The Origin of

Easter
Excerpts from "Sons of Zion vs Sons of Greece" - Vol 1
by Dr. Miles R. Jones

Exclusively Offered to Revelation of the Month Members and Friends

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Summary
Three Days and Three Nights in the Earth............................................... 3
From page 188
Pagan Feast Days are Christianized...................................................... 10
From page 215
The First Easter Homily.......................................................................... 13
From page 224
The Quartodeciman Controversy........................................................... 14
from page 271

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Three Days and Three Nights in the

Earth
From page 188
Much of the difference between the Hebrew tradition of Scripture
and the Greek tradition is a matter of interpretation rather than changes in
the text. Nonetheless, differing doctrine is often the driving force behind
changes introduced by scribes and translators. Preserving the canon of the
Gospels verbatim is more of a modern concept. Scribes of the era
sometimes did that well, but at other times considered it their duty to
correct errors in the manuscript. Certainly those scribes doing the major
compilations, such as the Greek edition of Eusebius, the Latin Vulgate of
Jerome, and the Hebrew Masoretic text… were all focused on fixing
errors, cleaning up the texts and perhaps uprooting any incorrect wording.
It seems safe to say your perception of the ‘correct wording’ might be
different if you were a Greek Christian translating Hebrew Matthew into

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Greek - or a Messianic Jew translating Greek Gospels into Hebrew.

The tradition of celebrating ‘Holy Week’ - ‘Good Friday to Easter

Sunday’ is the most contentious example of differing interpretation of the
Gospel Scriptures. The tradition is based on the prophecy of the “sign of
Yonah” (Jonah) made by Yeshua. Of all the prophecies which Yeshua
made certain to fulfill, it was the most repeated (3 times), the only
prophet Yeshua associates himself by name (Matthew 12:41), and the
sole prophecy upon which Yeshua declared his authenticity may be
judged:
An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall be no sign
given to it but the sign of the prophet Yonah: for as Yonah was three days and
three nights in the great fish’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40)
“There is no wiggle room in this prophecy.” As stated, it
means three complete days and three complete nights. The biblical
standard (Deut. 13) for any prophecy is rather severe:1

1)​ It must have a written scriptural precedent.

2)​ The sign must come to pass exactly as stated.
3)​ If it proves false the ‘prophet’ is rejected and put to death!
In the previous chapter we went to a lot of effort to ascertain
that the date of Yeshua’s crucifixion was Wednesday, April 25, 31
AD. This was the day of Pesach [Passover] in 31 AD. It was the
preparation day. At dusk the Passover festival was to begin. The
Messiah was entombed at dusk that day in the tomb of Joseph of
Arimathea, “It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath [Passover]
was beginning” (Luke 23:54). Mark agrees, “Now it was already
evening, and since it was preparation day...” (Mark 15:42). Joseph
had about 30 minutes of twilight in which to get the body placed in
the nearby tomb, wrapped in linen, and the rock rolled shut before
Pesach began.

The problem of interpretation arises with the use of the phrase,

“on the third day he will be raised to life” as it is said in Matthew
17:23 and 20:19; Luke 18:33 and 24:7, and Acts 10:40. Yeshua
himself even says it in Luke 24:46, "This is what is written: The
1
Chris Jones, Mashiach and the Sign of Yonah, p.14-15 from Deut. 13:1-14.

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Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day…” In
English this could mean 1) Friday, 2) Saturday, 3) Sunday - the third
day - but it has already been stated by Yeshua as three days and three
nights. Does that create a contradiction in the gospels? No, not
necessarily, if and only if Yeshua arises at the end of the third
complete day, and there have been three complete nights - as the
chart below illustrates.

The ‘Good Friday - Easter Sunday’ scenario assumes, for one

thing, that Pesach was on a Friday. It was in 33 AD - but not in 31
AD. Even on that date, it wrongly assumes that Friday and Sunday
can be counted as partial days. Both Matthew (28:1) and Mark (16:2)
are clear. “At the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, toward the
first day of the week [Sunday], came Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary…” the stone was already rolled away and the angel informed
them that Yeshua was already risen and gone. Mark reads the same,
“And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came
unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun…” and Yeshua Ha
Mashiach was already gone! The entombment at dusk on Friday was
already past the end of the day. So that cannot count as a partial day.
Yeshua was risen and gone before dawn according to the angel. So
Sunday cannot be counted as a partial day. It can be argued that it is
already Sunday by both Roman, and Greek, (at midnight) reckoning.
However, neither interpretation fulfills the prophecy of the sign of
Yonah. Even if one concedes the Greco-Roman reckoning and allows
counting the two partial days it still does not fulfill the prophecy.
There are still only two complete nights! Here is the Good Friday -
Easter Sunday scenario:

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 As Chris Jones so succinctly puts it in his analysis, “It’s a
disparity with eternal consequences and ought to pierce every
believer to their soul… To theorize Yahshua invoked the sign of a
Hebrew prophet before a Hebrew audience with a Hebraic mindset
as proof that he is the Hebrew Mashiach, and then fulfilled that sign
through a Grecian reckoning... is utterly absurd!”2 Do you trust
Scripture more than church tradition?

