Posted on 04/03/2014 4:52:36 PM PDT by Rashputin
April 3, AD 33
In our new book, The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived , we assume but do not argue for a precise date of Jesus’s crucifixion. Virtually all scholars believe, for various reasons, that Jesus was crucified in the spring of either a.d. 30 or a.d. 33, with the majority opting for the former. ( The evidence from astronomy narrows the possibilities to a.d. 27, 30, 33, or 34). However, we want to set forth our case for the date of Friday, April 3, a.d. 33 as the exact day that Christ died for our sins.
To be clear, the Bible does not explicitly specify the precise date of Jesus’s crucifixion and it is not an essential salvation truth. But that does not make it unknowable or unimportant. Because Christianity is a historical religion and the events of Christ’s life did take place in human history alongside other known events, it is helpful to locate Jesus’s death—as precisely as the available evidence allows—within the larger context of human history.
Among the Gospel writers, no one makes this point more strongly than Luke, the Gentile physician turned historian and inspired chronicler of early Christianity.
The Year John the Baptist’s Ministry Began
Luke implies that John the Baptist began his public ministry shortly before Jesus did, and he gives us a historical reference point for when the Baptist’s ministry began: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar . . .” (Luke 3:1).
We know from Roman historians that Tiberius succeeded Augustus as emperor and was confirmed by the Roman Senate on August 19, a.d. 14. He ruled until a.d. 37. “The fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” sounds like a straightforward date, but there are some ambiguities, beginning with when one starts the calculation. Most likely, Tiberius’s reign was counted either from the day he took office in a.d. 14 or from January 1 of the following year, a.d. 15. The earliest possible date at which Tiberius’s “fifteenth year” began is August 19, a.d. 28, and the latest possible date at which his “fifteenth year” ended is December 31, a.d. 29. So John the Baptist’s ministry began anywhere from mid-a.d. 28 until sometime in a.d. 29.
The Year Jesus’s Ministry Began
If Jesus, as the Gospels seem to indicate, began his ministry not long after John, then based on the calculations above, the earliest date for Jesus’s baptism would be in late a.d. 28 at the very earliest. However, it is more probable to place it sometime in the first half of the year a.d. 29, because a few months probably elapsed between the beginning of John’s ministry and that of Jesus (and the year a.d. 30 is the latest possible date). So Jesus’s ministry must have begun between the end of a.d. 28 at the earliest and a.d. 30 at the latest.
This coheres with Luke’s mention that “Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). If he was born in 6 or 5 b.c., as is most likely, Jesus would have been approximately thirty-two to thirty-four years old in late a.d. 28 until a.d. 30, which falls well within the range of him being “about thirty years of age.”
The Length of Jesus’s Ministry
Now we need to know how long Jesus’s public ministry lasted, because if it went on for two or more years, this would seem to rule out spring of a.d. 30 as a possible date for the crucifixion.
John’s Gospel mentions that Jesus attended at least three Passovers (possibly four), which took place once a year in the spring:
Even if there were only three Passovers, this would still make a date of a.d. 30 all but impossible for the date of the crucifixion. As noted above, the earliest likely date for the beginning of Jesus’s ministry from Luke 3:1 is late a.d. 28. So the first of these Passovers (at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry; John 2:13) would fall on Nisan 14 in a.d. 29 (because Nisan is in March/April, near the beginning of a year). The second would fall in a.d. 30 at the earliest, and the third would fall in 31 at the earliest. This means that if Jesus’s ministry coincided with at least three Passovers, and if the first Passover was in a.d. 29, he could not have been crucified in a.d. 30.
But if John the Baptist began his ministry in a.d. 29, then Jesus probably began his ministry in late a.d. 29 or early a.d. 30. Then the Passovers in John would occur on the following dates:
|
Nisan 14 |
a.d. 30 |
John 2:13 |
|
Nisan 14 |
a.d. 31 |
either the unnamed feast in John 5:1 or else a Passover that John does not mention (but that may be implied in the Synoptics) |
|
Nisan 14 |
a.d. 32 |
John 6:4 |
|
Nisan 14 |
a.d. 33 |
John 11:55, the Passover at which Jesus was crucified |
Jesus Was Crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover
John also mentions that Jesus was crucified on “the day of Preparation” (John 19:31), that is, the Friday before the Sabbath of Passover week (Mark 15:42). The night before, on Thursday evening, Jesus ate a Passover meal with the Twelve (Mark 14:12), his “Last Supper.”
