This study is going to take us on quite the adventure. My prayer is that wherever you are in your walk of faith, that this can be a study that helps you to truly examine Scripture by building on the precepts of understanding the true scriptural calendar. For some, this may be completely new to you, and to others this may present some challenges to your current beliefs and biblical worldview. Either way, I pray that this blesses you.
So, let’s start with a fun fact about the calendar.
The picture you see here is the calendar for the first biblical month of the new year. Did you know that the first day of Unleavened Bread will ALWAYS fall on the weekly sabbath according to Yahuah’s calendar?
Once you see the harmony, you can’t unsee it.
One of the things that brought so much clarity and harmony to my understanding of the scriptural calendar is that you don’t have to “add” sabbaths when keeping some of the annual appointed times—they naturally fall ON the weekly sabbath, according to Yahuah’s calendar.
Yahuah’s calendar is fixed according to the sun AND moon. The sun turns the days and the years, and the moon is appointed for moedim (“appointed times,” including the weekly sabbath) and reckons our months. The stars also play a role in the reckoning of time, but they don’t serve the same function as the sun and moon.
Yahuah’s weekly sabbaths will always fall on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the scriptural month. New moon days are not considered part of the scriptural “week.” Scripture alone illustrates this (see Ezekiel 46:1). I covered this in depth in a recent study that you can find on my blog titled: “A Scriptural Week: A Repetitive, Unbroken Cycle of 7 Days is Not a Precept Found in Scripture.”
Yah’s sabbath days will naturally not align with the Gregorian calendar and is why it looks like they “float” on the modern calendar today, because the Gregorian calendar is a fixed, manmade, solar-only calendar, in which the moon got booted out by traditions of men a long time ago and has pretty much stuck ever since.
So, if you look on the calendar picture I shared here, you see Abib 1 as “New Moon Day” (Happy New Year!). The 14th day of Abib is the 14th day of the first month, in which this year, it falls on the Gregorian April 12th. However, just to be clear, the scriptural calendar is not the same thing as the Jewish calendar—it just so happens to fall on the same day as the Jewish Passover this year.
According to Leviticus 23:7, the first day of Unleavened Bread (which is always Abib 15) we are commanded to do “no servile work.” Well praise Yah because that day will ALWAYS be a weekly sabbath!
The 7th biblical month follows the same pattern for the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot):
Leviticus 23:34-35 – “The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto Yahuah. On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work.”
The first day of the feast is the 15th day of the seventh month—this will ALWAYS be a weekly sabbath!
Leviticus 23:36 – “...on the eighth day [of the Feast of Tabernacles] shall be a holy convocation...it is a solemn assembly and you shall do no servile work.”
The eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles is often referred to as the “Last Great Day.” This day will always fall on the 22nd of the seventh month—this will ALWAYS be a weekly sabbath!
Coincidence or divine harmony from our Creator?
Many people add sabbaths where Yahuah’s calendar naturally harmonizes them with certain feast days/appointed times. Yahuah is so, so perfect.
Another side note too about the 15th day of the month: this particular day will ALWAYS be marked by a full moon. When the Israelites exited out of Egypt on the night of Passover, it was a full moon. It was nighttime when they left. It would not have been difficult for them to see where they were going though, as the full moon always lights up the night sky.
Additionally, keeping in mind that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread happen in the middle of the scriptural month (Abib 14 & Abib 15), it should be noted that in 325 CE, the Council of Nicaea decreed that Easter should always fall on a Sunday. The way that this was decreed to be observed was that Easter would always take place on the first Sunday following the full moon after the spring equinox. This is why today, Easter will NEVER fall on Yahuah’s true Passover date because this ecumenical “church” council intentionally designed it to be so. But this historical moment testifies that the people WERE keeping Passover on the true date, because it is always marked by a full moon—that’s why choosing the Sunday AFTER the full moon would ensure that Passover and Easter never align.
Oh, how it must break the Father’s heart that traditions of men inserted their own pagan holidays, calling it “holy,” while permanently separating themselves from an appointed time that we are commanded to keep “forever” (Exodus 12:14).
