Program 189: Daniel 9, the Crucifixion, and the Calendar Lie

Daniel 9 reveals the shocking fact that the modern Saturday does not align with the Biblical Sabbath, nor was Christ resurrected on the modern Sunday.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44] 

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: The 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9 is one of the most important prophecies in Scripture as it pinpoints the very year Yahushua’s public ministry began, as well as the year of his crucifixion. But when it’s studied out, a shocking truth emerges and that is that Yahushua could not have been crucified on a Friday and most certainly was not resurrected on a Sunday.

Of course, Scripture makes it clear that the Savior was crucified on the day before the Sabbath and resurrected on the first day of the week, so we’ve got a conundrum. Fortunately, Dave Wright is going to be shedding some light on this prophecy and the shocking truth it reveals, a shocking truth you’re going to want to hear because it impacts the day you worship.

Dave?

Dave Wright: Thanks, Miles. I know the information you just shared might have some of our listeners scratching their heads and wondering what you’ve been smoking—

Miles laughs: Hey!

Dave: —But keep listening. We’re going to lay out the evidence then you can study it out for yourself, pray about it, and see how the Holy Spirit convicts you.

Miles: You never have to take our word for anything. In fact, we don’t want you to because if your convictions are based solely on “because Miles and Dave said so,” then someone more eloquent can come along and change your mind. You need to be convicted of the truth based on your own study.

So. Take what’s good, lay aside the rest. See our presentations as a springboard for your own study, rather than The Final Word on any subject.

Dave: That’s a good way to put it.

Today’s topic is a bit of a mystery. Christians have had a general idea of when Yahushua was crucified, but Daniel’s prophecy is the key to establish the precise year and, in doing so, it reveals the lie of a continuous weekly cycle since Creation.

Miles: Yeah, there’s no such thing. Because our modern calendar has a continuous weekly cycle—

Dave: And because time itself is continuous—

Miles: —it’s been easy to assume our modern week has cycled continuously since Creation. But it’s not true.

Dave: No, it’s not. It’s like this news story I read a bit ago. Back in the 1980s, a fisherman found this shipwreck in the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia.

Miles: Huh! Was it recent? I mean, recent to when he discovered it?

Dave: That’s the thing: no one could tell. They could tell it was old. The ship had been transporting pottery, resin, and ivory, but aside from knowing it was really old, they couldn’t pinpoint just how old. In the 1990s, researchers concluded that the shipwreck occurred sometime between the mid to late 13^th century.

Miles: Wow! That is old!

Dave: It’s actually older than that and we can know this now because of a little clue that’s solved the entire mystery and that is, someone, centuries ago, put a “Made in China” label on the pottery.

Miles: Seriously?

Dave: Well, not literally, but basically, yeah. The mark says it was made in Jianning Fu in the Fujian province of China. I may not be pronouncing that correctly, but you get the idea. Anyway, here’s the crucial clue: around 1278, there was a Mongolian invasion. After that invasion, Jianning Fu changed its name to Jianning Lu.

Miles: Huh! So obviously, the shipwreck would have had to have occurred prior to the name change.

Dave: Right. That one little clue unraveled a 40-year-old mystery, establishing a more accurate time for when the shipwreck occurred.

And that’s how I see the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9. It contains the key to unlock the mystery of precisely when Christ was crucified, and that information in turn reveals a truth lost to believers 1700 years ago, which is:

• The true day of Yahushua’s crucifixion
• The true day of the Biblical Sabbath, and
• The true day of the resurrection.

So let’s start in Daniel. Would you please read Daniel 9 verses 24 to 27 for us?

Miles:

Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.

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;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Then 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.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.

Dave: All right, there’s a lot here to unpack, so we’re going to take it verse by verse, but let’s start with some context. Daniel 9 starts with Daniel saying that he understood, based on the prophecies of Jeremiah, that it was time for the Israelites to be allowed to return home. He’d done the math; he knew they were to be there for 70 years, but now it was time to go home, so he’s praying. He’s confessing his own sins and the sins of his people.

Miles: This was a few years after the events of Daniel 8, right?

Dave: Yes. He knows the 70 years captivity are up so he’s praying and asking how long it’s going to be until the Israelites are released to return to Israel.

Yah sends Gabriel to shed light on something even more important, which was when the long-awaited Messiah would appear. And it’s in these details that we have enough information to pinpoint when Christ’s public ministry began at his baptism, and when it ended at his crucifixion, three and a half years later.

Let’s take it a verse at a time. Would you read verse 24 again?

Miles:

Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.

Dave: Gabriel’s speaking here. He’s telling Daniel that 70 prophetic weeks have been determined—or cut off for, or especially dedicated to—the Israelite people and for the holy city.

Miles: Jerusalem.

