Passover and the Number Four

Fred R. Coulter—February 11, 2012

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services. Here is a picture of the front cover of the coming book, The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah. With what we've gotten with the 70-weeks prophecy, and it's taken time to really work that out and get that done, this book is going to be really a humdinger. I hope you'll get a great deal out of it. We sent the funds off to Thompson-Shore last week. Tuesday we're sending off all of the printed material.

It'll be 240 pages, about 20 more pages than I've anticipated. We have some really good appendices, which help explain everything. Also, we're able to pinpoint when Jesus began His ministry. We re-verified and added a little more, when was Jesus born; a little more concerning the crucifixion, and then we have two whole chapters on the appointed time of the Messiah's return, going through basically most of the prophecies in the book of Revelation.

So, it'll turn out to be really a good, good book. There will be some serious reading in it. You're going to have to take it a step at a time, because there's a lot of historical information. There's a lot of Scriptural information. There's a lot of calendar information. Apart from the calculated Hebrew calendar, you don't know when the Holy Days are that God has given.

The world assumes, without any proof, that all the holidays of this world are in the Bible and they'll fight to the death for them. Would be interesting if someone would say to Bill O'Reilly, 'Well, now, you're a good defender of Christmas. That's good; you give a lot of good newscast and things like that. Do you think that we should follow the Bible more than we should follow the traditions of men?' And if he said yes, then say, 'Okay, show me where Christmas is in the Bible. And if it's not there, what are you going to do if you say you want to follow God.'

Today we're going to do something a little different here, and I will send this in the mail for you. What we're going to do is pass out a calendar here. You will see this calendar as you look at it just has the numbers of the days for the first month of the year of the calculated Hebrew calendar called the month of Nisan in 30A.D.  when Jesus was crucified. That is a central important date.

How did God come up with that date? Let me read you the forward to the book, The Day Jesus the Christ Died. I first did this when Mel Gibson came out with The Passion of the Christ—that was 2004, seven years ago. Dolores and I went to see the movie. Parts of it were very good, but he didn't say what day it happened on. He had some of the timing correct' he had other of the timing not correct. He did very well in showing the beating and the scourging. Didn't have the cross correct, and it had a lot of Catholic tradition where Mary was right there. After He died she held Him in her lap and all of this is strictly Catholic tradition. When they were doing the movie, they had a priest right there. Whenever they were going to do a difficult shot, what they did, they had mass; so they would take communion or observe the Eucharist. Sometimes as many as a half a dozen times a day or more to try and get everything just right.

Yet, in spite of everything that he did, he missed the most important thing concerning it. So that's why we did the book. Let me read you the forward; the Passover's coming up; it'll be the night of the 5th of April this year. This year the Passover falls on a Friday, which means we observe it Thursday night. Now in the year that Jesus died, 30A.D., the Passover falls in the middle of the week and we will look at some very interesting things concerning that as we get through the sermon here.

From eternity past, before the foundation of the world, God the Father and God the Son planned for and predetermined the day that Jesus the Christ would die. In the history of the universe, no other day can be compared with it. So profound was this day that it will always be remembered even into the ages of eternity to come.

This day of destiny was the ultimate culmination of the spiritual battle for the lives of men; a battle waged between Jesus the Christ, Son of God and Savior of mankind, and Satan the devil, adversary of God and destroyer of mankind. This fierce battle was centered in Jerusalem, but its outcome would determine the destiny of the world. It was the power of God vs the power of Satan, the Advocate vs the adversary, love vs. hatred, good vs evil, humility vs pride, compassion vs brutality, righteousness vs sin and forgiveness vs condemnation.

All the evil forces and powers of the world were gathered together against one man, Jesus the Christ—the Son of God. Who would be victorious? Would good finally triumph over evil?

And Jesus suffered these things, not because He did anything wrong, but because He was perfect, and because He was the Son of God and the things that He did. He came to this point:

For healing the sick, raising the dead and teaching the love of God, Jesus Christ was condemned, beaten, scourged, reviled, ridiculed and crucified. Yet, He was faithful to the end—giving His life as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Even Jesus' own disciples, whom He had taught for three and one-half years, did not understand the significance of this day. As they watched Jesus die and His body being placed into the tomb, they were bewildered. To them it appeared that evil had won—the political and religious establishments that held them in bondage were victorious. All they felt was a dark and foreboding despair because Jesus, the Anointed Messiah of God, was dead and buried. It was beyond their wildest imaginations that Jesus would come back to life after three days and nights in the tomb. But He was raised from the dead by the power of God the Father.

When Jesus showed Himself to them after He was raised from the dead, He personally revealed to them from the Scriptures that His death and resurrection were foreordained.

