The
Holy Spirit revealed to a group of believers that Jesus was crucified and died
on August 17. Not only did He reveal this
date but He also mentioned the year – the equivalent of 1 BC. In the Jewish calendar, this is Av 30, 3760
AM.
I
first heard this revelation in 1983 from earlier listeners. I had accepted it with doubt and scepticism
even though it was a revelation from THE Holy Spirit. In about 1999, I asked the Holy Spirit if this crucifixion date
of Jesus He revealed is correct. He
affirmed that it is correct.
This
webpage is a revision of an earlier
webpage published in August 2002 wherein I asserted that the revealed
crucifixion date was a Friday because when Jesus was crucified, it was on the
eve of a sabbath. I thought that the
sabbath referred to in the Bible is the Saturday Sabbath so I placed the
crucifixion day Friday. From CALNDR-L
discussion group, I learned that August 17, 1 BC was a Thursday in the
proleptic Gregorian calendar. Still, I
insisted that it must have been a Friday.
On
August 19, 2003, after a year of not being able to prove that the crucifixion
day was a Friday and having come across the Perpetual Jewish/Civil
Calendar Conversion by Alan D. Corre, and later the Yet
Another Calendar Converter by Timothy James Forsythe, I came to accept that
the date was a Thursday. The revealed
crucifixion date though is still correct but the date was not a Friday but a
Thursday.
This
webpage will explain how I came to prove that this revealed crucifixion date is
correct and that it was a Thursday.
All
verses quoted herein are from the Holy Bible, King James Version.
According
to Encyclopaedia Britannica (Vol. 8, p. 640), sabbath came from the Hebrew word
shavat meaning “cease” or “desist”.
It is a “day of holiness and rest observed by Israelites from sunset on
Friday to nightfall of the following day.”
This definition limits sabbath to the Saturday Sabbath.
The
following verses will show that sabbath does not apply to Saturday Sabbath only
but also to a major holy day, which they call a high day, when Israelites
abstain from work:
Leviticus 16:29,31 – “And this shall be
a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the
month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of
your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto
you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.” (Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur)
Leviticus 23:24-25 – “Speak unto the
children of Israel, saying; In the seventh month, in the first day of the
month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a
holy convocation. Ye shall do no
servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the
LORD.” (New Year’s Day or Rosh
Hashanah.)
Leviticus 23:27-32 – “Also on the tenth
day of this seventh month there shall be day of atonement: it shall be a holy
convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day:
for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your
God. For whatsoever soul it be that
shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his
people. Ye shall do no manner of work:
it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest,
and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from
even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” (Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.)
Leviticus 23:35-36,39 – “On the first
day shall be a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made
by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you;
and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn
assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have
gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven
days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall
be a sabbath.” (Festival of
Tabernacles/Booths/Ingathering or Sukkoth.)
In
the preceding verses, work is proscribed or banned on the designated holy days
(Day of Atonement, New Year’s Day, first and eighth days of the Festival of
Tabernacles/Booths/Ingathering). God
commanded the Israelites to observe “sabbath” (Leviticus 23:24, 23:39) or
“sabbath of rest” (Leviticus 16:31, 23:32) on these designated days which may
fall on any day of the week. They do
not refer to the Saturday Sabbath.
To
get ready for the sabbath, the Israelites make preparations on its eve which
they call Preparation Day.
In
the Jewish calendar in ancient times, the sighting of the new moon heralded the
start of a Jewish month. God instructed
the Israelites to celebrate the first day of the Jewish month as a joyful
occasion in what is referred to as the New Moon Festival or Rosh Hodesh
(Hebrew: Head of the Month). They are
to blow the trumpets when they presented their offerings (Numbers 10:10,
28:11-15; Psalm 81:3).
During
Old Testament times, this festival was a major festival imposing abstention
from business and work. Although the
Scripture does not mention work restriction when observing this festival, it is
implied that Israelites abstained from work as in Amos 8:5 (KJV). Besides abstaining from work, the Israelites
visited the Temple of Jerusalem for a special sacrifice and held a family
celebration.
