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The Length of Christ�s Ministry and the 70th Week.

Three and a Half Years of Christ�s Ministry.
     The writers of the Gospel�s (Matt., Mark, Luke, John) were obviously not concerned with the uniformity and strict chronological order when they wrote these books which now start off our New Testament; therefore we have differences of interpretation in reconstructing the sequence and length of the events in the ministry of Christ. None of the various Gospels can lay claim to complete proof for the chronological order of His actions. Together, we are going to look at a tentative time line of the Bible built on John�s (3) three Passovers (John 2:13; 6:4; and 12:1) and another unnamed feast (John 5:1) that is interpreted to be likewise a Passover. This gives us (3 �) three and one half years as a length to Christ�s ministry here on earth. Starting in the autumn of A.D. 27, and coming to an end in the spring of A.D. 31.

Daniel�s Seventy Weeks.
     Since there is a lack of conclusive evidence as to the exact date which Christ began His Ministry there are differences of opinion as to the events involved. Further this has allowed critics to assert contradictions between the Synoptic Gospels and John; and an attack on the application of the prophecy of Daniel�s (70) seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24-27) as it pertains to the life of Jesus Christ.

Daniel 9: (24) Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (25) Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. (26) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (27) And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (KJV)

     The period that was to �seal up the vision and prophesy� by showing the time of �Messiah the Prince� has been interpreted by a majority of theological authors as Christ�s first advent, with His crucifixion happening at either during or at the end of the 70th week. Since the Reformation, it has been the standard, with a few exceptions, historical understanding that the 70th week immediately followed the 69th and there was no time gap. This means the events prophesied to happen in the 70th week found their complete fulfillment in the life of Christ. The 70 weeks began with the 7th year of Artaxerxes (Daniel 9:25). We will see that by placing the baptism of Jesus at the beginning of the 70th week, and His crucifixion in the �midst of the week,� the evidence for the dating of His ministry can be harmonized with that interpretation. This also lends support to the fact that the Bible does not contradict itself.

     There is no problem with locating �the going forth of the commandment� at the beginning of the 70 weeks in the autumn of 457B.C. To date there is no conclusive historical or chronological evidence that Jesus began His ministry in the autumn of A.D.27 at the end of the 69 weeks of years after 457B.C.; and that Christ ended the symbolism of the sacrifices and offerings at the cross 3 � years later in the spring of A.D.31, with the latter half of the 70th week extending 3 � years longer, to the end of 490 years from the starting point. Also I should point out there is absolutely no disproof to this point of view. Although we cannot hold to these dates as definitely proved through direct historical source evidences, we can hold them as completely reasonable deductions from the prophecy. We are going to see why they are not incompatible with any known data, but are in fact, in harmony with many facts that are known from recent research.

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
     When we are faced with death of Christ three questions come to mind:
          1. What day of the week did He die?
          2. What connection was there between that day and the Feast of Passover?
          3. What year did Christ die?

Time between Crucifixion and Resurrection.
      Through the centuries the view that Christ died on the cross Friday afternoon and rose from the tomb early the next Sunday morning has been widely and openly accepted. In recent years some have come to a new opinion that when Christ said He would be �three days and three nights in the heart of the earth� (Matthew 12:40), He meant He would be in the grave for (72) Seventy-Two Hours. On this assumption alone is built the Wednesday crucifixion theory, and this presents the resurrection on a new day, Saturday in the afternoon. When the fact the Bible says Jesus rose on the first day of the week was brought up (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1) a newer, less exact, Thursday proposal was devised. (Thursday crucifixion plus 3 days equals Sunday.) So for clarity of the issue lets look at what Jesus Himself said about this matter.

     Jesus spoke prior to His death, several times, about the resurrection and He Himself used several phrases concerning �three days,� and once �three days and three nights.� Now by modern standards, a Western reckoning, when we say three days after an event we mean three full 24-hour days, or more. Strictly speaking from this modern viewpoint, 3 full 24-hour days after Friday afternoon would extend the resurrection to Monday afternoon. The problem obviously arises not from what those phrases He used may mean to Westerners in our present day and time, but what Jesus meant by them, and what His Near Eastern hearers understood by them, in His day.

