1) SECULAR HISTORY - THE CHANGE OF THE CALENDAR
One event in history that people usually think may have affected the weekly cycle, and hence the correct order of the various days in the week is the change of the Julian calendar in October 1582. The Julian Calendar was instituted by Julius Caesar around 46 B.C., and was continuously in use for about 15 centuries. In fact, during the time of Christ, it was the Julian calendar that was utilized in reckoning the days, months and seasons in the civilized nations of the world. However, the Julian calendar had a minor problem. It was a quarter (1/4) of an hour too long in reckoning the days in the year. This discrepancy added up until by October 1582, the Julian calendar was ten days out of harmony with the solar system.Pope Gregory fixed this problem in the Julian calendar by dropping ten days out of the numbering of the calendar. This calendar change was implemented on Thursday, October 4, 1582. The next day which should have been Friday, October 5 was shifted by pope Gregory to Friday, October 15 instead; thus dropping ten days to bring the calendar back in sync with our solar system. Today, the nations of the world use the Gregorian calendar, which was named after pope Gregory.
Friends, it is important to note that this minor calendar adjustment in secular history did not affect the weekly cycle in anyway; for Friday still followed Thursday, Saturday still followed Friday and Sunday still followed Saturday in that order. This vital calendar change by pope Gregory did not affect the weekly cycle, and hence the Seventh-day Sabbath in anyway. In fact, we can be sure that our Seventh-day today is the same Seventh-day that Christ and the disciples honoured as the Sabbath of the Creator God (see
2) THE VARIOUS LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD
It is interesting to note that various ancient and modern languages remind us of the memorial of God's creation: the Seventh-day Sabbath. In more than 108 languages of the world, the name of the Seventh day is not Saturday (which was carved to be used in honour of the pagan God Saturn), but rather Sabbath which literally means "rest day". Here are some few examples of languages whose original names for the Seventh day is Sabbath:Spanish - Sabado; Italian - Sabbato; Russian - Subbota; Portuguese - Sabbado; Prussian - Sabatico; Latin - Sabbatum; Arabic - Assabt; Swahili - Assabt; Assyrian - Sabata; Hebrew - Shabat.
Friends, these are few of the over a hundred languages of our world in which the Seventh day is called Sabbath, which literally means "rest day". These languages which render the Seventh day as simply Sabbath also go a long way to prove the seven-day weekly cycle, with the Seventh day as the Sabbath rest of the Creator God. It is interesting to note that immediately after God had finished creating our world, He instituted the Seventh-day Sabbath to be a perpetual memorial of His creatorship (see
3) THE CUSTOM OF ANCIENT AND MODERN ISRAEL
After God had finished His work of creation, He set aside the Seventh-day to be a perpetual memorial of His Creatorship. God gave the Sabbath to our first parents right after creation (seeIn the course of time, God called the patriarch Abraham, and through him established the Jewish nation as His own peculiar people (see
Despite their rebellion, the Lord did not cut off the Jewish race. Can it be that God preserved them so that He can teach us something important through them? You see friends, every other ancient near eastern nation such as the Philistines, Amorites, Hittites, Jebuzites, Assyrians, Babylonians etc. have disappeared. Yet, the Jewish nation still remains today, and with them the Seventh-day Sabbath. Orthodox Jews had faithfully kept the Sabbath for over 2000 years. And through the keeping of the Sabbath, they had kept track of the weekly cycle from ancient times until today. If there had been a change in the weekly cycle through a calendar change or any other medium, they will have made it known. In fact, it will interest you to know that any faithful Jew you meet on the street will tell you that the Sabbath is the Seventh-day of the week, and that it falls on none other day, but our Saturday as we find on the Gregorian Calendar.
4) Beloved, the only reason why our world has a seven day weekly cycle is because God made it so when He created our world. From The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. vol. 4, p. 988, we read the following:
"The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions--a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity... It has been employed from time immemorial in almost all eastern countries."It is interesting to learn that the U.S. Naval Observatory has also reported that there has never been any change in the continuity of the weekly cycle.
Friends, the word of God is clear. The Seventh day is the Sabbath (see
Exhortation: "For I am the LORD, I change not" (
"22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 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" (
In our next study, we will consider the topic: How do we observe the Seventh - day Sabbath from the light of the Bible? The Bible study references for this study are
Stay blessed and keep shining for King Jesus.
Maranatha!
England did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. By that time, eleven days had been gained, so Wednesday September 2, was followed by Thursday September 14. The eleven days were skipped, but the weekly cycle of days, Sunday through Saturday, remained unchanged throughout the Middle Ages.
Not only do we have proof from the translated Paper Bull issued by Pope Gregory, we also have documented letters from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington DC and the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, after inquiries were made in 1932. Take a look at what those letters state:
"I can only state that in connection with the proposed simplification of the calendar, we have had occasion to investigate the results of the works of specialists in chronology and we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt about the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era."(James Robertson, Director, US Naval Observatory, Washington DC, March 12, 1932 - SOURCE)
Let me just repeat that so you don't miss it - "we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt about the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era." - Not the SLIGHTEST doubt!
"As far as I know, in the various changes of the calendar there has been no change in the seven day rota of the week, which has come down from very early times. There have been attempts in the French revolution and in Russia to alter this cycle."(Astronomer Royal, Greenwich Royal Observatory, London, 4th March, 1932 - SOURCE)
Where did the 7 day weekly cycle come from according to the above letter? From "very early times." Which as we know is from Bible times, even from the creation week of Genesis. If you continue to read the letter from Greenwich Observatory, you will see they state there is evidence that 7 day weekly cycle is independent from from the monthly cycle and from all astronomical periods, and that it passed from the Jewish church to the Christian. What does this also prove? That the Sabbath is NOT based on the lunar cycle, showing the lunar Sabbath theory to be false. See our page EXPOSING THE LUNAR SABBATH for more. Not only that, did you notice the letter said the French revolution and Russia tried to change the weekly cycle? Satan has tried but FAILED, because God has preserved His holy Sabbath day.
Sunday keeping Christians are quick enough to say that Sunday (1st day of the week) is the day Jesus was resurrected. Which makes Saturday the 7th day of the week. But then they proclaim that we do not know which day the 7th day is. Well, you don't know which day the 1st day is either then - the day in which Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This is the utter confusion that reigns in the fallen churches, known as 'Babylon' (confusion).
The Jews have faithfully kept the 7th day Sabbath for thousands of years and today they keep sundown Friday to sundown Saturday - the 7th day of the week - the day that God specifically set aside for rest and holy use at creation and confirmed in His ten commandments. But now I hear another statement from professed Christians ... "It doesn't matter which day you keep as Sabbath."
Have you heard this statement before? Or do you believe this statement to be true? So many professed Christians today believe that it matters not which day of the week you keep as the Sabbath day. Let me respond to this by sharing an event from the Bible:
2 Kings 5:10,14 ... 'And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean ... Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.'
This is the event of Naaman and his leprosy. Now if you read the entire account, you will see that Naaman was not happy about washing in the river Jordan. Instead he inquired about going to wash in the rivers of Damascus (vs.12), saying "may I not wash in them and be clean?" Now I ask you, what if Naaman had gone and washed himself seven times in one of the rivers of Damascus instead of the Jordan? I mean, what does it matter WHICH river? Surely the rivers of Damascus were cleaner, and deeper, and more convenient for Naaman. But, would Naaman have been healed of his leprosy by dipping himself seven times in the Abana or Pharpar rivers in Damascus? Is there anyone who would like to say he would have been healed by going to any other river than the Jordan?
Let me ask again - Is there anyone who would DARE to say that Naaman would have been healed by choosing a different river to that which God had specifically commanded through Elisha?
What was the test? Will Naaman simply accept God's Word by faith, doing as Jehovah commanded through Elisha and be healed, even though it may be an 'inconvenience'? Or will he choose HIS OWN way? I will say what hopefully everyone would agree with, and that is Naaman would NOT have been healed of his leprosy if he chose a different river to that which God had commanded. And why is that? Because healing NEVER comes from disobeying God's specific commands. There is no cleansing in disobedience to God's specific Word. With this in mind, God has designated the seventh day as His holy Sabbath, which evidence shows is our Saturday today. Will you BY FAITH accept God's specific Word concerning the Sabbath? Or will you, like Naaman, before his servant showed him the truth, try and find your OWN WAY, by choosing YOUR OWN day for healing? Remember, healing will NEVER come through disobedience.
James 1:21-22 ...'Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.'
12 Irregular Months
The Gregorian Calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It is the calendar used in the international standard for Representation of dates and times: ISO 8601:2004.
It is a solar calendar based on a 365-day common year divided into 12 months of irregular lengths. 11 of the months have either 30 or 31 days, while the second month, February, has only 28 days during the common year. However, nearly every four years is a leap year, when one extra—or intercalary—day, is added on 29 February, making the leap year in the Gregorian calendar 366 days long.
The days of the year in the Gregorian calendar are divided into 7-day weeks, and the weeks are numbered 1 to 52 or 53. The international standard is to start the week on Monday. However, several countries, including the US and Canada, count Sunday as the first day of the week.
Replaced Julian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar's predecessor, the Julian Calendar, was replaced because it was too inaccurate. It did not properly reflect the actual time it takes the Earth to orbit once around the Sun, known as a tropical year.
Realigned With the Sun
The Julian calendar's formula to calculate leap years produced a leap year every four years. This is too often, and eventually, the Julian calendar was several days out of sync with the fixed dates for astronomical events like equinoxes and solstices.
The introduction of the Gregorian calendarallowed for the realignment with events like the vernal equinox and winter solstice.
When is the next solstice and equinox?
New Leap Year Formula
The Gregorian calendar was first adopted in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain in 1582, and included the following changes:
- New formula for calculating leap years:
- The year is evenly divisible by 4;
- If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless;
- The year is also evenly divisible by 400: Then it is a leap year.
- 10 days were dropped in October 1582
- New rules for calculating Easterdates
Protestant Countries Were Skeptical
Catholic countries, such as Spain, Portugal, and Italy, quickly adopted Pope Gregory’s calendar reforms for their civil affairs. In Europe's Protestant countries, however, people feared that the new calendar was an attempt by the Catholic Church to silence their movement. It took almost 200 years before England and the colonies switched over when an act of Parliament introduced the new calendar, advancing the date from September 2 to September 14, 1752.
Benjamin Franklin famously wrote about the switch in his almanac: “And what an indulgence is here, for those who love their pillow to lie down in Peace on the second of this month and not perhaps awake till the morning of the fourteenth.”
Orthodox countries followed the Julian calendar even longer, and their national churches have still not adopted Pope Gregory XIII’s calendar.
Proleptic Gregorian Calendar
If you extend the Gregorian calendar backward to dates before it was officially introduced in 1582, it is called the proleptic Gregorian calendar. The standard ISO 8601:2004 requires dates before 1582 to be expressed in this format (clause 4.3.2.1 The Gregorian calendar).
Is Any Calendar Perfect?
The more advanced leap year formula makes the Gregorian calendar far more accurate than the Julian. However, it is not perfect either. Compared to the tropical year, it is off by one day every 3236 years.
Who Designed the Calendar?
Although the Gregorian calendar is named after Pope Gregory XIII, it is an adaptation of a calendar designed by Luigi Lilio (also known as Aloysius Lilius), who was an Italian doctor, astronomer, and philosopher. He was born around 1510 and died in 1576, six years before his calendar was officially introduced.
The Sun appeared to reach the vernal equinox about March 25 in the years immediately after the Roman Empire adopted the Julian calendar. It continued to be the official Roman calendar for the rest of the empire's existence. The Roman Catholic Church adopted the Julian calendar as its official calendar at the Council of Nicaea in A.D.325, soon after the conversion of the emperor Constantine I, who then made Christianity the Roman Empire's official religion. By that time, the Sun was reaching the Vernal equinox about March 21; the fact that the tropical year is 0.0078 day shorter than the average length of the Julian calendar year had accumulated a difference of three to four days from the time when the Julian calendar was first adopted. The Council of Nicaea also renumbered the calendar years; the numbers of the Roman years were replaced by a new numbering system in an effort to have in accord with Christian tradition and beliefs Christ's birth occur in the year A.D.1. (Anno Domini). This effort was somewhat unsuccessful; the best historical evidence indicates that Christ probably was born sometime between 7 B.C. (before Christ) and 4 B.C. Another feature of this modified Julian calendar is that it has no year zero; the 1 B.C. is followed by the year A.D.1.
This Julian calendar remained the official calendar of the Roman Catholic Church for the next 1,250 years. By the year 1575, the Sun was reaching the Vernal Equinox about March 11. This caused concern among both church and secular officials because, if this trend continued, by the year 11,690, Christmas would have become an early spring holiday instead of an early winter one, and would be occurring near Easter.
This prompted Pope Gregory XIII to commission the astronomer Clavius to reform the calendar. Clavius studied the problem, then he made several recommendations. The rate of the precession of the equinoxes was known much more precisely in the time of Clavius than it had been in the time of Sosigenes. The calendar which resulted from the study by Clavius is known as the Gregorian calendar; it was adopted in 1583 in predominantly Roman Catholic countries. It distinguished between century years, that is, years such as 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, etc., and all other years, which are non-century years. The Gregorian calendar has the following main features:
All non-century years evenly divisible by four, such as 1988, 1992, and 1996 are leap years with February 29th as the 366th day. All other non-century years are ordinary years with 365 days.
Only century years evenly divisible by 400 are leap years; all other century years are ordinary years. Thus, 1600 and 2000 were leap years with 366 days, while 1700, 1800, and 1900 had only 365 days.
The Gregorian calendar was reset so that the Sun reaches the Vernal Equinox about March 21. To accomplish this, ten days were dropped from the Julian calendar; in the year 1582 in the Gregorian calendar, October 4 was followed by October 15.
The Gregorian calendar is the official calendar of the modern world. From the rules for the Gregorian calendar shown above, one finds that, in any 400-year interval, there are 97 leap years and 303 ordinary years, and the average length of the Gregorian calendar year is 365.2425 days. This is only 0.0003 day longer than the tropical year. This will lead to a discrepancy of a day in about the year 5000. Therefore, the Sun has usually reached the Vernal Equinox and northern hemisphere Spring has begun about March 21 according to the Gregorian calendar.
The Gregorian calendar was not immediately adopted beyond the Catholic countries. For example, the British Empire (including the American colonies) did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752, when 11 days had to be dropped from the Julian calendar, and the conversion to the Gregorian calendar did not occur in Russia until 1917, when 13 days had to be dropped.
One feature of the Gregorian calendar is that February is the shortest month (with 28 or 29 days), while the summer months July and August have 31 days each. This disparity becomes understandable when one learns that Earth's orbit is slightly elliptical with eccentricity 0.0167, and the earth is closest to the Sun (at perihelion) in early January, while it is most distant from the Sun (at aphelion) in early July. It follows from Kepler's Second Law that Earth, moving fastest in its orbit at perihelion and slowest at aphelion, causes the Sun to seem to move fastest on the ecliptic in January and slowest in July. The fact that the Gregorian calendar months January, February, and March have 89 or 90 days, while July, August, and September have 92 days makes some allowance for this.
“ The dates of some holidays, like Christmas, therefore, are fixed in the Gregorian calendar. The date of other holidays, like Easter, are based on the Moon phase. Because of this, it changes every year, even though the holiday falls on the same day of the week.
Different denominations within Christianity follow different liturgical calendars. For example, the year in the western Christian calendar begins on the first Sunday of Advent—the first Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew, which falls annually on November 30 in the Gregorian calendar. In the eastern Christian traditions, the year begins on September 1.
Liturgical Year and Seasons
For observing Christians, a liturgical year or church year, is a cumulative celebration and commemoration of the “saving works of God in Jesus Christ” throughout a calendar year.
The year is divided into seasons, each of which begins on the day of a moveable feast. Because of this, the length of each season varies/may vary from year to year. Most denominations observe six seasons, each representing a significant event in the life of Jesus Christ. These six seasons are Advent, Christmas, Lent, the Paschal Triduum, Easter, and Ordinary Time.
Astronomical versus meteorological seasons
A Color for Each Season
Every liturgical season has a color associated with it. The color for the Christmas season, which begins on December 25 and ends the day before Epiphany, is white, while the color for Lent is purple or violet.
When Does a Liturgical Day Begin?
A liturgical day spans from midnight to midnight, just like its counterpart in the Gregorian calendar. The celebration of Sundays and other solemnities, however, begins on the evening of the day before.
At timeanddate.com, we only show the main date in our calendars and yearly holiday lists, although the observance may begin on the previous night.
Solemnity, Feasts, And Memorials
In addition to Sunday, the holiest day of the week within the church, the church calendar has several events of note throughout the year.
Within the Catholic Church, solemnities are the most important events. Celebrations begin the evening before with first vespers or evening prayers. These include Easter, Pentecost, the Immaculate Conception (December 8), Assumption (August 15), Solemnity of St. Joseph (March 19), and the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29).
Feasts are second in line in order of importance within church celebrations, while memorials commemorate a saint and can be obligatory or optional.
