Was Jesus in the grave for exactly three days and three nights?- (I.e., buried at *sunset on Wednesday and arose at sunset on Saturday):
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Alternately could it be that both the women and Joseph understood that when Jesus said "it is finished" He fulfilled all the "annual" feast's so they no longer felt it was breaking the law to work (i.e., carry a dead body) after sundown on a "annual" Sabbath as now they only had to keep the "weekly" Sabbath beginning at sunset on Friday the 6th day? E.g., if Jesus died on Wed (before sunset) and Joseph and the women laid Him to rest that night or Thursday, the women could have come back in the morning (still Thursday) and applied spices leaving before sunset or the beginning of Friday in order to prepare for the weekly Sabbath on the 7th day or Sat. The women then came back early in the morning (before sunrise) on the 1st day of the week or Sunday but Jesus was not in the tomb; he arose sometime on the 7th day or on the weekly Sabbath day. This would allow for 3 full days or 72 hours for Jesus to be in the tomb. John 19:31 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"...); or after sunset, that Thursday began the "high day." John and Luke explain this "high day" was the beginning of the 7 day feast of Passover:
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John 19:14 "Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover", The Passover is often thought of as a specific day (or more accurately
one of two specific days), but it was also a 7 day period of time which started on the 14th and ended on the 20th.
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Luke 22:1 "Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover". The term 'Passover' was also a name applied to the 7 day period in which there would be 7nights of feasting but with unleavened bread.
Let's now talk about a "day" or a 24 hour period of time whether it is from sunset to sunrise or from midnight to midnight"
Matt 12:
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
This was the ONLY "sign" that Jesus said he
would give to the Pharisees, not raising people from the dead, healing the
sick or feeding thousands with a few loves and fishes. There this "sign" had
to be fulfilled literally or Jesus would be a liar.
Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things,
and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be
killed, and after three days rise again." Jesus did not say, "After two nights and
one day I will rise again." He said, "After three days I will rise again."
He meant three days and three nights--a full 72 hours. But how could this be
if both Protestants and Catholics proclaim "good Friday" (or Jesus died on
Friday) and "Easter Sunday" or when Jesus was supposed to have arisen from
the grave?
Matt 27: 62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
We can read here that even the
Pharisees understood that Jesus meant 72 hours or 3 days.
However modern interpreters say Jesus was
crucified on Good Friday, buried about sundown the same day, and arose on
the next Sunday about daybreak in contradiction to the Scriptures! This is
only two nights and one day.
"Theologians" today, in order to get the Bible out of an embarrassing
situation, allege that the Jews counted a part of a day as the whole day.
Such passages as Genesis 42:17, 18; I Samuel 30:12, 13; Esther 4:15-17; I
Kings 20:29; and I Chronicles 10:5 are cited to prove this theory. However,
none of these passages prove "three days and three nights" means two nights
and one day. Only one of them even contains the expression "three days and
three nights" I Samuel 30:12. But there is absolutely no reason to give
"three days and three nights" in I Samuel 30:12 any meaning except their
literal meaning. Divine inspiration declares the young man "had eaten no
bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights." What authority has
any man to contradict these plain words by affirming the time was not so
long? The expression, "three days, night and day", in Esther 4:15, is not
the same wording as "three days and three nights" in Matthew 12:40. There is
no mention of any nights at all in the other passages; therefore, they give
no evidence as to the meaning of "three days and three nights." There is no
reason to take any of the passages cited in any sense except their literal
sense, unless one has a theory to prove.
Granting that some of the Jews did count a part of the day for a whole day,
can it be proven that this is what Jesus meant? Can it be proven that the
Jews counted a part of a day as a whole day and a whole night? Where is the
proof in the inspired Word?
Yet, proponents of the Good Friday tradition want us to believe that a part
of a day meant a whole day and a whole night. Men who believe the Bible to
be literally true dare not accept such reasoning.
The word "day" in the Bible in its primary sense means the interval between
dawn and darkness.
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night"
Genesis 1:5. (Compare Genesis 1:14-18; 8:22.)
This is the first occurrence of the word "day" in the Bible, and the Lord
God himself gives its meaning. Jesus believed there were 12 hours in a day
when
He asked in John 11:9:
"Are there not twelve hours in the day? Jesus made a day and night consist of 24 hours. Can there be any higher
authorities than the Lord God and Jesus Christ? Do not such authorities
settle the matter for all true believers?
In the Bible, a day is the interval of time comprising the period between two
successive risings of the sun (Genesis 7:24; Job 3:16). The Hebrews reckoned
it from evening to evening - Exodus 12:
18 In
the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall
eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at
even. And in
Leviticus 23:
32 It shall be unto you a
sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the
month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
The first 12-hour night began at sunset and ended at sunrise;
it was counted before
the 12-hour day. "And the evening and the morning were the first day" Genesis 1:5.
