The scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign. He answered that no sign would be given except the sign of Jonah: the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
GENESIS 1:14 · MATTHEW 12:38–40
THE WHEEL OF AGESDISCOVERING GOD'S PLAN THROUGH TIMEStudy GuideTHE CREATION PATTERN FULFILLED IN CHRIST
The Divine Week
Jesus' Passion Week follows the original sevenfold pattern of Creation—from His entrance into Jerusalem and the Temple at the beginning of the week to the completion of His work and His resurrection on the seventh day.
CREATIONPASSIONRESURRECTION
THE WEEK WITHIN THE WEEK
What God established in Creation,
Jesus fulfills in redemption.
The first week reveals an ordered movement from light to rest. Passion Week follows that order: the King is manifested, the Temple is cleansed, the promised Seed prepares to fall, the darkened sun marks the Cross, Christ proclaims to the spirits in prison, the Last Adam recovers the keys and dominion lost through Adam, and the seventh day brings resurrection.
The attached chronology supplies the sequence of events surrounding Jesus' final entrance into Jerusalem, His teaching, Passover, crucifixion, burial, three days and three nights in the grave, and resurrection.
SEVEN DAYS · ONE FINISHED WORK
Passion Week through the Creation pattern
Hover over each day to reveal its Creation Day color.
DAY 1
CREATION
Light enters the darkness
PASSION WEEKThe King enters Jerusalem and the Temple
Jesus is openly received as King, enters Jerusalem, weeps over the city, and comes into the Temple. The Light of the world enters the house of God and exposes the condition He finds there.
- The triumphal entrance
- Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
- Jesus enters and examines the Temple
DAY 2
CREATION
The waters are divided
PASSION WEEKThe Temple is cleansed and worship is separated from corruption
Jesus curses the fruitless fig tree and drives commerce from the Temple. He distinguishes the true house of prayer from the disorder that has filled it.
- The fruitless fig tree is cursed
- Jesus cleanses the Temple
- The blind and lame are healed
DAY 3
CREATION
Dry land appears and seed bears fruit
PASSION WEEKThe promised Seed prepares to fall into the ground
Greeks come seeking Jesus, and He declares that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. As the third day brought forth seed from the earth, Jesus identifies Himself with the grain of wheat that must die to bear much fruit. The Passover and Gethsemane prepare the Seed for burial.
- Greeks seek Jesus
- The grain of wheat is declared
- Passover, Gethsemane, betrayal, and arrest
DAY 4
CREATION
Lights govern signs, seasons, days, and years
PASSION WEEKJesus is crucified as the sun is blackened
On the fourth day of the week, Jesus is tried, crucified, dies, and is buried before sundown. Creation’s fourth day appointed the heavenly lights for signs and seasons; at the Cross, darkness covers the land and the sun is darkened during Jesus’ dying hours, marking the redemptive event.
- Jesus is delivered to Pilate and crucified
- Darkness covers the land from noon until three
- The sun is darkened; Jesus dies and is buried
DAY 5
CREATION
Living creatures multiply in the waters and heavens
PASSION WEEKJesus proclaims to the spirits in prison
Put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, Christ descends and proclaims to the spirits in prison. The fifth-day pattern of life moving through the waters corresponds to His living proclamation beyond the boundary of death.
- Christ is made alive by the Spirit
- He goes to the imprisoned spirits
- The victory of the Cross is proclaimed
DAY 6
CREATION
Man is formed in God’s image
PASSION WEEKThe Last Adam obtains the keys and restores man’s lost dominion
Creation Day 6 gives man dominion under God. Adam forfeits that authority through sin, but Jesus—the obedient Last Adam—defeats the powers of death and obtains the keys to the Kingdom. In Him, the dominion lost by the first man is recovered and entrusted again to redeemed humanity.
- The authority lost in Adam is recovered
- Jesus obtains the keys of death and Hades
- Kingdom authority is restored through the Last Adam
DAY 7
CREATION
God rests and the work stands complete
PASSION WEEKJesus rises from the dead
On the seventh day, Jesus rises from the dead. The finished work of redemption stands complete, the sealed tomb is opened, and the risen Christ appears as a new beginning and the pledge of resurrection life.