Yeshua was resurrected at dusk on the Sabbath day (see

previous page) after exactly three days and three nights entombed in
the earth. Any earlier, or any later, would brand him as a false
prophet. Can we be certain of this? Yes, the chief priests went to Pilate
after the crucifixion, worried his followers would take his body and
claim he had arisen (Matthew 27:62-66). “Command therefore that the
sepulcher be made sure until the third day…” Pilate agreed to the
sealing of the tomb until the end of the third day. “So they went, and
made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.” A
cord would be placed across the stone and secured with wax on both
ends impressed with the imperial seal. The penalty for breaking such a
seal would be death. No one could enter the tomb before the three
nights and three days were finished and the guards removed the seal.
There are still a couple of ‘Yes, buts…’ to resolve. It says in
Mark 16:9, “Now when Jesus was arisen early the first day of the
week he appeared to Mary Magdalene.” Neither ancient Greek nor
Hebrew used commas. They have been placed in our modern
translations to clarify. In this case they only confuse. Look at these
two versions:

Now when Jesus was arisen early the first day of the week,…

2
Chris Jones, 2014:p. 17 & 24, Mashiach and the Sign of Yonah.
* The manipulation of the date of Yeshua's crucifixion is detailed in chap. 6

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 Now when Jesus was arisen,
...early the first day of the week he appeared to Mary...

The Hebrew Gospels say, “When Yeshua came back to life,

...on the morning of the first day [Sunday] he appeared first to Mary
Magdalene” (Mk 16:9). Did Yeshua appear to Mary early the first day
of the week, yes he did. “After that he appeared unto two of them [his
disciples] as they walked… Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as
they sat at meat…” (Mark 16:9,12,14). The context is clear. Mark is
listing those to whom Yeshua appeared the first day of the week after
he had arisen - not saying the resurrection happened on that day -
which would be a contradiction of the prophecy of the sign of Yonah.

Yeshua had already arisen at the end of the Saturday Sabbath

at nightfall - the evening before the dawn on Sunday morning - when
it was discovered he was gone. In the HGC, Matthew 28:1 specifies
“On the beginning of day one [first day] called ‘diumenge’” (Catalan
for Sunday), they arrived and found him already gone. To claim
Yeshua arose in the morning light of the first day is a contradiction.
The interpretation that does not contradict is the correct one. The
Sabbath resurrection [Saturday evening] is supported by both the
Greek and Hebrew gospels.

There is still one questionable reference to Sunday as “the

third day.”3 The “third day” is not contradictory if it includes 3 days
and 3 nights, but the resurrection was Saturday evening not Sunday
morning as this verse makes it appear. In Acts 10:40, Yeshua appears
to two of his family on the road to Emmaus. Acts specified one of
them was Cleopas - Yeshua’s uncle - and the other was either Simeon
(his cousin) or James (his brother).
Origen related it was Simeon, Cleopas’ son, whereas Paul
stated Yeshua appeared to James, but not when. Hegessipus also
informs us, as have other early Christian writers, that Cleopas was the
brother of Joseph, Yeshua’s father. Yeshua appears to them as a
stranger. They describe the events of the Messiah’s betrayal,
crucifixion and entombment... then add “today is the third day since
all these things were done” (Luke 24:20-21). If “All of these things”
included the sealing of the tomb by Pilate the day after the crucifixion,

3
“the third day” is used in Mt 17:23, 20:19; Luke 18:33, 24:7, 24:46, Acts 10:40

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then Sunday was indeed the third day.

