RESUMÉ OVER NT HISTORY
The year 5-4 BC, which must be the correct time for the birth of Jesus, means to us that Jesus must have died on the cross during Passover 28 CE. He was in the age of 30 when He started His public ministry, and was 33 when He ended it. Luke 3:23; 13:7. In the latter we find Jesus saying of Himself, through this parable, that He had come to look for fruit on that ‘Barren fig tree’ (Israel) for THREE YEARS, NASB,
"And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without * finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'
Trailing the calendar years in which we find it possible – that Messiah would die according to Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 weeks of years in Dan. 9 – one can find only two particular years in which the Passover matches the Gospel’s narratives, - the years of 28 CE and 31 CE.
These two years are the only ones in which Passover (14th Nisan) fell on our Wednesday. For the Bible truth told of the women arriving at the tomb on Sunday morning, Jesus must have been crucified on a Wednesday. And the year 31 CE was NOT that year. In 31 CE Jesus would have been 36 years of age.
To match Luke’s timeline, Jesus died at age 33, becoming 34 later that year; it leaves us only 28 CE as the correct year. See my separate article on this web site in which I explain this very thoroughly. Titled: What Day of the Week Was Jesus Crucified?. You will see that the Catholic error of preaching that Jesus died on a Friday is entirely wrong. It crashes with the Gospel’s historical accounts. Every Jewish Passover has TWO Sabbaths celebrated. The first of these is the one after the 14th of Nisan, which is 15th of Nisan (a Thursday in 28 CE). Thus we find in the Gospels that one refers to ‘after the Sabbath’ and another Gospel says ‘before the Sabbath’. This is the key to understand that Wednesday was the day of the crucifixion. It leaves us with only the Friday as a day when the women could buy oils and spices to care for Jesus’ dead body.
Mary was visited by God’s Arch Angel Gabriel, the angel we find in Scripture as the one who are used by the Lord especially in regard to the prophesies of Israel and their Messiah king. Gabriel revealed himself to Mary in 6-5 BC (given a normal term of 9 months pregnancy) -
Luke 1:26-38, NASB,
“26 Now in the sixth month (My remark: refers to Elisabeth’s pregnancy)- the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."
34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin * *?"
35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
37 "For nothing * * will be impossible with God."
38 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.”
25-28 CE – the three years of Jesus ministering to Israel. This I will have to limit down to passages I have selected, so it should not make this article too long.
Jesus kind of ‘warmed up’ His audiences by the renowned miraculous incident of the wedding feast in Cana. He made fine wine out of water! And so we see the marvelous divine power He had as the Son of God Almighty. This incident points much to His disciples: seeing such a wonder, a sign, they believed in Him even more. Jesus performed that which was ENTIRELY IMPOSSIBLE BY MAN.
John 2:1-11, NASB,
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;
2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever * * He says to you, do it."
6 Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.
7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." So they filled them up to the brim.
8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him.
9 When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew ), the headwaiter called the bridegroom,
10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”
Absolutely all four historic gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, recorded many signs and miracles and healings which Jesus did among the people in Israel the three years He ministered and told them that the kingdom of God was at hand.
Jesus died on the cross, and was raised from the dead on the third day. I shall use John’s narrative here, Mary Magdalene reporting to the disciples.
John 20:1-18, NASB,
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb.
4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;
5 and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.
6 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there,
7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.
9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;
12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.
13 And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher ).
17 Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.' "
18 Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her.”
John wrote perhaps the most emotional and touching resurrection story. This is the one which make most Christians take to their tears. And that is understandable. If you ever have doubts about Jesus and Him raised from the dead, all you have to do is reading again this passage! It blows away any doubts we might have.
Jesus ascending up into heaven. Acts 1:9-11, NASB,
“9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.
11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."
After this divine event, we can for the rest of the timeline find Jesus only as He revealed Himself to elect persons; - mainly that person was Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. But John also had serious visions of Jesus, as we read Revelations. Peter had a vision from the Lord on top of Simon’s house at Joppa, Acts 10.
Paul was visited so often by Jesus Christ in visions, that Paul tells us that ‘an angel (messenger) of Satan was plaguing and harassing him the whole time. This so Paul should not go boasting of having Jesus revealed to him in visions. 2 Cor. 12:7-10,
“7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.»
Paul undoubtedly had this entirely special divine protection over him. He recovered swiftly from the hurting pain and injuries afflicted on him, and he escaped many deadly situations, like for instance shipwrecking, high way robbery, wild beasts, and evil persecutors and angry mobs. (Check out the article here on my site by Donnie S. Barnes in that topic).
Peter and the eleven were having several waves of Holy Spirit power for wonders and healings, as seen for instance in Acts 5:12-16, NASB,
“12 At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico.
13 But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.
14 And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number,
15 to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.
16 Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”
Several years had passed since the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 – and yet, we cannot find Peter and the eleven anywhere outside and abroad in mission, - no, they were still in JERUSALEM, namely meeting constantly under the Portico of Solomon in the temple site! Peter and the apostles stayed in Israel, and we find him 16 years after Pentecost in 28 CE, which was 44 CE in Acts 12. He went to Lydda and Joppa, and we learn of him healing Aeneas and he raised Tabitha from the dead, Acts 12:19 says he went to Caesarea to spend some time there. He must have spent it among his new converts, the friends of Cornelius (Acts 10) – would be my guess.
Proving to us that they had only one commission: That of preaching to Israel’s land the Kingdom-Gospel of Christ, for which Jesus would be king and ruler. The millennial kingdom promised by the prophets.
