NASA’s recent discovery may help establish the exact date of Jesus’s death.
Regardless of one’s belief in his historical existence, it is notable how some biblical events align with historical occurrences. For instance, the cloth claimed to be used in Jesus’s burial has been tested and dated. There is also evidence suggesting the possibility of events like Noah’s flood. However, confirming the historical existence of Jesus can be challenging.
Despite this, with NASA’s findings, we can now identify the specific day of his crucifixion. Traditionally, it is believed that Jesus died and resurrected around April, coinciding with Easter. Over 2,000 years, maintaining such details accurately is challenging.
Before NASA’s contribution, it was widely accepted that Jesus died on Good Friday, April 3, AD 33, around 3 pm, shortly before Passover and the Sabbath.
The space agency’s astronomical models support this date. NASA’s data has identified a specific day and time of Jesus’s death, correlating with scriptural accounts. According to a passage in Matthew 27:45: “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land,” describing the sky during Jesus’s crucifixion.
Coincidentally, a lunar eclipse occurred on April 3, 33 AD. NASA uncovered this in the 1990s, noting, ‘Christian texts mention that the Moon turned to blood after Jesus’s crucifixion—potentially referring to a lunar eclipse, during which the Moon takes on a reddish hue’.
Biblical scholars Colin Humphreys and W Graeme Waddington from Oxford University highlighted that a prophecy in Joel from the Old Testament, predicting the moon turning to blood and the day of the Lord, aligns with the events accompanying Jesus’s death.
Their study indicated that the exact date of the Crucifixion has been long-debated, with no consensus on the year or day until utilizing astronomical calculations to reconstruct the first-century Jewish calendar. This allowed dating a lunar eclipse mentioned in biblical accounts following the Crucifixion.
NASA’s website also references this historical astronomical event, stating: “Christian texts mention that the Moon turned to blood after Jesus’s crucifixion – potentially referring to a lunar eclipse, during which the Moon takes on a reddish hue. Using this textual source, scholars narrowed down a possible date of crucifixion to Friday, April 3, 33 C.E. because a lunar eclipse occurred that day.”
Now, with this information, we have a clearer understanding.