These
days, however, it has been demoted to a lesser holiday and is not celebrated or
followed anymore as it used to be. It
is now considered a minor festival on which fasting and mourning are not
allowed. One reason may be due to the
fact that the Israelites were dispersed throughout the world and have adopted
the calendar of their host countries, which most likely is the solar Gregorian
calendar. This may also be the reason
why the true meaning of high day is not fully understood anymore or has been
lost.
Table
1. Comparison of the holy days of
Saturday Sabbath and New Moon Festival.
|
Religious
Holy Days |
Saturday
Sabbath (Shavat) |
New Moon
Festival (Rosh
Hodesh) |
|
When
Held |
Every
Saturday |
1st
day of lunar month |
|
Jewish
Calendar Date |
Every
Saturday |
1st
day of lunar month |
|
Gregorian
Calendar Date |
From
sunset of Friday to sunset of Saturday |
May
fall on any date |
|
When
Offerings are Presented |
Every
Saturday |
1st
day of lunar month |
|
Main
Verses |
Number
28:9-10 |
Num
28:11-15 |
|
Other
Related Verses |
Ex
20:8-10, 23:12, 31:12-17, 34:21, 35:2-3; Lev 23:3; Deut 5:12-15, Ezek 46:1-5 |
Num
10:10, 29:6; Ps 81:3; Ezek 46:1, 6-7 |
|
Burnt-Offering
(all animals must be without defects |
2
one-year old male lambs |
2
young bulls, 1 ram, 7 one-year-old male lambs |
|
Grain-Offering
(flour mixed with olive-oil) |
2
kg |
3
kg with each bull, 2 kg with the ram, 1 kg with each lamb |
|
Wine-Offering |
Unspecified
quantity, assumed to be 1 liter with each lamb |
2
liters with each bull, 1.5 liters with the ram, 1 liter with each lamb |
|
Sin-Offering
(animal must be without defects) |
None |
1
male goat |
|
Work
Restriction |
Yes
(Lev 23:3; Ex 20:10-11, 23:12, 31:15, 34:21, 35:2; Deut 5:15) |
Yes,
implied (Amos 8:5, KJV) |
|
Holy
Convocation |
Yes
(Lev 23:3) |
|
|
Trumpets
to be Blown |
|
Yes
(Num 10:10) |
|
Special
Instruction |
Burnt-offering
to be offered in addition to the daily offering with its wine-offering (Num
28:10) |
Above
offerings in addition to the daily burnt-offering with its wine offering (Num
28:15) |
Table
1 shows the burnt-, grain-, and wine-offerings of both the Saturday Sabbath and
the New Moon Festival. It will be noted
that the offerings for the latter are more than the former. The latter has two young bulls, one ram, five
one-year-old lambs, 13 kg of flour mixed with olive-oil, and 10.5 liters of
wine more than the former. There is
even a male goat as sin-offering. And
yet, the Bible is explicit that the Israelites have to abstain from business
and work on the Saturday Sabbath but not on the New Moon Festival. Does the New Moon Festival not require more
preparation than the Saturday Sabbath?
Of course, it does. If the
Israelites made preparations on the eve of a Saturday Sabbath which they called
Preparation Day, the more that they had to make preparations for the New Moon
Festival. This must be the reason why
they made the New Moon Festival a sabbath as well. This is what was uncovered in this study—the New Moon Festival
was a sabbath and the day before it was Preparation Day. It was on Preparation Day when Jesus was
crucified as accounted by the four evangelists. Apostle John further said in John 19:31 that the following day
was a high day. That high day was the
New Moon Festival, one of the festivals commanded by God for the Israelites to
observe.
The
New Moon Festival was a major festival of the Israelites during Old Testament
times. It was at par as the
God-commanded major festivals—and the Saturday Sabbath, as shown in the
following verses:
2 Kings 4:23 – “And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? It is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.”