     Let�s look at the meaning of �Day.� At the time Christ lived on this earth there were various forms of speech that do not have the same meaning for us today. So we are forced to look at what Jesus meant when he said, �day�. He spoke of the day having 12 hours in John 11:9,10, obviously referring to the daytime (light hours) as opposed to the night (dark hours). This is literally true and is exactly what Jesus meant to convey. When He lived among men the sunrise and sunset were divided into 12 parts, or �hours,� which �hours� varied in length depending on which season you were in. Now the fact we use clocks, which count hours in uniform length, sunrise and sunset are more or less than 12 sixty-minute hours apart most of the time, does not make Jesus� statement incorrect. Following the same line of reason it becomes clear that His phrase �three days� must be interpreted according to what those words meant at that time to those particular people, not what they mean to us today.

     Now although �day� was, and still is, sometimes used to mean the daylight hours, nevertheless the word, when used in counting a specific series of days, means in both ancient and modern usage a period including a day and a night. Looking back, the Greek language, in which the New Testament was written, had a word for �night-day,� nuchthemeron; Genesis enumerated each successive day of creation as composed of �evening� and �morning�. So in the time when Jesus spoke of �three days and three nights� he was simply saying �three [calendar] days,� as was currently understood in His time period.

Different Phrases for Same Period.
     In reading the New Testament it becomes clear that Christ refers at different times to the same period (the interval between His death and His resurrection) as �in three days,� �after three days,� on �the third day.� Only once, and only because He is quoting from Jonah 1:17, does he use the phrase �three days and three nights.� Now this is where we come to a crossroad in our understanding of the Bible. Unless we accuse Jesus of contradicting Himself, we must accept all these phrases as meaning the same period of time. When the Pharisees and priests went to Pilate they quoted Jesus� prediction of His resurrection saying, �after three days,� and asked only to have the tomb guarded �until the third day�, not until after the third day. We can only draw one obvious conclusion from this; �after three days� meant �the third day�.
Look at the following texts and their mention of this three-day period:
           �In three days�                             �After three days�                                              �The third day�
Matt.     26:61; 27:40                            27:63; 12:40 (and 3 nights)                             16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 27:64
Mark     14:58 (within)                                     8:31                                                            9:31; 10:34
Luke                                                                                                                       9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 21, 46
John      2:19-21

     What did Jesus and his disciples mean in these various three-day expressions mean? We can find out by going back into scripture and comparing other passages of the Bible that refer to time periods in similar ways.

Three Days Inclusive.
     The question of how long Jesus was in the tomb arose from a modern misunderstanding of inclusive reckoning, the common ancient method of counting. This method included both the day (or year) on which a particular period of time began and also that on which it ended, no matter how small a fraction of the beginning or ending day (or year) was involved. Here is an example; the period (when Shalmaneser besieged Samaria) beginning in the 4th year of Hezekiah and the 7th year of Hoshea, and ending in the 6th year of Hezekiah and the 9th of Hoshea, �at the end of three years� (2 Kings 18:9,10). It was obviously counted like this: 4,5,6 (of Hezekiah�s reign), three years, inclusive.
     Let�s look at another example. When a child is born we do not say that child is one year old until after he has lived 12 full months from the date of his birth. He becomes one year old as he enters his second year of life, and becomes 2 years old after he completes his second year. So a child is called �10 years old� all through his 11th year, and becomes 11 only after he has reached the end of 11 full years. Not so in the Bible. Noah was, literally, �a son of 600 years� �in the six hundredth year� of his life (Gen. 7:6,11); although his 600 years were not reckoned inclusively, these verses show that in his 600th year his age was considered 600, not 599. A Hebrew baby was circumcised when he was �eight days old� (Gen. 17:12), �the eighth day� (Lev.12:3; Luke 1:59), or �when eight days were accomplished� (Luke 2:21). The Bible lists several periods of �three days� that ended during, not after, the third day, and in doing so covered less that three full 24-hour days. (see Gen. 42:17-19; 1 Kings 12:5,12 with 2 Chron. 10:5, 12)
     It is not only among the Hebrews that we find this method of inclusive reckoning but many other ancient peoples. This was common in Egypt, Greece and Rome. It is still found in the Far East today. Even in some countries of Europe a week�s interval is referred to as �eight days,� and a three-day round trip ticket bought on Sunday, is expected to be used on Tuesday. In Japan, until MacArthur�s government changed the system, for convenience of vital statistics, a child born in December was a year old for the remainder of the month and became two years old on January 1. Being �two years old� meant having lived in two calendar years, regardless of how small a fraction of either year was involved.      Similarly, in China,, a child born late last year is two years old this year (the 2nd calendar year of his life) and will be three years old as soon as next year begins. This isn not a literal reckoning but is based on a concept of time that comes down from a long cultural usage. Similarly, we must keep in mind the cultural concepts of time that were held in Jesus� time.
     Being that the common custom of inclusive reckoning is very clear in the Hebrew culture, for other ancient nations, and in the East down to modern times, it seems wholly unreasonable to understand Jesus� words about a three-day period in terms of our modern Western mathematical method of reckoning. In its common usage His hearers would have counted the three days successively as:
          1. The day of Crucifixion.
          2. The day after that event.
          3. The �third� day after (by modern count, the second day after).
We cannot insist that when Jesus once said that He would rise after three days (Mark 8:31) He meant after the end of the third full day, or in 72 hours. For this to be correct He would have said �on the fourth day.� (For the phrase �four days ago� meaning three full days, or at least 72 hours read Acts 10:30). (CLICK HERE FOR SUPPORT INFO)
     We are not left with merely an obvious deduction as to what Jesus meant by �third day.� We have it from Christ�s own lips. When speaking of Herod on one occasion He said, �Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem� (Luke 13:32, 33). Here he plainly equated the third day with the day after tomorrow, the third day counted inclusively.

