Let us Live by God’s Calendar
When God led Israel out of Egypt, His purpose was to make them His covenant people. To establish this covenant, He gave them the Ten Commandments, the Book of the Law, the Tabernacle pattern—and the calendar. To live as God’s people means to live according to His time.
1. Types of Calendars
(1) The Common Calendar
Human survival has always depended on agriculture, which in turn depends on the movement of the sun. Yet because the sun’s yearly cycle (365.2422 days) was difficult to measure without instruments, ancient people turned to the moon, whose 29.5-day cycle was visible and easy to track.
Lunar calendars alternated between 29 and 30 day months, totalling 354 days, 11 days shorter than a solar year. This drifted the months away from the seasons, confusing farmers about when to plant or harvest. To fix it, societies added a leap month every few years, forming a lunisolar calendar.
Around 430 B.C., Greek astronomer Meton discovered that 19 solar years equal to 235 lunar months, so seven leap months were needed every 19 years—the “Metonic Cycle.” Different cultures inserted this leap month differently: some by royal decision, others, like China and Korea, by observing missing solar terms such as equinoxes or solstices.
(2) The Calendar of Israel
The calendar God gave Israel was lunisolar (Exo 12:1-2)
The Hebrew word haḥōdeš means “new moon,” showing that months began with the moon’s appearance. Fifteen days before the Exodus, God declared a new beginning: the Passover on the 14th day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th, and the Feast of Firstfruits after the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:5–11). To observe the First fruits, barley had to be ripe. If the twelfth month ended and the barley had not sprouted, Israel added a leap month before starting the new year. Their leap month always came after the twelfth month. This system was not newly invented but rather restored. The History of Redemption series teaches that this calendar was established on the fourth day of Creation, when God made the heavenly lights (Gen 1:14-19). These lights did more than governing natural time—they marked the progress of God’s redemptive history.
Thus, God’s calendar reveals both the appointed times of worship and the timeline of redemption (Lev 23:2)
Israel’s three great annual feasts—Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Booths—were times when all males had to gather before God in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:16–17). These feasts formed the spiritual heartbeat of Israel’s covenant life.
(3) The Egyptian Calendar
Why did God need to re-teach His calendar during the Exodus? Because Israel had lived under Egypt’s solar system for 430 years. Early Egyptians used a lunar calendar, but around 3000 B.C. they observed the heliacal rising of Sirius, a star whose reappearance each year coincided with the Nile’s flooding. Since its cycle matched the solar year (365.25 days), Egypt developed a 365-day solar calendar—twelve 30-day months plus five festival days. They used a ten-day week. This erased the seven-day rhythm and the Sabbath. Over centuries, Israel lost the Sabbath and God’s appointed times. Though Egypt fulfilled God’s promise to multiply Abraham’s descendants, the people’s spiritual rhythm was lost. When God delivered them, He not only freed them from slavery but restored His calendar and the Sabbath, reestablishing them as His covenant nation.
2. Lessons from God’s Calendar
(1) It Makes Us Look to God
At year’s end, the Israelites had to decide whether to start a new year or add a leap month. The answer depended on whether barley had sprouted—something determined by the sun, which symbolizes God Himself (Psa 84:11). Each year they were reminded to look to God, not human reasoning or experience. The calendar taught dependence: “Do not move by your own calculation—watch My work and follow My word.” Likewise today, living by God’s calendar means letting His will and timing direct our lives, rather than worldly patterns.
(2) It Points to the Feast of First fruits
The key determinant of the new year was the Feast of Firstfruits. While Passover and Unleavened Bread could occur regardless of the barley’s state, Firstfruits required the first sheaf of harvest. Sometimes God delayed the new year so the feast could be properly observed.
Spiritually, the Feast of Firstfruits foreshadowed Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor 15:20-23)
Christ became the first to rise, guaranteeing resurrection for all who belong to Him. Revelation 14:4 calls the redeemed “first fruits to God and to the Lamb.”
Thus, living by God’s calendar means living in hope of resurrection and eternal life. When God gave Israel a new calendar in Egypt, He declared that the era of redemption and victory over death had begun—an assurance extended to believers today.
(3) It Teaches Us to Keep God’s Appointed Feasts
At the center of all feasts lies the Sabbath, which for Christians corresponds to the Lord’s Day—Sunday worship. Surrounding it are the other appointed gatherings: Bible studies, midweek services, and dawn prayers.
To live by God’s calendar means to order life around worship. When worship becomes optional, we slip back into Egypt’s calendar, where God’s timing fades and worldly rhythm takes over. Faithfulness to worship keeps believers aligned with heaven’s time.
3. Living by God’s Calendar
Egypt symbolizes the fallen world, and its calendar—the calendar of Satan—seeks to distort God’s appointed times, dulling the hearts of believers. Revelation 11:8 describes the world as “Sodom and Egypt,” where even the Lord was crucified.
We may use the Gregorian calendar, but the real difference between God’s and Satan’s calendars is spiritual.
If our desire to worship, to keep God’s feasts, and to fulfill His redemptive purpose grows stronger than last year, we are living according to God’s calendar. But if that zeal fades, we have returned to Egypt’s (Dan 7:25)
Today, God’s Word is being fulfilled. Living by His calendar means discerning His timing, keeping His appointments, and walking in sync with His will.
Let us therefore fix our hearts on God’s rhythm, honor His appointed seasons, and shape our days around worship and obedience. To live by God’s calendar is not about dates but about devotion—a life that moves in harmony with the heartbeat of heaven.
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 