So what does this verse mean in Greek. The word translated as

“since” above is “apo” in Greek which means ‘separation in time’, as
we might express in English, “there have been three days” indicating
three full days had passed. The Syriac New Testament translated it as
such, “three days have passed since all these things occurred.” The
Berkeley Version also translates it the same, “Moreover, three days
have already passed since all these events occurred.” The Moffatt
New Testament also says, “but He is dead, and that is three days
ago!”4

For Yeshua to arise on Sunday, either a day late, or the

“third day” before the end of the day would make him a false
prophet. The Greek ’three days passed’ means this verse does not
contradict.
This is not a new revelation but a long-standing position
advocated by several Church Fathers including Epiphanius of Salamis…
Victorinus of Pettau… Lactantius… Cassiodorus… and Gregory of
Tours. More recent proponents of the Wednesday crucifixion include
Brooke Westcott… R.A. Torrey… Finis Dake… Herbert
W. Armstrong…Chuck Missler…Kent Hovind…Michael Rood.5

Acts of the Apostles

“He [Yeshua] was seen by more than 500 of the brethren at
once… After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And
last of all, he was seen of me…” (1 Cor 15:6-7). The James mentioned
is Yakov Ha Tzadek (James the Just) the brother of Yeshua. I suspect
that Yeshua anointed James to take over the Messianic Movement at
that time. For that reason he was unanimously elected by all the
brethren, including the disciples. Clement of Rome in a 14th century
letter, allegedly called James the “bishop of bishops, who rules
Jerusalem, the Holy Church of the Hebrews, and all the Churches
everywhere.”6 The anointment of James by Yeshua is cited from The
Hebrew Gospels.7

4
Taken from Chris Jones’ analysis in Mashiach, 2014, p.68.
5
Ibid, pp.72-73.
6
Riddle, M.B., “Introductory Notice To Pseudo-Clementine Literature,” The Ante Nicene
Fathers, Richardson and Pick, eds., C. Scribner's Sons, 1886, pp. 69-71.
7
Jerome, Illustrious Men, chap. 2, also mentioned in the Gospel of Thomas.

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 During his lifetime, Yeshua’s mission was only to Israel, “I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew
15:24). After his resurrection, however, the Messiah expanded the
commission to all the nations of the world. “Go you therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19-20). The first mission was
over. The second mission was marked by a certain sense of secrecy,
especially concerning the end times - perhaps best expressed by Paul,
“For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, now I
know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor.
13:12).
This is, in fact, the strongest proof of the resurrection. After
his crucifixion Yeshua’s followers had shrunk to a relative handful.
His disciples were devastated, demoralized and defeated. Upon his
return, Yeshua takes them up into a mountain in Galilee (Matt. 28:1)
where he did their final training.
We do not know what was taught to them - but they did
receive secret knowledge. The fact is that Yeshua’s talmidim went up
like lambs and came down like lions. They had become Apostles - no
longer students. The movement was revitalized and the Apostles went
into the world and engaged with Gentiles in a way that orthodox Jews
simply would not do! There is no way to explain this except by the
resurrection and commandment of the Messiah.
On the mountain in Galilee, Yeshua gave them the commission
to go into all the nations (Matt. 28:19-20, Mark 16:15). Note the final
verses of both Matthew and Mark containing the Great
Commission are not in the earliest Greek manuscripts of the
Gospels. They were/are in the Hebrew Gospels [HGC] which is
probably responsible for their preservation. The tradition of the
secret knowledge became the basis of the Gnostic movement which
was widely received and was documented by the discovery of Gnostic
manuscripts at Nag Hammadi in Egypt - fascinating texts which will
impact our story.

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Pagan Feast Days are Christianized

From page 215

The Greco-Roman Church, in its wisdom, decided to shift the
celebration of these feast days to pagan holidays. There were two
reasons. One, so that Christians would not be celebrating the same
religious holidays as the Hebrews. And two, the pagan holidays were
popular among the heathen which they sought to convert. The people
would gather on their traditional pagan holidays, except they would
now be Christian ones, greatly facilitating the imposition of the new
religion.
This is not some cynical conspiracy theory. The Church was
quite open about it. Constantine decreed Passover was to be celebrated
on the feast day of Easter - the Babylonian sex (fertility) goddess. The
hubris is breath-taking! You might reflect upon this when your
church inadvertently proclaims on its marquee, “Come worship
Easter with us!” The pagan holiday of Easter rapidly became the first
flashpoint between the Hebrew Messianic Church and the
Greco-Roman Church. It would lead to the martyrdom of many
thousands of Christians over the centuries.
In the 4th century, it was decreed the birth of Christ would be
celebrated on the feast day of the sun god, Sol Invictus - December
25th - and voila, the Christian holiday of Christmas was born!
Shavuot (aka Pentecost) - the giving of the Word by Yehovah - was
mostly forgotten. The feast day of Sukkot (feast of Tabernacles) was
replaced, in the eighth century, with the religious holiday ‘All
Hallow’s Eve’ - the Fall harvest festival celebrating the ‘Day of the
Dead’ - better known as “Halloween.”
Dispossession of the Messianic Church
To understand the angst of the Messianic Church, one must
recognize that to them the Covenant was/is a legally binding contract.
This would be the equivalent change. You own a business that has
been in your family for generations. You have a contract with a large
corporation that has been you and your family’s purpose for existence
as far back as you know. The contract is renewed with every new
generation that comes of age. That moment has arrived and your