He opened the Scriptures and showed them out of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms some of those very Scriptures that we studied here a couple previous times about preaching Jesus Christ from the Old Testament.

So, today we're going to take a look at some interesting things concerning the Passover Day. Let's see exactly is according to the Scripture, this day was indeed selected and this day is the key most important appointed time of God, and we'll see why. Here's what God did. Remember, one of the most often quoted, whether the whole verse or just the verse reference, of all Christianity is John 3:16—the King James reads this way: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." When that is read that sounds like it's a pretty sure thing, right there. But the translation is not correct.

The translation should read, FV: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have everlasting life." It shows there's choice involved and that it's not a shoo-in. And because of everything that Jesus went through, and the reason that the day was chosen, what is referred to as salvation by the churches of the world has nothing to do with the real thing. It may be, at best, a first step.
But Paul wrote this, Romans 5:6: "For even when we were without strength, at the appointed time Christ died for the ungodly." When was that determined? Revelation 13:8 tells us when that day was determined! It had to be in a special sequence where the Passover was not on a Friday, but where the Passover was in the middle of the week, because He had to be in the tomb three days and three nights. You can't get exactly three days and three nights in the tomb without it.

We do have a chart in the back of the Bible, which we'll go through a little later, but here in Revelation 13:8 it talks about the beast: "And all who dwell on the earth will worship him... [That is the beast. This is what is coming. We are going to see some phenomenal things take place. I'm saving up some more material for Transhumanism. Hang on, it's coming fast and heavy.] (Now notice, the whole world vs who?] ...whose names have not been written in the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

When the foundation of the world was laid, that day was determined by God. We find something also very interesting concerning when the foundation was laid, go back to the book of Job. First time you read it you think, 'God is unfair. Look at everything that Job did and look at the trouble he was in.' I know, as I've mentioned before, first time I read it I thought God was wrong; I really, really did. I thought God was wrong, but He wasn't.

Job thought he was so good. Here's the key: Any good that you do goes back to God! It doesn't come because we're inherently good or the fact that we do 'good' does not make us righteous. Only God can make us righteous. We can be in the world, which we are, and we're thought of as good upstanding citizen. We behave ourselves in the way that we should. There are a lot of people in the world that are the same way. But any goodness that anyone has comes from God. Job said, 'My righteousness needs to be compared with God,' and he actually wanted to take God to court, so he could have umpire between them and put his hands on God's shoulders and on Job's shoulders and tell God how good Job really was. No one could answer Job. How are you going to answer an argument like that? Here's a good example. Be careful what you wish for! He demanded that God talk with him. God did. After Elihu got done talking with him and sort of softened him up a little bit for God.

Job 38:1: "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare it, if you have understanding! Who has determined its measurements, if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it? On what are the foundations fastened to? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars... [the angels] ...sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?'" (vs 1-7).

That's when the day that Christ would die was determined, somewhere around this time—from the foundation of the world. Isn't it interesting, Christ is called the Chief Cornerstone! You can look at the earth, and you'll wrack your brain trying to find where is the cornerstone of the earth. It may be in the middle of the earth. They're just beginning to find out a lot of things about the middle of the earth.

The Russian said, 'Well, we're going to drill down there and see what's down there.' Remember this movie, people living below the earth? Never happen! They went down seven miles and their drills melted, so hot. It's a molten core and inside that molten core is a great iron; whatever you want to call it. Let's just say that iron ball was the cornerstone or the foundation of the world. Everything else came from there.

We know that the angels rebelled, tells us a third of the angels followed Satan the devil. (Rev. 12). There was war in heaven and then the earth was covered with a first flood. Had to destroy all the works of Satan the devil! The angels were probably here on earth, and as Jude said, 'They left their first estate,' because Satan wanted to become like God.

What exactly may have caused him to do it, we can only surmise. We don't know otherwise. But could it be, since God made all the angels to be ministering spirits to the human beings He was going to create. Could it be when Satan and the angels that rebelled found out that lowly men, made of the dust of the earth, lo and behold, would be raised into the Kingdom of God and be greater than the angels? We don't know.

Let's go to Genesis 1 because this would be very interesting place here. We have always wondered about something. Maybe we can shed a little bit more light on the appointed times. We can just add a little information here for our understanding. Now listen carefully as I read it, because this is the way that the Hebrew is structured.

Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God... [full stop; God was first] ...created the heavens... [full stop] ...and the earth." He obviously had to create the heavens first. That's why you look out at the stars today and I think God has given to mankind all the knowledge and technology so we can see what's out there in the heavens through the different fantastic telescopes that men have been able to make as a witness to man.