Hence a new day would have began at 6 o'clock in the evening (assuming Eden
was located at the Equator) and lasted until the same
time the next evening - a period of 24 hours - a 12-hour night followed by a
12-hour day
The Bible said that Jesus was crucified on
"the day before the Sabbath":
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Mark 15: 42 And now when the even was come, because it was the "preparation", that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
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Luke 23: 54 And that day was the "preparation", and the sabbath drew on.
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John 19:14 And it was the "preparation" of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!,
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John 19:31 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",)
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John 19: 42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' "preparation day"; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
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Preparation day = the day before the sabbath
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High Day = the first day of Unleavened Bread, an annual holy day
All four gospel writers mention that Jesus was tried, convicted, crucified and buried on a "preparation" day. One would assume that they meant a Friday, the weekly preparation day before the Sabbath however other days must be considered "preparation days" as well.
Exodus 16:23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD:. The Jews later considered this to be so important that they made sure each of the holy days (i.e. God's feasts , which are also Sabbaths), was preceded by a "preparation: day. Since these holy days can fall on any day of the week, the "preparation" day can also fall on any day of the week as well; this is very relevant to the Passover. Not only is the Passover a festival in its own right, it also functions as the "preparation" day for a holy day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. According to the calculated Hebrew Calendar, Passover can fall on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sabbath.
Clearly, our Savior was crucified on a Passover day - Matthew 26: 2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Thus, it was on one of these days of the week that Jesus was killed and buried. But this Sabbath was not the weekly Sabbath but an annual, holy day Sabbath.
KEY: John writes, Now it was the Preparation Day of the "Passover" (John 19:14). The word "Passover" in this context requires some explanation. At some time before Christ's day, the Jews had begun calling the day of Passover and the following seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread - Leviticus 23:6 "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation"
By the single name "Passover." This has caused great confusion for non-Jews, especially when they read the account of this particular Passover. But John 19:31 clears up any confusion: "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day.) So, without a doubt, Jesus was crucified on a Passover day, Nisan 14, and the Sabbath that followed was the first day of Unleavened Bread, an annual holy day, a high day. This only makes sense, for the apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 5:7, "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us."
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This is very important to understand: The first day of the Passover "week", no matter on what day of the week it came, was always an annual Sabbath.
- "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the
feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye
shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein"
- Leviticus 23:6, 7.
- On the seventh day of this feast, the 21st of Nisan, was another
annual
Sabbath:
" . . . in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile
work therein" - Leviticus 23:8.
- The day of Pentecost historically and
symbolically related to the Jewish
harvest festival of
Shavuot or the day, fifty days after the
Exodus, on which God gave the Ten
Commandments at Mount Sinai, ) was an annual Sabbath -
Numbers 28:26:
Also
in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto
the LORD, after your weeks be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye
shall do no servile work:
- This is the reason
we read about Sabbaths in the plural number in the Old Testament:
- Leviticus 26:2 Ye shall keep my sabbath(s), and reverence my sanctuary:
- Leviticus 26: 34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
- Leviticus 26: 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths,
- Leviticus 26:
43 The land also shall
be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths.
John tells us: "And it was the preparation of the Passover" John 19:14.
It was the preparation day on which the Passover Supper was made ready
[editor's note: actually it was the preparation for the Holy Day, the Night
to Be Much Remembered], the 14th of Nisan - John 13:1, 29; 18:28. It was the
preparation to keep the Passover Sabbath--the annual Sabbath which always
came on the 15th day of the first ecclesiastical month. John 19:31 adds:
" . . . (for that sabbath day was an high day) . . . ."
Its greatness was due to the fact that it was the annual Sabbath of the
Passover Festival.
Two Sabbaths that Week
Matthew makes it plain that two Sabbaths had passed since Jesus was
crucified. The KJV has this rendering:
"In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher" Matthew
28:1.
On this verse nearly all translators have allowed tradition to control their
translation. It is not "Sabbath" but "Sabbaths" in the Greek text (the
genitive case and the plural number). The verse properly translated would
read:
"In the end of the Sabbaths . . . ."
This allows for an annual Sabbath on Thursday and a
regular Sabbath on Saturday.
| 1 | (a) "first day of the week" - From the Greek "mian
sabbatwn", literally "first
sabbath".
Comparison of Verses
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When Jesus was buried near sundown on the day of the Passover, "Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary" watched the burial Matthew 27:58-61. Immediately after the burial, Luke says: "And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on" - Luke 23:54. This Sabbath was an annual Sabbath on Thursday. The day after the annual Sabbath the women bought spices, Mark 16:1. Luke tells us that the women, after preparing the spices on Friday, " . . . rested the sabbath day according to the commandment", Luke 23:56. The traditional interpretation makes Mark and Luke contradict each other. In Mark 16:1 we are informed that the Sabbath was past when the spices were purchased. "Had" is inserted without any authority from the Greek text.:
You can use your curser and highlight if word of this passage in Greek and you will not find the word "had."
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<< Mark 16
>> King James Bible |
1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
"No reason can be given for the variation--bought sweet spices; not had bought" (An American Commentary on the New Testament, Vol. 11, p. 251).
