The Calendar, Part 9

Those of you who are online, just to mention, I'm going to be doing a Bible study today, kind of in place of a sermon. And I'm going to be using a power slide presentation to supplement the Bible study, but for those of you who are just hearing this online, everything that's going to be on the slides is very simple PowerPoint. No pictures, anything like that, nothing fancy. And I'll read everything that's going to be on the slides, so if you're just hearing this online, you won't miss anything. See, I'll get this over here just a little. Yeah, a little bit more. A little more leeway there. Yeah, that's good. Put that up there. So there we go. That's great. Okay, in the last, I want to use a little bit of a power slide just to kind of drive some points home. I'm going to be using... you'll be turning your Scripture for a lot of the time, too, but I want to feed those up there on the screen just to drive some points home. But this is going to be, again, on continuing the series I've been given on the calendar. Obviously, you see from the title there, the calendar, Part 9. The last two Bible studies on the calendar, I covered two major pieces of the puzzle. I'm just going to put pieces of the puzzle together from the book of John, I should say, the Gospel of John. And the two of the things that I covered last time, I just want to review quickly, mention here. One, I showed that John 737 is referring to the seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and not to the eighth day Holy Day, as we believe for a long time, as many of the Church of God still believe. That was the first thing I showed. John 737 is referring to the seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. And then once you understand that, then the second piece of the puzzle, so to speak, of the second fact, when it comes to calendar issues, it ties in with the book of John. I showed that the events mentioned in John chapter 8 verse 1 through John 10 verse 21, all occurred on the same day. They occurred on the day after the day of John 737. They occurred on the eighth day, Holy Day, that follows the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles. So that's another key piece of puzzle to realize that John 8, 9, and up to 10, 21 all occurred on that on the eighth day and give added meaning to that day as I went through in a previous Bible study. And of course, the proof of that is in John 9, 14, as we will see later in the Bible study. So today, then, in part 9 of this series, I will give two more pieces of the puzzle and try to put all those four pieces together to demonstrate how the book of John ties in with the calendar and with calendar issues.

So again, the title for this Bible study, the calendar part 9, putting the pieces together, trying to fit them all together to show how they fit in with what we can see in the book of John, and how all these pieces support the Hebrew calendar. Actually, we're going to see how they support the Hebrew calendar we now use, the Hebrew calendar with both Paulman rules, even though there are some difficulties with that, that I'll cover in maybe the next Bible study, not this one.

But there are a lot of views to the contrary as far as the Hebrew calendar with both Paulman rules being used at the time of Christ, and there are difficulties there. But I still want to show here how this, the book of John tends to support that that is the calendar they were using. So again, the title is the calendar part 9, putting the pieces together. I want to begin by just reviewing what we've learned from the first two pieces of the puzzle. I'd mentioned them, but let's go there again, as shown in the book of John.

And the first piece of the puzzle here has to do with John 7, verse 2, and verse 37. John 7, verse 2 says, now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. So this is the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7. And then it says in John 7, 37, which is the scripture that most people misunderstand because they apply it to the eighth day rather than the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is on the last day, that great day of the Feast. It's talking about the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. And that's, of course, because of this verse, we used to think this was the eighth day, Holy Day. We then named that day the Last Great Day. Of course, many churches still do that, churches of God. But now we've come to understand that this is actually not that day. It's the seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and not the eighth day. So now we in the United call it the eighth day, which is the only real name given to it in the Bible, as I showed in the previous Bible study. But another key here is, since that last day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone thirst, come to me. Well, how many days are there in the Feast of Tabernacles? What does scripture tell us? Go back to Leviticus 23, verse 34. It emphasizes for seven days, not eight days, seven days. And then verse 39 says, you shall keep the Feast of the Lord, and referring to the Feast of Tabernacles, for seven days. And then verse 41, you shall keep the Feast of the Lord for seven days. And then it adds even this in verse 42 of Leviticus 23, you shall dwell in booze for seven days. So specifically it says here that they only had to dwell in booze for seven days. So they didn't have to dwell in a booth on the eighth day. The eighth day was not a part of the Feast of Tabernacles. So if they had a booth on top of their homes, they could come down and live in their homes on the eighth day. They didn't have to stay in the booth. Because it says here, instructions were, you shall dwell in booze for seven days.

So Feast of Tabernacles then being seven days, what then would be the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles? The last day of the Feast of Tabernacles would be the seventh day. The eighth day is a separate feast. So John 7.37 then is referring to the seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, not to the eighth day sacred assembly. So that's then the first piece of the puzzle, just to review what we covered last time. Now let's look at the second piece of the puzzle.

What does it say in Leviticus 23 in regards to the eighth day?

In Leviticus 23 verse 36 it says, on the eighth day, you shall have a holy convocation. It is a sacred assembly and you should do no customary work. So it's a holy day. It's a holy convocation, the eighth day.