- The stone is rolled away
- The tomb is found empty
- The risen Christ appears to His followers
THE SIGN OF JONAH
Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth
The Sign appeared at the appointed time.
On Creation Day 4, God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the expanse for signs, for seasons, and to govern the day and the night. Within the Wheel of Ages’s day–millennium correspondence, Jesus arrives in the fourth millennium—the historical period aligned with that fourth-day pattern.
The lights marked God’s appointed times. In corresponding language, Christ came “when the fulness of the time was come,” entering history at the moment appointed for redemption.
GENESIS 1:14 · GALATIANS 4:4–5The greater and lesser lights were appointed to rule over light and darkness. Jesus identified Himself as the Light of the world, then demonstrated authority over death by entering the darkness of the grave and rising again.
GENESIS 1:16–18 · JOHN 8:12 · REVELATION 1:18The symmetry is typological: Scripture does not explicitly label Christ’s advent as the fulfillment of Creation Day 4. The Wheel of Ages observes that the themes of sign, appointed time, light, and rule converge in the fourth millennium—and that the only sign Jesus promised His challengers was His death, burial, and resurrection.
5th Day of the Week Wed Night – Thu Day
6th Day of the Week Thu Night – Fri Day
7th Day of the Week Fri Night – Sat Day
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”MATTHEW 12:40
THE SEVENTH DAY REVEALED
Creation ends in rest.
Passion Week ends in life.
The resurrection does not merely follow the suffering of Jesus; it reveals that the redemptive work is complete. The One through whom all things were made emerges from the grave at the end of the week and the beginning of a new cycle.
See Passion Week on the Wheel of Ages →CREATION DAY 4 · A CHRONOLOGICAL STUDY
The Crucifixion: The Fourth Day and the Sign of Jonah
Examining the biblical pattern and the historical evidence for a Wednesday Passover crucifixion.
Wednesday, April 28, AD 28 (Julian) is the Wheel of Ages’s preferred working hypothesis. Its ancient month designation, early ministry chronology and Jubilee connection remain conditional. The following distinguishes biblical statements, historical evidence, calendar reconstruction and the Wheel of Ages’s interpretation.
1 · Nisan 14
Scripture: Exodus 12:6 assigns the sacrifice to Nisan 14; Leviticus 23:5–8 distinguishes Nisan 15’s commanded festival rest from Passover. The weekly Sabbath is the seventh day. John 18:28, 19:14, 31, 42 and 1 Corinthians 5:7 inform this study’s Nisan 14 conclusion. “Passover” can denote sacrifice, meal or festival; “preparation” does not always mean Nisan 14.
Last Supper and Mark 15:42
The Synoptic Gospels describe the Last Supper as Passover, while John is often read as placing the festival meal later. Proposed harmonizations are debated. Mark 15:42 describes “the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,” a substantial difficulty if it means the weekly Sabbath.
2 · Jonah’s sign
Scripture: Jesus rebukes the request for a sign and identifies Jonah (Matthew 12:38–40; Jonah 1:17), saying “three days and three nights” and “in the heart of the earth.”
Wheel interpretation: Burial before Wednesday sunset and resurrection before Saturday sunset allow three nights and three days in the tomb; death precedes burial. Inclusive counting and “the third day,” especially Luke 24:21, support a competing reading and leave chronological tensions.
3 · Fourth-day correspondence
Scripture: Genesis 1:14–19 gives Day 4 heavenly lights for signs and seasons. Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33 and Luke 23:44–45 describe darkness at the crucifixion.
Wheel interpretation: Heavenly lights, Jonah’s sign, the darkened sun and the proposed fourth weekday form a pattern. Neither “sign” nor darkness proves Wednesday. The darkness is not an ordinary solar eclipse.