In Luke 23:56 we are told that the women prepared the spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day. If Jesus lay in the grave on Sabbath only, Mark and Luke contradict each other. But if He lay there two Sabbaths having a work day between them, then Mark and Luke harmonize to perfection.
The Resurrection Late Saturday Evening
When does the Bible say that Jesus rose from the dead? The two Mary's came
to the tomb:
"in the end of the sabbath" Matthew 28:1.
The Sabbath always ended at sunset:
"From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath" Leviticus 23:32.
Then they went to the tomb before sunset on Saturday. Jesus had risen from
the dead before their arrival Matthew 28:1-8. According to the Bible,
Jesus
Christ arose before sunset on Saturday. Christ did not rise on
*Sunday
morning, for the two Mary's saw Him, heard Him speak, and held His feet just
as the Sabbath ended and the first day of the week began.
"In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week . . ." (Matthew 28:1).
- 1: Now in the end of the Sabbath, when the first
day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene, and
the other Mary came to see the sepulcher,
6: He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was laid; - 1599 Geneva Bible.
Mark 16:9 tells us Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene early the first day of the week, which was Saturday after sundown. The nearer after sunset this happened, the earlier in the first of the week it was. Mark does not say that she was alone at the time she first saw Jesus, and Matthew tells us that: "the other Mary was with her" (Matthew 28:1).
* This debate of a Sunday resurrection is one on the main reasons Christians give for changing the day of the Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday - Pls read why we need to keep all 10 of God's Commandments
The Date of the Crucifixion
Having shown from Matthew 28:1 that Jesus rose from the grave as the Sabbath
ended at sunset and the first day of the week began, this would put the
crucifixion on Wednesday at sunset just as the preparation day ended and the
annual Sabbath commenced. According to the Gospel writers, Jesus died at the
ninth hour (3:00 p.m. our time) and was buried about sunset that same day,
Luke 23:44, 45, 50-54; Mark 15:33-38, 42-47.
If Jesus were buried at
sunset
on
Wednesday and arose
at sunset on Saturday,
He fulfilled the sign of Jonah. He would have been
in the grave Wednesday night, Thursday night, and
Friday night--a full "three days". All together a
full "three days and three nights." Thus we have a literal fulfillment of
the words of Christ in Matthew 12:40; hence there is no need to follow Roman
Catholic tradition which makes Jesus Christ a liar. Truly,
"He rose again the third day according to the scriptures" - I
Corinthians 15:4,
not the second day according to Roman Catholic tradition!
The Third Day
Some Scriptures speak of His resurrection
"after three days" (Mark 8:31; 9:31 R. V.; 10:34 R. V.; Matthew 27:63).
Other verses say
"three days" (Matthew 26:60, 61; 27:39, 40; Mark 14:58; 15:29, 30; John
2:19, 20).
Still others speak of
"the third day" (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 27:64; Luke 9:22; 18;33; 24:6,
7, 21, 46; Acts 10:40; I Corinthians 16:4).
Some make much over "the third day" in Luke 24:21, and they affirm that if
the crucifixion took place on Wednesday, Sunday would be the fourth day
since these things were done. But the answer is simple. These things were
done just as Thursday was beginning at sunset on Wednesday. They were
therefore completed on Thursday, and the first day since Thursday would be
Friday, the second day since Thursday would be Saturday, and "the third day
since" Thursday would be Sunday, the first day of the week.
So the supposed objection in reality supports the Wednesday crucifixion. But
if the crucifixion took place on Friday, by no manner of reckoning could
Sunday be made "the third day since" these things were done.
Unless we believe the Bible contains errors, we know that all passages must
harmonize. Therefore, "after three days" must mean the same as "the third
day" Matthew 16:21.
There is nothing in the Bible to favor the Good Friday crucifixion of Jesus
Christ. The biblical record harmonizes with a Wednesday crucifixion and
Saturday evening resurrection--a full 72 hours. This view allows for a
literal interpretation of "three days and three nights." It allows for the
word "after three days" to mean just that. It proves that Jesus Christ
fulfilled the sign of Jonah and thus proved His Messiahship to the Jews.
'After Three Days'
by Richard T. Ritenbaugh
1995
For centuries, the Christian churches of this world have believed that our Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, died for our sins on Friday and rose from the dead on Sunday. Is there any truth to this belief? Can it be proven from the Scriptures? No! Worse, this belief has deceived Christians into accepting false doctrines like Sunday worship and Easter observance.
Was Christ telling the truth when He said, "After three days I will rise"? If not we have no Savior!
But our God does not lie! Here is the truth about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the greatest Man ever to grace this earth, died at about 3 PM on Wednesday, April 25, AD 31. A few hours later, as sunset was drawing on, He was laid in the newly hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. On the weekly Sabbath, Saturday, April 28, exactly three days after His burial, God the Father resurrected His Son to eternal life.
How can we be so precise and dogmatic?
It would be foolish to make such astounding claims without proof. How can we know when these momentous events occurred?