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lawyers whisk you into the meeting with reassuring chatter about
some small updates. In place of the renewed contract is one that says
New Testament.
You point out to your council of lawyers that a ‘testament’ is
no longer a contract. At best it is more of a gentleman’s handshake
sort of thing. A rush of smiles and a confident murmur of voices
reassure you that it is all equivalent, merely updated, and there is,
really, nothing to be concerned about. Besides, since you do not have
to agree to a contract anymore - any changes can be made as
necessary. At first glance everything seems to be pretty much the
same. You look for the old contract in your file and it now says Old
Testament.

When you examine the document further, you notice the

“party of the first part” has been changed from Yehovah to LORD.
And the “party of the second part” has been changed from Yeshua Ha
Mashiach to Jesus the Christ. The company itself is to be renamed
and rebranded. Also, the annual meeting has been changed from
Passover to April Fools’ Day. At work the next morning a big surprise
is waiting for you. The lawyers point out the small print where the
word “heirs” has been changed to “successors.” Also your job
description has been redefined in the new bylaws as “fulfilled.” With
choruses of “hosannah to the highest” they show you to the door. Too
much going on to waste time talking about the old days, the council
has to determine the new “successor.” You look up the word “LORD”,
and discover it means a divine god, in particular, the Canaanite god
“Ba’al.”

Everything said here is true - even though it may well be

thought too harsh. Keep in mind, it is the purpose of this book to
reveal the spiritual, and doctrinal, warfare within the Church.
The dispossession of the Messianic Church is a fact!

To recognize and preserve the sacred truth of the Gospels,

these are the irrefutable facts we must deal with. The Christian
Church literally exploded in size and extent, spreading to all corners
of the known world within a few decades, continuing to grow and
spread for the centuries that followed. These new believers were
hungry for the written Word. The Gospels were copied and recopied
and translated and retranslated. There were many corrupted copies of
the Word. Periodically there were successful efforts to compile a

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11
definitive and correct version, as free of corruptions as possible. The
Septuagint, Vulgate, Masoretic Hebrew text, Westcott-Hort Greek
text, and King James version of the Bible, etcetera.

These were critically needed compilations that compared the

extant versions and weeded out the corruptions. Even so, they do not
all agree. The differences can be dramatic!
We currently know of nearly 5,400 Greek copies of all or
part of the New Testament... It is not simply a matter of scholarly
speculation to say that the words of the New Testament were
changed, because we can compare these 5,400 copies with one
another. What is striking is that when we do so, we find that no
two copies (except the smallest of fragments) agree in all of their
wording. There can be only one reason for this. The scribes who
copied the texts changed them… There are more differences
among our manuscripts than there are words in the New
Testament.8
We reconcile this fact by accepting that only God’s truth is
inerrant! Every change in the Word reflected the personality or
agenda of the group, or individual, that made it. By knowing that
- we can sort through their errors! If they had poor scribal skills
then they made spelling errors, often the result of dictation. If
translators had a poor grasp of one or the other languages then their
miscomprehension, grammatical errors and vocabulary mistakes were
written into the new rendition. Always, there was danger of one’s
ideology affecting the text!
The canon of Scripture as a set and sacred truth is a modern
concept. It was not so in antiquity. There were many different
Christian sects and their beliefs are reflected in their gospels. Things
were added to or omitted from the gospel story. Alterations were
made, some blatant, some subtle. Most of this has been weeded out
but their fingerprints are still upon the Gospels we hold in our hands
today!
We must know how to recognize these agendas if we seek the
truth. Out of the many orthodoxies, one became supreme in the west -
that of the Roman Catholic Church. All other beliefs were condemned

8
Bart Ehrman, 2003:p.219, Lost Christianities.

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12
as heresy. Both the heretics and their Bibles were burned! Spiritual
warfare within the Church was to become as gruesome and
deadly as the actions of the worst bloody-minded tyrants in
history! It is a miracle the Gospels have come down to us intact.
Preserving that truth is our spiritual and intellectual duty!

