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Wednesday, February 7, 2024

2024 Memorial - When?

Question received:
Dear Pearl,
We had some questions about the date of the Memorial. When you read the gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke, these evangelists place the death of the Lord Jesus on the day of Passover. However, John reports that it was on the day of Preparation, when the lambs were slaughtered (Nisan 13), because the Jews did not want to defile themselves by entering the governor's house so that they could later eat the Passover meal (John 18:28).
Interestingly, when we entered the Jewish calendar in 2024, according to it, Nisan 14 will be on April 22. However, the Watchtower states that the Memorial falls on March 24. What do you think?

My Reply:
                 [For those who would like to listen to a meeting we had on this post: (Click Here)]

If you read Exodus chapter 12, you will learn that Passover was not a single day, but rather it was a seven day observance. 
For the seven days, *no leaven was permitted to be present in the *household of an Israelite (Ex.12:15)  
[household *(Eph.2:19; Gal.6:10NKJV) of an Israelite (Rom.2:28-29; 9:6;  1Peter2:10; Gal.3:29; 6:16)].
   [The spiritual application of the symbolism of leaven, is deciphered by the words of Jesus 
     *(Matt.16:6; Luke 12:1; Matt.23:13-15,23-25,26-28,29-31; 5:20).]
The start of a new Jewish day occurs at sunset, unlike our own 24 hour day which starts at midnight.
The 24 hour Jewish day starts with darkness at sunset, continues through the daylight hours, up until the next sunset / nightfall.

The first day of the Passover week, (Exodus12:1-20)(Ex.12:15) was the Day of Preparation. That was the first day when no leaven was permitted.  So the first day of Passover which is also the Day of Preparation, started at sunset on Nisan 13. That evening was also the start of eating bread without leaven.
So when the disciples asked Jesus where he would like to eat the Passover (Matt.26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7), they were asking about where they should prepare to have the first meal of the first day of Passover. That was the first day and meal of the week with no leaven. Remembering that this first day started at sunset and continued until the next sunset; the day of preparation and slaughter of the lambs, would be included in that Jewish day. 
       (To our modern thinking, the next morning would be a new day in relation to the previous day's sunset, 
         but not according to the thinking of Jesus, his disciples, or the Jewish nation.) 
The Day of Preparation started at dusk when Jesus would have the Memorial Supper, that day would continue through the night when Jesus was arrested, continue through Jesus being condemned, crucified, and buried (John 19:31NIV). All of this was the same day that the Passover lambs would be slaughtered as part of the Day of Preparation, continuing up until the concluding sunset of Nisan 13, when Nisan 14 and the sabbath would then begin.

Once we understand the Passover week and the sunsets as being the start and end of each Jewish day; all the scriptures regarding the timing of Christ's memorial supper and death, will now be in harmonious agreement.

The sunset which launched Nisan 13 started the 24 hour Day of Preparation and was also the first day of the Passover week requiring unleavened Bread. The list of events that occurred during that 24 hour span from sunset to sunset, included:
- Christ's Memorial with his disciples
- the arrest of Jesus
- Christ's interrogation by the Jewish leaders
- Christ's scourging and sentence by Rome
- The Passover lambs being slaughtered 
     and preparations being completed for the Sabbath to start Nisan 14 at sunset
- Christ's crucifixion and death
- Christ being laid in a tomb.
     All these events occurred during Nisan 13 (Day of Preparation), before the initiating sunset of the Nisan 14 Sabbath.


Jesus had the Memorial and died on the same Jewish day, Nisan 13, which occurred between the two sunsets. That 24 hours was the first day of unleavened bread, the first day of the Passover week, and the Day of Preparation. Jesus did not have the memorial on Nisan 14. He had it on Nisan 13. According to this factual knowledge and testimony; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all agree.
    So when we read that the day in which Jesus ate his last meal with his disciples, is the same day that the lambs were slaughtered (Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7;  1Cor.5:7); we must remember that the meal occurred the evening before the lambs were slaughtered... not the evening after. We perceive this, when we accept the Jewish Preparation Day as occurring from sunset to sunset.
Mark 15:42-43; Luke 23:50-52,53-54; John 19:13-15,31,42

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

There are about 5 posts on this Main Page which discuss the modern timing of the Memorial and how to arrive at the proper date. I will give you one post link from 2021 which explains some of this, in addition to my explanation below. (https://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/2021/03/this-years-memorial.html)

In harmony with how Jesus, his disciples, and the nation of Israel determined the timing of the Passover week, I will guide you through that procedure.
The Jewish calendar is lunar... meaning that it is based upon the moon's cycles.
The first month of the Jewish year (Nisan) is determined by the Spring Equinox and the new moon.
This year, the Spring equinox takes place on March 19. The new moon before the equinox occurs on March 10, before sunset. (The time of day is important, because if it occurs after sunset, we must wait for the following sunset as the fresh Jewish day and start of a fresh month.) 
Once we know both dates, we need to consider how many days are between them.
If there is more than half a month (15 or more days), then the equinox belongs to a Jewish leap year and the month of Adar II as the last month of the previous year. 
In that case, the first month of the new year (Nisan) would have to be postponed until the next new moon after the Spring equinox.
As already stated, there are 9 days between March 10 and March 19. Therefore, the new moon and sunset on March 10, begins the first month "Nisan" and the new Jewish year.

