Jesus, the Passover Lamb, died on a Thursday
We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net
A look at some Scriptural details describing the events around the crucifixion.
First published on the 22nd of March 2019 — Last updated on the 20th of May 2023What does the Passover and Exodus signify?
#1: The Jews had to escape and go out from their bondage and affliction in Egypt. The death of an innocent lamb which was roasted in fire bought their freedom. Unleavened bread has no corruption. This is due to the absence of any decomposing yeast that releases carbon dioxide that swells up the bread.
The Jewish day starts in the evening, at about 6 pm (18:00).
The Jewish day begins in the evening, and ends at the start of the next evening.
The Gentile day goes from midnight to just before midnight on the next night. It starts, on average, about 6 hours after the Jewish day, depending on where in the world you are.
At the start of the 14th day they ate unleavened bread as night set in -- remember that the Jewish day starts in the evening. Later that day, in the afternoon, they killed and roasted the Passover lamb at the end of the fourteenth day.
As night set in it was the 15th day, and they ate the Passover lamb at the feast of the Passover.
On the morning, still the 15th day, they began their exodus by marching out of Egypt. That is why the 15th day was also the first day of the seven days "feast of unleavened bread", which represented their journey out of Egypt towards the Promised Land.
The first and seventh days were Sabbath days of rest. These fell on the 15th and 21st days of the month.
The Passover and Unleavened bread were linked by two days, the 14th and 15th.
About 1500 years later the Old Testament saints were resurrected soon after Jesus was resurrected. This was the final end of their exodus, their escape from death, hell, and the grave.
Matthew 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
#2: The next exodus was the escape of the early church from the Law of Moses and the traditions of the pagans. On the 14th day of Passover, which started in the evening, Jesus took the unleavened bread of the Passover meal and started the Lord’s Supper. He was arrested and tried at night, and crucified in the morning as the Passover Lamb. He died that afternoon, just after 3 pm (15:00), still on the 14th day.
Luke 22:7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
That was the 14th day.
Jesus was the firstfruits of the resurrection as He rose up within three days, so that His Body never saw corruption.
Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Corruption sets in at about 72 hours. Jesus therefore resurrected before 72 hours had passed.
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
Here all the 8 days or eating unleavened bread are linked together.
Exodus 12:16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
No work was to be done on the first and the seventh days. No "bright" (unScriptural) human ideas wanted. Just ideas that can be traced through the verses of the Bible.
The Passover represents the sacrifice of Jesus. The seven days of the feast of unleavened bread represents the holy Jesus as He helped the church walk through the seven church ages. The apostles started the first of the seven church ages (symbolized by the 15th day). This first day of the Feast was a High Day or Sabbath of rest. This was not a normal Saturday Sabbath.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The Passover was the Sacrifice, also called the day of preparation when the lamb was killed.
When looking at the seven church ages, the 15th day Sabbath represents the apostles being filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and resting from their sin and unbelief. They only believed the New Testament.
Then the truth was slowly lost to produce the awful Dark Ages. The Reformation and holiness age of the missionaries revived some truth. The unleavened bread signifies the holiness of Jesus as He walks through the seven church ages, and guides and protects His true church. But the denominational church system now had the people in its iron grip of centralized authority and its unscriptural Trinity. Plus their alarming ignorance of the Bible.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
Modern day Christians have have been fooled into believing that there are mistakes, and contradictions in the Bible.
There is another exodus in the seventh (and last) church age.
#3: The seventh day of the feast of unleavened bread, which represents the seventh church age, must end in a feast of unleavened Scriptural bread -- free from the corruption or leaven of church traditions and worldliness, and pagan man-made traditions.
A spiritual exodus of the Bible-believing Bride, who seek to understand the Bible, out of the church bondage and control that mixes up truth, error, love of money, entertainment, disco music, showmanship, worldliness, and ignorance of so many Scriptures. The exodus of the Bride out of the denominational churches.
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
A Sabbath of rest from denominational human opinions and man-made church commandments.
Mark 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
At the end we must return to the beliefs of the New Testament apostolic church.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.
The evidence of the Holy Ghost baptism is our ability to understand Scripture.
Matthew 13:23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
We need to be able to understand the mysteries of the Bible.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John the Baptist, who came in the Spirit of Elijah, had brought a new Gospel, that included a brand new water baptism as well as introducing the never-seen-before Messiah, Jesus Christ.
John did not restore the Jews, he pointed them to something new.
After John’s death Jesus spoke of another Elijah (called Elias in the Greek) who shall come in the future to restore the end-time church back to the early apostles.
Matthew 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
The end-time Elijah, the prophet, who comes to restore the Christian children back to their apostolic fathers of the first church age. This ministry was best fulfilled by William Branham from America, who taught us to only believe what is written in the Bible. Thus we must escape the clutches of the centrally-controlled modern day church organizations. Then comes the New Testament resurrection and the changing of our bodies as we are called up to meet the Lord in the air. This completes the exodus of the true Bride from the 2000 years of the seven church ages.
