We'll start with a detailed chart of the final hours.

Time schedule

In the following 3 part report we'll look at issues such as:
1) DID JESUS EAT THE PASSOVER ON THE PASSOVER DAY?
2) ON WHAT DAY WAS THE PASSOVER?
3) A PASSOVER FEAST THEORY ATTEMPTING TO SUPPORT LUNAR SABBATH KEEPING
4) Was Not the Time Then Designated by "Watches"?

QUESTION AND ANSWER DISCUSSION MATT. 12:39, 40

Though a number of times we have conclusively cleared the questions as to (1) whether Jesus, in order to fulfill the "sign of Jonah," was "three days and three nights" in the grave, or (2) whether the sign was fulfilled in some other way and (3) whether He was crucified on Friday, on Thursday, or on Wednesday, there still seem to be some points which are not clear to all, first of which underlies the question:

Was Christ Crucified on the Day the Leaven Was Put Out of the Houses -- On the Fourteenth Day?

Mark, who was an eyewitness of the event says, "And the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the passover, His disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we go and prepare that Thou mayest eat the passover?

And He sendeth forth two of His disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.... And His disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And in the evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with Me shall betray Me." Mark 14:12, 13, 16-18.

Since the Passover lamb was killed in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month (Ex. 12:6), and was eaten at the commencement of the fifteenth day (Num. 28:17), and since the gospel writers declare that Jesus ate the Passover at the very hour the whole Jewish nation ate it, the fact is solidly established that the time of the crucifixion of Christ did not coincide with the time of the killing of the lamb on the fourteenth day for the first of the Passover feasts. It did coincide, however, with the killing of the lamb for the second of the feasts, as will be seen from the following paragraphs.

Even astronomical records agree that the fourteenth-day sacrifice of the Passover supper that year came on Wednesday, and the Bible emphatically states that the feast of the Passover was to be observed on the fifteenth day (Num. 28:17), Thursday that year. Jesus, therefore, could not have been crucified on either of these two days.

This is borne out by the fact that, as stated before He observed the first of the feasts with the disciples. Moreover, Matthew 26:5 plainly states that the assembly of the priests and the scribes with Caiaphas in the judgment seat, decided not to kill Him "on the feast day" -- Thursday, the fifteenth. Hence the question: Why does the Bible say He was crucified on

The Preparation Day?

Mark's statement, "The preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:42), explains that this preparation day was Friday, "the day before the Sabbath." And as this same Sabbath, John calls "an high day" (John 19:31), it could only have been the seventh-day Sabbath in the Passover week, a sabbath within a Sabbath for the Passover week was a seven-day occasion (Num. 28:17), and therefore in each week of Passover there was a seventh-day Sabbath, and hence two holy days in one day -- an high day.

Although in the Scriptures a group of feast days are sometimes called sabbath days, or sabbaths the Passover in itself is never called the Sabbath. This is especially true throughout the New Testament.

And for any of the apostles to call the Passover day, the Sabbath day, is for them not only to ignore reason, but also to confuse the Passover with the "seventh-day Sabbath," the only day ever called "the Sabbath."

Thus from this angle also it is made clear that the "preparation" day, the day they crucified Jesus, was Friday -- the preparation for the Sabbath in the Passover week; that the Passover lamb, which was killed on Wednesday (the fourteenth day), did not coincide with the crucifixion; and that Jesus ate the Passover on Thursday (the fifteenth day), was arrested the same day before daybreak, crucified on Friday (the sixteenth), buried before the Sabbath, and resurrected on Sunday (the eighteenth). These Biblical facts, which are supported also by tradition, give rise to the question:

Was Not Jesus Three Days and Three Nights in the Tomb?

Let it not be forgotten that He was buried on the day called the "preparation day," Friday, and that the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate on the "day that followed the day of the preparation" (Matt. 27:62), on Sabbath, requesting him to set a watch over the tomb. It was therefore the second night after His burial that the tomb was guarded.

And the fact that this was the night that Jesus arose (Matt. 28:1-5), proves that He was in the tomb only the two nights -- Friday night and Saturday night. Consequently the statement, "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," must stand for something more than simply His being in the grave, as interpreted by some.

