A handout from the biblical teaching of Calvary Church of Port Orchard... Thank you Jesus for leading me to a church that your word is preached, even on issues that would seem so small to the world...
When Did Jesus Die?
Was it on Good Friday?
THREE DAYS IN THE TOMB VS. THE LAW AND GOSPEL ACCOUNTS
By Karl Duff and Kevin Lea – April 10, 2009
Note – This handout was used during the Wednesday night service at Calvary Church of Port Orchard on April 8, 2009. The title of the service was "When Did Jesus Die?" You can listen to the teaching by going to www.calvarypo.org, then clicking on the Sermon Archives link and scrolling down to the title. It is being posted now, but will be updated with some visual aids soon.
For several centuries Christians have celebrated Good Friday as the day that Jesus died on the cross. But is it the truth? If not, when did Jesus die and how could so many have been so wrong for so long? Does it really matter what day of the week Jesus died?
I believe it is very important for Christians to know the answer to these questions and this handout is written as an attempt to provide a Biblical answer.
Is it the truth that Jesus died on Friday?
If Jesus died on Friday, then it is not the truth that Jesus was three days and three nights in the grave, as he predicted He would be:
Matt 12:39 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. 40 "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. (NKJ)
Those who believe in a Friday crucifixion have gone to great lengths to try and squeeze three days and three nights between Friday and Sunday morning. But no matter how hard one tries, it cannot be done and the scoffers of the Bible are more than glad to point it out to those who are trying to stick with a Friday tradition. Therefore, either Matthew was in error about what Jesus said, Jesus was in error about how long He would be in the grave, or Jesus did not die on Friday. I am thankful that the last option has very strong Biblical support.
But doesn’t the Bible say that Jesus died on Friday? No, it does not. What it does say is that Jesus died on the day before a Sabbath day:
Mark 15:42 Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 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. 44 Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. (NKJ) 2
Luke 23:52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. 54 That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. (NKJ)
John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. 31 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), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. (NKJ)
Those who look at these verses without an understanding of the Jewish feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread assume the word Sabbath in these verses means a Saturday Sabbath, but it does not. A careful study of the Jewish Torah (first five books of the Old Testament – referred to as The Law) reveals that there were other "Sabbath" days the Jews were required to observe that were independent of the normal Saturday Sabbath. Many false understandings have crept into the church as a result of gentile believers failing to understand our Jewish roots and the false understanding of when Jesus died is probably the most significant.
The solution to this centuries-long misunderstanding is not an "easy fix." In order to find the truth, great care must be taken to understand the Jewish feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits as they were established in Exodus and Leviticus. Then additional care must be taken to understand how the Jews changed or mixed their terminology about (and observance of) these feasts in the years leading up to Jesus’ generation. Then further additional care must be taken by comparing all that was said by all of the gospel writers pertaining to the day of Jesus’ death and of His resurrection. One must also keep in mind that the Jews mark the end of one day (and start of the next) at sunset rather than the current western practice of doing so at midnight.
The following bullet items are intended to lay the foundation for the concluding thoughts, and when carefully compared to scripture appear to me to fully reconcile the alleged conflict in the four gospel accounts of Christ's death and resurrection. It is postulated:
(1) That Jesus held His "Last Supper" on the night of the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan (In Jewish reckoning, the night of Nisan 14 precedes the daylight hours of Nisan 14). The night of Nisan 14 coincides with the night that death "passed over" the Jews but killed the firstborn of Egypt (See Exodus 12). In Moses’ day, Nisan 14 was referred to as "The Passover" day (Exodus 12:5-6).
(2) The events of the Last Supper and crucifixion took place on Wednesday rather than on the traditional Friday (or as alternately proposed by some, Thursday.)
(3) The next day (starting at sunset on Wednesday), was Nisan 15, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which runs for 7 days. The first and seventh days of this Feast are special "Sabbath" days (Leviticus 23:7-8). In Moses’ day, this week of Nisan 15-22 was referred to as the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6). In Jesus’ day Nisan 14 became know as the "Preparation Day" for the Passover week (formally – Feast 3
of Unleavened Bread). This practice continues to this day in Israel (as can be seen on any Jewish calendar).
With these three postulations as a basis the following understanding flows from the Biblical texts:
All four gospel accounts agree that Jesus died on "preparation day", i.e., the day before the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (also referred to as Passover week) which commences on Nisan 15 - See Matt. 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:31.
