Second Coming Easter Eve ??

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I’ve been doing a bit of research lately and have found out
the early church believed Jesus’ second coming would be
Easter Eve by midnight… and a type of holy passion play
was observed until midnight every Easter Eve.




CELEBRATIONS OF EASTER EVE


" In the primitive church, it appears from Lactantius and Jerome there was a universal expectation
of the second coming of our Lord on this night, and the early Christians therefore prepared themselves
for the advent, watching until midnight, which was about the hour of His resurrection "

https://books.google.com/books?id=iRkFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&focus=viewport



" Jerome assigns as a reason for the congregation not being dismissed on Easter Eve till after midnight,
that even as the Paschal deliverance of Israel took place at midnight (Exod. xii. 29) it was the expectation
of the church, according to apostolic tradition, that Christ would return to accomplish the redemption
of His church and triumph over her enemies at the same hour. That hour being passed, the awe with which
the Lord's coming was anticipated being relieved, the Easter Feast was celebrated with universal joy
(Hieron. In Matt. xxv. 6). The same belief is mentioned by Lactautius (ie. Inst. vii. 19), when he speaks
of the night being passed in watchfulness on account of the coming of our King and God. "


https://books.google.com/books?id=NjoPAAAAYAAJ&dq=jerome+second+coming+easter+eve&source=gbs_navlinks_s



" The ceremony may be described as being in its nature a rubrical ceremony as distinguished from a 'mystery,' or ' miracle play;' but there was also a performance permitted (though not enjoined), and regulated by certain quasi-rubrics, which can scarcely be distinguished from a ' mystery.' Different places had their several customs, and the office-books of some of them contain fuller rubrics than are found in others; while a notice of what was enjoined in other countries throws a light on what was done in England. It will further be seen that there existed no rigid rule of uniformity. The ceremony may in general terms be described as the deposit on Maundy Thursday of the consecrated Host and the Crucifix from the High Altar in a place apart, where it remained concealed for a time (the spot being carefully watched and guarded), in signification of the deposit of our Lord's body in the grave; partly also from an ancient belief that His second coming would be on Easter Eve, on account of which St. Jerome conceived that the people should wait in Church until midnight for Christ's appearance. The ceremony was called in England the 'making of the sepulchre,' and allusions to it are numerous. The earliest English authority is as old as the Saxon times, and there are proofs that it lingered in some places down into the reign of Elizabeth. "


https://books.google.com/books?id=jKIaAAAAYAAJ&dq=jerome+second+coming+easter+eve&output=text&source=gbs_navlinks_s


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I've also discovered holy week 2015 has a lot in common with holy week 33 AD.


Friday April 3, 2015 – Passover begins at sundown

Friday April 3, 33AD – Date assumed to be Christ’s crucifixion

Friday April 4. 2015 – lunar eclipse [not visible in the Holy Land.]

Friday April 3, 33AD – lunar eclipse

Sunday April 5, 2015 – Western Easter Sunday.

Sunday April 5, 33AD – Assumed date of Christ’s resurrection

Also interesting… this year Orthodox Pascha is April 12 –
the 70th anniversary of Truman taking power [symbolic for me.]

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The kind of response I expected.

Thanks for not disappointing me.

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Crucifixion of Christ


Clue #1: The High Priesthood of Caiaphas

The gospels indicate that Jesus was crucified at the instigation of the first century high priest named Caiaphas (Matthew 26:3-4, John 11:49-53).

We know from other sources that he served as high priest from A.D. 18 to 36, so that puts Jesus' death in that time frame.

But we can get more specific. Much more.


Clue #2: The Governorship of Pontius Pilate

All four gospels agree that Jesus was crucified on the orders of Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:24-26, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:24, John 19:15-16).

We know from other sources when he served as governor of Judea--A.D. 26 to A.D. 36--so we can narrow down the range by several years.

But how are we going to get it down to a specific day and year?


Clue #3: After "the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Caesar"

The Gospel of Luke tells us when the ministry of John the Baptist began:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar . . . the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness [Luke 3:1-2].

This picks out a specific year: A.D. 29.

Since all four gospels depict the ministry of Christ beginning after that of John the Baptist had begun (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, John 1), this means that we can shave a few more years off our range.

The death of Christ had to be in a range of seven years: between A.D. 29 and 36.


Clue #4: Crucified on a Friday

All four gospels agree that Jesus was crucified on a Friday (Matt. 27:62, Mark 15:42; Luke23:54; John 19:42), just before a Sabbath, which was just before the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1).

We know that it was a Friday because it is referred to as "the day of preparation"--that is, the day on which Jews made the preparations they needed for the Sabbath, since they could not do any work on that day. Thus thus cooked food in advance and made other necessary preparations.

The Jewish Encyclopedia states:

Friday, as the forerunner of Shabbat, is called "'Ereb Shabbat" (The Eve of Sabbath). The term "'ereb" admits of two meanings: "evening" and "admixture" (Ex. xii. 38); and "'Ereb Shabbat" accordingly denotes the day on the evening of which Sabbath begins, or the day on which food is prepared for both the current and the following days, which latter is Sabbath.

