There are a lot of Messianics who use the traditional Jewish calendar, created in the 4th century AD.
There are also a select few of us who use a calendar based off the agricultural seasons in Israel, as described in the Torah.
I don’t condemn people for using the traditional Jewish rabbinical calendar; this post isn’t meant to start a flame war about trivial calendar issues.
Rather, I’ve had some Messianics and Christians approach me about the agricultural dates for 2009: when does the Biblical new year start? When is Passover? And so on. This post addresses these questions. Provided abib barley is found as expected before the next new moon, these are the dates for the Feasts of the Lord:
| Feast | Western calendar date for 2009 | Rest? | Messianic fulfillment |
| Biblical New Year, 1st day of month of Abib | Sundown March 27th | ||
| Passover | Twilight, April 10th | Messiah, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed. | |
| Unleavened Bread | Sundown April 10th through sundown April 17th | God commanded rest on the first and last days of Unleavened Bread. | Messiah was in the tomb during the week of this feast. |
| First Fruits | Sundown April 11th | Messiah rises from the dead on this feast. While Messiah rose on the first day of the week, many mistake this to be Sunday; because Hebrew days end at sundown, rather than midnight, the first day of the week begins Saturday at sundown, not Sunday morning. | |
| Shavu’ot (Feast of Pentecost) | Sundown May 30th | God commanded rest on Shavu’ot. | Messiah sent his spirit to the apostles on this feast. They began speaking in foreign languages and were filled with God’s spirit. |
| Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets) | Sundown September 20th | God commanded rest on Yom Teruah. | Possible future Messianic fulfillment: the great shofar will sound, signaling the coming of the Messiah. |
| Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). | Sundown September 29th | God commanded rest on Yom Kippur. | Possible future Messianic fulfillment: Messiah will judge the world on this feast. |
| Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) | Sundown October 4th through sundown October 12th. | God commanded rest on the first and last days of this Sukkot. | Possible future Messianic fulfillment: Messiah will dwell/tabernacle with us during this feast. |
Most often, there’s a few days in between Passover and First Fruits. (Indeed, Messiah was in the tomb 3 days and 3 days nights before rising on First Fruits.) However, this year First Fruits falls the day after due to the commandment to celebrate it the “day after the Sabbath following Passover”. This happens to be only a day apart this year.
There you have it, fine blog readers. Shalom.