THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE RESURRECTION, WHICH DAY?

“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: 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.” Matthew 12:39-40

Many people, for the reason of the tradition of "Good Friday and Easter Sunday" have assumed that Jesus died on Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday. Few have ever thought to question this. Because Jesus said that He would resurrect on the third day, some people count part of Friday as one day, Saturday as the second and part of Sunday, as the third day. But when we investigate the scriptures, we find that Christ spoke about the period of time as three days and three nights. From Friday evening until Sunday morning, are not three days and three nights! Which then is the correct explanation?

There were no eye witnesses of the resurrection. Even the so-called "Apostolic Fathers" did not have any more sources and information then the records that are available to us today. Tradition must be dismissed. It wasn’t until the death of the last of the twelve apostles (John) that the tradition of "Good Friday and Easter Sunday" started spreading in the churches. What are the recorded facts?

The Pharisees were asking Jesus for a sign; evidence to prove that He was the true Messiah. Jesus answered: “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: 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” (Matt. 12:39-40, 16:21). Now consider the tremendous importance of the overwhelming significance of Jesus’ statement. He expressly declared that the only sign He would give to prove He was the Messiah was that He would be just three days and three nights in the sepulcher.

These Pharisees who refused to admit the investiture of Christ demanded proof, Jesus offered but one proof. That proof was not the fact of the resurrection itself. It was the length of time He would be in the grave, before resurrecting. Think what this means! Jesus staked His claim to being the Saviour upon remaining exactly three days and three nights in the grave, but if He failed in this sign, He must be rejected as an impostor! No wonder Satan has caused unbelievers to scoff at the story of Jonah and the Whale! This one and only supernatural proof ever given by Jesus for His Mesiahship has bothered the commentators and critics. They attempt to explain away this sole proof for Christ’s divinity. For explain this away they must, or their “Good Friday-Easter” tradition collapses!

One commentator says, “of course we know that Jesus was actually in the tomb only half as long as He thought He would be!” Some imposes on us to believe that in the Greek language, in which the N.T. was written, the expression, three days and three nights, means three periods, either of day or of night! Jesus, they say, was placed in the tomb shortly before sunset Friday, and rose at sunrise Sunday morning, two nights and one day.

The Bible definition of the duration of nights and days is simple. Even the critics admit that in the Hebrew language, in which the book of Jonah was written, the expression “three days and three nights” means a period of 72 hours, three twelve hour days and three twelve hour nights. Notice Jonah 1:17: “And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights!” They admit it was a period of 72 hours, and Jesus distinctly said that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the great fish’s belly, so He would be the same length of time in the grave! Did Jesus know how much time was in a day and in a night? Jesus answered, “are there not twelve hours in a day...but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth” (John 11:9-10).

The Bible definition of the expression, “the third day” text after text tells us that Jesus rose the third day. Notice how the Bible defines the time required to fulfill, “the third day” (Gen. 1:4-13).

“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” (Mark 8:31). If Jesus had been killed on Friday and then after one day He had risen, the resurrection would have occurred on Saturday evening. If after two days it would have occurred Sunday evening and if after three days, it would have occurred Monday evening. Examine this text carefully. You cannot figure any less than a full 72 hours in a resurrection which occurred three days after the crucifixion! (Mark 9:31; Matt. 27:63; John 2:19-21) If we are to accept all the testimony of the Bible, we must conclude that Jesus was exactly three days and three nights, three full 24 hour days, 72 hours in the grave.

Now notice carefully this fact: in order to be three days and three nights in the tomb, Jesus had to be resurrected at exactly the same time of day that His body was buried in the tomb! If we can find the time of day of the burial, then we have found the time of day of the resurrection! If the burial, for instance, was at sunrise, then for the body to be left an even three days and three nights in the tomb, the resurrection likewise had to occur at sunrise, three days later. If the burial were at noon, the resurrection was at noon, etc.

The crucifixion day was called “the preparation” or day before the Sabbath (Mat. 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54). This day ended at sunset, according to Lev. 23:32. Jesus cried out soon after “the ninth hour” or 3:00 p.m. (Matt. 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46). Yet Jesus was buried before this same day ended, before sunset (Matt. 27:57; Luke 23:52-54). John adds, “There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day.” According to the laws observed by the Jews all dead bodies must be buried before the beginning of a Sabbath or feast day. Therefore Jesus was buried before sunset on the same day He died. He died shortly after 3:p.m. The burial of Christ’s body was in the late afternoon! It was between 3 p.m. and sunset as these scriptures prove. And since the resurrection had to occur at the same time of day, three days later, the resurrection of Christ occurred, not at sunrise, but in the late afternoon, near sunset.

