Question:
What proof is there that Christ’s ministry lasted three and one-half years?
Answer:
There is this: First, the prophecy in Dan. 9:27, predicting that in the midst of the last week of years, of the seventy weeks, our Lord should be cut off, or offered as a sacrifice, therein meeting the types. Secondly, the number of Passovers that Christ attended, as given in the book of John. The first of these is noted in John 2:13, before which Christ had had several months’ ministry since His baptism; the second Passover, in John 5:1, “a feast of the Jews.” The great feast was the Passover. The third Passover is noted in John 6:4, and the fourth and last Passover, at which Jesus was crucified, in John 12:1. This would make three and one-half years for His ministry, beginning in the autumn of A.D. 27 and closing in the spring of A.D. 31.