William Miller, 22 October 1844 & The Luni-solar Calendar

Details provided by Prince N Nyazlka

THE CREATOR’S LUNI-SOLAR CALENDAR – FOUNDATION OF 2300 DAY/YEAR PROPHECY

The luni-solar calendar with its Sabbaths regulated by the courses of the moon should be studied by every Seventh-day Adventist. It is this calendar that was used by the Millerites to establish the ending date of the 2300 day prophecy. This prophecy, found in Daniel 8:14, and the cleansing of the sanctuary that it predicts, is Adventism’s most unique, distinctive doctrine. 

Seventh-day Adventists have seven basic beliefs which are viewed as the pillars of their faith: 

• Belief in the Seventh-day Sabbath

• Belief in the Second Advent of Yahusha

• Spirit of Prophecy – the Prophetic Gift

• The Unconscious State of the Dead

• The Sanctity of the Soul Temple/Health Reform

• Yahusha as our Savior/Mediator in the Heavenly Sanctuary – Most Holy Place

• The Bible as the Word of Elohiym and Standard of Judgement in Heaven

The foundation, upon which these pillars rest, however, is the doctrine of the heavenly sanctuary and all that it entails in Yahusha’s ministration for the purification from sin of His people. A thorough understanding of the sanctuary and all its services (as revealed by the tabernacle built by Moses in the wilderness) is, therefore, vital to understanding Elohim’s plan of redemption to restore in mankind His own image. 

The sanctuary in heaven is the very center of [Yahusha]’s work in behalf of men. It concerns every soul living upon the earth. It opens to view the plan of redemption, bringing us down to the very close of time, and revealing the triumphant issue of the contest between righteousness and sin. It is of the utmost importance that all should thoroughly investigate these subjects, and be able to give to every one that asketh them a reason for the hope that is in them” (Great Controversy, 488.)

When Moses built the tabernacle, he was instructed to build it exactly as the pattern he had been shown upon the mount – i.e. an exact copy of the original sanctuary in heaven:

We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which [Elohiym] pitched, and not man . . . the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of [YAHUAH] when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. (Hebrews 8:1-2, 5)

Elohiym required Moses to construct the earthly sanctuary exactly like its heavenly conterpart, because the sanctuary itself and all of its services taught the plan of redemption from sin. The annual services of the sanctuary as well as the weekly Sabbath, also reveal Elohiym’s original calendar.

This calendar was established at Creation (See Genesis 1:14-18) and re-introduced at the Exodus (See Ex. 12.2). It uses the sun, moon and stars as an unerring clock/calendar, far beyond the reach of Satan to tamper with or destroy, for establishing the Appointed Times when Elohiym’s people were to assemble together for worship – His mo’edim…Hebrew forSEASONS. (See Genesis 1:14, Leviticus 23, Psalms 104:19).

Knowledge of the sanctuary is integral to the interpretation of Daniel 8:14, because this text points to the Great Anti-typical Day of Atonement (Investigative Judgement): “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Each part of the sanctuary services had a type and an anti-type. Just as Yahusha was the anti-typical lamb which was sacrificed for sin, the yearly feasts also have anti-types. 

Our people need to understand the oracles of Elohiym; they need to have a systematic knowledge of the principles of revealed truth, which will fit them for what is coming upon the earth and prevent them from being carried about by every wind of doctrine.–Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 273 (1885)

Yahuah’s people today must clearly comprehend the sanctuary and its services because it is in these services and the prophecies pointing to their anti-types that we have the clearest evidence that the Gregorian Saturday of today is not the Sabbath of the original Biblical calendar. The Millerites understood and used this Biblical, luni-solar calendation to correctly interpret the 2300-day prophecy:  

As far back as April, and then in June and December of 1843, and in February of 1844 – months before Miller’s original date expired for the ending of the “Jewish year 1843” at the time of the vernal equinox in 1844- his associates (Sylvester Bliss, Josiah Litch, Joshua V. Himes, Nathaniel Southard, Apollos Hale, Nathan Whiting, and others) came to a definite conclusion. This was that the solution of Daniel’s prophecy is dependent upon the ancient or original Jewish form of luni-solar time, and not upon the altered modern rabbinical Jewish calendar . . . They therefore began to shift from Miller’s original date for the ending of the 2300 years (at the equinox in March), over to the new moon of April, 1844. (L. E. Froom, Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Review & Herald Publishing Assoc., 1982, Vol. IV, 796)

Through diligent scholarship of both the scriptures and historical documents, the Millerites determined that the 2300-day prophecy began in 457 B.C (See Ezra 7:7-8); and culminated 2300 years later on the Day of Atonement in 1844. The significance for Seventh-day Adventists today is that the year of the crucifixion is thus unequivocally established. One year and one year only fits within the time frame of this longest of all time prophecies: A.D. 31. 