Dave: Right. During this time period, certain things are to be accomplished. And that is to:

• Finish the transgression
• Make an end of sins
• Make reconciliation for iniquity
• Bring in everlasting righteousness
• Seal up the vision and the prophecy
• And to anoint the Most Holy

Miles: You said 70 prophetic weeks. Could you take a moment to explain what you mean by that?

Dave: Sure! When we let the Bible interpret itself, when we compare Scripture with Scripture—“Here a little, there a little”—we discover that “prophetic” time operates differently. It’s a way of symbolizing time itself.

Now sometimes, as explained by Peter, a literal day can equal a thousand years and vice versa.

Other times, a literal year can be symbolized by a prophetic day. That’s how time was symbolized in Ezekiel 4. Yahuwah wanted to symbolize how many years Judah and Israel had been in apostasy, so He had Ezekiel act it out in parable form, one literal day for each year of apostasy.

Turn there and let’s read it. Ezekiel 4 verses 5 and 6.

Miles:

For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year.

Dave: The most commonly used way to symbolize time is where a symbolic day stands for a literal year. This was used for the first time after the spies returned from spying out Canaan with an evil report and the people moaned that they wished they’d died in the Wilderness, Yahuwah decreed that it would be so.

Would you read it for us? Numbers 14:34.

Miles: “According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years.”

Dave: So, applying this principle, we can know that one prophetic week equals seven prophetic days. Seven prophetic days equals seven literal years. So 70 prophetic weeks, or 490 prophetic days, is 490 years in literal time.

Miles: Wait a minute. How do you know that’s 490 years in literal time? Why couldn’t it be 490 days or 490,000 years? How do you know which one to use because Scripture uses all three?

Dave: Context. You try it out with all three and the one that makes logical sense is the one you use.

Okay, moving on, read verse 25 again. Gabriel is going to give us the starting point of the prophecy.

Miles:

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;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

Dave: With the starting point, which is “from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem,” we can count down sixty-nine weeks to the beginning of the Savior’s public ministry.

Miles: Where do you get the 69 weeks?

Dave: The seven weeks and sixty-two weeks: 62 + 7 = 69, or 483 literal years.

Now there were actually four different events that fit the “command to restore and build Jerusalem.” I’ll give you the Bible verses for each one if you want to jot them down, but we’re not going to take the time to read them.

The first was the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the house of Yahuwah. You can read it in Ezra 1, verses 1 to 4. This happened in 536 BCE. The work was hindered later, so in 519 BCE, Darius decreed that the work should continue. You can read about it in Ezra 6.

The last two decrees were the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 BCE—it’s talked about in Ezra 7—and Nehemiah’s commission from Artaxerxes in 444 BCE. That’s discussed in Nehemiah 2.

Now, three of these can be easily dismissed as not fitting the time parameters, and those are the first, second and fourth decrees.

Miles: Why doesn’t the first one fit? I’d think it would make more sense for the prophecy to be referring to the first decree to restore and build. Why the third? Why not the first?

Dave: Well, remember that this prophecy is pointing to the coming of “Messiah the prince.” That’s why neither of the first two fit. You count 483 years from either 536 or 519 and it doesn’t reach to Yahushua, so those don’t fit.

The last one, when Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah permission to travel to Jerusalem, was simply that. The king granted a personal favor to his cup bearer for a specific time. There was no actual decree.

Miles: And if I remember correctly, when Nehemiah got to Jerusalem, he discovered the people had already largely rebuilt the city. He just helped them finish the walls and he did it in less than two months.

Dave: Right. So the only one that fits all the parameters—it was an actual decree and it actually reaches to Yahushua’s lifetime—is the decree of 457 BCE.

Miles: That was Artaxerxes decree to Ezra, right?

Dave: Correct. Let’s read it. Ezra 7, verses 12 to 13.

Artaxerxes, king of kings,

To Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of heaven:

Perfect peace, and so forth.

I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests and Levites in my realm, who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you.

Miles: I love the “perfect peace and so forth.” It’s like he’s saying, “Yadda, yadda, yadda. Let’s get past all the flowery language. And so forth.”

Dave: So with 457 BCE as our starting date, we can count down 69 weeks of prophetic time, or 483 years in literal time. This brings us to the time of Messiah the prince, just as Gabriel had predicted. Four hundred and eighty-three years after 457 BCE is 27 CE.

Miles: Wait a minute … I got 26 CE. How’d you come up with 27?

Dave: If you’re working it out on paper, you have to add one year because, remember, there was no Year 0. By our modern reckoning, which is what we’re using, it went directly from 1 BCE to 1 CE. There’s no Year 0.

Miles: Aw, okay. So what are you saying happened in 27 CE? Are you claiming Christ was born that late?

Dave: Not at all. That’s when his public ministry began at his baptism in the late summer/early fall of 27 CE, or “AD” as it’s sometimes called.

Miles: What did Gabriel mean to “anoint the Most Holy”?

Dave: I’m going to let Peter answer that. Turn to Acts 10 and read verses 36 to 38.