So, when we get to the timeline of events of Yahusha’s crucifixion, without understanding the scriptural calendar, you won’t be able to see how these events also line up with the feast days/appointed times. So many try to harmonize it with the current Gregorian calendar, which is completely unnecessary. It is unnecessary because Yahusha and His disciples were not keeping the Greco-Romanized version of a calendar at that time, nor were they keeping the eight-day week of the original Julian calendar. Yahusha would have obviously been keeping our Creator’s calendar because He only did the will of His Father and He did not sin.
Let’s use the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread to better explain the timeline of events.
For those who may have not studied out the scriptural calendar in depth yet, I know that this may be difficult to wrap your mind around at one time, so please bear with me. We need grace and patience to truly study these things out, and this goes both ways.
The important thing to understand here is that the weekly sabbaths will ALWAYS fall on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of the SCRIPTURAL month. Throw the Gregorian dates, the planetary weekdays, and the concept of a “saturday sabbath” out the window for just a moment.
Let’s get some Hebraic dates solidified here:
Scripture makes it very clear that Passover is always on Abib 14 (Leviticus 23:5).
Scripture also makes it very clear that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is on the 15th of Abib and lasts for seven days: Abib 15 – Abib 21 (Leviticus 23:6-8).
Passover commences the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and although we call them separate names, it was very common during the times of Yahusha and the first disciples to refer to the Passover and Unleavened Bread as ONE feast. It’s important to remember that when it comes to establishing context in the New Testament.
Abib 16 is the day of “First Fruits,” another appointed time of Yahuah (Leviticus 23:9-14).
How do I know that First Fruits falls on Abib 16? This is where it gets a little tricky.
So, First Fruits was/is an appointed time that took place during the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread celebration. The priest would wave the sheaf of the “firstfruits of the harvest” to Yahuah. It was a day that honored the fact that the firstfruits belong to our Father because He is the source of the crops of the harvest and our ultimate source of provision.
When the Israelites were told to keep this day, they were instructed to keep it “the day after the sabbath” per Leviticus 23:11. Without knowing the scriptural calendar, the source of confusion for many is rooted in the debated question of, “is Yahuah talking about the regular weekly sabbath? Or the special sabbath of the first day of Unleavened Bread?”
The answer to that question is, BOTH! The weekly sabbath IS the first day of Unleavened Bread! This alone clears up so much confusion.
So, First Fruits is the day after the weekly sabbath (Abib 15), meaning that First Fruits falls on Abib 16. This also implies that since Abib 15 is the weekly sabbath, Abib 16 would also be the first working day of the next week (“the first day of the week”).
The Septuagint (one of the earliest translations of the Bible we have today) gives even more clarity on the date of Abib 16:
Leviticus 23:11) (LXX) – “And he shall lift up the sheaf before Yahuah, to be accepted for you. On the morrow of the first day the priest shall lift it up.”
“The morrow of the first day” is referring to the day after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This tells us that the day of First Fruits is Abib 16.
Keeping those dates in mind, let’s continue on to our timeline of Yahusha’s crucifixion and resurrection.
Every year around Passover the discussion commences on the timing of these events. Did His crucifixion happen on a wednesday? thursday? friday? Was Yahusha resurrected on saturday or sunday?
People try to wrap their minds around the timeline of events according to a manmade calendar. I know this may not be what people want to hear, but as long as that happens and as long as we try to align Yahuah’s calendar dates with Gregorian (manmade) calendar dates, there will always be confusion and we will never get clarity. Because the truth is, is that Yahuah’s calendar does not align with the pagan, Greco-Roman, planetary calendar of men. To try to align our understanding of Yahuah’s days with manmade-appointed days (i.e. sunday, monday, tuesday, etc.) is simply just incorrect. Those planetary days were not in existence when Yahuah created heaven and earth in Genesis 1. This is why I did the study about understanding what Scripture says about a “scriptural week.” Scripture MUST be our foundation of truth and understanding.
In the New Testament, when Scripture talks about Passover, it’s talking about Abib 14. When it talks about the first day of Unleavened Bread, it’s talking about Abib 15. First Fruits is on Abib 16. These are also called the “spring feasts” or “spring moedim” because they are linked to the spring harvest of crops. Shavuot/Pentecost is not a spring feast—it is a summer feast because it is a summer harvest.
One of the reasons why keeping the appointed times is so important is because they are prophetic to Yahusha’s First and Second Coming.
