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The Resurrection was not
on Sunday
Each year many observe "Good Friday",
the day they believe that Jesus was crucified. Then
"Easter" Sunday will be observed as the day Christ arose
from the dead. But was Jesus truly crucified on a Friday
and resurrected on a Sunday Morning? And does it really
matter?
The Sign of Jonah
If you believe in Jesus as the Messiah, then it does
matter, because the only sign which would be given to
prove that He was the promised Messiah is the sign of
Jonah.
When the Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus for a sign
to prove that He was sent from God, Jesus answered,-"An
evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and
yet NO SIGN shall be given to it BUT THE SIGN OF JONAH
the prophet. For just as Jonah was THREE DAYS and THREE
NIGHTS in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son
of man be THREE DAYS and THREE NIGHTS in the heart of
the earth." (Matthew 12:39-40)
Jesus said, not
only three DAYS but also three NIGHTS.
That is 72
hours in the grave.
Many erroneously assume that because Jesus was crucified
on the "day of preparation" that He was killed on
"Friday", the weekly preparation day. Notice,- And
behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the
Council, a good and righteous man, a man from Arimathea,
a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of
God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of
Jesus. And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen
cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where
no one had ever lain. And it was the PREPARATION DAY,
and the SABBATH WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN. Now the women who
had come with Him out of Galilee followed after, and saw
the tomb and how His body was laid. And they returned
and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath
they rested according to the commandment." (Luke
23:50-56)
We can read the same account in the other
gospels as well, so it is very clear that Jesus was
killed and buried on the day of preparation. But how can
we get THREE DAYS and THREE NIGHTS from near sundown
Friday to Sunday morning? Friday NIGHT would be ONE
NIGHT, Saturday would be ONE DAY. Saturday NIGHT would
be TWO NIGHTS and Sunday morning could not even be
counted as a DAY. This reckoning would give us only ONE
DAY and TWO NIGHTS, not the THREE DAYS and THREE NIGHTS
Jesus gave as His only sign.
Jesus certainly made no mistake so what is the answer to
this puzzle? The answer can only be found when we
understand which
Sabbath is
being prepared for observance. There are more "Sabbaths"
than just the weekly Sabbaths. They are called "Annual
Sabbaths" or "High Days."
These are a part of the annual Festivals commanded by
God in Leviticus 23, and are the Lord's appointed times
for assembly and observance. They may fall on any day of
the week during the year.
The ANNUAL SABBATHS are (1)
First Day of Unleavened Bread. (2) Seventh Day of
Unleavened Bread. (3) Feast of Pentecost or First Fruits (always
Sunday). (4)
Feast of Trumpets. (5) Day of Atonement. (6) Feast of
Tabernacles or Booths. (7) Last Great Day.
Now with this understanding let us read Leviticus
23:5-7,- "In the first month, on the FOURTEENTH DAY of
the month at twilight is the Lord's PASSOVER. Then on
the FIFTEENTH DAY of the same month there is the FEAST
OF UNLEAVENED BREAD to the Lord; for seven days you
shall eat unleavened bread. On the FIRST DAY you shall
have a HOLY CONVOCATION; you shall not do any laborious
work."
Notice that this ANNUAL SABBATH follows the Lord's
PASSOVER. Now notice Luke
22:15,- Jesus said to His disciples,- "I have earnestly
desired to eat this PASSOVER with you before I SUFFER."
After the PASSOVER MEAL they departed to the Mount of
Olives. In Luke
22, Verse 47 we
find Jesus betrayed by Judas Iscariot and in Verse
54,- arrested.
All this happened on the
PASSOVER, the 14th of
Nissan.
The following morning (still the Passover), Jesus was
tried, beaten and sentenced to death by crucifixion. We
find in Matthew 27, Verse 50 that Jesus cried out with a
loud voice and died. Verse 46 tells us it was at the
"ninth hour" of the day (Passover), which is 3 in the
afternoon.
All of this, from the eating of the Passover, to His
death and burial, took place on the 14th of
Nissan, the Passover.