Miles:

The word which [Yahuwah] sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Yahushua Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how [Yahuwah] anointed Yahushua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for [Yahuwah] was with Him.

Dave: Yahushua was “anointed” by the Holy Spirit after his baptism. This is what prepared him for his public ministry. And he understood the significance of this! Mark 1 records that Yahushua “came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of [Yah], and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of [Yah] is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’” [Mark 1:14b-15]

Miles: Interesting comment: “The time is fulfilled.”

Dave: He understood the 69 prophetic weeks had been fulfilled. We know Yahushua was baptized in 27 CE because Luke says in Luke 3 that it occurred in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign. So, that’s easy enough to figure out.

Miles: What does it mean that the street would be built, and the wall, “even in troublous times”?

Dave: Jerusalem was rebuilt during the first seven prophetic weeks, which equates to 49 years. They were “troublous times”! We know from Nehemiah that the times were so dangerous, workmen worked on construction with one hand, while with the other they held onto a weapon.

Miles: Wow. That’s extreme.

Dave: Troublous times. Okay. Verse 26.

Miles:

And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Dave: The first part of this verse is referring to Yahushua’s crucifixion. He was literally “cut off.” His life was ended. But not for himself. He died for sinners.

Now, the “people of the prince who is to come” are not Yah’s people. That’s something people sometimes overlook when reading this verse. They can’t be Yahuwah’s people because they destroy the very thing which Yah’s people built in the previous verse!

Miles: Is this referring to the destruction of Jerusalem?

Dave: Yes. Let’s look now at the last verse. This fills in some details of what was to happen during the final seven-year time period of the prophecy. Daniel 9:27.

Miles:

Then 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.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”

Dave: For seven years, Messiah “confirmed the covenant with many.” This began at his baptism and stretched until three and a half years after his death. His crucifixion is being referred to when it says “in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

It was his death on the cross that made blood sacrifices and the offerings for sin obsolete.

Miles: And we know from the gospels that he died right at the time of the evening sacrifice on the very day of Passover, or Abib 14.

Dave: Now here’s where it gets really interesting. Counting down from 457 BCE, we know the final prophetic week started in 27 CE when Yahushua was baptized. The prophecy came to an end seven years later in 33 CE. That places the middle of the week—Christ’s crucifixion—on Passover of the year 31 CE.

Now, this might be news to a lot of Christians because most believers claim he was killed in either 30 or 33. But neither fits the prophecy of Daniel 9, so neither can be the correct year.

Miles: One thing that might be confusing is how the Messiah could confirm the covenant with many for one week, or seven years, and yet be killed halfway through the week. How do you explain that?

Dave: Simple. Yahushua preached the gospel for the first three and a half years. After his ascension, the disciples took up the work and they continued to preach it specifically to the Jews for the next three and a half years.

Miles: So what happened at the end of the second three and a half years?

Dave: The Jewish nation officially rejected the gospel when the Sanhedrin murdered Stephen, the first Christian martyr. It’s interesting to read through Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7. It’s a powerful sermon.

Miles: Yeah, in tracing the history of Israel, he was really tracing the history of Israel’s rejection of the truth.

Dave: That’s exactly what it was. Israel rejected the prophets and finally their rebellious attitude culminated in the rejection of the Messiah himself. The Sanhedrin didn’t like what they were hearing and, as we know, stoned him for it.

But there was a witness to Stephen’s martyrdom. Read Acts 7 verses 57 and 58.

Miles: “Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

Dave: This violent act for simply preaching the gospel marked the end-date of the 70 weeks. It’s not that Jews couldn’t still accept the gospel. But remember, Gabriel had said that 70 weeks were set apart for the Jewish nation. At the end of that time, the gospel went to the gentiles, and it spread in large part due to the efforts of that young man, Saul, who later became Paul.

Stephen’s death opened the floodgates of violence against the early believers. And, as we know, Saul was their most ardent persecutor. As the believers fled, first from Jerusalem, and later from Israel, the gospel message was carried with them to many foreign lands.

This diaspora was a partial fulfillment of Christ’s warning in Matthew 24 verses 15 to 18. Why don’t you read that for us? Matthew 24:15 to 18.

Miles: “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.”

Dave: This was a partial fulfillment. The complete fulfillment occurred less than 40 years later when Jerusalem was destroyed.

Miles: What does it mean in verse 26 when it says, “The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.”

Dave: That refers to how fast judgment fell upon Jerusalem. Do you remember when Christ was walking to Golgotha and some of the women, seeing how badly battered he was, were weeping for him? In compassion, he told them not to weep for him but for themselves and their children because some who were alive at his crucifixion were alive and fell in the destruction of Jerusalem.

The phrase, “And till the end of the war desolations are determined” also reveals that from when Jerusalem was destroyed until the end when Yahushua returns to set up Yah’s kingdom, the land of Israel will know no peace.

