Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 10/13/2005

Question
Its my understanding that during Jesus time the sabbath started at dust on friday and ended at dust(sundown)on sat. we celebrate his resurrection on Sunday! what day was Jesus buried and on what day did he rise from the tomb?  

Answer
Hi Robert,

You have opened a great door to a popular misconception that has been passed on through tradition, but not scriptures.  Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday, not a Sunday.  Below are some articles wrtten explaining that view.

Alan Svensson wrote the following excellent explanation:

"Was Jesus crucified on a Friday?

 Some Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Jesus, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth ..." Matt. 12:39.

 If Jesus was laid in the grave at the sunset on the Friday and him risen at the sunrise on the Sunday, it is only one day and two nights, or 36 hours. But Jesus said three days and three nights, it is 72 hours. If we count 72 hours back from the sunrise on the Sunday, then we come to the sunrise on the Thursday. This is neither right, for in Matt. 27:57-60 and in Mark. 15:42 we see that the body of Jesus was laid in the grave at the sunset.

 We must still count 12 hours back, and we come to Wednesday sunset. Could it have possibly been on a Wednesday that Jesus was crucified? Yet, according to Mark. 15:42, it was the day before the Sabbath. Could the Thursday have been a Sabbath? Yes, Thursday was a Sabbath!

 This is the very fact that has confused people. A fact that has completely been overlooked because Christians have lost sight of the meaning of the sacred feast days and what they really typified. This Sabbath holds the key to the whole mystery!

 We can read in John 19:31 that the Sabbath was a High day. This, the annual Sabbath, they always celebrated on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Abib (Nisan), irrespective of which day of the week this occurred. It had nothing to do with the creation Sabbath which is a weekly Sabbath. It could be two Sabbath days on the same week. The Passover day they celebrated the 14th Abib, and next day was a Sabbath. You can read this in Exodus 12:1-14. Leviticus 23:5. Numbers 9:1-5, 28:16-18. Deuteronomy 16:1.

 This Sabbath was instituted at the first Passover in Egypt. It was seven Sabbaths that they celebrated once in the year (Leviticus 23:15, 24, 27, 34 and 39), which could occur on any day of the week.

 The Passover lamb would be slaughtered on the 14th day, at the sunset of the Passover day. "And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover." Exodus 12:6, 11.

 When God was so strictly that the Passover lamb was slaughtered at the certain time, then he ought to be still more strictly that the real Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed at the exact time. Jesus was crucified at the exact time of the year and that is why He IS our Passover Lamb! If Jesus had been crucified on the Friday, then he had come two days too later with his sacrifice.

 Consider please, the tremendous importance of this SIGN OF JONAH. Jesus proved that he is the true Messiah through fulfilling the sign of Jonah. His body was in the grave THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS. If we count from the sunset on the Wednesday and 72 hours ahead, then we come to the sunset of Saturday. Then Jesus had fulfilled the sign of Jonah, and proved that he is the true Messiah. Accordingly, Jesus could resurrected already in the Saturday evening. The Bible does not say what time Jesus resurrected, but Jesus said he would rise again the third day. Matt. 16:21, 17:23, 20:19. Since Saturday was the third day, he must have been resurrected in the Saturday.

 Jonah was a "type" of the Saviour to come. After 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the fish, he became the 'saviour' of the gentile city, Nineveh. By referring to Jonah as a sign, Jesus was pointing out to us that Jonah was a "type" of the Saviour who would come for the whole world. If the Jews took the trouble to look up the scriptural reference, then they would have believed Jesus to be the Saviour, the promised Messiah. If you study the Bible careful, you cannot deny that Jesus was in the grave all the 72 hours he had foretold.

 Learned theologians and church leaders do not study the Bible. They do not know what the Bible teaches, for they do not read it, but follow doctrines and traditions of man. They believe that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, and Good Friday has been celebrated. Satan exploits this ignorance, and the celebrating of Good Friday as a memory of the crucifixion. He uses it as "a proof" that Jesus did not fulfil the sign of Jonah. "He was in the grave only the half time."

 Nowhere in the Bible can we read that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Jesus warns against "making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition" (Mark 7:13). We shall be guided by the Bible, not by tradition. The Passover day is misplaced in the almanac. The Passover day shall be in Wednesday and not in Sunday. The Passover lamb would be slaughtered in the Passover day's evening, and in the Passover day Jesus was crucified. (Nevertheless, the crucifying of Jesus took longer time than to slaughtering of a lamb, therefore, they must begin several hours earlier). This is contrary to the common comprehension that he resurrected on the Passover day.

 The chief priests and the elders had the courage to invent a lie! For a large sum of money the soldiers were bribed into saying that the disciples had stolen His Body from the grave! "The soldiers took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews" (Matt. 28:12-15). "

Robert, Allan makes an excellent point.  Often Bible truth is replaced with tradition.  We must be willing to discard tradition when it contradicts the scriptures.  I hope that this has helped you.

In Christ,
Pastor Don