I missed it, but Dolores called me and I couldn't get to the television set quick enough, but they were showing another place in the universe that they thought that there was nothing there. And lo and behold, here again for the second time, they found a blank spot in the universe that when they ran the new telescope that they have up there to replace the Hubbell it showed a vast array of galaxies. The universe is mind-boggling. We know, based on the speed of light, if the speed of light is accurate, then there are billions of years. Well that stands to reason, because God is eternal—isn't He?

 The angels inhabited the earth first, and they were joyous and happy when it was made, because they were going to dwell on it, we don't know how long they lived here before they rebelled. The Bible doesn't tell us. We don't know how old the material is from which God made the earth. We also—we'll just put a little geology/paleontology lesson in here: we also can never, never be accurate as to how old some of the fossils are because there's a mineral transfer from the soil, the strata they are in, into the bones and from the bones into the strata. And the ultimate transfer of minerals is petrified wood. They measure the petrified wood and lo and behold it's hundreds of millions of years old. Why? Not that the wood was that old, but that the minerals are that old. So, you see how they can never tell how old things really are!

Verse 2: "And the earth was without form and void... [It could also read there, as we have in the margin: 'became,' because of the war with Lucifer, the angels, between God and His angels.] ...and darkness... [that's symbolic of evil and sin] ...was upon the face of the deep... [they know there were two major floods in the archeological strata on the earth] ...and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light" (vs 2-3). The sun had to be there in order for there to be light. Let's just go through the days and let's see something very unusual:

• Day one: evening and morning, and there was light
• Day two: dividing of the waters. The waters on the earth and waters in the heavens
• Day three: dry land appeared. Bring forth vegetation, bring forth all the things of trees and everything

Verse 13: "And the evening and the morning were day three…. [v 14 is a verse that's difficult for people to understand]: …And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons... [that's very important] ...for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. And God had made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night; and God had made the stars also. And God set them..." (vs 13-17). Notice that He had made them before, but they weren't in the position they needed to be so that we would have the days, the seasons, and things like this, and especially the appointed times until day four.

Verse 17: "And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were day four" (vs 17-19). Very interesting!

Go ahead and just take this blank calendar. Let's take the first full week. Even though it's Nisan 30, because we need the second full week. You can just number 1-2-3-4—interesting! When was it exactly known when Jesus' appointed time for the crucifixion would be? Day four! Because God set the sun, moon and stars. Then we have 5-6-7. We know the Sabbath is the seventh day. We can just put that down for the time being. We know what God did.

There was a man recently, who was supposed to be a teacher, who was teaching students in his class, so they could go out and teach other people about the Bible. And He asked: 'Does God keep His commandments?' All the students said yes! He said, 'Wrong!' The teacher was wrong! The commandments are reflection of God's righteousness! Let's just take the Sabbath Day. Does God keep the Sabbath Day today? We're going to see that He keeps it better than we would ever know!

Genesis 2:2: "And by the beginning of the seventh day... [The King James says 'on the seventh day' God finished it, but that's not correct. Otherwise God would be working on the Sabbath Day.] (so it was): ...by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made…. [this becomes a special day to God] …And God blessed the seven day and sanctified it... [sanctified means to make it Holy] ...because on it He rested from His work which God had created and made" (vs 2-3). God set the seven-day weekly cycle when He came to the seventh day of renewing the face of the earth, and every seventh day, as it comes to us, is a Sabbath Day.

How does God keep the Sabbath? Let's look at a couple of things here. Let's see where Jesus healed on the Sabbath Day. The Jews got all upset about it because they accused Him of breaking the Sabbath Day. You know the account there. There was a man who had been suffering with an infirmity for 38 years. God sent an angel periodically down to the pool and the first one in after the water was agitated would be healed. This poor man was so infirmed he couldn't get down there fast enough to ever get in there to be healed. So, Jesus came along and saw that he needed to be healed and He healed him.

He told him, 'Pick up your bedroll and walk.' A bedroll is like a sleeping bag. Scribes and Pharisees said, 'You're doing that which is not lawful on the Sabbath Day. You're carrying your bedroll.' And he said, 'The Man who healed me said to take up my bedroll and walk.' Who was that? I don't know. Where did He go? I don't know.

Just after that Jesus found him, and He told him, John 5:14: "After these things, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'Behold, you have been made whole. Sin no more, so that something worse does not happen to you.'" Very interesting—isn't it? He forgave sin on the Sabbath! Where was Jesus on that Sabbath Day? At the temple! Did God put His presence in the temple? Yes, He did! So, now here He is physically the Son of God at the temple of God.

Verse 15: "The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had made him whole. And for this cause, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to... [Award Him with great sums of money for His fantastic healing. No!] ...and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I work'" (vs 15-17).

