Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Sabbath: When is it?

They found that it was impossible to harmonize the twelve criteria of the Messiah’s true crucifixion date of A.D. 31 with the Julian/Gregorian calendar. However, all of them found the twelve criteria perfectly fit YEHOVAH’s Biblical luni-solar calendar (see Genesis 1:14-19.) As a result of this discovery, the Roman Catholic Church applied only five (somewhat skewed) criteria to an all together different year (A.D. 33) of the Julian/Gregorian calendar. This allowed them to retain an Easter Sunday resurrection. William Miller and Samuel Snow, as a result of their study, were able to connect all the dots (dates) of the 2300 day/year prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9 using A.D. 31. Grace Amadon and the General Conference Research Committee found it impossible to reconcile these 12 crucifixion criteria with the Julian calendar. With over 5000 pages of research, including correspondence to and from astronomers all over the world, they clung by faith to A.D. 31 as the crucifixion year, but were unable to reconcile the Passover full moon requirement with a Friday.

Traditionally, it has been claimed that ever since creation 6000 years ago, a continuous weekly cycle has never been broken. In addition, it has been argued that Saturday must be the true Sabbath because that is the day observed by modern Jews. However, the Jews themselves admit that they altered their calendar in the 4th century A.D.

And the times of this ignorance God winked at. . . . Acts 17:30

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. . . . . . "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." . . . . . . Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:1, 7, 11-13

Below is the Julian/Gregorian calendar followed by the Biblical Luni-solar calendar as they would appear for April of A.D. 31, the specific month of the Messiah’s crucifixion. Following these, are two calendar overlays which show the discrepancy between the two calendars, specifically as it relates to the seventh-day Sabbath.

As you can see this is a basic Julian/Gregorian calendar for A.D. 31. Using the twelve criteria that are listed on page 9, is it possible to conclusively pinpoint the crucifixion, Sabbath and resurrection days?

The Biblical Hebrew practice was to begin the month on the day following the first visible crescent moon. The first visible crescent was visible on the night of April 11, in A.D. 31, therefore the 12th was observed as New Moon day.

"The Millerites were clear . . . that the first day of the new month always followed the moon’s first appearance, and did not precede it." Grace Amadon, 1939

The days of the Hebrew month were numbered from 1 to 29 or 30. The New Moon day is called day 1 (this is the first day of the month, but not the first day of the work week); the first Sabbath is the 8th day of the month and 7th day of the week; the second Sabbath is day 15; the third Sabbath is day 22; and the last Sabbath is day 29. This is how every month of every year looks since it was put in place at creation. The only exception is that half the months of each year have 29 days and half have 30.

Historical Evidence

As you look at the following calendar overlay, ask yourself four questions:

1. Is the New Moon day also the first day of the Julian/Gregorian calendar?

2. Counting inclusively from the New Moon day, is the 14th day of the luni-solar calendar on the 6th day of the Julian/Gregorian calendar week as well?

3. Is the day following the 14th day the seventh-day Sabbath?

4. If the succession of weeks as we have known them has never been broken, then all the Sabbaths will line up, the luni-solar with the Julian/Gregorian Saturday. Do the Julian/Gregorian Saturdays perfectly match the seventh-day Sabbaths of the luni-solar calendar in the overlay diagrams below?

Below, you will see the Julian/Gregorian calendar is the framework of squares with the dates in brown, with the Biblical Luni-solar calendar as an overlay in blue, and is represented by the phases of the moon. It will appear that the Luni-solar calendar floats thru the Julian/Gregorian calendar, but in fact the opposite is true. Here you will see the discrepancy between the two calendars, specifically as it relates to the seventh-day Sabbath. This clearly reveals how the twelve criteria act as YEHOVAH’s ordained GPS in the sky to pinpoint the exact year, day and hour as well as the true calendar system.

Below you will see the reverse of the above calendar. Here the luni-solar calendar is the framework in blue, with the Julian/Gregorian calendar as an overlay in gold lettering. You will see that the Julian/Gregorian calendar floats thru YEHOVAH’s luni-solar calendar.

To clearly establish the facts of the crucifixion of the Messiah, begin with the year, followed by the season, the month and, finally, the day, as each is a foundation for the next.

Twelve Criteria for the True Crucifixion and Resurrection Days

1. YEAR: A.D. 31 – Messiah cut off in midst of the week as established in the 70 week Prophecy of Daniel and proclaimed by William Miller in 1843.

Daniel 9:24-27: "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city . . . Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks . . . And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off . . . he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering."

The Jerusalem Talmud: "Forty years before the destruction of the Temple the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the LORD always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open" (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p. 156-157).

What Year Was Yeshua the Messiah Nailed to the Tree?: "The most important lamp of the seven-candlestick Menorah in the Temple went out, and would not shine [for 40 years before the destruction of the Temple]. Every night for 40 years -- or over 12,500 nights in a row -- the main lamp of the Temple lamp stand went out of its own accord -- no matter what attempts and precautions the priests took to safeguard against the event!"

Scandinavian Bible scholar: "The problem with the article [that this Bible scholar read] is that the author seems very comfortable with the huge majority favoring A.D. 30, and makes a simplistic arithmetic calculation to derive A.D. 30, when in fact by ignoring actual months and days totally (he deals ONLY with years in his simplistic subtraction), and ignoring Jewish INCLUSIVE RECKONING, when referring to elapsed time (a PART of a year counts for a full year, when stating 'forty years before the destruction of the temple'), he makes a BIG mistake in that the Jews who wrote the Talmud would NOT count the spring of A.D. 30 as having fallen '40 years before the destruction of the temple'! To a classic Jew of Jesus' time, and presumably 400 years later, when the Talmuds were written, '40 years before the destruction of the Temple' reaches back from August of A.D. 70 NO FURTHER BACK THAN AUGUST OF A.D. 30! It includes Yom Kippur in A.D. 30, BUT NOT PASSOVER IN A.D. 30! This is classic use of inclusive reckoning in expressing elapsed time.

