Here is something I have written for you to muse on, as a followup from my sermon, “In God’s Image.”
Tonight at 11:06 PM, the Vernal Equinox will happen. That means that the sun will be directly over the Equator at that precise moment, and the season of Winter will be officially gone, and the season of Spring will officially begin. There are two Equinoxes and two Solstices each year. These four events help us keep track of our year by dividing the year into four parts, or quarters. Would it be more convenient, or more understandable if they coincided with our monthly calendar to fall on the first day of each month that begins a new quarter? Perhaps. But consider this, for example: If the Winter Solstice was to begin on January 1, instead of December 21, and the Spring Equinox commenced on April 1, the Summer Solstice on July 1, and the Autumn Equinox would begin the final quarter of our year on October 1, could that happen every year? Year after year without a hiccup? Well, the fact is that human calendars have always had inconsistencies to deal with, and following the equinoxes and solstices would not fix that problem, because the yearly elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun is not precise to any monthly calendar. We would have to add or take away “leap days” every third month in order to have the yearly equinoxes and solstices fall on the same four dates every year. However, this is the first time in my memory that the Vernal Equinox has actually fallen on March 19, for it usually falls on either March 20th or 21st. The problem with synchronizing monthly human calendars with an earthly year has always been with us.
So then, I have question for you. How is it possible that the weekly cycle (meaning there are exactly and only seven days in a week, every week) has not been successfully changed or altered?
I say “not been successfully changed,” because at least two non-god-fearing national governments have tried to change the weekly cycle, but could not make it work. For example, the French Republican Calendar was invented by godless politicians in 1793 during the time of the French Revolution, and lasted even into the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was Napoleon who finally abolished it on January 1, 1806, because it was so ridiculously flawed.
Why did they even try to change the weekly cycle? One of their purposes was to remove all religious influence from their calendar, and since the Bible (which they had already outlawed) had the original record of a Seven-day-week put in place by the Creator God… well they thought they could just do whatever they wanted to with the week. So, they invented a ten-day-week, because they were also attempting to make a grand design for decimalization, with 30 days in each month, and twelve months per year. But, then they are going to come up five or six days short each year? Yes, or course that is also true. But, that was an easier fix than messing with the weekly cycle. So, they had to add those missing days (which they called intercalary days) at the end of their calendar to properly balance out the Solar year.
Well, the Solar year may be balanced in that way, just like we add a day to our calendar every four years to balance the year… But, those human beings who lived in France at that time and tried to follow a ten-day-week… found themselves imbalanced, to say the least.
It appears that God knew what He was doing when He designed a seven-day-week. There is much evidence that our bodies and our minds are perfectly adapted to both a daily, 24-hour cycle, and a weekly, seven-day cycle. For, when God ended His work of creating on that first week ever on this planet, He ended it by making man in His own image. And then He made the Seventh Day, the final day of the week, and called it the Sabbath of the LORD. And He made that Seventh Day for man. As Jesus also affirms to us, “The Sabbath was made for man…” And then He called Himself, “The Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28).
Please be reminded that it was Jesus Himself, who also spoke the Ten Commandments from the top of Mount Sinai, and then He wrote them down with His own finger onto two tablets of stone. So then, why does most of the Christian world follow only nine of the Ten Words of God? For, in the Fourth Commandment God said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God… For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Dean
Last Day's Grace 