4 · Two Sabbaths
Mark 16:1 places a spice purchase after a Sabbath; Luke 23:54–56 places spice preparation before a Sabbath. The proposed harmonization puts a festival rest Thursday, purchase and preparation Friday, then the weekly Sabbath Saturday. Neither account explicitly names Thursday and Friday; Luke’s surrounding sequence must be weighed.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, April 28 · Nisan 14 | Death near the ninth hour; burial before sunset |
| Wednesday sunset–Thursday sunset · Nisan 15 | Festival rest |
| Friday, April 30 · Nisan 16 | Spices purchased and prepared |
| Friday sunset–Saturday sunset · Nisan 17 | Weekly Sabbath |
| Saturday, May 1, before sunset | Proposed resurrection |
| Sunday, May 2 · Nisan 18 | Empty tomb discovered |
Revelation: thematic connections
Revelation 11:9–12 describes two witnesses rising after three and a half days. Revelation 12:1–5 depicts sun, moon, stars and a child caught up to God. These are distinct passages and durations; neither dates the crucifixion.
5 · Historical evidence and ministry chronology
Tiberius reigned AD 14–37; Pilate administered Judea approximately AD 26–36; Caiaphas held office during this period. Luke 3:1–3 names Tiberius’s fifteenth year, usually AD 28–29, with earlier alternatives. Luke 3:23 says Jesus was “about thirty.” John names Passovers at John 2:13, 6:4 and 11:55; John 2:20 mentions forty-six years of Temple building.
Three consecutive ministry Passovers in AD 26, 27 and 28 require baptism before spring AD 26, at least two years plus earlier ministry, and a reckoning of Tiberius’s years from shared authority. Shared authority is documented, but numbering imperial years from it is not proved. Three named Passovers do not themselves yield exactly three and a half years. Seasonal arguments may imply more time; an autumn AD 27 placement of Luke 4 requires justification within an earlier start. Numbers 4’s age thirty governs Levitical service, not a universal high-priestly rule; Hebrews 7 associates Jesus with Melchizedek.
Calendar reconstruction: Lunar conjunction, visible crescent, observation, official month designation and intercalation are separate questions. The first new moon after the equinox was not invariably Nisan. Modern fixed-calendar dates do not prove first-century Jerusalem observance.
6 · Candidate years and calendar limits
The standard Julian Nisan 14 dates reproduce Humphreys and Waddington’s Jerusalem crescent reconstruction (1992, Table 1); their month designations remain reconstructed, and their article concludes for AD 33. Weekday checks alone cannot verify an intercalary month. The Wednesday scenarios considered are AD 28, 31 and 34, not an exhaustive proof across all ancient calendars.
| Year | Standard reconstructed Nisan 14 | Wednesday assessment |
|---|---|---|
| AD 26 | Sunday, April 21 | No |
| AD 27 | Thursday, April 10; possible Friday, April 11 | No |
| AD 28 | Tuesday, March 30 | April 28 requires a later Nisan |
| AD 29 | Monday, April 18; less likely Sunday, April 17 | No |
| AD 30 | Friday, April 7; less likely Thursday, April 6 | No |
| AD 31 | Tuesday, March 27 | April 25 requires a later Nisan |
| AD 32 | Sunday, April 13; possible Monday, April 14 | No |
| AD 33 | Friday, April 3 | No |
| AD 34 | Wednesday, March 24 | Yes, if March was accepted |
| AD 35 | Tuesday, April 12 | No |
| AD 36 | Saturday, March 31 | No |
April 28 in AD 28 requires Nisan 1 to begin at sunset April 14. A Babylonian-calendar correspondence does not establish Jerusalem’s practice. AD 31 similarly depends on an April Nisan; its evening lunar eclipse establishes neither month designation nor the daytime darkness. AD 34 depends on March being accepted rather than intercalated and creates ministry-length difficulties.
7 · Forty years and Ezekiel’s proposed Jubilee
Wheel premise: At least forty years between crucifixion and summer AD 70, following testing patterns in Numbers 14:33–34 and Deuteronomy 8:2. Neither passage explicitly begins such a dated period at the crucifixion. AD 28 yields roughly 42 years, AD 30 40, AD 31 39 and AD 34 36. AD 30 meets the minimum but fails this study’s standard Wednesday criterion. Yoma 39b concerns the Temple’s final forty years; it does not identify Jesus or establish a forty-two-year interval from AD 28.