The First Easter Homily

From page 224
By 135 AD there were two churches in Jerusalem, the
Messianic Church and the Greek Church. The Greek Church decided
to change the celebration of Passover from 14th of Nissan to the
Sunday following it. Pressure for the Greek Church to dis- associate
itself from the Messianic Church was growing. By midsecond century,
Justin Martyr declared that Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians
should “associate… in all things as kinsmen and brethren.9” It should
go without saying that if Justin Martyr was encouraging Christians to
do so… it was because they were not! He stated that following
Hebrew feast days and observances is not sinful nor heretical… but he
said growing numbers are less tolerant and claim that Jewish
Christians who follow the law have no hope of salvation. Many have
begun to shun Messianics.

Bishop Melito of Sardis gave us the first Easter homily ever

recorded around 167 AD. It was a harbinger of things to come. Melito
introduced the doctrine of Supercessionism. All of the sacred things of
Scripture that once belonged to Israel now belong to the Christian
Church. Gentile Christians are now the chosen people, the true Israel,
and not only that:
The Law, the Holy City, the Temple, and the Covenant now
belong to the Church. With the appearance of the
“reality” (Christ), the “model” (Israel) is ‘useless…
abolished… worthless… made void.’ Judaism is now

9
Kenneth Howard, 1993, Jewish Christianity in the Early Church, citing S.G. Wilson,
1955:p.340, Passover, Easter and Anti-Judaism.

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13
defunct… for the crime of deicide: the killing of their God…
Melito accused all of Israel.. past and present Jews… of
malevolence - rejecting Jesus - and in rejecting they rejected
God, their election as the people of God, and their salvation.
In doing so they earned God’s rejection, and the punishment of
bitterness and death. The very existence of Jews was an implicit
challenge to appropriation of the traditions of Israel.10

Sadly, the first Easter homily was a message of hatred, one

huge step away from the message of the Messiah! One must
recognize, as Howard does - Jewish Christians are “even more
abhorrent to supercessionist thinkers than... synagogue Jews, since
their very existence as Christians who remain Jews… would
negate… supercessionary theology!”

The Quartodeciman Controversy

from page 271
Immediately after the Council of Nicea, Constantine sent this
edict out to all the churches:

At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day

of Easter was discussed… It has been determined by the
common judgement of all, that the… feast of Easter should
be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day.
(Eusebius, Life of Constantine, book III, ch. 66)

Pagans believed the mother goddess was resurrected each

Spring, on the feast day of Easter - the Babylonian name for the
‘queen of heaven’ - Ishtar in Egyptian, Astarte in Greek, Ashto- reth
in Semitic, Eostra in Anglo-Saxon, etc. Her resurrection at sunrise
each year on the first day of Spring, was the most sacred feast day in
Mithraism, next to the feast day of the Sun, her god mate. “Easter did
not originate for the purpose of celebrating Christ, but rather for the

10
Howard, p.100-1

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14
purpose of worshiping the mother god- dess Ishtar. Because the Ishtar
celebration was held each spring on a Sunday, close to the vernal
equinox, the ascension of Christ was changed from 40 days after the
time of Passover, as told in the Bible, to the annual Easter
celebration.”11 Once again, Con- stantine was practicing religious
syncretism by incorporating another Mithraic pagan feast day
into Christian practice!

Easter is mentioned in Acts 12:3-4 after Herod kills James.

“He proceeded to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened
bread… intending after Easter to bring him forth before the people.”
The Greek texts did not use the word ‘Easter,’ “The word translated
‘Easter’ is the Greek word ‘pascha’ derived from the Hebrew word
‘pesach’… Passover.” The word “Easter” was not added until later
editions. “The mistranslation of Acts 12:4 is a not-so-subtle attempt to
insert a pagan festival into scripture for the purpose of authorizing
it.”12 Those Christians who would not agree to worship the
resurrection of the Messiah on the feast day of a pagan goddess were
called ‘Quartodecimans,’ Latin for ‘fourteen,’ meaning they held to
the 14th day of Nissan, the Hebrew-Messianic Passover sanctified by
the blood of Yeshua. They would soon be hunted to extinction!
Emperors expected to be worshiped as gods. Incorpo-
rating Constantine’s divinity into Christianity was the job of
Eusebius. Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, was one of the partici- pants
in the Council of Nicea and proved useful in promulgating and
recording the mythos of the vision of the cross at Milvian Bridge and
the ‘miraculous’ victory that ensued. To Eusebius was granted the fat
contract to compile an authoritative version of Greek Scripture from
the many versions that were extant. Fifty copies of this definitive text
would be sent to the capitol of the Empire, Constantinople.