Nisan 15 is a High Day (John 19:31) or Holy Convocation (Exod. 12:16, Lev 23:7-8), a Sabbath allowing no work. It is distinct from a Saturday Sabbath and falls on a different day of the week each year, just like someone’s birthday is not on the same day of the week every year.
Contrary to the Jewish Law (Torah) of the Exodus/Leviticus texts, both Matthew (Matt. 26:17) and Mark (Mk. 14:12) provide a statement that the "first day of Unleavened Bread" is on the day that the lamb is sacrificed.
Matt 26:17 Now on the first {day} of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" 18 And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I {am to} keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."'" (NAS)
Mark 14:11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him. 12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?" (NKJ)
The Torah makes it very clear that the lamb was to be slain on Nisan 14, which Moses referred to as Passover (Exodus 12:6, Lev 23:5), but the gospel writers refer to as the preparation day. The lamb was not to be killed on Unleavened Bread as Matthew and Mark record. This can only be reconciled in one of two ways. Either the gospel writers were using the Roman scheme for "days" (where the start of the Sabbath Feast could occur in the same "midnight-to-midnight" 24-hour period - rather than the Hebrew sunset-to-sunset 24-hour day) OR some inter-variation of terms was involved. We will see that the latter is the case.
It is likely that Matthew and Mark used the general term "Unleavened Bread" (omitting inclusion of the specific words 'Feast of') to refer to the combined Exodus feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. These feasts (when combined) occurred on Nisan 14 and Nisan 15-22 respectively – 8 total days. It is also likely that the term "Preparation Day" meant the preparation day for the 7-day week of Unleavened Bread (Moses) Passover (Jesus’ day and current).
Compare Mark 14:1 with Mark 14:12. In 14:1, Mark uses the Moses/Exodus terminology, but in 14:12 he uses the terms of Jesus’ day. 4
Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread was two days off; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth, and kill {Him;} (NAS)
Mark 14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover {lamb} was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?" (NAS)
The conclusion is that vernacular expressions of these observances varied with usage (Passover and Unleavened Bread, Preparation Day and Passover (week), Unleavened Bread (meaning all eight days) – all being used to describe the same eight days associated with these two feasts) . Modern Jews, including Israeli Jews, confirm this.
This enables the use of the general term "Unleavened Bread" to include the Passover sacrifice. Hence Jesus' disciples assigned to set up His "Last Supper" Passover meal set up the meal to be eaten on preparation day (Nisan 14), which started after sundown on Nisan 13. Both the set up and supper could have been after sunset on a Roman Calendar Tuesday, but the beginning of Jewish Wednesday (although the set-up itself could have taken place prior to sunset.) With that assumption, Jesus’ betrayal in the garden, Jewish and Roman trial, crucifixion, and death would also all have taken place on Wednesday.
Following Jesus' betrayal and death, the approaching High Sabbath (John 19:31) of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread required the bodies to be quickly removed from the crosses and be buried before sunset Wednesday evening, prior to the commencement of Nisan 15.
As stated, this day is also defined as a "Holy Convocation", just as is the regular seventh day, Saturday, Sabbath (Leviticus 23:3-8). This was also important to the Pharisees, who wanted to be ritually "clean" and able to take the traditional Passover supper celebration at their customary commencement of Passover on Nisan 15.
It can here again be noted that Jesus celebrated it a day earlier with His disciples, corresponding to the actual playing out of events in Egypt as the original Passover occurred (i.e., the slaying of the Passover lamb, the supper, and the Passing over of the "death angel" all occurring on Nisan 14.)
Jesus was then buried just prior to sunset on Wednesday evening (i.e., prior to commencement of Thursday on the Jewish calendar).
Thursday continued the High Sabbath associated with the first Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15) through that evening. Friday was a regular work day. It was during this time that some of the women went to purchase spices to properly anoint the body of Jesus when Sunday morning came.
Mark 16:1 Now when the Sabbath [Nisan 15 - Thursday] was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him [after the Saturday Sabbath and after those guarding the tomb for three days and nights would no longer prevent them from entering the tomb]. 2 Very early in the 5
morning, on the first day of the week [Sunday], they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
Notice that Mark says, "Now when the Sabbath was past." This cannot possibly mean the Saturday Sabbath, for that would mean the women went out to purchase spices on Sunday (resurrection Day). "Now when the Sabbath was past" must mean when the High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (Thursday) was past (i.e., on Friday) they purchased the spices, then rested on the normal Saturday Sabbath, then went to the tomb on Sunday to anoint the body of Jesus.