Then comes an exodus of 144 000 Jews from the Tribulation.
#4: As the Bride goes up, the Devil comes down to indwell the end-time Pope. The world goes into the deadly chaos and murderous turbulence of the Tribulation. The foolish virgins are today’s saved Christians who focused on religious style rather than the substance of understanding the Bible. Opinion instead of Bible fact skewed their thinking towards church bias. They will be brutally destroyed during the three and a half year Tribulation. But the two prophets, Moses and Elijah, bring the 144 000 Jews out of the grip of Jewish religion, church denominationalism, and pagan tradition.
Once they accept the Lord Jesus during the Tribulation their ministry will be dramatic but brief. They are all killed at the end but soon resurrected back to life, like Jesus was, and thus qualify to be firstfruits. They are to protect the Bride as she returns with Jesus for the battle of Armageddon.
Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
:4 These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Let us look at the end of the four Gospels to get two symbols of end time events. The women who went to the empty tomb saw either one angel or two angels.
When the women (symbolizing the church) went to the tomb they found that Jesus was risen.
In Matthew and Mark they learned this truth from one angel. This represents the end time Gentile prophet William Branham who taught us how to revive and understand the truth of the written mysteries of the Bible. The single prophet had a ministry to the Gentiles. The single prophet came first and he rolled away the big stone of the church’s unbelief. The revealed Word is free to circulate amongst the people. Matthew shows Jesus as the Lion, the King. The King is coming for His Queen, His Gentile Bride.
Mark shows Jesus as the Ox, the Servant. He used the Gentile prophet to unfold the mysteries to the Gentiles from 1947 to 1965, which took 18 years to puzzle out and record on tape. From 1966 onwards we are living "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel". He left the scene but his recorded voice stayed behind to teach and inform us. Thus his voice serves us even after his death.
But these revelations will also carry over to the two Jewish prophets who only have 3½ years, so they need to get this information from the Gentiles so that they can serve their brethren the Jews.
Thus the 144 000 Jews have these end-time truths taught to them by two prophets, Moses and Elijah.
Thus Luke and John mention that there were two angels at the empty tomb. The Word is no longer sealed up by denominational ignorance (the big stone at the opening of the tomb). These two prophets bring the 144 000 Jews to meet their Messiah.
Luke speaks of Jesus as a Man. The Jews, as men were blinded by God so that He could turn to the Gentiles. God now heals the blinded Jews. They had an excuse, they were blind people. So they are forgiven in the Tribulation.
John speaks of Jesus as God, the flying Eagle with its two wings. So the two Jewish prophets bring the Jews back to God as He needs the 144000 to be the spiritual eunuchs who protect the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.
Thus the true church, the wise virgins, and the 144 000 merge at the end.
The Exodus occurs in four different ways.
- The exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
- The exodus of the church from Judaism.
- The exodus of the Bride from the church at the end of the seventh church age.
- The exodus of the 144 000 from the Tribulation.
The Passover and the Feast of unleavened bread represented the escape of the Jews from their bondage in Egypt. The Passover indicated that deliverance was due to an innocent sacrifice, not due to themselves. The innocent lamb died, but could not resurrect. Then the 7 days of unleavened bread indicated that their flight was a long journey in the wilderness, dependent on the miracles and guidance of a holy God, not on their own skills. Unleavened bread has no corruption caused by the yeast or leaven. No puffing up of self. Unleavened bread is free from corruption or sin, and is flat, which symbolizes humility and obedience. That is how the Jews should have been.
Then the Jews, by killing Jesus on the day on which the Passover lamb was slain, enabled Him to pay for the sins of mankind, and thereby lead the church out of Judaism into the seven church ages. Only Jesus could be the sinless Passover Lamb who washed away sin, and overcame death, hell, and the grave. The innocent Lamb of God died, but was resurrected on the third day after His death. Then seven church ages would start with the apostolic truth of the New Testament in the first church age.
Bible truth would be lost during the next three church ages that included the long journey through the Dark Ages. But truth was slowly and partially regained in the Reformation and missionary ages. At the end of the seventh church age there should be a full restoration back to the first church age of the apostles. The fifth, sixth, and seventh church ages should see the full Bible truth resurrected out of the death of truth that darkened the Dark Ages. Three church ages were needed to restore the truth of Scripture. The unleavened bread represents the holiness and purity of the Lord Jesus guiding the true believers through each age and its turmoil. The Word of God is our daily bread. Unleavened represents the uncorrupted holiness of Jesus during the history of the church.
Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,
The seven candlesticks represent the seven church ages. Only the Spirit of Christ in the believers was able to guide the church through the seven church ages. The true church is resurrected at the end of the seventh church age and taken to Heaven.
The seventh church age is the end of church history. Then the Tribulation strikes as Death rides in on his corpse-coloured pale horse -- the mixture of religious deception, political power, and money-power-inspired demonology. Then 144 000 Jews are saved, and Spirit filled and return to the truths of the first church age that enable them to escape from Judaism. But they are killed towards the end of the short three and a half years of Tribulation.