Eusebius also wrote The Life of Constantine, History of the

Church, and In Praise of Constantine. The Greek texts thought to be
from his version are some of the oldest copies of Scripture. Eusebius’
influence on Christianity was immense, and the full weight of that
influence was placed on the scales to promote Con- stantine.
Eusebius’ solution to making Constantine divine was the 3½ year
ministry of Christ.
11
Vance Ferrell, 2003, Christmas, Easter and Halloween, Harvesttime Books.
12
David C. Pack, The True Origin of Easter, Real Truth magazine.

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15
 In Daniel the arrival of the Messiah was prophesied in a vision
given by the archangel Gabriel who explained it to Daniel (Dan
9:24-27). We related the amazing accuracy of this prophecy in the
previous chapter on the destruction of the Temple. Gabriel further
prophesied to Daniel a time of war, desolation and persecution of the
holy people. And Daniel asked, “O my Lord, what shall be the end of
these things?” Gabriel had answered him “that it shall be for a time,
times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the
power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” (Dan
12:7-8).

The end times prophecy of “a time, two times, and half a time”
is also prominent in Revelation where a horrific vision of persecution
culminates in 20:4, “And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not
worshipped the beast… and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years.” A “time” was interpreted as a year, so “a time, two
times, and a half a time” would be 3½ years - the ministry of Christ -
until “all these things shall be finished.” It heralds the “end of
prophecy” when the Messiah shall return to reign on his throne in
power over all the nations. Who ended the wars and persecution of
the holy people and reigned over all the nations of the world?
...Constantine!

For those readers who know scriptural prophecy, the proposed

‘prophetic’ 3½ year ministry of Christ does not really fit. That did not
discredit Eusebius’ theory since the complex prophecies in Revelation
have discombobulated scholars for ages. Church fathers such as
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and many others claimed for centuries
the ministry of Yeshua was one year. Yeshua himself proclaimed his
ministry was “to preach the acceptable year of Yehovah” (Luke 4:19),
as prophesied (Is 61:2).

Michael Rood published unique research on this in his book -

The Chronological Gospels. Over decades, Rood ana- lyzed the
events of the Gospels and the time clues imbedded in their
narratives, numbered the 325 events and set them on a timeline.
To determine those events he also had to reconstruct the
astronomically correct ancient Hebrew calendar, another massive
project. Rood’s analysis has shown a consistent timeline across all the
Gospels - the ministry of Yeshua was 70 weeks, including the

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16
resurrection events, as was prophesied in Daniel.

Rood’s first events #1-29 relate the birth narrative of Yeshua

and Yohanon covered in Matthew and Luke. Yeshua’s ministry began
with his baptism by Yohanan - event #31 - cited in all four Gospels.
The feeding of the 5,000 - event #102 - is the next event chronicled in
all four Gospels. Yeshua had gone up to Jerusalem for Passover, the
first of his ministry, in events #41, 42, & 43. The first Passover is
recorded only in John - bracketed be- tween his baptism and the
feeding of the 5,000 cited in all four Gospels so the first Passover had
to occur in this window.

I have chosen four common events to bracket the 70 week

ministry. The second, and final Passover of Yeshua’s ministry, which
resulted in His crucifixion and death, is detailed in all the Gospels in
events #158-219. I have chosen the events of the Last Supper and
Yeshua’s arrest at Gethsemane, events #181-182, all happening the
same night - as my third bracket. The ultimate resurrection events,
#243-246, Yeshua’s final appearance to his disciples at Galilee to his
ascent, are my fourth bracket. Some verses of these four common
events are recorded in each Gospel. These four common-event
brackets are shaded in the follow- ing charts. No extra years can
be shoe-horned into this time- line without contradicting the
testimony of the other Gospels!

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 So, how did Eusebius justify the 3½ year ministry of Jesus? In
John 6:4, just before the feeding of the 5,000, there is an insertion
which says, “Passover, a feast of the Jews was nigh.” Although our
version of John comes down to us in Greek one must remember these
are Hebrew stories told countless times in the synagogue to Hebrews.
Only when the story was put into Greek did there need to be
insertions explaining the feast days to the Greeks, and this
particular insertion was wrong! When the author refers to “a feast of
the Jews” it means he is not a Jew.