The truth is: God the Father and Jesus Christ keep the Sabbath whenever it begins. Today we have the International Date Line, so all you down under in Australia and New Zealand—I guess New Zealand gets it first. How does God keep the Sabbath? He puts His presence in it! How does He put His presence in it? Why? Where? Come back here to Matthew 18 where we get a hint. The thing is God keeps His commandments. Is there any sign of idolatry in anything that God has created? No! Is there any sign of competition between Jesus and the Father? No!

They aren't going to take your name in vain, that's for sure. They keep the Sabbath! Since God doesn't marry a human being, He cannot commit adultery with a woman. But did God marry ancient Israel? Yes, He did! When Israel sinned, He even gave her a divorce. Did He run off, raise up another nation and say, 'Oh, you be My wife'? No, He did not! God said that marriage is between husband and wife; and the Lord God of the Old Testament was the husband of Israel. We will see that in order to end that covenant with Israel—which is one of the reasons why Christ came in the flesh—He died. Legally the choice was: either God come in the flesh and die and release the covenant, or He would have to exterminate all Israelites. God being a God of love and mercy and kindness and compassion, He came and died.

This minister said, 'Doesn't the commandment say you shall not kill? Well, God kills. Therefore, God doesn't keep His commandments.' Now, wait a minute! The commandment should read: 'You shall not murder.' God kills sinners, and He even instructed the priests and the judges to render the death penalty—did He not? Yes, He did! So God keeps that commandment.

• Is there any competition between the Father and the Son concerning coveting? No!
• Does God always tell the truth? Yes! He cannot lie!
• Does God steal?
• What does He need to steal, He's created everything. So, of course, He doesn't!
• Does He give something to us as human beings and tell us, 'Here, this is for you.' Yeah, He did for the whole earth, for all mankind!
• God keeps His commandments!

Here is how He keeps the Sabbath Day. Matthew 18:19: "'Again I say to you, that if two of you on earth shall agree concerning any matter that they wish to request, it shall be done for them by My Father, Who is in heaven…. [that's anything lawful] …For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there, I am in the midst of them" (vs 19-20). How does God keep the Sabbath? Wherever there are those who are gathered in Him name, He sends His Spirit to be there present!

God puts His presence on the Sabbath Day and He is doing spiritual work. What do we do when we come to Sabbath services? We do spiritual work! We study the Word of God; we learn what God wants for us. Now when we have larger groups we sing hymns, we fellowship. All of that is part of what God is doing.

Do we all have God's Spirit within us? Yes, we do! As we fellowship with each other, God is fellowshipping with us in general, then with each other in particular. The same thing applies for all the Holy Days. Let's get back here and understand something concerning the appointed times. On the fourth day He set the appointed times. Here He defines them for Israel. I've already covered concerning Abraham and the beginning of Passover with the covenant with Abraham in Gen. 15, so we won't go there.

Isn't it also interesting, and here's what God does. It says that God 'conceals a matter' and we are to search it out. Sometimes God does something just almost incredible indeed: He hides it in plain sight. But the problem is people dismiss it because they don't understand. This is what He's done with Leviticus 23. This is the only chapter in the whole Bible that has all the Holy Days, including the Sabbath. They're all listed out. We're not going to go through them. We'll go through the first part, beginning in v 1.

Leviticus 23:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed feasts of the LORD..."'" (vs 1-2) That goes right back to Gen. 1:18, the appointed times, appointed feasts. Notice, they belong to God; He sets when they're going to be.

"'"...which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations... [they're Holy because God puts His presence in it and He has sanctified them as Holy by creation] ...these are My appointed feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings. These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings... [between sunset and dark] ...is the LORD'S Passover."'" (vs 2-5).

We have a CD coming out with some basic things concerning the Passover, and that'll give you all the basic information that you will need concerning it.

What I want you to do is take your little calendar again, come to the second full week, the 14th day, and write in there Passover. What day of the week is that? Number 4! The very first of the seasonal feasts, which the Passover is, comes on the 4th day of the week, the same day that God set everything in motion. It was the same day of the week, but it wasn't necessarily the Passover Day. The only thing we know about Gen. 1 is that it was the 4th day of the week. But that's interesting. Put a little number there—a number 4 in the corner again, like we did for numbering the day when the appointed times were set.

Let's come to Exodus 12 where here was the first Passover with the children of Israel in the land of Egypt. This was quite a thing that God had done. Spiritually speaking it also tells us that only God can release us from sin and Satan. Just like the children of Israel, God had to release them from Pharaoh and all of his minions there. But let's look at the instructions that God gave concerning choosing the lamb for the Passover.

