Too Long in the Sun

[Watchman]

***While researching the topic of Yeshua's resurection a Sister sent me the article I am posting below. I am uncertain of it's origin but it completes the circle we have sought to close. I have not attached it to the other thread- as this is clearly a 'stand alone' document. May it edify the Body of Christ! Maranatha! Watchman ***


‘After Three Days’

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- Yeshua the Messiah!
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 Yeshua’s 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—YHWH, the LORD of the Old Testament—became Yeshua the Messiah! 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 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
God restored several major truths to His church. One of these is the understanding of the observance and types of God’s festivals commanded in Leviticus 23. The world, without the revealed understanding of the holy days, has little idea what God is working out on this earth. But after careful study and observance of these days, we find that within the annual holy day cycle, God unveils His awesome plan of salvation for all mankind!
To summarize these festivals, the Passover reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice, when He took our sins upon Himself. Unleavened Bread pictures a Christian’s life-long task of removing sin from his life. Pentecost memorializes the giving of the Holy Spirit and looks forward to the reaping of the firstfruits of God’s Family. The day of Trumpets signifies the second coming of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints. The day of Atonement shows Satan being bound during the coming thousand-year reign of Christ on earth, which is typified in the Feast of Tabernacles. Finally, the Last Great Day represents the Great White Throne Judgment period when all mankind will have an opportunity for salvation.
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 undergird 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!
_________________
Titus Chaper 2

[shengy]

Did Jesus Die On “Good Friday” or Wednesday?
By Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.


"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 Let there be not doubt that Christ died for our sins, was buried and He rose again! That is a 100% sure thing. But, I have to tell you, from the time I was a youngster, I could never figure out the "Good Friday" timetable, but I liked the day. Why? It was a holiday and we either had just a half-day of school or the entire day off, because, they said, Good Friday (Great Friday to the Greek Orthodox; Charfreitag or Sorrowful Friday in German) was the day of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. However, I knew about Matthew 12:40 which says, "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." Try as I would, I could not get three days and three nights using the "Good Friday" reckoning. After trying to count it out on my fingers without success, I brushed aside the problem, figuring the adults knew something I didn’t.

Now, as an adult, I decided to look into the matter much more seriously. There are several reasons I reject "Good Friday" as the day of death of Christ. Here is a brief account of my findings.


"Good Friday" Was Not Celebrated In The Early Church
Jewish Christians in the early church continued to celebrate the Passover, regarding Christ as the true Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7 – “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”). This naturally developed into a commemoration of the death and resurrection of our Lord because he was the true Passover sacrifice. But, while this Pascha or Passover celebration lasted three days, commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I must point out that this Passover celebration was a moveable celebration like Pentecost. It occurred on different days each year. There was NOT a "Good Friday" under this scheme! In fact, another encyclopedia stated this -- prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So, obviously there was no "Good Friday" before this time, because Easter could be celebrated on any day and from time to time, was celebrated on Friday. All that changed in 325 A.D. when the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea, which issued the Easter Rule, which states that Easter shall be celebrated on Sunday, but did not fix the particular Sunday. It was left to the Bishop of Alexandria to determine the exact Sunday, since that city was regarded as the authority in astrological matters. He was to communicate the results of his determination to the other churches. But there was disagreement among the churches about doing it that way. It was not until the 7th century that the Easter matter was settled. Easter was to be on the first Sunday that occured after the first full moon, on or after the vernal equinox. However, there is still a twist I need to mention here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation (whatever that is), where day one corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. However, I do know this. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

Now, back to the key issue – "Good Friday!" Historians can trace the development of "Good Friday" to the 4th century Catholic festivals held in Jerusalem. "Good Friday" was an evolution out of the early Pascha celebrations that took place at Jerusalem that I mentioned earlier. A procession was staged from Gethsemane to the Catholic Church Sanctuary of the Cross, in Jerusalem. The assembled group then heard readings about the death of Christ. Let me review briefly what I have just told you. "Good Friday" is a man-made invention. It evolved after 325 A.D. because prior to that, there was no set day for Easter and therefore there would not have been a "Good Friday." It is the invention of the Roman Catholic Church. So where did Rome come up with the idea? It comes from a misunderstanding of Mark 15:42 "And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath…" We will unravel the mystery a bit later in this article.


