The Chronology of Redemption

This post discusses the Chronology of the three great christian feasts (Christmas, Easter & Pentecost) that form the backbone of the process of Redemption, that it follows a certain Sequence and what this could teach us.

Christmas, the first Feast, is celebrated on December 25, at the beginning of Winter, when the days are shortest, and also in the middle of the Night, so at the darkest moment. The signification of the Feast, Jesus who enters into the world as its Light, corresponds well with that timing in the natural cycle. In the same month, the 25th day of Kislev, Hanukkah a Jewish festival is celebrated, commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple.  This also corresponds well with the birth of Christ, the new Temple (cf. Jesus' words in John 2:19: destroy this Temple and in three days I will rebuild it). Incidentally, Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, the same time required for circumcision of Jewish boys (i.e. Jesus).

Easter, the second great christian Feast, is celebrated on the sunday after the first full moon of Spring when in nature new life is springing up. This natural process corresponds well with the signification of Christ's Death and Resurrection which gives us New (spiritual) Life. Jesus' Resurrection also took place at Sunrise, when the new day is just starting (note the earthquake that the women feel when they went to Jesus' grave early in the morning). The Feast is connected to the Jewish Pesach feast, when they celebrate the Liberation from (Egyptian) captivity that opened up a new life for the Jewish people.

Pentecost, the third great christian Feast, the 'Descent of the Dove' in Tongues of Fire, is celebrated 50 days after Easter so around the time that Summer is starting and the First ripe Fruit are being harvested. It took place during the Morning, when the days first 'fruits' have been produced. It is connected to the Jewish feast of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, celebrating the wheat harvest, but also the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai, that God has come to Live among his people.

What then with Jesus' Second Coming, the (last) great christian Feast that will complete the process of Redemption? Will this Feast, which relates to the Final (spiritual) Harvest, not also complete the natural cycle and so is to be expected at the beginning of Autumn, even at Sunset, and specifically during the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur occurring around that time and celebrating their great Day of Atonement?!

But didn't Jesus precisely say that "we don't know the day or the hour" (Matthew 24,36) of the 'Return of the King'? Well perhaps He meant that we don't know exactly when in general; or even with a big 'wink' that some things can be found out if we look carefully... ;-)

For example, is it possible to determine the specific dates for Jesus' Birth, Death & Resurrection (and the coming of the Holy Spirit)? Yes, surprisingly well!

It starts with the conception of John the Baptist, which was about 6 months before the Annunciation (Luke 1,26-38). Zacharias, while on service at a major feast in the Temple, is visited by the angel Gabriel who tells him he will have a son in his old age (Luke 1,8-20). From the priestly division of which Zacharias is part (Abijah) it is know that this must have been around the beginning of autumn. As written above, the major Jewish feast then is Yom Kippur (and so both the beginning and end of the whole process take place on the same day of the year?!). John's conception will then have been shortly after, in late September / early October, and his birth about nine months later in very good correspondence with June 24, the date on which it is traditionally celebrated. 

And just as John's ministry was to point to Jesus, his date of birth points to that of Jesus as well: half a year later, around December 25. The claim that christians only celebrate the Birth of Jesus on that day because we 'stole' the pagan festival of the winter solstice, thus does not hold. Moreover, the Christmas tradition already originates from a time when 'taking over' a pagan festival would have been seen as subversive and so very dangerous!

Next, the Star of the Magi. (Matthew 2,2) It really seems that it can confirm the reached conclusion and even point us to a specific year.
Although many astronomical events have been proposed as an explanation of 'the Star,' including comets that are not traceable anymore, it must have been something so special and clear for the Magi to start a long and difficult journey. Specifically, attorney Frederick Larson listed nine qualities that Bethlehem's Star must fulfill: signify birth, and kingship, relate to the Jewish nation, rise "in the East," appear at an exact time, endure over time, be in front of the Magi when they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and then stop over Bethlehem; finally King Herod was not aware of it.

Indeed Larson sees all nine characteristics of the Star in astronomical events starting in September of 3 BC, including a triple conjunction of Jupiter (the king planet) with the fixed star Regulus (the king star). On June 17, 2 BC (nine months later, the human gestation period), Jupiter appeared in a strikingly close conjunction with Venus near Regulus, which has not repeated since then. "The fusion of two planets would have been a rare and awe-inspiring event", according to Roger Sinnott, and a "bright beacon of light" according to astronomer Dave Reneke. In Hebrew Jupiter is Sedeq, "righteousness", a term also used for the Messiah, and Venus represents love and fertility. So the Magi would have viewed their close conjunction  in the west at sunset as indicating a coming new king of Israel, and Herod would have taken them seriously. 