They are written very plainly in the accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Under the inspiration of God (II Timothy 3:16), these faithful men recorded the words and deeds of their Lord and Savior for the benefit of all humanity. God, as the ultimate author of these accounts, desired all the pertinent details of His Son's life to be written down as a witness to mankind of His perfect life and His sacrifice.
All the clues, all the indicators of the dates and times of these events, are scattered "here a little, there a little" (Isaiah 28:10) throughout the gospels. Other significant tidbits are strewn among other books of the Bible, somewhat like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When the various pieces are put together with the remarkably complementary accounts of the gospel writers, the resulting time frame is unassailable.
We can know for certain when Jesus died and rose again!
Do We Need to Know?
Is it really important to be able to determine these events so accurately? Christians have lived and died for nearly two millennia. How important was this knowledge to their salvation? Is it even necessary for salvation?
It might be!
In themselves, these dates would be mere trivia if they had no connection to deeper spiritual truths. But this world's Christianity has based two of its most celebrated holidays on its reckoning of the events that occurred during that pivotal week. Good Friday and Easter Sunday, purporting to commemorate Jesus' death and resurrection, are founded on the assumption that our Savior was crucified on Friday and rose from the dead at dawn on the following Sunday.
"So?" one may say. "Isn't celebrating them at a fixed time of the year good enough? Doesn't that honor Christ?"
Not at all!
God is not to be mocked (Galatians 6:7)! In several places in the Bible, He states quite unequivocally that He is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:14-15)—He will not be worshiped like any other god (Deuteronomy 12:3-4, 30-31). When He instructed His chosen people Israel in the method of His worship, He warned them neither to add to what He had given them, nor take away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; see Revelation 22:18-19).
For example, notice His terrible wrath when the children of Israel tried to worship Him through the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-9). They proclaimed "a feast to the Lord" (verse 5), but He would have none of it! He was so enraged at the people's idolatry that He considered exterminating the whole nation and starting over with Moses' family.
That same God—Yahweh, the Lord of the Old Testament—became Jesus Christ! Will our Savior be worshiped in any way that is based upon a lie? Certainly not! And this in no way takes into consideration the non-biblical (dare we say "pagan"?) traditions and customs that have taken over the commemoration of His sacrifice and triumphant victory!
Another of "Christianity's" false doctrines that is based upon their flawed reckoning of these events is "the Lord's Day." Catholic and Protestant churches around the world are full of sincere but deceived people who believe that Christ changed the day of rest from Sabbath to Sunday. How is He supposed to have done that?
By His resurrection!
If it were proved that He rose from the grave on the Sabbath, what would happen to the foundation of this doctrine? It would disappear! Their theologians would have only the flimsiest "proof texts" to stand on (I Corinthians 16:1-2; Revelation 1:10)!
Nowhere in the New Testament is the perpetual Sabbath covenant abolished (Exodus 31:12-17), for God made the Sabbath for all mankind (Mark 2:27). To the contrary, Jesus kept it (Luke 4:16), Paul kept it (Acts 17:2) and Gentiles kept it (Acts 13:42-44; 16:13)! The author of Hebrews writes boldly, "There remains therefore a rest [KJV margin: keeping of a Sabbath] for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9).
So we can see very clearly that the correct dates for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can become vital to our salvation.
The Sign
If Jesus rose from His tomb Sunday morning after being interred Friday evening, we have no Savior!
It is true! Jesus gave only one sign of His Messiahship:
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:38-40)
Why did the Pharisees ask Him for a sign? The answer appears in the section immediately preceding their request. Jesus had been preaching that "a tree is known by its fruit" (verse 33), so naturally, these Jews asked for a sign from Jesus to prove He was the Messiah! They wanted to see what fruit He would produce!
Jesus swiftly rebuked them because they had completely missed the point (verses 41-42)! To satisfy their curiosity, they wanted to see a miracle, but the fruit Jesus meant was repentance, good works and spiritual growth. He would make them wait to see the fruits of His ministry.
Thus He says, paraphrasing, "The only sign that will absolutely prove the truth of My message is one that I will have no control over. I will be exactly three days and three nights in the grave. I will be dead. I will not be able to resurrect Myself. So if God the Father resurrects Me after exactly three days and three nights, it will be proved beyond doubt that I am the Messiah."
He gave the same sign in other places to different audiences, each time using similar wording. In John 2:19-21, He says, "‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' . . . But He was speaking of the temple of His body."
To His disciples, He says, "The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day" (Mark 9:31; 10:33-34; Matthew 17:22-23; 20:18-19; Luke 9:22).
Mark 8:31 phrases the same period somewhat differently: "And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." Even the chief priests and Pharisees remembered His sign. They tell Pilate after the crucifixion, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise'" (Matthew 27:63).
What Is Three Days?
Can we fit three days between Friday evening and Sunday morning? The general belief among "Christians" is that Christ meant parts of three days: part of Friday, all of Saturday, part of Sunday. But is that what He said?
