William H. Smith November 3, 2000

1204 Christmas Tree Lane about 725 words

Pearce, Az. 85625

303-36-7671

(520) 826-1029

Date or Event

By

William H. Smith

Date or the event, which is the most important topic when remembering Christ? When you look toward the future the date of the event would seem to be the most important thing. If you are looking backward onto the events then the dates and times are no longer applicable. This is especially true of the Prophesies written within the Bible.

Christmas is celebrated for the birth of Jesus Christ is mistakenly celebrated on the 25th of December. In the first part of the third century the birth of Jesus Christ was tied to a Pagan holiday, the date was set to celebrate the birth of Jesus by the Roman Church in the fifth century. The date selected was a Pagan holiday, The Festival of Nativity. The birth date of Jesus Christ was ordered celebrated about 137 AD, by the Bishop of Rome. Many Bible scholars believe

that the correct date for the birth of Jesus is March 25 (this could also be his crucifixion day).

Luke 2:8, states that Jesus was born during the lambing period, making the March 25 date more believable for his birth, the Shepherds in the Bethlehem area would bring their flocks down from the mountains during the lambing period (January-March).

Easter, the Pagan religion in the Mediterranean celebrated a holiday following the spring equinox. Jesus Christ was crucified near the spring equinox, then it is conceivable that his crucifixion could be on March 25th, possibly the same day as his birth. The name Easter probably came from an ancient Goddess named, Esatre. The Pagan holiday Esatre and the day Jesus Christ was nailed on the cross were combined, and Easter was proclaimed during Emperor Constantine's rule, and was recognized by the Council of Nicene in 325 AD. The day Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross for the salvation of the world was placed on Friday, demonstrating that the event not the date is important. Jesus could not have been crucified on Friday.

The calendar we use today isn’t the same as the calendar used when Jesus was

crucified, making it impossible to know the exact date of his execution. During the time of Jesus the Jewish calendar was in use, each month had thirty days and the first month of the year was April. The most important point of this is that the nights preceded the days, a new interval starting at 6:00 in the evening, and the day starting at 6:00 in the morning.

John 20:1, Mary Magdalene discovered that Jesus was missing from the grave while it

was still dark, this would almost certainly still be the Sunday night period (before 6:00 AM). The Passover would have ended at 6:00 PM on Saturday. Therefore Jesus most likely would

have started his ascending at the end of the Passover period. In light of this let’s count backwards to find when Jesus was most likely crucified. Three days are needed Saturday day, Friday day, and Thursday day, these would be the three days spent in the heart of the earth, keep in mind that the night precedes the day. The three nights would be Saturday night, Friday night, and Thursday night, this takes us to our Wednesday evening. So Jesus was probably crucified on Thursday day (Jewish calendar) this counted as being in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40). Thursday night Jesus was in the hands of his executers, this counted as being in the heart of the earth, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale. To try and make this clearer, being in the hands of his executioners was part of being in the heart of the earth. The event here being the important factor not the day. Using today’s calendar this would be Wednesday night through Saturday day, Jesus being crucified on Thursday not Friday.

The human race has aged about two thousand years since the time Jesus was born, executed, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. The next event is when Jesus calls up his Church. The day and the hour will remain unknown until the Christians are taken; here the event is the important factor.

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