He fulfilled the Spring moedim (feasts) by:
Becoming our Passover Lamb (Abib 14).
Being that leaven is symbolic to sin in Scripture, Yahusha was buried in the ground on this day (Abib 15). He died for our sins by being the sinless Lamb and rested in the ground on this day (not a coincidence that He rested on the weekly sabbath).
He was resurrected on First Fruits (Abib 16), the day after the weekly sabbath, in which He became the firstfruits of the resurrection, as testified in 1 Corinthians 15:20.
Now, if you’ve made it this far, I know what you might be thinking: “What about being buried in the ground for 3 days and 3 nights?”
I’m getting to this point, so again, bear with me.
The scriptural calendar is so important for the foundation of much of our understanding, especially when it comes to our Father’s appointed times. It is not important to know which “planetary days” these events happened on. It IS important to know that our Messiah was keeping the Father’s calendar, and our understanding must align with this.
And I promise you, as confusing as you think the calendar ordeal may be, I want to encourage you in the fact that it’s not. The hardest, most confusing part is untangling yourself from the web of lies the enemy has woven, and unlearning the way that we have been literally programmed in this world to keep track of time. We are IN the world, but not OF the world. Yahuah is on a totally different system of timekeeping than the rest of this world. While the enemy has certainly confused the world with manipulating time with different calendars, Yahuah put His luminaries in the sky that are at His command. HE gives them ordinances, and the enemy can NOT touch them.
Moving on... 😊
After Yahusha gave up His Spirit, Mark 15:42 says this (all brackets are used for clarification of the text):
“And now, when the even was come, because it was the preparation [meaning, Passover], that is the day before the sabbath...”
Passover was the day before the Sabbath (aka Abib 15, aka the first day of Unleavened Bread). This testifies to the scriptural calendar by stating that Passover was the day before the sabbath.
Now, before I read Mark 16:1-2 and Mark 16:9, we must note/reiterate this:
According to the calendar in our Father’s Torah, if the weekly 7th day sabbath falls on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the scriptural month, then what does that mean for the 16th day of the month of Abib?
Abib 16 is the first day of the scriptural week. Let’s look at this calendar again:
Abib 16 is the first day of the 7-day work week. This will look different on the Gregorian calendars for each month because remember—the calendar we use today is a fixed solar-only calendar. The calendar in Scripture is solar AND lunar. You’ve got to have both in order to truly be following Yahuah’s calendar.
Mark 16:1-2:
“When the sabbath [Abib 15] was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him [Yahusha]. And very early in the morning the first day of the week [Abib 16], they came to the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.”
Mark 16:9:
“Now when Yahusha was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.”
By understanding the scriptural calendar, we can see that Yahusha rose on the first day of the week, after the sabbath, which was Abib 16! The other gospels testify to this as well. See Matthew 27:62 & 28:1, John 19:31 & 20:1, and Luke 23 and 24.
But wait a minute. Wasn’t He supposed to be buried in the ground for 3 whole days and nights? Isn’t that the sign of Jonah we’ve all been taught about?
There is a lot that needs to be broken down, specifically in regards to the sign of Jonah, talked about in Matthew 12:40. I think it might be best to first start out by saying that the true calendar (Scripture) exposes the cracks in this faulty foundation of the belief that Yahusha was buried in the ground for 3 whole days and nights. This is something that I have personally wrestled with for a long time as I have sought to understand Yah’s calendar before I was given clarity on this.
If we see something that conflicts with our understanding, we must have the patience, discipline and endurance to sit with these things until the Father brings clarity. So many people do not take the time necessary to sit with the things they don’t understand. They would rather lean on their own understanding (which usually comes from listening to whatever online teacher tickles their ears best) than just sit with certain things and be still, prayerful and diligent until clarity is given. Learning the truth takes time, beloved, but the Father is faithful and a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
There are a lot of Scriptures that speak to the “third day” in which certain things are told will happen. For example, here are a few:
“Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”
Luke 18:31-33
“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Luke 9:22
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Matthew 12:40
“The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
Luke 24:7
The true scriptural calendar reveals that we have been thinking in error when it comes to believing that the sign of Jonah was about our Messiah being buried in the ground for 3 days and nights. He in fact did not rest in the ground for 3 whole days. If He did, then His First Coming would not have fulfilled all of the spring feasts/moedim, which are prophetic to Him and a testimony to the way He renewed our Father’s covenant with mankind.