Since the new moon occurs before sunset on March 10; we can consider the sunset of March 10 as starting  the first day of Nisan. (If the new moon occurred after sunset on our March 10 modern calendar, then that sunset and Jewish day to follow, would belong to the previous Jewish day and Jewish month. We would then wait for the sunset on March 11, to start the first day of Nisan.) 
By overlapping our modern calendar with the Jewish; the new moon occurs between the sunsets of March 9 and March 10 (our modern March 10 during the night hours of our morning -1am). Therefore, the new sunset on March 10 can initiate Nisan 1.
So,
sunset on March 10 is Nisan 1.
Now we need to determine when Nisan 13 takes place, so that we can observe the memorial on the *Lunar date and time that Jesus instituted it 
March10=Nisan1; March11=Nisan2; March12=Nisan3; March13=Nisan4; March14=Nisan5; March15=Nisan6; March16=Nisan7; March17=Nisan8; March18=Nisan9; March19=Nisan10; March20=Nisan11; March21=Nisan12; March22 after sunset=Nisan13.

I cannot be accountable for those who apply and arrive at a different calculation and conclusion. Many erroneously believe that Nisan 14 is the day Jesus had the memorial. Others of the modern Jewish faith have altered the method of calculation (i.e. to wait until the fresh new moon after the equinox). I've read that the Watchtower calculates according to the sunset in Jerusalem and then converts it to the next sunset of one's own location. The problem with this, is that the old Jerusalem is irrelevant 
(John 4:21; Matt.21:43; John 15:5,16; Heb.13:15;  1Pet.2:5,9; Isa.43:21; Heb.9:11;  2Cor.5:17; Rev.21:2).
New Jerusalem is not a location on earth, but rather, a designation in the heavens (Eph.2:6; Luke 10:20; Gal.4:26; Heb.12:22; Rev.3:12).

No one answers to me, nor do I answer to anyone except Christ. We each stand before the judgment seat of Christ for our own decisions.
  If further information is needed by any reader; please use the search box, or contact me by means of the contact box located in the right side column of this page.

4 comments:

  1. WHY do you keep calling the Covenant Meal, the "memorial"? You are still influenced by the Harlots terms and thinking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am influenced by the words of Jesus.
      We can consider them with the apostle Paul, at 1Cor.11:23-24,25-26 and the prophecy at Rev.5:9-10.
      You may notice at 1Cor.11:23-26 that two basic reasons are given by Jesus, to observe this occasion.
      Verses 24&25 both quote Jesus as saying the purpose, is to "do it in remembrance" of him. Many translations have determined that the original word translated into "remembrance", should be "as a memorial" (CJB) or "in memory of me" (DRA, GNT, ISV, NIRV, TLV, WEB). Other translations say "in com-*memor*-ation" of me, which word also means to memorialize.
      Now let's look closer at 1Cor.11:25. There we read the "new covenant in my blood" (highlighting what the blood establishes), followed by the purpose of observing the occasion as still being to memorialize his sacrifice.
      When Jesus asked us to com*memor*ate this day, he mentions the significance of his blood sacrifice.
      That significance is expressed at Rev.5:9-10...
      "9 And they sang a new song, saying:
      “You are worthy to take the scroll,
      And to open its seals;
      For You were slain,
      And have *redeemed us to God by Your blood*
      Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
      10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
      And we shall reign on the earth.”
      --- There again the sacrifice, blood, and death of Jesus is highlighted as being *the redemption price* for the anointed. His sacrifice paid for them to be God's holy priesthood.
      No mention is made at Rev.5:9-10, of a covenant.
      But now it really helps to focus in on Paul's words at 1Cor.11:26. There Paul highlights the central purpose of the occasion, clarified... "26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, *you proclaim the Lord’s death* (not the covenant) until He comes."
      Nowhere in Paul's words, is a covenant mentioned. The Lord's death is what is centrally established by the observance, and that is what Jesus asks us to memorialize.
      Is the source of where YOU get this idea that it is a "Covenant Meal", and not a memorial, at Luke 22:29?
      (Please let me know if that is not correct.)
      Now what becomes interesting, is our recognizing the only translation which translates Luke 22:29 with the word "covenant".
      Yes... as you mentioned, "the harlot's terms and thinking"... that translation is the NWT of "Jehovah's Witnesses".
      My conscience has no problem referring to the memorializing of Christ's death, as the Memorial, because that exactly what Jesus asked us to do... to memorialize his sacrifice when this occasion is observed.
      What are You influenced by?

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  2. Good morning Perla, reading the post at the beginning I understand that the memorial takes place on the 13th Nisan and I agree but then you say that the whole thing takes place on the day of preparation, of the slaying which is parallel to the slaughter of the lambs and the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread then at sundown the Passover begins, but in the Bible I find only that the 14th is the day of preparation and at sundown that is the 15th the Passover "It was the day of preparation (i.e. the day before the Sabbath). So as the evening was drawing near," Mark 15:42 NIV.
    In fact in a Scripture I added it says that the 15th begins the day of unleavening. "These are the feasts established by the Lord, the sacred assemblies that you are to proclaim at the appointed times: The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month begins the Lord's Feast of Unleavened Loaves; for seven days you are to eat bread made without leaven."
    Leviticus 23:4-6 NIV
    https://bible.com/bible/111/lev.23.6.NIV
    If the memorial takes place on the 13th and it is not the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, couldn't the bread be an ordinary loaf that is dipped as it is written? In the Septuagint, in the string of code concerning it, I find no unleavened bread but only loaf of bread...
    It is true that Jesus made negative references to leaven, but he was referring to that of the Pharisees, for in one area he compares the kingdom of heaven to the leaven hidden in the flour, where it increases.
    Mat 13:33 - Another parable told them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened." https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2220/kjv/tr/0-1/
    Since I got confused, can you help me understand my mistake?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your questions. I will reply to you in a new post because my reply is too long for a comment here.
      Here is a link to my reply: (https://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/2024/03/memorial-timing.html). You will need to copy the link to your address bar. Links within comments to not work.
      If the address does not bring you to the post, it is because the post may not be finished, edited, and published. When it is ready, the address will function.

      Delete

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