Now I'm just going to go back here. Just leave that up there for a moment. I'll blank it out, actually. And I want to go back to John 7.37 again, just read it from Scripture. John 7.37, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.

So that was the seventh day, the last day of the piece of tabernacles.

What then happened on the seventh and last day of the piece of tabernacles after John 7.37? When that ended, when the seventh day ended, the piece of tabernacles ended, what happened next when that came to an end? Let's go to the next point here, John 7.53. Everyone went to his own house because they only had to dwell on booze for seven days. They didn't have to dwell on the booze on the eighth day. So after the feast of tabernacles ended, the next day, everyone went to their own home.

What then happened the next morning, on the morning of the beginning of the eighth day sacred assembly?

John 8.2. This is the next morning. After the end of the seven days' feast of tabernacles. Early in the morning, Christ came again into the temple, and all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. Why? Well, because it's a holy day. So Christ didn't only go back to the temple, but all the people came there too, because the holy day is a sacred assembly. So they came back to the temple.

Because it's now the eighth day, sacred assembly, and it's a holy day. Now, this teaching here, John 8.2, where Christ gets us down to the temple to teach him, he teach them at the temple that morning, as we know them a little bit later. In John 9, he leaves the temple. Finally, after a while, he goes out of the temple. When he goes out of the temple, as we covered last time, what does he do?

He encounters a man who's been blind from birth. Again, a lot of these events in John 8 and 9, they tie in and add deeper meaning to the eighth day, because they all occurred on the eighth day. So they're events that can add meaning to that day in Scripture. But this teaching here begins at John 8.2, when he goes out of the temple and encounters this man who was blind from birth, they argue about that, the Pharisees do, the Sadducees and the scribes about that. And that just carries on all the way through chapter 10, verse 21, which I'll just read to you, John 10, verse 21, just to show you that this, the events of the eighth day go all the way up to chapter 10, verse 21.

In chapter 10, verse 21, others said, they're still arguing about who this blind man is, and so on. Others said, these are not words of one who has a demon, because some say, well, he has a demon.

Christ has a demon to heal this man. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Could the demon, if Christ had a demon, could the demon have the power to open the eyes of a man who'd been blind from birth?

So again, I'm just showing you chapter 10, 21, if you're looking in your Bibles, all the way from 8-2 to 10-21 is talking about events that happened on the eighth day. That then is the second piece of the puzzle, that all events mentioned from John 8-2 all the way down through, and including John 10-21, occurred on the eighth day. So that's a review of the first two pieces. But now let's look at the third piece of the puzzle.

Third piece of the puzzle. So third fact we're going to look at from the book of John. What Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day Sacred Assembly that's being talked about there in John 7-8, what Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day Sacred Assembly was this? We don't have to guess. Because the book of John tells us which Feast of Tabernacles this was. It shows us it was a Feast of Tabernacles and Eighth Day that occurred the year before Christ died. That's the fact in the book of John. I want to blank that out just for a moment now.

Because what happened next after the conclusion of this particular Eighth Day Sacred Assembly? Well, if you turn to your Bibles now and turn into chapter 10 of John, John chapter 10, I'm just going to read a few scriptures here rather than show them on slides, John chapter 10 verse 22. This is right after this seven Feast of Tabernacles and Eighth Day had been concluded. It's a little bit past that now. It says, it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. And it was winter. So this is the following winter after this Feast of Tabernacles in John 7 and 8. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.

So the Feast of Dedication was also called the Festival of Lights. Today they call it Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah. Jews still observe that feast today. And it's still celebrated by Jews today on the 25th of Shizlev, which is the ninth month of the Jewish calendar, whose last year.

But it corresponds to our December. It usually occurs in December. So if you want to stay this Feast of Dedication, now we're up to December. Past the Feast of Tabernacles and Eighth Day we're into December, beginning of winter. What do the Jews want to know from Jesus at this particular Feast of Dedication? Well, let's read it from the Scripture.

Stay in your Bible, John 10, verse 24. Then the Jews surrounded him at this Feast of Dedication, and they said to him, How long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, if you are the Messiah, as you say, tell us plainly. So they wanted to know if he was the promised Messiah. They didn't like the answer, so they first took up stones again to stone him, as it tells us in verse 31 of John 10.

And then they sought again to seize him, but he escaped out of their hand, John 10, verse 39. What happened next? John 10, verse 40. And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he stayed. Christ went there beyond the Jordan. It's now the winter. In the beginning of the winter, maybe next early spring, he's staying there beyond the Jordan. And while he was staying there, as we know if you go on reading other parts of John here, Lazarus became sick and died.

Christ then eventually came to the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany, and resurrected Lazarus back to life. And I'm not going to go through that, but all that is recorded in John 11.1 through John 11.45. Let's read John 11, verses 45 and 46. John 11, verse 45. Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did, like raising Lazarus from the dead, they believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus did. They went to some of the Pharisees and the chief priests, told them about the resurrection of Lazarus.