An interpretation of Ezekiel 40:1, Arakhin 12a and Leviticus 25:9 proposes an autumn 574 BC Jubilee proclaimed at Atonement, Tishri 10. Ezekiel explicitly names neither Jubilee nor month; a competing reading places the vision in Nisan, spring 573 BC. A Jubilee being due does not establish actual observance. Rodger Young uses 49-year cycles; the Wheel of Ages’s continuous 50-year extension is a separate hypothesis.
| Intervals | Years | Projected beginning |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 500 | 74 BC |
| 11 | 550 | 24 BC |
| 12 | 600 | AD 27 |
| 13 | 650 | AD 77 |
If the anchor, interval, continuity and autumn-year assumptions hold, an Atonement-to-Atonement Jubilee beginning in AD 27 contains spring AD 28. Divine Day 3 begins at Trumpets, Tishri 1 in autumn 3973 BC; spring AD 28 precedes its 4,000th autumn anniversary. The boundaries differ. The Fall date follows from the model and cannot independently confirm the crucifixion.
Additional evidence: contributions and limits
| Evidence | Contribution | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel 9 | Messiah, atonement, middle of the week | A prophetic week of years does not establish Wednesday |
| Luke 4; Isaiah 61 | Jubilee liberation | No explicit sermon date |
| Ephesians 4:8–10; 1 Corinthians 15:20–23; Matthew 27:52–53 | Captivity and resurrection harvest | Interpretive connections |
| 11QMelchizedek | Ancient Jubilee and deliverance expectation | Disputed chronology; no secure AD anchor |
| Qumran calendar | Alternative Wednesday calendar | Its standard first-month day 14 is Tuesday |
| Recent scroll studies | Calendar context | No established crucifixion date or Jerusalem intercalation decree |
| Sabbatical reconstructions | Potential cross-check | Assignments disputed |
| Zechariah’s priestly division | Birth-season proposal | Insufficient exact birth-date anchor |
| Dead Sea earthquake | Possible first-century context | Broad AD 26–36 range |
| Pilate’s alleged report | Tertullian mentions a report | Surviving attributed letters unauthenticated |
| Philo on Pilate | Administrative context | Does not date crucifixion |
| Josephus; Sanhedrin traditions | Temple portents and relocation | Do not conflate with crucifixion |
| Sejanus’s fall | Possible political context | Not decisive |
| Paul, Gallio, Galatians | Dependent chronological checks | Reconstructed intervals |
| Clement’s forty-two years | Potential AD 28 connection | Assess wider chronology |
| Moses at eighty; eightieth Jubilee | Numerical correspondence | Not independent proof |
| Exodus in fiftieth Jubilee | Previously investigated proposal | Not established anchor |
| Candidate | Wednesday | ≥40 years | AD 27–28 Jubilee | Unresolved issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AD 28 | Conditional | Yes | Conditional | Early ministry and Jerusalem’s calendar |
| AD 31 | Conditional | No | No | Minimum interval |
| AD 34 | Standard March fit | No | No | Interval and shorter ministry |
Working preference: Wednesday, April 28, AD 28 (Julian), under these combined premises. The ancient calendar choice, Jubilee anchor, earlier Tiberius reckoning and future return date are not established facts.
Source notes and calendar conventions
- KJV: passages linked throughout, especially the Passion narratives and Joshua 4:19.
- Colin J. Humphreys and W. G. Waddington, “The Jewish Calendar, a Lunar Eclipse and the Date of Christ’s Crucifixion,” Tyndale Bulletin 43.2 (1992), pp. 331–351, Table 1. Their competing conclusion is Friday, April 3, AD 33.
- Rodger C. Young, “Ezekiel’s Jubilee: Real Or Rabbinic Fiction?,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 67 (2024), parts 1–2; distinct 49-year model.
- Babylonian Talmud, Arakhin 12a and Yoma 39b, on the Jubilee interpretation and final-forty-years tradition respectively.
- Hebcal converter, 10 Nisan 5788 gives Thursday, April 6, 2028 Gregorian in the fixed Hebrew calendar.
AD 28 dates above are Julian; the Wheel of Ages’s date finder is proleptic Gregorian. April 28 Julian corresponds to April 26 Gregorian. The Wheel of Ages calibrates its chronology from Jubilee 80: Atonement in AD 27 through Trumpets in AD 28. The festival dates use a projected fixed Hebrew calendar and do not establish ancient observed crescent dates.