Jupiter then continued to move eastward through the stars and then stopped in its apparent retrograde motion on December 25(!) of 2 BC south over the town of Bethlehem (as seen from Jerusalem, probably when it was just visible after sunset). Then it moved back westward through the sky for some weeks, again it slowed, stopped and resumed its eastward course. Incidentally, the Hanukkah feast that year was celebrated from December 22 to 29.

The year resulting for the Birth of Christ, 2 BC, occured during the reign of Caesar Augustus (as reported), but not before the generally accepted date of 4 BC for the death of Herod. This date is based on the historian Josephus who wrote that Herod died after a lunar eclipse and before a Passover Feast, and the year 4 BC has 29 days between these events. Yet there are others that suggest it was an eclipse in 1 BC, which then would allow for the date of 2 BC.

Another point of discussion is that Luke reports that Jesus was born "at a census when Quirinius was gouvernor of Syria" and this would require a much later date. However, some versions translate it as "before" or use "before" as an alternative. From this perspective, Luke could have wanted to differentiate the census at the time of Jesus' birth from the tax census he mentioned in Acts 5:37.

Finally, the early Christian historians Eusebius and Clement of Alexandria, as well as the church-fathers Irenaeus and Tertullian, also calculated the Birth of Jesus to 3-2 BC.

From all this we can confidently conclude that the 'First Noël' took place on December 25 of the year 2 BC (Before Christ?!). But does this then mean that there was an error in numbering the years? Not really: there was no year 0, so the year 1 AD (Anno Domini, i.e. Year of the Lord!) started when Jesus was 1 year and a week old...

A similar precise determination of Good Friday, the day of Jesus' Death is possible (and consequently of His Resurrection 2 days later, and Pentecost another 50 days later).
It all took place when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judaea which is well documented to be 26-36 AD.
John the Baptist’s ministry began "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (Luke 3,1), and this was anywhere from mid-28 AD until sometime in 29 AD (so John's dating again points us to that of Jesus).
When not long afterwards Jesus began His ministry, he was "about thirty years of age” (Luke 3,23), in perfect correspondence with His date of birth determined above.
John's gospel includes three Passovers. At the first of these (John 2,20) the people said to Jesus "It has taken 46 years to build this temple" meaning this must have been in 30/31 AD; again confirming the previous dates. Consequently, the third Passover (at which Jesus was crucified) must have been 32 AD or later. 
According to the gospels, the Crucifixion took place on a Friday right before Passover, so Nisan 14 according to the Jewish calender. During Pontius Pilate's mentioned rule, the only possible years then are 30 or 33 AD. The first was just excluded and thus we can conclude that Good Friday actually was April 3, 33 AD! Easter was then April 5, 33 AD and Pentecost May 24, 33 AD.
Moreover, this corresponds well with the probable date of Paul's conversion, namely 34 AD.

One more confirmation can be obtained from Acts 2,14-21 where Peter takes up Joel's prophecy of a "moon turning to blood." In those years there has been only one lunar eclipse at Passover time visible from Jerusalem, and that was precisely on the evening of Friday April 3, 33 AD. Although it was only a partial eclipse, it occured at moonrise and concerned the upper part of the moon that was visible first. Moreover, if the three hours of darkness during the Crucifixion were caused by a massive dust storm as has been proposed, this would have strengthened the visibility of the eclipse afterwards and the redness of the moon.

As a final note, according to an ancient belief the Spring Equinox (March 21) is when God initially created the world and now has come as the new creation (Christ's Conception on March 25 and the day of His crucifixion at Passover). But it should be clear by now that our date of Christmas is not based on that belief as some have claimed. 

PS a last 'food for thought': as the Magi were effectively astrologers, at least some significance can be attached to astronomical signs. 

The last two millenia we have been living under the Zodiac Sign Pisces (Fishes), in Greek Ichthus, short for Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Saviour. 

The two millenia before Him was the Era of Aries (Ram), indeed a symbol of Judaism from which the Saviour has come and whose Father was Abraham in the 20th century BC (who sacrificed a ram instead of 'his Only Son'). 

The two millenia before that was the Era of Taurus (Bull) a symbol of strength, (pagan) worship and (self-)sacrifice, e.g. the famous bull Apis worshipped in Egypt then; (and before that the era of Gemini, Twins, perhaps referring to Cain and Abel?) 

And now in the third millenium AD we have entered the Era of Aquarius (Waterman). Could this refer to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that has already been going on for some time in the 'Charismatic Renewal'? Note that according to John 19,34: "Blood and Water came from His side,' and the Theologian sees in these symbols of baptism and confirmation, both 'outpourings' of the Holy Spirit. Then the next two millenia (more or less) could possibly be the "1000 years reign" from John's Revelation (20,4). And that would postpone the 'Second Coming' discussed before for quite some time still...