Then in Matthew 28:1, the words, "as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week," are not spoken with intention to tell the time when Jesus arose, but to show the time when the women arrived at the tomb, and therefore cannot be taken to mean, as some think, the evening at the end of the Sabbath. For the women came to the sepulchre in the morning, as each gospel writer attests:

Luke-- "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre." Luke 24:1.

Mark-- "And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun." Mark 16:2.

John-- "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre." John 20:1.

Matthew-- "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week [not as it began to turn toward the first night of the week] came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." Matt. 28:1.

The statement that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the sepulchre "as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week" (Matt. 28:1), has been interpreted by some to mean that they came to the sepulchre on the Sabbath, before sunset, and then found that the Lord had already risen.

But let it be remembered that on the day when they came, Mary met the Lord Himself and talked with Him. If, therefore, she was told on the Sabbath by the angels that Jesus had risen from the dead, and she herself then saw the sepulchre empty, also talked with the Lord (Matt. 28:1-9), why should she play the fool on Sunday morning by going to the sepulchre to see the Lord's body as though she knew nothing about His resurrection, when instead she should have heeded His instructions to give the news to the disciples, and to meet Him in Galilee (Matt. 28:1-7; John 20:1-17)?

Mark 16:1, 2 and Luke 24:1-10, also John 20:1, bear threefold proof that in regard to the Lord's resurrection, Mary Magdalene knew nothing before Sunday morning, when to her surprise the angel said: "He is risen; He is not here: behold the place where they laid Him. But go your way, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see Him." Mark 16:6, 7.

Then, too, Mark says that "Jesus was risen early the first day of the week," and also that on "the first day of the week [not on the Sabbath] He appeared first to Mary Magdalene." Mark ;6:9.

Those, therefore, who interpret the mean that it was late Sabbath afternoon, and that Jesus was then risen, are in serious error.

Mark says, "when the Sabbath was past," whereas Matthew says, "in the end of the Sabbath." In another instance, the one says, "very early in the morning the first day of the week"; whereas the other says, "as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." These comparative phrases all have the same significance.

And furthermore, a comparison of Matthew 28:1 and John 20:1 shows that both scriptures refer to one and the same event, though many try to refute the fact. John says that the women came to the sepulchre "the first day of the week...when it was yet dark."

This cannot mean in the end of the Sabbath as the sun was about to set, for had that been the time, John would not have said, "when it was yet dark," plainly indicating that the night had almost worn away, but not completely. And Matthew, speaking of this same time, says: "in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week."

Thus in the light of all the gospels, the word "dawn" can be interpreted to mean only the breaking of day -- the morning. The English dictionary also supports this definition.

Now, even a cursory analysis of these four synoptic passages can result in but the one conclusion that all four observers are writing of the same event (the visit of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the tomb), of the same place (Christ's sepulchre), and of the same time (early in the morning, the first day of the week), only each stating the matter in his own words -- a threefold conclusion which is further borne out by examining the subject from the angle of

The Hour of Each Event.

Anciently, the timepiece was regulated at twelve, sunset. Midnight and noon were at the sixth hour, and morning at the twelfth hour. From this original system of timekeeping, the record in connection with the trial and with the crucifixion is made as follows:

John's record of the trial states that Jesus was in Pilate's judgment hall at "about the sixth hour" (John 19:14), whereas Mark's record of the crucifixion states that Jesus was hanging on the cross at "the sixth hour." Mark 15:33.

Obviously, these two "sixth" hours cannot be the same, for at the first sixth hour He was on trial in Pilate's judgment hall, whereas at the next "sixth hour" (three hours after He was crucified, and while He was hanging on the cross) the sun became darkened: after three more hours, -- from "the sixth hour" to "the ninth hour," when the sun again appeared (Mark 15:33), -- Jesus died (Mark 15:37).

But there being still another private opinion on this point, we shall analyze a resultant question,

Was Not the Time Then Designated by "Watches"?

To attempt to construe the hours on record as "watches" -- periods of four hours -- rather than as actual hours of day and night, is to strain reason to a breaking point in the interest of the idea that all in connection with the Passover, the trial, and the crucifixion took place in one day!