In eastern Christian traditions, Pascha or Easter is the holiest day of all. Easter is followed by the twelve great feasts in importance, three of which are moveable with their dates depending on the date of Easter.
| Feast | Orthodox Calendar Date | Gregorian Calendar Date | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epiphany | January 19 | January 6 | |||||||
| Presentation of Christ (Candlemas) | February 15 | February 2 | |||||||
| Annunciation | April 7 | March 25 | |||||||
| Palm Sunday | Sunday before Pascha | Sunday before Easter Sunday | |||||||
| Ascension Day | 40th day after Pascha | 40th day after Easter | |||||||
| Pentecost | 50th day after Pascha | 50th day after Easter | |||||||
| Feast of Transfiguration | August 19 | August 6 | |||||||
| Assumption of Mary | August 28 | August 15 | |||||||
| Nativity of the Theotokos | September 21 | September 8 | |||||||
| Exaltation of the Cross | September 27 | September 14 | |||||||
| Feast of the Entrance | December 4 | November 21 | |||||||
| Nativity of Christ | December 25 | January 7 | |||||||
The Importance of Sunday
Sunday is the first day of the week in the Christian tradition. It is a day to celebrate the paschal mystery, which refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sunday is also often called the Lord's Day by observing Christians.
In the Catholic tradition, Sunday celebrations can only be replaced by solemnities or feasts of the Lord. However, Sundays in the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter rank high. If any solemnities fall on these Sundays, they are observed on the preceding Saturday or the following Monday.”
Please note: I do not own a Gregorian calendar anymore. It is pagan, and it is replicated after Roman Catholics, and you read it yourself. They purposefully wanted to place Easter on the calendar. It is NOT Jesus’ crucifixion!!! Matthew 12:40; Matthew 26-28. Christ was buried for 3 nights/3days. Good Friday-Sunday is 36 hours. Please repent, and count for yourself. The Hebrew calendar is closest to the Bible. I count the days and months after scripture names or Hebrew names; not BABYLONIAN NAMES!!! Saturday is the seventh day, and is Sabbath. It’s the same in every language, on purpose.
- Names of Months. The names of the months of the Hebrew calendar are:
- Abib or Nisan ( Exodus 12:2-37 ; Exodus 13:4 ; Nehemiah 2:1 ; Esther 3:7 );
- Iyar or Zif ( 1 Kings 6:1 );
- Sivan ( Esther 8:9 );
- Tammuz ( Ezekiel 8:14 );
- Ab;
- Elul ( Nehemiah 6:15 );
- Ethanim or Tishri ( 1 Kings 8:2 );
- Marchesvan or Bul ( 1 Kings 6:38 );
- Chisleu ( Zechariah 7:1 );
- Tebeth ( Esther 2:16 );
- Sebat ( Zechariah 1:7 );
- Adar ( Esther 3:7 ).
- Events in the Seventh Month. The seventh month of the year was distinguished by,
- the feast of trumpets ( Numbers 29:1-6 ),
- the day of atonement ( Leviticus 23:26-32 ),
- the feast of tabernacles ( Leviticus 23:34-44 ),
- and every fiftieth year the jubilee began in this month ( Leviticus 25:1-17).
THE BIBLICAL CALENDAR AND THE BIBLICAL FEASTS
People have invented many calendars, but there is only one calendar of God. This is described in detail in the Bible. The sun, moon and stars were not only created to give us lights, but also to be able to determine the time correctly. Many think all this is complicated, but God's calendar is very simple to understand. In a few words before going into the details: Each month begins with the first visible crescent moon, the so-called "new light." Full moon is always in the middle of the month, half moon in between, because when there is no moonlight, the month ends. All logical. And after that, the 7 feast days of the year are clearly determined. God's calendar is sensational because it connects the heavenly bodies with nature, thus defining time. So this means that when we see the condition of the moon and nature (state of development of vegetation), we always know on which day of the year we are. The constellation of the stars gives us an additional piece of information and makes it even easier because it allows us to orientate ourselves not only in terms of time but also in terms of location (geographically). Isn't all this brilliant? (Download the festive calendar as PDF: see below)
The figure above shows the first three biblical feast days (High Sabbaths) according to the astronomical and biblical calendar of God 2023, where each month begins with the first visible crescent moon (new light) over Jerusalem, and the mathematical Jewish calendar 2023 used in Israel. In 2020 and 2023, the Passover feast days fall on the same days in both calendars (see 2020) and correspond in sequence exactly to that year in which Jesus was crucified. However, in many years there is no correspondence, but there is a difference of 1-3 days between the two calendars (cf. TorahCalendar); in some years it is even about 2 weeks if the leap years are calculated incorrectly. It is very important to know the difference between the two calendars, because it is a matter of life and death: this has great importance for Yom Kippur, because if the priest entered the Holy of Holies on the wrong day, then he had to die. Therefore, it is necessary to know God's calendar and His timing.
Explanation: The illustration above shows the date of the first biblical feast days in 2023. The blue numbers correspond to the date in God's biblical calendar and the red letters and numbers show today's date in the Gregorian (=Catholic) calendar. However, there are differences between the "Calendar of God" mentioned in the Bible and today's "Jewish calendar". The new Jewish calendar was created centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem(70 A.D.), since Jews scattered around the world could no longer see the first crescent of the moon (the "new light") over Jerusalem to determine the beginning of the year and month and thus also all holy days. The Jewish calendar was established by Patriarch Hillel II in the year 359 A.D. (see Wikipedia). On the basis of this calendar now everyone knew in advance which month has 29 and which 30 days and when the respective holidays or feasts are (Passover, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot...). This made it possible for the first time that all Jews scattered all over the world had the same feast days and could even calculate them long in advance. Thus this calendar has several errors, but we must not criticize the Jews for this, because so far nobody could show a better alternative for calculation when the crescent moon cannot be seen. And at that time there were no moon phase dates from the NASA. The Jews have kept this calendar of Hillel until today and do not orientate themselves according to the astronomical and biblical calendar of God (with the first crescent moon), therefore there are inaccuracies in some years. Consequently, it is not the same calendar that the Israelites had at the time of Jesus, as will be explained in more detail in the following text. During the almost 2,000-year period of the dispersion of the people of Israel among all nations, the calendar of Hillel made sense; but at the latest since the return of the Jews to Israel (1948) and Jerusalem (1967), there is nothing to be said against using God's calendaragain, especially since the laws of nature (astronomy) about moonlight have never changed. We should rather use the same calendar that God introduced and that was also used by Jesus Christ (Yeshua ha Mashiach) and the first Christian church. See also The Differences Between the Jewish and Biblical Calendars.
The calendar of God is a LUNISOLAR calendar, that is, it is bound to the moon (lat. luna) and the sun (lat. sol). The Islamic LUNAR calendar (with which the holidays wander through all months, since 12 lunar months result in only 354 and not 365 days of the solar year) and the Gregorian (Roman or Catholic) SOLAR calendar (with which the "new light" of the moon can arrive on all days in the course of the month) are to be distinguished from this.
The biblical calendar of God is an exact and purely astronomical calendar in which every month (and thus every year) begins with the first visible crescent of the moon (the so-called "new light"). In Israel, at least two witnesses had to see the first light (new light) of the moon to communicate the beginning of the month and year to all the people. The Jewish calendar, on the other hand, is a mathematical calendar in which the beginning of the month is not always determined by the visibility of the first crescent moon. Instead, astronomical averages were observed, but not the real astronomical data. Some Christians invent new calculations every year with a "true Passover", "true Pentecost" or "true Yom Teruah", they create a real chaos and lead the church (the Bride of Christ) to the wrong feast days. Do these people really think that the Israelites were supposedly incapable of determining their own feast days themselves according to Leviticus 23 and needed new and contradictory revelations from Christians all the time to do so? No, certainly not; the Israelites have been calculating the feast days correctly for thousands of years. The only difference with God's calendaris that the current Jewish calendarused in Israel to this day dates back to the 4th century AD, when the Jews, who were expelled from Israel in 70 AD, could no longer see the first crescent moon over Jerusalem. For this reason, Patriarch Hillel invented a mathematical calendar based on statistical averages that did not pay much attention to the first crescent moon. Therefore, in some months the month may begin one or more days too early or too late. As a result, both calendars differ by 1-3 days in some months. Because of this inaccuracy, Jews celebrate the annual High Sabbaths (feasts, festivals) on two consecutive days for safety. However, this does not apply to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), since it is a fast day and two days without food would be unreasonable and was never ordered by God.
Since the first sheaf (the first ripe ears of early grain) always had to be harvested at Passover, the state of ripeness of the grain was also always considered in Israel in order to be able to determine the first month of the year with certainty. If the grain was still too unripe, a leap year (about every third year) with an additional month was introduced to align the calendar with nature. In concrete terms, this means that the first new light of the moon in the area of the equinox (see Table) was taken as beginning of the month and the year. However, there is disagreement here, because some calculate the first month of the year not AFTER the equinox, but so that the 15th of Nisan (the first High Sabbath of the year) is on or after the equinox, but not the first day of the month. This dispute can be very easily settled if the state of nature is considered, for the decisive criterion is always the ripeness of the grain. After all, if the early grain was still too unripe at the beginning of the year, then of course there could have been no first sheaf and therefore no barley harvest at the time of Passover. The TorahCalendar website calculates the first day of the year so that the equinox (= March 19/20/21) is on or after Nisan 15 (middle of the month). This is also how other scholars calculate. This would allow the harvest of the firstfruits sheaf, because if the first month of Aviv/Nisan were to begin one month too late (as some Christians erroneously calculate), then the ripe barley grains would fall to the ground and the harvest of the firstfruits sheaf would no longer be possible (see Barley amd Wheat Harvest Times in Israel).
In addition, the fall feast days would also begin a month too late and the priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple on a false Yom Kippur and thus would have to die. If in spring the farmers said that cutting the first stalks of barley after 15 days would not be possible, then the priests had to add a leap month, so that the Israelites would always have the feasts on the exact days God appointed and could always bring the wave offering of the first just ripened ears of barley (the firstfruits sheaf) on the 16th of Nisan (see Omer). God's calendar was thus always in harmony with nature. Christians who do not know God's calendar have invented the unbiblical teaching that the first day of Aviv/Nisan must supposedly always begin after the equinox. This is wrong because then harvesting the first sheaf would be totally impossible in some years. So this alleged "true Passover" is actually a "false Passover" and thus even after 50 days there is no "true Pentecost" but a "false Pentecost" of spirits who want to lead the Bride of Christ (the church) away from the feasts of God. See harvest times in Israel.
With the Jewish calendar, which does not consider the ripeness of the grain, the yearly beginning can begin however also far before the equinox. Thus the biblical calendar (=calendar of God) and the Jewish calendar of Hillel differ in some years even by almost one month. Of course then also the holidays (the 7 High Sabbaths) fall on completely different days. If Christians now expect the coming of the Lord or certain events (Rapture) on a certain biblical feast day of the year, they must therefore orient themselves on the calendar of God and not on the calendar of the Jews, although in many years the feasts often fall on the same days (for example Passover and Pentecost 2020). In theory the calculation is simple, because we have exact astronomical data of the new light of the moon, which e.g. NASA supplies, and thus all calendar dates can date ahead and even centuries back. In practice, however, it is not easy for the layman, since there can be several months in which it cannot be determined with certainty whether the new light can (or could) be seen over Jerusalem or not. In addition it must be considered with astronomical data that a Roman or Gregorian (=Catholic) calendar dayhas portions in 2 nights, since it begins and ends at midnight. Thus the new light of the moon can be seen either in the night at the beginning or at the end of a Roman or Gregorian (Catholic) day. But abiblical day (or Jewish day)contains only one night. And all biblical days do not begin at midnight, but already after sunset. Therefore not only the date of the calendar day must always be considered, but also the respective time (hour) in which the new light (the first visible crescent of the moon) can be seen. Otherwise people would determine a false biblical feast day. The sunrise in the morning is always the middle of a biblical day and Jewish calendarday (see defintion of the biblical day).
There are some Christian churches (e.g., the splinter groups of the Church of God in the USA) that teach that the sacrifice (and grace) of Jesus Christ is not enough to give us eternal life, and that it is also necessary for Christians to keep the weekly Sabbath and all the 7 biblical feasts (High Sabbaths) of the year. They teach that Christians must live like Jews and that working on the Sabbath and on the seven annual holidays (high Sabbaths) is a rebellion against God and can lead to the loss of eternal life. But these Christians overlook the fact that they themselves often sin against God and yet are not as righteous as they think. Because in some years they celebrate the high Sabbaths on completely wrong days (sometimes even in the wrong month), because they orient themselves by the mathematical Jewish calendar(Invented by church scholars), but not by the astronomical and biblical calendar of God, where only the first visible crescent moon (the new light) determines the beginning of the month and thus also the respective fixed date. These churches also calculate the feast of Pentecost incorrectly in most years, i.e. according to the Jewish calendar of Hillel from the 4th century and not according to the calendar that Moses received from God and that the Jews used at the time of Jesus. The apostle Paul has repeatedly pointed out in his letters that we were saved by grace and not by works of the law. The Sabbath and the feast days are a shadow for the future in God's plan, as will be explained below. However, God has determined the moon for the definition of time (not the mathematical calendar which the Jews invented in the 4th century A.D.):
Genesis 1:14-16: And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons [Hebrew moed, Strong 4150: appointed time, place, or meeting, festival times; literally: agreed time, gathering time], and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights - the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night - and the stars.
Psalm 104:19: "He [God] made the moon to mark the seasons [Hebrew moed, Strong 4150: appointed time, place, or meeting, festival times; literally: agreed time, gathering time]; the sun knows its time for setting."
Psalm 81:3: "Blow the trumpet at the new moon [literally: newness; i.e. new moon or month], at the full moon [for example on Nisan 15], on our feast day."
Many pastors want to avoid problems with the calendar of God and prefer to orientate the calculation of the feast days to the Catholic calendar, which is called "Gregorian calendar" in honor of one person, Pope Gregory XIII (*1502; †1585), until today and is in clear contradiction and opposition to the "calendar of God", "calendar of Jesus" and "calendar of the Bible". The Pope simply dared to change the calendar of God and also the whole schedule of weekly and annual feast days. Many lukewarm pastors don't want to lose their jobs, support this approach and therefore simply claim: "It doesn't matter on which days we celebrate the birth and resurrection of Jesus, the main thing is that we celebrate something." With their argumentation they do not support Jesus, but the pope, who also says it does not matter at all on which days we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but the main thing is just not according to God's calendar, but on pagan feast days, i.e. at the wrong time. The Pope's calendar with its festivals will pass away, but God's calendar will remain eternal and will also be used by people in the Millennium. Yes, as soon as Jesus returns to earth (after the 7 years of tribulation), there will be no more Catholic or Jewish (according to Hillel) calendar in all eternity, because then only the calendar of the Bible (= the calendar of God)is valid, which has always been and is the calendar of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there is something unbelievable, because some pastors openly call the pope the "false prophet" or the "Antichrist" in their videos on You Tube; but on the other hand they want to celebrate the Catholic feast days of this very "Antichrist" (as they say), defend his Catholic calendar (Gregorian calendar) and at the same time hide the calendar of God from the church? Here we can see how absurd and illogical all this is.
The uncomfortable important info is: All feasts of God are gatherings with God. He set the time, not the pope. And if people do not recognize God's calendar and do not want to listen to God, then they come either too early or too late to the assembly and thus celebrate only with themselves, but not together with God.
The Word of God is the most precious gift we have. And God's love does not want the children of God to be seduced into a false calendar and false feast days that the Bible never knew.
The Criteria with which God Defines the Time Calculation and His Calendar
As has already been shown, the biblical calendar of God mentioned in Leviticus 23 is a purely astronomical luni-solar calendar. This means that the sun, moon and stars are not only lights, but also determine the time, the calendar and the feast days. The calendar of God is ingenious because it combines nature and time into a harmonious unity. It is defined by 7 points:
1. Each day begins and ends after sunset. Thus, the sunrise in the morning is in the middle of a whole calendar day and ends at the beginning of darkness.
2. A week consists of 7 days and the 7th day is called "Sabbath" (ceasing, resting).
3. Each month begins with the first visible crescent moon over Jerusalem, which is called "new light". In the middle of each month there is a full moon. In addition to the weekly Sabbaths, there are also 7 annual Sabbaths ("High Sabbaths") that fall on different days of the week from year to year, depending on which day of the week the first crescent moon can be seen first in the 1st and 7th months.
4. Each month has 29 or 30 days.
5. A year normally has 12 months. However, since the lunar year is about 10,87 days shorter than the solar year, there is a leap year about every third year with an additional month to bring the calendar in line with nature (phenology). Thus, the spring festival of Passover (Nisan 15) and the autumn festival of Sukkot (Tishrei 15) always fall near the equinox. Since Passover is a spring festival, it may not be celebrated in winter; therefore, the first high Sabbath of the year (Nisan 15) is always either on (e.g., 2011) or usually after the day of the spring equinox but never before. The leap year also prevents the feast days from moving throughout the year, as is the case with the lunar calendar. The leap year also prevents the feast days from wandering throughout the year, as is the case with the lunar calendar.