And to them, lots of the Pharisees and chief priests, to them, the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead was the last straw. They were now afraid of losing power. They couldn't perform any miracle like that. A lot of people are not beginning to believe this was the Christ. It was the Messiah, too. He could raise somebody from the dead, not just from the dead, but he'd been dead for like three days. So he now sought to put Jesus to death, as we'll see. John 11, verses 53 and 54. From that day on, after they raised Lazarus from the dead, from that day on they plotted to put him to death.

Therefore, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but he went from there into the country near the wilderness to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with his disciples. So this is now nearing what time of the year now? Again, this is the time just following. The piece of Tabard acts on an eighth day of John 7 and 8, 9, and 10.

Let's go to the next slide. What time of the year was this? John 11, verse 55. We just read verses 53 and 54. We'll read John 11, verse 55. And the passer over of the Jews was near. It's now nearing the Passover. And this has to be the Passover following the piece of Tabernacles of John 7.

The Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. So it's now the time of the Passover. The year following, the piece of Tabernacles, it's recorded in John 7, 37. I'll just read this rather than show the slide.

John 12, verse 1. Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. Just six days before the Passover. Would this next Passover, would it be the Passover on which Christ would die? John 12, verses 23 and 24.

But Jesus asked them, saying, the hour has come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain.

Now, the remainder of the book of John covers the events then surrounding the Passover on which Christ died. All the rest of the book of John is focused on that Passover and what happened. The events leading up to it. So this then gives us a third piece of the puzzle, if you will. It tells us that the Feast of Tabernacles of John 7 was the Feast of Tabernacles that occurred in the year prior to the Passover on which Christ died. Okay, that's important to understand that.

Now, I have to ask a question here. Why would this be significant as far as the calendar and calendar issues are concerned? It becomes significant because of the next piece of the puzzle. This fourth piece of the puzzle is the key piece that ties all the other pieces together to give us a complete picture.

Let's take a look at the fourth piece of the puzzle. It's John 9, verse 14. We now know that John 9, 14 is talking about an event that took place on the 8th-day sacred assembly that followed the 7-day Feast of Tabernacles the year prior to the Passover on which Christ died. And it says, John 9, 14, Now, it was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Well, if it was an 8-day sacred assembly, of course it was a Sabbath. It was an annual Sabbath. It was a Holy-day Sabbath.

We know this was just from the events we've seen. This has to be the 8th day. So, yeah, it was a Holy-day Sabbath. But it says it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

Now, it was an annual Sabbath, but was it also a weekly Sabbath at the same time? We know that the 8th day can occur on a weekly Sabbath. Is that why John 9, 14 says it was a Sabbath? Because it wants us to know that it was a weekly Sabbath as well as being an annual Sabbath.

See, the thing is, it's interesting because if you really study the Bible openly and with open mind objectively, you can figure out from the events of John 7 and 8, you can figure out that John 9 here occurred on the 8th day following the 7-day feast of Tabernacle. You can figure that out. There's enough information there if you really think about it. You can figure that out. But you would not be able to figure out that it was also a weekly Sabbath unless it told you that. It would have to tell you it was a weekly Sabbath, but you wouldn't be able to figure that out. We would have to be told it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes, as it says here in John 9, 14. And I personally believe that is precisely what John 9, 14 is telling us. That this 8th day sacred assembly on which the blind man had been healed was also a weekly Sabbath. That's why it says that.

And the book of John itself tends to support that conclusion. I'll blank that out for a moment. How does the book of John tend to support what I just said? That when it says that day was a Sabbath, it's telling us it was a weekly Sabbath, as well as being an annual Holy Day Sabbath. I believe it's telling that by what's recorded in John 19, 31. I'm not going to put a slide up here. Turn to John 19 and verse 31. John 19, let's start in verse 30. John 19, verse 30. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. In other words, he died. It was the Passover, it's the afternoon of the Passover day, and Christ here just died. Now, notice verse 31. Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, this particular Passover was the Preparation Day. Preparation Day for what? For the weekly Sabbath, as some would conclude. Or for the first day of 11 bread, which was a high day, or annual Holy Day Sabbath.

John 19, verse 31. Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. For that Sabbath, that Sabbath following that Passover in which Christ died, that Sabbath was a high day. Now, some people argue, every Sabbath is a high day, but it's making a point. That that particular Sabbath is also an annual High Day, Holy Day Sabbath. Which means it's not necessarily a weekly Sabbath, it's a high day Sabbath. Actually, James and Fawcett and Brown, commentary, has it right. And this particular verse, if you look that up, verse 31 there, and James and Fawcett and Brown, it says, This was the first day of the 11 bread.

It was an annual High Day Sabbath. And James and Fawcett and Brown has it right. Now, why does it tell us this day was a high day Sabbath? We know Christ died on the Passover. And we know, and I'm not going to go through this and do a Bible study on it because you've had that, a lot of you have been in the church, you have this, you have booklets on it, you can go back and study if you want to.

