eloah or Theon). John plainly says that no man has seen the God (ton Theon) ever (Jn. 1:18). It was this Elohim who was termed the Angel of the Presence or the Angel of Great Counsel (Isa. 9:6 LXX).

God gave the Feasts to Christ and Christ maintains and enforces those structures within his elect and ultimately throughout the nations for the millennial structure. Numbers 28 & 29 contain the only complete list. This includes the daily, weekly, monthly and annual sacrifices and offerings. The sacrifices were made because of what we are, that is sinful and many of the offerings were made as a payment or fine for what we do wrongly.

Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Heb. 13:8). God is immutable (Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17). Neither change, therefore, the days they hold as sacred for humanity as given by law do not change.

The Sabbaths, New Moons, Holy Days and the Feasts are impugned deliberately. This is a promise that God Himself had made through the prophets. God spoke through the prophet Amos and likened Israel in the last days to a basket of summer fruit (Amos 8:1). The failure to obey God is the key element. The punishment for the failure to obey God is that the Sabbaths and the Feasts are turned into mourning and felt to be a burden.

This is followed by the famine of hearing the word of Jehovah (Amos 8:11-14) because of the failure to understand the nature of the One True God (Jn. 17:3; 1Jn. 5:20) the people are punished (Hos. 8:5-9). Even the demons know that God is one and tremble (Jas. 2:19). The great things of God’s law were written for Israel to be an example. They counted them as strange through their breach of the first commandment and their proliferation of sin in worship (Hos. 8:11-14).

The whole chapter of John 6 is a sequence of symbolism leading up to the preparation and to the Passover. There is specific meaning in every single sentence of John 6 and how it prepares everyone for their calling, their placement in the elect and their placement in the tribes as part of the 144,000 and the multitude under the twelve apostles as judges of the tribes.

There are three elements to eternal life. These elements should be dealt with in the Lord’s Supper services. The first two elements are from John 17:3.

These are the three elements which you require to have eternal life. All of these three elements are predicated upon obedience. Obedience is to the One True God by the keeping of His commandments (Deut 4:2, 6:17, 8:6, 10:13, 28:9; Ps 119:115. Mt 19:17). The Saints are those who keep the commandments, which include the statutes and judgements (Rev. 3:10; 12:17; 14:12). Failure to keep the law brings condemnation.

Commandment keeping is the necessary prerequisite to the retention of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit you cannot enter the Kingdom of God and thus have eternal life. So it is with these three elements of faith. You are then required to participate from obedience. Obedience to this festival entails keeping all of the laws and regulations that Christ set for the participation in the Lord’s Supper and Passover meal. If you do not take this ceremony you have no part with Jesus Christ (Jn 13:8).

The first ceremony of the Lord’s Supper is the act of foot washing. Foot washing was conducted as an act of hospitality by a host when the guest arrived. People normally had bathed, but they had walked through the streets and by this they were made to feel comfortable. It was the job of the lowliest servant to wash feet. The guest was provided with a towel and an urn of water. This washing normally took place on arrival, or before the beginning of a meal, while the guests were reclining at the table. The dislike of this task symbolised the fact that nobody likes doing menial things, for other people.

We probably all know these words by heart. Peter did not want him to wash his feet as he wanted a King Messiah. He did not understand that the High Priest walked in first in linen garments to atone and sacrifice. There were to be two Messianic advents. One who was lowly in plain linen garments and the other who would be dressed in the apparel of a king. He wanted to sit Jesus Christ on the throne of the Caesars and rule this world just as unjustly as the Caesars had done, but from Jerusalem. Peter said, "You are not going to wash my feet"! We must allow our feet to be washed; symbolic of our lives being washed clean by Christ on a continuing basis, if we are to have our part with him in the Kingdom and indeed everything that he does. If we do, we will inherit the Kingdom as he did. Peter realised the necessity of the act but not its significance.

