How Long Was Jesus’ Ministry?
May 16, 2010 · Posted in Bible, Emails
A friend asked:
Tim, where do you come down on Jesus ministry being only One year in length and not three years ? Is there a source I can read more about it ?
The length of Jesus’ ministry is not a topic most Christians wonder about. They are universally taught that it was 3½ years long. What they do not realize without personal investigation is that this is only one traditional teaching of several possibilities ranging from 1 – 3 years in length.
I, too, did not realize this for decades as a believer…until meeting Michael Rood. He was teaching a ministry of Jesus of only about a year, or 62 weeks to be exact (70 if you include Jesus’ work up until Pentecost as a glorified man appearing intermittently). This fell in line with what Daniel 9 says about the Messiah being cut off after 62 weeks (Dan 9:26). While the weeks are traditionally interpreted as groups of seven years, not literal weeks of days, in prophecy, there often are dual fulfillments. This allows for both weeks of years and (normal) weeks of days to be intended by the passage. In other words, Jesus died after exactly 62 weeks in ministry as the ministering servant Messiah (from the day John baptized him when he was baptized by the Holy Spirit descending as a dove).
Origins of the 70 Week Ministry
When I asked Michael where he got this theory, he told me about a conference he went to where a couple scholars were teaching it. They claimed that the oldest Greek manuscript fragment for part of the Gospel of John had a different reading than most Bibles follow. I think it was John 6 which in most Bibles has:
John 6:4 (HCSB) Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near.
However, in this oldest fragment that the Critical Apparatus of the Nestle Aland had for that chapter, that verse was missing. If the oldest fragment preserved the original, then that verse was not original to John but added later by some scribe.
Michael Rood was intrigued but thought at the time that these scholars were just trying to be controversial to make a name for themselves. Later when he tried to resolve difficulties in The Chronological Gospels (his next book), this bit of trivia came in handy to resolve there being huge gaps in the narrative.
The gaps occurred because certain verses in John inserted extra Passovers without any account of Jesus observing them nor the other of the intervening three annual pilgrimage feasts which the Torah required all males to attend (Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles). If these Passover accounts were accurate, then Jesus would be breaking Torah which he said he came to fulfill and not to destroy. It would also simply be inconsistent with all the other festivals we see recorded that he always attended like the obedient Jew that he was.
Michael found that two of the four Passovers ascribed to Jesus’ 3½ year ministry were not defensible. John 6:4 did not exist and John 5:1 generic festival reference was not Passover as is normally assumed, but another festival. This left two Passovers, the one soon after the start of his ministry in John 2:23 and the one he died on. Thus, rather than a ministry of over three years, Jesus had a ministry of just over one year (62 weeks) just as some Church fathers had already said.
Why Getting Jesus’ Ministry Length Right Matters
Like Michael, I was not looking for an alternative theory for Jesus ministry either when I encountered it. It just fell into my lap and I accepted it as superior to the 3½ year ministry theory on that merit alone. I did not realize then how key it was that I learned this.
Years later in other research I found compelling research for the correct years of Jesus birth and death: Fall 3 BCE and Spring 30 AD, respectively. These years only leave room for a life span of 31 years, not the 33 years that you need to make a 3½ year ministry beginning at age 30 fit. Only a short one year ministry works. If I still believed the 3½ year ministry at the time of the discovery of those two data points, I probably would have rejected one of this as wrong when all along it was the 3½ year ministry that was wrong. (Note: when you find the difference between 3 BCE and 30 AD be sure to subtract 1 for no year zero! And another 1 because Jesus died six months before his birthday that year. If you don’t, you’ll end up with an age at death of 33 or 32 instead of 31.)
This year of 29 AD for the start of Jesus’ ministry was later confirmed when I discovered that Jesus’ ministry must begin in a sabbath year. This is derived from his public reading of Isaiah 61:1-2, a declaration of a sabbath year in Luke 4:18-20 at the start of his ministry. When I researched sabbath year records, I found the best-supported theory had a sabbath year fall from Spring 28 to Spring 29 AD (documented in my book). This sabbath year cycle is the basis for all the many possible years of fulfillment of the 70th week on, since Jesus must return in a sabbath year, the final year of the 70th Week. (In this way, his two comings are parallel. Both come in the sabbath year end of one of the 70 Prophetic Weeks: the 62nd or 69th and the 70th respectively.)
If you want to learn more on Jesus one year ministry, check out Michael Rood’s Jonah Code.
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- Debbie Says: May 18th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
You and Michael should join forces and do speaking engagements together, you are two peas in a pod!
- Wil Says: May 18th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Is it possible Monte Judah and Michael Rood are the 2 Witnesses?
- Debbie Says: May 22nd, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Wil….I do hope you are kidding!
