·
Monthly
There
is ample biblical proof that the New Moon was observed both in the old and in
the beginning of the New Testament era. For example:
·
King
David
David
knowing that King Saul intended to cause him harm said to Jonathan “Indeed
tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat.
But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.”
Then Jonathan replied to him and said; "Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you
will be missed, because your seat will be empty:” The story continues stating
that; “David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat
down to eat the feast. Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a
seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's
place was empty.” (1 Samuel 20:5, 18, 24-25).
When
David became King, his last instructions to the Levites was that, they were “to
stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at evening; and
at every presentation of a burnt offering to the LORD on the Sabbaths and on
the New Moons and on the set feasts, by number according to the ordinance
governing them, regularly before the LORD” (1Chronicles 23:30-31,
·
King
Hezekiah and the prince of Israel
During
the reformation conducted by King Hezekiah, he appointed a portion of his
possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt
offerings, the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set
feasts, as it is written in the Law of the LORD” (2 Chronicles
31:3).
The same principle was also applicable to the prince of Israel, for it is written;
“Then it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings,
and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the
appointed seasons of the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 45:17).
It
is part and parcel of the manner of worship, for it is written; “Thus says the
Lord GOD: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall
be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the
day of the New Moon it shall be opened.” Likewise
the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the
LORD on the Sabbaths and the New Moons” (Ezekiel 6:1,3).
·
Prophet
Elisha
The
New Moon is an ordained time to seek God’s guidance because when the son of the
Shunammite woman son was dead and she called to her husband, and said,
"Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys that I may run
to the man of God and come back." The husband asked her, “Why are you
going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath." And she
said, "It is well" (2 Kings :23).
·
New
Testament
In
the New Testament era we have been admonished saying; “So let no one judge you
in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which
are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians
2:16-17).
Please
note carefully that the scripture did not refer to those things as “were a
shadow of things to come” which would signify that they were things of the past,
but rather; “which are a shadow of things to come,” denoting that they are
still current, but the substance, the true objective is Christ.
Remember,
the Old Testament was a copy and shadow of the reality, but now we have the
reality itself which is Christ. Therefore, the reality of the food and drinks
is the body and blood of Jesus Christ which is to be presented to the Father on
the festivals, new moon and Sabbaths.
·
In
the future
The
observance of the new moon is something that will continue into the future for
thus says the Lord; “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make
shall remain before Me, So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it
shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to
another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD” (Isaiah
66:22-23).
The
New Moon is a memorial day just like the Sabbaths, for we have been admonished
saying; “Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the
beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings
and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial
for you before your God: I am the LORD your God" (Numbers
10:10).
The
reason why those days have been forgotten it is due to idolatry for we have been
admonished saying; “Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall deliver her from My hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her
feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbaths --- All her appointed feasts.
And I will destroy her vines and her fig
trees, of which she has said, ' These are my wages that my lovers have given
me.' So I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
I will punish her for the days of the Baals to
which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and
went after her lovers; But Me she forgot," says the LORD” (Hosea
2:10-13).
It
is also due to the Lord’s anger against His people as it is written, “The Lord
was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her
palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, and has increased mourning and
lamentation in the daughter of Judah. He has done violence to His tabernacle,
as if it were a garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly; The LORD has
caused the appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In His
burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest. The Lord has
spurned His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of
her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of
the LORD as on the day of a set feast” (Lamentations 2:5-7).
Contrary
to what we have been taught the first day of a new month is not without a
natural phenomenon, the word “New Moon” in the Hebrew language is “Rosh
Chodesh” the name for the first day of every month in the Hebrew calendar. Therefore,
every New Moon is the beginning of a new month. Now, the word ‘month’ itself is
related to the moon. It originally measured how long it took for the moon to
complete a cycle around the earth, so ‘moon’ and ‘month’ come from the same
root.
Therefore, the rationale or the
spirit for worshiping the Lord on the New Moon is what it has been from the
beginning of creation, which is, to herald the beginning of a new month. This
is not the same as the fear expressed by the apostle Paul when he said, “But
then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are
not gods. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is
it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire
again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am
afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain” (Galatians
4:8-11).
There
is a huge disparity between the days, months, season and years which the
apostle Paul expressed great concern about observing, with the days, months,
seasons and years which the Lord asked His people to observe. Those which the
apostle Paul cautioned the people about were to serve those which by nature are
not gods, but those which the Lord asked to observe are to serve the One and
only true God. For this is what the Lord spoke to Moses saying; “These are the
feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their
appointed times” (Leviticus 23:4).
Here
again we see another area of huge deception, for example, how many of us
believe the perception that we can have two full moons in one month which they
call “blood or red moon”, and two new moons in one month which the called a
“black moon”?
I therefore beg to ask the
question, how can we have two full moons or two new moons in one month when
according to the natural laws of the Creation every new moon is the beginning
of a new month and a full moon is either on the fourteenth or on the fifteenth
day after new moon? Here again is proof
of vain worship and how deceived we have been.
To be continued
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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