Crucifixion on Friday.
     We now inquire what day was the day on which this three-day prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled? The answer is, �The first day of the week� (Mark 16:9; Matt. 28:1). Late �that same day� (Luke 24:1, 13), two disciples met Him on the road to Emmaus, and in talking of the crucifixion of their Master and their own deep disappointment, declared, �To day is the third day since these things were done� (Luke 24:21). When Jesus appeared to the Twelve in the upper room He Himself said, �Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day� (Luke 24:46). Paul later said �He rose again the third day according to the scriptures� (1 Cor. 15:4). Sunday is clearly the third day.
With Sunday being established repeatedly through scripture as the third day, or the �day after tomorrow�, what then, was the day of the crucifixion? Obviously, the preceding Friday, the day before the Biblical Sabbath. This is in exact accord with Luke�s statement that the women left the embalming unfinished on the day of preparation as the Sabbath drew on, and rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment, before returning on the first day of the week (Luke 23:54 to 24:1). They would not have waited several days, as is supposed by those who put Jesus� death on Wednesday and make the Sabbath here mentioned merely a festival, or ceremonial Sabbath. Besides, the phrase �an high day� is taken by many to indicate that in that year the festival Sabbath fell on the weekly Sabbath.

Year of the Crucifixion.
     We have just found out, through conclusive evidence, that Jesus died on Friday and rose on the following Sunday. (CLICK HERE to see reasons set forth for holding that Jesus died on the day that was called the 14th of Nisan by the Jewish leaders who accused Him to Pilate.) The topic left to be discussed is the year of the crucifixion, and the New Testament gives no clues except what can be derived from the statement about the 15th year of Tiberius and from the length of Jesus� ministry. There is no independent evidence furnished by contemporary non-Biblical history.
     The nearest approach to a date is the bare statement of Tacitus, that Pontius Pilate put Christus, founder of the hated Christians, to death in the reign of Tiberius. The early church agreed that Jesus was crucified on Nisan 14 (though few did say the 15th), but soon lost track of computing that Jewish-calendar date.
     The A.D.29 date, generally connected with the theory of a one year ministry offers no possibility of a Friday Nisan 14; the 14th would fall on Saturday, Sunday or beyond. A solar eclipse always occurring at new moon could not have occurred at a Passover (which was a full-moon feast), nor can a eclipse last so long. The modern tendency has been to attempt to settle the crucifixion date by computing the lunar date backward from modern astronomical tables for the most likely year between 30 and 33 that would allow a Friday 14th of Nisan. The date is limited to a time within Pilate�s term of office (A.D. 26-36) and somewhat after Tiberius� 15th year, and to a Jewish year in which the day for slaying the Passover lamb fell on a Friday. Consequently the problem has come to be regarded as a search for a Friday 14th of the Jewish month Nisan, the lunar month beginning with the crescent moon of either March or April. Since astronomical evidence has been claimed for different dates, it�s validity must be addressed here, through a variation in methods and results indicates that extreme caution is to be observed in basing a conclusion on astronomical and calendrical calculation alone. Such computation can fix dates based on specific eclipse records or other exact data; but new-moon computation can merely exclude a date completely if it places a moon in an obviously impossible relationship to the moon�s phases. A lunar date computed as possible is not thereby proved to be the actual date; there are too many uncertainties.