The first investigators, Mary Magdalene and her companions, came to the sepulcher on the first day of the week (Sunday) very early, while it was yet dark, as the sun was beginning to rise, at dawn (Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). These are the texts that most people have supposed stated that the resurrection was at sunrise Sunday morning. When the women arrived, the tomb was already open! At that time Sunday morning while it was yet dark, Jesus was not there! Notice how the angel says, “He is not here, but is risen” (Mark 16:2; Luke 24:6; Matt. 28:5-6). Jesus was already risen at sunrise Sunday morning! He rose from the grave in the late afternoon, near sunset! And since Christ was buried late Wednesday afternoon and that the resurrection took place at the same time of day three days later, we now know the resurrection of Christ occurred late Saturday afternoon.

Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, the middle day of the week. He died shortly after 3 p.m. that afternoon; was buried before sunset Wednesday evening. Now count the three days and three nights. His body was Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights in the grave, three nights. It also was there through the daylight part of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, three days. He rose Saturday, the Sabbath, late afternoon, shortly before sunset, at the same time of day that He was buried! It is significant that in Daniel’s prophecy of the “seventy weeks” (Dan. 9:24-27), Jesus was to be cut off “in the midst of the week.” It is significant that Jesus was also “cut off” on the middle day of a literal week.

Now we come to an objection some may raise, yet the very pint which proves this truth. Perhaps you have noticed that the Bible say the day after the crucifixion was a Sabbath. Hence, for centuries, people have assumed the crucifixion was on Friday. We have seen by all four Gospels that the crucifixion day was called “the preparation.” The preparation day for the Sabbath. But for what Sabbath? It was the preparation of the Passover (John 19:14, 31).

Just what is a “high day”? Ask any Jew! He will tell you it is one of the annual holy days, or feast days. The Israelites observe seven of these every year, every one called a Sabbath! Annual Sabbaths fall on certain annual calendar dates and on different day of the week in different years, just like the Roman holidays now observed. These Sabbaths might fall on Monday, on Thursday, or on Sunday (Leviticus 16:31; 23:24, 26-32, 39). Notice Matthew 26:2, if you will follow through this chapter you will see that Jesus was crucified on the Passover! And what was the Passover? In the twelfth chapter of Exodus you will find the story of the original Passover. Following the Passover was a holy convocation or annual Sabbath (Num. 28:16-17). The Passover lamb, killed every year on the 14th of the first month called “Abib,” was a type of Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Christ is our Passover, sacrificed for us (I Cor. 5:7).

Jesus was slain on the very same day the Passover had been slain every year. He was crucified on the 14th of Abib, the first Hebrew month of the year. And this day, the Passover, was the day before, and the preparation for, the Feast day, or annual high day Sabbath, which occurred on the 15th. of Abib. This Sabbath might occur on any day of the week. Frequently it occurs, and is observed even today, on Thursday. For instance, this “high-day” Sabbath came on Thursday in 1982, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2005, 2013 and will occur on Thursday in 2021.

The Hebrew calendar shows that in the year Jesus was crucified, the 14th of Abib, Passover day, the day Jesus was crucified, was Wednesday. And the annual Sabbath was Thursday. This was the Sabbath that drew on as Joseph of Arimathea hastened to bury the body of Jesus late that Wednesday afternoon. There were two separate Sabbaths that week!

According to Mark 16:1, Mary Magdalene and her companions did not buy their spices to anoint the body of Jesus until after the Sabbath was past. They could not prepare them until after this, yet after preparing the spices they rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment! (Luke 23:56).

Study these two texts carefully. There is only one possible explanation: After the annual high-day Sabbath, the feast day of the days of Unleavened Bread, which was Thursday, these women purchased and prepared their spices on Friday, and then they rested on the weekly Sabbath, Saturday, according to the commandment (Ex. 20:8-11). A comparison of these two texts proves there were two Sabbaths that week, with a day in between. Otherwise, these texts contradict themselves.