Basically the Jews use a Lunar Calendar of 360 days per year, this goes back many years to the early Bible. We need to start when God gave instructions for the Jews on how to arrange the Passover which was to be carried out by them in Egypt. This was to be the end of God’s demand to let the Jews free.
Exodus 12:1-18.
"1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. "
The month was called "Aviv" and ran from late March to the beginning of April. The lamb was to be a yearling, a male, which is usually dearerand with out any phisical blemish, perfect.
Leviticus 23:1-8
"1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein."
God said that an "holy convocation" was to have no physical work done on it, it was to be a Sabbath, so the Passover was to be a Sabbath as no work was to be done, it says it is,"an holy convocation," verse 16. This means that the Jews could have more than a single Sabbath in each week.
God made a change to the law later, Deuteronomy 16:5,6"5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt."
The Passover can not be celebrated in any town other than Jerusalem. This is still being done.
The lamb was chosen 14th day of Aviv, it was to become part of the family, a pet. This meant that the children and the adults became much closer to the animal and it was deliberately harder for them to kill the lamb.
No stranger was allowed to eat the passover unless they had been circumcised, an uncircumcised person was not allowed to eat the Passover.
Exodus 12 43-48
"43 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
44 But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
45 A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.
46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof."
Looking at the New Testament we find that Jesus, on the 10th day of Aviv, when He entered Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds cheered Him in, was later to be rejected by the people, guided by the religious leaders to reject Jesus and He was crucified, it was this day that Jesus actually allowed the people to use the name Messiah.
The death of the lamb was to be a substitutionary atoning to God for the Hebrew families. After killing the lamb, the blood was placed in a basin and using Hyssop, the shape of this plant was a symbol of purification, note it was to be "slapped on the door posts"
Exodus 12:21-24
"21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever."
Jesus, when He died on the cross was supposed to be dead for three days, yet we do not selebrate these three days unless we use Thurday as part of the time. According to the rules we use, He died on Friday then rose on the next Sunday. Jesus was prophecied to be dead for three days, God would not have made a mistake. We must also note that each Jews day started the next day at sunset on the previous day, while the Gentile countries used midnight as a starting point for a new day, this would cause a problem in the early church and still does. Matthew 12:38-40
"38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
It was by the action of God that Jesus died, though Jesus gave His life away, The lamb was selected by God to die once for each of us, that is Jesus, we only have to accept the offer of forgiveness by God.
"33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they fear greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch."
Jesus was taking upon Himself the sins of the whole world, the present, the past and into the future, forgiveness was to be offered to each person who was alive on the earth, it may be offered for just once or a number of times, but if they rejected the offer they would eventually be sent to hell, the eternal place of punishment,
do not refuse
Darkness covered the land from the sixth hour until about 3:00 pm, the nineth hour, this must have been the action by God the Father attributing the sins of the world upon Jesus. After the darkness Jesus said out loadly, " It is finished:" meaning "all paid for" a cry of sucess by Jesus and then He passed his life onto God the Father, He was dead. He had freely given his own life for all people, true fellowship had now been restored between God the Father and Jesus.
Sin had been paid for.
The 14th of Aviv was Thursday, Jesus died on Thursday. So at sundown, the Jews start another new day. Friday, the 15th of Aviv. now under the rules Friday was a sabbath, the people had to partake two Sabbaths Friday and Saterday after each other.
The 16th of Aviv Jesus was buried until the 17th of Aviv, from sunset on Saturday. He was brought back to life on the Sunday by God. Now this day was the Feast of Fruits, which started on that day, this was done to produce a full harvest, but it also produced the wonderful Lord Jesus in his perfect body.
1 Corinthians 15:20"20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."
Jesus was the first Human, eternally immortal.
The Leven, sin has been taken away.
1 Corinthian 5:6-8.
"6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
The women had to wait until after the Sabbaths had run, they probably did not know of what the two men had done and were hoping to bury Jesus properly. But, how could they move the stone. On arrival they were astonished that the stone was moved. This had been done to let humans in, not let Jesus out, he could translate with His new body.They ran to Peter and John, who ran to the tomb.
Because of the lower age of John he arrived first and just looked in. Peter then arrived and entered, while Peter was trying to grasp the body form and the separate face cloth carefully laid there, John comes in and looks, with understanding at the empty covers and face cloth and believed.
It is interesting to notice that no one moved the body form made of the cloth and the dried myrrh they had used. Any person who doubted the story was able to check the open tomb and see the body form still laying there, the body having passed through the cloth and left it still in the shape of the body.
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