A "Good Friday" Death Conflicts With What Christ Said
The second reason I reject the "Good Friday" view of the death of Christ is because of what Christ said in Matthew 12:40. I must tell you that I do not believe Christ was mistaken. I believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures. Therefore, what the Bible says, I deem to be wholly true. So, when our Lord said, "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" I believe that is true! And, no matter how you slice "Friday" you cannot get three days and three nights from late Friday afternoon until early Sunday morning? At the most, there could only be two nights, 1 day, and a part of another! If Christ had only said three days, I could have understood Him to mean PART of three days, since both in and out of the Scriptures we use the word to mean only a portion of a day. However, the Lord Jesus Christ specifically said, "three days and three nights," and thus verbal inspiration demands three twenty-four hour days.


A "Good Friday" Death Does Not Take Into Account The Issue of Floating Sabbaths
Before we look at the Sabbath issue, let’s look at the different ways days are divided. While all cultures work on the basis of a 24-hour day, not all cultures begin and end their days at the same time. There are MAJOR difference in the Roman Day, the Jewish Day, and our Modern Day. The ROMAN DAY began at 6:00 A.M. and closed at 6:00 the next morning. The JEWISH DAY began at sunset and closed at the next sunset (or from about 6:00 P.M. to the next 6:00 P.M.). OUR DAY begins at midnight and closes the next midnight. Here is an example of what I am talking about. The Lord Jesus was placed on the cross "…the third hour…" according to Mark 15:25. The context of this time delineation is Roman. The third hour of the day in Roman time was 9 A.M., which was the time of the daily sacrifice of the morning.

We also know from verse 33 that "there was darkness over the whole land" from the 6th to the 9th hour (Noon to 3 p.m. our time). According to the account in Luke’s Gospel, Christ "gave up the ghost" or died some time after that. I find it interesting that the evening sacrifice of the Jews took place at the 9th hour (3 p.m.). I contend that Christ died on Wednesday sometime after 3 p.m. and was buried before sunset or about 6 p.m., which would be their Thursday and still our Wednesday. How can I say that? It has to do with fixed Sabbaths and floating Sabbaths. Here’s what we know for sure. The Lord was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb before sunset, before the beginning of the Sabbath. We read in 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,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." The parenthetical clause is the key to understanding the entire problem. While it is true that a normal weekly Sabbath begins on sunset on Friday (about 6 p.m.), did you know that there are seven other "High Sabbaths," all but one of which are floating Sabbaths? By "floating Sabbaths," I mean they could occur on any day of the week. Therefore, there could have been two Sabbaths in one week, a high or floating Sabbath and a weekly Sabbath. Can this be true? The answer is "Yes." An example of this is found in Luke 6:1 "And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands." In fact, Christ was Crucified on the day before an High Sabbath (floating Sabbath), not the day before the normal Sabbath! Which high Sabbath was it? It was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was always held on the 15th of Nisan (see Exodus 12:16; Leviticus 23:3-7; Numbers 28:17). The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was an Holy Convocation or High Sabbath and though always on the 15th of Nisan, that High Sabbath might fall on any day of the week, depending on the year. And, do you know what the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread was? PASSOVER (see Leviticus 23:5). Christ our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7) was sacrificed for us on the day of Passover!

Now, back to specific biblical support for Christ being crucified just before the High Sabbath instead of Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath. Consider Matthew 28:1 "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 sepulchre." The Greek word for Sabbath in this verse is sabbatwn-sabbaton, which J. P. Green’s Interlinear Bible, (1985; p. 766) says is Sabbaths – "In the end of the Sabbaths…" Likewise, my Schofield Bible notes that the grammatically correct reading, according to the Greek is, "the end of the Sabbaths." This indicates that Christ was not crucified on the day before the weekly Sabbath but the day before the "floating" Sabbath, which fell before the weekly Sabbath.