6. The first month of the year is determined by observing nature, especially the ripeness of the early grain (barley), more precisely according to the state of maturity called "abib" (fresh young barley ears, Strong No. 24), which occurs only once a year. At the end of the year, when the farmers and priests saw that the barley was still too unripe to be cut in the middle of the month, an extra month was added by the high priest. This way, the first month of the year could always be defined without dispute, and the first ears of barley (first-fruits sheaf, Omer) could always be presented as a wave offering in the temple at Passover. Thus, all 7 feast days were always within the range of the harvest seasons in Israel, which also indicates their symbolic spiritual significance in God's plan with humankind. See Barley and Wheat Harvest in Israel.
7. The specific star constellations in the night sky in the respective months indicate apart from the season also the exact geographical position; thus each humans can orient themselves on earth on the basis of sun, moon and stars exactly in time and space. God's calendar is thus an astronomical, agricultural, and geographical calendar (3-dimensional) that combines nature and time into a perfect harmonious unity. No other calendar in the world offers this accuracy, so only this calendar will last forever.
The Jewish calendar used in Israel today from the 4th century CE is complicated and illogical, but the biblical astronomical calendar of God is very simple to understand and every Hebrew child in biblical times knew it. Based on the state of the moon and the degree of development of plants, we not only know what month of the year we are in, but we can even determine the day quite accurately (see the videowith the phases of the moon) and based on the star constellations we know where we are located geographically on earth. No other calendar in the world is so accurate and offers this perfect connection between time and nature.
In 2020, the Jewish calendar fell on the same feast days as God's biblical calendar. But in many years the Jews and also some Christian groups celebrate the wrong feast days because they are not based on the Bible but on the human traditions of rabbis. See: The differences between the biblical and Jewish calendars.
The 7 High Sabbaths and the Harvest
God loves celebrations, that is why He has set holidays for people so that they may have joy in life and not just work. A week consists of 7 days. The Sabbath is the 7th day of the week. It begins on Friday night and ends on Saturday night. It reminds of creation, our creation (we may live!!!) and the rich arrangement of the earth with plants and animals. In addition to the weekly Sabbaths, God has also determined 7 annual Sabbaths (= feast days or high Sabbaths), which fall on different weekdays. On them special rest was ordered. If an annual Sabbath falls on a weekly Sabbath, then it is called "double Sabbath". The great feast Sabbath of Passover (the 15th Nisan) was such a double Sabbath in 2019 and fell on April 20, 2019 (see calendar 2019).
Three times a year the people should gather with God, namely in spring, summer and autumn. There are therefore two annual Sabbaths in spring (1st month, Nisan), one in summer (3rd month, Siwan) and four annual Sabbaths in autumn (7th month, Tishrei). On the 15th day of the month there was and is always full moon at night. The Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) was the only High Sabbath that was celebrated at new moon. The 7 (number of completeness) High Sabbaths of God are:
Spring (feast of spring fruits: barley):
1) 1st month Nisan, 15th day: Passover 1, 1st day of unleavened bread (Pesach 1)
2) 1st month Nisan, 21st day: Passover 7, 7th day of unleavened bread (Pesach 7)
Summer (feast of summer fruits: wheat):
3) The 50th day after the first High Sabbath: Pentecost (Shavuot, Feast of Weeks)
Autumn (feast of late fruits: grapes and fruits):
4) 7th month Tishrei, 1st day: Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah)
5) 7th month Tishrei, 10th day: Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
6) 7th month Tishrei, 15th day: Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot, 15th-21st day)
7) 7th month Tishrei, 22nd day: Last Great Day of Assembly (Shemini Atzeret, 8th day of assembly, conclusion)
Some Christian pastors have thought up a further annual Sabbath, namely "Firstfruits", by which they mean the day of the resurrection of Jesus. They often refer to this as the alleged "resurrection Sunday" (Easter Sunday) according to the Catholic calendar of the Pope (Gregorian calendar). They can only come up with this wrong idea because they only partially accept the order of God's feast days described in the Old Testament (Lev 16; Lev 23 and Num 28-29) and reject the biblical resurrection of Jesus "after 3 days and 3 nights" (=the sign of the Messiah) (see Resurrection on Sabbath). The resurrection of Jesus is extremely important, but it is in the symbolic part of the entire seven-day Passover feast and must not be considered in isolation. To return to the seven yearly Sabbaths, the theologians simply erase the last important seventh annual Sabbath, namely the "Last Great Day of the Assembly" (Schemini Atzeret). This is in any case wrong, because especially the seventh annual Sabbath has a very great significance in God's plan, as is described in detail below in the text.
All 7 biblical (High Sabbaths) feasts are bound to the state of the moonlight. All 7 High Sabbaths were meetings with God for the Israelites. And all 7 biblical feasts are related to the three agricultural harvest times of barley (spring), wheat (summer) and in autumn: grapes, olives, almonds, figs, pomegranates, citrus fruits and other fruits. They are also thanksgiving feasts, both physical (agricultural) and spiritual. At the spring feast days we thank Jesus for the firstling. In the summer (Pentecost) we thank for our calling and election as firstfruits through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and at the great autumn harvest we thank for the many who after hearing of Jesus will receive eternal life. The first (Passover) and the last annual feast (Festival of Tabernacles, Sukkot) each last 7 days. Three times a year the people of God should gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts together.
The barley harvest lasted from Passover to Pentecost.
The wheat harvest lasted from Pentecost to Tu'B'Aw.
The grape harvest lasted from Tu'B'Aw to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
The first Thanksgiving feast of the spring was Passover, and it was for the first fruit Jesus. The second Thanksgiving is Pentecost in summer and it is for the firstfruits, the first called Christians from all countries and nations (the "Bride of Chirist"). The third Thanksgiving Day is the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall and it stands for the great spiritual harvest of the many people who did not belong to the Firstlings, but who will nevertheless receive eternal life.
The 7 High Sabbaths of the Year with Gregorian Date
The right figure shows the seven High Sabbaths (annual Sabbats, Feasts) according to the Jewish calendar of Hillel (4th century AD) with today's Gregorian dates.
We are especially interested in the years when the 14th Nisan (Preparation Day) fell on a Wednesday. This was also the case in the years in which the First (1918) and Second World Wars (1945) were ended.
Statistically, the 14th Nisan very often falls on a Wednesday, about every third year. This was also the case in the year when Jesus was crucified (see Resurrection Sabbath). Also, in the year the Isarelites left Egypt (Exodus), the preparation day of the 14th of Nisanfell on a Wednesday (for proof see Manna Week). Jesus died on the same day and at the exact same time as when the first Passover was instituted in the time of Moses. Thus Jesus fulfilled the symbolism of the sacrificial lamb in a perfect way (at His last Passover) and made a further slaughter of the lambs superfluous, because these were only a reference to Jesus, the Redeemer.
The following table shows the 7 feast days according to the biblical astronomical calendar of God (e.g. TorahCalendar) and the inaccurate mathematical Jewish calendar (italics). In 2020, both calendars fell on the same days. In some years there are big differences because the leap years (red) with an additional 13th month are often not calculated correctly in the Jewish calendar (2023, 2026, 2029). In the Jewish calendar, leap years are determined mathematically (without regard to astronomy) and occur only seven times in a 19-year cycle (in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years). Thus the connection to the equinox is often lost, which is a big mistake. In God's calendar, the spring and fall feasts are always near the equinox (March 19-21 & Sept 22-24), but in the Jewish calendar often a month after, thus too late. God's calendar, described in Leviticus 23, is an astronomical and agricultural calendar in which the ripeness of the early grain (barley) determines the beginning of the first month of the year, so that the firstfruits sheaf (Omer) could always have been offered in the Temple in Jerusalem as a wave offering at Passover.
In the year 2022 the 7 biblical feast days (High Sabbaths) were celebrated one or two days too early in the Jewish calendar; the boldmarked data correspond to the calendar of God:
1.) Passover 1 (Nisan 15): Fri/Sat, April 15/16; Sat/Sun, April 16/17 (this is also the catholic Easter Sunday)
2.) Passover 7 (Nisan 21): Thu/Fri, April 21/22; Fri/Sat, April 22/23
[Second Passover (Iyar 14): Sat/Sun, May 14/15; Sun/Mon, May 15/16]
3.) Pentecost (Sivan 6): Sat/Sun, 04/05 June; Sun/Mon, 05/06 June
4.) Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah, Tishri 1): Sun/Mon, 25/26 Sept; Tue/Wed, 27/28 Sept
5.) Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur; Tishri 10): Tue/Wed, Oct 4/5; Thu/Fri, Oct 6/7
6.) Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot; Tishri 15): Sun/Mon, Oct. 9/10; Tue/Wed, Oct. 11/12
7.) Last Great Day (Shemini Atzeret; Tishri 22): Sun/Mon, Oct 16/17; Tue/Wed, Oct 18/19
In 2023, the first 3 biblical feast days in spring/summer fall on the same feast days in both calendars. First the Jewish feasts of Israel are mentioned, the bold marked data correspond to the calendar of God. They are correct and independently confirmed by Christians worldwide (e.g. TorahCalendar.com):
1.) Passover 1 (Nisan 15): Wed/Thu, 05/06 April 2023; Wed/Thu, 05/06 April 2023
2.) Passover 7 (Nisan 21): Tues/Wed, April 11/12; Tues/Wed, April 11/12
[Second Passover (Iyar 14): Thu/Fri May 04/05; Thu/Fri May 04/05]
3.) Pentecost (Sivan 6): Thu/Fri, May 25/26; Thu/Fri, May 25/26
4.) Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah, Tishri 1): Fri/Sat, Sept 15/16, 2023; Sat/Sun, Sept 16/17, 2023
5.) Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur; Tishri 10): Sun/Mon, Sept. 24/25; Mon/Thu, Sept. 25/26
6.) Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot; Tishri 15): Fri/Sat, Sept. 29/30; Sat/Sun, Sept. 30/Oct. 1
7.) Last Great Day (Shemini Atzeret; Tishri 22): Fri/Sat, Oct 06/07; Sat/Sun, Oct 07/08
Important: In both 2022 and 2023, the High Priest would die if he entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). In each case, he would have arrived one day early because he followed the Jewish calendar devised by man rather than God's biblical and astronomical calendar. Disobedience to God's calendar means death. Easter also has nothing to do with the Bible and God's timetable, but follows the rules devised by Catholic priests.
The 7 feast days of God in the Menorah illustration
The following illustrations show the 7 Holy Days of God in the Menorahform. They are the seven original feast days of the Bible and not the later falsified order by Christians, where a new feast day "Firstfruits" ("Easter Sunday") was invented and thereby the seventh high Sabbath, the "Last Great Day of the Assembly" (Shemini Atzeret) was erased. In the original order of God (Lev 23), the Day of Trumpets is always in the middle of the series of seven holy days of the year, because the return of Jesus is in the center. In contrast, in the representations invented by theologians, Pentecost is usually in the middle because they put themselves and the church in the center instead of Jesus:
Lev 23:1-2: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts:"
For the source of the illustration with the golden Menorah (without text and flame) see historic menorahs.
1-2) The First Two High Sabbaths of the Year: Passover (Spring)
The first two feasts (High Sabbaths) of God are in spring, at the time of the harvest of the early grain (barley), which in Israel could always be harvested from the middle of the first month. The first biblical month of the year was called Aviv (Abib), because the first ears of early grain could be harvested from it (Hebrew Avivmeans "green almost ripe ear"). It was therefore the month of the ears of corn. "Aviv" means spring in modern Hebrew. Since the Babylonian exile this month has also been called Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esther 3:7), whose name can still be found in the Jewish Calendar today. Aviv and Nisan mean the same month.
"You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt" (Ex 34:18).
The first two High Sabbaths of the year are exactly in the middle of the first month, more precisely on the 15th and 21st Nisan (=Aviv). It is the 7-day Passover festival. On the 14th Nisan the Passover lamb was slaughtered (after it was sorted out on the 10th Nisan). Our Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10thNisan and died 4 days later on the 14th Nisan. He died at exactly the same time as the Passover lambs were slaughtered (9th hour = 3pm). Thus he fulfilled the law and symbolism of the lamb sacrifice in a perfect way, on the same day and eve at the same time (hour). In other words, God has no interest in sacrificing animals. His laws in the Old Testament served only to make it clear to people that sin entails death and that an innocent victim must take the death penalty. Only Jesus was without sin. Therefore, only He was entitled to pay the death penalty for us. This strengthens our connection to Jesus for all eternity, for without Him there could not have been any life for us. Through His death for our sins, Jesus ended another lamb slaughter on Nisan 14 forever and declared it obsolete. In the year 70 A.D. the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Since that time, slaughtering the lambs has been impossible even for those Jews who rejected Jesus' sacrifice. The seven-armed lampstand, the menorah (cf. structure of the menorah), was stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, for the Jews rejected the true light of the world, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-14; 8:12). On the Passover the Hebrews were allowed to work on working days, but no leavened bread was allowed to be eaten during the whole feast. This is a spiritual symbol that we should stay away from spiritual leaven (sin and false doctrines). We should follow Jesus instead.
The night from the 14th to the 15thNisan (Passover festival) has a special meaning. It is a symbol of the time of the exodus from Egypt, when the first birth of the Israelites was saved from death at midnight and the people were liberated at full moon. The blood of the Lamb saved the people from death. This night also reminds of the parable of the 10 virgins and of the salvation of the 5 righteous "in the midst of the night" (Mt 25:1-13). True Christians are the firstfruits in God's plan and they were saved from the eternal death penalty by the blood of Jesus Christ, because they follow Jesus in everything and have what other people do not have, namely true LOVE. The righteous deceased will therefore rise again. Those who are still alive hope to be picked up by Jesus (the so-called "Rapture" or "Robbery") shortly before the time of the great tribulation that will come upon the whole earth. To avoid misunderstandings from the beginning: Jesus himself will pick up his followers (his spiritual "bride") and not aliens (extraterrestrials, demons; see proof), as some will claim, who do not believe in God and the Bible and therefore want to hide the truth with silly excuses. Jesus will come unexpectedly for the world, "like a thief in the night" (1Thess 5:1-5; Mt 24:43-44; Mt 25:1-13; Lk 12:39-40; 2Peter 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15). But there is a big difference: Jesus comes unexpectedly for the world like a thief, but he is not a thief, because a thief takes what does not belong to him, but Jesus will only take those who belong to him and want to be with him. No one knows exactly in which year and on which day it will be, but those who take the Word of God seriously will not be surprised. This could be in the month of Nisan (Passover) or a month later in the second Passover of the year (or even at Yom Teruah or Yom Kippur).
Note: In the few years when the 14th of Nisan fell on a Sabbath (Saturday) (cf. also 2022 according to God's calendar), the slaughter was not postponed but had to be done on the Sabbath as well, because the symbolism and law for the High Sabbath on the 15th of Nisan was far above the regulations for a small weekly Sabbath. The difference of the 4 days of the separation of the Lamb from the 10th to the 14th of Nisan was never to be shortened, and the night of the Exodus on the 14th/15th of Nisan always had to be remembered, not the 13th/15th or even the 12th/15th of Nisan. There were always only 3 hours between the slaughter of the lambs from 3 p.m. and the beginning of the High Sabbath from sunset at about 6 p.m.. Everything had to be done in a hurry to celebrate the symbolism the sudden exodus from Egypt every year. For more info see the chapter on "The Slaughter of the Lambs on the Sabbath, the 14th of Nisan").
The 21st Nisan and its meaning:The 21st Nisan is the conclusion of the 7-day festival of the Unleavened Breads. Already on the 14th of Nisan all leaven had to be removed from the houses. Work was allowed and even required on all days of the festival, except for the two annual High Sabbaths (15th and 21stNisan) and the one small weekly Sabbath in between. The first day of the Unleavened Bread (15th Nisan) was always a yearly Sabbath (high Sabbath), regardless of which weekday it fell on. Therefore also the second annual Sabbath (21stNisan) had to fall from year to year on different weekdays. But what only few Christians are aware of: Before the second yearly Sabbath (21st Nisan) there was still a weekly Sabbath, which was also called "intermediate (inbetween) Sabbath". This little (or ordinary) Sabbath between the two High Sabbaths was called "the one of the Sabbaths" or "the first of the Sabbaths" or "the first Sabbath" because it was the "one" particular Sabbath or the "first Sabbath" of a series of seven weekly Sabbaths counted between Passover (Nisan 15) and Pentecost (50th day) for 3,500 years to the present (see figure Counting the Omer). God commanded for the calculation of the Pentecost: "seven whole/ordinary Sabbaths you shall count... until the day after the seventh Sabbath" (Lev 23:15-16, see Omer). If the Israelites should count seven Sabbaths and if there is a "seventh Sabbath", then of course there is also a "first Sabbath" and "second Sabbath" and "third Sabbath"..., but only once a year. Just as there is the Catholic "firstSunday of Advent" only once a year, there has been this "first Sabbath" of the seven weekly Sabbaths only once a year, and not only the Jews, but also every child of the first Christian church understood this expression, which the evangelists mentioned 7 times in the NT:
Mt 28:1 (2x); Mk 16:2; Mk 16:9; Lk 24:1; Joh 20:1; Joh 20:19.
