Greetings this set apart day,

Psalm 104 tells us God made the moon for the seasons — moedim — for which the actual word indicates the ‘appointed times’ or ‘festivals.’ The foundational ‘appointed time’ is the New Moon, which is set as the beginning of each month.

If you have not read our paper on the meaning and importance of the New Moon festival, it is available for your illumination, no pun intended, here: New Moon Observance.

It was kept as a day of Holy Convocation, a time the congregation of God’s people was called together to worship, and the trumpets were blown (Nu 10:10) to signal that. In fact, it stands linked to the Sabbaths in Isaiah 66, Ezekiel 46 and of course with the apostles of Jesus.

Although the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and the sacrifices ceased, the observances were never discontinued, and it is clear from the Book of Acts that the apostles kept all the feast days, and Paul himself wrote to the Corinthians about keeping the Passover Feast in remembrance of Christ, and to the Colossians in the powerful chapter 2 about keeping the New Moons, feast days, and the Sabbaths — sabbaton.

Within the understanding of the sun and the moon, how they work together to separate light and darkness, and in the aftermath of a 100 year event of the total solar eclipse, it is time we recover all that the prophets knew and the apostles, regarding God’s “set apart days.”

We are hopeful to send out another paper which adds additional dimensions of teaching to the one attached to this email. It relates to the mystery in Philippians 2 that speaks of how Christ Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity taking on the form of a servant, namely a human nature. In that Mystery which Paul discloses, we must remain in the understanding of just how the Word came to be, or ‘became’ flesh.

On that Mystery hangs the faith of just who Jesus Christ is, and how most theologies fail the test which John gave concerning the true teaching which must be if you are to receive someone into your “house” of worship.

The Moon, being a parable for Christ, reflecting perfectly the light of the Father, can help shed a little light — pun intended — on this question. [The attached writing describes the Hebrew meaning that unfolds how the two luminaries function together as one — sun and moon.]

Since the month begins with the first visible sliver, then the Philippians text needs to be understood as meaning that He emptied Himself, but retained the sliver of His identity and Being from Heaven, His Spirit which came to be flesh. This is critical because upon this sliver hangs the continuity of Christ, and maintaining continuity with Hebrews 13:8  “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Without that sliver of Light of His Heavenly Nature, He would have been devoid of His own Being and not able to be God made flesh, or the Word ‘become’ flesh.

And NOTE: just as you cannot fully empty your lungs of breath or ‘spirit’ when you empty them, so Christ could not completely empty Himself of His Divine Spirit, when He humbled Himself to become a man.

Had He not emptied Himself, He, being God, could not have been tempted, could not have died, etc. etc.

So Jesus Christ had to have His divinity intact in His incarnation, but not full or the Philippians teaching would not be true.

So as the moon waxes in beauty and light, so Christ waxed in His Divine beauty and power until He was glorified, which in the gospel of John refers to His sacrifice — and yes, He died on the cross about the time the moon turned full and so it appeared on the evening of the 15th, the First Day of the feast of Unleavened, the evening His body was interred. Psalm 81 speaks to blowing the horn on the New Moon and on the Full Moon on our Feast Day.

Why then should we keep the New Moon as a Holy Convocation? Because we are supposed to have this attitude that was in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2) and empty ourselves out, allowing the Light of the Lord to fill us until we wax in His beauty and knowledge and wisdom and power — the epignosis of Him, or the ‘accurate knowledge’ — until we shine forth, full of His Presence, radiating His Light to the world.

Amos 8 discloses that there was no commerce on the new moon. Building then on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles (Eph. 2:20), we are to do likewise. The sacrifices are gone, but the remembrance remains, and the observance of God’s ‘appointed time.’

As this day begins the month according to God’s celestial watch (think of Psalm 19 and others) let us all begin this month by emptying ourselves of the world and all the traditions of men, to the end that we may be filled with the Light of Christ, and that be our Life, which is Eternal, and not bound by time.

We send you all our prayers for a good month, full of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, as you grow in Christ Jesus, our Light and our Life.

Grace and Peace in God our Father and His His Son Jesus Christ,

Bruce and Marianne