ONE CHRONOLOGY · TEST THE DATE
Testing the Gospel Timeline
The Wheel of Ages favors Wednesday, April 28, AD 28 as the best-fitting crucifixion date within its proposed chronological framework. Explore the timeline to examine its alignment with the Gospel sequence, Jubilee, fourth-day pattern, and the judgment that followed in Jerusalem.
6 BC
1 BC
AD 5
AD 10
AD 15
AD 20
AD 25
AD 27
AD 28
AD 29
AD 30
AD 31
AD 32
AD 33
AD 34
AD 35
AD 36
AD 40
AD 45
AD 50
AD 55
AD 60
AD 65
AD 70
AD 74
Daniel’s seventieth week
Proposed AD 66–73
Proposed AD 66–73
Green cross: viable within the proposed chronology∅ Unviable within the proposed chronologyFixed events remain in place
✓ AD 28 — Viable · preferred candidate
Fits the Wheel of Ages’ proposed Wednesday crucifixion, AD 27–28 Jubilee and ministry sequence, with more than forty years before Jerusalem’s destruction.
Green means compatible with the Wheel of Ages’ assumptions, including its disputed early ministry, Jubilee and Nisan reconstruction. It does not establish historical certainty.TESTED CIVIL DATEWednesday, 4/28, AD 28 (Julian)Selected candidate reconstruction
BEFORE AD 70 DESTRUCTION42.3–42.4 yearsMeets the site’s forty-year requirement
PROPOSED JUBILEEAtonement AD 27 → Trumpets AD 28Falls within the proposed Jubilee
Explore the events and Scripture references
Crucifixion
Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19. Highlight as the preferred candidate.
Before or around autumn 5 BC
Luke 2:1–5. Distinguish this proposed enrollment from Quirinius’s AD 6 census; explain the disputed reconciliation.
Luke 2:1–5Trumpets, autumn 5 BC
Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 2:6–20. Festival and year proposed.
Matthew 1:18–25 · Luke 2:6–20Between birth and Herod’s death
Matthew 2:1–18.
Matthew 2:1–184 BC
Matthew 2:19–22 establishes the sequence; commonly accepted historical dating supplies the year.
Matthew 2:19–22 establishes the sequence · commonly accepted historical dating supplies the yearFollowing Herod’s death
Matthew 2:19–23.
Matthew 2:19–23AD 6
Josephus, Antiquities 18.1; compare Acts 5:37.
Josephus, Antiquities 18.1 · compare Acts 5:37AD 12–13
Historical background; using this as Luke’s regnal starting point is disputed.
Historical background · using this as Luke’s regnal starting point is disputedAD 14–37
Relevant to Luke 3:1.
Relevant to Luke 3:1Before Pentecost AD 26
Luke 3:1–3; Matthew 3:1–12; Mark 1:4–8. Proposed placement; interval before Jesus’ baptism unspecified.
Luke 3:1–3 · Matthew 3:1–12 · Mark 1:4–8Pentecost AD 26
Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–23. Approximately 29 years and eight months old under the birth hypothesis.
Matthew 3:13–17 · Mark 1:9–11 · Luke 3:21–23Immediately afterward
Matthew 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13.
Matthew 4:1–11 · Mark 1:12–13 · Luke 4:1–13After the wilderness
John 1:35–51; 2:1–12. Harmonized placement.
John 1:35–51 · 2:1–12Trumpets AD 26
Calculated age benchmark.
Calculated age benchmarkPassover AD 27
John 2:13–25.
John 2:13–25Following the first Passover
John 3:22–24; 4:1–45.
John 3:22–24 · 4:1–45Proposed Pentecost AD 27
Matthew 14:13–21; John 6:1–14. Pentecost placement is interpretive. In the preferred model, John 6:4 anticipates the final Passover.
Matthew 14:13–21 · John 6:1–14Following the feeding
Matthew 14:22–36; John 6:16–21.
Matthew 14:22–36 · John 6:16–21Following the feeding
John 6:22–59.
John 6:22–59Next in Matthew’s sequence
Matthew 15:1–20.
Matthew 15:1–20Next
Matthew 15:21–28.
Matthew 15:21–28Next
Matthew 15:29–38.
Matthew 15:29–38Next
Matthew 15:39.
Matthew 15:39Next
Matthew 16:1–12.