The following illustration shows the sequence of days on Passover in Jesus' time. The first high Sabbath (15th Nisan) fell on a Thursday and the intermediate Sabbath or the "first Sabbath" fell on the 17thNisan. And exactly the same sequence of days is very frequent in God's calendar, namely about every third year, as also in the years 2020, 2023, 2026, 2027, 2030... (according to the calculation that can be seen in every Jewish calendar):
Jesus had planned a meal Wednesday evening alone with his Council of Twelve in the upper room of the guest house on Mt Zion. The events of the past few days had brought things to a crisis and he knew the confrontation with the authorities was unavoidable. In the coming days he expected to be arrested, delivered to the Romans, and possibly crucified. He had intentionally chosen the time and the place—Passover in Jerusalem—to confront the powers that be. There was much of a private nature to discuss with those upon whom he most depended in the critical days ahead. He firmly believed that if he and his followers offered themselves up, placing their fate in God’s hands, that the Kingdom of God would manifest itself. He had intentionally fulfilled two of Zechariah’s prophecies—riding into the city as King on the foal, and symbolically removing the “traders” from the “house of God.”
At some point that day Jesus had learned that Judas Iscariot, one of his trusted Council of Twelve, had struck a deal with his enemies to have him arrested whenever there was an opportunity to get him alone, away from the crowds. How Jesus knew of the plot we are not told but during the meal he said openly “One of you who is eating with me will betray me” (Mark 14:18). His life seemed to be unfolding according to some scriptural plan. Had not David written in the Psalms, “Even my bosom friend, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me” (Psalm 41:9). History has a strange way of repeating itself. Over a hundred years earlier, the Teacher of Righteousness who lead the Dead Sea Scroll community, had quoted that very Psalm when one of his inner “Council” had betrayed him.
When Judas realized the plan for the evening included a retreat for prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane after the meal, he abruptly left the group. This secluded spot, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley from the Old City, offered just the setting he had promised to deliver. Some have tried to interpret Judas’s motives in a positive light. Perhaps he quite sincerely wanted Jesus to declare himself King and take power, thinking the threat of an arrest might force his hand. We simply don’t know what might have been in his mind. The gospels are content simply to call him “the Betrayer” and his name is seldom mentioned without this description.
When Jesus was arrested his disciples “all forsook him and fled,” though a group of loyal women from Galilee, among them Mary Magdalene and his mother, apparently followed from afar. He was taken first to Annas, who sent him for a mock “trial” at the house of Caiaphas who was his son-in-law and titular High Priest. After being condemned for blasphemy he was taken to Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, who sent him to Herod Antipas who was in town for the Passover festival. Herod sent him back to Pilate and in the wee hours of Thursday morning Jesus was flogged and condemned to be crucified for sedition along with two others.
Jesus and the other two victims were put on their crosses by 9am Thursday. I have argued that the place of crucifixion was none other than the western slope of the Mt. of Olives directly before the Eastern or “Golden” Gate, see “Locating Golgotha.” Whether Jesus expected God would rescue him before things went that far is impossible to say. If he had identified himself with the Davidic figure who was to be “pierced” in Zechariah 12 it is entirely possible that he thought he was destined to be nailed to the cross—but then saved from death itself before it was too late.
What Jesus likely expected was a sudden, dramatic, and overwhelming manifestation of the Kingdom of God—perhaps a great earthquake that would destroy the Herodian Temple, with the sun darkened, the moon turning blood red, the dead being raised, and the appearance of legions of heavenly armies in the sky. During the previous week he had told his disciples who had been admiring the beauty of the massive stones of Herod’s Temple complex that the day would come when not one stone would be left on another (Mark 13:2). At his trial one of the charges had been, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands’” (Mark 14:58). As Jesus had told his disciples the night before at their last meal, “Now is the judgment of the world, now the ruler of the world will be driven out” (John 12:31). The Hebrew prophets had written vividly about the “Day of Yahweh,” when people would cast their gold and silver into the streets and hide in the caverns of the rocks from the “terror of Yahweh and the glory of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth” (Isaiah 1:21). The kings of the earth were to be toppled and Satan himself be shut up in a pit (Isaiah 24:21). For Jesus the prophetic “third day” had arrived and the coming of “the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven” was imminent.
The gospels report that the chief priests and others who had supported them taunted the victims, aiming particular scorn at Jesus: “Let the King of Israel come down from the cross that we may believe!” Standing at a distance was Jesus’ mother, Mary, as well as Mary Magdalene and the other women who had followed him from Galilee on this last journey to Jerusalem. According to the gospel of John the “disciple whom Jesus loved” was also present with Jesus’ mother. Late in the day, when Jesus began to think he might die after all, he officially put his mother in the care of this disciple whom I have identified as his brother James—now to be the “eldest” of the family.
According to Mark Jesus was on the cross from the third to the ninth hour, which is 9am until 3pm (Mark 15:25, 33). Toward the end he began to sensed his life slipping away. He cried out with a loud voice in his native Aramaic tongue: Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachthani? Those are the opening words of Psalm 22—My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? At that point he bowed his head and breathed his last. Other than the words of the Psalm he quoted we will never know what his last thoughts were. It might well be that as he grew weaker he was reciting that very Psalm. It is the prayer of a dying man, attributed to King David, who in the end is saved from terrible suffering and death. In fact, this is the Psalm that specifically refers to “piercing of the hands and feet” (verse 16). The Psalm ends with the hopeful declaration: “God did not hide his face from me but heard when I cried to him.” Up until the last minutes perhaps Jesus believed that God would intervene, save his life, and openly manifest his Kingdom.
Since the Jewish Passover meal or Seder was to be eaten just after sundown that evening, the high priests had asked the Romans to break the legs of the victims to hasten death. The gospel of John remarks, “They did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, especially since that Sabbath was a high day” (John 19:31). When they came to Jesus he appeared to be completely lifeless. One of the soldiers thrust a spear into Jesus’ side just to be sure. He did not flinch. The King was dead.
| ↑1 | This breakdown of the last week of Jesus’ life is based on astronomical calendar calculations not the modern Jewish calendar programs which is a “calculated” calendar not necessarily in line with astronomy in all cases. Here are screen shots of the New Moons in 30 CE as well as the month of Nisan:
 https://jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Crucifixion-of-Jesus-in-30-CE-Nisan-14-Thursday-300x187.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px" />A more detailed breakdown of the events of that week by Daniel Bruce is here:
Many who reject a Friday crucifixion opt for a Wednesday for Nisan 14th but this is not the correct date based on the New Moon of the first month of 30 CE as set by the Vernal Equinox, and thus the seasons for the barley harvest. |
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https://jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/New-Moon-30-CE-300x187.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px" /> 
https://jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Nisan-30-CE-300x164.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px" />
https://jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Nisan-30-CE-186x300.jpg 186w" sizes="(max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px" />The symbolic meaning of the feast is a joyful remembrance of our salvation through the firstling Jesus, the first risen from the dead, the Firstfruit (1Cor 15:20). The seven-day abstention from leaven (7 is the number of perfection) is an indication that we should live the rest of our lives without sin until our death or the coming of Jesus on just before the beginning of the 7th millennium of the history of mankind. We will then be lifted up (Rapture) to Jesus as the firstfruits. Only Jesus opened the door to the Holy Spirit and to the eternal life through His blood. Thus our name could be inscribed in the Book of Life. Through the fulfilled meaning of the Passover it was clear to all believers that the feast season can continue and that the coming spiritual harvest can be brought in on the coming feast Sabbath (Pentecost). If Jesus had not redeemed us before the second death, then there could not have been any fulfillment of the following 5 feast (or high) Sabbaths. Jesus was without sin and His followers should also live without sin and be a light for the world. And not only during the festive season, but throughout life, for which the symbolic number 7 stands, the number of perfection. It was strictly forbidden to have leaven in his house during the Passover. Therefore, only the flat bread cakes (matzos) were eaten. Thus it was symbolically clear to all people: "Abstain as the people of God from sin and from false doctrines of faith". Jesus warned his disciples: "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Mt 16:6) and "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy" (Lk 12:1). The feast also recalls the exodus from Egypt, when God delivered the people and provided them with bread (Gen 12:17; 13:3; Dt 16:3). Paul also writes:
1 Cor 5:6-8: "Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
We must never make compromises with sin or trivialize it, because "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Gal 5:9).
The historical background to the 21st Nisan: After the Exodus from Egypt (full moon night at the beginning of the 15th Nisan, the first High Sabbath) the Red Sea miraculously parted after exactly seven days (on the 21st Nisan, the second High Sabbath; it was around the time of the crescent moon) and the Jewish people passed through on dry land. Suddenly the sea then closed again and the godless Egyptians were judged and went to their destruction. To this day, the last day of Passover is a special holiday that remembers the parting of the sea and the deliverance of God's people. On this day the people were gathered with God. The 21st of Nisan is the conclusion of the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, regardless of which day of the week it fell on.
Exodus 14:30-31: "Thus the Lord saved Israel that day [Nisan 21] from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses."
According to the Jewish calendar, the 21st of Nisan (High Sabbath) in 2021 fell on Saturday, April 3 (began in the evening of Friday, April 2). But according to God's calendar, the annual High Sabbath of the 21st Nisan fell on the Catholic Easter Sunday, April 4 (began after sunset on Saturday, April 3): after the small weekly Sabbath came the annual High Sabbath. The 21st of Nisan is the conclusion of the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, regardless of which day of the week it fell on. On this day there was always a holy convocation (meeting) with God. In the year 2022, the 21st of Nisan fell on Friday, April 22, in the Jewish calendar, and one day later on Saturday, April 23, in God's calendar. It was a double Sabbath because the annual High Sabbath and the weekly Little Sabbath fell on the same day. In 2023, the 21st of Nisan falls on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 in both calendars.
The year 2020 has the same sequence of weekdays at Passover as at the time of the Exodus
As has already been shown, God's biblical calendar and the Jewish calendar fell on the same feast days in 2020.
The year 2020 is also interesting because the sequence of weekdays at the Passover was exactly the same as in the year when the first Passover was instituted in Egypt and as in the year when Jesus died. Specifically, this means that the 10th of Nisan fell on a Sabbath, as it did at the time of the Exodus, when the first Passover lamb was set apart. The Israelites therefore call it the "great Sabbath" (Shabbat ha-Gadol), because from that day on the salvation of the people was officially established and great miracles took place. After that, on the 14th of Nisan (Wednesday) the first Passover lamb was slaughtered and on the 15th of Nisan (Thursday)the Exodus from Egypt took place. This is confirmed by many old and new Jewish sources. See the chapter Shabbat ha-Gadol on Nisan 10. Thus, Jesus perfectly fulfilled the symbolism of the Passover lamb, dying according to God's calendar on the same day and even at the same time that the Passover lambs had to be slaughtered. Therefore, Jesus abolished any further slaughter of the lambs in the temple, because the entire sacrificial ceremony was a symbol on Him and His saving act for us, which has now been fulfilled to the fullest extent. Important prophetic predictions and symbolisms are fulfilled only on certain days according to God's calendar, but not on days that people make up because they do not accept God's time calculation.
In 2023, the 14th of Nisan fell on a Wednesday and the "first Sabbath" fell on the 17th of Nisan
Not only in 2020, but also in the current years 2020, 2023, 2026, 2027 and 2030, the 10th of Nisan fills in on Shabbat Ha-Gadol, the 14th of Nisan (Crucifixion Day) fills in on a Wednesday, the 15th of Nisan /Festival Day) fills in on a Thursday and the "first Sabbath" fills in on the 17th of Nisan, as in the year Jesus was crucified and it is very likely that 2023 will be the year of the Rapture. Here is an example from the TorahCalendar, but the same sequence of days can be confirmed in any online Jewish calendar because in 2023 both calendars fall on the same days. Marked in green are the "first Sabbath" (Mark 16:9) and the "second Sabbath" (April 14/15, 2023) in God's prescribed annual count of the 7 weekly Sabbaths until Pentecost:
The Second Passover Festival
Exactly one month later, after the first Passover festival (14+15-21 of Nisan), the second Passover festival (14+15-21 Iyar) is celebrated every year. It is called "Pesach Sheni" (Second Passover) and begins on the 14th day of the second month of Iyar (or Iyyar). But this applies only to those who could not hold the first Passover for certain reasons (e.g. because of impurity, illness or travel problems; Ex 12; Lev 9:6-13). The repetition of the feast makes it clear that it has always been very important for God that people should become aware of the sacrifice for sins, and that it affects all people without exception. The second month has a reference to the Flood. Noah was to go into the ark from the 10th day of the 2nd month and after the 7-day warning on the 17th day of the month he was freed from the floods and lifted up above the waters (Gen 7:4-12). The many waters (floods) are also a symbol for mankind, peoples and nations (Rev 17:1-15; Dan 9:26; Isa 8:7; Jer 47:2). Noah was 600 years old when he went into the ark and we are currently living about the year 6,000 after Adam, just before the beginning of the Great Tribulation and the subsequent Millennial Kingdom, the Sabbath Millennium. This was foretold by the prophet Isaiah (Isa 11; 65:17-25). Then 120 jubilee years have passed (120 x 50 = 6,000) and there are 6,000 + 1,000 = 7,000 years in God's plan over the earth. There are several prophetic parallels between Noah and Jesus. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th day of the month and 7 days later he rose from the dead on the 17th Nisan and ascended to his father. The number 17 contains the numbers 10 (=law) and 7 (=completion, completeness) in itself. The second Passover is also reminiscent of the Manna Week (although the second Passover was introduced later), because from the 16th of the second month the people received the Bread of Heaven (Gen 16). In the New Testament Jesus Christ refers to manna as the "bread of life" (John 6:30-35).
The second Passover of the year 2022: From the 10th Iyar (=12th of May 2022 according to God's calendar), the day when Noah entered the ark about 4,500 years ago, to the 17th Iyar (=19th May 2022) there are exactly 7 days, the number of completeness. From nightfall on May 18, 2022, is the 17th day of the 2nd month, the memorial day on which the Flood began. It is the day Noah was saved from the waters and the day Jesus ascended to the Father a month earlier (17th Nisan) after entering Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan. Thus, there is a symbolic temporal connection between Noah and Jesus. The year 2022 offers a special feature because on the second Passover (14th Iyar, Pesach Sheni) on the night of May 15-16, 2022 (4:12 a.m. Universal Time, 5:12 a.m. Central European Time and 12:12 a.m. [24:12] in New York), the Blood Moon (lunar eclipse) can be seen over America. According to the inaccurate Jewish calendar it is already the night of the 15th Iyar. In 2023, the 14th Iyar falls on Friday, May 5, 2023, followed by a double Sabbath (the 15th day falls on a weekly Sabbath) on May 6, 2023.
3) The 3rd High Sabbath of the Year: Shavuot = Pentecost (Summer)
From the day after the first yearly Sabbath (15th Nisan; and not after the first weekly Sabbath, as some mistakenly think, see Omer) there is a series of 7 weekly Sabbaths (7x7=49 days) counted until the summer feast day (Pentecost; 50th day) (see image above). Therefore, this third annual Sabbath is also called "Feast of Weeks" (Hebrew: Shavuot). Literally translated it is the "Feast of the Sevens" (Hebrew שבועות means Sevens, i.e. Weeks, Plural). The English name "Pentecost" was derived from the Greek "pentekoste hemera", which means "50th day". In Israel lies Pentecost at the time of the wheat and early fig harvest and was a festival of thanksgiving for the harvesting of summer grain (wheat). It was therefore also called "the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field" (Ex 23:16) or "Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest" (Ex 34:22) or "the day of the firstfruits" (Num 28:26). Every 7 weekly Sabbaths to Pentecost had a name. After the first feast (or high) Sabbath of the year (15th Nisan) followed 7 weekly Sabbaths, thus the "1st Sabbath", then the "2nd Sabbath", then the "3rd Sabbath" etc., and after the "7th Sabbath" there was the Pentecost on the 50th day. So when someone said, "We meet on the first Sabbath," everyone knew it was the first of the 7 weekly Sabbaths until Pentecost. The "first Sabbath" (17th Nisan; Mk 16:9) was the day on which Jesus rose from the dead (more info).
For the Jews, Shavuot is very important because it is the day when the people of Israel (after leaving Egypt) received the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai (Gen 20). As mentioned above, in the Greek language this feast was not called in the long form "Feast of Weeks", but in the short form Pentecoste (=the 50th; cf. Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1Cor 16:8). The number 49(7x7) also plays an important role in the structure of the Bible, because the Bible was written on 49 scrolls (more info), but the 50th book (49+1) is the so-called Book of Life, in which only the names of the righteous are written, who will receive eternal life. The third Sabbath (or high Sabbath) of the year is dedicated to the small group of true Christians who follow Jesus in everything. It is symbolically about the spiritual harvest of the firstlings, the summer harvest, even before the great autumn harvest, which is symbolized by the feasts in the 7thmonth (see also barley and wheat harvest time in Israel).
In the Jewish calendar of Hillel the 50th day always falls on the 6th Sivan (6th day of the 3rd month), but in the calendar of God it falls on different days, namely on the 5th, 6th or 7th Sivan. This is also confirmed by literature (Talmud) from the first century before and after Christ. That is why counting the "50th day" is necessary, otherwise God would have spoken of the 6th Sivan, which He did not do.