Confusion exists because the Passover fell on the 14th of Abib, which was always the 6th day of the week. This is affirmed in Desire of Ages, 685: “In company with His disciples, the Saviour slowly made His way to the Garden of Gethsemane. The Passover moon, broad and full, shone from a cloudless sky.”  As the first day (New Moon Day) following the conjunction new moon, Abib 14, and thus Passover, fell on the day following the full moon.

Astronomers confirm that the full moon for that month was on Wednesday, April 25. For this reason, most Christian denominations have rejected A.D. 31 as the year of Yahushua’s crucifixion. The year typically chosen as the crucifixion year is A.D. 33 because in that year, the 14th of Nisan falls on a Julian Calendar – Friday. The World Wide Church of God for example, has traditionally taught that the crucifixion occurred in A.D. 31. However, they teach that the 14th of Nisan fell on a Julian Wednesday as the fourth day of the week. For them, this necessitates the explanation that Yahushua had to remain in the tomb for three full 24 hour periods, thus bringing them to a Sunday resurrection. (For a detailed study on the date of Yahushua’s crucifixion, please read my facebook note entitled, “Open letter to all who observe the 7th-day of the Papal Gregorian Calendar – Saturday”)

Luni-solar calendation is the only way to reconcile these apparently contradictory facts:

1.That the crucifixion occurred on the sixth day of the week; 

2.That the crucifixion occurred in A.D. 31. 

To deny the luni-solar calendar, is to destroy the very foundation of our Adventist belief in the sanctuary and its integral time prophecies in Daniel 8 and 9 which pinpoint A.D. 31 as the year of Yahushua’s crucifixion. 

The immense significance of this fact is clearly stated in the Final Report of the Research Committee appointed by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to study calendation principles and their application to prophecy:

The 2300-year span is the longest of all the allotted time periods of inspired prophecy. It is the most complex of all, in its involvements, because it comprehends a series of subdivisions marked off by events whose synchronizing relationships cannot be disturbed without disrupting the whole divine scheme. The boundaries and divisions of this mighty period are timed by Elohim’s great celestial clock of the spheres which swing inerrantly through space, telling off the years, months, days, hours, and minutes with the undeviating precision of Infinity. . . The expanding advent movement staked everything upon the historical, chronological, and astronomical accuracy of the dates marking off this prophetic span, and the momentous events for which they stood – dates recorded historically by man, but created and governed by the movements of sun and moon which no man can advance or retard. These are kept under the control of the Omnipotent One Himself, in whose hands time and destiny lie, and Who governs the very basis of man’s time records by those fixed laws of the heavens ordained when our solar system came into being. The highly perfected science of time, together with the modern increase of scientific and mechanical knowledge, has enabled astronomical experts, with their mastery of planetary motion, to mark off all past time. Full and complete tables are now available for checking the events called for by this 2300-year prophecy, with the historical records and visual observations of the receding centuries. 

The conclusions reached relative to the 2300-year prophecy in the great “7th month” phase of the advent movement, from August to October, 1844, are a matter of transcendent importance to us as Seventh-day Adventists, which we may, with every propriety, restudy at this time – for it is the exposition and application of this prophetic-historical truth that constitutes the one supremely distinctive and distinguishing contribution that Seventh-day Adventists make to the full-rounded system of Bible truth held by the Christian church of the centuries. In the ultimate, it is this prophetic truth that constitutes the authorizing warrant for our historical existence, and our special witness as a separate ecclesiastical body. (Report of Committee on Historical Basis, Involvements, and Validity of the October 22, 1844, Position, Part I, pages 1 & 2, Archives and Statistics Department, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists)

Clearly, calendation science is the key to establishing our foundational explanation of the sanctuary doctrine with its adjunct 2300-day prophecy. Attorney Richard Humpal once stated: “When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease being honest.” When the issues of the different calendars are thoroughly studied, one is brought to a point of decision: 

1. Either the belief that the papal Saturday is the Biblical Sabbath will be exchanged for a luni-solar calendar seventh-day Sabbath or,

 2. Faith in the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:14, with its ending date of Oct. 22, 1844, will be set aside. 