Matthew 16:1–12Next
Matthew 16:13–20.
Matthew 16:13–20Next
Matthew 16:21–28. This does not supply an exact departure date.
Matthew 16:21–28Six days later in Matthew’s account
Matthew 17:1–9.
Matthew 17:1–9Trumpets AD 27
Calculated age benchmark.
Calculated age benchmarkAtonement AD 27
Luke 4:16–21; Isaiah 61:1–2; Leviticus 25:9–10. Festival, year, and harmonized placement are proposed.
Luke 4:16–21 · Isaiah 61:1–2 · Leviticus 25:9–10Tabernacles AD 27
John 7:2, 10–14. Year assigned within this reconstruction.
John 7:2, 10–14Dedication, winter AD 27–28
John 10:22–23.
John 10:22–23Following Dedication
John 10:40–42.
John 10:40–42Before the final Passover
John 11:1–54.
John 11:1–54Final approach; precise alignment unassigned
Matthew 19:1; 20:17–34.
Matthew 19:1 · 20:17–34Saturday, April 24, AD 28; proposed Nisan 10
Matthew 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:28–44; John 12:1, 12–15. Conditional calendar assignment.
Matthew 21:1–11 · Mark 11:1–11 · Luke 19:28–44 · John 12:1, 12–15Wednesday, April 28, AD 28; proposed Nisan 14
Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19. Highlight as the preferred candidate.
Matthew 27 · Mark 15 · Luke 23 · John 19Saturday, May 1, AD 28, before sunset
Matthew 12:40; Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20. Saturday timing is interpretive.
Matthew 12:40 · Matthew 28 · Mark 16 · Luke 24 · John 20Sunday, May 2, AD 28
Mark 16:2–6; Luke 24:1–3; John 20:1–9.
Mark 16:2–6 · Luke 24:1–3 · John 20:1–9AD 66
Source the revolt and Cestius Gallus’s campaign against Jerusalem. Distinguish this campaign from Titus’s AD 70 siege.
Source the revolt and Cestius Gallus’s campaign against JerusalemAD 70
Use separate sourced markers where reliable dates are available.
Use separate sourced markers where reliable dates are availableAD 73, proposed endpoint
Retain AD 73 as the model’s endpoint while disclosing the historical AD 73/74 dating question.
Retain AD 73 as the model’s endpoint while disclosing the historical AD 73/74 dating questionApril AD 70
Josephus, Jewish War 5.2–3; April range, civil conversions disputed.
Josephus, Jewish War 5.2–3 · April range, civil conversions disputedAugust AD 70
Josephus, Jewish War 6.4; 10 Loos, competing August civil conversions.
Josephus, Jewish War 6.4 · 10 Loos, competing August civil conversionsSeptember AD 70
Josephus, Jewish War 6.8–10; Gorpiaeus, competing September conversions.
Josephus, Jewish War 6.8–10 · Gorpiaeus, competing September conversions
Why AD 28? Inspect the criteria
The cross tests a fixed proposed chronology: birth, baptism, Jubilee, and historical events do not move. AD 30 meets the forty-year criterion; the cumulative Wednesday, Jubilee and ministry assumptions distinguish the site’s AD 28 preference.
Birth before Herod
Proposed autumn 5 BC birth precedes the commonly accepted 4 BC death. The enrollment reconciliation remains disputed.
Matthew 2:19–23 · Luke 2:1–5About thirty
Baptism AD 26: approximately 29.7 years under the birth hypothesis (default about 29 years 8 months). “About” supplies no rigid tolerance; festivals are not exact historical dates.
Luke 3:23Tiberius’s fifteenth year
Normal sole-reign reckoning points around AD 28–29, conflicting with an AD 26 start. Shared authority in AD 12–13 can yield AD 26–28 under different conventions, but Luke’s use of it is unproved; John must begin before baptism.
Luke 3:1–3Forty wilderness days
Preserved immediately after the proposed baptism; the baptism date remains proposed.
Matthew 4:1–11 · Mark 1:12–13Ministry duration
Approximately 1.92 years from provisional Pentecost placement. Gospel texts do not prescribe an exact duration.
John 2:13 · John 6:4 · John 11:55John’s festival sequence
AD 27 and 28; feeding provisionally at Pentecost AD 27. Anticipation of the final Passover is a disputed reading.
