After the two fixed date Sabbaths of 15th and 21st Nisan, we find the next feast-day Sabbath Day in the third month of Sivan, of the Hebrew calendar. This is the well-known Feast of Pentecost, which is also known as the Feast of Weeks, or Harvests, or First-fruits. The Pentecost Day Sabbath neither has a fixed day nor fixed date on the Hebrew calendar. It is eternally fixed to fall on the fiftieth day after every year’s Passover Day and can thus, only be considered to have a date, insofar as its relationship to the Passover date is concerned. Hence, Pentecost Day has both variable days and dates, though it has a fixed reference to the Passover Day fixed date Sabbath in relation to the Hebrew calendar. Pentecost Day is the third feast-day Sabbath in the Hebrew calendar; a day in which no servile work is done. It is a compulsory day of rest for all –family heads, responsible men, wives, children, servants and all beasts of burden. After Pentecost Day, the next fixed date Sabbath Day is in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, Ethanim (known also as Tisri or Tishui). This month is host to four fixed date Sabbath Days. The first is 1st Ethanim, which is the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23: 24-25, Numbers 29: 1); then 10th Ethanim, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23: 27-32, Numbers 29: 7); and then 15th Ethanim, the first day of the seven-day Feast of Ingathering (Leviticus 23: 39, Numbers 29: 12). Let me say that, the only Sabbath Day in which one is not permitted to eat, but must fast, is the Day of Atonement on 10th Ethanim. Whereas for all other fixed day and fixed date Sabbath days, one can eat and even feast, but must do no servile work, one neither eats nor works on the Day of Atonement. The 22nd of Ethanim is also another fixed date Sabbath Day (cf. Leviticus 23: 39, Numbers 29: 35). This is the next day following the last of the seven-day long, Feast of Ingathering. If we sum up all the Sabbath Days of God in any one year, we would have sixty-one of them: fifty-three representing all those which fall on the last day of every week, seven fixed date Sabbath Days that come with feasting or fasting, as ordained by God, and one Passover Day, “an high day” with the practical status of a fixed date Sabbath. Therefore, one must be very careful in trying to identify or discern which Sabbath Day is being considered, at any time mention is made of a Sabbath Day or of “an high day”, in the Word of God. A critical examination in this regard, reveals that, the post-Crucifixion, pre-burial, rushed activities of the Gospel narratives, labeled Preparation Day, were neither in respect of an on-coming week day Sabbath Day on a last day of the week, nor toward a fixed date Sabbath, but one in preparation for the “high day” Feast of Passover. Many bible students, upon reading of the Preparation Day associated with the crucifixion day of the Savior, have erroneously concluded crucifixion day to have been on Friday, supposing Friday to always be the preparation day for every Sabbath Day. As a result of this error, it has led to the propounding and propagating of the Friday-crucifixion-Sunday-resurrection story of theologians and the Clergy. The failure of many bible-believers, to discern between the fixed day and fixed date Sabbath Days, and or “an high day” within the one week of the Savior’s suffering, crucifixion, burial and resurrection, has contaminated the faith of many a salvation-seeker. This has caused a staggering number of salvation-seekers to believe, accept and wrongly act on a so-called Easter-Sunday as the resurrection day of the Savior; in opposition to the Will of God. There is overwhelming evidence that in the month of Nisan, 30 AD, the month of crucifixion, the Day of Preparation, mentioned to have led to the Savior’s hurried burial, was not toward the observance of a last day of the week Sabbath Day, but toward the observance of Passover Day. So what was the Almanac of Israel in the year 30 AD, the year of the Savior’s crucifixion, like? We have to know in certainty, what the Almanac for the month and year of the Savior’s crucifixion was. We need to know this, so we can learn from it, the details of the Days of Preparation, and of actual Sabbath Days, which featured prominently in the crucifixion-resurrection account of the Savior. The month to study is the Passover month of Nisan, since we know the Savior was crucified as the Passover Lamb. The bible accounts on Passover month, 30 AD, reveal the itinerary of the Savior, as the time