But it’s clear that Scripture talks about 3 days and 3 nights, and that He would rise on the third day. So, how do we reconcile this?
A good starting point would be to ask the question: Where does this “third day” count begin?
This is the question I want to attempt to bring clarity on, because we cannot ignore any Scripture. It all must harmonize. And indeed, it does.
The scriptural calendar is a major precept that we must understand before we can understand the timeline of Yahusha’s death, burial and resurrection, as well as the “sign of Jonah” Yahusha spoke about. Unfortunately, without understanding the scriptural calendar, none of the timing of these events will make sense.
The sign of Jonah was indeed a sign, but it wasn’t referring to being buried in the ground for three days and nights. This is a concept taught by Christianity and is a core tenet of the Christian faith. It is my personal belief that true understanding of Scripture requires wisdom. For Jonah to be in the belly of the whale for 3 days to be the “sign” that Yahusha would be in the ground for 3 days...it doesn’t take much wisdom at all to come to that conclusion. In fact, the majority of the believing world is under the impression that the sign is THAT obvious. Signs are not intended to be easy to understand, for the same reason that Yahusha always taught in parables. Parables are designed to conceal wisdom for those who aren’t truly diligently seeking Yahuah.
The sign of Jonah is actually much, much deeper than people realize. When we think about the timeline of events in reference to the sign of Jonah, we often immediately direct our focus to what happened on the day that Yahusha became our Passover Lamb. But a more careful study of Scripture reveals that the “3 days and 3 nights” that Yahusha spent in the “heart of the earth,” had nothing to do with being buried underground—that’s the shallow interpretation that we have inherited. Scripture actually reveals that the events that took the course of three days and three nights began the day before Passover, after the last supper Yahusha had with His disciples and in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night He was betrayed. This is where the count begins.
In order to illustrate this, it’s important to go back to another date: Abib 10. We are going to compare these dates to the timing of Yahusha entering into Jerusalem.
In the Tanakh (Old Testament), as part of the preparation before Passover, on the 10th day of the first month, the Israelites were commanded to purchase the lamb that would be sacrificed on that day.
Exodus 12:3 – “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.’”
It was during this time they were commanded to keep it before the Passover and inspect it, to make sure it was without blemish.
Yahusha also entered into Jerusalem on Abib 10. At the appointed time, He entered into Jerusalem as our Passover Lamb, ready for inspection.
John 12:1 establishes the timeframe as “six days before the Passover” and John 12:12 states that it was the “next day” which tells us that Yahusha entered Jerusalem 5 days before the Passover, which would be Abib 10!
Also, just to reiterate, the Passover Lamb was to be slaughtered between the evenings on Abib 14, as stated in Exodus 12:6. We know that Yahusha was crucified and gave up His Spirit ON Passover, as recorded in John 19:30-31 and Mark 15:39-42. They wanted to get Yahusha’s body off of the stake before the sabbath day, because it was the next day (Abib 15). In Scripture, Passover was a day of preparation of slaughtering the lamb and making the unleavened bread.
Quick question: If Abib 10 and Abib 14 are commanded work days in Scripture, and the lamb had to be purchased on Abib 10 (commerce) and the preparation day was Abib 14, what does one do if one of those two days happens to land on a saturday on the Gregorian calendar? This is an issue that is irreconcilable with Scripture. This means that an unbroken cycle of “weekly saturday sabbaths” is unbiblical and incorrect. Just something to consider.
So, this brings us back to the time frame before Passover (Abib 14).
On Abib 13, the day before Passover, Yahusha had His last supper with His disciples. The meal He shared with His disciples was not a Passover meal, but a memorial meal. He was preparing for Passover with them, but they did not partake in the actual Passover meal. I know that there is a lot of Scripture that supports that this was a “Passover meal,” but this is why we must evaluate every word of the scriptural text to ensure that we are understanding what it truly means.
Here are some examples of what I mean by this:
#1. Luke 22:7 does not reflect Luke 23:54
“Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.”
Luke 22:7
“And that day [when Yahusha was crucified] was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.”
