COINCIDENCE OR CONFIRMATION OF GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN?


“God also decided ahead of time to choose us through Christ according to his plan, which makes everything work the way he intends” (Ephesians 1:10, God’s Word Version).


God’s Plan “ahead of time” was throughout history revealed through prophesies, allegories, analogies, numbers, and even dates to teach and give hope of His eternal scheme of redemption. Examples and passages are in the endnotes.i


Dates are also significant in the God’s scheme of salvation.

“And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). After the world flood, Mount Ararat was finally a dry spot for occupants of the ark; a fresh new world; a new home and hope for mankind. From this date, 17th day of the 7th month (equivalent to our March-April Gregorian calendarii), was a time of future hope.


But people saved physically were still sinners and lost eternally. But God’s plan was just beginning to unravel, as it were. Later, upon the anniversary of this month God commanded Abraham’s grandchildren Israel to take a lamb per household, without blemish, keep it until the 14th; then sacrifice it and place the blood on the door posts and lintel of each house as a sign. “You shall say to your children, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households'” (Exodus 12:29). This month was now designated as the first month of the new Jewish calendar. This was a deliverance and a new beginning for Israel. “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, is the LORD'S Passover. The fifteenth day of this same month is the LORD'S Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread” (Leviticus 23:5, 6; cf. Numbers 28:16, etc.).


The date for the Passover is designated in the OT to coincide with the predicted crucifixion of the true Lamb. This was the same time of the year when God placed Noah’s family and ark upon dry land in Genesis 8:4.iii The New Testament establishes a relationship between the authorized OT Passover lamb and the Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7). The prophet John the Baptist recognized Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and the apostle Peter links the lamb without defect (Exodus 12:5) with Christ, whom he calls a “lamb without blemish or defect” (WITHOUT SIN, 1 Peter 1:19). Jesus was crucified during the time that the Passover was being observed (Mark 14:12).

"Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (which was the 14th day) the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?  And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.  And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.  Now when the even was come (which would be the 15th day according to the Jewish reckoning), He sat down with the twelve" (Matthew 26:17-20). A few hours later He was crucified and buried. He arose from the dead on the third day (17th).   Hence, God had Jesus to rise from the dead on the same day of the year that the ark rested on the new world. A coincidence?


Israel's Liturgical (Religious) and Civil Calendar Year

Month

name

Religious year order #

Civil year order #

Modern Gregorian

Civil

Feast days & agricultural season (+ = God ordained feast; * = national feasts)

Abib (Nisan)

1

7

March/April

+Passover 14th,
+Unleavened Bread 15-21st
(sacred assembly on 15th and 21st),
+Firstfruits on Sunday of Unleavened Bread holy week.
Spring equinox 15th. The "Latter rains"& flood season, beginning of barley and flax harvest

date of Noah’s Ark Landing on the Mount (civil calendar, 17th day 7th month which became the 1st religious month).

dates of Jesus dying on the Cross To save the world and His resurrection from the dead for declaration of deity: Son of God

Adapted from: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/Israel's%20Liturgical%20and%20Civil%20Calendar%20Year.htm

Just as the first Passover marked the Hebrews’ release from Egyptian slavery, so the death of Christ marks mankind’s release from the slavery of sin (Romans 8:2). As the first Passover was to be held in remembrance as an annual feast, so Christians are to memorialize the Lord’s death in communion until He returns (1 Corinthians 11:26). And this is done weekly in assembly on the first day of the week according to Acts 20:7.


Is the date recorded for the ark landing on the mountain, now dry, just a coincidence? Why did the Spirit have that date specifically recorded? Accompanying this date we have assurance from the Spirit that the rainbow is given as a reminder of God’s keeping His promises. Is this also an assurance of God’s plan of hope to us from antiquity? The apostle Peter tells us in regard to the flood to not be ignorant that “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6, KJV). “By God's word, the present heaven and earth are designated to be burned. They are being kept until the day ungodly people will be judged and destroyed” (3:7, GW). “But we look forward to what God has promised--a new heaven and a new earth--a place where everything that has God's approval lives” (2 Peter 3:13, GW).


--     Gaylon West

Throw Out The Lifeline -online

corrected 04/24/2018.




i Prophesies of things to come would confirm Hope when they came to pass; e.g., “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet” (Matthew 13:35). Allegories explain through illustrations; e.g., Sarah and Hagar, “Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants” (Galatians 4:24). Analogies demonstrate God’s consistent ways of doing things; e.g., the flood serves many analogies, “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us” (1 Peter 3:20). God uses numbers; e.g., 3’s; 7’s; 40’s. It rained 40 days and 40 nights (Genesis 7:4) to dissolve the old for something new, a new heaven and earth. Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights in preparation for the receiving of the covenant on the mountain (Exodus 34:28). Consider Elijah prior to his renewal of service (1 Kings 19:8). And Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights before His tests prior to commencing His earthly mission (Matthew 4:2).

ii The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

iii The first month (Nisan) is equivalent to the ancient civil calendar’s seventh month.

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