Miles: All right, thanks. Some of the phrases are a bit hard to understand.

Dave: Okay, well, let’s do a quick review. Go ahead and read through those verses that you find confusing and we’ll recap what they’re referring to.

Miles: That’d be great! Um … “Finish the transgression.”

Dave: Again that’s referring to the Israelite nation as a whole. It’s their last chance to stop rebelling against Heaven and repent, accepting Heaven’s messengers sent them. Of course, the Messiah was the main one sent whom they also rejected.

What’s next?

Miles: “Make an end of sins.”

Dave: Well, again, like “finish the transgression” this phrase is referring to the Jewish nation’s last opportunity to repent. “Repentance,” of course, implies that you stop doing whatever it was that you’re now sorry for. But not only was the Jewish nation as a whole not sorry for rejecting Yah’s messengers, they actually murdered Yahushua.

Making an end of sins also refers to Yahushua’s victory over sin.

Miles: “Make reconciliation for iniquity”? That sounds like it’s referring to Yahushua’s death, too.

Dave: Right. He reconciled us with Yah by his death on the cross and that in turn brought in “everlasting righteousness.” That’s available to all who believe through faith in his sacrifice.

Miles: What does it mean to “seal up the vision and the prophecy”?

Dave: That’s talking about the absolute perfect fulfillment of the prophecy. Down to the very last detail, it was all fulfilled. It was finished. Done. Everything Gabriel had foretold was fulfilled down to the tiniest detail. It was at this point that the gospel was taken to the gentiles.

* * *

Advertisement

No one knows for sure how many Christian denominations there are. Some estimates put the number as high as 41,000. Other more conservative estimates suggest the actual number is somewhere between 200 and 300 unique, separate denominations.

Whatever the number is, it’s a lot. I think it’s probably safe to say that the Number 1 reason for the existence of so many denominations is a difference of opinion in what Scripture teaches.

This is both sad and serious. The Bible is Yahuwah’s word to the human race! It reveals important events of the past, the present, as well as the future. It also opens to our understanding the will of Yah. Obviously, it is extremely important to interpret Scripture correctly. But everyone believes their denomination’s interpretation of Scripture is correct! They can’t all be right!

So, how can you know for sure that your interpretation of Yah’s word actually is correct?

It’s a good question and one that is the topic of a previously aired radio program entitled, “Correctly Interpreting Scripture.” [Program 187] If you would like to have the assurance that your interpretation of Scripture truly is consistent and correct, this is one program you’ll want to be sure to catch! That’s “Correctly Interpreting Scripture.” You can find it at WorldsLastChance.com and on YouTube!

* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: All right. In our last segment, we talked about the prophecy of Daniel 9: how it pinpoints the very year of the Savior’s crucifixion.

I want to turn our attention now to what this means because there are some very far-reaching ramifications to this information. The biggest implication is that our modern week has not, in fact, been cycling continuously and without interruption since Creation. Now, this may not seem like much, but it’s actually really huge as it impacts our days of worship.

Miles: Yeah, I don’t think most people realize that our modern week hasn’t been around that long. Relatively speaking. It certainly hasn’t come down uninterrupted since Creation.

Dave: Since time itself is continuous, it’s easy to assume that the calculation of time is continuous as well, but it hasn’t always been.

Here’s the reason this is important for believers: the whole reason most Christians believe in a 33 CE crucifixion date is that you can get a Friday crucifixion in that year. Now, we know from Scripture that Christ was crucified on the Passover. When you study the calendar used in Israel since the time of Adam, down through Moses and on into the first century, you realize that Passover always fell on the sixth day of the week. That’s when calculated by the luni-solar calendar they used. Always. And First Fruits, the day of Christ’s resurrection, always fell on the first day of the week.

Miles: So we’ve extrapolated from that and said the crucifixion occurred on a Friday and the resurrection on a Sunday.

Dave: Yes, and this has become the entire foundation for why the vast majority of Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection on Sunday, and a handful of Protestant denominations worship on Saturday, because Saturday is the seventh day of the week on our modern calendar.

Now. We’ve said a lot. Let’s go back and look at the evidence.

What did John the Baptist call Christ?

Miles: The lamb of Yah that takes away the sins of the world.

Dave: Just as the blood of lambs and goats was painted on the doorposts in Egypt so that the angel of death would “pass over” the homes of the Israelites, so the blood of the Lamb of Yah allows us to be “passed over” when we accept Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf by faith.

Turn to Leviticus 23. Here, Yahuwah is explaining to Moses what His holy days are. Read verses 1 and 2.

Miles: “And Yahuwah spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of Yahuwah, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.”

Dave: In verse 3, the very first feast listed is the weekly “feast” of the seventh-day Sabbath.

Moving on to the annual feasts, read verses 4 and 5.

Miles: “These are the feasts of Yahuwah, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is Yahuwah’s Passover.”