After the blood of the Passover Lamb (Jesus) was poured out, which saved the people of Israel (the people of God) from (eternal) death, the people of Israel (and later the Christians) were to leave Egypt (symbolic: to leave sin) for a new and different life in holiness. This is what the 49 (7x7) days stand for. Since people do not know what good and evil is, God gave them the 10 commandments and further rules during the exodus through the desert (symbolic: the life in this spiritually hostile and godless world that surrounds us), so that people could live together in love. Love is the central theme of all God's commandments. The 7 times 7 days (49 days, number of perfection) after the feast of Passover symbolically represent the entire life of Christians over the centuries (cf. the 7churches in Revelation; Rev 2-3). During the exodus the Israelites saw the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, which means that Jesus personally is with us day and night and watches over us, even if the people in the unchristian environment (desert) make life difficult for us by day and night. It is no coincidence that in the same year in which Jesus was crucified, just after these 49 days (i.e. on the 50th day), the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first Christians at the new beginning of Pentecost. This happened on the day of Pentecost of the biblical calendarand not of the Catholic (Gregorian) calendar. Just as God made a covenant with the people of Israel at the proclamation of the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai (Ex 20), God also made an eternal covenant with us by pouring out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with the first Christian congregation. It is the "New Covenant" with the spiritual law of love. This gives us direct access to God and protects us from the power of evil spirits, which are often mentioned in the Bible. While we as Christians must continue to suffer in this evil world because the evil world cannot love us, victory is 100% ours. No one, not even a spiritual power, can separate us from God anymore. Jesus was the firstfruit (symbolic: the Omer at the Passover feast) of the risen dead. But through the preservation of the Holy Spirit, the called believers have also become children of God and thus, as firstfruits, have a share in eternal life even before the many other people who have not yet been called. This gift of eternal life will be given to Christians who have died in Christ and to Christians still alive at the time of the Rapture. This is what the coming feast Sabbaths stands for (Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot), which in contrast to the previous feast days have not yet been fulfilled. Pentecost is the feast of the Holy Spirit and it symbolizes the spiritual first-fruit harvest of converted Christians (who follow Jesus), which is still rehearsed today, until the second coming of Jesus Christ. But the world does not see it because it rejects Jesus and His way of love.
The spiritual significance of Pentecost is well known to most Christians. It is about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the firstfruits, as described in Acts 2. In concrete terms, this means that the Holy Spirit has not yet been poured out to large crowds, but only to a small group of people who follow Jesus Christ in everything and go the way of forgiveness and love. These Christians have been and are persecuted all over the world (even in their own families) because the dark and evil world cannot bear the light. Jesus was a Jew and the salvation of the world took place through a Jew. This is the fulfillment of the Passover feast described above. But his own people rejected him, as John describes:
"He [Jesus] came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11-13).
This is the symbolic meaning of Pentecost: Passover is "the feast of the one firstfruit" (Jesus) who delivered us from the death penalty; but Pentecost is "the feast of the firstfruits" (the Bride of Christ), the people who follow Him in His agape love. According to the Talmudic tradition, Pentecost (Shavuot) is the time of the proclamation of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The first converted Christians all came from Judaism. However, since most Jews have rejected Jesus to this day, God has also called people from all nations. They now belong to His spiritual church. The only distinguishing feature of a true Christian is not belonging to a particular church, but only love. He who does not have love is not a Christian, but a "false Christian" who denies the name of Jesus Christ. Love is poured out by the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit is able to love even the enemies and to do good, even when others do evil. Only love makes the difference. The Bible makes it very clear once and for all: "Anyone who does nothave the Spirit of Christ does notbelong to him" (Romans 8:9). Therefore the Jews in World War II (and before and after) were not persecuted and killed by true "Christians", but by false Christians who used the name of Jesus but rejected Him and hated the followers of Jesus. Many true Christians died in the same concentration camps where Jews were killed. They died side by side. But unfortunately nobody mentions them anymore. The true Christians are a "little flock" (Luke 12:32) and only a few find their way to God:
- "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1Cor 1,26-29).
- "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Mt 7:13-14).
- "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 21 Not everyone who says to me [Jesus], ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 7:19-21).
Jesus Christ was the "firstfruits" (1Cor 15:20) and the true Christians are the firstfruits (1Cor 15:23). They will be raptured according to the Bible before the 7-year tribulation comes over the earth (1Th 4:13-18; 1Cor 15:20-24). The other so-called "Christians", who do not take the following of Jesus seriously, are left behind until they convert to Jesus and accept His way of love.
The liberation and the wave sacrifice: The number 50 (7x7+1) symbolizes not only the conclusion, but also the liberation and cancellation of debts, which in the proclamation of the Jubilees corresponds to every 50 years. Is Pentecost the feast on which the Rapture will take place or will it rather be on the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) or an other day? We do not know exactly. However, one thing is interesting: the first sheaf of the wave offering was brought at the Passover (see Omer counting), which symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus. But many Christians do not know that at Pentecost, too, a wave offering was made (Lev 23:15-17; literally: "of wave"), which could symbolize the resurrection of the firstfruits who died in Christ and who are still living in Christ.
Lev 23:15-17: "You shall count seven full weeks [literally: seven Sabbaths] from the day after the Sabbath [15th Nisan, Passover], from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering.16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord."
The two loaves could symbolize the righteous from the Old and New Covenant (or Israel and the Church, but Israel will not be raptured, only the converts from Israel). In contrast to the first wave sacrifice during the Days of Unleavened Bread, leavened bread could be used for the second wave offering. This shows the difference between the sinless Jesus (firstfruits, Passover) and the church (firstfruits, Pentecost), which has sinned, but has become pure through the sacrifice of Jesus and through His grace (mercy). The second wave offering could be an indication of the Rapture of the church (firstfruits) during Pentecost (see Rapture Pentecost 2021).
It is interesting that the loaves of bread are to be taken out of the houses, which in a way reminds us of the current quarantine period, when the Church of God is in the apartments waiting to be taken away (raptured). This also reminds us of the waiting of the Israelites in the houses at the time of Moses at the introduction of the first Passover and the exodus from the land of sin (Egypt).
Some Christians think that the wave offering must indicate the exact time when Jesus (Passover, barley) and the church (Pentecost, wheat) will be raptured. This is not true, of the wave offerings were always offered at 9 a.m. in the temple. They were not a symbol of the resurrection and ascension (rapture) to take place right now, but they indicate that the resurrection and rapture are imminent. This is a big difference. It was a spiritual preparation. It meant purify yourselves and get ready, because it is going up soon. It was the same at the time of Jesus, when after the High Sabbath, that is, on the 16th of Nisan, the first sheaf of the first barley harvest was swung at 9 o'clock, and only a few hours later Jesus rose from the dead. In the same way, the wave offering on Pentecost is also symbolic of the imminent Rapture of those who have fallen asleep and the righteous who are still alive (hence the two loaves). However, the Rapture can occur on either the first day (50th day after Passover, Pentecost) or the last day of the Pentecost season, i.e., Tu B'Av, the last day of the harvest of the firstfruits (wheat). We are not aware of any source so far that describes a later date for the end of the wheat harvest, because from Tu B'Av the first grapes were ripe and there was no more wheat in the fields, not even in the higher regions.
At Pentecost the Book of Ruth was always read out (see structure of the Bible, Link). It symbolizes the marriage at the time of the summer harvest between the woman from the Gentile who converted to the true faith and married a man from the people of God. It is a wonderful image of the Bride of Christ (the Church of God from all peoples and nations) and the Bridegroom Jesus Christ (see Rapture Pentecost 2021).
The so-called "Christian Pentecost" celebrated in many churches today has nothing to do with the biblical Pentecost or weekly festival, since it is not oriented to the biblical calendar and is therefore always celebrated on the wrong day. There are indeed a few years in which both days coincide; but even then it is not about the same day, because the biblical day of Pentecost begins at sunset, but the Catholic (or Roman) day of Pentecost begins at the deepest night (at midnight). So even then it is two different days. When the Holy Spirit was poured out at the first Christian Pentecost, the day was calculated according to the biblical calendar. As it became clear, the spiritual meaning of the first two yearly Sabbaths (Passover) and the third annual Sabbath (Pentecost) was fulfilled in a perfect way. Only the fulfillment of the last 4 yearly Sabbaths, which are in the 7th month Tishrei, is still missing.
There are various Christian groups who constantly shift the date of Pentecost because they want the alleged Easter Sunday and thus start counting from the wrong day (see Omer counting). They portray the Israelites as people who allegedly themselves have not known for millennia how to calculate their own feasts and now of all times need new revelations from Laodicean Christians who also give new dates every year (see videos on You Tube). This is completely wrong, because in spiritual symbolism it is extremely important to understand that Pentecost must take place exactly after 7x7=49 days (number of sevenfold completeness) with exactly 7 Sabbaths, i.e. on the 50 day after the first feast day (High Sabbath). Just as the year of jubilee is proclaimed on the 50th year, the 50th day after the deliverance from the death penalty (through the blood of Jesus) was to be celebrated, the day on which the church was founded and delivered, because through the Holy Spirit we have a share in eternal life. It is impossible to count from the 17th of Nisan (Resurrection Day) or from the day after (18th of Nisan) because the days of the week in the astronomical biblical calendar change from year to year and thus the resurrection of Jesus would have to fall on different days of the week. This is impossible because many Christians simply think that the sequence of days in the biblical calendar is the same every year as in the year Jesus died. But the counting from the day after the first High Sabbath of the year (Nisan 15) is always simple and logical and is clearly confirmed not only by the Israelites but also by historians (e.g. Flavius Josephus, see Omer). There are 50 days (the Jubilee period) from the first Jubilee feast (Nisan 15) to Pentecost (Jubilee feast for the church). If the Rapture were to occur at Pentecost, it would be the exact period from the first Jubilee Feast (15th Nisan) to our Jubilee Feast, on the 50th day after the salvation of the Israelites from Egypt and our salvation through Jesus on the same day or in the same Pentecost season (seeThe Rapture), which ends on Tu B'Aw (the 15th day of the 5 month). It is very important not to change the symbolic Jubilee Feast of Pentecost, exactly 50 days after the first High Sabbath (15th of Nisan), i.e. after the physical and spiritual exodus. Only this perfectly shows the spiritual relationship of the preceding bridegroom to His bride (who follows him wherever He goes).
The Fig Tree Generation
The year 2019 has special characteristic: On the day before the Sabbath, Friday, May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was founded. That means: On Monday, May 14, 2018 was the 70th birthday and on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 the 71styear of Israel began. But according to the Jewish calendar the foundation day was the 5th Iyar 5708 (=Independence day, Jom haAtzma'ut). Thus the true 70th birthday of Israel was already before, namely on the 5th Iyar 5778, which corresponds to the 20th April 2018. The true 71st birthday of Israel is therefore already exactly 4 days before May 14, namely on May 10, 2019 (=5th Iyar 5779). Exactly on this day the 70th year of Israel ended. Although Israel's independence was declared on a Friday, the rabbis nevertheless decided not to celebrate Independence Day on Iyar 5 in a few years, but to postpone it by one day so as not to come into conflict with the Sabbath rest. Therefore the Jews celebrated Independence Day 2019 already on the 4th Iyar (Thursday) and not on the actual day before the Sabbath (Friday 5th Iyar, 5779). In 2020, Independence Day was on Wednesday April 29 (5th Iyar 5780). In 2021, Independence Day was on Thursday, April 15 (3rdIyar 5781, because the 5th Iyar fell on a Sabbath). In 2022, Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) is on Thursday, May 5 (4th Iyar 5782). In 2023, Independence Day is again on 5thIyar 5783, which is Wednesday, April 26.
However, only the "Provisional Government of Israel" was established on 14th May 1948. It was a transitional cabinet that existed until the 10th March 1949 (9th Adar 5709). On 25 January 1949 (just under 9 months after the declaration of independence) the first parliamentary elections were held.
Exactly 9 months (cf. duration of a pregnancy) after the founding of the State of Israel (May 14, 1948), the Parliament of the State of Israel met for the first time on February 14, 1949 and two days later gave itself the name Knesset (lit. "gathering" or "assembly"). This date corresponds in the Jewish calendar to the 15th Shvat (15th day of the 11th month, 5709).That was on the feast day "Tu BiShvat", the "New Year of the Trees", as trees are traditionally planted on this day. On February 10, 2020 (=15th Shvat 5780) the 70th year ended and the 71st birthday of the Knesset was celebrated.
The "First Government of Israel" was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 8 March 1949 (7th Adar 5709), a month and a half after the elections for the first Knesset (Jan. 25, 1949) and there were 12 ministers. It is interesting to note that Moses died on the 7th of Adar. Some sources start counting the first official government not from the 8th, but from the 10th of March 1949 (9th Adar 5709). On the 7th Adar 5780 (March 3, 2020) the 70th year ended and the 71st birthday of the first official government was celebrated. According to the Gregorian calendar the 70th year of the first government ends on 8 March 2020 (12th Adar 5780).
Why is the 70th year of Israel important to us? Quite simply because Jesus himself spoke of this generation, because the fig tree in Mt 24:32-34 and Lk 21:29-31 is a symbol for Israel. The symbolic fig tree had been cut down for about 2,000 years since the year 70 A.D., because the Jews were spread all over the world. But with their return and with the foundation of the state on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708) the fig tree (=the state of Israel) began to grow again. Therefore the people born in this year correspond to the last generation in which the events of Mt 24 must take place. In Psalm 90:10, the normal lifetime of man is defined as 70 to 80 years. In concrete terms, this means that the generation born after 1948, according to Jesus' own words, should not pass away until everything is fulfilled (1948+80=2028). The 80th year ends in the Shmitta year2028/2029. Until then, the terrible prophecies of the Last Days mentioned in Mt 24, in the Book of Daniel and in the Apocalypse will be fulfilled.
The example of the foundation of the state of Israel shows how important it is to differentiate between the Jewish and the biblical calendar, because otherwise important prophetically predicted events cannot be correctly classified in their symbolism. In the first mentioned calendar often the leap years and therefore also the feast days are calculated wrongly. The day of the birth of Israel on Friday, May 14, 1948 was in the Jewish calendar only the 5th Iyar (5th day of the 2nd month); but in the biblical calendar of God it was the 4th Sivan (4th day of the 3rd month), thus directly the day before the 7th Sabbath in the Omer-counting and even directly before the Pentecost (beginning from sunset on May 15, 1948; see TorahCalendar). This is symbolically of great significance, for thus the birth/founding of Israel (prophetically: the unfaithful bride) occurred at the time of Pentecost, just as the birth/founding of the New Testament Church (prophetically: the bride of Christ) occurred at Pentecost (Acts 2). So there was a great Pentecostal miracle not only in the year of Jesus' resurrection, but also in May 1948, the year of Israel's rebirth. Due to the fact that the Jews reject God's calendar, although it was the original calendar of their fathers, this important basic knowledge remains hidden from them and many are not aware of God's involvement in the foundation of the state, so that they do not thank Him. They do not know that the newspaper "The Palestine Post" pictured above proclaimed the birth of Israel to the entire world exactly on May 16 and that day was Pentecost! So the official and worldwide proclamation of the founding of the state of Israel took place on a Pentecost day, on Sunday, May 16, 1948. This also means: the beginning of the fig tree generation was officially announced on a Pentecost day to all Christians who are waiting for the coming of their Lord (see Rapture). Thus they have a clue how to reckon.
In other words, just as the New Testament Church (Bride of Christ) was founded/born at Pentecost 2,000 years ago, the foundation/birth of Israel (unfaithful Bride) also took place on May 14, 1948, at the time of Pentecost. But the birth of Israel did not take place on the day of Pentecost itself, because this day is reserved for the New Testament Church, marked by the wave offering of the two loaves (symbolizing the Rapture of the righteous of the OT and NT). The birth of Israel (fig tree) was thus officially communicated to the Bride of Christ precisely on her own founding day of Pentecost, so that the Bride of Christ could accurately identify the signs of the times and the beginning of the last generation before the Second Coming of the Lord. The Jews reject God's calendar to this day, so this knowledge and connection with Pentecost remains hidden from them (they miscalculated by one month); they will not be raptured, but left behind and have to go through the tribulation. Then they will realize their mistakes.
From the founding of the state on May 14, 1948 to the Preparation Day of Passover on Nisan 14 (April 16, 2022) are:
May 14, 1948 to April 16, 2022 = 27,000 days, without 1st date (73 years, 11 months, 2 days)
From the biblical Pentecost on May 16, 1948, to Passover (Nisan 15) on April 17, 2022, then to the second Passover (Pesah Sheni) on May 16, 2022 (with the blood moon), and then again to Pentecost on June 6, 2022, are:
May 16, 1948 to April 17, 2022 = 27,000 days, inclusive 1st date (73 years, 11 months, 2 days)
May 16, 1948 to May 16, 2022 = 27,028 days, exclusive 1st date (=exactly 74 years)
May 16, 1948 to June 6, 2022 = 27,049 days, exclusive 1st date (74 years, 21 days)
May 16, 1948 to June 6, 2022 = 27,050 days, inclusive 1st date (74 years, 22 days)
From the year 2022/2023 great events could shake the world and it is obvious that soon all the prophecies will come true. Those who cannot see the signs of the times now are like the foolish virgin (Mt 25:1-13). It is worthwhile to be vigilant during the 7 annual feast days of God, because everything has its deep meaning. But many will realize this only when it will already be too late.
