You may be asking “Brother Tim do you believe the Messiah was crucified on a Friday?” and I answer, “Yes! By all means I do!” You may also be asking “Brother Tim, do you not believe in the 2300 day prophecy?” and I would also affirm that I do. So if I believe in both of these things, then why don’t I accept the idea that Yeshua died on the Passover of AD 31? I answer (Based on the natural laws of physics) that the Friday Passover was astronomically impossible. Believing in the AD 31 crucifixion date in the light of true science makes a fundamental SDA believer look backwards in their thinking; like the Papal leaders who became unreasonable after science discredited their belief that the earth was round. So if I believe in a Friday Passover, and If I believe that the vision Ellen White received about the Friday crucifixion was indeed true, then how can my apparent contradictions be reconciled?
Let me begin by quoting the following verse, “He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read…And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor…To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:17-19). “The acceptable year of the LORD?” To reconcile the Good Friday or Good Wednesday question, we ought to center our concentration on locating “the acceptable year”. Unlike the Roman Celebration of Easter (which falls on Sunday each year) Passover, like your birthday, will fall on a different day of the week each year. So the idea of a “Good Friday” Passover has the likelihood of occurring once every seven years.
I thought I would first point those of SDA persuasion to a statement Ellen G. White claimed was given to her from heaven which states “I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered; that the figures were as He wanted them; that His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none could see it, until His hand was removed.” (Early Writings pg. 74) Was October 22nd, 1844 really the termination year of the 2300 day prophecy? Apparently not; since it was revealed to her that the chart should not have been altered and was directed by the LORD. Based on this statement, it appears Brother S.S. Snow should not have recalculated the times of Daniel 8:14. In fact, in another message relayed to Ellen G. White, she mentions “When union existed, before 1844, nearly all were united on the correct view of the "daily"; but in the confusion since 1844, other views have been embraced, and darkness and confusion have followed” (Early Writings pg. 75). As I have previously demonstrated, the re-computation of time did not unify the body after 1844; on the contrary, it led to its dismemberment and can be seen among the various Sabbatarian sects today.
Have we now come to a point in time when His hand is being removed so that the truth of 1843 can be seen? Consider what happens to the Passover Crucifixion date when its termination year is restored to 1843. It would certainly have been possible for the Crucifixion Passover to fall on a Friday April 7th AD 30. But interestingly, the astronomical data shows that the Moon was full on evening of Thursday April 6th instead. Note Ellen White’s comments in her book, The Desire of Ages “In company with His disciples, the Saviour slowly made His way to the garden of Gethsemane. The Passover moon, broad and full, shone from a cloudless sky. The city of pilgrims' tents was hushed into silence" (See Page 685). Astronomically speaking, the Moon was fully illuminated on the evening of Thursday, April 6th. The Syrian and Babylonians both have these lunar dates in their records. Passover should have fallen on a Thursday, but in practice, (most likely due to insufficient new moon visibility) the sacrifice was put off until Friday. Interestingly, it appears that Ellen G. White was shown this moon phase in one of her visions.
But why do the historical and astronomical facts conflict with Ellen G. White’s statements written in the Great Controversy? In these pages she gives a narrative based on the re-calculated times of the 2300 day prophecy taught by S.S. Snow. She wrote “Sixty-nine weeks, the first 483 of the 2300 years, were to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One; and Christ’s baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, A.D. 27, exactly fulfilled the specification. In the midst of the seventieth week, Messiah was to be cut off. Three and a half years after His baptism, Christ was crucified, in the spring of A.D. 31.” (Great Controversy pg. 410) In respect to this statement, we ought to ask ourselves “Was she writing words conveyed to her directly from heaven sent messengers?” or were these statements based upon her own experiences and limited perspectives you and I (fallible humans) would write. I believe that fundamental SDA believers have failed to apply all of the biblical laws of the Torah to Ellen G. White which would limit her prophetic work to the areas where she specifically "speaks in the name of the Lord". We see that her writings about 1844 in the Great Controversy were mingled with human error; but the in the areas where she says she was speaking in the name of the Lord, it is clear to me that her words were of a heavenly origin. She was not an astronomer, yet she “saw” something remarkable in the heavenly bodies that is only coming to light today.
There are other Biblical/historical facts that I will address later, but for now I have given sufficient evidence that should challenge Advent believers to reconsider their history. In Part #4, I will discuss important historical information that establishes the dates surrounding 2300 year prophecy were fulfilled based on the year 1843, not 1844.
Part Three
The Acceptable Year
of the LORD
Good Friday? or Good Wednesday?