Great Controversy 327: "In the autumn of A.D. 27 Christ was baptized by John . . ."In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." In A.D. 31, three and a half years after His baptism, our Lord was crucified."

For more information on the correct year of the Messiah's death, read our article What Year Was Yeshua the Messiah Nailed to the Tree?

Leviticus 23:5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover."

Leviticus 23:9: "When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, on the morrow after the Sabbath." (This was always in the spring just as the barley was ready to be harvested.)

Does YEHOVAH God's Year Start With the Barley Harvest?: "The month of Abib or Nisan should always start in the SPRING -- NEVER in winter! When does spring begin? At the equinox, when the sun (apparently) crosses the equator, never earlier than 3/19 as reckoned by the Roman Gregorian calendar we use today....The Bible clearly indicates that the first month of YEHOVAH God's year should ALWAYS start in the same season of the year -- SPRING."

Does Close Count?: "It seems to have been understood all over the world, from ancient times until now, that the vernal equinox signals the arrival of spring....Wait until the sun signals the arrival of spring at the equinox, then select the first visible new crescent for the beginning of months....the first month of the year to you" (Henry Wylle).

Great Controversy 327: "In the autumn of A.D. 27 Christ was baptized. . . . .In A.D. 31, three and a half years after His baptism, our Lord was crucified." (Thus making this the spring of the Year) See also Acts 10:38 and Mark 1:14, 15.

For further information read our article, Does YEHOVAH God's Year Start With the Barley Harvest?

Deuteronomy 16:1: "Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night."

Insight On the Scriptures: Nisan is "the postexilic name of the first Jewish lunar month of the sacred calendar, corresponding to part of March and part of April....At the time of the Exodus from Egypt, Jehovah assigned this month to be 'the first of the months of the year.'...The first of Nisan's festivals was the Passover, originally celebrated in Egypt; it came on the 14th of the month and included the sacrifice of the paschal lamb" (Vol. 2, p. 505).

Great Controversy 399: "On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, the very day and month on which for fifteen long centuries the Passover lamb had been slain. . . ."

Also see E. G. White: Great Controversy 399 and Patriarchs and Prophets 486. Ex. 23:15.

Leviticus 23:5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover."

Great Controversy 399: "On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, the very day and month on which for fifteen long centuries the Passover lamb had been slain. . . ."

Also see E. G. White: Great Controversy 399 and Patriarchs and Prophets 486.

5. DAY OF THE WEEK: 6th day of the Week

John 19:31: "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was a high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."

Matthew 28:1: "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher." (This is a process of deduction.)

Desire of Ages (DA) 794 "On the sixth day of the week they had seen their Master die . . ."

Also see E. G. White: DA 769-774, 794 Ps.81:3

Matthew 27:62: "Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate saying, 'Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise." Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead." So the last deception will be worse than the first.'"

Mark 15:42-44: Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

DA 774 "At the setting of the sun on the evening of the preparation day the trumpets sounded, signifying that the Sabbath had begun. The Passover was observed as it had been for centuries, while He to whom it pointed had been slain by wicked hands, and lay in Joseph's tomb. On the Sabbath the courts of the temple were filled with worshipers.

Also see E. G. White: DA 771

Leviticus 23:5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's Passover".

Great Controversy 399 "The slaying of the Passover lamb was a shadow of the death of Christ. Says Paul: 'Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.' 1 Cor. 5:7. . . . . These types were fulfilled, not only as to the event, but as to the time. On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, the very day and month on which for fifteen long centuries the Passover lamb had been slain, Christ, having eaten the Passover [This is not true. This was the last MEAL the Messiah had with his disciples. The actual Passover meal that year took place after sunset on the 14th. The Messiah was dead by this time. -- Editor.] with His disciples, instituted that feast which was to commemorate His own death as "the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world."

Also see E. G. White: DA 571, Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 3, 225

* Placed on the Cross at the third hour (9:00 a.m.) :

The twelve criteria listed above, establish the luni-solar calendar used at the time of the Messiah and excludes the Julian/Gregorian calendars with their false seventh-day Sabbaths. Clearly the twelve criteria are descriptive only of the one true calendar of YEHOVAH’s creation. As a banner waving high in the heavens, His calendar only declares glory and honor to the Creator. If the above twelve criteria could have been reconciled to the Julian/Gregorian calendar, it would have been done long ago. In the seventeenth century, following the documentation of Sir Isaac Newton, the Pope of Rome sought a year that would reconcile some of the criteria with their Roman calendar. This is History. This is why, to this day, the Catholic Church and most Protestant denominations teach that the Messiah was crucified in the year A.D. 33. This is no small matter.

The year A.D. 31 was established by the Millerites only after William Miller and Samuel Snow were led by YEHOVAH God to an understanding of His luni-solar calendar as originally taught by the Karaite Jews. Only then were they able to connect all the dots (dates) that perfectly completed the 2300 day/year prophecy. Ellen White verified this on October 22, 1844. The real problem with the crucifixion date does not appear until one understands the requirement of a full moon preceding Passover. This is where the discrepancies between the two calendars establish the impossibility of a Friday crucifixion in A.D. 31. It quickly becomes clear that the continuous weekly cycle of the Julian/Gregorian calendars are not in harmony with the Creator’s Luni-solar calendar.