Possible Years for the Friday Crucifixion.
     By modern methods of calculating the astronomical new moon and estimating the interval between that and the first day of the lunar month it may be concluded that a Friday 14th could have occurred in three possible lunar months between A.D.28 and 33;
          A.) The month beginning one day and about 22 hours after the new moon of March, A.D.30 (approximately March 25), if reckoned from the visibility of the crescent (the 14th being Friday, April 7).
          B.) The month beginning three days and about four hours after the new moon of April, A.D.31 (approximately April 14), if reckoned by a somewhat longer but possible interval after the astronomical new moon (the 14th being Friday, April 27).
          C.) The month beginning one day and about five hours after the new moon of March, A.D.33 (approximately March 21, with the 14th on April 3), if this unusually early date could introduce Nisan, rather than AdarII.
No other years in this period offer a possible Friday Passover Day.

     The fact remains that at the present time we cannot be absolutely sure of the lunar-calendar system of the Jews in the 1st century. Therefore no one can say with absolute certainty, �This, according to lunar astronomy, was the year of the crucifixion.� With the knowledge of general principles derived from Babylonian records, from earlier Jewish papyri, and from later Jewish tradition, we can say that only three times during the period allowable for the crucifixion can a possible Friday 14th Nisan be computed from lunar data. These three options we outlined above. We may add, in favor of A.D.31, the consideration of the �midst� of the 70th week, 3 � years after the baptism of Jesus. But so far as the lunar-calendar evidence goes, the field remains open for those who by one system arrive at A.D.31 (in the mathematically exact �midst� of the �week�), and those who by another method arrive at A.D.30 (which some accept as the approximate midst of the week). Other considerations than lunar calculations must decide the choice.
     The whole question of Passover date in connection with the death of Christ is so complex that, as we see, no one view has ever been set forth with complete proof from unequivocal astronomical or calendrical data. However, you have a right to seek, from the evidence offered, that which seems the most reasonable basis for a choice. This study has presented Biblical and non-Biblical evidences that may be taken as pointing to A.D.31, but the uncertainty of the lunar evidence necessitates reliance on the interpretation of the Biblical text and the historical factors. This study sets forth the date A.D.31 in terms of the evidence for Christ�s ministry as a whole. It has been shown that the earliest possible date of Jesus� baptism at the age of about 30, in the 15th year of Tiberius, is the autumn of A.D.27. Since this study employs a harmony of the Gospels that gives Jesus a ministry of 3 � years, following His baptism, it naturally selects the year 31 for the crucifixion, which is 3 � years after the autumn of A.D.27. That is the earliest date compatible with both the 15th year and the duration of Christ�s ministry, and it is the latest year compatible with both the midst of the 70th week and the lunar factors. In the face of the absence of adequate proof for either 30 or 31, no one can find fault with the selection of 31, even though it does not at this time hold the majorities� acceptance.

Conclusion.
     This much can be concluded from the information we have uncovered in this study; the evidence nowhere contradicts the Gospel narratives. Further, the evidence can be harmonized with the Gospels within reasonable possibility. The lack of sufficient exact data does not in any way throw doubt on the Gospels, which contain so many evidences of historical accuracy as to give us confidence in their trustworthiness. The date for the birth of Christ is known to be as early as somewhere near the beginning of 4B.C., perhaps a few earlier. His baptism was, according to the most likely method of reckoning, in 27 or 28; the crucifixion, while undetermined astronomically is between A.D. 30 and 31, is by the most exact interpretation of the 70th week placed in A.D.31.

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