We need only to have our feet rewashed as we were first bathed in the waters of baptism and so we were cleaned then. At the Lord’s Supper we all need our feet to be annually rewashed. This re cleanses our thinking before and about God (1Pet. 3:18-21) in order that we may then symbolically eat the body and drink the blood.

Every year spiritually speaking, we collect sin with its debt. This is often unknowingly as we walk the path of life and so we need to have that baptism covenant renewed. We need to be rewashed. We symbolically accept that rewashing as we go through the footwashing. From John 13:12-17 we look again at that concept.

These words are here so that we understand that there is a symbolism that they and we have to know. We are not proving our humility by performing this task but we are participating with our brethren in this critical annual event.

The concept is of the Lord and Teacher having washed his disciples’ feet, "you also ought to wash one another’s feet" as an injunction of Christ. We must do it annually on the fourteenth day of the first month. It is not a Holy Day, but it must be performed on the night he was betrayed, along with eating the bread and drinking the wine to receive eternal life.

The night was the fourteenth day of the first month and we must discern and participate with the body. We must judge ourselves, as neglecting this carries its penalties. Leavened Bread may not be used a this service (Ex 23:18) Exodus 34:25 also shows that although the Feast days of Unleavened bread have not begun the bread eaten at this service must be unleavened.

Unleavened bread was offered everyday as part of the sacrificial system. Messiah was the acceptable sacrifice and now we covenant keepers are the sacrifices. Using leavened bread and/or grape juice at this service is totally unacceptable and this is a salvation issue.

This proceeds into the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread. From the Wave Sheaf we commence the count to Pentecost. Here we have a period of sevenfold completion of weeks and a Feast and Holy Day on the fiftieth day. Pentecost means, "count to fifty". Both the Wave Sheaf and Pentecost have their services at the third hour or 9:00 AM. Pentecost is the harvest of the first fruits. It is spiritually expecting the remaining human harvest from Tabernacles and God’s new world order from the last Great Day.

This is carried on in the period of the cycle of seven annual land Sabbaths. With its sevenfold completion, it leads up to the year of the Jubilee. This completion of seven full weeks or complete Sabbaths to Pentecost and the cycle of seven years seven fold to Jubilee are significant.

The annual Holy Days are found at Leviticus 23:1-44; Deuteronomy 16:1-16 and Numbers 28 & 29. These annual Holy Days mirror the plan of salvation of the Lord. They are mandatory and carry specific requirements as signs between God and His people. The Holy Day is treated as a Sabbath. There are three annual Feasts and this is recorded in Exodus 23:14. An offering is to be made before morning of the first day of each Feast at Exodus 23:18; Deuteronomy 16:16-17; 2Chronicles 8:13.

The Lord’s Supper is not a Holy Day and is preliminary to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It must be kept in order to inherit eternal life in the first resurrection (Jn. 6:53-54). Pentecost is to be kept as a Feast (of weeks), (Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10, 16). We are required to keep the Feast of Tabernacles so that all may listen and learn (Lev. 23:34; Deut. 16:13-15, 31:12-13). Trumpets and Atonement are called [Holy] days and not Feasts (Lev. 23:24, 27). The Day of Atonement begins the Jubilee (Lev. 25:9-10).

Where possible we will hold Holy Day services at the third hour or 9:00 AM. and the ninth hour or 3:00 PM. local time to accommodate the times of the morning and afternoon sacrifices.

This includes:

This body of legislation combines economics and environmental issues with morality.

On these seventh year cycles, called the Septennate or Shemittah, meaning to drop or release, we must read God’s Law at the Feast of Tabernacles

All of God’s system of law provides liberty and protects the tribe, the family and the individual. The Jubilee and its tithe system, its sabbaticals, the prohibition on the compounding of debt, are the greatly neglected framework.

We read the law every seventh year so that people who have not understood it may hear it.

All of the land is God’s and we hold it in trust.

This does not mean just the land in what is generally termed the ‘Holy Land’. All of planet earth is God’s. The Jubilee system is for the benefit of all of mankind and