John 2:13 · John 5:1 · John 6:4 · John 7:2 · John 10:22 · John 11:55Jubilee placement
The proposed Jubilee runs Atonement AD 27 to Trumpets AD 28. This is a proposed anchor, not an independently established Jubilee.
Luke 4:16–21 · Leviticus 25:9–10Crucifixion weekday
Wednesday, 4/28, AD 28 (Julian); the Wheel criterion is Wednesday. This tests the selected civil date, not proof of Nisan 14.
Matthew 12:40 · John 19:14Proposed Nisan 14
AD 28 April 28 requires the later lunation and a sunset April 14 month opening. Other selected civil dates need their own calendar reconstruction.
Exodus 12:6 · Leviticus 23:5Resurrection interval
Three full days after the selected date: Saturday, 5/1, AD 28 (Julian). Saturday before sunset is the preferred harmonization; “third day,” Luke 24:21 and Mark 15:42 remain substantial questions.
Matthew 12:40 · Luke 24:21 · Mark 15:42At least forty elapsed years
Applied · 42.27–42.41 years to August–September AD 70, Temple destruction/city fall conversion range. This is the site’s interpretive requirement.
Numbers 14:33–34 · Deuteronomy 8:2Historical intervals
To AD 66: 38 nominal years; AD 70: 42; AD 73: 45. Exact elapsed durations depend on endpoints; all historical events stay fixed.
Luke 19:41–44 · Luke 21:20–24Final prophetic week
AD 73 minus AD 66 is seven year-label units. Exact duration depends on endpoints; AD 74 would change it. AD 70 is marked within the period without asserting an exact midpoint.
Daniel 9:24–27Daniel’s seventieth week · proposed AD 66–73
The Wheel of Ages identifies the seven-year period from the outbreak of the Jewish revolt in AD 66 to the proposed AD 73 fall of Masada as the final week of Daniel’s seventy-weeks prophecy. Jerusalem and its Temple were destroyed within this period in AD 70.
This was a broader conflict, not a continuous siege. Cestius’s AD 66 campaign differs from Titus’s AD 70 siege. AD 70 is not asserted to be the exact midpoint. Masada’s AD 73/74 dating remains debated; seven year labels do not establish exactly seven elapsed years.
The existing study has not supplied the complete calculation linking the preceding sixty-nine weeks to AD 66. If those weeks end at Jesus’ ministry, this proposal requires an intervening gap whose rationale remains to be explained.
Daniel 9:24–27 · Luke 19:41–44 · Luke 21:20–24 · Matthew 24:1–2 · Matthew 24:15–22Calendar assumptions, unresolved questions and sources
Candidate dates are Julian. Wednesday, April 28, AD 28 Julian is April 26 proleptic Gregorian. Hebrew days begin at sunset. The later Nisan lunation could reflect seasonal or agricultural considerations, but no documented AD 28 decision establishes it.
The proposed Pentecost AD 26 baptism, Atonement AD 27 Jubilee and anticipatory reading of John 6:4 remain disputed. The ordinary reading of John’s Passovers requires AD 29 at earliest with the proposed baptism anchor. Matthew’s northern itinerary does not prove that an unreported Jerusalem journey never occurred.
The proposed enrollment before Herod’s death remains difficult to reconcile with Quirinius’s documented AD 6 census. Normal Tiberius reckoning points to AD 28–29 for his fifteenth year; an earlier shared-authority reckoning remains disputed.
Computed astronomy, not historical sightings. This application limits calculations to 2000 BC–AD 3000; ancient event times depend on uncertain Earth rotation (ΔT). Weather, horizon, atmosphere and observer skill affect visibility. Historical times are approximate, not minute-accurate evidence.
Conjunctions and modeled first crescents are different from actual historical sightings and cannot establish the ancient month’s identity.
Josephus chronology and competing civil conversions · Jewish War chronology, with book and section references · Humphreys & Waddington: calendar reconstruction
Josephus: Antiquities 17–18; Jewish War 2.499–555, books 5–6, and 7.252–406. Forty-year ranges use competing August–September AD 70 conversions. Scripture and typological correspondences do not independently establish the date.