The idea of preparation is expressed by the Greek name paraskeué, given by Josephus ("Ant." xvi. 6, § 2) to that day (compare Mark xv. 42; Luke xxiii. 54; Matt. xxvii. 62; John xix. 42). In Yer. Pesaḥim iv. 1 the day is called "Yoma da-'Arubta" (Day of Preparation) [Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v., "Calendar"].

That eliminates six of the days of the week, but there were still quite a few Fridays between A.D. 29 and 36.

Can we figure out which one?


Clue #5: A Friday at Passover

The gospels also agree that Jesus was crucified in conjunction with the annual feast of Passover (Matthew 26:2, Mark 14:1, Luke 22:1, John 18:39).

Here we encounter a momentary complication, because Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe the Last Supper on Holy Thursday as a Passover meal (Matthew 26:19, Mark 14:14, Luke 22:15). That would suggest that Good Friday was the day after Passover.

However, when describing the morning of Good Friday, John indicates that the Jewish authorities had not yet eaten the Passover meal:

Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium [i.e., Pilate's palace]. It was early. They themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. So Pilate went out to them [John 18:28-29a].

That suggests that the Passover would have begun on sundown Friday.

There are a number of ways of resolving this. For example, some have suggested that Jesus and his disciples used a different calendar than the Jewish authorities, and we know that there were different calendars in use in first century Judaism.

It's also possible that Jesus just advanced the date of the Passover celebration for him and his disciples. I mean, they were already convinced he was the Messiah and the Son of God. If he says, "We're celebrating Passover today," and it's a day earlier than most people, they'd just go with that. (Note that he made other modifications to the ceremony, such as instituting the Eucharist in the midst of it.)

And there are other solutions.

However, regardless of what Jesus' movement did, we can look to John's statement about the Jesus' captors as an indication of what the Jewish authorities or the mainstream Jewish practice was: They were celebrating a Passover beginning on what we would call Friday evening.

That lets us narrow down the range of possible dates to just a few. Here is a complete list of the days between A.D. 29 and 36 on whose evenings Passover began:

* Monday, April 18, A.D. 29
* Friday, April 7, A.D. 30
* Tuesday, March 27, A.D. 31
* Monday, April 14, A.D. 32
* Friday, April 3, A.D. 33
* Wednesday, March 24, A.D. 34
* Tuesday, April 12, A.D. 35
* Saturday, March 31, A.D. 36

As you can see, we have just two candidates left: Jesus was either crucified on April 7 of A.D. 30 or April 3 of A.D. 33.

Which was it?

The traditional date is that of A.D. 33. You will find quite a number of people today advocating the A.D. 30 date.

Do the gospels let us decide between the two?


Clue #6: John's Three Passovers

The Gospel of John records three different Passovers during the ministry of Jesus:

* Passover #1: This is recorded in John 2:13, near the beginning of Jesus' ministry.
* Passover #2: This is recorded in John 6:4, in the middle of Jesus' ministry.
* Passover #3: This is recorded in John 11:55 (and frequently mentioned afterwards), at the end of Jesus' ministry.

That means that the ministry of Jesus had to span something over two years. A fuller treatment would reveal that it spanned about three and a half years, but even if we assume it began immediately before Passover #1, the addition of two more Passovers shows that it lasted more than two years at a bare minimum.

That means the A.D. 30 date is out.

There is not enough time between the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar--A.D. 29--and the next year's Passover to accomodate a ministry of at least two years.

The numbers don't add up.

As a result, the traditional date of Jesus' death--Friday, April 3, A.D. 33--must be regarded as the correct one.

Can we be even more precise?


Clue #7: "The Ninth Hour"

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record that Jesus died about "the ninth hour" (Matthew 27:45-50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:44-46).

"The ninth hour" is what we, today, would refer to as 3:00 p.m.

This allows us to narrow down the time of Jesus' death to a very specific point in history: around 3:00 p.m on Friday, April 3, A.D. 33.

Of course, there are a lot of detailed arguments that I haven't taken space to deal with here. But this is the thrust of things.

This is when it happened.

7 clues tell us *precisely* when Jesus died (the year, month, day, and hour revealed) |Blogs | NCRegister.com


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Quake reveals day of Jesus' crucifixion, researchers believe

They say analysis of Dead Sea seismic activity points to Friday, April 3, in year 33

Does quake reveal when Jesus died? - Technology & science - Science - DiscoveryNews.com | NBC News



Study reveals exact date of Christ’s crucifixion

Geologists from Germany and the US claim that they've finally found scientific proof of the date of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open,” the Gospel of Matthew says.

The year of Christ's crucifixion has been widely debated. Biblical scholars had hitherto agreed that Jesus was crucified on a Friday near Passover, under Pontius Pilate (26 – 36 AD). The most often suggested date was Friday April 3, 33 AD.

The Gospel of Matthew mentions that the crucifixion took place during an earthquake. Researchers have tried to establish whether this was historical fact, or Biblical allegory.