Which will you decide? Every Seventh-day Adventist owes it to himself, as well as to Elohim, to study to show himself approved. To be sealed on the great anti-typical Day of Atonement, is to be so firmly grounded on truth that you cannot be shaken. The 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8:14 provides proof that the pagan weeks cycle differently from the weeks of the original Biblical calendar.

THE GREAT ADVENT AWAKENING OF 1844 REVEALS THE TRUE CALENDAR 

 In the 1840s, William Miller, a student of Bible prophecy and a leader of a great religious awakening around the globe, believed Yahushua was to return very soon. Together with a colleague, Samuel Snow; they reckoned from Scripture and ancient Hebrew luni-solar calendation that the prophetic 2300 evenings and mornings (Daniel 8:14) were symbolic of literal years. They discovered that this prophetic period that began at the time of Artaxerxes decree in 457 B.C. (Daniel 9:24-27; Ezra 7:7-8), was to end in October 22, 1844.

While this date was to clearly mark the antitypical Day of Atonement and the cleansing of the Sanctuary on earth, it was wrongfully assumed by Miller that this marked the second coming of Yahushua in the clouds of heaven. Because of this error as to the event to take place, they, along with all the believers world wide, experienced what is commonly known today as the “Great Disappointment of 1844.” The participants in this religious movement were Christians from all religious faiths and were called “Adventists” because they looked to the soon return or “second advent” of Yahushua.  

The Seventh-day Adventist church was born out of this great disappointment, but was not officially organized until 1863. William Miller died in December of 1849 before the Seventh-day Adventist church was organized. Therefore, his teaching and preaching must not be confused with those of the Seventh-day Adventist church and vice versa. William Miller and Samuel Snow were basing their detailed calculations of the fulfillment of the prophecy from the “first visible crescent” new moon just as the Hebrew people of antiquity would have had to do. Otherwise, we would be recognizing either July 10th (Gregorian Calendar), October 20th or 21st (Jewish Calendar) of 1844; instead of October 22nd. Later, Ellen White, a divinely inspired prophet and leader of the newly organized Seventh-day Adventist church, placed her stamp of approval from YAH upon the date of October 22, 1844, but not upon the event the Millerites had believed was to happen…

This was referred to as “The 7th Month Movement,” because the Day of Atonement is always on the 10th day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Biblical luni-solar calendar (Leviticus 23:27-32). October on the other hand, is always the tenth month of the Papal Gregorian Calendar. It was only Miller’s calculated and pinpointed conclusion that received the stamp of approval from YAH, as stated by Ellen White. But notice what she says about the last generation that lives through the time of trouble:

I have been shown that many who profess to have a knowledge of present truth know not what they believe. They do not understand the evidences of their faith. They have no just appreciation of the work for the present time. When the time of trial shall come, there are men now preaching to others who will find, upon examining the positions they hold, that there are many things for which they can give no satisfactory reason. Until thus tested they know not their great ignorance. And there are many in the church who take it for granted that they understand what they believe; but, until controversy arises, they do not know their own weakness. When separated from those of like faith and compelled to stand singly and alone to explain their belief, they will be surprised to see how confused are their ideas of what they had accepted as truth… (Maranatha 45).

Seventh-day Adventists grow up hearing about “October 22, 1844!” We are shown from scripture and historical documentation that the 2300 day prophecy, beginning in 457 B.C., ended in 1844 on the Day of Atonement. What most people do not know, however, is how the Millerites arrived at that specific date. Why October 22? Why not July 10, since it is indeed the 10th day of the 7th month of the Papal Gregorian Calendar? Leviticus 23 states that the Day of Atonement shall be observed on the tenth day of the seventh month, so where does October 22 come from?  It is probably news to most Adventists that the Millerites did not use the Gregorian Calendar nor the Modern Day Jewish Calendar, to establish the Day of Atonement for 1844. As a matter of fact, they actually did not!  