As far as we know, all Bible students agree that Jesus was crucified during the day and was buried before sunset. And as only the hours of the night were ever reckoned by "watches," the "watch" periods are foolishly dragged into the discussion. So being wholly irrelevant in this connection, they by all rights merit no consideration. For the sake, however, of those who really want the truth, but who are confused over the idea under discussion, we shall give it brief treatment.

As the "watch" theory cannot be imposed upon the hours during the day, we have no choice but to conclude that Jesus was crucified at the actual third hour (Mark 15:25); that three hours later the sun was darkened at the actual sixth hour (Mark 15:33); and that after three more hours, Jesus died and the sun again appeared at the actual ninth hour of the day (Mark 15:34-37), and not at a certain "watch" of the night.

And as there are not two sixth hours but only one sixth hour in a day, therefore the sixth hour at the time of the trial in Pilate's judgment hall, and the sixth hour at the time of the darkening of the sun, which came three hours after Jesus was nailed to the cross, are not four hours apart, but either twelve or twenty-four hours apart!

Manifestly, therefore, even though one resort to the device of the "watch" system, one cannot rationally conclude that the trial and the darkening of the sun, not to mention the events connected with them, came the same day. Necessarily they took longer.

Then, too, as there are twelve hours or four "watches," between this particular trial and the darkening of the sun, and as He was crucified at the third hour (nine hours after the trial, and three hours before the time that the sun was darkened), it is folly to try to crowd this actual twelve-hour period into a four-hour "watch"; and still worse folly is it to try to do so if the trial were at Thursday noon.

The gospel writers do not mean "watches" when they say "hours," for Jesus did not teach them to say, There are four watches in the day; but rather, There are twelve hours in the day (John 11:9). Moreover, as aforestated, never the day,but only the night, was divided into watches. And, furthermore, the clock dials were never marked by watches, but by hours, and when they said "hours," they never meant "watches." These evidences wholly discredit the "watch" scheme of interpretation.

Hold not to what fabricated ideas seem to make the Scriptures say, but grip tenaciously to what the Word, in simplicity, plainly says. Following this procedure, let us now review this study in the ensuing

Summary.

The Hours of the Night

(Sunset) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12

The Hours of the Day

(Sunrise) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12

By checking, on the diagram above, the hours mentioned by the gospel writers, the reader will see that there is no possible way by which to make all these events occupy one day only. To begin with, check the first "sixth hour" -- the trial (John 19:14); then check the "third hour" -- the crucifixion, (Mark 15:25); next, check the second "sixth hour" -- the darkening of the sun (Mark 15:33); then, the "ninth hour"

-- the death (Mark 15:34-38); and last, the "twelfth hour" -- the burial (Mark 15:42, 46).

From this it will be seen that all these events did not take place in one twelve-hour day, and that necessarily, therefore, Christ was brought before Pilate either at midnight preceding Friday morning or at noon Thursday. To determine which, we need only consult John's record of the trial, which disallows the midday time of Thursday, for it says: "It was the preparation of the passover." John 19:14.

And as this "preparation" day was Friday, we can only conclude that Jesus was brought before Pilate at about midnight -- "the sixth hour" -- on what we call Thursday night, but what, according to Genesis, chapter 1, and according to Jewish Sabbath-keeping, actually was Friday.

Accordingly, Jesus was arrested early Thursday morning; tried before Annas while it was yet dark (John 18:13); brought before Caiaphas in the assembly of the Sanhedrin (His legal trial) at daybreak (Matt. 26:57; 27:1); next before Pilate, Friday, before daybreak -- about the sixth hour (John 19:14); then before Herod (Luke 23:7); then back to Pilate (Luke 23:11); and finally was crucified in the morning of the same day, about the third hour (Mark 15:25) -- 9:00 A.M., modern time.

This time-record shows that His capture, His trials, and His crucifixion were carefully and cunningly prearranged to take place at night and early morning to prevent any uproar, for "they feared the people." Luke 20:19.