Revelation 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren (the 144 000), that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
But soon after being killed the 144 000 are resurrected back to life to protect the Bride as the true church returns with Christ for the battle of Armageddon before setting up the 1000 years of peace.
Scriptural details describing the events
The Jewish day begins in the evening.
Genesis 1:5 And the evening and the morning were the first day.
There are thus different ways to describe a day.
Evening and morning: This leaves out the night and the afternoon. Why? The evening which is getting dark is mentioned before the morning which is getting light.
God is mainly concerned for His Truth. The first church age had the apostles to guide the church. But the last church age has to deal with the corruption of the denominational religious deception as well as the church getting involved in politics and the demonology of money power. We are exposed to cunning religious propaganda based on deceitful guile, lies, and greed for money.
To oppose this apostate church condition God promised an end time evening messenger to reveal the mysteries in the written Bible. A flash of light, as the church falls away into unscriptural error, will enable the Bride to understand the Word of God.
Zechariah 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
But this evening time is God’s major concern because all of error and evil has come to its peak.
Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Philippians 2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
This means being saved from inaccurate and faulty church beliefs that are preached by the 45000 different types of churches on earth today, which are leading saved Christians into the horrors of the Tribulation.
People are scared to be Scriptural when Christians stress human quotes and dismiss Bible verses as irrelevant details, or mistakes, or contradictions, or myths, or scientifically inaccurate, or just difficult statements to be ignored.
The Tribulation is the darkness of night time. But the Bride escapes this by being caught up to Heaven for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.
Then the Bride returns with Jesus to defeat evil at Armageddon just like the morning sun rays dispel the darkness. Then Jesus and the Bride set up the Millennium kingdom. This is the morning or beginning of the seventh day that will last 1000 years. Setting up the world for the 1000 year rule is the morning light when truth is established world wide.
Thus "evening and morning" means an end-time return to the original Bible faith that enables the last church age Bride to miss the night of Tribulation. This is achieved by escaping to Heaven for the Wedding Supper, and then returning to end the Tribulation at Armageddon. Then the morning light establishes the 1000 years of peace on earth. That is why the night is not mentioned.
Jesus, the Truth, died in the afternoon. That is why the afternoon is not mentioned. God is Light and is not interested in the death of the Light of the world.
Thus "evening and morning" means that the Bride does not go through the Tribulation. Because the Bride believed in the Light of the written Word.
The evening is the restoration of the truth of the apostles. The morning then enables the kingdom of God to be established world-wide for 1000 years.
2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Adam, the son of God, and his bride were to rule the earth for the seventh day of 1000 years. They messed up. Then Jesus, the Son of God and His Bride, the true church, will rule on earth for 1000 years.
That will finally complete the seventh day that Satan interrupted in the garden of Eden.
So Satan can interrupt God’s plan, but he cannot stop God’s plan. As such, Satan is a loser.
Jonah 1:17 And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
A day has more than one meaning.
A day of 24 hours combines both day and night into one time interval.
But a day can also just refer to 12 hours of sunlight, known as daylight. A day and a night then means 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. This time the light is mentioned before the dark. Symbolically this means "warning before judgement". The light of God’s Word warns us to go back to the beliefs of the early church. But if we reject or ignore the warning then we go into the darkness of the Tribulation.
The important point is that the Jewish day begins at about 6 o’clock in the afternoon. What we call the evening time.
Exodus 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Exodus 34:25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
The Passover lamb has to be chosen on the 10th day.
Only eat unleavened bread on the 14th day when the blood of the Passover lamb is shed.
The Blood of the Lamb of God cannot be associated with corruption.
The Passover lamb is killed late on the 14th day and then roasted. This takes time. By the time the lamb is eaten, called the feast of the Passover, it is already night time and thus the 15th day.
This 14th day is called the Passover, or day of preparation.
The 14th was the preparation of the Passover lamb, by killing and roasting it, so that it could be eaten on the 15th as the feast of the Passover.
In addition, unleavened bread had to be prepared on the 14th day so that it could be eaten on the 15th as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread was a Sabbath or rest day.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day
Jesus died and was buried late on the 14th day. This was the day of preparation.
Matthew 27:62 Now the next day (the 15th), that followed the day of the preparation (the 14th), the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate
By then it is the next day, the 15th, as the day begins in the evening at sunset.
Then the sacrificed lamb was eaten during the evening or night of the 15th day. This is called the feast of the Passover.
No meat was to be left over to the next morning as it must not see corruption, as that would happen if it gets thrown away.
Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
:7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
:8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Servile means devoted to another, to the disregard of one's own interests. Thus no man must tell you what to do. You must not become devoted to the ideas of some man. Just follow Scripture.