Saturday was the regular weekly 7th-Day Sabbath, so that both the first and third days in the tomb were Sabbaths, at the end of which Jesus had spent three days and nights in the tomb.
He was resurrected sometime during that Saturday night (Sunday night by Jewish reckoning where any particular day’s night precedes its day), prior to sunrise on Sunday, the "first day of the week." Since Jesus was not in the tomb the entire night (John 20:1), it is not considered to be a fourth night in the grave (Matt 12:40 - only Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were full nights).
Matt 12:40 "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. (NKJ)
John 20:1 On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.(NKJ)
Mark says the women who arrived later than this first visit by Mary Magdalene (before sunrise - only recorded by John) wondered who would move the stone
Mark 16:3 And they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away-- for it was very large. (NKJ)
We must remember that the Jews asked Pilate to post a guard at the tomb.
Matt 27:62 On the next day [Thursday], which followed the Day of Preparation [Wednesday – Nisan 14], the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.' 64 "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." 65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how." 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. (NKJ)
If current tradition about the day Jesus was crucified is correct (Friday), then it was on Saturday that the Pharisees asked Pilate to seal the tomb for three days. This sealing and guarding of the tomb would have been well known to the disciples of Jesus. They would have also known that the guards would be posted for at least three days and nights. If this were the case, why would women plan to come very early the very next morning thinking they could get through the guards 6
and the sealed tomb to anoint the body of Jesus? Also, why were they wondering how they would move the stone?
If, however, these women knew that Jesus died on Wednesday, and that the tomb was ordered sealed and guarded for three days starting on Thursday, then they would have known that the guard’s duty would end on Sunday morning and they would be free to have the tomb opened and then enter. In fact it appears they were concerned that the guards may have already left and would not be available to help them roll away the stone.
Mark 16:3 And they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away-- for it was very large. (NKJ)
When the first women arrived, the guards were still there to witness the miraculous earthquake and moving of the stone (at or after the resurrection event).
Matt 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. 5 But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. (NKJ)
It can be conjectured that shortly after this earthquake; the guards fled the tomb and went to the religious leaders to tell them what happened. Shortly after their departure, the second group of women are arriving at the tomb area. Before getting to within eye contact of the tomb’s entrance, the women notice that the guards are gone and won’t be able to help them move the stone. When they get a little closer to the tomb, they then notice that the stone is already (inexplicably) rolled away. It makes no sense that the women would go to the tomb without a plan for moving the stone. They must have been counting on the guards to do so, and they could not have counted on them unless three full days and nights had transpired.
Matthew 27:64 "Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and -------.
This conjecture flows naturally with Mark’s text when one considers that the need to move the stone could not have been an oversight.
Mark 16:3 And they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away-- for it was very large. (NKJ)
When the guards reported the events to the religious leaders, they were bribed into spreading the lie that the disciples had taken the body in the night. This lie has lived in the minds of some till this day. 7
Matt 28:11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.' 14 "And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure." 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. (NKJ)
In summary, lets now consider the questions that started this inquiry:
Did Jesus die on Friday? – No, and nothing in the Bible says that He did. It is a lie which is based on the traditions of man which ignore the details of the biblical texts of the Old and New Testaments pertaining to the Jewish Passover. Jesus died on Wednesday and rose three full days later, before sunrise on Sunday morning.
How could so many have been so wrong for so long? - Because the Catholic Church, which is the source of the deception, is not interested in our Jewish roots nor in the true gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result of their influence in trying to keep people from obtaining a deep understanding of the scriptures, and because much of the Protestant church has also ignored the teachings of the Old Testament, most are still in the dark.
Does it really matter what day of the week Jesus died? - Yes, it certainly does if you are interested in the truth. Knowing the truth will also keep you from being tested in your faith when a college professor who loves mocking ignorant Christians (or some other Bible critic) challenges you to come up with three days and nights between Friday and Sunday morning. Knowing the truth about the timing of Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us assurance about the accuracy of the Biblical record. If we keep in mind the Jewish roots of God’s salvation plan, everything fits into a perfect order that fulfills the great sign that Jesus gave the world:
Matt 12:39 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. 40 "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. (NKJ)
John 11:24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." (NKJ)
I pray this handout has helped you to grow in your faith in Jesus. A GOOD WEDNESDAY to you!
