“Go to a certain man in the city,” he said to them, “and tell him: ‘The Teacher says, My hour has come; my disciples and I will celebrate the Passover at your house.’”
Nisan 14 begins sundown March 30, 2018
Nisan 14th begins at sundown March 30,2018 and ends at sundown March 31, 2018.
According to well kept records by the only people who could possibly be an ‘authority’, the Jewish people themselves, this is the night that the actual Passover took place and both Jesus and everyone else who had gathered in Jerusalem that evening where there to honor the occasion. The Bible states that Jesus like everyone else partook of the ritual Passover meal and then immediately after, instituted the Lord’s Supper.
Standard Jewish conversion calendar. Note the date corresponding to Nisan 14
Why Are The Jewish People The Only Legitimate Authority?
Paul states, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:2-3).
The remarks Paul makes above are in reference to his own kinfolk, the Jewish nation of Israel. He knew how hard his people strive to keep the traditions of the Commandments, but could not be obedient in actually doing God’s will in obeying God’s righteous code of conduct. They substituted this kind of obedience with simply meeting the ritual requirements of the Law.
The Jewish people have been fastidious in the keeping of the ritual celebrations God commanded them to keep for thousands of years. It is their source of belief that they are pleasing the God of Abraham.
Yet the devil would have us believe that the Jewish people who have celebrated this occasion far longer than any non Jew even knew it existed, are wrong when it comes to interpreting their own calendar and when their special occasions occur.
Dating and keeping observances like the Passover is what the Jewish people have been faithful in doing for millenia.
This means that when he instituted the meal, it was at the beginning of the 14th, not the end (it was the end of the 13th, and the beginning of the 14th), and he was killed approximately 21 hours later, still on Nisan 14. After sundown began the next day, Nisan the 15th.
By the beginning of Nisan 15, Jesus had already died.
Reflect back for a moment to circumstances at the time of the literal Passover in Egypt and how a day was considered by those given the command to observe it.
At the time God gave his Commandments to Israel, their day began with the evening beginning that particular day.
So, different from how we look at a day in which the evening is at its conclusion, the evening was at the beginning of a day.
So the eve of Nisan 14 is not at its conclusion since that eve is marks the beginning of the following day.
Note God’s instructions:
Exodus 12:18
EasyEnglish
In the first month, you must eat bread without yeast in it. Do this from the evening of the 14th day until the evening of the 21st day.
ISV
In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you are to eat unleavened bread.
KJVLite
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.
NHEB
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.
NHEB-HWHY
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.
The evening of Nisan 14 is on the eve of March 30, 2018, which is why the Jewish calendar shows that date corresponding to Nisan 14 and not March 31, 2018.
God himself expressed the importance of keeping this observance according to strict adherance to His instruction. This would include its timing.
Exodus 12
“This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.”
Jesus was perfect in his obedience to God’s Law.
Similar Error In The Recent Past
Nisan 14, 2017 and Nisan 14, 2016
Nisan the 14th began at sundown April 10, 2017 and closed in the western hemisphere Tuesday April the 11th before sundown.
That can be verified by referring to a Hebrew calendar or even the Farmer’s Almanac.
Sundown April 11, 2017 started Nisan the 15th.
On the night of April the 11th 2017, Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrated the Lord’s Evening Meal the day after Passover, on Nisan 15.
If the original Israelites had done so, they would have died.
Last year (2016), Jehovah;s Witnesses around the world celebrated a full month ahead of Passover in the month of Adar II . They had their celebration on FEBRUARY 25, 2016. Nisan 14 occurred on April 22, 2016.
Others Jehovah;s Witnesses can’t understand that Preparation day ended at sundown April 10, 2017, that Passover day began at that time, and that that is time when the Israelites locked themselves in their dwellings and quickly ate the meal. While inside that same night, God’s angel passed through Egypt but he passed over the homes that were marked with blood on their doorpost. (Foreshadowing the blood of Christ that covers and protects).
Some Jehovah’s Witnesses can’t seem to be able to tell time. And many who left the Organization because they saw them to be teachers of inaccuracies; still go to them to get information for instance, the proper time for the memorial celebration. They go to a polluted stream expecting to find clean water.
