THE MASTER’S CLOCK!
Discerning The True 7th Day Sabbath of Yeshua!
PART 4
TWO 'GREAT LIGHTS'!
For me the debate about time begins and ends right here in Genesis 1, all other verses, and outside sources, that can be brought to bear must line up in perfect harmony with these verses depicting the first eight days of creation, especially the fourth day.
And Elohim said, “let lights come to be in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and appointed times, and for days and years, and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it came to be so. And Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And Elohim set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19 Scriptures ’98)
Here we see the Sun, Moon and Stars being appointed their task of marking time in YHWH’s economy. Any method of marking time that is not fully dependent upon observation of the Sun, Moon and Stars is a false, unscriptural method of marking time, in that regard the search for abib barley comes to mind. The appointment of the Sun, Moon and Stars is confirmed for us in Psalm 136.
To Him who made great lights, for His kindness is everlasting: The sun to rule by day, For His kindness is everlasting; The moon and stars to rule by night, For His kindness is everlasting. (Psalm 136:7-9 Scriptures ’98)
TWO GREAT LIGHTS… if the fullness of the Sun is the GREATER LIGHT which rules the day what phase of the moon would naturally constitute the LESSER LIGHT of the TWO GREAT LIGHTS to rule the night? Wouldn’t it also be the fullness of the Moon? The Full Moon is the only phase of the moon to rule all through the night. It rises soon after the sunset and traverses the heavens through the entire night setting as the sunrise occurs the next morning. The First Visible Crescent makes for a lousy great light shining at a mere 3% of full luminosity and then disappears over the Western horizon just a few minutes after being first seen! The Dark Moon Conjunction, which some people use, laughably refuses to shine at all and is not even above the horizon after sunset! Neither the FVC nor the Dark Moon Conjunction make for a GREAT LIGHT, it is only the FULL MOON that qualifies and fulfills the requirement of a GREAT LIGHT which rules the night!
In Psalm 104:19 YHWH gets more specific in that He says,
He made the moon for appointed times; The sun knows its going down. (Psalm 104:19 Scriptures ’98)
Once again, I think it is constructive to note that the FULL MOON rises into view over the Eastern horizon just as the Sun sets below the Western horizon thereby relinquishing its rule by day to the FULL MOON to rule by night. Of course the FULL MOON is the only phase to do so.
When YHWH speaks of creating TWO GREAT LIGHTS in Genesis 1 He does so in a single breath. For Him to have combined the two in a single statement makes a strong case for His having intended there to be a comparison between the TWO GREAT LIGHTS based on the light they both provide. The issue here is that these TWO GREAT LIGHTS are purposed for marking His Moedim. What must be taken into consideration of course is, unlike the Sun, the Moon produces no light of its own but merely reflects the light of the sun, thus the moon according to its orbit around the earth has phases of illumination. So then we have to know what ‘phase of the Moon’ is used to mark 'all of the Moedim' of YHWH which is also comparable to the light of the Sun. The answer is obvious! The FULL MOON is the only contender! It is important to note that I am talking about ‘a single phase of the moon’ to mark ‘all of the Moedim' of YHWH. The only way that can be done is by counting to the Moedim from the beginning of the Lunar Month which is marked by a particular phase of the moon which constitutes a GREAT LIGHT! This includes the weekly Sabbaths and all 7 of the Annual Feasts. Many people make a lot of hay with the quarter phases of the moon to mark Sabbaths but it doesn’t work well enough to establish a particular day as either the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th Sabbath of the month. You'll end up chasing your tail in utter confusion as you look at the quarter phases of the moon from one Sabbath to another. I've been there, done that and speak from experience! At best the quarter phases can be used to give you a sense of where you’re at in the month. Furthermore there is no quarter phase which lands anywhere close to mark Yom Kippur, which falls on the 10th Day of the 7th Month. We must utilize the FULL MOON to mark the beginning of the month and that is all, nothing more! From there we must count to the Moedim.
Dr. Duane Gish once said, “Evolution is a fairytale for adults.” I am convinced the same thing can be said regarding the traditions of observing FVC and Dark Moon as the beacon for YHWH’s Moedim as though they qualify as a GREAT LIGHT! It is only in the fairytale world of adults that traditions such as FVC and Dark Moon would even be considered as a GREAT LIGHT much less observed as a GREAT LIGHT. If I were to ask an un-indoctrinated child to paint a picture of the TWO GREAT LIGHTS of Genesis 1 what would the child paint? I would expect the child to paint a reasonable representation of the Sun as a full yellow disc in the sky but what would the child paint as a representation of the Moon? Remember now, I am talking about an un-indoctrinated child, one that has not been influenced by nursery rhymes and children’s books or mom and dad. I am talking about a mind that is a totally clean slate that has only heard about the TWO GREAT LIGHTS of Genesis 1 being the Sun and the Moon. Would that child paint a picture of a crescent moon? Would that child paint a picture of a dark moon? The answers of course are without question, NO! If the child had nothing but the reading of Genesis 1 to influence it’s mind the child would paint a reasonable representation of the SUN and a FULL MOON!
Analogies in my opinion are dangerous and often times misleading. They are used by both sides of every argument and in the end offer little to resolve an issue and therefore I really don’t like to use them but will relent for just this one.
Suppose you were a ship owner and captain who operated his ship up and down the Eastern Seaboard of the United States in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. The welfare of your ship, crew and cargo depends upon your only nighttime navigation aid, the lighthouses that mark the coastline. Would you consider a lighthouse operating at a mere 3% of its full capacity a GREAT LIGHTHOUSE? Would you consider a lighthouse that didn’t shine a light at all a GREAT LIGHTHOUSE? Put yourself in the shoes of that ship owner and captain!
What are ‘the appointed times’ for which the moon was created? They’re recorded for us in Leviticus chapter 23. Take a wild guess at what the first appointed time mentioned in the chapter is? The weekly Sabbath!
And YHWH spoke to Mosheh, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra`el, and say to them, ‘The appointed times of YHWH, which you are to proclaim as set-apart gatherings, My appointed times, are these:
Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a set-apart gathering. You do no work, it is a Sabbath to YHWH in all your dwellings. (Leviticus 23:1-3 Scriptures ’98)
The weekly Sabbath is then followed by Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and the Feast of Tabernacles, all of which are numbered from the 1st Day of their respective Month established by the New Moon. The weekly Sabbath not being an annual appointed time, as are all the others, is naturally set-apart from the rest of the appointed times in the chapter but how instructive is it that it is included with all the other appointed times which are all governed by the Moon? To think the weekly Sabbath is somehow independent of the Moon is mindlessness, delusion or outright rebellion! In other words to get to the Sabbath, you have to go to the moon, the FULL MOON!
This has been Part 4 of the 17 Part series titled THE MASTER'S CLOCK! It is my sincere hope and prayer that in reading this series you'll be blessed with the revelation of Time According to the Author of Time! May your eyes be opened to The Creator's Cosmological Calendar!
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