Dave: As we’ve covered in other programs, in Bible times, they started their days at dawn, not sunset. The one exception was Day of Atonement which was observed from the night before. So in this verse we have an actual date: the 14^th day of the first month which was called Abib. Later, it was changed to Nisan, but whatever you call the month, the date of Passover falls on the 14^th day of that month.

Miles: For those of you who haven’t studied the ancient Biblical calendar, this actually reveals more than a date. On the Biblical calendar, the weekly cycle restarted every New Moon. New Moon’s were always the first day of the month. The second of every month—the date of the 2^nd—was always the first day of the next week. So that’s what Dave means when he says the weekly cycle restarted every month.

Dave: When you know that important point, you know another: the dates of each month always fell on the same days of the week. So, the seventh-day Sabbath was always on the dates of the 8^th, the 15^th, the 22^nd and the 29^th days of each month. If you want to know what that looked like on a calendar, just look at the calendar format for January of 2022. That’s how the calendar looks, that’s the format, every single month on a luni-solar calendar.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the time today to get into all the particulars of the Biblical calendar and how it worked. That’s all been covered in depth in other radio programs.

Miles: We’ve also got a whole section of articles and videos on our website dealing exclusively with the Biblical calendar. Check it out if you haven’t already.

Dave: Let’s look at some clues, now, that let us know the dates we’re dealing with for the crucifixion. Turn to John chapter 19 and read verse 31. John 19:31.

Miles: “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

Dave: Christ was crucified and died on the Passover, which was the 14^th of the first month. In John, we’re told the reason the bodies couldn’t remain on the cross was because it was the Preparation Day. Preparation for what?

Miles: The Sabbath.

Dave: John adds that that particular Sabbath was a “High Sabbath.” That’s because, if you flip back to Leviticus 23, you’ll see that the 15^th of the first month, the day after Passover, was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That’s why it was a High Sabbath. The weekly Sabbath coincided with an annual feast day.

We find confirmation of this in Mark 15. Let’s go there and read verses 39, 42 and 43. Yahushua had just died, verse 37, and this tells us what happened directly afterward. Go ahead.

Miles:

So when the centurion, who stood opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

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 [Yah], coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Yahushua.

Dave: Mark explicitly states that this was “the day before the Sabbath.”

Miles: I’ve heard some people say that the word “Sabbath” is here referring to the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which can fall on any day of the week. How would you address that?

Dave: Yes, it can fall on any day of the week of our modern calendar. But it can’t on the Biblical calendar because Leviticus 23 gives the exact date it’s supposed to start. You still have your finger in Leviticus 23? Why don’t you read verse 6 for us.

Miles: “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Yahuwah; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.”

Dave: The fifteenth of every lunar month always falls on the seventh day of the week. Without exception.

But even if, for the sake of argument, you wanted to accept the possibly that it didn’t in that year, Scripture explicitly states that the very next day, the day after the Sabbath, was the first day of the week.

Miles: Where?

Dave: Uh … Matthew. Matthew 28 verse 1.

Miles turns pages: Um, it says: “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.”

Dave: So right here we’ve got another witness as to the timeline of events. Yahushua died at the time of the evening sacrifice on Passover, the 14^th of Abib. He rested in the tomb over the Sabbath on the 15^th, and was resurrected on the 16^th which was the first day of the week and the feast of First Fruits.

Miles: A fairly significant number of Christians believe that Yahushua was crucified on a Wednesday with Thursday being the first day of Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Dave: I’m aware. The problem with that, though—well, there are several problems with that. First, the Israelites were supposed to select their lamb or kid goat for the Passover meal on the 10^th of Abib. If they lived in town and didn’t have one of their own, they were supposed to buy one, but this always took place on the 10^th of the month. If you place the crucifixion on a Wednesday, this would place the 10^th of the month on a Saturday. No commerce, no buying and selling was to occur on a Sabbath. It was a punishable crime to work on the Sabbath.

Miles: That’s true. More than that, though, is that such comparisons are trying to impose dates from the Biblical calendar onto our modern Gregorian calendar.

You just can’t do it!

Dave: No, you really can’t. Our modern papal Gregorian calendar is an adaption of the pagan Julian calendar. The Julian calendar in the time of Christ had an eight-day week.

Miles: Like I said, you can’t impose Biblical calendar dates on our modern calendar. Friday and Saturday and Sunday didn’t even exist in the Julian calendar’s eight-day week. The Romans labeled the days of the week with the letters A through H. Count ‘em! There’s eight! A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H!

Dave: That’s the calendar the Romans used during the life of Christ. And even when they adopted the seven-day planetary week from the Persians, it still doesn’t align because the pagan planetary week originally began on Saturday and ended on Friday!

Miles: There’s a lot more information on our website.

Dave: Right. We can’t spend any more time on this aspect of it but check it out. You’ll be amazed.