Exodus 12:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months... [it's always in the spring of the year] ...It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father's house, a lamb for a house. And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, you shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish... [a type of Christ] ...a male of the first year... [again, a type of Christ] ...You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month"'" (vs 1-6).

Take your little calendar here now and find the 10th day of Nisan. Let's number these for ourselves—1-2-3-4—there were four whole days—correct? Yes! So as the 14th began, that's when the lambs were to be slain. So there we have number 4 again. What I want to do, I want to show you something very interesting that number 4 is associated with the Passover in relationship to when Jesus was crucified in the middle of the week.

Jesus was called the Lamb of God—wasn't He? Since God said select the lamb on the 10th day of the month, God did the same thing with Jesus.

(go to the next track)

Let's review the calendar chart again here so that we get everything straight. I asked you to take the first full week and use that for the creation week, even though it's on the calendar as Nisan 30A.D., so that you would see that on the fourth day God set the appointed feasts by setting the sun, the moon and the stars. That number 4 is the fourth day on the first full week of this calendar, just for the sake of marking and write on that 'creation' so we won't get that confused. The whole week is creation.

This is a multi-purpose calendar. When were they to select the lamb? The tenth day! Look at the calendar and you see the 2nd Sabbath is the 10th day. Then you count four days—1-2-3-4. The 13th is the 4th day. As soon as the 13th day ended—because they had to keep it four whole days—then that's when they killed the Passover lamb, at the beginning of the Passover Day. The night begins the 14th. Sunset comes, ends the 13th, and then after the sun has gone below the horizon, then you're in the 'between the two evenings' on the 14th. That begins the 14th; so you keep it four days. If you have A Harmony of the Gospels you can find it there. The chronology that, yes, Jesus was also declared by the Father on that day by a special act that God did.

John 12:23: "But Jesus answered them... [when they wanted to see Jesus] ...saying, 'The time has come for the Son of man to be glorified.'" What was the first thing to start that? Being selected by the Father as the Passover Lamb! He explains it this way, which is also very interesting. He never calls Himself the Lamb of God. John the Baptist called Him the Lamb of God.

He explains it for Himself here, v 24: "'Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The one who loves his life shall lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. If anyone will serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant be also. And if anyone serves Me, him shall the Father honor. Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this very purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.' Then a voice came from heaven, saying, 'I have both glorified it and will glorify it again'" (vs 24-28). That's when Jesus was selected on the 10th of Nisan.

Verse 29: "Then the people standing there, who heard it, said, 'It thundered.' Others said, 'An angel spoke to Him.' Jesus answered and said, 'This voice did not come because of Me, but because of you'" (vs 29-30). That is so you would know. They wouldn't know that He was being selected for the Passover Lamb at that point, but they could look back and reflect upon it and then understand it.

Verse 31: "'Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself.' But He said this to signify by what death He was about to die" (vs 31-33). That's when He was selected by God with this voice, 'Glorify You.'

Let's look at the number 4 again. Come to page 11 in the Faithful Version Bible where we talk about God's Divine Design of the Holy Bible and Its Numeric Connection. We're going to see some very interesting things here that substantiate what we've already covered. We have there listed all the important numbers of God. We did a sermon or two on the numbers of God, and when I have time I'll fill in with some other sermons and cover some of the other numbers. But let's look at Number 4, on Page 11, the meaning of number 4.

Number 4: "The number of creation which marks God's creative works. It is the signature of the world. The material creation was finished on the 4th day... [in preparation for life] ...with the sun, moon and stars ordained for 4 things: signs, seasons, days and years. The 4th commandment—"Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy"—was given to man at creation. The 4 accounts of Jesus' life and ministry: Matthew, Son of David and King; Mark, The Suffering Servant; Luke, The Perfect Man; and John, The Only Begotten Son of God.

Isn't that interesting. Let's talk about witnesses here for just a minute and we'll see something very, very interesting. God says that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word will be established. That's why you have Matthew, Mark, and Luke. That's three. But then there was another witness that had to be given showing a greater spiritual work as to Who Jesus really was and this was given by John.

You can read it in John 21 that there were probably with him Andrew, Philip and Mark. This is something here, because again, even in this single book we have at least three witnesses—we have at least four, but we can't identify three. Go to the last verse in John 20, this is the first ending of the Gospel of John. Chapter 21 was added after Peter had died so Peter wouldn't be embarrassed by what John wrote here.

John 20:31: "But these have been written, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life through His name." Perfect ending—right? But there were other things that John put into his Gospel and he added chapter 21.

John 21:24: "This is the disciple who testifies concerning these things and who wrote these things and we... [it goes from the disciple, 'this is the disciple,' to we] ...know that his testimony is true." Those could only be Matthew, Philip, and Mark. So again, it follows through. We have three synoptic Gospels, plus John, which is four—4witnesses. Now for the Gospel of John, we have one, being John, and three others, making a total of four. You see how number four relates to the Gospels. And number 4 relates also to the Passover, because it's the 4th day of the week on which He was crucified. And they kept the lamb for 4 days.

