Cont., page 14
APRIL 1, 33
A.D.
A great deal
of new and highly revealing information has been covered up to this point. But there remains one item that has yet
to be addressed. Here it is:
- The
events have to match the feast days and the moon.
Let us now
determine the exact date of Yahshua’s crucifixion.
We have
already set forth the reasons Yahshua had to have been crucified in 33
A.D. And before we continue, let
us rule out one thing. Examination
of that time period reveals that there was not a solar eclipse that could have
caused the three hours of darkness.
Also, eclipses are not three hours of darkness in duration. And, it is not possible to have a solar
eclipse during the time of a full moon at Passover. A solar eclipse is when the moon gets between the sun and
the earth. So quite obviously,
there cannot be even the slightest part of the bright side of the moon showing
at that time. Therefore, the three
hours of darkness were just as much a sovereign miracle as it was when Yahweh
made it dark in Egypt for three days (and prophetically, they speak of the same
thing), while it remained light in Goshen (Exodus 10:21-23).
To narrow
this down even further, the only two possible months in 33 A.D. that a Passover
could have been observed with the crescent moon beginning the lunar month,
would have been in April or May.
Passover would have been at or around the full moon in one of those two
months. The full moon in May was
Saturday, the 2nd, and that places the moon too late for a Passover
with a Saturday resurrection. The
full moon in March was on a Wednesday, the 4th, but March was too
early for Passover. That leaves
only one month in which this Passover could have been held – April.
Now let us
add the clinching determining criteria of the specific days of these
events. By doing so, we will
narrow this down to find the exact dates of Yahshua’s death and resurrection.
To begin
with, as the determining factor that trumps all other ideas, we know that Yahshua
resurrected on one of the Jews’ seventh day sabbaths. Therefore, that firmly locks His resurrection down to a
specific day and date – Saturday, April 4. This is the sabbath that would have followed their Passover,
the sabbath that was repeatedly identified as “one of the
sabbaths,” and even “the chief sabbath.”
Going back in
time from there, that would mean the women bought spices the day before, which
we noted was an open day, or Friday, April 3. The day before that would have been the Jews’
Passover, or Thursday, April 2.
And that would have placed Yahshua’s crucifixion on April 1. Therefore, we have:
 |
Based on all the
facts set forth in the Scriptures, these specific days and dates are
mandatory. But the final question
is: Does this match with the moon?
What we find
is that the full moon took place on April 3. Philo wrote during the time of Yahshua that the full moon
was on the fifteenth day of the lunar month, the Jews’ Passover. But you can see here that April 3 does
not match with the Jews’ Passover that year, for it was held on April 2. So how or why would their feast have
been moved backward one day?
First, the
Jews did not have the sophistication we have today to know the precise day,
hour, and minute of the crescent or full moons. They went by sight and by mathematics. But there were other Jewish laws that
determined a feast as well, including a provision to make sure two sabbaths did
not occur back to back. In their
experience, that would have placed too much strain on the people and on the
pocketbooks. Therefore, they would
let some feasts slide one day. And
you can see here that if they had held their Passover on the full moon on
Friday, April 3, which would have made Friday a sabbath, that would have been
followed by yet another sabbath, the seventh-day sabbath. Therefore, given that we know the
specific order and occurrence of these days as set forth by the Scriptures,
particularly Yahshua’s Saturday resurrection, it is highly plausible that
the very reason they made this shift one day backward, was to fulfill their
requirement that Passover would not be followed by the seventh-day sabbath.
Of course,
this is precisely the case evidenced in Mark 16:1 where the women bought spices
on what had to have been a Friday, which were to be used the next day to anoint
Yahshua’s body. Once again,
Yahweh used the traditions of the Jews to accomplish His will. But for whatever reason they made this
change, we are specifically told that Yahshua resurrected on a Saturday, which
requires that that resurrection be on April 4; and therefore, He would have to
have been crucified on the true sabbath, Wednesday, April 1.
It is quite
interesting, and undoubtedly most revealing, that the day of Yahshua’s
crucifixion has a long history of being April Fool’s Day. Nobody has known this Day’s true
origin. Many theories are set
forth. But now, knowing that
Yahshua was crucified on April 1, it is entirely plausible, if not evident,
that both Romans and Jews alike set forth His crucifixion day to be ridiculed
as All Fool’s Day (the original name of April Fool’s Day).
Read the
following account from Matthew 27:27-44 and ask yourself if this was not indeed
the very event that made this day forever set apart in history as All
Fool’s Day. Remember, the
Romans despised the Jews – and what an opportunity to once again make
them the brunt of a joke and foolery than to say that on April 1 the Jews
killed their own king. And add to
that that when Yahshua resurrected, the Jews and Romans alike had to come up
with a way to diminish and dismiss this event. In fact, the Jews paid off the soldiers who were guarding
the tomb to keep them quiet and to advance the foolishness and absurdity of His
resurrection (Matthew 28:11-15).
But an even more effective stopgap would have been the use of ridicule
– establishing April 1 as the day those fools, the Jews, killed a man who
said he was their king, and some believed he was the Messiah. What better way to mark this than an
All Fool’s Day. In this
regard, pay special attention to the instant ridicule this event evoked.
Then
the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the
whole Roman cohort
around Him. They stripped Him and
put a scarlet robe on Him. And
after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed
in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They
spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify
Him.
As
they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed
into service to bear His cross.
And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a
Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.
And
when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by
casting lots. And sitting down,
they began to keep
watch over Him there. And above
His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS
THE KING OF THE JEWS."
At
that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the
left. And those passing by were
hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
save Yourself! If You are the Son
of God, come down from the cross."
In
the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were
mocking Him and saying,
"He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the
cross, and we will believe in Him.
"He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, 'I am
the Son of God.' "
The
robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the
same words.
Who was the
fool on that day of April 1, 33 A.D.?
It was the one who believed that Yahshua was the Son of God, the
Messiah.
Can you
imagine the continuing tone of this entire event afterwards, how the mockery
must have reverberated throughout the world, recorded and passed along by the
Romans? What more plausible and
explosive historical event could have caused this All Fool’s Day? High level figures would have laughed
about this event all the way back to Rome. The soldiers who traveled the world would have laughed about
it. This day would have become the
brunt of every joke – on this day, April 1, the Romans killed the King of
the Jews!
Even when the
Romans were killing Christians in the Coliseum, they could have well called them
April Fools, or whatever month and day was used at that time. The Romans hated the Christians, and
thus what more reason for them to have made April 1 All Fool’s Day.
Therefore, it is highly probable that April 1 would have been advanced by both the leaders of Rome and by the Jews as the day synonymous with being a fool. There is no more powerfully motivated day in history to support the origin of April Fool’s Day, than the fateful day of Yahshua’s crucifixion on April 1, 33 A.D.
From the
Roman soldiers who mocked Him, to the ridiculing sign they placed by Him, to
the mockery of those who passed by, and the insults of even the two thieves
crucified beside Him. From the
undoubted insulting records and reports of both Romans and Jews alike, April 1
would always be remembered as All Fool’s Day, the day the acclaimed
Messiah was killed.
Continue to
page 15 of The New Millennial Calendar for REPAIRING THE BREACH