 

As far back as April, and then in June and December of 1843, and in February of 1844 . . . [William Millers associates] came to a definite conclusion. This was that the solution of Daniels prophecy is dependent upon the ancient or original Jewish form of luni-solar time, and not upon the altered modern rabbinical Jewish calendar nor indeed the Gregorian calendar! The Jews, in 1844, kept Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) on September 23. The Millerites were well aware of this and references to it show up in their publications. However, when challenged or mocked for insisting on a date which even the Jews themselves did not keep, the Millerites commonly replied, “Every scholar knows that we are correct by the original calendar.” The Millerites were deep students of the scriptures… The Seventh-day Adventist church owes much to their diligent, deep study of the Bible. They discovered that within Judaism, there were two distinct ways of computing the calendar:-

• The Rabbinical, which starts its new year, Nisan 1, on the new moon closest to the vernal equinox, and 
• The Karaite which, following Mosaic calendation principles, placed its Nisan 1 on the first new moon after the vernal equinox if the barley harvest was ready. If not, they would intercalate an extra month (13th month). 

The Millerites rejected the rabbinical first day of Nisan on March 21 in 1844, and chose the April new moon for the beginning of the true type of the ancient first month. April 19 was the day/date. They argued that the modern Jewish calendar is based upon decisions that were unknown in the time of Yahushua. The Karaites were a sect of Jews who “gave up the system of rabbinical calendation, and made the intercalation of a leap month dependent upon the ripened barley, according to Moses.” They have been called the “Protestants of Judaism.” Karaism clashed seriously with the parent faith, shook off the yoke of traditionalism, proclaimed the right of private judgment, and maintained that the original Scripture is a full and sufficient guide. Knowing that the Millerites used the Karaite calendar is important, but there is another point regarding the Millerite computation of the Oct. 22 date that is vital to know – The Millerites arrived at October 22 as being the Day of Atonement by calculation. Had the leaders waited until October to visually observe the first appearance of the moon by which to date Tisri 1, there could have been no seventh month movement, for there would have been insufficient time. They had to make their calculation in advance from standard moon tables which were abundantly available.

The date of October 22 being the ending date of the 2300 year prophecy was first announced by Samuel Snow on July 21, 1844. He gave a discourse at the large Boston Tabernacle on the text “Behold the Bridegroom cometh (on the tenth day of the seventh month), go ye out to meet Him!” However, it was not until the camp meeting held at Exeter, New Hampshire (August 12-17) that the message really took hold. At this camp meeting, Snow gave three sermons. The first was on the 1844 ending of the great prophetic time periods; the second on the Mosaic sanctuary service types, and their antitypical fulfillment in the Christian dispensation; and the third on the date of Yahushua’s crucifixion in the midst of the seventieth prophetic week, which therefore brought an end of the 70 weeks in the seventh month of A.D. 34. And in consequence, the close of the 2300 years would similarly extend to the seventh month of 1844, which equated largely with the month of October. From this revival comes the name “seventh month movement.”  

Again, they arrived at the date of October 22 by calculation, for had they waited until they could observe the first crescent moon, there would have been no time for them to give the Midnight Cry. The Millerites already knew that the first day of the first Jewish month (Nisan 1) fell on April 19 in 1844. The way they reasoned it was thus: “Since the crucifixion occurred in the midst of the week in the spring of the year, and hence in the middle of a literal Jewish year and also of a prophetic year, therefore the end of the prophetic year must come in the autumn. In other words, the prophetic years of Daniel end in the fall and not in the spring.” Calendation was not altogether the key to the new chronology which suddenly confronted the people in the summer of 1844, and which gave life to the Midnight Cry. The mainspring lay concealed in Daniel 9 and Matthew 25. Samuel Snow was one of several to discover that six lunar months had yet to be added to the spring date — itself a month later than first computed — in order to complete the prophecy. Snow got this largely from Daniel. His argument was simple, but impelling — that if Yahushua was crucified in the midst of the week, in the spring, then the end of the week, and therefore the end, not only of the 487th year, but also of the 2300th year, would come six lunar months later in the autumn. [October 22] was computed by adding six lunar months or 177 days, to April 19, and thereby obtaining as the first day of the seventh month, October 13, from which nine days more extended to the tenth day on October 22. The Millerites have left an official statement that they thus “reckoned” from the “appearance of the moon on the 18th of April” and thereby found that “the seventh Jewish month commenced with the appearance of the moon on the 13th of October, so that the tenth day of the seventh month synchronized with the 22nd of that month.” This is an extremely important point to know because, although there were new moons observed in all of the months leading up to the seventh month, there was no new moon to be observed the night of October 12/13. Why?  