Hebrews know the year is framed by the feast days. They do not
need to be specified. In Luke 9:51 it says Yeshua “set his face to go to
Jerusalem.” This was the time of Sukkot but that is not mentioned. Also
in Luke 19:28, “he went up before, ascend- ing up to Jerusalem.” This
was the final Passover, again not speci- fied. Only in John, revised by
Greek editors, are the feast days mentioned. If John 6:4 is incorrect as
we shall argue, then the Gospel of John is also perfectly consistent with
the 70 week time- line of the other Gospels as shown in the chart below.
However, to create a 3 1⁄2 year timeline, Eusebius needed four
Passovers so he claimed John 5:1, which said only “a feast of the
Jews,” was an- other Passover - three Passovers from John 2:13 to 6:4.

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 All four Gospel writers constantly outlined the time frame of
their narratives. They would cite the season, the day of the week, or
phrases such as “two days later they came to Capernaum.” The
problem is that events were not always related in a strictly
chronological order in the Gospels which sometimes skipped about
narrating the story. Starting with an anchor point - the feeding of the
five thousand - cited in all four Gospels, Rood tied all these
chronological references together to nail down all the events of
Yeshua’s ministry.13 This had never been done by any previous
researcher - a work of several decades!
Rood’s analysis revealed the insertion in John 6:4 is com-
pletely out of context with the timeline of the other Gospels. It takes
place just before the feeding of the 5,000 - which Matthew, Mark, and
Luke all confirm took place at the end of the summer, just before the
Feast of Trumpets in the Fall. Passover is not in the Fall but in the
Spring. The first Passover was recorded in John 2:13. Greek readers,
and scribes, were noted for their lack of knowledge of the Hebrew
culture and calendar. Insertions, such as “a feast of the Jews,” made
for Greek readers are common and easy to spot but Greek
primacists will not acknowledge them! Should we accept the
authority of a later Greek editor of John over Matthew, Mark and
Luke?
If “Passover was nigh,” why wasn’t Yeshua in Jerusalem for
Passover as required for all Jewish believers? Neither in the Gospel
attributed to John, nor in any other Gospel, is there a rec- ord of Yeshua
going up to Jerusalem for the Passover inserted into John 6:4. Indeed,
if Passover ‘the feast of unleavened bread’ was nigh - the word ‘nigh’
means ‘near, almost’ upon us - why was Yeshua feeding the 5,000
‘leavened bread?” For the orthodox, a week or more before Passover
all leavened bread was thoroughly cleaned from households in Israel.
In The Hebrew Gospels [HGC] the word for leavened bread is
‘lechem,’ and the word for unleavened bread is ‘motzi,’ so we know
precisely that Yehovah provided leavened bread, ‘lechem’ for this
miracle. Not only that but a week after Yeshua feeds the 5,000 - he
again miraculously feeds another 4,000 - again with leavened ‘lechem’
bread provided by Yehovah!
Who made a mistake here: Yehovah, Yeshua, or Eusebius?
At this moment in the Gospel narrative, the Pharisees had sent
13
Michael Rood, 2013, The Chronological Gospels, Aviv Moon Publishing.

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some of their own from Jerusalem to confront Yeshua (Matthew 15:1,
Mark 7:1). - Were these priests skipping Passo- ver as well? - They
were looking for reasons to discredit Yeshua. This would be the perfect
‘gotcha’ issue for the Pharisees - the ‘Messiah’ feeding leavened bread
to his followers nigh unto Pass- over when all leavened bread was
banned! Yeshua would have been finished among the orthodox,
reduced to a joke. Yet when the Pharisees confronted Yeshua (Matt
15:2) their only critique was that his disciples did not wash their hands
before dinner! The context of John 6:4 could not have been nigh unto
Passover.
Eusebius was contracted by Constantine to compile the
authoritative version of the Greek Bible from all the competing
versions extant at the time. Scribal errors tend to multiply over time as
manuscripts were copied and recopied, each time adding new errors
and insertions, until the resulting text was replete with mistakes. Most
mistakes were minor but in the case of John 6:4
- the insertion distorted the correct timeline of events in the
Gospel record - an irreconcilable textual contradiction!
Nonetheless, it became a doctrinal pillar of the Roman Church.
There are two manuscript traditions extant concerning John
6:4. The first tradition did not include the insertion of ‘Passover’
into John 6:4!* In Ms. #472 conserved in Lambeth Palace in London
(headquarters of the Archbishop of Canterbury) John 6:3-5 reads, “And
Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. [*
no ‘Passover was nigh’ inserted here] When Jesus then lifted up his
eyes, and saw a great multitude come unto him, he said to Philip,
‘Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?’” Frederich Schrivener,
renowned New Testa- ment scholar, is said to have claimed Manuscript
#472 as the most important text within the walls of Lambeth Palace.14
In the second tradition, ‘Passover’ was included in John 6:4 as
seen in Ms. P66 & 75. These papyrus texts are said to be from the 2nd
century, but research done by Brent Nongbri now places them in the
late 4th century.15 Nongbri’s conclusion is crucial to whether John 6:4
was inserted. The insertion - of ‘Passover was nigh’ - into John 6:4
is incomprehensible! In the same breath, Yeshua plans to provide
‘leavened bread’ as the ‘feast of unleaved bread’ is nigh!
Westcott and Hort, compilers of the definitive Greek text of the
Bible, postulated that the Greek words, τo πάσχα - “the Passover” in
14
Schrivener, 1852:p.249, Criticism of the NT.
15
Brent Nongbri, 2014:pp.1-35,“Date and Provenance of P. Bodmer II (P66),” in
Museum Helveticum, vol. 71.