But we know that the Passover, in the year Christ died, the Passover fell on a Wednesday. Scripture supports that and shows that. That Passover in the year Christ died occurred on a Wednesday. As it was heard in the middle of the week, it was prophesied in Daniel 9, 27, where it says, in the middle of the week, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering by giving His own sacrifice. So this was the first day of the 11 bread, this annual High Day Sabbath, and it fell on a Thursday because the Passover, when Christ died, had to fall on a Wednesday.

So this High Day Sabbath of John 10, verse 31, would have fallen on a Thursday. In that particular year. See, when a Sabbath falls during a day of the week, it has to be designated as a High Day in order to know, for the reader to know, it was a Sabbath. Because only High Day Sabbaths can occur during the week, other than the weekly Sabbath. On the other hand, if an annual High Day Sabbath occurs on a weekly Sabbath, then to know that we must be told that it was a Sabbath.

There was also a weekly Sabbath, which is precisely what John 19... John 914 is telling us in regards to this particular 8-day sacred assembly that occurred in the year prior to the Passover which Christ died. It says it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened His eyes. It tells us it was a Sabbath. It tells us it was also a weekly Sabbath. That's what comes across to me. It's what your book of John tends to support. So that then is the fourth and final key piece to the puzzle given to us in the book of John.

That particular 8-day was a weekly Sabbath. Now, before reviewing the four pieces of the puzzle, first there are two additional pieces we are giving outside the book of John. I'm going to look at those as well. These two pieces give us clues as to the possible years which the Feast of Tabernacles of John 17 occurred. The possible years when that Feast of Tabernacles of John 7 occurred. And what years the Passover in which Christ died may have occurred.

Now, the first of these two additional pieces is given to us in Matthew 2. Matthew 2, verses 1-2. This is another key piece to try to figure out what year did that Feast of Tabernacles occur in John 7 and what year may have Christ died on the Passover, which had to fall on a Wednesday. Matthew 2, verses 1-2. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, so Herod, King Herod, was still living when Jesus was born. This is why his man came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where has he been born? King of the Jews.

So Jesus was born in the days of Herod the Great when he was the King of Judea. Let's go to Matthew 2. I'll just leave that up there for now. Matthew 2, verse 16. Go back to Matthew 2, verse 16. It says, So we know when Herod is still King, he's still alive. Jesus had to be born sometime within two years or less of that time. Now just prior to this, an angel warned Joseph and Mary to flee to Egypt with the young child, and they were there until the death of Herod. Matthew 2, verses 13-15. Now let's go to Matthew 2, verse 19. Now when Herod was dead, Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and, saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, and go back to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child's life are dead. So Christ would have been under two years of age when Herod died.

Now, most historical records, if you go back and look up historical records, most will give you the conclusion that in all probability, King Herod died in the spring of 4 BC. But that's not a certain. Callie's Bubble Handbook says 3 BC, and in fact we're watching the great courses right now, where the gal who's teaching these courses on great figures of the New Testament. And we just watched the introductory one last night, and she touched on the death of Herod the Great, and she said, well, their scholars are at very on when he died. Some say 3, some might even say 2, but most say 4 BC. She said, that's good enough for me, so I'm going to go with 4 BC. That's the most universally accepted time of Herod's death is 4 BC. But we don't know for sure. It could have been 3 BC. There is some debate over that. There's not an absolute certainty that everybody agrees that it was 4 BC, but most likely it was. But if it was 4 BC, for example, what would that mean? It would mean that Christ was born probably in the fall. That Christ was born in the fall of either 4 BC or 5 BC. If Herod died in 3 BC, then Christ probably was born in the fall of 4 BC. If Herod died in 4 BC, Christ was probably born in the fall of 5 BC, or some would say maybe 6 BC, probably 5 BC. So most probably Christ was born in the fall of 5 BC, or about 6 months before Herod died in the spring of 4 BC. Again, give or take a year, depending on the exact year Herod actually died. Some of those things which can't be nailed down with absolute certainty. So that is one additional piece of the puzzle, that Christ was probably born in the fall of 4 BC or 5 BC.

Second additional piece of the puzzle comes to us in Luke chapter 3. Luke 3 verse 23, where it says this, Jesus himself began his ministry at about 30 years of age. Now, it's not a precise statement. It says about 30 years of age. Okay, was he 29, about to turn 30? Was he 30, about to turn 31? We don't know. He says he was about 30 years of age. That's not a real precise figure, but we know he's about 30 years old.

The time began his ministry, which lasted, what, three and a half years? Did Herod die in 3 BC or 4 BC? Well, we don't know with absolute certainty. You can't nail it down, absolutely. So that all this gives us about one year leeway, one way or the other. Just to point that out. But it does indicate this without taking the time to chart it all out. It indicates the two most likely years on which Christ died were either 30 or 31 AD.