The 15th day was one of 7 special feast days in the year that were declared to be a holy day or Sabbath -- called a High Day to show that they were not Saturday Sabbaths -- as no work was to be done.
Sabbath means rest. This was an annual rest day or holy day. From which we get the idea of a holi-day.
The seven days of the feast of unleavened bread represented the seven church ages during which the church would do an exodus, coming out of the Jewish Law and the traditions of the pagans.
The seventh day was also a High Day or annual Sabbath that was a rest day. God wanted the seventh church age to be the same as the first church age that the apostles established.
Genesis 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
The Sabbath day was blessed because of the rest, not because it was the seventh day. So any day that was commanded to be a rest day was a Sabbath.
Obviously every seventh day (Saturday) was a Sabbath day to remember God’s rest. But in addition there were seven special annual rest days or Sabbaths that were linked to five of the seven Jewish feasts
Luke 22:8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.
The Passover meal of unleavened bread began on the evening of the 14th day. Then came the night. Then came the morning. In the afternoon of the 14th day the Passover was killed and roasted. The unleavened bread for the evening of the 15th day, which is the start of the 15th day, was also prepared on the 14th day.
So the 14th day was a day of preparation. This was the day before the feast of the Passover on the 15th day.
John 13:2 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
This was the evening of the 14th day, the time of the last supper. They ate a meal of unleavened bread that was called the Passover.
John 13:2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;
The Passover supper was eaten in the evening of the 14th day. Then came the night and then the Passover lamb was killed the next afternoon, which was still the 14th day.
:4 He (Jesus) riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
:5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Luke 22:1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
The two days, 14th and 15th, become blurred together because the Passover was killed late on the 14th and roasted. Then it was eaten shortly after that during the night of the 15th. Because the lamb was actually eaten on the 15th, this 15th day was called the feast of the Passover. The unleavened bread that was eaten on the 14th was just called the Passover.
But the unleavened bread that was eaten on the 15th day was called the feast of the unleavened bread.
Thus the 15th was a feast in terms of the Passover lamb and the unleavened bread.
The symbol of the 15th day was the apostles moving the early church out of the Law of Judaism during the first church age. Their Sabbath was the Holy Ghost baptism.
Now let us look at the choosing of the Passover lamb.
John 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
Six days, then the Passover. This would be the 8th day of the month. When Jesus came to the town of Bethany.
John 12:2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
At evening time, the next day starts. So supper was eaten on the 9th day.
So there was five days left before the Passover.
John 12:13 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
The next day. This is the 10th day. The day for choosing the Passover lamb.
Thus four days left, before the Passover.
Exodus 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
John 12:13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
:14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
On the 10th day the people acclaimed Jesus as King of the Jews in Jerusalem, and led Him to the Temple as He was the High Priest. The People had chosen the Passover Lamb.
So the Passover was four days after Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
If Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, then the Passover was killed on Thursday.
Mark 11:9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
:11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
This happened on Palm Sunday, the 10th day.
Mark 11:12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
This was Monday the 11th day.
Mark 11:13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
Mark 11:14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
This was symbolic of the unbelief of the Jews. The fig tree is a symbol of Israel. The Jews were intending to kill Messiah which meant that they were bringing forth no fruit from the Law of Moses. Killing an innocent Man completely contradicted the Law.
Mark 11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
Then the Temple, the centre of the Jewish Law, was just a money-making racket run by a den of thieves.
Rich religious money makers were in charge. Israel was a spiritual disaster. Shriveled up from the roots.
Mark 11:19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
The next day starts in the evening time. Tuesday 12th.
Mark 11:20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Still part of Tuesday 12th.
Mark 13:1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
:2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
The events are still in Tuesday 12th as there has been no mention of a change in date.
Notice the theme at the end.
Jesus came to inspect the Temple. Next day He cleared out the money makers from the Temple. The next day He condemned the building of the Temple that the Romans would destroy in AD 70.
Replace the word "Temple" with "denominational or church organization" and you get the theme about the end time church.
Mark 14:1 After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
Matthew 26:2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
It is Tuesday. Two days have to go by. That is Wednesday and Thursday.
Thus, after two days it will be Friday.
The Passover is the day that the lamb is killed and roasted at evening time on the 14th day.
But that was not a feast day.
The feast day was the 15th day. This was the feast of the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.
Mark 14:2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
This was Tuesday 12th. So they agreed not to arrest Jesus on the 15th day, as it was the feast day, that was Friday.
The 15th day was the day of the feast of the Passover when they ate the Passover lamb that was killed on the 14th. It was also the day of the feast of unleavened bread that lasted from the 15th to the 21st.
Mark 14:10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.
This was still Tuesday. No change of day is recorded.
So the plotters are left with two days to kill Jesus. Either Wednesday 13th or Thursday 14th, the day of the Passover meal where they had the Last Supper.
Luke 22:7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
This was the 14th day.
Luke 22:1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
The Passover covered two days.
At the end of the 14th day they killed the Passover lamb -- The day of preparation. This was not a Sabbath day of rest.