In the Pharisaic-rabbinic calendar commonly used in Jesus’s day, Passover always falls on the fourteenth day of Nisan (Exodus 12:6), which begins Thursday after sundown and ends Friday at sundown. In the year a.d. 33, the most likely year of Jesus’s crucifixion, Nisan 14 fell on April 3, yielding April 3, a.d. 33, as the most likely date for the crucifixion. In The Final Days of Jesus, we therefore constructed the following chart to show the dates for Jesus’s final week in a.d. 33:
|
April 2 |
Nissan 14 |
Thursday (Wednesday nightfall to Thursday nightfall) |
Day of Passover preparation |
Last Supper |
|
April 3 |
Nissan 15 |
Friday (Thursday nightfall to Friday nightfall) |
Passover; Feast of Unleavened Bread, begins |
Crucifixion |
|
April 4 |
Nissan 16 |
Saturday (Friday nightfall to Saturday nightfall) |
Sabbath |
|
|
April 5 |
Nissan 17 |
Sunday (Saturday nightfall to Sunday nightfall) |
First day of the week |
Resurrection |
Conclusion
The above calculations may appear complicated, but in a nutshell the argument runs like this:
|
HISTORICAL INFORMATION |
YEAR |
|
Beginning of Tiberius’s reign |
a.d. 14 |
|
Fifteenth year of Tiberius’s reign: Beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry |
a.d. 28 |
|
A few months later: Beginning of Jesus’s ministry |
a.d. 29 |
|
Minimum three-year duration of Jesus’ ministry: Most likely date of Jesus’s crucifixion |
a.d. 33 (April 3) |
While this is in our judgment the most likely scenario, it should be acknowledged that many believe Jesus was crucified in the year a.d. 30, not 33. However, if the beginning of Tiberius’s reign is placed in the year a.d. 14, it is virtually impossible to accommodate fifteen years of Tiberius’s reign and three years of Jesus’ ministry between a.d. 14 and 30. For this reason, some have postulated a co-regency (joint rule) of Tiberius and Augustus during the last few years of Augustus’s reign. However, there is no reliable ancient historical evidence for such co-regency.
No, the answer you are looking for can be found in this question:
If a child is born in the gloaming, which day does his birth belong to?
Give him time... He's got 1700 years of religion to defend - It's a big complicated job.
and counting to 3 is hard ; )
ok, having proved with 100% certainty from the Gospel of Luke alone that Jesus died on Friday 3:00pm and rose on the third day, the first day of the week, i now will turn to why the wednesday date of Jesus death as outlined in post #16 is impossible.
the false narrative in post #16 assumes TWO days of preparation that week and TWO sabbath days that week. the 14th and 16th supposedly are the days of preparation and the 15th and 17th of nisan are the supposed sabbath days.
IS THIS WHAT WE FIND IN THE SCRIPTURES?
All four Gospels contain the events of this week AND ALL FOUR GOSPELS AGREE WITH ONLY ONE DAY OF PREPARATION AND ONE SABBATH DAY.
Let’s look at all four:
John - 19:31 is the day of preparation, v 31-42 all happen on this day of preparation. Chapter 20:1 begins immediately on the first day of the week.
John = One day of preparation, one sabbath day.
Luke - 23:54 is the day of preparation and thru v55 continues on this day. v56 mentions “the sabbath”. Chapter 24:1 begins on the first day of the week.
Luke = one day of preparation and one sabbath day.
Matthew - 27:1-61 all occurs on the day of preparation. 27:62-66 is the sabbath day. Chapter 28 begins on the first day of the week.
Matthew = one day of preparation and one sabbath day.
Mark is very interesting as it was written with a Gentile audience in mind. Chapter 15:42 explains the day of preparation is the day before the sabbath, every Jew knows this already, so this was clearly written for the benefit of the gentiles.
Mark - Chapter 15:42-47 all occurs on the day of preparation. Chapter 16 immediately mentions “the sabbath was past”, using the same “the sabbath” contained in 15:42. Chapter 16:2 immediately becomes the first day of the week, after “the sabbath” had past.
Mark - one day of preparation and one sabbath.