The Time of the Rapture and the 7,000-Year Plan of God with Humankind
No Christian can determine the exact time for the Rapture of the Church. Every Christian must always be ready and alert. But it is possible that this could take place on one of the 7 biblical feasts (more information). The feast days of the Bible are closely related to God's 7,000-year plan with mankind. It begins with the Passover and the blood of Jesus (our salvation from the death penalty) and the foundation of the church after 49 days with the 7 Sabbaths on Pentecost (Shavuot) and the era of grace. The Rapture is the end of the Age of Grace. These were the first two harvests of the first fruits (Jesus and Bride of Christ), but in the fall the spiritual harvests of the late fruits continue: Jesus' return follows after 2,000 years (and after the 7-year Tribulation) on Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets), then comes the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) with our atonement and the capture of Satan (the root of all evil). After that comes the Millennium (Sukkot), where we will reign together with Jesus and finally the the final judgment and the Last Great Assembly Day (Shemini Atzeret). After that comes eternity in agape love and without suffering and tears, in a spiritual world together with God, our Papa. In God's plan, the meaning of life is revealed. Life here on earth was only a training for eternity so that we can learn the agape love and God can separate the righteous from the unrighteous. Those who have made themselves the most small and served others in agape love will be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. At the latest then everyone will realize that it was worthwhile to follow Jesus and to be different from the world:
4-7) The Last 4 High Sabbaths of the Year (Autumn)
The calendar of God has 7 great or high Sabbaths, which are also called annual or feast Sabbaths. After the two feast Sabbaths in spring (15th and 21st Nisan = Passover festival) in the first month and the one in summer (50th day, Pentecost, or weeks festival, Shavuot) there is after a longer break in autumn (in the 7th month) the last 4 high Sabbaths of the year, namely on the 1st, 10th, 15th and 22nd day of the 7th month. With the autumn holidays a new dimension in God's plan begins. Now it is symbolically about the time of the judgment and the time of the return of Jesus Christ, as well as about the life afterwards.
The 7th month of the biblical calendar (September/October) has the Hebrew name "Ethanim". The word is derived from "strong (water currents)" or "even rivers", which means that in this month the rivers begin to carry water permanently. It symbolizes the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit over the entire earth. Already before there was a small outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (on the 3rd annual Sabbath). However, this was intended only for the small group of the first called Christians. They are therefore called "firstfruits" who follow the firstfruits (Jesus Christ) in everything. The 7th month is mentioned several times in the Bible. Example:
"And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the 7th month" (1Kings 8:2)
In the post-exile epoch (i.e. after the Babylonian captivity) the Jews determined the 7th month to be the 1st month according to the new state Jewish calendar and gave it the Babylonian name "Tishrei", which means 'beginning' by its meaning. This name is still established in the Jewish calendar today. So it is the Jewish (but not the biblical) New Year's Day, because the biblical year begins with the month Aviv (or Nisan). Now it also becomes understandable why the Jews call the first day of the month "Rosh Hashanah" in their new calendar, which translates as "head" or "beginning of the year".
Note: On September 15/16 and October 15/16 the first crescent moon (the new light) cannot yet be detected over Jerusalem. The light of the moon increases but is not visible until the following night. In the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Tishrei 10) is thus celebrated one day too early; the priest would die if he entered the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple on this day.
4) The 4th High Sabbath: Yom Teruah = Day of Trumpets
The 1st day of the 7th month in Israel is called "Rosh Hashanah" (Hebrew "head / beginning of the year") because after the Babylonian exile it became New Year's Day in the new state Jewish calendar. The reason was that, according to Talmud, the creation of the world and Adam and Eve were assumed this month. "Rosh Hashanah" is a term invented by humans, which does not appear once in the whole Bible. However, the biblical name for the 4th yearly Sabbath and the first biblical autumn feast day is "Yom Teruah". The Hebrew teruah means literally "day of shouting or blasting", because especially on this day the Shofar horn had to be blown several times. Yom Teruah is thus the "day of noise blowing", the so-called "Feast or Day of Trumpets". It is a day of alarm and warning of the coming judgment and plagues. On the Day of Trumpets the shofar horn had to sound particularly loud and a meeting was to be held in memory (Lev 23:24; Num 29).
The symbolic meaning of the feast: The end of the harvest time in autumn symbolizes the beginning of the completion of God's plan for humanity. It is now a matter of the main spiritual harvest of those who were not among the first called (cf. Pentecost; firstfruits). The sound of the trumpet is a final warning for the world to repent, otherwise great tribulations will arise. But it also symbolizes the visible return of Jesus Christ to earth after the 7-year tribulation. But many Christians hope that this feast could have a double fulfillment and that on the day of the trumpets the Rapture of the church will also take place shortly before the Great Tribulation. Jesus' presence is at first intended only for his little church, but not yet for the whole world, since it will go through the tribulation. The wars in the Last Days make it clear for all eternity that man is not in a position to rule himself and to live in peace and harmony. Humanism cannot save the world, since human desire is selfish and evil (Gen 6:5-6; 8:21; Job 14:4; Ps 14:3; Mt 15:19; Rom 3:10-18,23). Only the law of God and his love can save the world permanently and protect it from suffering of all kinds. The first invisible coming of Jesus before the tribulation is the resurrection of the called Christians who have already died. At the same time the Rapture of the converted Christians still alive takes place (1Cor 15:51-53; 1Thess 4:13-18; Rev 4:1). The world did not expect this. Everything comes as a complete surprise, although the Rapture was even shown in some Hollywood films.
The day of Trumpets is the only feast Sabbath of the year that takes place on a new moon in the last month of the feast period, which stands for the last period in God's plan. The Day of Trumpets is therefore the only feast-day that begins in the darkness, at the new moon, which is difficult to determine. At least two witnesses had to wait 2 nights until they could finally see the appearance of the first crescent of the moon and thus proclaim the 7th month of the year. This indicates the sudden, unexpected and for the world completely surprising Raptureof the Bride of Christ. On the day of the trumpet the trumpet was blown 100 times and the last one was called "the last trumpet" and reminds of the words of Paul and the rapture of the church (see last trumpet and rapture).The parable of the 10 virgins and the unexpected coming of the Lord at midnight serve as a comparison (Mt 25; Lk 12:35-48). But despite this great miracle, most will not convert to Jesus because they will believe the lie that these people were allegedly kidnapped by aliens and that the Bible was supposedly an evil book. The 10 days until the next coming feast day (the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur) should be used for repentance to spiritually cleanse oneself. Those who do not allow themselves to be warned and do not purify themselves spiritually and do not end their sins will not participate in the first resurrection (cf. Mt 25).
The trumpet blowing is a hint to the 7 trumpets in the book of Revelation (Rev 8-11 and 16-19), which reach their climax with the visible return of Jesus to earth at the time of the last 7th trumpet. Jesus himself will return to the earth with all glory and will take over the government of the earth. Thus, as the king of all kings, he will establish the millennial kingdom of peace (the Sabbath Millennium) prophetically foretold long before. But Jesus does not come alone. He comes with the saints, the Christians who died in the Lord, who were lifted up to God 7 years before and will now reign over the earth together with Jesus as kings. The first feasts (Passover and Pentecost) were already fulfilled. The Day of Trumpets has not yet been fulfilled and will be fulfilled in a very short time, at the latest by 2028. This is proved by Jesus' words about the fig tree generation (see above).
5) The 5th High Sabbath: Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement
The 10th day of the 7th month (10th Tishrei) is the Day of Atonement after the 10 Days of Repentance (from the 1st to the 10th Tishrei). The Hebrew words "Yom Kippur" literally mean "Day of Atonement". It was the only Sabbath of the year on which fasting was prescribed throughout Israel. It was not allowed to eat or drink.
"And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever" (Lev 16:29-31; Lev 16; see Lev 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11; Joel 2:12-17; Mk 2:20).
Whoever did not fast in Israel at the time of the Old Testament (the Old Covenant) had to die (Lev 23:29-32). On the day of fasting, people should remember their sins and their consequences for the family and the world. For many Jews, the Day of Atonement is the most important day of the year because it symbolizes access to God, since only on this one day in the year was the high priest allowed to enter the holy of holies of the temple before God. Here again it becomes very clear that Israel had to keep to God's biblical calendar, because if the priest appeared on the wrong day, he would have to die. Moreover, this day was so holy that on Yom Kippur (and not in the first month of Nisan) the Jubilee years (the 50th year) were proclaimed, in which there was a atonement (reconciliation) and all came to their rightful possession. Wikipedia describes the great importance of this feast day:
"According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a book, the Book of Life, on Rosh Hashanah, and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend their behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God (bein adam leMakom) and against other human beings (bein adam lechavero). The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public and private petitions and confessions of guilt (Vidui). At the end of Yom Kippur, one hopes that they have been forgiven by God" (Wikipedia).
"While the Temple in Jerusalem was standing (from Biblical times through 70 CE), the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) was mandated by the Torah to perform a complex set of special services and sacrifices for Yom Kippur to attain Divine atonement, the word "kippur" meaning "atone" in Hebrew. These services were considered to be the most important parts of Yom Kippur because through them the Kohen Gadol made atonement for all Jews and the world. During the service, the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies in the center of the Temple, the only time of the year that anyone went inside" (Wikipedia).
Symbolic meaning of the feast:The high priest stands symbolically for the spiritual bride of Christ. The bride may stand before God the Father under the loud trumpet on this day, because her sins have been forgiven and she is atoned with God on this day. This is the Day of Atonement of God with the Bride! If the bride (the priest stands for this) were to appear before God on the Feast of Trumpets (1st Tishrei), she would have to die because she had not yet atoned. Only from the Day of Atonement is the way to Jesus/God open and the bride can step directly before him. For the Jews, Yom Kippur prophetically means the return of Yahweh to Jerusalem, for on that very day he will be near them. But we have to distinguish between the plan for the bride on the one hand and the plan for the whole world on the other hand. The bride may be going ahead, but the other people will follow later: After the great tribulation, the rest of the Christians and Jews will also atoned with God. After the tribulation and after the visible return of Christ, all sins are brought to the sin-goat, Satan, and laid on his head. The scapegoat (Satan), "the deceiver of the whole world" (Rev 12:9), is taken to the wilderness (spiritual prison), where he can no longer lead anyone away from the way of God. It is a day of remembrance and deep repentance, for sins have brought much suffering and death into the world and they must not be played down. This capture of Satan, prophesied long in advance, takes place right at the beginning of the millennial kingdom (Rev 20:1-3). The world is reconciled, sins are forgiven and Satan (the causer of sin, destruction of the environment, suffering and death) is eliminated. It is a day of remembrance, but also a day of joy, because it symbolizes forgiveness, salvation and atonement, so that we may come before the Father as the pure bride of Jesus. Nothing more stands in the way of the wedding. The high priest was only allowed to step before God on the Day of Atonement, that is, only once a year. When Jesus was crucified, the curtain of the Most Holy was torn in two (Mt 27:51; Lk 23:45), so that we could speak (pray) with God personally from that moment on, but as spirit beings we will shortly and forever live together with Jesus and the Father, and always be in the protective presence of God. The Jews believe that the gates of heaven are open until the end of the Day of Atonement and are closed afterwards. This day also symbolizes the separation of the righteous from the wicked.
In the magazine "ISRAEL HEUTE" is written: "On Yom Kippur Day, according to Jewish tradition, the gates of heaven and the books close before God. The judgment of God over man is thus established. That's why one wishes oneself "a good entry" shortly before that. In the ten days of conversion after New Year's Rosh Hashana, the Shofar horn is blown in large numbers in order to inspire man to repentance and repentance, man researches his heart and asks God and man for forgiveness. In Israel the streets are empty on Yom Kippur Day, and one spends most of the time in the synagogues and recites the many prayers of imploration "Awinu Malkenu... (Our father, our king...)... More and more Messianic Jews are fasting today since Yeshua is the high priest and we his congregation, i.e. representatives, should also pray and fast for forgiveness of the sins of our people - like the high priest once a year when he entered the holy of holies. That is why many believers on this day also read the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament (especially chapters 5 to 7). For now that we have been cleansed by God's Lamb, His Son, we can pray and fast for the repentance and atonement of a people. But when we fast, then as our Lord made clear in the Sermon on the Mount: "When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to man as a faster, but to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. Matthew 6:16-18" (translated from the magazine "ISRAEL HEUTE" of September 21, 2007 (see link).
More information about the expulsion of the goat from the community of people on Yom Kippur: On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the priest had to put his two hands on the head of the goat, pronounce before him all the sins of the people, and then send him into the wilderness (see Leviticus 16). This has a deep spiritual meaning, because the goat is an ancient symbol of Satan. All the sins of the people are transferred to him, because he is the root or cause of all evil. "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Rev 12:9).
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit [abyss], and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the 1,000 years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season" (Rev 20:2-3).
The capture of Satan is the prerequisite for the beginning of the following feast day Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) in God's calendar, because there must be no more seduction and destruction in the Millennium.
There are many representations of Satan. Already from thousands of years he was represented in Egypt and Babylon as a goat's head. From this is derived the well-known image of Baphomet (another name for Satan, literally: "Bufihimat", which in the Arabic-Spanish language means "father of knowledge"). His image is widely used in occult and political circles and in secret lodges. Baphomet is the powerful demon of lust (sexual perversion), so he has male and female characteristics. His penis resembles the rod of Hermes, which is entwined by 2 snakes. Behind it is the so-called "arch of power", and above it are 2 large breasts. He has the head of a goat with two big horns symbolizing strength and danger. He has big ears and big eyes, which means he sees and hears everything. About him is the torch of light (which is supposed to mean the divine light), because he pretends to be the light (sun god) and the illuminated one, who is supposed to have the knowledge. He is located in the sphere area between the sun (below) and the moon (above). He has power over the world, therefore he sits above the planet Earth and his great flights show that he can fly anywhere. He has his legs crossed, over them the blanket of secrecy, with which he tries to hide the cross of Jesus and the true Christianity and to lead to other religious traditions and feasts, so that people follow him and don't know about the true Christianity and the following of Jesus in the agape love. Many people think it is great and cool to follow him because he can give power and wealth for a short time (see Mt 4:1-11), but everything is only temporal. His days are numbered and this is also symbolically described in the biblical festival Yom Kippur since thousands of years. Satan will never be able to hide true Christianity, because we have the Bible and the Holy Spirit and after the return of Jesus on Yom Teruah, Satan will be captured on Yom Kippur and brought in chains to the prison of the underworld (abyss). We need not be afraid of this being, for our God is infinitely stronger and has everything under control. We also have power over the demons in the name of Jesus Christ, (Mk 6:13; Acts 4:10-12; 19:1-20) therefore there must be the Rapture of the Bride of Christ before evil can unfold in all its violence and brutality in the 7-year Tribulation. People will see demons and think that they are aliens from other planets who want to save the world (see chapter Rapture, text in the lower part).
There are many advantages to knowing God's calendar, even though in the New Covenant we do not have to fulfill the OT law as the Jews did. For those who are humble and do not follow the catholic calendar and the holidays of the pope, God reveals many interesting details that are hidden for most Christians, because they think that they already have everything (Rev 3:14-21; church of Laodicea) by following the teachings of the pope and his religious feasts (Good Friday, Easter Sunday as the so called "Resurrection Sunday" instead of the biblical Resurrection Sabbath, Catholic Pentecost day, Christmas at the time when the pagans celebrated the birth of the Sun God...). Jesus' return will abolish all these religious feast days for all eternity, then only the feast days of the Bible and the Luni-Solar calendar of God, which connects the universe and nature in perfect harmony with time, will be valid. We are not afraid to describe this, for God says: "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them" (Eph 5:11). But many pastors hide the calendar of God and the biblical feast days from the church, that's why many can't understand several statements in the NT correctly.
e NT correctly.
6) The 6th High Sabbath: Sukkot = Feast of Tabernacles
Five days after the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) begins on the 15th day (it is full moon again) of the 7th month (Hebrew Sukka means "Tabernacles"). It is after or still at the time of the main harvest of: grapes, olives, almonds, figs, dates, pomegranates, cactus fruits, citrus fruits and other fruits. It is the "feast of the harvest at the end of the year, when you have collected the harvest of your work from the field" (Gen 23:16) or "the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end" (Ex 34:22). The feast was accompanied by great joy, because the tenth saved before (the saved 10% of all income) could be spent. It was therefore a time of abundance and of physical and spiritual well-being. The Feast of Tabernacles lasts 7days (15th to 21st Tishrei). The 7thday of the feast is known as Hoshana Rabba (Hebrew hoshana means "So help!"), but it is not a feast or high Sabbath. Sukkot is a Thanksgiving feast, a time to say "thank you" to God that we were able to live and bring such a great harvest (the blessing).