That He remained in the tomb two nights and rose on Sunday; that the three days and three nights is the time from His first legal trial to the time of His resurrection; that the heart of the earth has been erroneously interpreted to mean the grave, when, instead, it is, as Jonah's experience shows, symbolical of Christ's imprisonment in the hands of sinners and in the tomb (Matt. 20:19; 16:21; 17:22, 23; 27:63; Luke 9:22; 24:21; 18:33; 24:7;

-- "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." (Luke 24:46); that the sign of the "three days and three nights" literally is fulfilled from Thursday morning, the time of His legal trial, to Sunday morning when He arose; that the paschal lamb, which was about to be killed when Jesus was on the cross, was not that which was killed on the first day of the Passover week, the fourteenth day of the month, but that which was killed on the sixteenth day, the second day of the feasts;

-- all these conclusions are firmly founded on the solid facts established herein in simplicity; not, dear reader, on fables or on translations unknown to you, or on so-called "original manuscripts," which you yourself cannot read, and which are not accessible to you, and some of which do not even exist!

(Tract, no.10, p.4-15) To be continued...

Continuing with part 2 -- (This will conclude or study unless some would like to see more Q and A that follows this study. Below is the chart link of the last hours time schedule)

"Now to clear up other points in this connection we shall consider the question:

Is the Evening the Beginning or the Ending of the Day?

Throughout the Bible, just as in books written in this age, the word "even" means the afternoon of the same day. Wednesday evening therefore means the ending of Wednesday and the beginning of Thursday, not the ending of Tuesday and the beginning of Wednesday, although Wednesday night coalesces with and becomes the night of Thursday. This fact will be readily seen from the following scriptures:

Early in the morning, "Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord" (John 20:18); "then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,...came Jesus and stood in the midst." John 20:19. Thus in Jesus's day, the term "evening" was used to designate the last part of the day.

Again: "And the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the passover, His disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we go and prepare that Thou mayest eat the passover? And He sendeth forth two of His disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water:
follow him...and he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us...and in the evening He cometh with the twelve." Mark 14:12, 13, 15, 17.

Here Mark says that in the fourteenth day, when they killed the Passover lamb, Jesus sent forth two of His disciples, and that after they had prepared the place, and evening of that same day had come, then came Jesus. Thus in this scripture also, we see that the "evening" means, not the beginning, but the ending, of the day.

Again: "And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up." Ex. 16:13. As quails do not fly at night, they therefore had to come to the camp before sunset, the time which Moses calls "even" -- the ending of the day, not the beginning of the night.

These Bible facts show that the Lord's command concerning the Passover lamb, "Ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day...and...shall kill it in the evening" (Ex. 12:6), means that the lamb was to be killed in the afternoon of the fourteenth day. Consequently, to call Friday night "Sabbath evening," as some do, is unbiblical and unreliable, as is an--

Opinion Based on Implication, a House Built on a Sandy Foundation.

The statement, "that same night He was taken by wicked hands, to be crucified and slain" (The Great Controversy, p. 399), does not mean, as some think, that He was crucified that night, but rather it means simply, just as it says, that He was "taken" to be crucified. Accordingly, though "taken that same night," He could have been crucified days after, if need be, and as actually was the case.

Likewise, neither does the statement, "On this last evening with His disciples" (The Desire of Ages, p. 643), mean that it was the last evening before He was crucified, but rather that it was the last evening with His disciples before His death.

The time-table in The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2, pp. 23-25, is not designed to show the precise time of the events as some, in their own interest, want to make it say; rather its purpose is only to give an idea of how long it may have taken to accomplish all that would have had to be done for the feast if the lamb had been killed just at the exact moment of the setting of the sun: showing the impossibility of accomplishing in one day all that was done in connection with the Passover, betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and burial.

Those who have attempted to crowd "the sixth hour" that signalized Jesus' trial in Pilate's judgment hall, and "the sixth hour" that commenced the darkness while He was on the cross, -- a period of twelve hours, -- into a "watch" of four hours, think the two scriptures are in perfect harmony with their idea, when in plain fact, as here seen, they are as irreconcilable as night and day!

Yet these same ones are having no end of perverse enjoyment in their not being able to reconcile the "midnight seizure" with the time as tabulated in the aforementioned time-table, which, according to their understanding, represents three or four hours discrepancy! Why have they not used the "watch system" here where it can be used?