At the beginning of the 15th day they ate the Passover lamb. This was the feast of the Passover lamb, and was a Sabbath of rest. Not being a Saturday, it was also called an High Day.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The green rectangles indicate the Sabbaths.
The 15th because it was a feast day. The 16th because it was Saturday.
Exodus 12:17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
These were the events on the 14th day, the day of the Passover.
The Passover lamb was killed on the 14th day.
The next day they left Egypt, which was the 15th day. The unleavened bread represented the haste with which they left because that meant the leaven or yeast did not have time to be left so that it could corrupt and swell up the bread with the gas it gave off
Exodus 13:6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
The seven days of the feast of unleavened bread symbolized the seven church ages where the church was able to escape from the Jewish Law and its man-made traditions.
The first church age (represented by the 15th day) saw the exodus of the church as it moved out of Jewish legalism and Law. An escape from Egypt. Egypt is a symbol of worldliness.
The seventh or last church age (represented by the 21st day) sees the end of the exodus of the church as the resurrection and rapture of the Bride (the true church) takes it from the earth into Heaven,
Exodus 12:16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
The first day had no human works as God guided the apostles to set up the truth of the New Testament.
God inspired men to write the New Testament. This showed a way of escape from sin and Jewish Law, that was involved Christ dying for our sins and then indwelling His people to guide them through the 2000 years of church history. In the last or seventh age God wanted the church to return to the New Testament Scriptures and have nothing to do with man-made church doctrines and traditions.
The early church obeyed God by obeying the New Testament.
The seventh church age must return to New Testament Bible truths. Not a feast of human opinions or church traditions. Nothing to do with man, because man is not allowed to do anything. Just obeying the Word of God as written in the Bible.
Exodus 23:15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
We cannot appear empty. We are supposed to understand Scripture and not keep saying. "I don’t know", or "It is not important" or "The Bible has mistakes and contradictions".
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
All Scripture is valuable. None can be overlooked for any reason.
Abib is not properly a name of a month, but part of a descriptive phrase, "the month of young ears of grain." Today this is called Nisan in the modern Jewish calendar.
Abib is the name of the first month of "God's year.".
It means: "to come out... or to be tender; green, like a young ear of grain."
God's year begins in the "spring" when life begins anew, when the "early spring crops" begin to sprout. Literally, Abib is the "month of green ears."
Jesus trained the disciples who still had young ears like green grain. They were the children who could break away from the Jewish fathers who were so rigid in all the legal traditions of the Jewish Law.
These disciples matured and as the apostles they became the fathers of the early church who were able to lead the early church out of the Jewish legal traditions and out of the pagan religious traditions. The apostles also opposed the one-man dominating church leadership style that would develop into the unscriptural organization of Nicolaitanism. This elevated a holy man above the laity or congregation so that he could conquer the people and subject them to the iron rule of denominationalism. A classic example of this is in 3 John, verses 9 and 10.
This is typical of dictatorial church leadership behavior. One man is boss of the church and does not want to hear the Scriptures of the apostle John, or any other Scripture, that contradicts him and he happily throws any people out of the church for disagreeing with him. Pre-eminence is important in the organizational nature of the church.
To gain pre-eminence, pastors insist on attaching the title "pastor" to their names, although that was never done in the New Testament. Today the leader is never called Jim, he has to be called Pastor Jim. Yet "pastor" is a word that only appears once in the New Testament, although it is condemned 6 times in the Old Testament.
3 John 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
Then the last church age must turn their green ears as children (free from modern opinions and doctrines in the current 45000 different types of churches and denominations) back to the doctrines of the apostolic fathers. That is the last day of the feast as the final Bride comes out of the denominations and church systems and stops listening to the opinions of humans.
The end time children only listen to the written Word. "It is written …".
The final exodus sees the Bride coming out of the church.
Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
The Passover lamb died on the 14th.
Leviticus 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
The Jews marched out on the 15th. The feast of unleavened bread was the celebration of their freedom from Egypt where they had been slaves to man-made human rules.
An unleavened bread feast day represents serving God purely by obeying what is written in Scripture. Not what some man says. There were two holy days in this week of unleavened bread. The first and the last. So the last age must go back exactly to the first church age beliefs. Unleavened means only the Bible, free from the corruption of human thinking.
None of our own works. None of our own ideas. No human traditions. Just, "It is written…"
A Scripture that is often overlooked tells us that Jesus spent three nights in the depths of the earth.
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Here a day speaks of daylight for 12 hours followed by 12 hours of night time darkness.
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
This is Jewish time where the day starts at sunrise.
The sixth hour was midday, six hours after the sun rose. The ninth hour would be about three o’clock (15:00) in the afternoon.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
For the Jews, their Friday began on our Thursday night. So let us look at events in terms of our Gentile days.
He died Thursday afternoon. Thus His Body was in the tomb Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night.
So Jesus died just after 3 pm (15:00). That left about 3 hours of sunlight which is a quarter of a 12 hour day.
