Approaching Your Year(2023-4)-3

APPROACHING YOUR YEAR-III—Exodus 12:2(:1-13)

•God’s people must approach their ‘New Year’ within the confines of His exclusive worldview.

Need:

For all that this New Year will hold, God’s people should & can approach it with Confidence! Even when we cannot know all that our future holds, we can live in peace & certainty thru it’s challenges, because our confidence rests in the absolute faithfulness of Almighty God!

God established a novel way for Israel to approach their calendar year.

God’s people today—Christians— are to have a particular approach toward understanding their calendar year.

How are we to approach our new year?

5 paths/trajectories for approaching the new year.

Rom. 14:7-8—“For none of us lives to himself, & no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; & if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

We’ve found previously that

A proper approach toward your year is found in...

1. Your GOD(:1a)

2. Your SPOKESMEN(:1b)

3. Your EGYPT(:1c)

4—A proper approach toward your year is also found in...

Your PATTERN(:2)

Explanation:(:2)Reset/Shifted

:2—““This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

“This month...”

•Israel would come to use what may be called: a ‘Lunisolar’ calendar.

•Their 'year' was decided by the sun.

•Whereas, the divisions & organization of each year were broken down into months, determined by the phases of the moon.

•Interestingly enough, 4 of the months that Israel would come to use, referenced in the Old Testament, have ‘Canaanite’ names. Those months are associated with major agricultural periods:

1)Abib, meaning—‘fresh ear’(of grain)

2)Ziv, meaning—“Beauty”(a time for flowers)

3)Ethanim, meaning—“Permanent streams”

4)Bul, meaning—“Rain”

•Also, some names for Israel’s months, that are recorded in the Bible, would arise from a much later time during Israel’s exile to Babylon[ca.- 600BC]. And those month names are ‘Babylonian’ in origin.

•1)Nisan; 2)Sivan; 3)Elul; 4)Chislev; 5)Tebeth; 6)Shebat; & 7)Adar.

•Also, some of those Canaanite/Babylonian month names overlap with each other.

•The “first month of the year” Abib[Canaanite], AKA--Nisan[Babylonian].

•The beginning of every month, including Abib/Nisan(March-April)[Jesus’ death, burial, & resurrection—AKA—‘Easter’], was/is marked by the ‘new moon.’, followed by the waxing moon, full moon, waning moon, & again, ending each month with another new moon.

“...Shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

Because of Israel’s accepting YHWH as their God, the yearly/annual cycle AND the monthly divisions, that they knew in Egypt, would change dramatically. Likewise, events that would become important for Israel’s recognition would also have different weekly & daily importances

•Normative divisions of time were intentionally changed.

•And that change/shift was NOT built upon Israel’s RELIANCE on the Egyptian state. Israel’s reliance was INSTEAD to be built on YHWH God’s provision for them in love!...both Physical & Spiritual.

•Likewise, every division in YOUR yearly/annual cycle, from the beginning of your trust in Christ on, is to be lodged/contained/couched/bound up in Christ Jesus! It is to be bound up in the ‘hold’ that He has on your life as your Lord....

•IF Christ Jesus has NO hold on you, so that there is positive change in your life toward God, THEN there is NO NEW life in you...AND IF there is no ‘new life’, THEN any new PATTERN you establish, will be temporary, anemic, weak, & empty at best! It may even be ‘religious’ but NOT built on relationship with Jesus!

Remember that ALL time, is actually GOD’S time!...So there is no TRUE ‘Pattern’ that anyone should follow, except God’s ‘Pattern’!

•So the manner in which you divide the time allotted to you by God, should & can be a reflection of how God is working in your life!

•Israel’s 1st month as the FREE people of God—free from the oppressions of Egypt—would be based upon the Passover(described in verses :3-13). God would indeed, ‘Pass-Over’ their houses in recognition of their individual family’s faith.

*That original Passover pictured the far-future sacrifice for God’s people, by Jesus the sacrificial Lamb of God.

!Jesus is our Passover.

•Israel’s ‘first-of-the-year’ was based upon Israel’s/the people’s/nation’s ‘freedom’ thru their faith. That first-of-the-year was based upon their freedom from condemnation’(physical death of the firstborn).

•And one result of their faith, would be their ‘freedom from slavery’ to Egypt.

•And as a result of ‘that Passover’, Israel would come-into-their-own as a nation.

•So Israel’s 1st month of the year, would be a constant reminder of, the extension of YHWH’s mercy & grace to secure their national freedom as well as their personal freedom.

Argumentation:

Rom. 8:7-8—“....the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; & those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”