a little on the Crucifixion (Passover a day later for Jews)

                   Crucifixion

                 F U L L   M O O N

 

Mel Gibson got it right – in his movie The Passion –

Jesus was crucified on a cross under a full moon.

 

Jesus in 27 AD was buried in a tomb sealed with a huge stone and guarded by scores of Roman soldiers told to make sure Jesus did not escape the tomb like he said he would within 3 days.

 

But 3 days later, numerous soldiers were blown over backwards when he did resurrect from the dead, strolled out, and left the tomb behind him empty. They were in deep trouble for allowing this to happen.

 

No other religious leader has pulled off that trick! They are all still in their graves rotting away.

 

When the full moon moved over Jerusalem that fateful day, it was already red in eclipse, even as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were hurrying to bury the body of Jesus in Joseph’s own tomb.

 

From Dr Luke’s account, earlier that day a supernatural darkness covered the land from the 6th to the 9th hour, or from noon to 3:00 PM, a full sun eclipse. But 2 hours after the sun reappeared, there was a natural eclipse of the full moon. These two heavenly signs marked the date of Jesus’ crucifixion on April 3, 27 AD.

 

Rome was celebrating its 750th year of history in 6 BC. Augustus Caesar was celebrating his Silver Jubilee. Peace reigned throughout the Roman Empire. Signs in the heavens led astrologers everywhere to believe that the world was entering into a new Golden Age. The Roman Senate passed a decree making Augustus Caesar the Father of the Country in February of 6 BC, which each person in the Empire had to ratify with registration in a census later in the autumn that year 6 BC.

 

Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem for this registration. There, Jesus was born in October of that year 6 BC.

 

Over two months later in December, while parents and child were still in Bethlehem, the Magi arrived in Jerusalem asking about the newborn king.

 

King Herod was not pleased, and ordered all babies up to two years old in and around Bethlehem to be killed. Joseph and Mary escaped and took Jesus to Egypt, the “house of Pharaoh,” for safekeeping. Jesus was three months old at the time, the same age that Moses was when he was brought into Pharaoh’s house for safekeeping many years earlier.

 

A year later King Herod pronounced judgment upon the conspirators who had torn down Rome’s golden eagle from the temple. That evening there was an eclipse of the full moon on 9 January, 5 BC.

 

Herod died in 4 BC, allowing Jesus’ family to return to their home in Nazareth.

 

When Jesus was grown, He came to John the Baptist for baptism on the Day of Atonement in September of 24 AD. This was the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the adopted son of Augustus Caesar who had died August 19, 14 AD. Jesus’ ministry lasted two and a half years. He was crucified on Passover, April 3, 27 AD.

 

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