1 Chronicles 23:31 – “And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the LORD in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the LORD;”
2 Chronicles 2:4 – “Behold, I build a house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.”
2 Chronicles 8:13 – “Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.”
2 Chronicles 31:3 – “He appointed also the king’s portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the LORD.”
Nehemiah 10:33
– “For the showbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the
continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set
feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement
for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.”
Isaiah 1:13-14 – “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.”
Isaiah 66:23 – “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”
Ezekiel 45:17
– “And it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings, and meat
offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the
sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin
offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace
offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.”
Ezekiel 46:1 –
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the
east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened,
and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.”
Ezekiel 46:3 –
“Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before
the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.”
Hosea 2:11 –
“I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and
her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.”
Amos 8:5 –
“Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? And the
sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel
great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?”
Colossians
2:16 – “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a
holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:”
When
Jesus was crucified, it was on Preparation Day, the eve of a Jewish
sabbath. In the Bible, all four
evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, gave accounts of preparation for
the sabbath. Apostle John further said
in John 19:31 that the following day was not only a sabbath day but it was also
a high day. That high day was the New
Moon Festival, one of the festivals God commanded the Israelites to
observe. The following verses are the
accounts of the evangelists about this preparation day:
Matthew 27:62 - “Now the next day, that
followed the day of the preparation, …”
Mark 15:42 - “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,”
Luke 23:54 - “And that day was the preparation,
and the sabbath drew on.”
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 a high day,) …”
John 19:42 - “There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the was nigh at hand.”
The
following prove that the revelation of the Holy Spirit regarding the
crucifixion and death of Jesus occurring on August 17, 1 BC is correct and
agrees with accounts in the Bible:
1.
Use of proleptic Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar came into use in
1582 after Pope Gregory XIII reformed the Julian calendar. The period before 1582 is referred to herein
as the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
August 17, 1 BC was a Thursday and equivalent to Av 30, 3760 AM in the
Jewish calendar using the Perpetual
Jewish/Civil Calendar Conversion by Alan D Corre and the Universal
Calendar Converter by Timothy James Forsythe.
2.
Use of astronomical observation
The website http://www.stellafane.com calculates when the new moon and full moon dates occur. Using its moon phase calculator, August 18, 1 BC was new moon. This heralded the start of a Jewish month. August 18, 1 BC was one day after the revealed crucifixion date of Jesus. Corre’s conversion also gives August 18, 1 BC to be the start of a Jewish month, i.e. Elul 1, 3760 AM.
3.
Use of Jewish calendar
In the Jewish calendar in ancient
times, the sighting of the new moon heralded the start of a Jewish month. On August 18, 1 BC, there was a new moon,
hence, it was the first day of the month in the Jewish calendar. That month was Elul, and the year was 3760
AM (AM means anno mundi or “in the year of the world”). The new moon date therefore was Elul 1, 3760
AM. The month before Elul was Av, a
month of 30 days. The date preceding
Elul 1, 3760 was Av 30, 3760 AM. Jesus
was therefore crucified on Av 30, 3760 AM.
This was equivalent to August 17, 1 BC, the revealed crucifixion
date of Jesus.
August 18, 1 BC (equivalent to Elul 1,
3760 AM) was a Friday. The Israelites
used to celebrate the first day of the Jewish month as New Moon Festival. Elul 1, 3760 AM was an especially holy day
because it was the first day of the month, the celebration of the New Moon
Festival, a sabbath of rest. Apostle
John called it a high day (John 19:31).
Some people called this day as “high sabbath” because the Bible
mentioned the day following the crucifixion of Jesus was a sabbath and a high
day.
Elul 2, 3760 AM was Saturday. As such, the Saturday Sabbath was
observed. This Jewish date is
equivalent to August 19, 1 BC.