Luke 23:54
Before you get to the text in Luke 23:54, we see that after the last supper, the next day came. In Luke 22:66, Mark 15:1 and Matthew 27:1, we can clearly see that after the last supper and before Passover, a new day had begun (because it was the NEXT day that was Passover/Abib 14). Yahusha could not have kept the Passover meal and been the Passover Lamb. Again, this is why we must carefully read every word.
#2. Mark 14:12
“Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?’”
The Greek word used for “first” here in Mark 14:12 doesn’t necessarily mean that it was the FIRST day of Unleavened Bread. This will contradict other Scriptures if that’s the case, so it requires a more careful examination. The Greek word for “first” is protos (Strong’s G4413), and it means “first or before, in terms of succession of things.” See an interlinear comparison of this same word used in John 1:15.
Considering the text of Scripture in its entirety, the first part of Mark 14:12 would be better rendered as “Before the day of Unleavened Bread...”
The second half of this verse says has the disciples asking Yahusha where they should go to prepare the Passover, so that He MAY eat with them. Yahusha never said that He will/would eat the Passover with them. The text implies that He was, however, preparing for the Passover with them, which makes sense because His disciples were following the commandments.
Keep in mind, His disciples did not fully understand what was about to happen. Additionally, preparing for Passover was more than just a day event that all happened on Abib 14. As we just illustrated, the preparation actually started on Abib 10, so it wouldn’t have been a surprise that people were “preparing for the Passover” well before Abib 14—they just didn’t slaughter the lamb until Abib 14. They still had to prepare for Passover even though Yahusha was going to become the Passover Lamb.
#3. John 13:29
In this chapter of John, Yahusha is predicting His betrayal. But let’s take particular note of what is said in John 13:29...
“For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Yahusha had said to him, ‘Buy those things we need for the feast,’ or that he should give something to the poor.”
This verse is saying that some had assumed that Judas was going to buy something for the Passover feast. If the Last Supper was the Passover meal, why would they think Judas was going to buy something for it? That would make no sense.
#4. The “bread” of the Last Supper.
“And he [Yahusha] took the bread and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me.’”
Luke 22:19
The word used for “bread” here is artos (G740). The definition of it is that it is “food composed of flour mixed with water and baked.” The bread they broke during this meal was leavened bread, meaning that this could not have been the actual Passover meal. This is same word used in John 13:18, Mark 14:22, and Matthew 26:26.
Additionally, earlier in the same chapter in Luke 22, in verse 7 it says:
“Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.”
The word used here for unleavened bread is azymos (G106), meaning “unfermented, free from leaven or yeast.” This is clearly illustrating that there are two different types of bread being talked about here, and the bread Yahusha broke at the last supper had leaven in it.
These are not all of the examples—just a few of why it’s important that we are carefully reading the text as we seek understanding.
It was necessary to be thorough in explaining this though, because it ties into the timing of the events and the “three day” sign that Yahusha said that as Jonah was in the belly of the fish/whale, He would be in the heart of the earth (Jonah 1:17 & Matthew 12:40).
But here’s the thing—does the “heart of the earth” mean “buried underground,” or is that the meaning that we’ve subjectively applied to it?
Because again, the scriptural calendar does not support that interpretation.
Let’s look up some words again. And let’s also remember that Yahusha ALWAYS taught in parables. We have to keep this in mind because He said that the sign of Jonah was being given to an evil and adulterous generation. Everyone wanted Him to show them a “sign” that He was Messiah. The Messiah was standing right in front of them, yet they could not see because it was their heart that was the issue. Yahusha told His disciples that He spoke in parables “because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:11), therefore “I speak to them in parables because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). In other words, as I already mentioned, parables aren’t meant for everyone to understand.
In John 2:18-21 we see certain people saying to Yahusha, “What sign do You show us, since You do these things?”
And Yahusha responded, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). He was actually quoting this prophecy from Hosea 6:2. And in John 2:21-22 it tells us that:
“He spoke of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Yahusha had said.”
Heart (Strong’s G2588) is kardia. This is where we get the English word “cardiac,” meaning one’s heart. According to the outline of the usage of this word, it can refer to the heart as an organ, denoting physical life. But it can also denote the center of life in a spiritual sense. Jerusalem/Zion can be considered to be the spiritual “heart of the earth.”
“This is what Yahuah Elohim says: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have placed her at the center of the nations, with lands around her.’”