The Passover lamb had to be killed and roasted before 6 pm (18:00) because that was the start of the 15th day, which was an annual Sabbath of rest. A high Sabbath.
The three hours on Thursday (shown in red) was counted for that day. Then there was the 12 hours of daylight on Friday as well as on Saturday. That was daylight from three separate days.
But being less than three full days, this makes sure that the Lord's Body never saw corruption. It takes three full days (72 hours) for corruption to set in.
It took a while to get his Body into the tomb just before 6 pm (18:00). But the moment He died at 3 pm (15:00), His Holy Spirit left His Body to carry our sins down to hell, which was symbolized by the scapegoat carrying away the sins of the Jews each year. There He had to defeat the Devil as hell was Satan’s territory.
1 Corinthians2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
"In the heart of the earth" is not referring to His body in the grave. It is referring to Jesus’ spiritual struggle against the demonic and hellish spirits, when the Holy Ghost left His Body in death and went down to hell, as the Spirit of a dead Man is called a Ghost. In the very unpleasant hot depths of the earth He had to conquer Satan.
When He finally won that battle against demonology and all the forces of darkness, then His Spirit re-entered His body and rose from the dead early on Sunday.
He was no longer in the grave when daylight dawned on Sunday morning..
John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
A day can be described as 24 hours long, and have any starting time. Your daily shift can start at any hour. But it starts at the same hour 24 hours later.
Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Being dead for FULL three days and three nights would see corruption set in. So the first day, the 14th day when the Passover lamb was killed, was not a full day as He died in the afternoon. Thus Jesus saw no corruption in the flesh.
(People who have the Jesus' death happening on the Wednesday have a problem in that they have more than 72 hours in their timeline, which breaks the Scriptures concerning the fact that His body would not see corruption.)
Mark 14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
So we start counting at 3 pm on Thursday when Jesus died. Taking each day to be 24 hours. One day later is 3 pm on Friday. The second day will end at 3 pm on Saturday. The third day will end on 3 pm on Sunday. But Jesus had already risen before 6 am on Sunday. Thus He had been dead for more than two days but less than three days.
Thus, counting in intervals of 24 hours from the moment of His death, it is correct to say that He rose up on the third day.
Luke 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luke 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day
Another way to describe a day is to fix its position in the week.
Luke 24:21 … and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
The crucifixion happened on Thursday, the day when these things were done.
Friday was the first day since those events. Saturday was the second day and Sunday was the third day since the crucifixion when those things were done.
Another way to describe a day is to fix its position in the week.
Then each portion of a day can only refer to that day.
Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 14:12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
Mark describes the 14th as the first day of unleavened bread. In doing this he is merging the day of unleavened bread with the 7 days of the feast of unleavened bread.
Unleavened bread describes the exodus out of Egypt which is a symbol of worldliness and corruption.
Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
But all eight days now merge together as unleavened bread was eaten on all eight days. Thus the seventh day of the feast of unleavened bread becomes the eighth day -- an interesting blend of seven and eight.
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
This speaks of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem which is in the land of Judah.
Micah 5:5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
Jesus will raise up against the enemy an interesting blend of seven and eight.
Seven messengers to guide the church through the different circumstances of the seven church ages. And eight men who wrote the 27 New Testament Books that acted as the guide for the church during each age:
- Paul (14 Books)
- John (5 Books)
- Luke (2 Books)
- Peter (2 Books)
- Matthew
- Mark
- James
- Jude
Mark is merging the pure sacrifice of Christ with the uncorrupted Bible truth that struggled to survive all the attacks of skeptics and make-believers during the 7 church ages.
Mark describes Christ as the pure and holy Servant. He had no corruption in death, nor in His Life in the church during 2000 years. No leaven means Jesus always strove to be perfectly Scriptural so as to fulfill prophecy. He was not interested in the changing currents of human opinion.
Just as we are totally dependent for salvation on the redemptive work which Christ did on Calvary, so the church was just as totally dependent on Christ and revealed Bible truth to survive through the seven church ages.
Thus the end-time church is totally dependent on Christ to reveal the Bible mysteries so that they can prepare for the catching up ("rapture"). Our beliefs must be purged from all the corruption and leaven of denominational doctrines, man-made church opinions, and traditions. Jesus alone can bring the resurrection to pass. Jesus alone can change our bodies into immortal bodies. We are totally dependent on this great Servant.
The purity and accuracy of the written Word of the King James Version of the Bible. The inspiration of the seven messengers who enlightened each age to the Scriptures that they needed to survive their age.
The Bible is simply Jesus in Word form.
What you think about the Bible is what you think about Jesus.
Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
Jesus walks through the seven church ages with the white woolen wig of the supreme Judge. His eyes like fire as He burns away sin and unbelief. No corruption allowed. The unleavened bread represents His Body that is perfectly pure and holy. The church is His Body. He wants His Body to be purely and strictly Scriptural. How does He keep His Body, the church, pure? By cleansing them in His Blood and washing them in the water of His Word.
