Think about it! If our calendar didn't exist when Jesus was here on earth. When did he die? When was he buried? When did he rise from the grave? And why do I even care?
Well, for one, I remember when I was a kid being so utterly confused by scripture and how it was "explained" to me by preachers and Sunday School teachers. For example:
Matt 12:40, For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth
Jesus was supposed to be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights. So if he died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday....no matter how I did the math, I never got 3 days and 3 nights.
Friday - day 1 starts
Friday night -- night 1
Saturday - night 1 ends, day 2 starts
Saturday night, Night 2
Sunday morning, night 2 ends, day 3 begins.
So if He rose on Sunday morning.......
where did night 3 go? See the problem I had???
If we did not have a Gregorian calendar and only a Hebrew calendar, then we have to consider these facts:
Hebrew days end at sunset. The next day begins one minute after sunset.
The sabbath begins 1 minute after sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.
The word "dawn" doesn't need to mean daybreak, first light. It can mean a new day, something new, so it could easily mean a new day that begins at sunset, the dawn of a new day. On a Hebrew calendar, each new day begins 1 minute after sunset. Hmmmm....dawn is dusk!!!
What if in the time of Jesus, 3 days and 3 nights meant 72 hours exactly? Literally?
John 19:31. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day) besoughtPilate that theirlegs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
So the next thing we need to know is that a sabbath day that is a high (holy) day can be any day of the week. It does not have to be on a Friday night to Saturday night time frame. Because it is a "high day" it can be any day of the week.
Thus we know that the day that Jesus died, that evening one minute after sunset, a sabbath that was a high (holy) day was beginning.
We also know that the day following Passover is known to be a High Holy Day Sabbath - an annual High Sabbath, not a routine, weekly Saturday sabbath. It is the first day of the 7 day long Feast of Unleavened Bread. Passover is not a high holy day. The day after it is.
If Passover is on Thursday (Wednesday dust to Thursday dusk)
And a High Holy Day Sabbath is on Friday (Thurs dusk to Friday dusk)
And a routine weekly Sabbath is on Saturday (Friday dust to Saturday dusk)
Take a look at
Matthew 28: 1 Inside the tail-end of a Saturday Sabbath, at the going doewn (dusk) of the sun, as time changed from the final moment of an old week, onward to the first moment of an entirely new week, at sunset, came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary walking toward the tomb to look at the sepulchre at the very beginning of a Hebrew's Sunday.2. and there was a great earthquake: for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb and sat upon the stone.
that translation is from the Literal Expanded Version (LEV) which is a little more descriptive for these verses. But even if you read it in the King James and understand that the dawn of a new week would begin for the Hebrew calendar on Saturday evening at dusk......
Let's try this:
In the Hebrew year 3791, Passover was on the 14th day of the Hebrew 1st month, on a Wednesday, so it started on Tuesday, one minute after dusk and went til Wed. evening at dusk. (this is our year CE 31.)
I'm inserting a calendar that I put together here, just click on it to enlarge it:
Jesus had the "Last Supper" after dusk on Tuesday night. This was on Passover. So it really was a Sedar, His last Sedar.
Death occurred in the morning on Wednesday (still Passover).
Burial was completed at sunset, at the very end of the Hebrew calendar's Wednesday. One minute after dusk, the High Holy Day began. Thursday, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Death in the grave began here. (from one minute after sunset on our Wednesday to sunset on our Thursday.)
All of Hebrew's Friday (from one minute after sunset on our Thursday to sunset on our Friday)
All of Hebrew's Saturday (from one minute after sunset on our Friday until sunset on our Saturday).
3 days. 72 hours.
The resurrection was at one minute after sunset our Saturday which would be the first moment of a Hebrew Sunday. The dawn (beginning) of a new week, the dawn of a new day.
The Feast of First Fruits is the Sunday following Passover. (Note, this is the day that you add 50 days to and come up with the date of Pentecost.)
Jesus rose on the first moment on the Feast of First Fruits.
Passover would have been on April 24, 31 (Wednesday) the day that Jesus Christ was crucified.
He would have risen at sunset on Saturday, April 27, 31 if you want our calendar dates.
So much for my attendance at all those Sunday morning sunrise services!
One more thing to consider. The Feast of Passover is a 7 day feast which commemorates the night when (in Egypt) each Israelite family killed a selected lamb, painted it's blood on the intel and door-posts of their dwellings, roasted the lamb, prepared to depart Egypt before eating, ate the lamb in haste with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, were protected from death of their first born males by the lamb's blood and actually began the journey to depart from Egypt very early the next morning (still Passover day)
It would make sense that Jesus died on Passover. He is the lamb who's blood was shed for us. He IS Passover.
And it makes beautiful sense that he rose on the Feast of First Fruits.
If Jesus was born in BCE4 and was 30 when he was baptized (CE28), he would have been 33 1/2 by early Spring, CE 31.
On a bit of a side note, Easter has been around about 5000 years. And in the year CE31, it occurred 25 days BEFORE Passover!!! A tad difficult to rise from the dead before you die!
I remember asking where in the Bible it talked about "Good Friday" or used the term "Easter". You know, I was a child. They just blew me off!
Today, I understand that the concept of Good Friday is a myth and actually has no basis in Biblical fact. Easter is a pagan, heathen, springtime fertility festival. That's why they are NOT mentioned in scripture. Whether you agree with that or not, I don't see how you get an early morning Sunday sunrise out of this verse:
Matt 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
That verse clearly states "end of sabbath" which would be at dusk.
Because I am studying the Hebrew calendar, because I am studying Hebrew life, traditions, holidays, values, and because I am looking at the original Greek and Hebrew scriptures - it is all making sense and falling into place.
But I also pray every single day that Jehovah Yeshua Messiah will soften my heart, open my mind, and allow me to understand. It is because so many of my friends continue to ask me about my beliefs that I am writing these blogs. In the hopes that you, too, will understand.
I do not celebrate Easter as it has nothing to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Easter bunny does not come here. There are no eggs hidden anywhere.
I do, however, keep Passover. And I will continue to keep it every year.
I do not celebrate Christmas. There is no tree in my house, no gifts. Santa doesn't come down my chimney and there are no holly and berries here.
I honor Hanukkah - the Feast of Dedication
and I will keep the Feast of Tabernacles this year.
As I come to understand more and more.....and have more of those childhood questions answered, I come to love the Messiah as I never have before. My heart literally sings with joy.
So there's still that question........
why do we no longer use a Hebrew calendar? Just who is it that does not want us to know the truth? Who is it that is trying to confuse us. I know. And I'll be writing about that one day soon.
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