Symbolic meaning of the feast: It symbolizes first of all the great spiritual harvest of people who do not belong to the so-called first fruits (the first called, the firstlings). After the small harvest of the firstfruits (barley and wheat) there will be a third large harvest. This refers to all those people who did not belong to the firstlings (Rapture) and died without knowing about Jesus Christ. But their resurrection will not take place until the end of God's plan. This will affect the overwhelming majority of people who will also be reconciled with God in time after the firstlings and who will be accepted into the kingdom of God. This is the happy main harvest of men. If there were the rapture of the firstfruits on the Feast of Tabernacles, this would also be the end of the spiritual harvest of the firstfruits. It would be a symbolic prefulfillment of the feast, because after that the first great tribulation would come, and only after this would the Millennial Kingdom begin. After the atonement with God (Yom Kippur) the spiritual wedding feast is celebrated. A Jewish wedding lasts 7 days and the Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes this wedding celebration. The Feast of Tabernacles primarily symbolizes the Messianic Kingdom of Peace: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God" (Rev 21:3). In the millennial kingdom all nations will move to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (Zech 14:16-19). The seven-day feast (7 is the number of perfection) stands for the millennial kingdom (Rev 20:1-6). After the 6,000 years (6 is the number of men) of the government of men over the earth, and the associated chaos (Rev 1-19), the world will be under the dominion of God in the seventh Sabbath millennium (7 is the number of God) (Rev 20:1-6). The believers who had died before in Christ were raised from the dead (and raptured to God). They will reign in a spiritual body together with Jesus, the king of kings, in the millennial kingdom (Rev 20:4-6). The 7th and last Sabbath millennium claims God for itself and its way, so that people can see the difference to the former life. It will be a time of great joy and exuberant wealth. It will be a time without hunger, without environmental destruction, without suffering and without disease. Not only that, God also changes nature's behavior to its original state, all predators on earth will be peaceful and will only feed on plants (Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:17-25). It is about the restoration of paradise, which was destroyed by man and is now being built and protected by God and His saints (who were raptured 7 years earlier):
Isaiah 11:6-10: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse [with this our Lord Jesus is meant], who shall stand as a signal for the peoples - of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious."
Isaiah 65:17-25: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress... 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord."
7) The 7th High Sabbath: Shemini Atzeret = Last Great Day of Assembly
Directly after the 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) follows on the 22nd day of the 7th month the so-called "last great day". This is called Shemini Azeret (Hebrew literally "eighth [day] of the assembly") or the closing feast. It is the 7th festival in the 7th month after 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles. He is mentioned several times: Lev 23:36, Num 29:35; also in the description of the dedication of the Solomon's temple in Jerusalem (2Chr 7:9-10) and in the celebration after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile (Neh 8:18).
Symbolic meaning of the feast:This special Sabbath is the seventh and therefore last annual High Sabbath and is symbolically comparable to the weekly Sabbath (7th day), because it is an indication of the final rest of all humanity from all work and toil, without suffering and sadness. After the millennial kingdom (see Sukkot above) Satan will be released from prison for a short time (Rev 20:7-10) to be captured for all eternity. So no more seduction will emanate from him for all eternity. This is followed by the resurrection of all who have not yet been raised (Rev 20:5) and the Final Judgment before the white throne (Rev 20:11-15; Rev 22) and thus the conclusion of God's complete plan. The judgment will also be a teaching in the laws of God. The unteachable people will be punished and will not receive eternal life, but the people converted to God and Jesus will receive eternal life as a gift and richly rewarded. Life here on earth is a spiritual training or education of people for eternity. The one who has chosen the way of love has been inscribed in the Book of Life. People who have learned suffering in their bodies and yet have confessed to God cannot and will not sin for all eternity. Shemini Atzeret is the eighth (8th) day of the gathering. The number 8 symbolizes the new beginning and eternity. It also means that from now on Jesus, whose name has the numerical value 888, has completed His plan and will reign forever ensuring stability. Eternal life follows as a spiritual being in love, peace and harmony under the protection of God. The last feast symbolizes the conclusion of God's plan, the assembly of all risen men before the throne of God and eternal life in joy afterwards. Therefore we can understand why Jesus spoke the famous words exactly on this last High Sabbath of the year:
John 7:37-39 (ESV): "Rivers of Living Water. 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day[lit.: in now the last day the great (day) of the feast], Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
We must always consider the context and sequence of the resurrections: The first to be raised from the dead was Jesus (the firstfruits, symbolised by the Passover). After that, the firstfruits will rise, the small group of the first called (the Bride of Christ, symbolised by the Passover). But only after the 1,000-year kingdom will there be the resurrection of those who were not among the firstfruits. Therefore, those who know God's calendar can understand what is meant by the "last day" that Jesus referred to in John 7:37-39. In John's Gospel, the last day is mentioned several times. The basic Greek text is easy to understand and really literally says "on the last day" (eschate hemera). The day of resurrection for the Bride of Christ is, of course, the day of the Rapture, it is the last day until which the spiritual harvest of the firstfruits (the Bride of Christ) has taken place. But the last day in God's plan (Shmini Azeret) refers to the period of resurrection AFTER the 1,000 years of the Millennium (which is symbolised by the Feast of Tabernacles, as shown above). We must also note that at the time Jesus lived, knowledge of the Rapture was not yet given, but only hinted at. That is why most people at that time thought that they would not be resurrected until "the last day", that is, until all the prophetic events of the Bible had been fulfilled, that is, temporally only at the end of the 7,000 years of God's plan. However, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on a biblical day of Pentecost, the knowledge of the Rapture was revealed to the disciples, which Paul reports about in detail. His texts are of great importance to us because they show us that the firstfruits will be resurrected already before the tribulation and NOT only "on the last day" (after the 7,000 years), which is symbolised by the seventh High Sabbath Shmini Azeret.
Jn 6:39-40: "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
Jn 6:44: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
Jn 6:54: "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
Jn 11:23-26 "Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
God's 7,000 Year Plan for Mankind and the 7 Feast Days
As already described above, God has a 7,000 year plan for mankind, which is also reflected in the symbolic of the feasts. After the 6,000 years of human rule, the 1,000 years of God's rule follow (the Millennium). 6,000 years means a period of 120 Jubilee years (120x50=6,000 years). The age of the Church (the new covenant) began at Passover (first feast) and Pentecost (Shavuot) 2,000 years ago. This is followed by the Rapture, the 7-year tribulation, then the return of Jesus (Day of Trumpets, Yom Teruah) and the 1000-year kingdom, which is symbolized by the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the "World Sabbath," as this epoch of time is also called. After the Millennium there will be the Final Judgment (the last great High Sabbath, Shemini Atzeret) and then eternity. The seven High Sabbaths show in a wonderful way how God brings his spiritual harvest into the eternal kingdom of heaven.
ADDITIONAL FEAST DAYS 2023
In addition to the 7 annual or high feast Sabbaths, which were ordered by God as early as the time of Moses, there are other feast days in Israel that came into being over the following centuries as a result of special historical events. The most important are Tisha B'Av (Day of Great Mourning) on the 9th of Av in the 5th month of the biblical year, and Tu B'Av (Day of Joy, Feast of the Wedding) on the 15th of Av. On this night of the full moon (14/15th of Av), the virgins of Israel went to the vineyards to find a bridegroom while singing and dancing. It was the end of the wheat harvest and the end of the Pentecost season, because from that time the harvest of the autumn fruits (grape harvest) began. In 2023, the feast days in the 5th month of Av fall on the same days in both calendars, but in the Jewish calendar it is the 11th month. In winter the Hanukkah festival is celebrated, the lights of the candlesticks bring light to the dark time. The feast of Purim (Day of Joy, Feast of Lot, Feast of Salvation) is at the very end of a biblical year, i.e. in the 12th or 13th month (leap year) and in 2024 it even falls on different months in both calendars, because the Jewish calendar inserts a leap month. Therefore, the Jews celebrate the Passover in 2024 (April 24) too late, because the barley would have already fallen to the ground by that time and the firstfruits sheaf could not have been offered in the Jerusalem temple.
On these additional feast days in the 5th and 12th months, two books of the Festival Scroll (Megillot) are still read aloud to this day (see Structure of the Bible), namely the Lamentations of Jeremiah (9th Av) and the Book of Esther (Purim).
The 9th of Av - Tisha B'Av - The Day of Great Mourning
The worst day in the biblical (or Jewish) calendar is the 9th day in the 5th month Av (July-August). The name of the month comes from the calendar of the Chaldeans and was adopted by the Jews after the Babylonian exile. The 9th of Av (=Tisha B'Av) is a day of fasting and mourning, especially because exactly on this day the first and second Jerusalem Temple were destroyed and the Jews had to go into exile. The prophets foretold this because the sins of the people of Israel were so great that God temporarily withdrew His personal protection over the land. The light of God, the seven-armed menorah, was removed from the Temple (more info). The painting by Francesco Hayez (1867; Link) shows the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the robbery of the menorah on the 9th of Av in 70 AD by the Romans.
If the 9th of Av falls on a Sabbath, then the fasting is postponed to the 10th of Av. Every year at the feast the Lamentations of Jeremiah are read out. They are the third book of the five scrolls (Megillot) and belong in the Old Testament (Tanach) to the group of scriptures (Ketuvim, see Structure of the Bible). Since the 9th of Av fell on a Sabbath in the Jewish calendar in 2022, fasting and mourning were postponed to the following day (10th of Av; Sunday, August 7, 2022). In 2023, in the 5th month of Av, God's calendar and the Jewish calendar fall on the same days of the week.
The Jewish 9/11: The month of Av is indeed the 5th month in the biblical or religious calendar of God, but in the civil Jewish calendar it is the 11th month. Thus, the Jews have their own 9/11 on the 9th day of the 11th month, which also recalls the tragedy of the collapses of the Twin Towers in New York, the day of disaster.
It is astonishing, because besides the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple there are other events that are either clearly historically documented or, according to tradition, fall on this day of all days. Due to the many sins of the people of Israel, God allowed the first and second temples to bedestroyed and all the Jews to be expelled. It was therefore also a day of judgment for Israel. The 9th of Av is the Israeli day of disaster:
- Av 9 (Exodus): The terrible message of the spies and Israel's 40-year desert migration. "The people of Israel were told in the desert that they still had 40 years to go. The episode is reported in Genesis 4:13. There is no date given, but according to Jewish tradition the event happened on the 9th of Av "(Wikipedia, translated; Wiki-2). The historical background is as follows: When the people of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, scouts were sent to explore the land and its inhabitants. They saw that the land was very fertile, but also that the inhabitants were very strong, because giants also lived there. The people of Israel became afraid and panic of the inhabitants. They no longer trusted God, cried all night of the 9th of Av, complaining and murmuring against God, and wanted to go back to Egypt (Num 14:1-4). Therefore, God punished the people of Israel and the whole generation had to die in the desert and only their children were allowed to enter the promised land:
"According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, 40 days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity 40 years, andyou shall know my displeasure 35 I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die" (Num 14:34-35). - Av 9, 3175 = August 16, 586 B.C.: Destruction of the 1st Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar when the city was plundered. The Jews were captured and exiled to Babylon.
- Av 9, 3830 = August 4, 70 AD: Destruction of the 2nd Jerusalem Temple by the Romans. The Jews were captured and expelled into exile to all parts of the world (Diaspora).
- Av 9, 3895 = August 5, 135: Killing of many Jews during the Bar Kokhba revolt. The Romans crushed the revolt and destroyed the city of Betar, killing about 580,000 Jewish civilians on August 4, 135 AD. In the following days the killing continued. Afterwards, in 135 AD, the Roman commander Turnus Rufus destroyed the site of the temple in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
- Av 9, 5050 = July 18, 1290: Expulsion of the Jews from England. All Jews were expelled from England for nearly four centuries, their property was looted.
- Av 9, 5066 = July 21, 1306: Expulsion of the Jews from France on 22nd July 1306.
- Av 9, 5252 = August 2, 1492: Expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal, Inquisition. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand ordered the expulsion of all Jews from their country. The Hebrew date on which no Jew was allowed to remain in the country was the 9th of Av. (August 2, 1492). Many Jews fled to North Africa. For centuries afterwards, no open Jewish life was possible in Spain until modern times. On August 3 (the morning after the expulsion) Columbus sailed for America.
- Av 9, 5674 = August 1, 1914: Outbreak of the 1st World War. On August 1, 1914, the German Reich declared war on Russia, and on August 3, the declaration of war was made to France. Only a few days before that, on 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. There were 120,000 Jewish dead in the armies. In addition, the Jews were held responsible for the lost war, although the percentage of Jews fighting on the German side was very high.
Contrary to the often spread opinion, the 2nd World Wardid not begin on 9. Aw., because the invasion of Poland took place only on the 1st September 1939, thus more than one month after Tischa B'Aw. In the case of WW2, however, this was not the decisive factor, because in WW1 many Jews themselves were still actively involved and fought as officers or soldiers also on the German side. Much more important in connection with Israel was now that in each case at a Tisha B'Av the liquidation of the Jews was decided, as the following dates prove: - Av 9, 5698 = August 6, 1938: Concentration camp construction. By 1938 there were already several internment camps for political prisoners. But from the end of the 1930s onwards, the construction of extermination camps was started. The 9th Aw fell on a Sabbath. Therefore, from Monday, August 8, 1938, the construction of the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria began. After that, numerous other extermination camps were built in Europe. On 27 April 1940 Himmler ordered the construction of the concentration camp in Auschwitz.
- Av 9, 5701 = August 2, 1941: The Final solution of the Jewish question is decided. "On August 2, 1941 (Av 9, AM 5701), SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for 'The Final Solution'. As a result, the Holocaust began during which almost one third of the world's Jewish population perished" (Wikipedia).
- Av 9, 5702 = July 23, 1942: Extermination of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto was gradually dissolved by a decisionon 22 July 1942 as part of the "Great Action". Most of the ghetto inhabitants were taken to the Treblinka extermination camp.
- Av 9, 5754 = July 17, 1994: The AMIA bombing, of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killed 85 and injured 300 on July 18, 1994 (10 Av, AM 5754).
If Israel wants to prevent further future judgments on the 9th of Av (as happened with the destruction of the two temples), then it must turn to God and his laws and trust Him. God has promised to protect Israel in the last days, when all the nations of the earth will gather together in battle against Israel. God loves Israel, it is His people, so the nations that are against Israel will also be punished. Israel must not divide the land and give it to other nations, as the ancient prophets warned. Otherwise, this will not only bring punishment on Israel, but also on the nations that support it (USA).
At the moment, Israel has not yet recognized that many of the biblical feasts have a reference to Jesus Christ (such as Passover, Pentecost, Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles). Israel rejected Jesus and persecuted his disciples, even though He came from their own people (their own family). Jesus said: "A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household" (Mk 6:4). The famous Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri has given the people of Israel the name of the Messiah who will protect them and save them from destruction (more info on Kaduri's note).
The 15th of Av - Tu B'Av - The Day of Great Joy
Tu B'Av (translated "Fifteenth of the Aw") is a small Jewish holiday on the 15th of the Av (July/August), which is not mentioned in the Torah. It is not a state holiday, but a normal working day, even though there is much singing, celebrating and dancing at night. Some have made it a "half-holiday".
Since this holiday is in the middle of the month, there is always a full moon at night.
The 15th Av was first made a feast day in the Hebrew year 2,487 (1,274 BC). It was the day on which the people of Israel entered the Promised Land. The whole older generation of the Exodus had been condemned to death in the desert because of unbelief. But after 40 years of wandering in the desert, the mysterious passing away of the elderly ceased, and the younger generation was finally allowed to enter the Holy Land. This was a cause for celebration, for there was now a new beginning and an end to the strange death of the elderly family members.
In the territory of Israel, this day continued to be kept as a day of joy because it symbolized the beginning of the grape harvest, while Yom Kippur meant the end of the grape harvest. There is even biblical evidence of this, for it is recorded that 40 years ago the spies entered the Promised Land: "now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes" (Num 13:20); they "cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them" (Num 13:23). On the 9th of Av, the people grumbled against God and were punished by God for 40 years; however, after this punishment, the entry into the Promised Land did not take place on the 9th of Av (day of mourning), but on the 15th of Av (day of joy). Between the 9th of Av and the 15th of Av are the 7 days of preparation and transformation from sorrow to joy.
In the course of time a new custom developed. The special feature was that at the time of the second Jerusalem Temple (before the destruction in 70 AD) the virgins or unmarried girls of Jerusalem put on white robes on the 15th of Av and went dancing in the vineyards. They wanted to draw attention to themselves in order to find a potential husband. A man who did not yet have a wife also went into the vineyards outside the city to look for a bride. Often these white robes were only borrowed so that nobody could distinguish the poor from the rich women. Before that all the clothes were carefully cleaned. The women sang song lyrics like "do not turn your eye to beauty, but to the family and the being or God-fearing character of the woman". Here is a comparison from the Bible:
Proverbs 31:30: "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
So the Tu B'Av is about finding the groom, marriage and a new life in love and harmony. The 15th of Av is therefore one of the happiest days of the year and a contrast to the saddest day of the year, the day of mourning 9th of Av (see above), only a few days before in the same month.
Originally, this custom "Dance of the Virgins" originated in Shiloh (a place in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, today West Bank). In the pre-monarchical period, the Ark of the Covenant was located here for several years, which is why the people went on pilgrimage here for the feasts and sacrifices. Apparently, it was a regular custom there that the virgins of Shiloh gathered in the vineyards on the 15th of Av for a round dance. This went on for generations. The Benjaminites knew this and used this opportunity to kidnap the women and marry them. In the book of Judges this is reported:
Judges 21:19-23: "So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 20 And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards 21and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty." 23 And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them."