Revelation 1:5 Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
But the seven church ages are then totally dependent on His Sacrifice as the Passover Lamb. It is His works, not our works, that save us. Christians during the 7 church ages are totally dependent on Christ to guide and direct them to the truth of His Word. Christ carries the church in each church age, just like a vine carries its branches.
So the holiness of the sacrifice at Calvary merges into the holiness of the seven church ages, and that produces 8 days. His sacrifice at Calvary fulfilled prophecy, and the path of the church through the seven church ages was also prophesied. We must be strictly Scriptural, and only Jesus can help us to fulfill the end time prophecies and parables.
The number 8 speaks of a new system. Seven is the number of completion as 7 days completes a week. The 8th day is the next (new) week. Eight is the number of a new system as the seventh church age ends.
(That is why eight men wrote the New Testament).
At the end time, every person will be in one or other of two new systems.
System 1: The Devil enters the antichrist Pope who brings Death and desolation to the world and the saved foolish virgins in the destructive Tribulation.
But Christ will somehow enable the 144 000 to receive Him as Messiah. Thus He helps the Jews to end their 2000 year separation from God, which happened when they demanded His crucifixion. Jesus is not just the forgiving Servant towards the 144 000 Jews in the Tribulation, but He also spared the Jews who were killed for their faith during the church ages.
Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
These are the Jews who believed the Old Testament, and did not have the testimony of Jesus. They died for their own testimony and their own faith. But Jesus spares them, and gave them white robes of righteousness.
Revelation 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them;
The 144 000 are the one group that finds eternal life in the Tribulation's horror and carnage. They are the positive spark in this negative environment.
The saved foolish virgins from the churches will be brutally straightened out from their denominational and church errors, and then killed. They have chosen the hard road to Heaven, but will be spared on the Day of Judgement, because they were saved before the Tribulation started. They are the huge group of modern day church-goers who trusted in their church rather than in the Bible.
Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Revelation 7:14 ... And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
1 Corinthians 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
System 2: The Bride are changed into immortal bodies, as they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air as they enter eternity.
This is the final exodus of the Bride, who were the true church throughout the seven church ages.
Mark sees Christ as the great Servant. He died for us to carry our sins away, and then He walked through the seven church ages to carry us over the trials, troubles, and deceptions of our respective church ages.
At the end of the seventh age Jesus resurrects the dead from the seven church ages. This is 2000 years after His great Sacrifice at Calvary.
Then He finally carries the church up to Heaven in their glorified bodies, as the world collapses into the Tribulation which will hit it like a tsunami of turbulent violence, death, and unbelief. Thus Jesus is the ultimate Servant to His Bride as He saves them from the Tribulation.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Sometimes the Bible uses our Gentile times instead of Jewish times.
John 19:14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
For the Jews the daylight began at 6 am and that was their zero.
So we think that the sixth hour was midday.
But Pilate did not judge and condemn Jesus at midday -- because at midday Jesus was already on the cross and the world was plunged into darkness.
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
You can see this as or a contradiction, or clearly see the real reason why John mentions it as the sixth hour.
Pilate was a Roman, and John used Roman time. The Roman or Gentile day began at midnight which was time zero. Thus the sixth hour was 6 0'clock (6:00) in the morning in Roman time.
The Gospel writers were beginning to bring in the idea of Gentile time, because our Roman or Gentile time would dominate the world for the next 2000 years.
Luke had already pointed out how God had used and helped Gentiles rather than Jews in the past.
Matthew 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Luke 4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
:26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Elias is the Greek form of the name for Elijah. Sidon was a Gentile city. So Elijah was looked after by a Gentile widow, symbolizing the end time Gentile church that would accept the Bible revelations of the end-time Gentile prophet Elijah, who restores us back to the apostolic church.
Luke 4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Eliseus is Elisha in the Greek. He made the Gentile Syrian called Naaman dip seven times in the river Jordan to cure his leprosy. The Gentile church would have to travel through seven church ages before the full Bible truth was revealed in the seventh age to cure us Gentiles of the disease of man-made church traditions and beliefs. Water symbolizes the Word.
This was a clue that the Gospel would turn to the Gentiles one day.
So John introduced the Roman time into his Gospel. A clue towards which way the future was going.
Matthew also introduced Gentile time.
Matthew 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
But the 14th day was the day of preparing the Passover and the 15th day was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
Why does Matthew put them on the same day? Because he is using the Gentile calendar.
The 14th day for the Jews ended at 6 pm (18:00) in the afternoon. The yellow portion represents the evening which started the 15th day.
But for the Gentiles, this is still the evening of the 14th day. Thus the Feast of unleavened bread, as far as the Gentiles were concerned, happened on the 14th day (which was known as the first day of unleavened bread by the Jews). The Gentile day ended at midnight. The Jewish day ended at 6 pm (18:00). There was a 6 hour overlap which was regarded as being part of two different days. Thus for the Gentiles it was both the first day of the unleavened bread, as it was still Thursday for them. Yet they saw the Jews celebrate the feast of unleavened bread after sunset, on what to the Gentiles was still the Thursday 14th.
