The End of the Year?
It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. (Deuteronomy 11:12)
It’s that time of the year: people are celebrating the holidays. Families seemingly come together to celebrate the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. It’s New Years Eve. This means a lot to a lot of different people. What does New Year mean for believers of the one true God, Yahweh? How should we act during these festivities? What is our place?
If you’ve read some of our previous articles, such as God’s Time Part I and God’s Time Part II, then you have a certain amount of knowledge as to how Yahweh sees time. His conception of time is different from our own (2 Peter 3:8; Psalms 90:4). But what is very important to understand is that the calendar year was conceived differently by the Lord. In fact, the Lord litters the Bible with clues as to how He counts the stars and times.
The books of the Torah are known for recounting the story of the exodus of the people of Israel, but it is also notable for explaining certain concepts. One of them being the calendar of the Lord. Yahweh says in the book of Exodus, while talking about Passover that "this month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year” (Exodus 12:2). He further elaborates this by saying that in Deuteronomy that His children are to “observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night” (Deuteronomy 16:1).
“But I am not of Israel, this does not apply to me.”
For those who claim that they are not of Israel and are therefore not affected by what the Lord tells them to do, there’s a contradiction. Ephesians 1:5 says “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”. Yet, the first child of the Lord has always been Israel, as proven in Jeremiah 31:20, Psalms 82:6 and very importantly when he says:
“You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead.
Deuteronomy 14:1
Therefore, if it is given to one child, the rules do not change for the children who are adopted into the family. The adopted children have to learn from the other children how to act in the house and how to be. Believers shouldn’t pit themselves against Israel, but learn from them and stay attached to them as salvation comes from them (John 4:22).
So why do we celebrate New Years on the date that is given, December 31st, and not at the end of Winter like the Lord wanted it? It’s because we are taught false doctrines that tell us that it is what we need. It is not what we read in the BIble, but preconceived ideas. When we detach ourselves from those notions, we are able to see the truth and the errors of our past ways. The Lord is waiting for you at the true New Year: will you be there?