Ezekiel 5:5
Additionally, in the parable of the sower, Yahusha explains that the Word of Yahuah is a seed that is sown into the ground. He explicitly states in Matthew 13:19 & 13:23 that the seed sown in the ground is the Word in their hearts. The heart of the earth is not the dirt of the earth—it is the center of spiritual life in which will also be the center of Yah’s Kingdom at the second coming of our Messiah (Isaiah 2:2-3).
The only way to truly understand the sign of Jonah is by paralleling Jonah 2:1-10 with the end of the Last Supper to the resurrection of Yahusha, and the 3 days and 3 nights He spent in the heart of the earth (Jerusalem).
As I said earlier, many people only look to the actual crucifixion as the beginning of this “sign” and as a mark of this three-day count. However, the sign of Jonah is much deeper than that. When you truly study this out, it gets very heavy. The idea of spending three days and nights in a grave does not bring us into the full weight of the revelation of what this sign of Jonah actually means.
The “three-day” count that is talked about throughout Scripture begins with the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane—on Abib 13. It was on this night that His suffering began.
“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Luke 9:22
“The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
Luke 24:7
His suffering did not start on the stake. It started the night before, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and when he was betrayed by one of his own disciples and delivered into the hands of the chief priests, elders and scribes. They condemned Him to be guilty of death and the physical assault began on the night of Abib 13 (Mark 14:64-65).
Scripture reveals that His deliverance into the hands of sinful men did not start on the day of Passover. It happened right after the last meal He shared with His disciples, the evening before. Many people (myself included) have forgotten about all of the things that happened the day before Passover, when that is where His suffering truly began.
Abib 13, Abib 14, Abib 15, and Abib 16 make up the three days and three nights—the sign of Jonah.
In a chart form, it would look like this:
|
Abib 13 |
Abib 14 |
Abib 15 |
Abib 16 |
|
Suffering began on this “night” |
Suffered the stake on Passover; all events took place “day” & “night” |
He was buried in the ground during the “day” & “night” |
He rose this “day” (morning) |
|
Night #1 |
Day #1 + Night #2 |
Day #2 + Night #3 |
Day #3 |
|
Add these all together and you get 3 days and 3 nights! |
|||
It’s worth quoting this verse again:
“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Luke 9:22
Yahusha rose early on the morning of Abib 16, making it the “third day” of this count, thus harmonizing it with Scripture and fulfilling the Father’s appointed time of First Fruits. This verse makes it clear that the “rising” comes after a three-day process that began with His suffering. Recall in Luke 24 the story of the men walking from Jerusalem on Abib 16, the day of the resurrection. They were sad, and it is recorded in Luke 24:21 that:
“But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.”
Word traveled fast. This makes it clear that Abib 16 was the “third day.”
The True Sign of Jonah
Now that you have a timeline, let’s break down each day and parallel it with Jonah 2:1-10.
We know that in Jonah 1:17 it tells us that He was swallowed up in the belly of the fish (most likely a whale) for 3 days and 3 nights, but it is Jonah 2 that records what happened while he was IN the fish’s belly.
When you read Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2, it will become easy to see how this was prophetic to the suffering of our Messiah. This makes sense, considering that after Yahusha gave them what the sign of Jonah would be in Matthew 12:40, He goes on to say in Matthew 12:41, “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonahis here.” Clearly Yahusha was talking about Himself!
Jonah 2:1-10 is not prophesying of Yahusha being in the ground for 3 days and 3 nights just because Jonah was in the belly of a whale—it is prophesying of the suffering of our Messiah. Jonah captures the events that would transpire during the 3 days and 3 nights of Yahusha’s suffering.
Let’s take this verse by verse.
Jonah 2:1-2 – “Then Jonah prayed to Yahuah his Elohim out of the fish’s belly, and said, “I cried by reason of my affliction to Yahuah, and he heard me; out of the belly of the grave I cried, and you heard my voice.”
When Yahusha entered into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray to the Father, the condemnation of the sins of the world fell upon Him. He was about to drink from the cup of Yahuah’s wrath. Although I will not claim to know or teach what exactly was happening to our Messiah during His prayer time, we know that it was intense agony that He was suffering.
“Saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Luke 22:42-44
Take note that His blood wasn’t first shed on Passover when He was crucified. He shed His blood for us the night before (Abib 13) in the Garden of Gethsemane. The intense agony caused Him to sweat blood, which fell to the ground. This is a major detail that most people overlook. Every drop of blood that our Messiah shed for us is worthy of our full attention.
It is recorded in Matthew 26:38 and Mark 14:33 that Yahusha was heavy-hearted as He went into prayer, to the point of Him asking for that cup to be taken from Him if it were in His Father’s will. It was during this time that Yahusha fell under the condemnation of sin in the Garden of Gethsemane, crying to the Father in His affliction and suffering, bearing the weight of the sins of the world, to the point that Yahuah sent Him a messenger (angel) to strengthen Him to bear this agony.
The heaviness that I sit with as I type this brings me to tears.
The definition of this “cup” is given repeatedly through the writings of the prophets. Yahusha drank from the cup of wrath so that you and I wouldn’t have to. It is written that we are not appointed for wrath. He took that penalty and suffering FOR us. The word “Gethsemane” is Greek for “an oil press,” but the root of this word involves the Greek word gat, meaning “winepress.” Without understanding the voice of the prophets, one will fail to realize that those who will be judged to eternal condemnation will drink from the cup of Yahuah’s wrath and will enter into the “winepress of His wrath” (Revelation 14:19). I covered this topic of drinking from the cup of wrath in greater detail in Episode 27 (Season 4) on The Promise Perspective Podcast. The key point I’m making here is that Yahusha willingly took that suffering upon Himself. One can only imagine how intense of a burden that was, to take on all of the sins of the world.
As in Jonah 2:2, Yahusha knew that the “belly of the grave” was death, in which He had to die for our sins. Of course, this would only be momentarily.
This all began on the evening of Abib 13. This is when His suffering began. This is where our three-day count begins. Read Luke 9:22 again.
Also—it does record in Mark 14:64 that it was on the evening of Abib 13 that “they all condemned him to be guilty of death.” This is when some of the people began to spit on Him and hit Him. We know this was on Abib 13 because it says in Mark 15:1 that immediately the next morning (the day of the feast/Passover, Mark 15:6), Yahusha was bound and delivered to Pilate.
Jonah 2:3-4 – “For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’”
Jonah 2:3-4 is a two-fold prophecy. First of all, verse 3 is a direct reference from Psalm 42:7 & Psalm 42:9, which ultimately points us to Yahusha’s cry in Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34 where He cries out to the Father:
“And at the ninth hour Yahusha cried with a loud voice, saying ‘ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?’ which is, ‘MY EL, MY EL, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?’”
Having understood this, let’s read Psalm 42:7 & 42:9
“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me.” Psalm 42:7 is what the prophet Jonah is quoting.
“I will say to El my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’”
Psalm 42:9
Do you see the similarities here when paired with what Jonah says and Yahusha says?
“I am cast out of your sight” (Jonah 2:4) ~ “Why have you forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34)
Jonah 2:5-6 – “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Yahuah, my Elohim.”
I don’t know what all happened when Yahusha was buried in the grave on Abib 15 and I won’t pretend like I do. But I do know that my Messiah died for me. He died a death and experienced a wrath and separation from the Father that I will never have to experience. He defeated death so I could have the victory in Him. Jonah is prophesying of Yahusha’s death and resurrection in this passage. Yahusha’s soul went into the depths of the earth, with the bars closed behind Him, securing the victory by defeating the power of sin and death over you and me. We know according to Deuteronomy 5:8 that there are waters beneath the earth. I also won’t pretend that I know how deep that goes, but we know that on Abib 16, Yahusha was raised from the dead. As Jonah prophetically states, “You have brought up my life from the pit, O Yahuah, my Elohim.”
I told you—the revelation of the “sign of Jonah” is deeper than what most understand.
The rest of Jonah (Jonah 2:7-10) speaks of Yahusha’s resurrection.
Jonah 2:7-10 – “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahuah; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of Yahuah.” So Yahuah spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
“I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of Yahuah.”
Yahusha paid the penalty for our sins. He did not have to do it. He CHOSE to do it because He only did the Father’s will. He willingly laid down His life for us.
On the third day, just as Yahuah spoke to the fish and vomited Jonah onto dry land, it was Yahuah who raised Yahusha from the grave (Romans 8:11). Yahusha was resurrected back onto dry land before He ascended to the right hand of the Father. Yahusha already spoke of this before His crucifixion in Luke 22:69:
“Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of Elohim.”
