JESUS'
SEVEN YEAR
EARTHLY MINISTRY
Jesus had a seven year earthly ministry.
Most Bible scholars would like to argue with that statement. It takes a bit of study, but most everyone says that Jesus' ministry was three and a half years.
They arrive at this number using his birthdate as 2 BC and his crucifixion in 33 AD. The half year comes from his being born on Rosh Hashanah in the fall and his death at Passover in the spring. His ministry began when he reached the official age of 30 for serving as a priest. He was thirty when John baptized him. My guess is that he was baptized on Rosh Hashanah, also.
All that is pretty clear from the Bible, but how can we say Jesus had a seven year ministry? We'll get to that, but first we'll look at what God has shown us about the number seven.
I have never seen a number chart of Bible numbers that doesn't say the number seven is the number of "completion."
Genesis 1:1 has not only seven words, but those seven words, as told in the ancient pictographs of Hebrew, tell the story of the coming redeemer. Starting in Genesis 1:2, God re-created the earth in seven days, including His day of rest. God instituted seven Feasts for the people to observe. He outlined seven years to finish the Great Tribulation. Daniel prophesied 70 years for the people of Israel. Look any where you want and you'll find that the number seven symbolizes a complete work. Ivan Panin did a verification of the whole Bible by seeking out the schemes of the number seven that are "encoded" in the Bible.
Then Jesus' ministry was incomplete, with only three and a half years. What happened to the other three and a half years?
We might say that Jesus earthly ministry wasn't only three and a half years, but also included the time after the resurrection as part of that ministry. If so, then we can surmise that the time spent was close to half a year. Paul says that Jesus was seen by many people, including 500. He spent time walking with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He visited them after walking through the locked door. Luke says Jesus was with the Apostles 40 days, teaching them. He went to see them in Galillee and cooked them some fish. There was a period of time when he was in heaven and then came back to earth. I think six months is a reasonable guess as to the time spent.
This brings us very near the time of the event on the road to Damascus with Paul and his companions. Three days later, Paul receives his sight and starts his sojourn in Arabia. More than once Paul says that he was face fo face with Jesus. Once he clearly says that he saw him and other times he says he received a revelation straight from Jesus.
Intrinsically, we know that Paul is the interpreter of the Old Testament. Paul quotes the Old Testament more than all the other writers, and Jesus himself, in the New Testament. And this is just those times when it says, "as it is written." This was not due to his education at the feet of the most prominent scholar of the time, Gamaliel. That part of Paul's education would have been from the existing Jewish frame of teaching. That frame did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. But clearly, the whole Old Testament is a treatise on Christ. There are hundreds of symbolic "types of Christ" in the Old Testament. The Ark, the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, the Rock that gave the Isrealites water in the desert. The Bread from Heaven, the manna. The tree that Moses used to sweeten the waters at Marah; a type of the cucifixion giving the "water of life".
Paul quotes the Old Testament 121 times plus 50 clear historical references. All the other writers only quote the Old Testament 51 times. Jesus quotes the Old Testament 75 times, for a total of only 116. The resaon Paul quotes the Old Testament more than anyone else is because he had to re-interpret all the types of Christ for the people who were ignorant of them. He also had to show that there was a new covenant that was brought into effect by Jesus and his resurrection.
The question MUST be asked, "Where did this Jewish scholar learn all this information?" It wasn't from Gamaliel. We have no record of how Paul made this 180 degree turn from the old traditional teaching to this "New Way." Jesus didn't give it to him when he was blinded. We must also decide who could have had all this knowledge to impart to Paul. It was from Someone who had first hand knowledge of the message of the Old Testament. Jesus.
Let's take another look at Paul. Some scholars have taken this passage in Galatians to indicate that Paul spent three years before going to preach.
Gal 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Gal 1:17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Gal 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
I remember a TV series on the Bible that mentioned this three years in the Arabia. And Dr. Gene Scott always taught that Paul was taught personally by the risen Christ for three years in the desert.
If Paul spent three years in Damascus preaching, what did he preach? Did he go around telling pepole that he was blinded by Jesus? That wouldn't have been according to the mission that Jesus gave him. All Paul's subsequent preaching was clearly of one piece. So, did he preach that same message at Damascus? How could he have learned all that stuff overnight? I have no troule interpreting Paul as saying that he spent those three years in Arabia before returning to Damascus.
So put it all together. Three and a half years from Jesus' baptism to his crucifixion. One half year from the resurrection to the blinding of Paul. Three years teaching Paul the Old Testament.
Jesus had a seven year, a complete, earthly ministry.
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