In our attempts to reconstruct the true chronology of the New Age to replace the lengthened official chronology, we have noticed that the most plausible date of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ is 837 AD.

In the same year, moreover, in the same Easter days – Halley’s comet was observed. This comet has been studied today better than others and its orbit has been calculated quite accurately.

In 837, Halley’s comet approached the Earth at record close range. Its perihelion, that is, its closest point to the Sun, was reached on February 28; its closest point to Earth and maximum brightness in the sky was reached on April 11. So it was observed in the spring of 837, just at the supposed time of the Lord’s Passion.

The Halley’s comet apparition in 837 must have been one of the brightest and most grandiose comet apparitions ever observed. The huge tail of the comet stretched across the sky, second in brightness only to the Sun and the Moon.

What does the Bible say about the heavenly phenomena that accompany both the First and Second Coming of Christ?

The prophet Joel declares, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call” (Joel 2:28-32).

At Christ’s coming – both the First and Second, there will be signs both mystical (a spiritual awakening among people on earth), and optical – visible to the eye on earth and in heaven: “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:12-16).

So we have a list of the signs of the Yahweh’s day:

1. Spiritual revival.
2. Mystical phenomena.
3. A darkening of the light of the moon and the sun.
4. A shuddering of heaven and earth.
5. Blood.
6. Fire.
7. Pillars of smoke.

In the Gospels and Acts there is a description of the signs of Yahweh’s day predicted by Joel that accompanied the Lord’s Passion:

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:45-54).

Mark describes the same thing, only in a shorter version:

“And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.  And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:33-39).

Luke repeats Mark’s narrative more briefly:

“And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man” (Luke 23:44-47).

John does not mention heavenly phenomena at all but speaks of other things:

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.  Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.  But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:  But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.  And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.  For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.  And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced” (John 19:30-37).

Acts also describes important signs from Joel’s prophecy:

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

Let us not consider here the possible nature of some celestial and earthly phenomena. So it could be an earthquake or a very black cloud, a rare phenomenon for this time in Palestine – that is not the subject of our work. But let’s just compare Joel’s prophecy and the writings of the New Testament.

1. Spiritual revival.	1. Description of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles.
2. Mystical apparitions.	2. The resurrection of the dead, the gifts of the Spirit in those people on whom He ascended.
3. The darkening of the light of the moon and sun.	3. Also mentioned in the Gospels.
4. The shaking of heaven and earth.	4. Also an earthquake or similar shaking is described in the Gospels.
5. Blood.	5. The blood of Christ poured out on the earth, well the “moon in the blood”, the changing color of the moon.
6. Fire.	6. The Spirit ascended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire.
7. Pillars of smoke.	7. Nowhere in the New Testament is this phenomenon explicitly mentioned.

So where are the pillars of smoke? They were not there and the prophecy was not fulfilled?

Here is what the apostle Peter says:

“And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it” (Acts 2:12-24).

Peter quotes the whole passage from Joel (here it is quoted from the Septuagint, but Peter is clearly quoting in Hebrew as he is addressing the Jews) and says that they were witnesses to all this. So Peter makes no exception and there were all the signs of Joel, including the pillars of smoke עָשָֽׁן  תִֽימֲר֖וֹת (in the Septuagint ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ “smoking, smoke vaporizing”). The Jews and generally “the whole earth” saw it all.

How to be? Let us first consider, are the pillars of smoke an earthly phenomenon or a heavenly one? An important aspect of such a sign is that it must have been visible over a large area. At least in the territory of Palestine. Something either had to be burning heavily – a huge fire, or a volcanic eruption. But there is nothing in Palestine to burn for a big fire. A fire is not a pillar of smoke, but solid smoke. And we do not know of any volcano in that region. Especially since “pillars” is plural here.

Maybe a pillar of smoke, or rather several pillars were in the sky?  Anybody, who knows Torah, here should catch himself a certain thought. The fact is that Exodus from Egypt and further travels of Jews in desert was accompanied by presence of Yahweh by night in form of pillar of fire and by day in form of cloudy pillar: “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people” (Exodus 13:21,22).

