ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE Most Important Day of the Year? When?

To answer that question, we need to understand two things.  First, in Bible times, a new day began in the evening, at sunset, and ending the next day at sunset.  A day, therefore, ran from evening to evening. -Leviticus 23:32.

Second, the Bible does not use the calendar that we use today.  Rather than using months with such names as March and April, the Bible speaks of such  months as Adar and Nisan.  (Esther 3:7)  The Jews counted their months from new moon to new moon.  They celebrated the Passover on the 14th day of the first month of their calendar, Nisan.  (Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16) That day, Nisan 14, was the same date that the Romans impaled our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died 1,545 years after the first Passover meal was celebrated.  What a  special date Nisan 14 is!

But what date corresponds to Nisan 14 on our calendar today?  A simple calculation help us to arrive at the proper date.  Nisan 1 starts when the new moon nearest the spring equinox (the start of the spring in the Northern Hemisphere) becomes visible at sunset in Jerusalem.  If we count 14 days from that event, we arrive on Nisan 14.  This date is usually the day of the full moon.  Using this Biblical method, Nisan 14 this year begins at sunset on Sunday, April 17, 2011.

This year, Jehovah's Witnesses are therefore preparing to gather together with all those who wish to remember Jesus' death.  They cordially invite you to associate  with them.  Please contact Jehovah's Witnesses locally to find out the time and location of this gathering.  They will be commemorating this even, not in the morning, or in the afternoon, but in the evening after sunset.  Why?   Because according to the Bible, this is to be an "evening meal."  ( 1 Corinthians 11:25)  The evening of Sunday, April, 17, 2011, is the anniversary of the evening that Jesus started this special commemoration 1,978 years ago.  It is also the start of the same day, Nisan 14, that Jesus died.  What better day could there be to remember his death?

Next time: Conclusion of ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE Most Important Day of the Year? How to Prepare

The Watchtower, 2011