THE DARK MOON VERSES THE WAXING CRESCENT
What is the true new moon of the scriptures? Is it the moon when it first goes dark or is it the first light after the dark of the moon?
To understand the answer to this question we must examine the Holy Scriptures and Gods creation.
Also examining the question; could those who profess that the waxing crescent is the new moon be doing this because they want to SEE an image?
First let us examine what the Bible says about the human tendencies of mankind to want to see what they worship;
Romans 1:22-23- Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
Deuteronomy 4:15- Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16- Lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: 17- the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air...
God gave this WARNING because He knew man's STRONG tendencies were to want to worship what they could see, whether it was a likeness of the true God or of any creature.
19- And take heed, list you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them...
Notice it says FEEL DRIVEN to worship. This is the natural desires of mankind to feel driven to worship what he can SEE.
Mankind with Satan's help has gone completely against Gods warnings and set up idols in every imaginable way, the number one idol being the sun and the moon, especially the sun.
The desires were so strong that even King Salomon whom God gave so much wisdom too, in his later years built high places for Chemosh and Molech. And he built them the scripture says;
1Kings 11:7- "on the hill that is east of Jerusalem." What was this hill east of Jerusalem?
That sacred place called the Mt. of Olives! Can we even imagine this is the place where they burned their children in the fire to the sun gods Chemosh, Molech and Tropheth. And not only this, but the temple of God was defiled with all this pagan sun worship. Read 2 Kings 23:4-15 also Ezekiel 8 where the temple was filled with those crying for "Tommuz" the pagans counterfeit for Christ and the twenty five priests with their backs turned away from the temple worshiping the sun.
How strong is this urge to worship the heavenly bodies that even the priests in the temple wouldn't resist. Look at the Catholic and Protestant religion of our day. They are all centered around sun worship, from their worship of the winter solstice to their sunrise service in the spring.
They are deceived; could we also be?
God knew the tendencies that man would have to worship what they could see and also they would certainly have the tendency to worship the great lights and the stars in the heavens.
The great lights differently had their purposes in God's plan for mankind. God said in Genesis 1:17 "God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18- and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good."
When God used these heavenly lights of Genesis 1:14 to be for signs to start seasons, days and years; how could he accomplish this without accentuating a temptation for mankind to look to the great lights and began to use them as idols in their worship? Yes, they are always there in the heavens but when God specifically tells us to look to them to mark an important time how does he accomplish this without tempting us to use them for worship?
Let's ask ourselves why God didn't begin the day when the sun comes up in the morning and the dark is diminished and we have this wonderful LIGHT of day!? Doesn't human reasoning say that seems to us the perfect time to begin a day? But if that were so, if God began the day when the sun comes up, then we would be looking for that beautiful bright shining globe in the heavens symbolizing the day that God is giving us! The ILLUMINATED SUN would then MARK THE DAY. God still uses the sun to mark the day but it isn't until the sun DISAPPEARS that a day begins.
We look at the horizon and the sun is gone and we know that a new day has begun. We can't very well make an idol out of something we can't see can we?
I don't know whether any of you have experiences an Easter sun rise service, I haven't personally but I've heard my sister talk about it and what an overwhelmingly glorious experience it was when that "SUN" came up!
God made the sun to set the precedence for the moon, when the sun set's a new day begins and when the moon disappears a new month begins; nothing to worship here.
The Jewish calendar is calculated and postponements added in such a way to emphasize the worship of God by the FULL ILLUMINATED MOONS. They are hit and miss on whether they begin the Holy Days on what they consider the new moon but they have it calculated to always start the feasts on the full moon. Granted the full moon is in the middle of the month so the feasts are during the full moon, they have to be because it's the middle of the month but if the emphasize is on the new moon the feast of ULB and Tabernacles don't always start on a full moon.
God's emphasis is on the beginning of the NEW MOON not the full illuminated moon. A full moon is only mentioned once in scripture and that is talking about a full dark moon, Psalms 81:3. (Read the article: "THE CONCEALED FULL MOON").
The new moons are the beginning of months and were to be celebrated and recognized every new moon day. This can be found throughout the OT and into the New in Colossians 2:16 and will be kept in the Millennium, Isaiah 66:23.
Those who start each month with the waxing crescent cannot know in advance when it will be a new moon. They wait until they can see the small sliver waxing, illuminated moon just above the horizon after sunset. With this being said; they can't know when the month begins or what they consider a new moon until it happens just at sundown.
But reading 1 Samuel 20: 5, "And David said to Jonathan, Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat." Also: 1Samuel 20: 18, Then Jonathan said to David, "Tomorrow is the New Moon."
How could David and Jonathan know that tomorrow was the new moon?
The waning last crescent could be seen in the early morning eastern sky and they could know by this that tomorrow the moon would be dark and the beginning of a new month.
God in his wisdom protects those who are truly striving to please Him in every way He can by not exposing them anymore than He has to, too the temptation of idolatry.
CM & LM McGuire, 1-1-12