From Ron Dart, " A calendar is more than a pretty picture with the days of the month laid out below. A calendar is a system of determining the beginning and ending of the year and dividing it up into seasons, months, weeks, and days. To be of any use at all, it has to be done in advance. A calendar from the past is no more than a diary. By its very nature, a calendar is predictive, and this is why the sun and the moon are so very useful-they are the most predictable elements in the environment of man."

First, let me say that I have proved to my satisfaction that the calculated Hebrew calendar we use to set the annual Holy Days is correct and divinely appointed. I believe it is one of the sacred oracles entrusted to the Jews. (Rom. 3:2 It is the same calendar used by Ezra and the Great Assembly to set the Holy Day observances after rebuilding the Temple. Secondly, it is the same calendar used during the time of Jesus and His Apostles. Ron Dart wrote, "From ancient times, the Sanhedrin had the authority to make the rules and observations that sanctified the Hebrew calendar. Jesus and the apostles seem to have accepted their authority in this area. While there is ample evidence that the early Christians kept the holy days, there is no hint in the New Testament that they ever attempted to sanctify a calendar apart from the Jewish calendar."

If the calendar had been corrupted during the Babylonian captivity as some charge, that would mean that Daniel failed the Lord since the king had put him in charge of all of his affairs. Daniel was faithful to preserve the calendar needed to determine the Holy Days. But if it had been corrupted it would surely have been corrected when God sent Ezra, Nehemiah and others to rebuild the Temple and re-establish worship at the appointed times. We see no calendar controversy in either the Old or New Testament writings.

Thirdly, when the Sanhedrin disbanded, it’s leader, Hillel 2 released the methods used to make the calendar. I have found no evidence that Hillel 2 did anything nefarious-he just released the method to calculate the calendar since the Sanhedrin would no longer be doing it.

For any calendar to work properly there must be rules, and where there are rules there are people in charge of them. We know the Hebrew name of the first month–Abib. And we know that Abib means, "green ears" of barley. Okay, so we decide that the month following the onset of green ears is Abib. But what if the ears turn green on the second day of the new moon? Will they still be green the following month? The ears will often be green in two consecutive months. Which is Abib? The Bible doesn’t say "as soon as green ears appear it’s the first month." The real point is that the wave sheaf of the barley must be brought to the priests to wave to the Lord before anyone could harvest their crops -so it is not so much important when the green ears appear as it is that they are there during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Again, somebody has to make the determination of which month is Abib.

"Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." (Romans 13: 1-2)

Our God is a God who establishes and works through appointed authorities, and it should be a frightening thought to usurp divine authority. The purpose of the calendar is to determine the times for holy convocations. This means that there is an authority that must be entrusted to call for the people to come -otherwise there could be no unity, only division when the very purpose is for all to come together. The Aaronic Priesthood was given this charge by the Lord and instructed to sound the two silver trumpets at the beginning of each month. So how did the people know when the beginning of a month was? It wasn’t by looking up to observe the moon. It was the hearing of the silver trumpets. Since the Priests of Aaron were commanded to sound the trumpets on the first day of each month, then obviously it was their responsibility to know and declare when that was.

Israel’s worship was collective. The people assembled before the Lord at the Temple when the Priests called them. There was no provision made for individuals to make their own determinations. And the people were commanded by God to not appear empty-handed. They brought offerings. And these offerings were not given directly to the Lord, but to Levite Priests who received and performed the sacrifice for each person. The point is, you needed the Priesthood on these Holy Days. People would also bring offerings on the new moons, the first day of each month and present them to the Priests. What do you think would happen if you determined for yourself, independently, that the Priests were wrong and brought your offering the day before or the day after the sons of Aaron had sounded the silver trumpets? Do you really believe that they would receive your offering when it was not offered at the "appointed time" that they alone had been given the authority to set? "Make yourself two trumpets of silver. . .for summoning the congregation." (Numbers 10:2-10)

The first question every Christian should ask is "Do I have the authority to do what I’m thinking of doing?" We have so many examples of people stepping outside their authority.

A controversy arose in the early Church about whether the Gentile converts were to be circumcised and directed to observe the whole Law of Moses. The brethren held the first council to discuss and decide the issue for the sake of unity. After James announced the decision it was binding truth-though every person was not in agreement. Obviously the issue was not a matter for personal determination. Likewise, concerning the calendar we nowhere see the instruction or the authority given to an individual to decide for himself when a week, a month or a year begins and ends. For me, I fear the Lord far too much to be so presumptuous.