Ancient Words Ministries · Messiah Project

The Appointed Times Series

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Active Calendar Settings

Calendar Preferences

These settings are your preferences for this session.

1 — Calendar Method for Determining Appointed Time Dates

🌙 Observational Hebrew Calendar

Abib/Nisan 1 is determined by the first visible crescent moon after the vernal equinox, observed from Jerusalem (or your selected locale). This is the closest astronomically computable approximation to the original biblical reckoning. This is the recommended setting.

Crescent anchor:

✡️ Rabbinic / Modern Jewish Calendar

Uses the calculated Molad (mean conjunction) rather than crescent sighting. The modern Jewish calendar (established ~359 AD by Hillel II) follows a fixed 19-year cycle. Dates can differ by 1–2 days from the observational calendar.

✝️ Western Church Easter Cycle

Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21 (Council of Nicaea, 325 AD). Note: Western Easter can differ from Hebrew Passover by up to five weeks.

2 — Passover / Midweek Service Observance

📅 Exact Hebrew Date (Abib/Nisan 14, whatever the weekday)

Observe Passover on the actual biblical date — at sunset beginning Abib/Nisan 14, regardless of day of week.

🕍 Thursday of Passover Week

Schedule the Passover service on the Thursday of Passover week — preserving the three days and nights imagery of the crucifixion and resurrection.

✝️ Good Friday (Friday of Passover Week)

Observe a traditional Good Friday service during Passover week, following Western liturgical tradition.

3 — First Fruits & Pentecost Reckoning

☀️ Sadducean / Temple Reckoning (always a Sunday)

First Fruits is offered on the first Sunday after the weekly Sabbath within Unleavened Bread. Pentecost always falls on a Sunday, 50 days later — matching Acts 2. This is the recommended setting.

🌾 Rabbinic / Pharisaic Reckoning (Abib/Nisan 16, any weekday)

First Fruits is the day after Passover (Abib/Nisan 16). Pentecost (Shavuot) falls on Sivan 6, which can be any day of the week.

About Date Calculations

Observational Hebrew Calendar Dates are computed using the Jean Meeus astronomical algorithms (Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd ed.). The new year (Abib/Nisan 1) begins with the first nocturnal sighting of the silver crescent moon — the earliest visible edge of the new moon — following the vernal equinox. Crescent visibility is evaluated using the Yallop/Odeh criteria, the professional standard for predicting naked-eye lunar sightings from a given locale. The fall appointed times (Tishri 1, Atonement, Tabernacles) are calculated from the seventh new moon after Abib/Nisan 1 by the same method.

A note on the original reckoning: The oldest biblical method also required the barley crop to be in the abib stage — Hebrew אָבִיב, meaning "green in the head" — before the new year could be declared. If the barley was not yet mature, an intercalary month was inserted. Because that agricultural determination cannot be replicated by calculation, the crescent-moon method used here represents the closest astronomically computable approximation available to us.

The upcoming messages will explore key events in Jesus' ministry that fulfill ancient prophecies of the Messiah in the Appointed Times through video-teaching and images from the land of Israel. You will find the videos and the link for the book below.

The Messiah in the Appointed Times Book

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