Anyway, we now know from Scripture that Yahushua was crucified in 31 CE, on the sixth day of the week, on the 14^th day of Abib. Now the nice thing about astronomy is that it is very consistent. You can make astronomical calculations that are absolutely accurate far into the future and far into the past. When we do this with the year 31, we find that you absolutely, positively cannot have the Passover fall on a Friday.

Now remember, counting down from 457 BCE, we know the Savior’s public ministry began in the fall of 27 CE, so his crucifixion had to have occurred in the spring of 31. But the Passover doesn’t fall on a Friday that year!

Miles: Even though a Friday didn’t exist in the calendar at that time.

Dave: Right. We’re using what’s called a “proleptic” calendar. Basically, you take your current calendar format and extend it backward. When you take our current week and cycle it continuously backward, the 14^th of Abib does not fall on a Friday in the only year in which the crucifixion could have occurred.

Miles: Can you explain why?

Dave: Sure! It has to do with astronomy. Now, different people have different ideas of when the lunar months began. After serious study, WLC believes the months began at dawn following the lunar/solar conjunction, or what we observe as the night when no moon can be seen, and the year began with the new moon closest to the spring equinox.

It's not that hard to find online that the conjunction occurred on March 11 and April 10 of 31 CE. This means New Moon day, or the first day of the month, would have fallen on the 12^th of March, and on April 11 of the following month.

Now we’ve got a problem. When you count up 14 days from March 12 or April 11, you don’t come to a Friday! Instead, if March 12 was the first of the lunar month, and we believe it was, then the 14^th, the Passover, would have fallen on March 25 which was a … wait for it … Sunday!

If you believe the year started on the first New Moon after the spring equinox, it still doesn’t fit because counting up 14 days from April 11 brings you to April 24. When you cycle back from our modern week, that would have been a Tuesday.

Miles: Whoops!

Dave: You can do the same calculations using the first visible crescent or even the horned crescent and, each time, you’ll never be able to arrive at a Friday Passover in the only year in which the crucifixion could have occurred.

* * *

You are listening to World's Last Chance Radio.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: Here’s the thing about astronomy. It is so dependable, so consistent and so accurate, that astronomers can even know how long it takes to see the moon again after conjunction at any given time of the year.

Miles: “Conjunction,” of course, being when the sun and moon are in alignment and can’t be seen from earth.

Dave: Right. The moon rises a little later each night. That’s how we see it get bigger until the full moon, and then get smaller again until the next black moon, or conjunction.

Now, to force a Friday crucifixion in the year 31, you’d have to accept that the first visible crescent for five months in a row was very, very late, appearing after 53.25 hours, then the next month 65.5 hours, then 76.5 hours, then 62.5 hours, and finally 47.75 hours.

Miles: Seventy-six point five hours?? That’s over three days!

Dave: And astronomers know that for that time of year, the moon is never that late. Typically, the first visible crescent is seen anywhere between 17 to 23 hours after conjunction with the very latest coming 42 hours after conjunction.

Miles: Still well-below 47-and-three-quarters hours after conjunction.

Dave: The calculations just don’t fit. Not only did “Friday” not exist on the eight-day week of the early Julian calendar, but it doesn’t coincide with the 14^th of Abib Passover date of the Biblical calendar used by the Israelites.

This is why, for centuries, scholars have rejected the year 31 as being the year Christ was crucified. They’ve known you can’t get a Friday crucifixion in that year, they just didn’t know that our modern weekly cycle doesn’t align with the Biblical weekly cycle.

Sir Isaac Newton, the late-17^th-century mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and theologian was just one of them. I’ve got a quote here I’d like you to read from an article entitled “Newton’s Date for the Crucifixion.” It’s by J. P. Pratt and was published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society in September of 1991. Would you read the bracketed quote, please.

Miles: “He [Newton] thus excluded AD 31, 32 and 35 because 14 Nisan [or Abib] could not have been a Friday, which has been confirmed by all modern researchers.”

Dave: So, that’s the problem. Daniel 9 pinpoints the year 31 as the only year in which the Savior could have been crucified. The gospels confirm that the crucifixion took place on the Passover. This was always the 14^th day of the lunar month.

Now, you can’t claim that the Israelites were using the Julian calendar of their Roman masters!

Miles: No, they wouldn’t have done that. How can you have a seventh-day, last-day-of-the-week Sabbath on an eight-day week?

Dave: The only reasonable conclusion to draw is that the Israelites of Christ’s day were still using the luni-solar calendar of Creation, the calendar that was confirmed by Moses at the time of the Exodus.

Miles: Well, it’s also confirmed by the fact that the gospels were using luni-solar calendar dates and terms. Referring to the “Preparation Day” and the Passover—the Passover can only be calculated by using the ancient luni-solar calendar. You can’t find it using either the modern Gregorian calendar or the pagan Julian calendar, so the fact alone that the feasts of Yah are mentioned in the gospels is proof they were using the Biblical calendar.