Technically, it has to do with how soon the new moon can be seen after conjunction – the point in time when the moon, earth and sun are all in alignment and the moon cannot be seen. At the U.S. Naval Observatory website, the conjunction is referred to as the “new moon.”   However, in Bible times the months did not start until the first crescent could be observed. Typically, it takes two days for the crescent of the new moon to appear. In simple terms, no new moon was observed the night of Oct. 12/13, 1844, because the moons meridian (or the highest point of its arch before it set) was below the horizon in most of New England, the land of the Midnight Cry. Furthermore, the moon set only ten minutes after the sun did on Oct. 12, thereby making the sky too light to observe it anyway. The Millerites knew that under Mosaic calendation, a new moon was declared after 30 days regardless of whether or not it was observed. Therefore, they were all in agreement that October 13 was the first day of the seventh month (Tishri 1) and that the tenth day was the 22nd of October. Sylvester Bliss, in the Millerites official report in January, 1845 affirms: “Reckoning from this [Nisan] moon, the seventh Jewish month commenced with the appearance of the moon on the 13th of October.” Thus, the tenth day of the seventh month was October 22…

Was October 22 the correct date for Day of Atonement in 1844? Absolutely. Under the Mosaic system the cleansing of the sanctuary, or the Great Day of Atonement, occurred on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month (Leviticus 16:29-34), when the high priest, having made an atonement for all Israel, and thus removed their sins from the sanctuary, came forth and blessed the people. So it was believed that Yahushua, our great High Priest, would appear to purify the earth by the destruction of sin and sinners, and to bless His waiting people with immortality. The tenth day of the seventh month, the great Day of Atonement . . . which in the year 1844 fell upon the twenty-second of October, was regarded as the time of Yahushua’s coming. The Millerites showed great courage in following the Lamb to arrive at October 22. The remarkable stand of the Millerites, in 1843 and 1844, in rejecting the current Rabbinical calendation, and reviving the original Jewish year of the crucifixion period . . . that they might correctly determine the close of the 2300-year period, took clear, scholarly thinking, intensive research, extraordinary moral courage, and really heroic, decisive action. They risked all upon this crucial position. Not only was Catholicism directly opposed to their prophetic interpretations, but almost all of Protestantism had rejected it as well.

Furthermore, and most serious of all, Jewry had many centuries before abandoned the calendation given to Moses, which had been operative in principle and in essentially identical form in both the 5th century B. C. and the 1st century A. D. These centuries are important because the former embraces the beginning date of the 2300-year time prophecy, while the latter includes the verifying date of the Passover/crucifixion which occurred in the midst of the 70th prophetic week of the longer time prophecy. Painstakingly studying the Karaite protest in the Middle Ages against the Rabbinical perversion of the calendar, they at last deliberately and irrevocably accepted, restored, and applied to their time-prophecy problem, the earlier calendation championed by the Karaites. And this they did in defiance of the whole body of Rabbinical scholarship and the general current practice of Jewry. There were many in 1844 who made merry over a lunar reckoning that was not based upon the modern Jewish calendar. The answer was returned: “Every scholar knows that we are correct as to the Karaite seventh month.” The Millerites were well aware of the rabbinical seventh month in September in 1844, and the circumstance was often mentioned in their papers. At the same time they were emphatic in their challenge that they dissented from the modern Jewish calendar because it did not agree with the laws of Moses. 

To be consistent with Adventism’s spiritual forefathers, Seventh-day Adventists of today need to compute when the true Sabbath occurs by using the same calendar utilized for determining the Day of Atonement in 1844! Those who cling to old customs and hoary errors have lost sight of the fact that light is ever increasing upon the path of all who follow Yahushua; truth is constantly unfolding to the people of Yahuwah. We must be continually advancing if we are following our Leader. It is when we walk in the light that shines upon us, obeying the truth that is open to our understanding, that we receive greater light. We cannot be excusable in accepting only the light which our fathers had one hundred years ago. If our Elohim-fearing fathers had seen what we see, and heard what we hear, they would have accepted the light, and walked in it. If we desire to imitate their faithfulness, we must receive the truths open to us, as they received those presented to them; we must do as they would have done, had they lived in our day. To follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth, Yahuwah’s people must be as brave as their forefathers, advancing further in the path first travelled by those who have long-since gone to their rest. 

We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way YAH has led us, and His teaching in our past history.–Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p. 196 (1902).