Because we know Christ died on a Wednesday, and using the Hebrew calendar, the Passover could fall on a Wednesday on both of those years. The Passover could fall on a Wednesday in both 30 and 31 AD. And you can calculate it. You can go back and calculate for any given year. There's a mathematical formula you can use to calculate when the feasts and Holy Days fail on that given year, according to the Hebrew calendar.

In 30 AD, the Passover would fall on a Wednesday with the Hebrew calendar. You can calculate it in one of two ways. You can calculate it with postponement rules. There are four postponement rules. I'm going to go into another Bible study. There's also, you can calculate the Hebrew calendar without using postponement rules.

In 30 AD, the Passover falls on a Wednesday whether you use postponement rules or not. Either way, it comes out on a Wednesday. However, in 31 AD, the Passover only occurs on a Wednesday if you incorporate postponement rules. Without postponement rules, I think it falls on a Tuesday.

But in 31 AD, it falls on a Wednesday if you incorporate postponement rules. Now, something else I want to mention when it comes to postponement rules. The bottom line is this when it comes to postponement rules and preserving the Feast of Tabernacles. When you use postponement rules with the Hebrew calendar, the Feast of Tabernacles, an eighth day, and they always begin and end on the same day, if the Feast of Tabernacles, first Holy Day of the Feast of Tabernacles is on a Saturday, then the eighth day will be on a Saturday.

It's always the same because they're eight days apart. When you use postponement rules, the Feast of Tabernacles on an eighth day can never go from Sunday to Sunday. It can never go from Wednesday to Wednesday, and it can never go from Friday to Friday. I'll explain all that in a later Bible study.

It would be postponed. So it means that using postponement rules, the Feast of Tabernacles on an eighth day will always go from either Monday to Monday, Tuesday to Tuesday, Thursday to Thursday, or Saturday to Saturday. And if you think back, when you go and observe the Feast of Tabernacles on an eighth day, it always goes from one of those days, either Saturday to Saturday, Monday to Monday, Tuesday to Tuesday, or Thursday to Thursday.

Now, the main point I want to make today is that in 31 A.D., the Passover can also fall on any Wednesday, but only using the Hebrew calendar with postponement rules. Now, there are many who have very good reason for saying this, by the way. There are many who say that postponement rules were not added to the Hebrew calendar until long after the time of Christ. That can't be nailed down absolutely, but that is a prominent understanding that many would have.

We'll look at that evidence in a later Bible study. But if that indeed is the case, then Christ would have to have died in 30 A.D. If there were no postponement rules, then you'd have incorporated it. At the time of Christ, then Christ would have had to have died in 30 A.D., not 31, as the church has always taught. Because in 31, Passover falls on a Wednesday if you use postponement rules. In 30 A.D., it falls on a Wednesday with or without postponement rules. But it is very likely that the Jews at the time of Christ are using some form of the Hebrew calendar.

And I'll give that reason for that also in a later Bible study. But now, before putting the pieces together, let's look at what we have so far. Here's what we have so far. Here's some of the facts. We have from the book of John and also Leviticus. Number one, Christ was born just prior to the death of King Herod the Great, who probably died in the spring of either 3 or 4 B.C. So Christ had been born probably in either 4 B.C. or 5 B.C.

Number two fact, Christ was about 30 years of age when he began his ministry, which means he died on the Passover of either 30 or 31 A.D. That's the only thing that fits with Herod's death and the time of that and the years of that, and about being about 30 years of age and having a 3 1⁄2 year ministry.

That brings you up to 30 or 31 A.D. And of course, you know he died on Wednesday in the Passover, and both of those years could have fallen on Wednesday. Third fact, John 7, 37 is referring to the seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. It's not referring to the eighth day Holy Day. Fourth fact, John 8, 2 through John 10, 21 is referring to events which all took place on the eighth day Holy Day, which follows the seventh day Feast of Tabernacles.

Fact 5, the Feast of Tabernacles of John 7 was the Feast of Tabernacles that occurred in the year prior to the year on which Christ died. That's a fact. You can establish it in the Book of John. And 6, the Feast of Tabernacles of the eighth day of John 7 through 10, John 7 through 10, was observed from Saturday to Saturday as indicated in John 9.14.

As that particular eighth day as a citizen, John 9.14, was a Sabbath. Those are the facts that we have before us from the Book of John. Again, meaning here in John 6, that it was a weekly Sabbath in addition to being an annual Holy Day Sabbath. So those then are all the pieces of the puzzle. Now let's see what we can learn in regards to the calendar and calendar issues when we put all these pieces together. I'm going to blank the screen out for a moment. Let's try to put all the pieces together. What we have so far, what does that tell us in regards to the calendar and calendar issues?