So to a Gentile using a Gentile day, both the Passover and the Feast of the Passover were the same day.
Using Gentile times was a subtle point to indicate that the Gentiles were part of God's future plans. Explaining events in Gentile times made it easier for Gentiles to understand.
LUKE 22:1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
So the Passover and and the feast of the Passover happened on the same Gentile day.
The feast of unleavened bread, on the evening of the Jewish 15th day, also fell on the Gentile 14th day.
But the 14th was the day of unleavened bread.
So for the Gentiles, unleavened bread and the feast of unleavened bread were both on the Gentile 14th day.
So they regarded the 14th day as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
Another clue that God would turn to the Gentiles one day was the fact that David's mightiest men were Gentiles.
2 SAMUEL 23:8 These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
:9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, ...
:11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite.
But God was keeping it a secret from the Jews that He would later turn to the Gentile church. The Jews tended to miss these clues about God's future plans.
Daniel also gave us a well hidden clue about the 2000 years of Gentile church history.
Let us review the history of the Roman empire and the Roman Catholic church. The Romans ruled the world and crucified Christ 2000 years ago in order to destroy Him as a Man.
Then the Roman Empire collapsed and the Roman Catholic church rose up on its ruins as baptized paganism. The Catholic church was the only institution from the Roman empire that survived the destruction of the Roman empire. The Roman Catholic denominational church system would infiltrate the Protestant churches to enable the final Pope to rule the world.
Revelation 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
This beast represented both the pagan Roman empire, as well as the Roman Catholic church.
A beast is a power. The power to make people worship a man as God. Pagan Romans worshiped their emperors as gods. They also adopted the trinity beliefs of Babylon and Egypt. The name of blasphemy applies to every trinity of gods, because there is no one name for the three people in the trinity. Thus each person had to be a separate god. But three gods is polytheism, which is blasphemy.
The sea represents the restless nations of Europe. The beast was both the crushing power of the Roman empire as well as the crushing power of the Roman Catholic denominational church system.
The seven heads referred to the seven hills that Rome was built on.
Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Revelation 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains,...
The Temple of Jupiter, on the Capitoline hill, was the centre of the Roman empire. This was given a deadly wound, and lost its power and authority, when the barbarians destroyed the Roman empire.
The Lateran palace, on the Caelian hill, became the official headquarters of the Roman Catholic church which picked up the power and authority that the Roman Capitoline hill lost.
Today the Roman Catholic church is rising up to rule the world, and they wish to destroy the truth of Scripture.
Daniel prophesied of the antichrist spirit.
Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Roman Catholicism speaks against the Bible. They changed God to a Trinity who has no name, as you cannot find one name for three People. The then claimed that "in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" is the name of God. But these are titles not names. Thus they sprinkle babies who have not repented, and call this baptism. In the process they have rejected baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. The Protestants have followed their example, and the human name of God, which is Jesus Christ, has been replaced by three titles. Basically, the Christian God has lost His name. Ask a modern day church-goer what the name of God is. They are perplexed because they cannot find one name for three people.
The Roman Catholics wore out the Christians during the Dark Ages when tens of millions of opponents were killed. The Roman Catholic scholars developed a centralized religion where one man, the Pope, was the dictatorial head. This denominational model was copied by the non-Catholic churches. The Catholic scholars stated that there were mistakes, contradictions, and mistranslations in the Bible. This became readily accepted by the Protestant churches. Today people are scared to say that every word of the King James Bible is true, because there is such a powerful flood of critics claiming that the Bible has faults.
Rome was responsible for two laws that made changes to the calendar which measures our time.
The Roman dictator Julius Caesar passed a law to reform the calendar in 46 BC.
Then the Roman Pope Gregory 13 passed a law to fine-tune the calendar in 1582.
The Bishop of Rome in 325 AD at the Nicene Council made Easter Sunday a fixed day of the week. He separated Easter Sunday from being 3 days after the 14 Nisan which was the Jewish Passover. These laws became binding on the whole world. Thus the power of Rome spread over other churches. Then the death of Jesus was changed from Thursday to Good Friday. (It is not possible to have three nights between Friday afternoon and early Sunday morning). But the rest of the churches accepted this. Pagan buns with a + sign that represented Tammuz, the pagan Nimrod who was killed and then supposedly resurrected, became hot cross buns.
Roman Catholics changed the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday which they called the Lord's Day. The Protestants and non-Catholics followed this change. The Sabbath is meant to be the day of rest from sin and unbelief. The Sabbath day for a Christian is the day they receive the Holy Ghost baptism. The Lord's Day is the Tribulation that is coming when God punishes the world.
Roman Catholics brought in the pagan 40 days of Lent as another religious law based on times.