One of the most important rules of biblical interpretation is to allow the Bible to interpret itself. The Bible often explains its symbols and defines its terms. Is there a biblical definition of what constitutes a "day" and a "night"? Yes, there is!
Jesus Himself supplies the definition in John 11:9-10:
Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.
The plain meaning is that He recognized the twelve hours of daylight to form a "day," and the corresponding twelve hours of darkness He called "night." Thus three days and three nights would be made up of six twelve-hour periods or 72 hours.
This is the same method He uses in the Old Testament—in fact, in the very first chapter of the Bible! "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. . . . So the evening and the morning were the second day. . . . So the evening and the morning were the third day" (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13). Here are three days and three nights so clearly defined anyone can understand!
What about the sign of Jonah? Was the prophet in the great fish's belly for a complete 72 hours? The marginal note in Bullinger's Companion Bible for Jonah 1:17 reads: "Three days and three nights. The Hebrew idiom ‘three days' can be used for parts of three days (and even of years): but not when the word ‘nights' is added" (our emphasis). By the addition of "nights," the expression becomes more specific, precluding the idea of "parts" of days!
The differing expressions Christ used help to define "three days" even further. We already know "three days and three nights" refers to a 72-hour period. What about the other phrases? Do they mean the same?
• Jesus said He would rise "the third day." This narrows that period to no less than 48 hours and no more than 72 hours from His burial.
• He also said "in three days" He would rise. The outer limit for the duration of His stay "in the heart of the earth" could be no more than 72 hours.
• Two other times it is said that He would rise "after three days," meaning He must be in the grave at least 72 hours and not a second less!
When we compile all of these factors, we can reach only one definite conclusion: Jesus Christ was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea exactly 72 hours to the second! If He was resurrected either earlier or later, we have no Savior because the only sign He gave would have failed!
He would be a fraud!
But we have assurance that "the Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). What God prophesies comes to pass (Isaiah 46:9-11). In this instance, His Word was fulfilled to the very second!
What Time of Day Was He Buried?
Now that we know that Jesus remained dead in the tomb for 72 hours, we can discard the traditional Good Friday–Easter Sunday scenario. It is simply not possible to fit three 24-hour days between them, especially if we are to believe He rose from the dead at dawn on Sunday!
Does this tradition—a dawn resurrection—have any basis in fact? If not, what time of day was Jesus raised?
Matthew, Mark and Luke are very specific about when Jesus died. John records only the time of the crucifixion (John 19:14-16). Luke gives the most succinct report:
And it was about the sixth hour [when He was crucified], and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, ‘into Your hands I commend My spirit.'" And having said this, He breathed His last. (Luke 23:44-46)
Jesus remained on the cross for three hours before He died "at the ninth hour" (Mark 15:34; see Matthew 27:46). Since they were using the Hebrew method of counting the hours of the day from sunrise, the gospel writers indicate that Jesus was crucified around noon and died about 3 PM. They are remarkably unanimous on this point.
Mark continues the account:
Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. . . . And . . . he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. (Mark 15:42-43, 45-46)
Several points stand out in this passage:
• Evening was beginning—at best Joseph had only about three hours before sunset, when the Sabbath would begin. The task of preparing and applying the spices for burial required work, which is expressly forbidden on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-10). Additionally, Deuteronomy 21:22-23 demands that an executed criminal be buried before nightfall, and the Jewish law of the time required all dead bodies to be buried before a Sabbath or a feast day (John 19:31).
• Before he could take the body down, Joseph had to go before Pilate and receive permission. At first Pilate did not believe Jesus had died so quickly, so he called the centurion of the crucifixion detail to verify it (Mark 15:44-45). This delay must have taken at least a half hour.
• After being granted the body, Joseph went to a local shop and bought several yards of fine linen in which to wrap Jesus. With the help of Nicodemus, he then took the body down, wrapped it in the linen—along with about a hundred pounds of spices—and placed it in the tomb (John 19:39-41).
With all this activity and work between the various locations, Joseph and Nicodemus must have had very little daylight left when they finally rolled the stone over the entrance to the tomb. On this point all the accounts again concur; sunset was very near (Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:31).
No one disputes that Jesus was laid "in the heart of the earth" at sunset. If, as we have shown, He was buried for exactly 72 hours, He was also resurrected at sunset—not at dawn!
The Preparation Day of the Passover
All four gospel writers mention that Jesus was tried, convicted, crucified and buried on a preparation day. Without any further clarification, one would assume that they meant a Friday, the weekly preparation day before the Sabbath. But can other days be considered preparation days as well?
Yes, indeed! God Himself gave the instructions about the use of the preparation day to the Israelites before they reached Mount Sinai (Exodus 16:23). The Jews later considered this to be so important that they made sure each of the holy days, which are also Sabbaths, was preceded by a preparation day. Since the holy days can fall on any day of the week, the preparation day can fall on any day of the week as well.
This is very relevant to the Passover. Not only is the Passover a festival in its own right, it also functions as the preparation day for a holy day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. According to the calculated Hebrew Calendar, Passover can fall on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sabbath.