What do we need to look for? Getting it down to something simple here. What do we need to look for that would correspond to what we are told in the Book of John as far as the calendar and calendar issues are concerned? We need to look for a calendar that would give us a Wednesday Passover around 30 or 31 A.D.

that would then have been preceded by a Saturday to Saturday Feast of Tabernacles on the 8th Day using that same calendar. Do you get that? Passovers on a Wednesday, the previous Feast of Tabernacles, had to go from Saturday to Saturday. So you've got to find a calendar on which the Passover could fall on a Wednesday in 30 or 31 A.D. that was preceded by a Feast of Tabernacles on the 8th Day that went from Saturday to Saturday in the preceding year.

But before doing that, I want to prove, because actually, it's interesting. John 7.37, I think, is very, very interesting. Because United is really the only major church of God that correctly understands that John 7.37 is talking about the 7th Day. The Feast of Tabernacles are not the 8th Day. I know Fred Kolder, he wrote, I think, 30 pages proving that, you know, 30 A.D. was the year in which Christ died, which many believe is a logical year.

But I want to prove that John 7.37 had to be the 7th Day of the Feast of Tabernacles. It cannot be the 8th Day as we formerly believed. And we can prove this by asking this particular question, which I'm going to put up on the screen here in just a second.

And I've done a lot of thought, thinking about this, you know, some of you have, and Rich Edel has done a lot of thought, he put a lot of thought in his. I've carried the respect to Rich because he put a tremendous amount of thought into this as well. And I was 100% agreeing with Rich for many, many years as far as 30 A.D.B. in the year in which Christ died. That is the most logical year when you really look at everything.

But I was laying asleep one night, thinking about these things, many years, quite a few years ago. And this particular question came to my mind. It gave me proof that John 737 cannot be the eighth day. And here's the question. John 737, let's just say it was the eighth day, as we used to believe, as most of the Church of God today still believe.

If John 737 was the eighth day, and the day following that day was a weekly Sabbath, as indicated in John 9.14, then on what day of the week would the eighth day have occurred? If you have an eighth day, John 737 is an eighth day, Holy Day as we used to believe, and the next day is a Sabbath, then what day of the week would the feast of Tabernacle and the eighth day have gone to from what day to what day? It means it would have to gone from Friday to Friday.

If you have a weekly Sabbath and the day before was a Holy Day, then that Holy Day, eighth day, had to occur on a Friday. That would mean, what would that mean as far as counter? If that were true, and if that feast of Tabernacle and the eighth day of John 7, if it was, John 7 was the eighth day, that would mean you could not use a Hebrew counter with postponement rules.

It would have to be without postponement rules, because the feast can never occur from Friday to Friday using postponement rules. It can't. It will never come out that way. So, if it was on a Friday, the eighth day occurred on a Friday, you could not use the Hebrew counter with postponement rules as we use today, because it would have been postponed to Saturday. Or some other form... You couldn't use the Hebrew counter with postponement rules.

You have to use without postponement rules, or some other new moon calendar would have to be used. So, the big question is this. Let's go to the big question. This is the big question. Because here's the thing. You can calculate the Hebrew calendar for any given year. You can also go back and get records and calculate when the new moons occurred. That's pretty good accuracy. A lot of scholars have done that. Is there any calendar, Hebrew or new moon, where you can have the Feast of Tabernacles on the 8th day from Friday to Friday, followed by a Wednesday Passover on the next year using that same calendar?

That's the question. And the answer is no. No, you can't. There is no calendar. Hebrew or otherwise, there's a new moon calendar where you can have a Friday to Friday Feast of Tabernacles on the 8th day, where a Passover would fall on a Wednesday the following year using the same calendar.

The Hebrew calendar, without postponement rules, will not work, given the information we have in the Book of John, as we'll see. Or any other calendar that has the Feast of Tabernacles from Friday to Friday. No Friday to Friday Feast and 8th day will work for any of the years surrounding the time Christ would have had to have died. In other words, there is no calendar that can have the Feast from Friday to Friday, followed by the Passover being on a Wednesday the following year using that same calendar. Thus, John 7.37 cannot be referring to the 8th day. It just doesn't work. John 7.37 can only be referring to the 7th and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, as the United has now understood for a number of years.

Which also means, then, that John 8, 9, and 10, John chapters 8, 9, and 10, has to be talking about events that occurred on the 8th day, because that's the day following John 7.37. Now, then, looking at a chart that I'm now going to show you, let's put all the pieces of the puzzle together, or try to. And I've modified this. I'm going to show it to you in a moment. But this chart is...the original chart is an appendix to our doctoral study paper titled, Summary of the Hebrew Calendar.

It was approved by the Council of Elders in February 1997. This Hebrew calendar appendix lists all the possible dates of the Holy Days from 26 AD, or 26 CE, as I'll have it on here, the Common Era, to 34 CE, as they would have occurred using three possible overall calendars. So they put together a chart, in other words, and they took them to years 26 to 34 AD, or CE, Common Era is now used.