- Kay Says: June 11th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Not only did the year Jesus stood to read Isaiah 61:1-2 have to be a Sabbath year; it had to be a Jubilee Year because He claimed He had come to free the captives, set the prisioners free!
- Tim McHyde Says: June 11th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
It could not be both a sabbath year and jubilee. Only one or the other. Debt slaves were released in sabbath years, too. Jubilee year does not fit since the 69th week and 70th week end in sabbath years. Jubilee years can only begin a seven year cycle, not end it.
- Barry Says: June 19th, 2010 at 10:13 am
The word for “weeks” starting in Daniel 9:24 means “sevens”;in the context, it obviosly means “seven year periods.70 weeks are determinded upon thy people means 490 years. This 490-year period is divided into three components,49 years,434 years, and 7 years,respectively. The first was to be occupied with the actual completion of the streets and walls of the city in “troublous times,” as described in the books of Nehemiah and Malachi. Perhaps most significantly, the 49-year period did terminate with Malachi’s prophecy, which marked the close of the Old Testament revelation. After the 49-year period was to be another period of 434 years before Messiah would come as Prince of Israel. This period between the two Testaments was marked by the fulfillment of some of Daniel’s other prophecies-the fall of Persia, the rise of Greece, then the great Roman Empire and, in Israel, the conflicts with Egypt and Syria and the wars of the Maccabees. This 62 weeks means 434 years. This was completeded when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a ass. Matthew 21:1-11. This had nothing to do with his ministry. Now after a gap of 2000 years known as the Church age or the dispensation of Grace. There are still 7-years that has to be completed, known as Danials 70th week. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist
- Duane Says: June 29th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
My church bible teacher is Pre Wrath and my wife is pre trib. Over the years I have come to know and understand both sides of the coin, Wife sees the importance of the Feasts and bible teacher doesn’t think its such a requierment.Then I present them The Rood Awakening and now they both think I am nuts.
- Tim McHyde Says: June 29th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Yes, that type of hard-hitting Bible research is liable to make Christians who are not ready for it uncomfortable. That’s why in my book I recommend people not share it with family unless they ask for it first (1Pet 3:15)
- Melissa in Texas Says: August 14th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
A lamb of the first year, without spot or blemish! The Old Covenant sacrifices through all those years as a tupos/type. “The Lamb” had to fulfill the tupos/type. I knew God’s planning couldn’t be sloppy!!! I’ve pondered this for a long time, thank you for showing God’s wonderful, matchless Word to be just that. I’m thrilled.
- Tim McHyde Says: August 14th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Melissa, He was in his 32nd year when he died, not his 1st or even his 31st . I don’t think his age at death was prophesied in any way.
- Kepha Says: October 31st, 2011 at 9:59 am
Interesting topic. If you look at the law the lamb/goat had to be under a year old. So it is possible that Yahshua’s ministry was only a year. After all if he fulfilled the law of the unblemished lamb, and he was most definitely older than a year, it is possible that his ministry was a year. I will have to read Michael’s report, sounds interesting. Some other things to note: in Luke 3:23we find a scripture that translated properly would read: “And Yahshua the same, to be the first, chief, leader, ruler, to begin, to exist, to be present, to take place, as it were, like as, nearly, thirty years, of the space and time which a thing has been done (in this case him being a chief ruler,leader), being (even as was the custom) the son of Yahseph.” Properly translated this scripture would line up with Yahchanan (John) 8:57 “Then said the Jews unto him, You art not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Why didn’t they say you are thirty years old? Is it possible that Yahshua was older than traditional history tells us? That he was nearly 50? It would line up with the Law! Numbers 5:3;4:23,30,35 Something to think about and discuss…
- Sam Says: October 31st, 2011 at 11:08 am
Amen, Tim.
BTW, shouldn’t “This year of 29 AD for the start of Jesus’ ministry” be 28AD instead? Spring 30AD minus 1.5 years brings us back to Fall 28AD.
In Christ,
Sam
- Tim McHyde Says: October 31st, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Well, 62 weeks is not quite 1.5 years or 18 months. It’s 1.19 years or around a year and 2 months. So it would take you back from Passover (March/April), 30AD to probably January, 29AD, which puts it in the sabbath year of 28/29 AD.
- sam Says: October 31st, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Thank you, Tim. Yeah, 62 weeks isn’t 1.5 year long. I’ve done a wrong calculation! :p
- The Gap/Delay in the Seventy Weeks Before the (Entire) 70th Week · Tim McHyde . com Says: December 31st, 2012 at 2:04 pm
[…] idea that Jesus had a 3½ year ministry instead of the 62 week ministry implied by Daniel’s “after 62 weeks he shall be cut off.” The 62 weeks are a […]
- Exactly how long was Jesus’ ministry? | ethanponder Says: February 3rd, 2013 at 2:15 pm
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