Dave: You can’t follow the chain of evidence to its logical conclusion and still insist on a Friday crucifixion. It just doesn’t work. You have to reject the weight of evidence and cling to tradition, but it’s not honest and it’s not accurate.

Miles: I’m reminded of that quote by Abraham Lincoln that said, “When an honest man discovers he is mistaken, he will either cease being mistaken or cease being honest.”

Dave: A very astute observation from a wise man.

This subject has sweeping ramifications for all Christians. Protestants who still believe the law is binding and that the day on which you worship does matter have to take a look at this because the facts of Scripture, history, astronomy and archeology all establish that Saturday is not—cannot be—the Sabbath of the Bible.

Miles: If it’s important to worship on A Precise Day, it’s important to use the correct calendar for calculating that day. Otherwise, you’re not really worshiping on the correct day after all, are you?

Dave: No. But this also holds some serious consequences for the majority of Christians who celebrate the resurrection every Sunday, because clearly, if the seventh-day Sabbath of the Biblical week did not align with Saturday, then Sunday cannot be the day of Christ’s resurrection!

Miles: I think this is actually a bit more technical than most of us typically get with our beliefs. I remember looking up the word “Sabbath” in a particular encyclopedia set once and the entry started off with a comment along the lines of, “The day on which Jews and Seventh-day Adventists worship.”

People assume Saturday must be the Biblical day of worship for no other reason than that’s when the Jews worship. The obvious corollary to that is that Sunday, as the first day of our modern week, must be the day on which Yahushua was resurrected. So we make assumptions and extrapolations—

Dave: And when we do, we get way, way off. It’s true that Jews today call Saturday the “Sabbath” and go to Synagogue then, but that’s not proof that Saturday is the Biblical Sabbath and Jewish scholars know this. In fact, they admit that the calendar they now use is different from the one in use during Bible times.

Miles: So when did this change take place?

Dave: Back in the fourth century, following the Council of Nicea.

I don’t mean it was an immediate change, but change occurred in the years following Nicea that made it very difficult for the Jews to continue using the Biblical calendar.

Have you heard of Rabbi Louis Finkelstein?

Miles: Yeah. He was a really well-respected Talmud scholar. Passed away in the early 90s. The Jewish Communities of the World picked him as one of their top 120 Jews who best represented “a lamp of Judaism” to the world.

Dave: That’s him! Well, I have here a copy of a letter he sent dated February 20, 1939. I’d like you to read the sentence I’ve underlined.

Miles: Uh, it says: “The Jewish calendar was fixed in the fourth century.” Unquote.

Okay. Fourth century. That’s the same century as the Council of Nicea. But what does he mean by “fixed”? And why was that necessary?

Dave: It was believed to be necessary because, following the Council of Nicea, there was intense persecution of the Jews and anyone who wanted to continue worshipping Yah by His original calendar.

We think today that the Council of Nicea established the Nicean Creed and that they argued over the nature of Christ. And they did. But that’s not all they did. They were also arguing over when and how to calculate Passover. See, up until that point, many early Christians kept the feasts and they calculated those feasts—the feasts of Yahuwah—by using the Biblical calendar.

Read this quote. It’s by the Emperor Constantine. He’s explaining why, at Nicea, they basically changed the calendar by which they calculated the feast days. Go ahead.

Miles:

For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this the holiest of festivals [Easter] we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforward let us have nothing in common with this odious people; our Savior has shown us another path. It would indeed be absurd if the Jews were able to boast that we are not in a position to celebrate the Passover without the aid of their rules ([calendation] calculations).

Dave: Here’s another quote. This one’s taken from an article on the calendar from the Jewish Encyclopedia. What does it say?

Miles: “Under the reign of Constantius (337-362) the persecutions of the Jews reached such a height that . . . the computation of the calendar [was] forbidden under pain of severe punishment.”

Dave: Constantine died in 337 and so his sons became co-emperors. Constantius was one of those sons. This quote is taken from volume 2 of History of the Jews by Heinrich Graetz.

Miles: Uh, “At the Council of Nice [Nicea] the last thread was snapped which connected Christianity with its parent stock. The festival of Easter had up till now been celebrated for the most part at the same time as the Jewish Passover, and indeed upon the days calculated and fixed by the Synhedrion in Judea for its celebration; but in future its observance was to be rendered altogether independent of the Jewish calendar.”

Dave: See, Jewish scholars know that the modern calendar does not align with the Biblical calendar. Read this one. It’s from the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.

Miles: “The New Moon is still, and the Sabbath originally was, dependent upon the lunar cycle . . . Originally, the New Moon was celebrated in the same way as the Sabbath; gradually it became less important while the Sabbath became more and more a day of religion and humanity, of religious meditation and instruction, of peace and delight of the soul.”