However, “Adonai ehad”, the Lord is one and the pillar was one, while in Joel the pillars are mentioned in the plural. So it makes no sense to look for parallels here. Besides, the words used here are different. The pillar of cloud עָנָן֙ בְּעַמּ֤וּד, first, not smoke, but cloud, referring specifically to the cloud עָנָן. Secondly, the word pillar is translated here by another word עַמּוּד. Which is used to denote a pillar, a column, but not merely a pillar, but something powerful, substantial like a platform or a buttress. In the Bible, it also speaks of pillars or foundations of earth and heaven (Job.26:11, Ps.74:4). The word comes from the verb עָמַד to become, to stand, to take up a firm position. That is why God appeared as a powerful pillar, a mighty pillar at the same time, quite thick in size, like a cloud.

However, Joel speaks of עָשָֽׁן תִֽימֲר֖וֹת. Clearly pillars of smoke עָשָׁן, not cloud, not mist, but pure smoke. The pillar here is תִּימָרָה and is usually translated the same as pillar or column, but with features. It comes from the word תֹּמֶר, a palm-tree. So the pillar is like a palm-tree.

Let’s look at a palm-tree:

We see a very tall and thin, slender and beautiful tree. That is why the word «palm tree», Tamar, became a woman’s name. It is hard to call such a thing a “pillar”. I would translate the phrase in Joel as “streams of smoke” or “smoke palms”.

Note that this term is used only twice in the Old Testament. In Joel and in the Songs of Solomon: “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?” (Songs 3:6). And there the same phrase “pillars of smoke” (עָשָֽׁן תִֽימֲר֖וֹת) is used in both cases.

In terms of a literal reading, the Songs deal with the love between the girl and King Solomon The girl is compared to palm pillars of smoke in the background of the desert. But already in antiquity there was a deeper meaning, since the girl, the bride, is a biblical sign pointing to the People of God, the Church. And its relationship with God was compared to a marriage. It is the same in the Gospel. Christ is the bridegroom-Saviour, and the girl or girls, are the People of God.  The Church waits for a saving marriage – union with God (see the parables of Christ). Thus the signs in the form of the pillars/smoke streams in Joel’s description of the coming of God are signs pointing to the people of God, the Church, which has waited for the saving Advent.

From the context of Joel and Peter, the Day of Yahweh is for the whole world, so the signs of this event must be visible to the whole world. I think the reader is already beginning to guess what may be in the sky resembling a long and thin jet of smoke visible to the whole world. It is a comet.

Why shouldn’t it be called directly – a comet? The fact is that in ancient times a comet was called a tailed or hairy star – κομήτης “hairy”.  And there is no particular name in ancient Hebrew for such a rare phenomenon as the comet. So they used images like palm and smoke.

Comets are rare, frightening, but not unusual. Joel, on the other hand, speaks of a unique sign for a unique event – the coming of Yahweh into the world. However, in 837 the phenomenon of Halley’s comet was unusual, exceptionally bright and spectacular, perhaps the brightest and most spectacular in all of human history.

Joel speaks in the plural of ‘streams of smoke’, or ‘comets’. Of course, the possibility of several comets appearing at the same time is not excluded. But that is probably not the case here.

The tail of a bright comet is often bifurcated. Science explains this by the fact that it consists of ionising gas and dust, which have different properties and behave differently, in particular, bifurcate. Here, for example, is the notorious 1997 Hale-Bopp comet with a bifurcated tail.

We see not one, but two palm-like streams of smoke in the sky. But that’s not all. In the case of comet 837, we are most likely dealing with a very rare but spectacular phenomenon. In some cases comets due to the specific processes in their nucleus start to emit not two but several tails when approaching the Sun.

For example, the large comet of 1861:

But especially noteworthy is the famous six-tailed comet Shezo from 1744:

Let’s compare it to a palm grove

Or with the top of a palm tree

Can you imagine a picture like that, but much brighter and bigger – half the size of the sky? It could well be a sign of the coming of the Saviour.

Let me remind you that the oldest Christian iconography knows the comet as a sign of the Lord’s Passion.

Some will ask a question – why official history does not tell us anything neither about a comet as a sign of Christ’s coming, nor about true dating of this event. The answer according to the Bible is that worldly official history is written under the dictation of the prince of this world, the father of lies, Satan. Therefore it is difficult to search for the truth about the events of Christ there.

Signs like those listed in Joel will also precede the Second Coming of Christ:

“Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24: 26-31).

 “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev 6:12-17).

But before this the Devil, through his servant the Antichrist, will imitate these signs to seduce people: “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (Rev.13:13,14).

Therefore, let us be vigilant and study biblical astronomy.