Clearly, our Savior was crucified on a Passover day (Matthew 26:2). Thus, it was on one of these days of the week that Jesus was killed and buried.
But was the Sabbath in question the weekly Sabbath or an annual, holy day Sabbath? What can the Bible tell us?
John writes, "Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover" (John 19:14). The word "Passover" in this context requires some explanation. At some time before Christ's day, the Jews had begun calling the day of Passover and the following seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6-8) by the single name "Passover." This has caused great confusion for non-Jews, especially when they read the account of this particular Passover. But John 19:31 should clear up any confusion: "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day) . . ."!
So, without a doubt, Jesus was crucified on a Passover day, Nisan 14, and the Sabbath that followed was the first day of Unleavened Bread, an annual holy day, a high day. This only makes sense, for the apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 5:7, "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us."
What Day of the Week?
Every year as Easter approaches, churches often proclaim on banners, marquees, signs, billboards and television, "He is risen!" It would probably be a good bet to wager that most of the members of these churches have really never studied the section of Scripture from which this quotation comes and its corresponding sections in the other three accounts.
We should not accept the traditional view so easily, and to find the truth, we must return to the story flow. The three synoptic writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) record that Joseph and Nicodemus had an audience as they prepared Jesus' body. "And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid" (Luke 23:55).
If we continue in Luke's account, we get the impression that the women hurried to a spice shop, bought the spices and oils, prepared them and then rested on the Sabbath (verse 56). But we would be wrong!
We have to go to Mark 16:1 for some vital information: "Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him." Logistically, the sequence of events cannot be otherwise. If Joseph barely had time to bury Jesus' body before sundown, how much less time would the women have had to do all that they needed to do!
So the harmonized accounts show that when Joseph took Jesus down from the cross, the women followed him to see where he would place the body. They then returned to their lodging and observed the holy day Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread. The day after the holy day, they went to a shop, bought spices and oil, took them back to their lodging, prepared them for use on the body and "they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56).
There were two Sabbaths within that 72-hour period!
These women bought and prepared spices "when the Sabbath had past" and then "rested on the Sabbath"! They rested twice: once on "a high day" and once on the weekly Sabbath two days later.
This can mean only one thing! Jesus was crucified and buried on a Wednesday, the holy day fell on Thursday, the women prepared spices on Friday and our Savior was resurrected at sunset on the Sabbath as the day ended! The events cannot be worked out any other way with the plain evidence provided in the Holy Scriptures!
Matthew 28:1 provides additional proof of two Sabbaths occurring that week. However, the Bible's translators, confused by the Greek wording of this verse, have consistently mistranslated it. Matthew writes, "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn . . . ." The wording of the original text, though, reads, "after the Sabbaths"—plural!
The Wavesheaf
Few people realize, however, that Jesus Christ fulfilled another Old Testament festival upon being resurrected. This festival, in which a priest waved "a sheaf of the firstfruits of [Israel's] harvest" before the Lord, was held each year on the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:10-11). Thus, a priest would have conducted this wavesheaf ceremony on the day after Christ's resurrection.
During this period, according to the Mishnah, the sheaf to be waved in the ceremony was reaped from the field as the Sabbath ended and Sunday began. "R. Hananiah, Prefect of the Priests, says, ‘On the Sabbath it [the barley] was reaped.' . . . On the Sabbath, he [the priest] says to them, ‘[Shall I reap on] this Sabbath?' They shall say, ‘Yes'" (Jacob Neusner, The Mishnah: A New Translation, "Menahoth," p. 753-754). So, at dusk at the end of the Sabbath, the priest "put the sickle to the grain" (Deuteronomy 16:9). When was the sheaf waved? Histories of the time show that it was waved about the same time as the daily morning sacrifice, that is, about 9 am on Sunday.
The reaping and waving of the sheaf symbolized Israel giving the first and best of the harvest to God and its subsequent acceptance by Him. It is exactly this symbolism that Jesus fulfilled! As the weekly Sabbath was ending, exactly 72 hours from His burial, God resurrected Him from the dead! God "reaped" the first and best of His spiritual harvest (I Corinthians 15:23).
Yet, even so, Jesus had not fulfilled the entire ritual! Notice John 20:17, where the resurrected Christ is speaking to Mary Magdalene: "Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God."'"
As the firstfruits of God's Family, Jesus had not yet appeared before the Father for acceptance as our Savior and High Priest! He had not yet been "waved"! The context of John 20 shows that it was still early in the morning, and most likely, shortly after Mary returned to the disciples, Jesus ascended to His Father's throne in heaven to be accepted as our Redeemer—at about the same time the priest waved the sheaf before God in the Temple. God fulfills His Word to the letter!
More Proof of a Wednesday Crucifixion
Daniel the prophet received an intriguing prophecy from the archangel Gabriel in Daniel 9:24-27. This passage is known as the Seventy Weeks Prophecy, for Gabriel gives a seventy-week time frame for the coming of the Messiah. He divides the first sixty-nine weeks into two periods, the first of seven weeks and the second of sixty-two weeks.