Let's look at some other numbers here, which are very interesting. If you would please go to page 1280 in the Faithful Version Bible and here we're going to look at a chart. This will make it much easier and then we can go back to the calendar that we have there. Everything that we have in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order is designed to help people understand how to come out of Protestantism and Catholicism; that is, i.e. the Christianity of this world. And to know the Truth that every Word of God is true.

On pages 1280-1281 we have The Three Days and Three Nights in the Tomb and the Resurrection After Three Days and Three Nights. Look at the days across the top. The 5th day of the week, now that coincides with the chart, this blank calendar that I gave you. What we need to do is this: We have it very clearly laid out. This is why the Passover had to be on the 4th day of the week, in the middle of the week, in the year that Jesus died. All the chronologies that you will see—we have an appendix here, but in the coming, The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah—30A.D. is the only year that Jesus could have been crucified, because you have to have the sequence of days.

We have here to the left side of this chart the Passover Day and we have Jesus dies at the 9th hour Hebrew time, 3 p.m. Roman time. Then Jesus is buried and the tomb sealed just before sunset. Look at the chart, it's easy to follow. Where there are the black squares, those indicate the nights. Where there are the white squares, they indicate the day. We have Nisan 15, remember every day begins at sunset. We have the first night in the tomb, the first day in the tomb, which was the first Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Isn't that interesting?

Spiritually speaking, during the Days of Unleavened Bread, leaven is a type of sin. Jesus died for the sins of the world and He was put into the tomb and began the first night in the tomb as that sacrifice. He had to be in the tomb three nights and three days. So we have it here. Also, this shows something very important concerning the chronology of the things that took place.

Day 5, Nisan 15, is a Holy Day, the first Day of Unleavened Bread. That means the day portion of the 14th was a preparation for that day. Nisan 15 comes to an end at sunset and it begins Nisan 16 at sunset and He is spending His second night in the tomb. That day is the preparation for the weekly Sabbath. So, when you carefully read in A Harmony of the Gospels the sequence of events, it's very obvious there were two Sabbaths in that week—one a Holy Day, the other the weekly Sabbath.

Here the 16th of Nisan, you have the 2nd night in the tomb, the 2nd day in the tomb. Then you come to the weekly Sabbath. The 3rd day after Passover—1-2-3. Interesting! You have the 3rd night and the 3rd day. On the section that says The Third Day, the resurrection just before sunset. So, Jesus was three days and three nights exactly in the heart of the earth.

As a spirit being, Jesus did not need to have the stone rolled away to get out of the tomb. We cover that in the commentary here, so you can read that. That night, beginning the 4th day—isn't that interesting—day # 4 comes up again, doesn't it? Yes, indeed! He probably spent the night in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to God. Then on the day portion, He meets the two disciples and talks to them. But that was after He ascended to heaven to be accepted of the Father. This becomes very important. Look at what we have.

Take out the calendar chart that I gave you. We have this sequence:

• Nisan 15 is day one
• Nisan 16 is day two
• Nisan 17 is day three—three days and three nights.
• Nisan 18—what did Jesus do on that day? He ascended to the Father—did He not? Yes, He did! On the 4th day, as the perfect sacrifice.

 So, we've got:

• 4—for the day He was crucified on
• 4 days before the Passover He was selected
• 4 days after the Passover He ascended to the Father to be accepted

Right? Yes! The 18th is the first day of the week—is it not? Yes, it is! What day is that day? That's the Wave Sheaf Offering Day—correct? Yes, it is! So then, you count seven weeks. We don't have the chart here, but I'll expand the chart out when I mail this out with the mailing. We'll assume there's a chart here.

There are seven weeks to the harvest. Each week was to be a complete week ending in a Sabbath. There were to be seven Sabbaths. Now much is seven times seven? Forty-nine! They were to number 50 days on the day after the 7th Sabbath. I want you to think about this. Jesus began the harvest. He likened Himself to a grain of wheat—did He not? Yes, He did! Pentecost is the end of the harvest and that's when the first resurrection takes place.

Let's look at something also very interesting here. On the last week, the 7th week, you have 7 days. The 50th day is a Sunday, the 1st day of the week. That is the 8th day when you count just the 7 days of the last week and then the next day, you have 8 days. Eight is the number of a new beginning.