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John 6:4, were possibly “missing in the Greek texts used by some of the
early Church Fathers.”16 Westcott and Hort, like Schrivener, noticed
the insertion of John 6:4 did not match the witness of Matthew, Mark
and Luke. Eusebius either inserted it or canonized a corrupt
version - which had that insertion - onto the end of John 6:4 to
create his novel theory of the ’prophetic’ 3½ year ministry of
Christ! This is crucial and we will examine it further in Volume Two.

There is yet a second doctrinal pillar, another crucial out- come

of Eusebius’ claim to a ‘3½ year ministry.’ Yeshua was born during the
reign of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1 & 2:19). Herod died shortly
after Yeshua’s birth. Josephus stated Herod died just after a lunar
eclipse, which occurred Jan 10, 1 BC. This is the anchor of the
timeline of Yeshua’s birth and death! Yeshua was baptized and began
his ministry in his 30th year, as required for any Hebrew Rabbi, to do
otherwise would break To- rah. He was thirty in the Fall of 29 AD,
baptized in the Spring of 30 AD by Yohanon and attended Passover
shortly thereafter (John 2:3), his crucifixion occurred on the following
Passover in 31 AD. Below is the week of that Passover on April 25, 31
AD.

Yeshua arose at the fulfillment of the Sabbath day, Satur- day

evening, “For as Jonah… so shall the Son of Man be three days and
three night in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40). The 3½ year
ministry of Eusebius pushes the crucifixion to 33 AD creating the
‘Good Friday - Easter Sunday’ - ‘Lord’s Day’ doctrine, though he
was in the tomb only 1 day and 2 nights!

16
Brooke Westcott & Fenton Hort, 1896, New Testament in the Original Greek.

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 Lucian of Antioch (250-312 AD), compiler of the first complete
Greek text of the Bible, long before Constantine, “discerned there were
two movements taking shape in Christen- dom, one loose in doctrine
and affiliating itself with heathenism, the other based on the deep
foundations of the Christian faith.”17 The Church of Rome considered
itself the natural center of power. Having established an orthodox
doctrine, creed and canon - Constantine took Christianity center stage
as the major world religion aided by his star sycophant, Bishop
Eusebius. Eu- sebius’ claim of the ‘prophetic’ 3½ year ministry of
Jesus led to the scriptural conclusion the “end of prophecy” had been
fulfilled and the conquering-king Messiah had returned in absolute
power over all the kingdoms of the earth in the person of Constantine!
With these doctrinal pillars in place the Roman Church was
soon married to the brutal military power of the Roman State. The
Roman Church began to execute Christians who did not accept their
doctrines - and burn their texts of the Bible along with them. Continual
crusades were eventually launched against pre-existing churches. Many
never accepted the authority of Rome to dictate doctrine even under
penalty of death. The Greek Church, the Church of the East [Nestorian]
and most all the churches of Europe worshiped God on the Sabbath -
Saturday. These new doctrines gave Rome their justification to use
military force on other Christians to make them bow to Roman
domina- tion. Those who refused were labeled ‘judaizers’ and
eliminated.
Millions of Christian believers were martyred in these crusades
over the centuries for refusing to accept the corrupt doctrines and
ultimate authority of the false “Vicar of Christ.” Thus did Rome
enforce their orthodoxy - all in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Because of these two pillars - an awful price in blood was paid by
Neo-Messianic martyrs, over centuries, to pre- serve the true Word,
rather than letting it be dictated in error!
Symbolically, Constantine took the bishops of the Church
up on a high mountain top at the Council of Nicea and promised
them they would reign over all the kingdoms of the earth if they
would only bow down to him…
and they bowed down before the Roman Emperor!

17
Benjamin Wilkenson, 1944:p.41, Truth Triumphant: Church in the Wilderness.

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