THE SANCTUARY SERVICES AND THE CALENDAR

The subject of the sanctuary was the key, which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that Yahuwah’s hand had directed the great advent movement and revealing present duty as it brought to light the position and work of His people. Great Controversy, p.423.

Now, if the subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the mystery of 1844, would it not be wise to refer constantly to this wonderful, complete, connected and harmonious system of truth to reveal more truth to us in this last period of Earths history? Besides the discovery of the work of our Great High Priest in the Most Holy Place and the commencement of the hour of judgment on October 22, 1844, the Millerites were also given a most important revelation regarding the sanctuary.

The luni-solar calendar and the beginning of the year according to the Barley Harvest Mosaic law, were re-discovered by William Miller and his associates. That in-depth study of the luni-solar calendar led them to the Karaites whom in the 8th Century A.D stood against the Rabbinical Jews who had long compromised the calculation of the calendar of the festivals of YAH as they do to this day, by using the new moon after the vernal equinox instead of the new moon corresponding to the barley harvest. Moses commanded that they should not even reap their barley until the first fruits of it had been offered to YAH at the time of the Passover. The aim of the Mosaic command was to regulate the months according to the course of the moon, and the whole year in accordance with the course of the sun — by assigning as a starting point the lunar month coinciding with the beginning of a determined solar season.That determined solar season was still the barley harvest in the time of Yahushua. Later on, as after the dispersion of the Jews, the Sanhedrin did not content itself to observe the maturity of the barley, but added to it the observation and the calculation of the equinox. The ceremony of the barley was the divine rule by which the position of the month Nisan (or first month Abib) was located… Such a provision as the barley-harvest control of the year thrusts definite certainty into Jewish reckoning in the time of Yahushua— which held on until the Jews were scattered after the destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70). By this rule, we know that the Nisan paschal moon could not come until the rains were over and the barley ripe. On those two counts, a Passover in Dystrius, the ancient name for March, is out — for all the reports on agriculture and meteorology in Palestine, ancient and modern, show that March is the month for the latter rain, and that the barley ripens in April. [Grace Amadon Collection Part V Crucifixion Date, page 8].

1844 PROBLEM AND SOLUTION: THE BIBLICAL LUNI-SOLAR CALENDAR 

In 1844, for the first time since the end of the 70 weeks, a problem in luni-solar reckoning directly related to the ministry of Yahushua, came up for solution. This problem reverted to the original Mosaic types, and therefore the calendar measure had to be a replica of the primitive Mosaic year. The dates of the Jewish festivals, in Jewish time, are found in the Bible. They were given to Moses when he was in the mount with Yahuwah. The book of Exodus, II Chronicles, II Kings, and the prophecy of Jeremiah contain definite dates for important events. Many such are found also in the prophecies of Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah. They are all lunar time. These chronological references all go to show that the Jewish people, throughout the centuries, had a dependable calendar system, with its related festivals according to which events were reliably recorded. The feasts themselves occupied a period of more than half the Hebrew year, concerning which Moses had received instructions direct from Yahuwah.

For nearly forty years Moses remained with Israel (and this was before they entered the Promised Land), and was thus responsible for the operation of these institutions, which became an integral part of the Jewish polity. These were far-reaching in purpose, for Yahuwah’s original plan provides that all the families of the earth should come up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Tabernacles. But a common center of worship in the earth, when, from one new moon to another, by lunar reckoning, and from one Sabbath to another, by solar reckoning, all flesh would come to worship before Yahuwah, shows that a luni-solar time system can be world-embracing in performance. Two millenniums after the world was created, Moses wrote that both great lights — the moon as well as the sun — were created to mark the days and years (Genesis 1:14). The lunar year therefore had a part in the great plan of creation and is taken note of in the pages of Holy Writ (Grace Amadon Collection – Solar Time, page 6).

The ancient Hebrew Sanctuary together with its services and its furnishings – all these, collectively contain the golden key that unlocks the great mysteries of the plan of Redemption. It opens to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious. The sanctuary was not given to Moses after sin as an after-thought in the mind of the Creator. The Bible is clear that the plan of salvation, as so wonderfully pictured in the sanctuary, was before the foundation of the world. The calendar Moses gave to the Israelites can be easily found throughout the sanctuary as it forms the very physiology or functioning of the Jewish economy. All of their festivals including the 7th day Sabbath were represented in the sanctuary through the pieces of furniture, sacrifices and ceremonies. (Numbers 28, Leviticus 23). This calendar, based on the luni-solar barley harvest of the Mosaic law, was revealed to the Millerites to be restored for the last generation. This is indeed the fulfillment of the reversal of the work of the apostate little horn power; Daniel 7:25, “He shall think to changetimes and laws.”