Dave: So it was following Nicea, when the Romans were persecuting the Jews so hard, that Hillel II, the last president of the Sanhedrin, decided to “fix” the calendar. From the evidence available, this allowed the Jews to start observing the weekly Sabbath on a continuous weekly cycle while still retaining the luni-solar calculations for the annual feasts. He did this in 359.

Miles: Didn’t he introduce Rules of Postponement or something like that?

Dave: Yes, and ironically this is the biggest proof that the modern weekly cycle doesn’t align with the Biblical weekly cycle. See, when all of your observations are on the same calendar—specifically, the luni-solar calendar of Creation—you don’t need “Rules of Postponement.” This was only necessary after they started using a continuous weekly cycle for the weekly Sabbath but wanted to cling to luni-solar calculations for the annual feasts. Again, the cycles don’t align so Hillel came up with rules that said, among other things, that the Feast of Trumpets couldn’t fall on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday.

Miles: Why?

Dave: Well, because then some of the annual feasts later in that month would come on a Saturday. Can’t have that when you’re keeping Saturday as the Sabbath.

So if it happened, you’d just postpone it for a day. That’s the sort of thing he did. And it was actually quite brilliant. It allowed the Jews to blend more into Roman society. They could still keep their annual feasts, but they changed their weekly Sabbath observance to the continuous weekly cycle of the Julian calendar. And that’s what they’re still doing today with the Gregorian calendar.

Miles: So just because the Jews worship on Saturday is no proof that it’s the Biblical Sabbath.

Dave: Or that Sunday is the day of Christ’s resurrection. They’re not.

Okay, one more quote I want you to read. This is actually from a Jewish website called Torah.org. It’s from an article called “The Jewish Calendar.” Subtitle: “Changing the Calendar.” What does that say?

Miles: “Declaring the new month by observation of the new moon, and the new year by the arrival of spring, can only be done by the Sanhedrin. In the time of Hillel II, . . . the Romans prohibited this practice. Hillel II was therefore forced to institute his fixed calendar, thus in effect giving the Sanhedrin's advance approval to the calendars of all future years.”

Dave: The facts of history and archeology establish that our modern week has not cycled continuously and without interruption since Creation. The facts of Scripture establish 31 CE as the only year for the crucifixion. And the facts of astronomy establish the precise day that occurred, proving for all time that Saturday is not the Sabbath of Scripture, nor Sunday the day of Yahushua’s resurrection.

If the truth is important to you—and I believe it is or you wouldn’t be listening to this program—you now have a decision to make. Are you going to cease being honest? Or are you going to cease being mistaken?

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Elise O’Brien with today’s daily promise.

Accidents and mistakes are inevitable. It’s part of being human! But how we react when an accident or a mistake is made … ah, that shows what is in the heart.

One day as Danell Rapozo walked to work, he saw a young boy selling eggs from a large, square cardboard carton. Danell lives in Dominican Republic, so such sights are quite common. Street vendors sell a variety of fresh foods as well as clothing and household items.

As Danell watched, the boy suddenly stumbled. The open carton tilted and most of the boy’s eggs were damaged. No one would buy them now. The little boy burst into tears. People were rushing past, paying no attention to the child as he tried to salvage what he could. Danell realized that the financial loss to the boy’s family was considerable, and he would likely be punished for what was, after all, an unintentional accident.

Danell walked over to the boy, stooped, and helped him separate the damaged eggs from the few remaining intact shells. He quickly counted up how many eggs the carton could take, asked the boy what the price was for a full carton, and paid him full price, as though every egg had been sold.

I don’t know what the boy said, but I can guarantee you that he will remember Danell’s act of kindness for the rest of his life. Kindness draws hearts, and there is no one more kind than our heavenly Father.

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of [Yah], that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” To upbraid means to reprove sharply or criticize severely. There’s an emotional element of anger and impatience in the act of upbraiding. But Scripture tells us we can go to Yahuwah and like any loving parent, He will show us kindness and patience.

When my children were small, there were two things I never scolded or punished them for and that was accidents and honest mistakes. Hey! I drop a bowl or plate upon occasion. It’s never on purpose. That’s why it’s an accident. I don’t want to be scolded for something that was an accident, so I never scolded or punished my children for accidents, either. Likewise with mistakes. We all make them. There’s a difference between an honest mistake and a willfully wrong act. Just as we want others to be kind and understanding when we make mistakes, we should extend that same grace to others when they make mistakes.

“Grace” is undeserved favor. It’s kindness when we don’t deserve it. It’s patience and understanding in place of scolding and criticizing. Praise be to Yah we serve a god that is full of grace and kindness and love toward us. In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul tells us that in Christ “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of [Yahuwah’s] grace that he lavished on us.” [Ephesians 1:7-8]

We have been given great and precious promises. Go and start claiming!

* * *Part 4:

Miles: I want to thank you for tuning in today. We hope you can join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

* * *

You have been listening to WLC Radio.

This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage. 

In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.