Table 2. Summary of dates determined.
|
Proleptic
Gregorian date |
Day of week |
Jewish date (until
sunset of Gregorian date) |
Remarks |
|
August
17, 1 BC |
Thursday |
Av
30, 3760 AM |
Crucifixion
of Jesus |
|
August
18, 1 BC |
Friday |
Elul
1, 3760 AM |
New
Moon Festival, a high day |
|
August
19, 1 BC |
Saturday |
Elul
2, 3760 AM |
Saturday
Sabbath |
The
date and day of the week of two calendars – the proleptic Gregorian calendar and
the Jewish calendar -- are compared in Table 3.
Table
3. Comparison of the dates in the
proleptic Gregorian calendar in year 1 BC and the Jewish calendar in year 3760
AM around the time when Jesus was crucified.
|
Propleptic
Gregorian calendar |
Part of day |
Jewish
calendar |
Event |
||
|
Date |
Day of Week |
Date |
Day of Week |
||
|
August
15 |
Tue |
SS
- MN |
Av 29 |
Wed |
|
|
August
16 |
Wed |
MN
– SR |
Av 29 |
Wed |
|
|
August
16 |
Wed |
SR
– NN |
Av 29 |
Wed |
|
|
August
16 |
Wed |
NN
– SS |
Av 29 |
Wed |
|
|
August
16 |
Wed |
SS
– MN |
Av 30 |
Thu |
|
|
August
17 |
Thu |
MN
– SR |
Av 30 |
Thu |
|
|
August
17 |
Thu |
SR
– NN |
Av 30 |
Thu |
|
|
August
17 |
Thu |
NN
– SS |
Av 30 |
Thu |
Jesus
was crucified, died, and was buried |
|
August
17 |
Thu |
SS
- MN |
Elul 1 |
Fri |
New
Moon Festival, a high day; First night in sepulcher |
|
August
18 |
Fri |
MN
– SR |
Elul 1 |
Fri |
New
Moon Festival, a high day; First night in sepulcher |
|
August
18 |
Fri |
SR
– NN |
Elul 1 |
Fri |
New
Moon Festival, a high day; First day in sepulcher |
|
August
18 |
Fri |
NN
– SS |
Elul 1 |
Fri |
New
Moon Festival, a high day; First day in sepulcher |
|
August
18 |
Fri |
SS
- MN |
Elul 2 |
Sat |
Saturday
Sabbath; Second night in sepulcher |
|
August
19 |
Sat |
MN
– SR |
Elul 2 |
Sat |
Saturday
Sabbath; Second night in sepulcher |
|
August
19 |
Sat |
SR
– NN |
Elul 2 |
Sat |
Saturday
Sabbath; Second day in sepulcher |
|
August
19 |
Sat |
NN
– SS |
Elul 2 |
Sat |
Saturday
Sabbath; Second day in sepulcher |
|
August
19 |
Sat |
SS
- MN |
Elul 3 |
Sun |
Third
night in sepulcher |
|
August
20 |
Sun |
MN
– SR |
Elul 3 |
Sun |
Third
night in sepulcher |
|
August
20 |
Sun |
SR
– NN |
Elul 3 |
Sun |
Third
day in sepulcher |
|
August
20 |
Sun |
NN
– SS |
Elul 3 |
Sun |
Third
day in sepulcher |
|
August
20 |
Sun |
SS
- MN |
Elul 4 |
Mon |
Resurrection
of Jesus |
|
August
21 |
Mon |
MN
– SR |
Elul 4 |
Mon |
|
|
August
21 |
Mon |
SR
– NN |
Elul 4 |
Mon |
Discovery
of empty sepulcher |
|
August
21 |
Mon |
NN
– SS |
Elul 4 |
Mon |
|
|
August
21 |
Mon |
SS
- MN |
Elul 5 |
Tue |
|
Note: The yellow color indicates daytime, and the
blue color, nighttime.