for his crucifixion drew nigh. We are told that on the sixth day to Passover Day, Jesus Christ spent the day at Bethany, in the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. (John 12: 1). Since Passover must be on the 14th Nisan, we can easily infer from this verse of John 12: 1 that, Jesus lodged in Bethany on 9th Nisan, 30 AD. The next day, after the Savior had lodged in Bethany, was 10th Nisan, 30 AD. On this day was when the Savior received a tumultuous welcome as he entered Jerusalem, while riding on a colt (John 12: 12-15). According to Jewish law and custom, it is in the evening of 10th Nisan every year, before sunset, when a selection or choice is made of the Passover lamb, from among the flocks of the head of every household. The Passover lamb is then tethered or quarantined from that evening, to be slaughtered, not long before sunset, but timely enough for its meat to be fire-grilled and served as the Passover meal of 14th Nisan. I believe Jesus made his entry into Jerusalem from Bethany, not long before or into the sunset hours of 10th Nisan, 30 AD, which set-off this day, so he could introduce himself to the palm-branch waving and Hosanna-singing crowd, and in fact, all Jerusalem, as the Passover Lamb of God, who must be sacrificed four days later. For the next four days, the Savior confined his activities to Jerusalem. During those four days, his movements inside the Holy City further gave publicity to the fact that he was the Passover Lamb of God, quarantined and on display within the city walls, who would in due time, be led to the slaughter outside the gates of the Holy City. The entering of the Savior into Jerusalem is the event which Christianity has for close to two millennia, been celebrating as Palm Sunday (which, to them, is a fixed-day feast, and so must always fall on Sunday?). However, evidence will be produced in this article to establish the fact that, the entry of the Savior into Jerusalem from Bethany, took place on a day other than Sunday. Since 14th Nisan, 30 AD, was the Passover Day, the day on which the Savior was to be received as God’s Passover Lamb, he could not partake of the evening Jewish Passover traditional meal, on that occasion. Obviously, no Passover lamb is able to partake of any Passover. And so was Jesus Christ, the 14th Nisan, 30 AD, Passover Lamb of God for salvation-seekers, not able to partake of the Passover meal, on that occasion. We must therefore, not confuse the Last Supper which the Savior had with his twelve disciples on the day before this date, which was 13th Nisan, 30 AD, to be his last Passover meal. The account of John 13: 1-6 should help us understand that the Last Supper of the Savior with his disciples, though in the festive season of Passover, was one day earlier, for obvious reasons. The institution of the Lord’s Supper ordinance was therefore, on this day, and not on Passover Day. However, this ordinance was meant for observance as the yearly Passover meal, after the Savior’s death. We can say that, for the Savior’s disciples, this Last Supper with him was indeed a very special “Passover Day” meal. This was so because, on the actual Passover Day of 14th Nisan, 30 AD, these disciples were too traumatized by the crucifixion of their Master, to care for any food. The un-anticipated death of the Savior, whose burial coincided with the serving of the Passover meal in Jewish homes, left all his followers without appetite for even a morsel of lamb meat. It could well be that, in anticipation of their traumatic experience in the demise of their Master, he himself, served them his own flesh, (as he told them so), and established this Last Supper as an ordinance to commemorate his death. We must not forget that, it was after this Last Supper with his disciples that the Savior went out to the garden beyond the brook Cedron (John 18: 1), where he was arrested with the connivance of Judas Iscariot, that same night of After the arrest, beginning in the morning of same 13th Nisan, 30 AD, was when the Savior was given the hasty and unfair trials in the fast-track courts of Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and again, Pilate, where he was finally sentenced to death by crucifixion, this same day. (---continuing part to this article is in Part Three: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Bapuohyele is a bible-expositor and author of the book: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE... His email address is: chrisbapuohyele@yahoo.com.

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