All four Gospels are very clear and consistent - one day of preparation and one sabbath day.
The other obvious elephant in the room as to why the narrative in post #16 is false, had the 16th of nisan indeed been a day of preparation, the women would have bought the spices and prepared the body on that day! They would not have waited another two days when there would be a stink to the body.
the other elephant in the room is, the Apostles knew what day Jesus died and what day He rose from the dead. These events are the heart of the Christian message, there is ZERO chance that the early Church did not absolutely know what day Jesus died and all the early Church Fathers agree it was on Friday.
There is no “false narrative” except in your misinterpretation of the statements in Luke.
The 14th of the Aviv is always a preparation day. the 16th day is a regular business day, being the 6th day of the week, and the 17th is the regular weekly Sabbath.
This is indeed what we find in the scriptures if we look at all of the gospels, and don’t selectively read.
When one connects Yeshua’s testimony to the rest of the facts, there is no conflict, unlike the pagan catholic twisting to put the Passover on the regular Sabbath, which is a rare occurrence in any case.
The gospels do call for a regular business day between the Passover and the weekly sabbath, which is the day on which the embalming materials were purchased and applied. These things couldn’t be done on any Sabbath or high day in Judea.
The gospels clearly call for two Sabbath days separated by a regular commercial day, both logically and textually.
assertions, more assertions, but absolutely no scriptural references to back up any of them.
i carefully went through all four Gospels to show they all go chronologically from the sixth day preparation to the sabbath to the first day of the week. ALL OF THEM AGREE.
not one Gospel mentions two separate days of preparation, not one Gospel indicates two sabbath days that week, not one Gospel indicates the women rested twice. NOT ONE.
here is a news flash, people died everyday in Jerusalem, probably 20 a day on average. buying spices to prepare the body WAS NO BIG DEAL, it was an everyday event. probably could be done in 15 minutes to half an hour, leaving the women plenty of time to go to the tomb THE SAME DAY. the fact they did this on the first day of the week rather than the sixth is further proof Jesus died on the sixth day, rested on the seventh and rose on the first day.
here is the true hallmark of a cultist, they take one verse in the Bible, twist it to their own destruction and build a movement around it. in the process, they attack historic, orthodox Christianity with all they have as “pagan”.
Jesus told us ahead of time this would happen, it is still amazing to watch it unfold in our lifetime.
the devil is slick, if he can plant doubts on whether Christians know what day Jesus died, well, what else do they have wrong? the keeping of the 7th day sabbath?? hmm..
YHvH's Feast of Hag Matzoh as the day when all sin(leaven) In addition the day following the Shabbat following the beginning What is not important is which Pagan Day these things happened. Remember Yah'shua was/is/will always be a Jewish King. The wheels came off the cart in 325 CE at Nicea when the Pagan Seek the face of YHvH in His WORD; If you were familiar with YHvH's WORD and His Feast Days
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
you would fully understand when Yah'shua removed all sin
and when He arose as the First Fruits offering to YHvH.
is removed from the bread of life.
of Passover is YHvH's Feast of First Fruits.
All of the Apostles were Torah observant messianic Jews.
Roman Emperor created the Roman "church" out of whole cloth
based not on the WORD but on Pagan Traditions and Worship.
Reject the Pagan Traditions of man.
Galatians 3:23-29
King James Version (KJV)
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Totally not germane to my post. Try to stay on topic. Interesting cut and paste.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
Complete nonsense!
Get a copy of the Chronological gospels, which compare each day side by side on the same page for all four gospels. This is the only way to quickly establish an understanding.
Your present method is a blind man without a stick walking through a mine field. You don’t stand a chance.
.
The wheels came off the cart in 325 CE at Nicea when the Pagan
Roman Emperor created the Roman “church” out of whole cloth
based not on the WORD but on Pagan Traditions and Worship.
this is on topic??
it is very interesting, i’d love to learn how the pagan roman emperor did this and i’d love to learn the reaction by the “true” Church when he did this. did you learn this in a dan brown novel?
still no scriptural references provided, you have to admire the consistency.
If you can comprehend the entire post.
ah, if you only comprehended my galatians cut and paste.........in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek.
any time you want to school me on the pagan roman emperor and 325ad and his creating the roman church, i am always ready to learn!
That is impossible without your exegesis.
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