What do we have with the Passover? What do we have with Jesus? The 10th day He was selected! On the 18th day, or 8th day—because He had to go through the crucifixion, and everything—He ascended to the Father. What's going to happen on Pentecost when the saints are resurrected on that day we're going to what? We're going to ascend to the Sea of Glass! So, you see the parallels there. These things get really exciting when you start getting these numbers and putting them together. But what I wanted you to do is to see how God uses these numbers and follows through.

That's why it could never have been that Jesus was crucified on a Friday and rose on a Sunday. Just look at this chart that we have here on page 1281. This year we have the Passover on a Friday, so it'll be very easy to figure out that Jesus was not crucified in a week where the Passover was on a Friday. We have to do double-duty with the calendar here on page 1281. If He were crucified on a Friday—we have to come back here to Day 6, Nisan 16, on the chart, What do you have?

• one night, one day
• the weekly Sabbath—two nights, two days,
• He's resurrected Sunday morning

There is no way. Actually, it's less than that, because He was not put into the tomb at the beginning of Friday, the way that the sequence would fall. It would have to be at the ending of Friday, Day 6. So He would only have

• Sabbath night in the tomb
• Sabbath Day in the tomb
• then resurrected Sunday morning

Then that would have been Sabbath night. We have two nights and one day. How does that equate to three days and three nights? You can't do it!

So therefore, it had to be when the Passover was the fourth day of the week—in the middle of the week—in order for all of these things to come out this way. It had to be that He was dead three days and three nights, resurrected from the dead, and then after three days and three nights, He walked out the tomb. He was gone.

Let's come back here to Matthew 12, because we're going to see something very important. This is why the world will never understand.

• they're blinded because they don't obey
• they don't believe
• they can never figure it out if they don't use the calculated Hebrew calendar

If they use the Roman calendar and use Easter as a benchmark, you lose all the significance of everything that Jesus did. That's what was wrong with Mel Gibson's movie. That's why I did it. He didn't even name the day, which then was the day chosen from the foundation of the world. Which then the days were set in motion on the 4th day of the week. The Passover that Jesus died on was the 4th day of the week, so He could have 4 days before the Passover Day and 4 days after, a total of 8 before He ascended to the Father.

The Bible tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed. The Bible tells us God cannot lie. Do you suppose that He would chose men who would lie to write a witness account of Him? Even if He did, look at what He did to Balaam. Balaam wanted to curse, but God made him bless. God chose Holy men, who were moved by the Spirit of God, not to write their own things.
He didn't have this go by oral tradition for 200 years before anything was written down. That's why we have all the commentary in the front of the book:

• When was the Bible written?
• When was the Old Testament canonized?
• When was the New Testament written?
• When was it canonized?
• How did it get all 'scrambled eggs' in its assembly by Jerome?

As we have seen in some of the things, even a phrase from the New Testament helps us to understand prophecy—right? 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.'

It says they were 'eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage.' There's nothing wrong with marrying, there's nothing wrong with eating and drinking. The key is not what they were doing in eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage; the key was they became so evil that God had to destroy them all. Why? Can't understand it until we come to the age we're living in and we see what man is doing now. Jesus says, 'As it was, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.' So, as it is now, we can look back and say, 'They were doing it back then.'

Let's look at this, Matthew 12:36: "But I say to you, for every idle word that men may speak, they shall be held accountable in the day of judgment." How's that going to happen? Recorded on your spirit of man is everything you have ever lived through, every word you have ever spoken. That's why there's repentance and forgetfulness.

For God this is not a hard thing. He doesn't need to have 10-million angels up there keeping track, who said what. He's got it all recorded on the spirit of man. How does that apply to converted people? God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west! He forgives us and He forgets our sins and iniquities. That's God's judgment. His judgment is, 'It's not there.' But for this evil generation He's telling them in so many words, 'You guys have been plotting against Me, wanting to kill Me and you're going to have to give account for it, even every idle word.'

Verse 37: "'For by your words you shall be justified... [if you repent you receive justification through forgiveness] ...and by your words you shall be condemned.'… [if you don't repent] …Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 'Master, we desire to see a sign from You.' And He answered and said to them, 'A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as... [same thing we talked about, the days of Noah] ...just as Noah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, in like manner... [in the same way] ...the Son of man shall be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights'" (vs 37-40).

Since every word is God-breathed, and this is God-in-the-flesh spoken, can't get it any more God-breathed than that, can you? When you speak, you breath—correct? If you don't believe this, you don't believe Jesus. If you don't have the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, you don't know how to figure it. A Friday crucifixion and a Sunday-morning resurrection can never give you three days and three nights—it's two nights and one day. You would even flunk kindergarten with that kind of math—wouldn't you? But these are the great scholars.