And they looked at three possible calendars, and all the days, the Passover and the Holy Days would have occurred using those three counters during those years 26 to 34 AD. One chart shows the Hebrew calendar calculated with postponement rules. The other one is the Hebrew calendar calculated without postponement rules. And the other is based on observation of the New Moon. And as we'll see, the only counter that tends to work, given what we have in the book of John, is the Hebrew calendar calculated with postponement rules.

No other calendar will work. So first, let's look at the alternate Passover and the 8-day occurrences by use of different calendars for the years 26 to 29 CE. I put this together from that chart. I made up my own. I couldn't get it all on one page, so I've got 26 to 29 CE on one page, and then 30 to 34 on the next page. But this is alternate Passover and 8-day occurrences by use of different calculations for the years 26 to 29 CE.

And I want to mention the reason I'm using CE... Whoops, what happened there? Did I go the wrong place? There we go. Nope, next one. Okay. What I wanted to do is I want to say... Why I'm saying CE. That's common error or Christian error. It's commonly due.

I just want to mention that CE replaces AD, as used in the past. AD stood for Anno Domini, which in Latin means the year of our Lord. BC was then used to designate before Christ. Where scholars now know that Christ was probably born maybe 5 BC. How could he have been born before Christ?

So the nomenclature for a designated year has now changed from AD to CE and from BC to BCE. CE standing for common error or Christian error. BCE standing for before the common error, before the Christian error. So nothing else has changed. 26 CE was still corresponding to 26 AD. 5 BC would correspond to 5 BC. Nothing's changed except the designation.

So I'm going to be using CE or common error or Christian error on here. That's why I put that up there. Because that's the most commonly used today. And I'm just focusing here to make it simple. I'm just focusing on the Passover and the 8th Day. When those particular Passover fees and the 8th Day would have occurred in these different years. Now for the Passover, I put all, in this particular year, from 29, 26 to 29, I have put all the Wednesday Passovers in bold.

As we know, the Passover on which Christ died had to fall on a Wednesday. So I put the Wednesday Passovers in bold. 27 CE we had to pass over and fall on a Wednesday. 28 CE we had to pass over and fall on a Wednesday, using observation. Here I was using Hebrew counter with postponements. And for the 8th Day I put all the Friday and Saturday 8th Days in bold.

Why Friday? Because most of the churches of God still believe John 7, 37 is referring to the 8th Day. And if it is, it had to occur on a Friday. So I have those in bold. I have the 8th Day. Saturday is in bold. It occurred on Saturday on 27 CE. It occurred on a Friday here without postponements in 27. And it occurred on a Saturday, and the 8th Day did. It occurred on a Saturday in 28 using observation. So first let's prove that it could not have occurred on a Friday.

That John 7, 37 cannot be referring to the 8th Day because the 8th Day could not have occurred on a Friday. Why not? Because there are no possible calendars with the 8th Day falling on a Friday, which is then followed by a Wednesday Passover using the same calendar. Okay. We have a Friday on 27. We have the 8th Day falling on a Friday using the Hebrew without postponements. But if you go to the next year when the Passover would have had to fall on a Wednesday using that same calendar, from the next year to 28, Passover would have fallen on a Monday using this same calendar.

So that doesn't fit. So Friday, that doesn't work. Now if we go to the next one, go to 30, we look for Friday, possible 8th Day. We have the 8th Day falling on a Friday in the year 2031 when you use the Hebrew counter without postponements. But if you use that same counter for the next year, instead of faster falling on a Wednesday, it falls on a Saturday.

So that doesn't work. Now I want to go back for a second to this one here. I'll look at 29, 29. I'll look at the 8th Day for 29. 29c. The 8th Day, with postponements it falls on a Tuesday. Without postponements it falls, it goes from Monday to Monday. So you've got the Feast of Tabernacle on an 8th Day in 29. Using the Hebrew counter with postponements, it goes Tuesday to Tuesday.

Without postponements, it goes from Monday to Monday. Why am I pointing this out? Because it shows that 30 AD does not work as a year Christ would have died, as I believe for many years, as many still do. Why not? If you go to 30, you have the Passover fall on a Wednesday with postponements and without postponements.

But you have to have a situation where using that same counter, when you go to the previous year, you have the Feast of Tabernacles an 8th Day occurring on a Saturday to Saturday. And in both cases, you've got Tuesday to Tuesday here, Monday to Monday here. So if you try to calculate all this, it shows me that 30 AD doesn't work.

John 737 has to be referring to the 7th Day, but it doesn't work. 2728. So 27, I mean 30 AD doesn't work. Even though the Passover falls on a Wednesday, the previous year is 29, you don't have a Feast of Tabernacles going from Saturday to Saturday using the same year.