Jonah said that “Salvation is of Yahuah.”
Yahusha’s name literally means “Yahuah is our salvation.” He was sent to be our one and only, final deliverer. There were many things He had to suffer first though. The sign of Jonah was a testimony to what our Messiah must suffer. This has absolutely nothing to do with Him being buried for 3 days and 3 nights.
I pray that the harmony and revelation of this truth edifies you, strengthens you, and blesses you beloved.
All praise and glory to Yahuah.
With Love,
Stephanie Green
Additions since original post:
I talked about the “sign of Jonah” Yahusha gave the Pharisees by quoting Matthew 12:40. But as I was studying today (3/29), I found something that captivated my attention. I found that in Matthew 16, there is another instance where the Pharisees and Sadducees asked for a sign, and Yahusha said for the second time, that there would be no sign given except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.”
Matthew 16:1-4
If you read my study, I talked about how in order to truly understand the sign of the prophet Jonah, it is incredibly important to understand the scriptural calendar—it’s the only way to harmonize the scriptures. No other way of utilizing the Gregorian calendar will make sense. Every other calendar (Enoch, Zadok, Jewish/Hillel) STILL utilizes the Gregorian calendar to calculate and align their appointed times—this is not biblical and this is why so many people are confused about this today.
But this is what caught my attention in Matthew 16:1-4…
Genesis 1:14-16 tells us that Yahuah appointed two great lights in the heavens, the sun and moon, to be for signs, days, seasons (which the Hebrew word for seasons is moedim—appointed annual feast days), and years.
I do not believe it’s a coincidence that Yahusha is rebuking the Pharisees for their lack of understanding, by emphasizing that you can look at the sky and see what kind of weather you’re going to have, but you can’t look at the sky and see the signs of the times?
Keyword here is “signs of the times.”
Yahuah tells us in Scripture that the ordinances He gives the sun and moon are to literally tell us what time it is on His heavenly clock, and these luminaries are also used for signs! The Hebrew word used for “signs” in Genesis 1:14 is “oth,” and it means “a sign, signal, distinguishing mark.”
It’s also not a coincidence that Yahuah says in Exodus 31:13 that, “My sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a SIGN (OTH) between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahuah that sanctifies you.”
When you understand that the scriptural calendar utilizes the sun and moon to tell time, and when you understand that the annual appointed times are prophetic to His first and second coming, one can’t help but conclude exactly what our Messiah is saying—and it’s not coincidental that He used the sky to also use that opportunity to tell them that the SIGN of Jonah would be the only sign He gives to a wicked and adulterous generation.
When you understand that the sign of Jonah directly correlates to the Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits timeline of events…you are better able to connect that to the “signs of the times.”
We live in a very evil, wicked, and corrupt world, who, just like the Pharisees and Sadducees, can tell what type of weather we will have by the face of the sky, but they are unable to use Yahuah’s luminaries to tell time and to understand the signs of the appointed times and the message that they literally proclaim.
Psalms 19:1-4 tells us something very important:
“The heavens declare the glory of Elohim; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”
What speech and knowledge is being revealed here? Yahuah uses His luminaries to proclaim a message, and they help us understand signs and times. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard because you don’t need to speak a certain language to be able to hear their words.
This is the BEAUTY of truly understanding His clock and calendar. It is a heavenly dialogue that transcends all languages because our Creator is SO PERFECT AND SOVEREIGN. He has put His clock in the heavens and the enemy is unable to manipulate them. I also know that there is a message in the stars, even though I admit that I don’t fully understand that part yet.
Yahusha told His disciples in Matthew 16:6 to “take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Scripture shows that this “leaven” is biblically defined as hypocrisy (Luke 12:1), false doctrine (Matthew 16:12), and malice and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:8).
We have been taught by a wicked and adulterous generation that has been corrupted with the leaven of false teaching and hypocrisy that the “sign of Jonah” is that our Messiah would be buried in the ground for 3 days and 3 nights, when that is NOT what Yahusha was meaning when He talked about that sign.
That is not the sign of Jonah.
Understanding the scriptural calendar is important for making this undeniably clear.
I am absolutely mindblown.