In the book of Jeremiah there is an indirect reference to the virgin of Israel and the dance, obviously in the vineyards:
Jer 31:2-6: "Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, 3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. 4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the danceof the merrymakers. 5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. 6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’"
The Talmud considers Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur to be the greatest festivals of the year. After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD, this holiday was forgotten over the centuries, but has been reinstated in Israel in recent years. There is singing and dancing on the full moon night of Tu B'Av. In today's Israel it is called "the feast of love" and can be compared to Valentine's Day, when lovers give each other presents. It is said to be a suitable day for weddings. The commentary to the Talmud (see Wikipedia) also states that from this day on inter-tribal marriages were permitted, which in turn also points to the probable day of the wedding of Boaz and Ruth, because Ruth came from the Gentile nation and is a symbol for the Bride of Christ (the saints called from the Gentiles):
- „While the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, female orphans without brothers could only marry within their tribe to prevent their father's inherited territory in the Land of Israel from passing on to other tribes, following the incident of the Daughters of Zelophehad. After the conquest and division of Canaan under Joshua, this ban was lifted on the 15th of Av and inter-tribal marriagewas allowed.
- That same year, the last of the generation of the sin of the spies, which had been forbidden to enter the Promised Land, found that they were not destined to die. For forty years, every Tisha B'Av night, the Jews made graves for themselves in which they slept on Tisha B'Av; every year a proportion of them died. In the 40th year, the fifteen thousand who had remained from the first generation went to sleep in the graves and woke up the next day to their surprise. Thinking they made a mistake with the date, they did this until they reached Tu B'Avand saw a full moon. Only then did they know they were going to enter the Land of Israel with the new generation.
- The Tribe of Benjamin was allowed to intermarry with the other tribes after the incident of the Concubine of Gibeah (see Judges chapters 19–21).
- Cutting of the wood for the main altar in the Temple was completed for the year.
- King Hoshea of the northern kingdom removed the sentries on the road leading to Jerusalem, allowing the ten tribes to once again have access to the Temple.
- The nights, traditionally the ideal time for Torah study, are lengthened again after the summer solstice, permitting more study.
- The Roman occupiers permitted burial of the victims of the massacre at Bethar during the Bar Kochba rebellion. Miraculously, the bodies had not decomposed, despite exposure to the elements for over a year.“
For many Jews and some Christians this is the presumed day when Ruth and Boaz got married. It is also a reference to the Rapture and the wedding between the Bride of Christ (the church) and the Bridegroom Jesus. See Rapture Pentecost 2021.
Hanukkah
In winter, another festival is celebrated in Israel, which is mentioned only once (Jn 10:22) in the entire Bible, because it was created in the period after the completion of the Old Testament and before the New Testament was written. On the 25th of Kislev (the 25th day of the 9th month, always in Nov/Dec) begins the 8-day Festival of Lights, which is also called the Temple Dedication Festival (Hebrew Hanukkah = dedication, consecration). It is a Jewish festival commemorating the re-dedication or renewal of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BC (year 3597 in the Jewish calendar). This occurred after the successful Maccabean revolt of the Jews of Judea against Hellenized Jews and Macedonian Seleucids (Greeks). On 25 Kislev (167 BC), the Greeks offered pagan sacrifices in the temple (1Macc 1:57-64). On the same day, the Maccabees liberated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after defeating the army of the Syrian-Greek king Antiochus IV. On the 25th of Kislev, the fighting ceased. The Altar of Zeus was removed from the Temple and Temple service was resumed.
The name Kislev comes from Akkadian (an extinct Semitic language) and means "thick" or "enriched," referring to the thick rain clouds of the onset of winter rains. Thus, there is some symbolic reference to Noah's Ark, as the feast also commemorates the onset of rain and the salvation of the righteous few who belong to God and are distinguished from the rest of the world by agape love. They are a light in this dark world, they are the bride of Christ. This recalls the parable of the 5 wise virgins whose lamps are filled with oil (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) and produce light (symbolic of justice and love).
The Bible does not report this, there are only some mentions in the 1st book of Maccabees, in the books of Flavius Josephus and in the Talmud. According to tradition, a miracle happened after the dedication of the temple: The menorah, the 7-branched candlestick in the temple, should never go out. According to later tradition, due to the battles with the Seleucids, only a jar of consecrated oil was left. This oil was enough for just one day. For the production of new consecrated oil 8 days are needed. By a miracle, however, the light burned for eight days until new consecrated oil was produced. The eight lights of the 8 or 9-armed candlestick Hanukkia remind us of this. Every day one more light is lit, until in the end all eight burn (Wikipedia; source of the painting, episode from 2 Maccabees 3:21-28: Link).
The feast takes place at the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th biblical month (Kislev/Tevet, i.e. Nov/Dec), which means in the dark winter nights, around the time of the new moon. To commemorate the Hanukkah miracle, the Hanukkah menorah, also chanukiah or hanukkiah [the 9-branched candlestick] is lit after nightfall. The Hanukkah candlestick is often placed by the window to draw people's attention to the miracle of light.
There is only one mention of the Feast of Dedication, namely in the New Testament in the gospel of John. Jesus was in Jerusalem at that time and made it clear to the people that he was the Messiah and that he was one with the Father. But these statements of Jesus are still rejected by most Jews today:
John 10:22-30: "At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."
Over the centuries, some Hanukkah customs have been established that are not based on the Bible. Especially for this purpose a new 9-armed candlestick was invented, where one light is used to light the other 8 lamps. The Bible never mentions that the light of the 7-branched menorah should be replaced or supplemented by an 8- or even 9-armed candlestick. When the menorah was lit in the temple, all 7 lamps of the menorah burned together during these 8 days. The 7 is a holy number and symbolizes completeness. The number 9 on the other hand is not connected with the holy numbers of God. Christians should not change the seven-branched menorah ordered by God. The following website link shows over 1,000 historical menorah and Hanukkah lamps from all centuries: Menorah.
The Purim Feast - The Day of Great Joy
Since the inaccurate Jewish calendar adds a leap month (13th month, Adar II) in early 2024, the Feast of Purim is in two different months in both calendars. But if the 13th month starts so late, it would mean that the firstfruits could not have been sacrificed at all at Passover in the temple, because the overripe barley grains would have already fallen to the ground. The beginning of the year in the Jewish calendar clearly starts one month too late in 2024, so that Yom Kippur is also celebrated much too late.
The feast of Purim (= Feast of Lots; Hebrew purim means: the lot or fate or destiny) is the last feast of the biblical calendar (in the 12th month), but the first feast according to the Gregorian calendar (February/March). However, there is a special feature, because in a leap year there are two times the month of Adar. On the 14th day of the second month of Adar (that is, in the 13th month) Purim is celebrated. And on the 14th day of the first month of Adar, Purim Katan ("little Purim") is observed. It is called "little" because it is only for remembrance and to distinguish it from the real Purim, which begins four weeks later. The Feast of Purim fell on the exact same days in 2022 on both calendars. In 2024, however, there is a month between the two calendars because the Jewish calendar adds an additional 13th leap month in 2024, which is not consistent with the equinox and the evolution in nature.
This festival was introduced to commemorate the salvation of the people of Israel. The historical background: The Israelites were in captivity in the Persian Empire under King Xerxes I. (Ahasuerus; *around 519 B.C.; †465 B.C.), who ruled from 486 to 465 B.C. This is why the term "Persian Diaspora" is also used. The highest government official Haman sought to exterminate not only Mordecai (the adoptive father of Esther), but the entire people of Israel in a single day. He issued a corresponding decree to exterminate all Jews, which corresponds to genocide (Esther 3:1-15). The timing was determined by lot: They cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the 12th month, which is the month of Adar" (Esther 3:7). It was the 13th of the month of Adar (Esther 3:13). But through God's intervention it came to be quite different, because through fasting, prayer and the intercession of Queen Esther all Jews were saved, while the enemies of Israel were killed on the same day. Therefore, the two following days (14th-15th Adar) are feast days, because on these days the people came to rest, thanked God and joyfully celebrated their salvation.
Esther 9:20-28: "And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, 21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adar, and the 15th day of the same, yearly, 22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. 23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them; 24Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; 25But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Wherefore they called these days Purim [Hebrew: pu-rim] after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, 27The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year; 28 And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed."
Queen Esther originally had the Hebrew name Hadassah (הדסה, translated "Myrtle"; Esther 2:7; Strong No. 1919) with the numerical value 74 (H*5 + D*4 + S*60 + H*5). The myrtle (Myrtus communis) is a symbol of life and immortality. It is mentioned several times in the Bible. Precious balm was made from it, which helped especially in case of respiratory diseases. In several cultures myrtle branches were used to decorate a virgin bride. Myrtle was also popular during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Isaiah 41:19-20: "I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, 20 that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it."
Isaiah 55:13: "Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
Nehemiah 8:14-15: "And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the 7th month [=Feast of Tabernacles], 15 and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.”
Thus Hadassah stands symbolically for the pure (virgin) bride, that is, for the church of God or "the bride of Christ". Her new name Esther (אסתר; Esther 2:7; Strong No 635) has a double meaning. "The three letter root of Esther in Hebrew is s-t-r (סתר), 'hide, conceal'. The passive infinitive is (להסתר), 'to be hidden'" (Wikipedia). The website Biblehubdefines this word "ster" (Strong No. 5641) as "to hide, conceal" and Wiktionary as "hideaway, hiding place, hiddenness, secrecy, mystery", which is a wonderful reference to the mystery of the Rapture, in which the church is hidden from the last 7 years of the tribulation. The second and far better known meaning of Esther's name is "star" or "the shining, the radiant", which is a reference to the condition of the saints after the Rapture in the kingdom of heaven (in the glorified body, as Paul calls it). Indirectly in the word Esthers there is the name of a star in several languages (cf. English: Star; Spanish: Estrella). The virgin Esther was indeed a light and symbolizes belonging to the 5 wise women in the parable of the 10 virgins (Mt 25). The name Esther has the numerical value 661 [(a)*1 + S*60 + T*400 + R*200]. According to some commentators, the 66 symbolizes completeness (3x22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet = 66; the 66 books of the Bible) and the 1 stands for God. Symbolically: the church (cf. 66 books of the Bible) goes to God (1).
On the feast of Purim the complete book of Esther is read out to this day, not a word may be missing. In the OT (Tanach) it belongs to the group of scriptures (Ketuvim) and is the fifth and thus last book of the five festival scrolls (Megillot). For more information see the structure of the Bible (Link). In leap years with an additional month, the Purim festival takes place in Adar II (13th month). If Purim falls on a Friday, the celebrations even last for three days.
Since the deliverance of the people took place at a time when there was a full moon over the land (end of the 14th Adar) and the people "came to rest", the feast of Purim is brought by some Christians in connection with a possible time of the Rapture. Christians should always be vigilant and await the coming of the Lord, but this applies all the more at the time of the biblical feast days. These are days of remembrance that were not thought up by human beings themselves, but are holidays that have been determined by God personally. The Purim festival in the middle of the 12th month of the year is the last festival of the year. It is only a few days before New Year's Day on 1st of Nisan. So Purim is the last feast Sabbath of the year.
The Bible does not specifically mention that the shofar horn (the trumpet) was blown on that day. But according to Esther 6, the righteous Mordecai was given a royal robe and it was publicly proclaimed before him (through the square of the city): "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor" (Esther 6:6-12). This is reminiscent of Mal 3:18: "Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him". The royal robe is a symbolic reminder of the new white garments in the Kingdom of God, which the saints will receive as a reward for their faithfulness to God (Rev 3:5; 7:13). They will reign with Jesus as kings (Psalm 2:8-9; 1Peter 2:9; Rev 2:26-28; 12:5; 19:14-16). According to tradition, trumpets were often used to announce a decree of the king. This can also be seen in the painting "The Triumph of Mordechai" by Pieter Lastman (1624) (source: Link). If the shofar horn (the trumpet) was blown to Purim, it would be the last festival trumpet of the year. Is this a reference to the "last trumpet," which Paul mentions in 1Cor 15:52? We do not know. For the most important trumpets of the year were blown on the New Year (1st Nisan), on Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) and on Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Over the centuries, various customs have been adopted from the pagan peoples, so that the Purim festival in Israel today is more reminiscent of a carnival or Halloween festival. This tradition has nothing to do with the Bible. The costume of the Jewish population was developed in Italy from the 13th century onwards. Some wear the clothes of the opposite gender, although God forbids it in the Bible: "A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak [women's clothes], for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God" (Ex 22:5). Some even go so far as to wear symbols of death (skeletons, terrible blood-drenched masks, horror faces) that the Purim has been degraded to a kind of Halloween festival. God certainly does not like all this.
- Preparing for the Passover.When did Jesus eat the 'Last Supper' with his disciples? Mark 14:12–16; Matt 26:17–19; Luke 22:7–13 put it on the evening after "the First Day of Unleavened Bread" before Passover. That does not refer to the first day of the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread on Nisan 15-21 in the Jewish calendar or to Passover on Nisan 14. Rather the "First Day" was the day before the 8 days of celebration (before Passover & the 7-day Feast) when Jews removed all unleavened bread. It would be Nisan 13 in the Jewish calendar before the day of Passover on Nisan 14.
- Passover in Jewish Homes.Philo of Alexandria in his book about Special Laws (Philo, Special Laws 2.148) and Josephus in the Jewish Wars tell us that Jews had two different ways they observed the Passover in Jesus' time. Most people observed Passover in their homes on Wednesday evening as the Jewish day of Nisan 14 began. But Priests celebrated Passover by sacrificing the Korban Pesachin the Temple on Thursday afternoon as Nisan 14 ended with the close of daylight. Josephus estimates that 250,000 lambs were slaughtered in the city of Jerusalem with only a few thousand sacrificed in the Temple (see Josephus, Jewish Wars, Book VI. Chapter 9 Section 3).
- Jesus Ate And Died on Passover. Jesus ate the Passover meal along with most people in Jerusalem on Wednesday night (modern calendar) or the beginning of Nisan 14 (remember Jewish calendar days start at sunset!) before the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread on Nisan 15-21, also called Passover Week at the time. That is how Jesus both ate the Passover with his disciples one evening and was also killed the next afternoon when the main Passover lamb ('Korban Pesach') was slaughtered in the Temple.
- Jesus Died on Thursday. Jesus was killed on Thursday afternoon (modern time) when priests slaughtered the main Passover Lamb in the Temple on Nisan 14 before the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread began with a special Sabbath (Leviticus 23:6-7) on Nisan 15 (Thursday evening on our modern calendars).
- Gospels Use Different Clocks.Synoptic Gospels put Jesus' crucifixion 'at the sixth hour' (Matt 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:34) but John puts Jesus before Pilate 'at the sixth hour' (John 19:14). There is no contradiction because John used Roman time for his audience in Roman Asia Minor (thereby meaning 6am for the trial--the 6th hour after midnight) while the Synoptic Gospels all used Jewish time (thereby meaning Jesus was crucified at noon--the 6th hour after sunrise). Remember the Gospels adapted details of each story for different audiences.
- Special Sabbaths. The week Jesus died had 2 Sabbaths including a special 'high sabbath' on Friday. Leviticus 23 says the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a special high Sabbath on Nisan 15 regardless of the day of the week it fell on. So both Friday (Nisan 15) and Saturday (Nisan 16) were Sabbaths the week Jesus was crucified. The first special Sabbath on the week Jesus died started the evening right after Jesus was hastily buried in the garden tomb of Joseph of Arimethea (Thursday evening in modern calendars, or the beginning of Nisan 15 in Jewish calendars which would be a Jewish Friday). John 19:31 describes the "special Sabbath" that took place on Friday after Jesus was buried.
- Burial Before the Special Sabbath. Jewish authorities wanted Jesus tried, killed and buried before this special high Sabbath mentioned in John 19:14,31,42 (see also Matthew 26:62). Luke 23:54 and Mark 15:42 put Jesus' burial on the 'Day of Preparation,' or better translated 'Sabbath Eve'--which would be Thursday afternoon in our calendars before the special Friday Sabbath that began at dusk on Thursday evening (in our Gregorian calendars).
- Resurrection After Both Sabbaths. Women discovered the empty tomb on Sunday around dawn after the 2nd Sabbath ended. The Sabbath was Saturday night and day, which equated to Nisan 16 in the Jewish calendar. Matthew 28:1 uses plural "Sabbaths" to make it clear that the special Friday Sabbath and normal Saturday Sabbath had transpired during 3 nights between Jesus' death on Thursday afternoon and resurrection on Sunday morning.
- 3 Nights in the Grave. Death on Thursday afternoon (modern time) or end of Nisan 14 (on the Jewish calendar) and resurrection on Sunday morning matches Jesus' prediction: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” said Jesus (Matthew 12:40).
- Resurrection on the Day of Firstfruits. The Sadducees who controlled the Temple in Jesus' day celebrated the Festival of the Firstfruits on Sunday after the normal weekly Saturday Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So Jesus rose on the day of the Firstfruits, and Paul explains the theological significance in 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus was the first of many more resurrections to come.
Those 10 facts will hopefully give you an easier way to understand the events of holy week. It is hard navigating ancient texts when we don't know that folks celebrated the same holy day at different times or how the same words could refer to different things--like the word Sabbath!
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