The time-table is not endeavoring to show the "midnight seizure," but simply the time that the Jews "laid hold on Jesus" -- when He was brought before the priests and, in particular, before the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26:57). (See chart, The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2, p. 22.) Whereas The Desire of Ages, pp. 699, 760, is speaking of the time that He was seized in the garden (Matt. 26:50) -- the "midnight seizure."

If the midnight seizure, the trial before Pilate the crucifixion, and the burial of Jesus, all took place in one day (Friday), then how could He have been seized in the garden shortly after midnight, led from there successively to Annas, to Caiaphas, to the Sanhedrin, and to Pilate, and yet be in Pilate's judgment hall about midnight?

This utter impossibility alone should convince anyone with an understanding mind that these events must necessarily have consumed two days and that any argument supporting the idea that they consumed but one day, is not against the exposition of The Shepherd's Rod, but against the testimonies of Mark and John, who were eyewitnesses to these events.

Other such confusing remarks have been made but as we have given due consideration to all the major ones, the minor ones merit no comment. Suffice it to say that our experience in gospel publishing work teaches us that many who have spent almost countless hours of precious time in confusing the subject of the sign of Jonah, have spent but very little time in studying more essential subjects such as the prohibition against private interpretations of the Scriptures (2 Pet. 1:19, 20); the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev. 19:10); the Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11); baptism (Matt. 3:15; Acts 2:38); the Kingdom (Isa. 2:2), the slaughter of Ezekiel 9, tithe paying (Mal. 3:10); although these vital subjects call for performance, -- a duty to practice the truths which they teach, -- whereas the sign of Jonah demands nothing.

After one acquires all the knowledge necessary pertaining to the sign of Jonah, he is neither better nor worse off so far as his Christianity is concerned, without taking into account the time wasted if his conclusions on the subject be wrong.

But what is still worse, should a group of people who are rightly proclaiming all the revealed doctrines, disagree with these zealous preachers of sign of Jonah, as to what "the heart of the earth" may mean, the latter will in most instances not only forsake fellowshiping with their brethren, and cease helping to proclaim the more important doctrines, but will also become so obsessed with their pet idea that their minds cannot comprehend much else.

To just such a class of people "He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas" (Matt. 12:39), -- and here they have it!

The Jews actually saw the "sign," but because of their unbelief, they failed to profit by it. We hope, though, that the failure of the sign-seekers in those days will be a warning to the sign-seekers in these days.

Now, by studying the front-page chart, the reader can quickly summarize the entire subject, and thus obtain a lasting picture of the Scripturally immovable sign-posts of each event, concluding the impossibility of judging Him before both the Jewish and the Roman judiciaries, in addition to mocking and crucifying Him, in three short hours -- from sunrise (the twelfth hour) to the third hour! In other words, the chart shows that it is utterly impossible in three short hours to have at least one trial before the Sanhedrin, two before Pilate, and one before Herod, making a total of no less than four trials, besides the time to crucify Him.

Dividing the total time consumed (three hours) by the total number of events (five), we find that there would be only thirty-six minutes for each event! But merely walking from one place of judgment to another, along with arranging the trials, would alone have consumed more than three hours!

QUESTION AND ANSWER DISCUSSION
DID JESUS EAT THE PASSOVER ON THE PASSOVER DAY?
Question:

Was Jesus supposed to have eaten the Passover on the first day of unleavened bread in the Passover week of the crucifixion, or beforehand?

Answer:

The time of the Passover observance being invoked by law, no one could celebrate its feast at another time and yet be rewarded as a Passover keeper. Much less, therefore, could Jesus have eaten it previously, because He would thereby not only have set a bad example but also have given the Jews occasion justly to accuse Him and to make much out of it, which had it actually occurred, the apostles naturally would have recorded. The fact, though, that they did not make any such record, shows conclusively that there was none to make.

It was, moreover, on "the first day of unleavened bread," the day "they killed the passover" (not before), that "His disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we go and prepare that Thou mayest eat the Passover?... And in the evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with Me shall betray Me." Mark 14:12, 17, 18.

Here the Bible states in as clear language as possible that Jesus with the twelve ate the Passover at the time set by the Mosaic law.(Tract 10, p.16-22)

In the Heart of the Earth chart