"Good Friday" Does Not Allow For Enough Time
Those who claim a "Good Friday" death for Christ have another MAJOR problem. It just is not possible for all of the "red tape" and preparations to have been accomplished in less than three hours. I say less than three hours because we know that Christ’s death took place some time after 3 p.m. on Friday by their reckoning. The weekly Sabbath began at 6 p.m. Consider the list below. There is not enough time to do all those things. However, if Christ died on a Wednesday after 3 p.m. and arose Saturday after 6 p.m. there is ample time to do all of the things the Gospels list.

At 3 p.m. Christ calls out "with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. Yet, at this point there are still three other times Christ spoke – "I thirst" (John 19:2; "It is finished" (John 19:30) and "Into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46). How much time elapsed after 3 p.m.? I don’t know. But, it is safe to say that it was after, and I think well after 3 p.m.

John 19:31 – The Jews went to Pilate and requested the legs be broken of those who were crucified to hasten his death.

John 19:32-33 – Pilate accepted the request and sent a message to Calvary instructing the victim’s legs be broken but when they came to Christ, they found him dead. How long would all that discussion and implementation of orders have taken?

John 19:38 – "After this, Joseph of Arimathea" travels to Pilate and begged for the body of Jesus. We are not told how much later this was.

Mark 15:44-45 – Before Pilate would turn over the body of Jesus to Joseph of Arimathea he sends for the Centurion to be sure Christ is dead. Once that is affirmed, he gives the OK.

Mark 15:44 – Joseph of Arimathea goes shopping and buys fine linen for the burial. Then he and friends take Christ down from the cross.


Mark 15: 46-47 & Luke 23:55 – Christ is transported to Joseph’s tomb, placed inside and the opening is sealed with a stone. All of this is done while the women watch.

Luke 23:55-56 – The women return to the city and buy the supplies required for embalming our Lord. Preparing these things requires boiling and grinding and that took time.

John 19: 39-40 – Nicodemus brings 100 pounds of embalming materials. The stone had to be rolled away. They washed and prepared the body for burial and then wound it in the linen packing in the 100 pounds of spices as they go.


All of the "red tape", procedures and preparations would have taken TIME! Advocates of a "Good Friday Crucifixion" must have all these things occur in less than three hours. All of these things could NOT have been accomplished in less than three hours! However, if Christ was crucified on the 14th of Nisan (Passover), on Wednesday and put in the grave before sunset of that day, (the beginning of the Jewish High Sabbath was at sunset on the 15th of Nisan, which was the Feast of Unleavened bread), there been all day Friday to fit in the many things that needed to be done before the weekly Sabbath (sunset Saturday) began. When you understand that, you realize that Joseph of Arimathaea arranged to get the body of Christ, wrap it and put it in his grave, all before sunset or about 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening when Jewish High Sabbath began (Luke 23:52-54). Therefore, at about sunset on Thursday He had been in the grave one day and one night. At about sunset on Friday, He had been in the grave two days and two nights. Then, on Saturday, just about sunset He had been in the grave three full days and nights. Then what happened? Some time after 6 p.m. (still Saturday by our reckoning until midnight) CHRIST AROSE!!! According to Matthew 28:1 "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week…" the women came early Sunday morning, our time, but He was already gone. Many have Sunrise services commemorating the resurrection. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, perhaps we should have a Sunset service. Christ arose about sunset on Saturday. Then in the early morning hours according to Mark 16:1-2, the two Mary’s discovered the Resurrection. Praise God. He IS RISEN!

In conclusion, I cannot accept "Good Friday" as the day our Lord died because –


* "Good Friday" Was Not Celebrated In The Early Church.


* A "Good Friday" Death conflicts with what Christ said.


* A "Good Friday" Death Does Not Take Into Account The Issue of Floating Sabbaths.


* A "Good Friday" Death Does Not Allow For Enough Time To Accomplish All The Things In The Gospels.