Home > Biblical Proofs > Biblical Proofs: IV. God's Ways

(ii) God's Method Of Keeping Time:

God's method of keeping time is available for us to read and understand in the Scriptures. In favor of current practices, man has, for the most part, strayed away from God's precepts. Concerning time, God instructs that the days start and end at sunset, with twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of the night. Concerning the days of the week, seven consecutive days are counted and established as cyclical with the seventh day as the weekly Sabbath of God. That seventh day has always been Saturday, never the first day of the week, Sunday. Months are in a synchronous cycle with the moon with the beginning count of months in the Spring, around March/April. Precisely calculated using the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, all of God's work is established at well-defined moments. With all of the understanding of how we are to observe time by Almighty God, we can faithfully obey His instructions on keeping the weekly and annual Sabbaths in their appointed times and seasons.

Concerning Time:

Genesis 1:5 ,8, 13, 19, 23, 31 - AFV

x.   And the evening and the morning were day [one, two, three, etc.].

Leviticus 23:5 - AFV

5.   In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings (i.e., between sunset and dark), is the LORD'S Passover,

Leviticus 23:32 - AFV

32.   It shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at sunset, from sunset to sunset, you shall keep your Sabbath."

Matthew 20:1-9 - AFV

1.   "The kingdom of heaven shall be compared to a man, a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire workmen for his vineyard.
2.   And after agreeing with the workmen on a silver coin for the day's wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
3.   And when he went out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
4.   And he said to them, 'Go also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'
5.   And they went. Again, after going out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did likewise.
6.   And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all the day?'
7.   They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'Go also into my vineyard, and whatever is right you shall receive.'
8.   And when evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the workmen and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.'
9.   And when those who were hired about the eleventh hour came, they each received a silver coin."

Mark 15:25, 33-34 - AFV

25.   Now it was the third hour (9am) when they crucified Him.
33.   Now at the sixth hour (12pm), darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour (3pm);
34.   And at the ninth hour (3pm), Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is, being interpreted, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

John 11:9 - AFV

9.   Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? (i.e., the daylight portion of the day) If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world."

Concerning Days:

Genesis 2:1-3 - AFV

1.   Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2.   And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
3.   And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Exodus 16:4-5, 23-30 - AFV

4.   Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or not.
5.   And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be twice as much as they gather day by day."
23.   And he said to them, "This is that which the LORD has said, 'Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And that which remains over, lay up for yourselves to be kept until the next morning.' "
24.   And they laid it up until the next morning as Moses said. And it did not stink; neither was there any worm in it.
25.   And Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you shall not find it in the field.
26.   Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there shall be none."
27.   And it came to pass that some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather, but they did not find any.
28.   And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?
29.   See, because the LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place. Do not let any one go out of his place on the seventh day."
30.   So the people rested on the seventh day.

Exodus 20:8-11 - AFV

8.   Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
9.   Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
10.   But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger within your gates;
11.   For in six days the LORD made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.

Exodus 31:12-17 - AFV

12.   And the LORD spoke to Moses saying,
13.   "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, 'Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you.
14.   You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15.   Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16.   Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
17.   It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.' "

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 - AFV

12.   Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it as the LORD your God has commanded you.
13.   Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
14.   But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger within your gates, so that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you.
15.   And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Concerning Months:

Exodus 12:2 - AFV

2.   "This month (i.e., Abib, which occurs in March/April) shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you."