And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. . . . Then He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week [the seventieth week]; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
The prophecy shows that the Messiah would die, "but not for Himself." That is in perfect agreement with the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ! He gave Himself to redeem us from our bondage to sin and death (Galatians 1:3-5; Ephesians 2:1).
Next, the prophecy says He would "confirm a covenant with many." Is this not what He did? Did He not become the Mediator of a new and better covenant (Hebrews 9:15)? When He instituted the new symbols for the Passover, Jesus says about the wine, "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28; see Mark 14:24).
Then Gabriel prophesies that the Messiah would bring the need for ritual animal sacrifices and offerings to an end. The writer of Hebrews plainly states, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). Christ's sacrifice was much more effective: "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12).
The angel says the Messiah would accomplish this "in the middle [midst, KJV] of the week." Obviously, its primary meaning refers to the middle of the seventieth week, or literally, three and a half years, the exact length of Christ's ministry. However, as we have seen, God fulfills His prophecies perfectly. Not only did Jesus' ministry last for three and a half years, but He also died on a Wednesday, the exact middle day of a week!
Prophecy Pinpoints Year Too
What is so amazing about the often neglected Seventy Weeks Prophecy is that, not only does it give us a clue to the day of Christ's death, it indicates the year of His death as well! Of course, it is not as simple as looking up a fact in an almanac, but enough information is available to discover the year very accurately.
Gabriel says, "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks" (Daniel 9:25). The ending point is fairly plain: the revealing of the Messiah. But what is the starting point?
Historians know of at least four decrees made by the Persian emperors "to restore and build Jerusalem." Cyrus made one in 538 BC, Darius I made one in 520 BC and Artaxerxes I made two, one in 457 BC and one in 444 bc. Which one is the correct command?
All of them could fit the description in Daniel 9:25. All of them are concerned with restoring Jerusalem to its former function as the Jewish religious capital and trade center. But only one of them fits the time constraints, and this becomes clear when we work out the puzzle of the seventy weeks.
We have to do a little arithmetic to find the terminus for each of these decrees. The expression "seventy weeks" literally means "seventy sevens," and the year-for-a-day principle applies here (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:4-6). We must multiply seventy weeks times the seven years in a week of years, which equals 490 years. Gabriel, however, says it is only sixty-nine sevens "until Messiah the Prince." Thus, 69 x 7 = 483 years.
If we add 483 years to each of the dates of the decrees, what do we find? (Remember to add one year for crossing the non-existent year 0.)
• 538 BC + 483 years = 55 BC. No significant biblical event.
• 520 BC + 483 years = 37 BC. No significant biblical event.
• 457 BC + 483 years = AD 27. Jesus is baptized and begins His ministry.
• 444 BC + 483 years = AD 40. No significant biblical event.
God made it easy! We have only one choice!
Daniel 9:26-27 is very specific that the Messiah would work for three and a half years, half of a week, before being "cut off." When we add three and a half years to AD 27, we find that Christ's ministry ended in AD 31, the year of His crucifixion and resurrection!
The Passovers in the Gospels
If His ministry lasted three and a half years, then during this period Christ must have observed four Passovers, the final one being the day of His death. This last Passover is, of course, the best known and best documented of them all. Matthew and Mark, in fact, do not mention any others, leaving Luke and John as our only sources for the other three.
But do we find evidence of three others in the gospels? Yes, we do. It seems that John, writing his chronologically arranged account many years after the publication of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, tried to highlight periods in Jesus' ministry that the others had not mentioned. So when we harmonize the four gospels, we can construct a solid framework of Christ's three-and-a-half-year ministry around the Passovers.
1. The Passover of AD 28 is mentioned in John 2:13 and 23. During this time, Jesus cleansed the Temple the first time and first mentioned the sign of His Messiahship.
2. Combining the next time reference in John 4:35 ("There are still four months and then comes the harvest") with Luke 6:1 ("Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first . . .") indicates Passover time in AD 29. The harvest Jesus spoke of was the spring harvest, occurring during the spring holy day season. The strange phrase "the second Sabbath after the first" describes either the second of the seven annual holy days of the year, namely, the last day of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:8), or the second of the seven Sabbaths that were counted from Unleavened Bread to Pentecost (verse 15). Without mentioning it directly, both of these choices show Jesus keeping a second Passover season during His ministry.
3. The third Passover, that of AD 30, is found plainly in John 6:4: "Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near." Jesus fed the five thousand (verses 10-14) and walked on the Sea of Galilee (verses 16-21).
4. Christ's last Passover, on which He was killed and buried, is attested to by all the gospel writers. It was so indelibly stamped upon their memories that they devote a combined thirteen chapters (15 percent of the gospels) to that one day!
Therefore, we see very clearly that the four gospels verify the three-and-a-half-year ministry prophesied in the Seventy Weeks Prophecy. This conclusively proves that Jesus died in AD 31 when, according to the Hebrew Calendar, Passover fell on a Wednesday, not a Friday!
