after the start of his ministry in the autumn of 29. John 2:13 refers to Passover A.D. 30; John 5:1 to Passover A.D. 31; John 6:4 to Passover A.D. 32; and, finally, John 13:1 to Passover A.D. 33, the last just before Jesus’ death. Thus by John’s record of four Passovers during Jesus’ ministry the three-and-a-half-year duration is proved. Many besides Jehovah’s witnesses support this sound view.²

A second proof of the three-and-a-half-year duration comes from Bible prophecy. Daniel 9:27 speaks of Jesus as the Messiah, the prince, making firm the Abrahamic covenant with many of the Jewish remnant for a period of one week of seven years. This indicates that at the start of Jesus’ ministry in the autumn, A.D. 29, the exclusive opportunity to become part of the seed of Abraham according to the Abrahamic promise made by Jehovah fell to the Jews alone. Such singular opportunity expired seven years later, A.D. 36, when the calling was extended to the Gentiles, inviting them also to become part of this Kingdom seed of 144,001. (Gal. 3:28, 29) Then, significantly, Daniel goes on to say that in the “midst of the week” or in the middle of this seven years, hence after three and a half years, Jesus would cause the Law sacrifices to cease officially. At Colossians 2:14 the apostle Paul shows that God used Jesus’ death to take away or legally cancel the Law covenant with its sacrifices “by nailing it to the torture stake.” This obviously occurred in the spring A.D. 33. Here rests another complete proof.

JESUS DIED A.D. 33

Finally, all the surrounding evidence points to Nisan 14, A.D. 33, as the only likely date for Jesus’ impalement. All the other dates advocated by others, such as A.D. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 34, fail to meet the facts.

Almost all religious teachers as well as Jehovah’s witnesses are agreed that the Scriptures indicate that it was on a Friday afternoon that Jesus expired. For this reason Catholics and Protestants refer to this day as “Good Friday.” John 19:31 proves that Jesus must have died on a Friday. How so? Because it mentions that the sabbath that began three hours after Jesus’ death (he died at about 3 p.m.) was not just an ordinary weekly sabbath that begins Friday 6 p.m. and extends to Saturday 6 p.m. Remember, too, that Biblical days begin at 6 p.m., not at midnight as we now reckon days. John says “the day of that sabbath was a great one.” In other words, two legal sabbath days fell together during the same twenty-four-hour period, hence a double sabbath. According to the Law of Moses Nisan 15 every year must be a sabbath day regardless of what day in the week it falls. (Lev. 23:6, 7) The situation is like that of a national Gentile holiday. If such a holiday should fall due on a Sunday, then the populace have two holidays falling together on the one twenty-four-hour day, and this happens only once every so many years. So it was A.D. 33 that Nisan 15 coincided with the weekly sabbath. This proves that Nisan 14 must have begun on a Thursday evening at 6 p.m. and extended to Friday at 6 p.m. to make it possible for Jesus’ death Friday afternoon. This Friday situation for Nisan 14 seldom happens one year after the other but occurs only once every several years. Now we shall see how the year A.D. 33 produces all the required factors that fit the Scriptural record for the day of Christ’s death.

Jesus as the Lamb of God died on Passover day, which, according to the Law of Moses, is Nisan 14. Nisan 14 always involves a full moon, since it is the fourteenth day following the new moon that is first visible in Egypt and Palestine. (Ex. 12:2, 6) Astronomy comes to our aid supplying the figures for the following chart.¹³

Year Passover Full Moon Julian Day Day of

Number Week

AD. Julian Gregorian

Calendar Calendar

28 Mar. 29 Mar. 27 1,731,373 Monday

29 Apr. 18 Apr. 16 1,731,758 Monday

30 Apr. 7 Apr. 5 1,732,112 Friday

31 Mar. 27 Mar. 25 1,732,466 Tuesday

32 Apr. 14 Apr. 12 1,732,850 Monday

33 Apr. 3 Apr. 1 1,733,204 Friday

34 Mar. 24 Mar. 22 1,733,559 Wednesday

All the possible date-years mentioned above must be eliminated except A.D. 30 and 33, as they do not have Nisan 14 falling on a Friday. Though A.D. 30 has Nisan 14 on a Friday, it too will have to be rejected because this would mean only a six months’ ministry for Jesus, which is too short to fit the Bible record. As we have already considered, the beginning of Jesus’ ministry was firmly set by Luke as being what we know to be in the autumn of 29 (A.D.). This leaves only A.D. 33 with Nisan 14 on a Friday that meets all the factors in connection with Jesus’ sacrificial death on the tree. In confirmation of the above in The Works of Flavius Josephus, by Whiston, a footnote on Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3, appears giving April 3, A.D. 33 (Julian Calendar), as the date of Jesus’ impalement, also April 5 of that year as the date of his resurrection. So A.D. 33 wins out as the only probable year.

In conclusion we see that the position of Jehovah’s witnesses is strong for believing not only that Jesus’ ministry was three and a half years in duration but that it started in the autumn of 29 (A.D.) and concluded in the spring of 33 (A.D.).

REFERENCES CITED

¹ The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908, Vol. III, p. 736.

² The International Standard Bible Encyclopædia, 1957, Vol. III, pp. 1628, 1629.

³ Biblical Cyclopædia, 1894, by M’Clintock and Strong, Vol. IV, pp. 874, 875, 877.

⁴ The International Standard Bible Encyclopædia, 1957, Vol. I, p. 538.

⁵ Ibid., Vol. I, p. 137.

⁶ Light from the Ancient Past, 1946, by Finegan, page 219.

⁷ Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, XVII, viii, 1.

⁸ Webster’s Biographical Dictionary, 1943, pp. 701, 1178.

⁹ Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, XVIII, iv, 2.

¹⁰ The International Standard Bible Encyclopædia, 1957, Vol. IV, p. 2396.

¹¹ Ibid., Vol. V, p. 2979.

¹² Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, XVIII, ii, 2.

¹³ Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C. – A.D. 45, 1942, by Parker and Dubberstein, p. 46, also Canon der Mondfinsternisse, 1887, by Oppolzer, Vol. II, p. 344.

Clergy and the United Nations

An editorial in the Houston (Texas) Chronicle was reprinted, because of its unusual nature, in the Graham (Texas) Leader of November 6, 1958, under the heading “Government No Affair of Church”: “In the constitution of the state of Maryland, there is a provision which reads: ‘No minister or preacher of the gospel or of any religious creed or denomination shall be eligible as senator or delegate.’ This was very wisely designed to preserve separation of church and state. Precedent for this attitude is to be found in the Bible itself where Christ is quoted as admonishing the Pharisees when they tried to trick him: ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.’ Those clergymen, members of the International Convention of Christian Churches, who met in St. Louis last week would have done well to keep these things in mind. While some at this convention voiced sturdy disagreement, the overwhelming majority passed a resolution proposing that Congress enact legislation to permit the individual taxpayer to give up to 2 percent of his income tax to the United Nations instead of paying it to the United States.”

Another Scripture that could have been quoted is James 4:4: “Do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.”