Yahushua not only kept the Sabbath as it was his custom, but also the Feasts that He himself instituted in order to teach the full and complete plan of salvation. We can follow Him in the sanctuary as the Passover Lamb offered on the cross in the Court, to His ascension and High Priesthood coronation in the Holy Place in heaven, with the sending of the Holy Spirit at the Feast of Weeks to confirm it, and the Great Day of Atonement in the Most Holy Place entry on October 22, 1844. We only need for Him to stand up and come out of the Most Holy Place after the judgment of the living saints is done, probation to close. And He returns in the cloud of glory to take us Home.

Yahushua not only kept the festivals but He is also the fulfillment of the Feasts as He: Died on Passover Abib 14th in A.D 31 – as established by the Millerites through the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 and Daniel 9:24-27. He Rested (in the tomb) on Unleavened Bread Abib 15, which is also a 7th day (High) Sabbath by luni-solar calendar reckoning. Resurrected on Firstfruits – Abib 16. Sent the Holy Spirit at the Feast of Weeks following the exact count after Firstfruits on Abib 16. Inspired the Millerites from 1834 – 1844 to give the Trumpets sound, which will be repeated through the ‘Loud Cry’ under the Sunday Law threat still to come. Entered the Most Holy Place on the Great Day of Atonement on October 22, 1844, to begin the judgment of the dead, while soon, though no one knows exactly when, the judgment of the living will END; and He is coming again to take us home at the Feast of Tabernacles…. 

The Heavenly Father wants to sanctify us on His Sabbaths (PLURAL): (Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12). These are His Sabbaths (PLURAL) including the 7th day Sabbath:- Numbers 28 indicates clearly the calendar of the sanctuary along with Leviticus 23. The luni-solar time system was ordained for the Sanctuary and its services upon which all the holy days fell, including the seventh-day Sabbath (Leviticus 23:2-4). This calendar is beaconed by the New Moon. Its years begin in Spring on New Moon day. Each month begins on New Moon day and is always 29 or 30 days in length. Each week is defined by six literal work days and followed by a seventh-day Sabbath as established by the creation model. There are four weeks in each and every lunar month. The lunar week does not cycle without end, as the New Moon was divinely ordained to refresh or restart the cycle of weeks each and every month (See Ezekiel 46:1, Isaiah 66:23). 

Therefore, the cycle of weeks is broken each and every month on the first day of the month. Is it any wonder that there has been an agenda to eliminate the holy appointed Feast days in Scripture along with the entire Sanctuary service model, replacing these with meaningless rounds of pagan festivals (Lent, Easter, Christmass etc.), as these testify to our Creator’s luni-solar time-keeping system? All of the Feasts are to be fulfilled in the believers who follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes. It is false to declare that these Feasts were finished at the cross, since the Great Day of Atonement has been proclaimed by the Adventists only since 1844. Except for Passover (which itself shall be fulfilled in the kingdon of YAH – Luke 22:16), Yahushua still fulfilled them and is yet to fulfill them after His death, in resting on Abib 15 (first day of Unleavened Bread) and resurrecting on Abib 16 (Firstfruits). The type of the Passover Lamb met the antitype at the cross. Passover altough still to met its ultimate fulfillment ih heaven, was fulfilled in part and replaced by the Communion Supper. No longer is there a need for a lamb to be sacrificed, therefore we partake of the bread and wine…because Yahushua is the Lamb of Yahuwah! However, the other feasts types met and will yet meet their antitype after the cross and were not nailed to the cross…

HISTORY REPEATS!

The Scriptures teach that we are repeating the history of the Yisraelites and that their experiences were but the ensample or “type” (shadow) of the experiences of this generation unto whom the ends of the world have come, right?

“Like ancient Israel, the church has dishonored her Elohim by departing from the light, neglecting her duties, and abusing her high and exalted privilege of being peculiar and holy in character. Her members have violated their covenant to live for Elohim and him only. They have joined with the selfish and world-loving. Pride, the love of pleasure, and sin have been cherished, and YAHUSHUA HAS DEPARTED. His Spirit has been quenched in the church. Satan works side by side with professed Christians;