Common Misunderstandings
Several verses in the gospel accounts, when taken alone, can seem to contradict the conclusions we have reached here. But when all the available evidence is gathered, they fit in quite well with a Wednesday crucifixion and Sabbath resurrection. In most cases, the true meaning of these verses depends on seeing what they really say without reading an interpretation into them. This is one of the cardinal principles of Bible study: The plain, commonsense meaning of a scripture is to be preferred over a more fanciful one.
Luke 24:21 is one of these misunderstood verses: "Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened." Two of the disciples, traveling to Emmaus, were conversing with the resurrected Christ, though they did not know it was He (verses 13-16). They were rehearsing what had happened in Jerusalem to Jesus by the chief priests and rulers of Judea (verses 18-20).
This conversation occurred on Sunday, the same day that the women, Peter and John had gone to the tomb only to find it empty. Yet these disciples heading to Emmaus say that it had only been three days, not four. How do we reconcile this to the facts that we have proved?
The key is in the repetition of the words "all these things," "these things" and "the things" of verses 14, 18-19 and 21. "Things" is modified by the disciples' specifying in verse 20 that they were speaking of the actions that "the chief priests and our rulers" had done to Christ. The fact that is often forgotten is that their ignominious actions against Him did not end with delivering Him to Pilate for crucifixion! Notice Matthew 27:62-66:
On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.' Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.' So the last deception will be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
The day after "the Day of Preparation" was Thursday, the first day of Unleavened Bread! These Jewish leaders went to Pilate on the holy day to "guarantee" that their Messiah would not rise from the dead! And with the guard in place and the tomb sealed, they felt certain nothing more would happen.
Thus, when the two disciples on the road to Emmaus say that Sunday "is the third day since these things happened," they are counting from the last despicable actions of the chief priests and Pharisees on Thursday, not Wednesday. Note that their words preclude a Friday crucifixion as well, since Sunday is only the second day from Friday.
Another verse that often causes problems comes from this last passage, Matthew 27:64, where the chief priests say, "Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day." Commentators say this proves that Jesus did not have to be in the tomb a full three days, but only parts of three days. However, they fail to recognize that the priests spoke this on Thursday, not Wednesday. They were asking Pilate to seal and guard the tomb at least through the Sabbath, when three days and three nights would have fully elapsed since Christ's death and burial!
A third problematic verse is Mark 16:9, translated in the New King James Version as, "Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared. . . ." The King James Version translates it, "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared. . . ." Finally, The Interlinear Bible, in its word-for-word translation, renders it, "having risen And early on the first of the week, He appeared. . . ." Does this verse say the resurrection was early on the first day of the week?
Here is another instance of the translators mistranslating a verse because of their preconceived beliefs! The commentators admit the construction of the sentence is unusual, but refuse to acknowledge its plain sense. The literal translation, with only slight modification, gives the best rendering: "And having risen, early on the first day of the week He appeared. . . ."
The Greek form translated "having risen" (anastas, an active aorist participle) suggests an action completed prior to the time of the main verb, in this case, "appeared." Thus, Jesus was resurrected sometime before He appeared to Mary Magdalene early on the first day of the week. That is all that Mark is trying to say! Placing a simple comma after "rose" (NKJV) or "risen" (KJV) is the easiest way to resolve the matter. The words of the angel to the women, "He is risen!" (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6) also give the sense that He was raised at some point prior to His Sunday morning appearances.
So we see that this verse neither proves nor disproves a Sabbath or a Sunday resurrection! The clues about when He really was raised from the dead—Sabbath at sunset—are found in other verses.
From Puzzle to Picture
It is really no mystery! The authors of the gospels, honest men with a wonderful story to tell, gave us a straightforward account of the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They gave us all the pieces of the puzzle we need to construct a clear, precise picture of those events. And when we have them in the correct order, they tightly interlock like a jigsaw puzzle. Everything fits perfectly when the puzzle is solved.
And in a way, this picture we have reconstructed throughout this booklet is only a detail of a larger puzzle we call "the truth." It expands to illustrate, not only the historical facts, but also the way of life that God has given us to live. As we saw, details like the death and resurrection of Christ serve to under gird the truths of the Sabbath and holy days, God's fulfillment of His Word, the work of God and Christ on our behalf and so forth.
Of course, beyond the details of His death and resurrection is the amazing fact that our Savior voluntarily gave Himself to be crucified to pay the penalty for our sins. His perfect life and sacrificial death paid for our imperfect and self-centered lives. As the author of Hebrews writes:
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)
It is for this second appearance that all creation eagerly waits (Romans 8:19). Just as Christ rose from the dead, so will His faithful disciples when He returns. On this Paul writes,
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. . . . For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:14, 16-17)
What a wonderful goal we have! Because we believe in Christ's awesome work on our behalf, and live according to His way of life, He has given us the potential to share eternal life with Him in the Kingdom of God! What a tremendous hope! What an incomparable future! What a wonderful God!