To show you how blinded they are, I read the account how they try and figure three days and three nights. You know when the first night occurred? When darkness covered the earth from noon till three in the afternoon. That was the first night. But Jesus wasn't even off the cross, yet. He wasn't in the tomb, so you can't count that as a night. But it just shows how they won't believe God, so they come up with all of these inane theories and arguments to try and justify two nights and one day.

We've got all the commentary here in the book. We have it in A Harmony of the Gospels. And this is an easier read for the Passover. The Christian Passover book, let me tell you how important this day is, and we'll end with this.

Satan the devil does not want anyone to be in covenant with God. Why? Because they'll receive eternal life! What is the covenant day for the New Covenant? The 14th day of the 1st month, Nisan! We are to take the Passover same time Jesus did, in the same way that He commanded it.

• the foot-washing
• the breaking of the bread
• drinking of the wine
• then the words of the New Covenant which are John 14, 15, 16, and 17

If we love God, have His Spirit, renew the New Covenant on the Passover night for those who are baptized—and those are the only ones who can take the Passover. You must have the Spirit of God. Then you will receive eternal life if you're faithful to the end.

Satan knows this day is of paramount importance because it was selected from the foundation of the world. He wants to do everything within his lying power to try and get people away from keeping the correct Passover at the correct time to be in New Covenant relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Therefore, they have, instead of the Passover, they have communion, the Eucharist, the mass—every day, every hour. Seventh Day Adventists take it four times a year. Some drink it with water—the Mormons. And leavened bread—supposed to be unleavened bread and wine.

One other thing that's important to understand, which is concerning how important that the Passover is. The Jews could keep a 14th Passover when they were in the land. But if they were out of the land they couldn't keep the 14th Passover. They just kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Rather than admit their sins that we have been scattered into the whole world because of our sins, with the exception of a Karaite rabbi who wrote that, he said, 'We're scattered across the face of the earth because we followed in the footsteps of our fathers and their sins. Therefore we do nothing on the 14th day.' Think of that!

Jews come along and say, 'Oh, you Christians are wrong, you have to keep it on the 15th because we do.' Jesus commanded us to do it as He taught us—right? He kept it on the 14th, the proper day. That's the day we're to keep it on.

Think about this concerning the proper day versus the improper day; how doing things correctly leads you to understanding and how doing things incorrectly leads you to no understanding. For Judaism today, they keep a 15th Passover that should be the Night to be Much Observed. They do not recognize Christ, so they're not in covenant with God—Old Testament or New Testament. They keep the Passover on the wrong day because they are in the Diaspora, or exile. They add an extra day to the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They have that wrong! Then they count Pentecost wrong. I want you to think on this now.

Here's why Judaism cannot accept Jesus Christ. They keep the Passover of the exiled on the 15th—that's not the Passover Day. They have added a day to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They do not know the correct day!. They count to Pentecost incorrectly and end up—I think it is eight out of ten years—on the wrong day. Therefore, they're blinded. I want you to think about something else again here. This goes to #4 again. Counting the (#1) Passover. Is that a Feast of God? Yes, it is! He says it's a feast. (#s2-3) There are two Holy Days in Unleavened Bread. (# 4) Pentecost!

We keep these four and that also coincides with the 4th day when Jesus ascended to start the count to Pentecost. So you see how #4 comes through everything, but just like anything else, it's all got to be counted the right way, on the right calendar. The only way we understand it is through the Word of God and the calendar of God and believing the words of Jesus. Everything fits into the scheme of the Calculated Hebrew Calendar and the numbers that God has in the Bible.

Just wait till you get this new book. You'll get it automatically if you're on the list. You're going to see how the 70-week prophecy and the calendar and everything ties all together. It's going to be an amazing book because it ties all the appointed times of the Messiah together, taking things we have done before and putting it all together, so we get a complete picture.

Isn't that something, the number four is identified:

• with the Passover
• with Christ
• with the resurrection,
• with His ascension
• with us coming to Pentecost

Scriptural References:

• John 3:16
• Romans 5:6
• Revelation 13:8
• Job 38:1-7
• Genesis 1:1-3, 13-19
• Genesis 2:2-3
• John 5:14-17
• Matthew 18:19-20
• Leviticus 23:1-5
• Exodus 12:1-6
• John 12:23-33
• John 20:31
• John 21:24
• Matthew 12:36-40

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 12
• Genesis 15

Also referenced:
Books:

• The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah (coming soon)
• The Day Jesus the Christ Died by Fred R. Coulter
• A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

Articles from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter:

• Page 11, God's Divine Design of the Holy Bible and Its Numeric Connection
• Pages 1280-81, The Three Days and Three Nights in the Tomb and the Resurrection After Three Days and Three Nights

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 02-20-12
Formatted: bo—2-21-12

Copyright 2012—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.