Commenting on Helaman 14:20-25, John W. Welch wrote that:
Using both records—the New Testament
and the Book of Mormon—we can state with reasonable certainty that Jesus died
on Thursday 6, AD 30. His age was 33 years and 4 days at the time of his death.
This dating givens profound significance to the timing of the restoration of
Christ’s church through the Prophet Joseph Smith, which occurred exactly 1800
years later. (John W. Welch, Inspiration and Insights from the Book of Mormon:
A Come, Follow Me Commentary [American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications,
Inc., 2023], 236)
In
a sermon dated April 10, 1870, "The Latter-Day Kingdom of God—Divine
Authenticity of the Book of Mormon—External Testimony," Orson Pratt was
recorded by David W. Evans as teaching that:
Now there is something very peculiar
indeed in setting up the kingdom of God in regard to the time. I told you in
the commencement of my remarks that the Lord generally had set times to
accomplish His purposes. It can be reasonably inferred, according to the
revelations that we have in the Book of Mormon, that God organized His kingdom,
precisely to a day, 1800 years after the crucifixion. Of course we do not learn
this directly from the Book of Mormon; but we learn enough there of data on
which to found a calculation. We learn not only from this book, but also from
the antiquities of the Jews, from the New Testament, from historians and from
some of the Mosaic rites that Jesus was crucified about the time of the
Passover, and that happened some time after the vernal equinox; and that 1833
years had passed from the time of the birth of our Savior before the
organization of this latter-day kingdom.
The way we come at this is by the
account given in the Book of Mormon. We find that the ancient Israelites on
this continent had a sign given of the exact time of the crucifixion and a
revelation of the exact time of the Savior's birth, and according to their
reckoning, they made him thirty-three years and a little over three days old
from the time of his birth to the time that he hung upon the cross. There is no
doubt that the year of the ancient Israelites, who inhabited this continent,
differed a little in length from our years; for they probably reckoned their's
somewhat after the manner of the Jews, at Jerusalem, and the Jews had formed
their reckoning from the Egyptians, among whom they dwelt some four hundred
years. The Egyptians reckoned three hundred and sixty-five days to the year;
but the ancient Israelites on this continent, according to the records of the
early Spanish historians, did not consider that three hundred and sixty-five
days made up a full year, and hence at the end of every fifty-two years they added
thirteen days, which is equivalent to adding one day every four years, the same
as we do. If such were the reckoning of the ancient Nephites, then thirty-three
years and three days of their time had passed away between the time of the
Savior's birth and crucifixion. Now these thirty-three years and three days
would, according to our reckoning, lack five days of thirty-three years. When
we come to trace back all these authorities, we find that this very day, on
which I am speaking, would be the close of the year, and that to-morrow, the
11th day of April, would be the anniversary of the very day on which Jesus was
born; and the 6th day of April the very day on which he was crucified precisely
eighteen hundred years prior to the organization of this Church. (JOD
13:126-27)
Elsewhere,
in a sermon "True Christmas and the New Year" (December 29, 1872)
Pratt reiterated his belief Jesus died on April 6th:
. . .
it is all nonsense to celebrate the 25th day of December as the birthday
of Jesus. It will do for a holiday, so you might select any other day for that
purpose. It is generally believed and conceded by the learned, who have
investigated the matter, that Christ was born in April. I have seen several
accounts—some of them published in our periodicals—of learned men in different
nations, in which it is stated that, according to the best of their judgment
from the researches they have made, Christ was crucified on the 6th of April.
(JOD 15:256)
