an increasingly popular claim today is the notion that jesus did not actually die on a friday...most commonly it is suggested that jesus died on a wednesday...others have suggested that jesus died on a thursday or even a tuesday...a few people have even argued that jesus did not rise from the dead on a sunday!
however this view is mistaken...as i will show in this thread...jesus -did- die on a friday and he -did- rise on a sunday and there is absolutely no alternative that does not contradict scripture...
to begin with...much of the confusion comes from misconceptions about the timing and duration of the passover or feast of unleavened bread... many are under the mistaken impression that passover and the feast of unleavened bread are two separate festivals...with the feast of unleavened bread beginning twenty-four hours after the passover seder...
but scripture indicates that this idea is incorrect...and shows that the terms 'passover' and 'feast of unleavened bread' are actually interchangeable names for the same seven day feast...
ezekiel 45:21..."In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten."
luke 22:1..."Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching."
furthermore scripture shows that the passover seder marked the first day of the feast unleavened bread...
matthew 26:17..."Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?'"
mark 14:12..."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?'"
luke 22:7..."Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed."
so the passover seder corresponded with the first day of the feast of unleavened bread...the feast of unleaved bread did -not- begin a day later as many people have assumed...
the feast of unleavened bread began on a fixed date in the hebrew calendar each year...specifically the fifteenth day of the month of abib...
leviticus 23:6..."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."
numbers 28:17..."On the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast, unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days."
Very nice except you left this part out...
Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
The Passover is on the FOURTEENTH day of the first month.
so the passover and feast of unleavened bread went as follows...
for your calculations, again you conveniently left out...
Abib 14...Passover
abib 15...first day of the feast of unleavened bread...beginning with passover seder...sacred assembly held...
abib 16...second day of the feast of unleavened bread...
abib 17...third day of the feast...
abib 18...fourth day...
abib 19...fifth day...
abib 20...sixth day...
abib 21...seventh day of the feast of unleavened bread...sacred assembly held...
someone will probably object that scripture states that the passover seder was held on the evening of the -fourteenth- day...implying that it was the fourteenth day when the seder was held...with the feast of unleavened bread not beginning until one day later on the fifteenth day...
but this notion is based on another misconception...it turns out that when scripture speaks of the evening of a certain day...it is actually indicating the -end- of that day and the -beginning- of the next day... this convention is clear from the scripture on the day of atonement...
leviticus 23:27-32..."On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath."
What this scirpture actually reinforces is that days begin at sunset and end at sunset. The evening portion of the day is the BEGINNING of the day, not the end of it and running it into the next day...
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Days begin at sunset and the night portion is the first part of day and the daylight portion is the last part of a day.
it is clear from this scripture that the evening of the ninth day was regarded as the -ending- of the ninth day and the -beginning- of the tenth day which was the day of atonement...with the ninth day not actually being part of the day of atonement...
Only problem here is that nowhere in the description of Atonement is the ninth day mentioned. What is said is that the Day of Atonement begins at even on the tenth day. Same with the the Passover, it begins at even of the fourteenth.
so applying scripture's own convention to passover and the feast of unleavened bread...it is equally clear that the evening of the passover seder was the -end- of the fourteenth day of the month and the -beginning- of the fifteenth day of the month...the fourteenth day itself was not part of the passover observance or the feast of unleavened bread...
Not at all, you have twisted scripture.
having established that...we can say that anything that took place in the daylight hours immediately following the night of the seder happened on what scripture would call the fifteenth day...
All you have established here is that you do not understand how days are actually marked from sunset to sunset.
that is significant because jesus was crucified in the daylight hours immediately following the night of the seder he held with his disciples...that means jesus was crucified on the fifteenth day of the month...
Interesting, but Christ was crucifed on the DAY BEFORE the Holy Day know as the First Day of Unleavened Bread...
Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Here we see that Christ DIED.
Joh 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (
for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The High Day here is the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of ABIB and Christ was already dead and they buried Him before sunset, before the First Day of Unleavened Bread.
Joh 19:32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
Joh 19:33 But when they came to Jesus, and
saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
someone may try to argue that jesus' last supper was not actually the passover seder...but that is disproved by mark 14:12...which i quoted above...it clearly shows that the passover lambs were killed on the evening of the same day jesus' disciples obtained the use of the upper room for his last supper...so there is no doubt that the last supper was a passover seder...
having established that jesus was crucified on the fifteenth day of the month of abib...we now look to the fact that the day following jesus' crucifixion was a sabbath...
So what you have established is the jesus christ you are talking about was not killed on the Passover, the Passover is...
Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
Remember, days begin at evening as we saw in Genesis and as Lev 23:32 palinly shows. So for the Passover to be at even on the fourteenth, it could not have been the fifteenth.
mark 15:42..."When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,"
This is a big hint here, the day before the Sabbath...
Joh 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The day before the First Day of Unleavened Bread.
john 19:31..."Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."
the entire basis of all 'anti good friday' arguments is the notion that this sabbath could have been one of the days of assembly associated with the feast of unleavened bread...however we can now see that this is impossible...
given that jesus was crucified on the fifteenth day of abib...it is clear that the sabbath of the following day would have fallen on the sixteenth day of abib...however in the laws regarding the passover and feast of unleavened bread there is no provision for a sabbath on the sixteenth day of abib...but only on the fifteenth and twenty-first days of the month...
in fact it is apparent that the sabbatical assembly was actually held on the day of the crucifixion...which likely explains how the jews were so quickly assembled before pilate to observe the trial of jesus...they would have been assembling anyway...
this all means that this sabbath can -only- be the weekly saturday sabbath...and if the day after jesus' crucifixion was a saturday...then jesus was crucified on a friday...
having established that jesus was crucified on a friday...it is relatively easy to prove that jesus rose on a sunday...here are the relevant scriptures...
matthew 28:1..."Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave."
mark 16:2..."Very early on the first day of the week, they *came to the tomb when the sun had risen."
mark 16:9..."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."
luke 24:1..."But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared."
john 20:1..."Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene *came early to the tomb, while it *was still dark, and *saw the stone already taken away from the tomb."
the unanimous testimony of all four gospel writers is pretty much non debateable...jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week...a sunday...
so in conclusion i have proven from scripture that jesus could not have been crucified on any other day but a friday...and that he rose from the dead on a sunday...scripture simply does not allow any alternative such as a wednesday crucifixion...
Now with this scripture in mind...
Joh 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
Joh 11:10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
Please count three 12 hour days and three 12 hour nights from Friday at sunset to before dawn on Sunday morning.