MN (12 midnight to 6 a.m.), SR (sunrise,
6 a.m. to 12 noon), NN (12 noon to sunset or 6 p.m.), SS (sunset or 6 p.m. to
12 midnight)
Jesus
died on the cross in the afternoon of Thursday, August 17, 1 BC. The equivalent of this date in the Jewish
calendar was Av 30, 3760 AM which was about to end. (The Jewish day starts at sunset for the start of sabbath). After sunset, in the Jewish calendar, it
would be the New Moon Festival and the date was Elul 1, 3760 AM. Jesus was taken down from the cross and laid
in the before sunset that Thursday. Had no one claimed the body of Jesus, He
would have remained on the cross for more than 48 hours (Friday, New Moon
Festival, a high day, and the regular Saturday Sabbath, days when work is
proscribed or banned). That would have
been very humiliating. This must have
been a reason why the Jewish authorities executed Jesus on the eve of New Moon
Festival.
It
will be noted that the sepulcher was discovered empty on Monday, August 21, 1
BC. The following verses mention this
first day:
Matthew 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 sepulcher.”
Mark 16:1-2 – “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And the very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.”
Luke 24:1 – “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.”
John 20:1 – “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.”
The
early Christians have chosen Sunday as the day when they celebrated their
worship service. It was their sabbath
or sabbath of rest, the seventh day of the Christian week. Monday, then, was the first day. That is why in their accounts in the Bible,
they mentioned that it was on the first day of the week when the sepulcher was
found empty and the body of Jesus was nowhere in sight.
Some
questions now arise as a result of finding out that it was on Monday morning
when the sepulcher was discovered empty.
Why was it already Monday when the followers of Jesus went to the
sepulcher? Why was the sepulcher
visited only after three days? Was it
because the sepulcher had been guarded by the soldiers sent by the chief
priests and Pharisees (Matthew 27:62-66) who would have prevented them from
approaching it? Was it because there
were three consecutive sabbath days after crucifixion? The days are Friday, a sabbath, a high day,
the New Moon Festival; Saturday, the regular weekly sabbath; and Sunday, which
may have been the Sabbath of the followers of Jesus. Why did He, for example, heal people on the Jewish Saturday
Sabbath? Was Jesus preaching a Sunday
Sabbath then?
Ø Jesus was
crucified in August and not around March or April.
Ø Jesus was
crucified on a Thursday and not on a Friday.
Ø Jesus was
crucified on the eve of the New Moon Festival and not of a Saturday Sabbath.
Ø Jesus was
crucified in the Jewish month of Av and not of Nisan.
Ø Jesus was
crucified after, not during, the Passover Festival. (http://aristean.org/passover1.htm).
Ø The sepulcher was found empty on Monday, the
first day of the week.
Ø High day means
a major Jewish holy day which is also a sabbath of rest where one abstained
from business or work like the Saturday Sabbath (e.g. New Moon Festival, New
Year’s Day, Day of Atonement). (To be
available in http://aristean.org/highsabbath1.htm).
Ø The New Moon
Festival was a major holy day, a high day, requiring abstention from business
or work.
Ø Sabbath does
not refer to the Saturday Sabbath only but also to designated holy days, such
as the New Moon Festival, Day of Atonement, New Year’s Day, and the first and
eighth days of the Festival of Tabernacles.
Ø The present
calendar should reckon the year from crucifixion and death of Jesus
Christ. (To be available in http://aristean.org/jesusbirth.htm.)
Ø Jesus was
crucified in 1 BC and not around 30 AD.
Ø BC means
Before Crucifixion (of Jesus Christ) and AD means After Death (of Jesus
Christ). (To be available in http://aristean.org/bcad.htm.)
Ø Speaking in
tongues (Acts 2:1-40) happened at the Festival of Tabernacles or Sukkoth, and
not at Pentecost. (To be available in http://aristean.org/speaktongue.htm.)
Other
results of these findings are as follows:
Ø When did King
Solomon reign? (http://aristean.org/solomon.htm)
Ø Exodus
happened on April 12, 1260 BC (http://aristean.org/exodus.htm)
File jesuscrucify1.htm last
updated: September 10, 2003
ãAristeo Canlas Fernando 2003
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