Let's see, I'm way ahead of my notes. Let's find the one calendar that works. There's only one calendar here that really works where you have a Wednesday Passover preceded by a Saturday to Saturday Feast of Tabernacles an 8th Day. And that's for the years 30 and 31. In 31, you have the Passover falling on a Wednesday using the Hebrew counter with postponements.

And if you do that using that same counter for the previous year 30, you have the 8th Day of Feast of Tabernacles going from Saturday to Saturday. So you have to have, in the Book of John, which it seems to be anyway, that you have to have a Feast of Tabernacles going from Saturday to Saturday followed by a Wednesday Passover the following year.

And the only calendar that will calculate that at work is the Hebrew counter with postponements. Where you have a Passover falling on a Wednesday in 31 preceded by a Feast of Tabernacles an 8th Day that went from Saturday to Saturday the previous year. So that appears to be the only thing that works. Therefore, my conclusion is that in all probability, then, the Hebrew counter with postponements was being used at the time of Christ.

Because that's the only calendar that seems to work with the information we have in the Book of John.

It would allow for a Wednesday Passover preceded by a Saturday to Saturday Feast of Tabernacles an 8th Day. So this, then, is the bottom line summary. John 914. It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Because we know that was also the 8th Day Sacred Assembly.

And in 30 CE, in the Common Era, using the Hebrew counter with postponements, the 8th Day fell on Saturday, October 7th. It went from Saturday to Saturday, which ties in with Sports John 914. Daniel 927 is a prophecy that says, in the middle of the week, he, Christ, shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering, of course by his own sacrifice. And in 31 CE, using the Hebrew counter with postponements, the Passover fell on Wednesday, April 25th.

So in conclusion, then, when it would fit all the pieces of the puzzle together, it would appear, at least, that Christ died on the Passover of 31 CE, as has been the position of most of the churches of God for many years.

It would also appear, contrary to the opinion of many, that the only counter that really works is the Hebrew counter with postponement rules, even though many people would object to that. And there are some difficulties when it comes to using postponement rules. And I know that many would not agree with that, because they would say postponement rules were not in effect at that time. But if that's not the case, if this is not correct here, then something, because these are all, this information I put up there, I didn't put that together, that was put together by experts, even outside the church. And the appendix to the Hebrew counter that I mentioned to you that was approved back in 1997 lists all those sources. The scholars that calculated the new moons, the Hebrew counters, and so on, they calculated all that and put that together. So if this is not correct, then there's something in there that they calculated wrong, it's not correct in their calculations, or there's something other that's missing that we don't know, especially maybe about the new moons or something. But if that's the case, if there's something missing there that you don't know historically, then there's no way anybody could ever make a case for what counter was being used at the time of Christ, because it wouldn't be enough information to support it. What I'm trying to do is, I'm trying to demonstrate, what I'm trying to demonstrate is simply to defend the Hebrew counter we're now using, at least showing that that can be defended, it's one counter that does tend to fit with the information we're given in the book of John, and that it fits all the way going back to the time of Christ and what we're told in the book of John. Now, I will touch on some of the opposing arguments, because there are opposing positions on this, and I'll cover some of those in the next Bible study, in order to, as Fox says, be fair and balanced, because there are difficulties. But for me, the evidence of putting all these pieces of puzzle together from what we have in the book of John, heavily weighs in favor of the Hebrew counter that we're now using with Balspoma rules. Again, now the Hebrew counter, and I'll go into this next Bible study, because it's very interesting, the Hebrew counter is calculated from what is called the Molad of Tishri, or from the New Moon of the Seventh Month, that is the day of Trump. It's calculated from that point. Whether you use Balspoma rules or not, it's calculated from the Molad of Tishri.

So next time, in Part 10, what I hope to maybe conclude in three or four more Bible studies over the course of the next few months, I will cover Trumpets as a reference point for the Hebrew counter, and then I'll go into possible origins of the Hebrew counter, or the bottom line is we don't really know the origins of the Hebrew counter, but there is something very interesting you can't substantiate. The Hebrew counter uses a 19-year time cycle with seven years in there. You add a 13th month and seven of those 19 years. It's very interesting that similar calendars, 19-year time cycle calendars, where they have evidence from clay tablets and other forms, going all the way back, predating the flood, that a 19-year time cycle calendar was being used, with intercalcillary years, seven years where our 13th month is added, as the Hebrew counter does. So it shows that that type of counter goes way back in history, about as far as you can go, all the way back to the ancient Sumerians. But next time, I'll go into that a little bit. Some of the gover how it's calculated from trumpets, possible origins, and also maybe gover just slightly. I don't want to spend much time on it, but just slightly what the post-ponem rules are all about and what they tend to do. The post-ponem rules, people say they have no use, but actually they do something that's quite interesting. When you use post-ponem rules, they fine-tune the Hebrew counter, and a certain way is quite interesting, which I'll bring out in the next Bible study. We'll end here for now.