In their latest study published in the International Geology Review, geologist Jefferson Williams of Supersonic Geophysical and his colleagues Markus Schwab and Achim Brauer of the German Research Center for Geosciences looked at seismic activity by the Dead Sea, just 20 kilometers away from Jerusalem. Their research revealed that at least two earthquakes took place in the region: a strong jolt in 31 BC, and another seismic event sometime between 26 AD and 36 AD.

Having analyzed Jewish calendar data, seismic activity in the region and astronomical calculations, after correlating the data with the information from all four canonical Gospels, the scientists determined that the best match for the date of the crucifixion would be Friday, April 3, 33 AD.

Study reveals exact date of Christ?s crucifixion ? RT Art & culture


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Can you date the crucifixion of Jesus Christ using astronomy?

Many people have tried. In the December 22, 1993 issue of Nature magazine, Colin Humphreys and W. Waddington reviewed all of the previous attempts and came up with a date of Friday, April 3, 33 AD as a very likely candidate.

The basis for these predictions hangs upon several pieces of information in the New Testament. The crucifixion happened during the 10 years that Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judaea which was between AD 26 - 36 according to independent historical records, particularly the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus. There is no controversy over this piece of information since Pontius Pilate is a known historical figure mentioned by name.

All four of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John agree that the crucifixion happened a few hours before the beginning of the Jewish sabbath which would be nightfall on a Friday, and within a day of Passover which is celebrated at the time of a Full Moon.

The Last Supper was a Passover meal which would have happened on the evening at the start of the festival calendar 15 Nisan. The Crucifixion occurred later that day. This, however, disagrees with John's date of 14 Nisan and those of the other gospels. So, here is where a bit of controversy begins to enter the story.

Humphreys and Waddington then assumed that both 14 and 15 Nisan are possible dates, and then consulted predictions of the lunar motion to determine for which dates between AD 26 - 36, either 14 or 15 Nisan fell on a Friday. These are the only dates possible for the Crucifixion as set by the Biblical evidence. The result is a set of 5 possible dates:

14 Nisan............ Friday 11 April AD 27
Friday 7 April AD 30
Friday 3 April AD 33
15 Nisan............ Friday 11 April AD 27
Friday 23 April AD 34

What now begins is a process of elimination, which means that someone has to make a choice, and therefore introduce their own opinion.

AD 27 is too early because Luke carefully states that John the Baptist began his ministry the 15 year during the rein of Tiberius Caesar and had baptised Jesus. This would have happened in autumn of AD 28-29 or Spring 29-30. Also most scholars believe that Pilate had been procurator 'for some time' before the Crucifixion.

AD 34 is probably too late because it would have conflicted with Paul's conversion which is believed to have happened in 34 AD.

This means that 15 Nisan is excluded, leaving only 14 Nisan as a candidate, and that the interpretation of the Last Supper as a passover meal cannot be correct. Jesus died at the same time that Passover lambs were being slain which is consistent with the New Testament statements that "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us".

There are now only two plausible dates: Friday, 7 April AD 30, and 3 April AD 33. John's gospel records that three Passovers occurred during his ministry which began AD 28. This would eliminate April 7, 30 AD, leaving only 3 April AD 33 as a surviving possiblility. These two dates are exactly those on which Biblical scholars seem clustered as the two favored dates.

To this debate, Humphreys and Waddington add a new factor which previous scholars had not included. In the Acts 2, 14:21 it was reported that the Moon would be turned to blood and the Sun turned to darkness at the time of the Resurrection. This observation also appears in the so-called 'Report of Pilate' which was written by Pilate to Emperor Tiberius. If this is taken as a lunar eclipse, then the Crucifixion can be dated exactly. Lunar eclipses were frequently described in exactly this way, even verbatum, by contemporary historians. Predictions show that there was only one lunar eclipse visible from Jerusalem at the time of passover in the period from 26 - 36 AD. It occurred on Friday April 3, AD 33. The Moon rose above the horizon already in the midst of eclipse and would have progressively 'turned to blood' as the eclipse continued.

So, a combination of astronomical detective work and using independent historical accounts confirms much of the details in the Gospels as being accurate, and moreover lets us state with considerable certainty when the Crucifixion occurred. A similar approach for the birth date of Christ is far more complicated because the Star of Bethlehem has been identified as a variety of different astronomical and astrological 'events'.

Archive of Astronomy Questions and Answers

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" Phlegon was a Greek historian who wrote an extensive chronology around AD 137:

In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., AD 33) there was ‘the greatest eclipse of the sun’ and that ‘it became night in the sixth hour of the day [i.e., noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicaea. "


Darkness at the crucifixion: metaphor or real history? - creation.com

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Jipsah said:

I guess the disappointment is reserved for those who thought you might have actually had a reason for asserting the dates that you did. It appears that they're simply based on "Somebody said..." .

Click to expand...

I posted three posts on page 2 that support the April 3. 33AD date.

What other kind of explanation were you expecting ??


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