Category: Advent

When Is New Year’s Day?

J. Thomas Johnson

January 6, 2023

As we enter into another year on the Western Calendar, I have found myself puzzling over dates. As Christians we are offered no less than four options for the celebration of the beginning of the new year.

When God first delivered the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He commanded the people to consider the month of Nisan as the first of months and to celebrate the Passover on the 14th day of Nisan. In 2023, the first day of the month of Nisan will begin at sunset on March 22. Will that be New Year’s Day?

Furthermore, God commanded the Israelites to keep record of years in seven-year cycles. And those years were to be reckoned in relationship to the festivals of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Because of this, contemporary Judaism celebrates the beginning of the new year on Rosh Hashanah. In 2023, Rosh Hashanah will be celebrated from September 15-17. So, does Rosh Hashanah mark New Year’s Day for Christians?

Then again, on the Christian Calendar the Church Year begins with Advent. The first Sunday of Advent this year was November 27, 2022. So, was New Year’s Day for Christians actually six weeks ago?

And, of course, the Western Calendar tells us that New Year’s Day falls on January 1st (i.e., the 8th day of Christmas on the Christian Calendar). So which are we to choose? And that leads me to perhaps a more foundational question: why mark time in this way at all?

Why do we feel compelled to make changes in the dawn of a new year? Is that just a random superstition, or is there some Christian foundation for the practice? If we look at the three religious options we have been given for marking a new year, we see that each of those options is tied to a new beginning.

Passover was a new beginning for the people of Israel as God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Rosh Hashanah was an annual new beginning for the people of Israel as the sacrifice of Yom Kippur atoned for the unintentional and unknown sins committed in the previous year. And Advent is a new beginning for all of humanity that culminates in the birth of Jesus for the salvation of the world.

As Christians, when we think of a new year, we think of a practice articulated well by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14:

12 Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14, NASB

For Christians, time is marked by God’s interventions in history to free us from the past and transform us for the future. As you enter into this new season, may you find renewed strength in Jesus to leave the sins and rebellions and missteps of the last season in the past, under the atoning blood of Jesus.

Of course, we must settle the past by repentance and any necessary reparations we might owe to others. So, we must begin there. But, then, we must release who we’ve been and follow God into who we are becoming in Him.

May the Lord strengthen you to pursue righteousness and holiness in the days to come as God continues to work to transform us into beings who reflect the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

An Advent Prayer (2022)

I didn’t grow up with an appreciation for the season of Advent. For me the day after Thanksgiving was the first day of the Christmas season. I certainly had heard the word ‘Advent,’ but in my young mind ‘Advent’ and ‘Christmas’ were synonyms. It was only in my adult life that I was introduced to the Christian Calendar and began to appreciate the blessing of observing a season set apart to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Jesus.

As I’ve been meditating on the season of Advent this year, I have found myself reflecting on an uncomfortable historical reality. As many prophecies as there were about the coming of the Messianic King, and as many times as God declared that He would personally undertake the delivery of His people from their slavery to sin, no one was expecting God to take on human flesh in the Person of Jesus. God surprised the world when the second Person of the divine Trinity was conceived in the womb of Mary.

In hindsight, we might have known what God was planning. After all, God had declared through the prophet Jeremiah:

“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.”

Jeremiah 23:3, NASB

Perhaps we might have known that God would not leave the salvation of humanity to a human being. Perhaps we might have suspected that God Himself would be the bridge between heaven and earth, between God and humanity. Perhaps we might even have wondered if God would enter human history personally, taking on the full form of humanity while remaining fully God. But none did suspect this. When God walked amongst us in the Person of Jesus, none recognized Him as God until, after having been crucified, on the third day He rose from the dead.

I wonder if, as it was in the days of Jesus, it is still in our day. I wonder if we are as mistaken about Jesus’ second coming as those in the first century were about His first. We, too, must attend to the Scriptures—to the testimonies of the prophets and apostles—if we are to be prepared for His coming. And during this season of Advent, I am allowing a prophecy of Jesus’ second coming to ignite my imagination and inspire my preparation. The prophecy is from Revelation 22:12-17, and it reads as follows:

12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral persons, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, take the water of life without cost.

Revelation 22:12-17, NASB

May the Lord open our eyes and our ears during this season of Advent as we continue to await the coming of our rightful King. Come, Lord Jesus!

~ J. Thomas ~