Joseph, who asked Pilate for Jesus' body, had until
sundown to prepare the body with spices and secure Him
in His tomb. Days began and ended at sundown, so sundown
would begin a new day, in this case a High Sabbath, the
First Day of Unleavened Bread.(15th Nissan)
This day of preparation mentioned in the Gospels was not
to prepare for a "weekly" Sabbath, but the First Day of
the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Jesus was crucified in 31 A.D. (I surmise) on Passover
14th Nissan,
a WEDNESDAY that year (30 A.D. and 31 A.D. both had a
Wednesday Passover according to the perpetual calendar)
was buried just prior to sundown which would begin the
next day,- THURSDAY, 15th Nissan
a High Day. THREE DAYS and THREE NIGHTS later, near the
end of the WEEKLY SABBATH (Saturday), He arose from the
dead. Notice,- Luke
24:1-3,- "But on the first day of the week, at early
dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which
they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away
from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find
the Body of the Lord Jesus."
It was early SUNDAY
MORNING and Jesus was ALREADY GONE.
He was not resurrected on
Sunday morning, the tomb was already
empty.
Fulfilling the "Sign
of Jonah", Jesus was true to His own prophecy
concerning Himself,- He was in the grave Wednesday NIGHT(1st),
Thurs-DAY(1st), Thursday NIGHT(2nd),
Fri-DAY(2nd), Friday NIGHT(3rd)Satur-DAY(3rd).
Thus THREE
FULL DAYS and THREE FULL NIGHTS.
If He arose on Sunday morning, that would be
three days and FOUR NIGHTS,
thus nullifying the Lord's own prophecy of His
resurrection.
If Jesus was put in the tomb just
before sundown, then He must have been resurrected
from the tomb at
that same time of day three
days later. Which would be near
the end of
the weekly
Sabbath as
it was beginning to get dark. At sundown would begin
Sunday, the first day it was noticed that He was gone
from His tomb.
WHAT ABOUT MARK
16:9?
Many point out that Mark
Chapter 16, Verse 9 does
not harmonize with the other resurrection accounts given
in the Gospel records. They may be right, notice,- "Now
after He had risen EARLY ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK,
He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had
cast out seven demons." (Translators
added punctuation, so if a comma was supposed to be
after "risen", then the Verse would be saying that
"After Jesus had
risen (previous
evening), He appeared to Mary on the "first day.") But
let's leave it as it is and consider the following.
So which gospel account is a sincere Christian to
believe? Well, the answer is in your own Bible if it has
acenter-reference. If you look closely at Mark
16, beginning in Verse 9, you will see that Verses
9 through 20 are in "brackets". Why? Check
your own center-reference and you will read that these
Verses are not found in the older manuscripts of the
Bible. This is the translators way of
warning the reader that what they are reading may be
"spurious." Meaning that it may have been ADDED at a
LATER DATE to promote a targeted agenda.
After the second century the Scriptures were penned by
Scribes who would later be known as Catholic Monks
living in Monasteries. Since the "resurrection festival"
was promoted by those who would later be known as the
leaders of Catholicism, and was ordered held on
"resurrection Sunday", it is likely that these Verses in
Mark were added during the "Passover Controversy."
Incidently, there has been other Verses which have been
found to be spurious and later removed from future
translation revisions.
One such Verse is found in 1
John Chapter 5, Verse 7, which
reads in the KJV,- "For
there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one."
The true rendering of this Verse
from the oldest
Greek Manuscripts is,- "And
it is the spirit which bears witness, because the spirit
is the truth."
As you can see, nothing at all alike. Why? The first
rendering is from the Latin Vulgate, a Roman Catholic
translation by the Bishop, Jerome. Why
would Jerome take the liberty to alter a verse to say
that there are THREE in Heaven comprising the God-Head,
and further add that THEY ARE ONE? Perhaps it is because
of another "controversy", this time concerning the
"Nature of God." After years of debate, the Catholic
Churchfinally ruled that God is a Trinity of beings,-
yet one. Many translations do not add this Verse,
realizing that coming from the Latin Vulgate ( completed
in 405 A.D.) was probably spurious, being too
self-serving to the Catholics new doctrinal position.
Jesus was Crucified on a Wednesday PASSOVER, because He
IS OUR PASSOVER LAMB. God always does things ON TIME and
at His APPOINTED TIMES. Everything
surrounding the first Passover observance in ancient
Egypt was foreshadowing Him, the true Lamb to come that
would save man from death by giving His own precious
life as a sacrifice.
As Christians, we no longer observe this very special
day as a memorial of deliverance of Israel from Egypt,
but as a memorial of the death of our Lord who delivered
us from eternal death. Don't neglect this meaningful
memorial.
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