But for international mission abroad, in the Empire, Jesus had elected Paul as the messenger and apostle!
From Acts 13 we learn of Paul being sent out for his first ministry to Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel (Acts 9:15).
We cannot find any more detailed reports regarding Peter and the eleven, after Acts 12-13, which was in 44-45 CE according to most scholars. Peter pops up in Acts 15 because of the apostolic conference in Jerusalem, in the year 49 CE. But his ministry is no longer followed by Luke, the author of Acts. Luke went with Paul only.
PAUL’S CONFRONTATION WITH SANHEDRIN AT ROME
ACTS 28:25-28
This meeting or confrontation with the Counsel of Jewish Rabbis at Rome, the Sanhedrin, took place in early summer of 60 CE. He arrived there, having survived a dramatic sea voyage including shipwrecking at Malta. It was eleven synagogues in Rome then. And the Emperor was Nero, in his 6th year of rule. Paul had appealed his case to the Court of Justice of which was ruled by Nero.
The result of this meeting with Sanhedrin was a catastrophe for Israel: God considered Israel from this day to be fallen away from Him. And He was no longer having Israel as His nation on earth!
Acts 28:25-28, NASB,
25 And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, "The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers,
26 saying, 'GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, "YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
27 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES; OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM."'
28 "Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen."
In the passage above we do notice that Paul – much like what Jesus had done facing the Pharisees – and chastising the unbelieving Jews by quoting Isaiah 6, of their persistent spiritual blindness, deafness and lack of understanding. Is. 6:9, 10, NASB,
“9 He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.'
10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."
The passage is not only these two verses, but we find a prophecy of doom and destruction in the following verses 11 and 12, saying,
“11 Then I said, "Lord, how long *?" And He answered, "Until * * cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate,
12 "The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”
Verses 11 and 12 are warning of the destruction of Israel, such as happened in 70 CE when the Roman Army led by Titus broke the walls and destroyed Jerusalem and burnt the temple.
Jesus on Is. 6, as found in Mat. 13:13-17, NASB,
“13 "Therefore * I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.'
16 "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.
17 "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
When Paul quoted this very same passage of Is. 6, he omitted verses 11 and 12 – the destruction of the land, but instead he said…therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.
Paul’s manner of saying: You will NOT listen, and so you reject Jesus as the Messiah, but not so with the Gentiles, for they will listen and believe on Jesus!
Paul actually prophesied to the members of Sanhedrin, telling that God now STOPS dealing with the Jews, but will from now on deal directly with the Gentiles. It was over with Israel, and they were no longer God’s people. They had fallen.
The council members were well aware of that Is. 6 spoke judgement on Israel, verses 11 and 12…and Paul thus found it not necessary to quote these. He just quoted verses 9 and 10. Like Jesus once had done.
Paul was deliberately sent to these leaders by Jesus. He was told to go to Rome for the same reason he had witnessed to the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, Acts 23:11 tells of Paul being visited by Jesus in person,
“But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, "Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause * at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also."
Acts 23 tells us of what Paul spoke to the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, as he witnessed of Jesus as the Messiah. Now Jesus had told Paul to go to Rome – not to visit the Messianic believers there – but as the Lord’s special agent: He should be witnessing in same manner to the Sanhedrin in Rome. To the religious LEADERS OF ISRAEL in the diaspora.
This is the correct background and reason why Paul went to Rome. He was to deliver an ultimatum to Israel; either you repent to Jesus, all of you, or you will have to face doom and destruction!
It was the latter which unfortunately fell upon Israel, the horrible days of war in 66-70 CE.
But the described meeting with that Sanhedrin in Rome, was the point-of-no-return for Israel, - and consequently Jesus Christ let Paul be told of the Mystery as we read it in Eph. 3:1-9 as well as in Col. 1:25, 26.
POST ACTS HISTORY 63-67 CE
The revelation of a new dispensation, the stewardship of the grace of God to us Gentiles.
A secret which had been kept in God since before the creation of the world. The Grace-Gospel came to us by God revealing it to Paul first, Eph. 3:1-3, NASB,
“1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles -
2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you;
3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.”
Paul was given this new revelation, that of the free Grace of God by faith in Jesus, AFTER FIRST ENDING HIS DEALING WITH ISRAEL. He did not keep two kinds of ‘Churches’, one with Israel, and one with us Gentiles. No, He ended His dealings with Israel, for they refused to receive Jesus as a nation. So in our time, since Paul had the revelation of the Mystery in 63-64 CE as he sat in jail, we find that salvation by faith alone inside the two ONLY Church epistles, Ephesians and Colossians. End of discussion.
ONLY in these can we find the two important Bible truths, ONE: That Christ had abolished the Law of Moses, and that He thus had CREATED the ‘One New Man’ – called by Paul for the Body of Christ to which Jesus was the Head. TWO: The revelation of the Mystery. No other epistles in the entire NT have these two Bible truths in them. The two epistles thus became the Doctrine of Faith to the Church, the Post-Acts body.
Most Bible scholars hold to the idea of Paul’s death having occurred in 67 CE, as he was beheaded in jail in Rome under Emperor Nero’s time of rule. I can agree to this theory. IMAGE: Nero’s statue in Anzio, Italy.
It might just be pure coincident, but Nero was born same year as Paul was called by Christ on the Damascus road Acts 9, which was 37 CE. Nero died the 9th of June in 68 CE by suicide at the age of 30. Nero was well ‘acquainted’ with death: He had committed matricide (killed his own mother, Agrippina) in 59 CE, and also he killed his wife! He was much like those sociopaths you find in modern horror movies.
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