The Easter timeline
(This is part one of a three part series on Holy Week.)
Every year during Holy Week, I find myself becoming increasingly agitated with the days we choose to remember certain events. Traditionally, we remember the Last Supper on Thursday, the crucifixion on Friday, and the glorious resurrection Sunday morning.
But these days cannot possibly be accurate, or else the Bible is full of errors. So what is the truth?
Assuming that the Bible is the inerrant Word of the living God, and Christ was not a liar, Jesus spent 72 hours in the tomb. There are scores of Scripture in both testaments to support this.
- Matthew 12:39-40 (Jesus speaking): “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.”
- John 2:18-21: The Jews said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
- Matthew 27:63 (Jesus speaking): “After three days I will rise.”
- Mark 8:31: 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.
Many other verses support this as well. So how did we come to have a “Good Friday” and “Resurrection Sunday,” when that would only be 36 or so hours? Some argue that Christ wasn’t dead for three days, only part of the three days, but this cannot be, either, for there had to be three nights as well. Three days plus three nights equals 72 hours, no matter how you slice it.
Besides, Christ said, “After three days I will rise.” Not on the third day (Mark 27:63).
The problem comes in the church’s understanding of Jewish Sabbaths. The Bible teaches that Christ was crucified on the day before the Sabbath (Mark 15:42), so it has always been assumed to have been Friday. But in Jewish custom there were additional Annual Sabbaths, that fell on specific dates, and thus could be any day of the week. These were called High Sabbaths, and the day of Christ’s crucifixion occurred on a High Sabbath day, according to John 19:31.
Christ was crucified on the 14th of Nissan, according to the Jewish calendar, which fell on a Wednesday. The perfect timing of God in this case is remarkable, because the next day–Thursday–was a special Holy Sabbath, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jews sacrificed the Passover lamb. How gloriously perfect was it for the Father to sacrifice our precious Lamb of God on that day!
The other important aspect to keep in mind is the Jewish way of reckoning. Where in America we begin and end days at midnight, the Jews do so at 6 PM. So Christ hung on the Cross Wednesday afternoon and died in early evening. He died around 3 PM and He was placed in the tomb at 6 PM, and given God’s impeccable timing, I’m willing to believe it happened right on the nose, not a second early or late.
Day 1: Wednesday 6 PM to Thursday 6 PM
Day 2: Thursday 6 PM to Friday 6 PM
Day 3: Friday 6 PM to Saturday 6 PM
Christ rose at 6 PM on what we call Saturday night, but which is actually Sunday morning, according to the way Jews keep time. This is an important distinction since a lot of cultist will use this timeline to claim we should worship on Saturday, but after 6 PM on Saturday is really Sunday, which is why we are commanded to gather on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2).
This theory is backed up by Matthew 28:1. The word Sabbath in our Bibles should have been translated Sabbaths, plural, as it was written in the Greek. This is because Christ spent two Sabbaths in the tomb: The Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Saturday.
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