This is really cool

I absolutely love it when I learn new things. Or precisely when I read something and realize I hadn't noticed that before. Let me elaborate, while I attempt to pull this all together for you, so please bear with me.

I just finished reading Warren Wiersbe's Be Basic, which is a study in Genesis 1-11. Wiersbe makes a connection in the end notes for chapter nine that I had not realized before. One that connects the capital event of Passion Week with these first chapters of Genesis.

Let's attempt to build a bridge, shall we?

Good.

1And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
2The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. -Genesis 8:1-5 (King James Version)

18For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
22Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. - 1 Peter 3:18-22 (King James Version)

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Okay, now you are justifiably wondering what these two passages in Scripture have to do with each other? What is the connection here?

I'm so glad you asked.

Since the time of the Exodus, Israel has operated with two calendars. The civil calendar began in the seventh month (Tishri) which is mid-September to mid-October on our calendar. The religious calendar began with Passover on Nisan 14 (mid-March to mid-April on our calendar). While Nisan is the first month of the Jewish religious year, it is the seventh month on the civil calendar. The seventh month in later years became very important for Israel because they celebrated the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Now here's the bridge: Jesus died on the cross on Nisan 14 and rose from the dead three days later, which would be Nisan 17, our Easter. What does the Genesis text say? That the ark came to rest on Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. So then, on what date did Jesus resurrection occur? On the seventeenth day of the seventh month!

Coincidence? I think not.

Do I fully understand the significance of this connection? Do you? I certainly don't, at least not at the moment. But I do know that this is just another confirmation that by taking the time to read and understand the Word of God and taking it at face value, Scripture comes together in such a marvelous way.

Wasn't that cool?