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. Matt 12:40
The greatness of Christianity today is found in the uniqueness of the Bible. There is nothing, anywhere, that approaches the essential majesty of God’s written Word. Nothing… anywhere! The words of the original God breathed text are so finetuned, so precise, so limitless in depth, that Jesus said that ‘not a yod (the smallest Hebrew letter) or a tittle (not even a letter but an ornament on a letter) would fail to be fulfilled in all of God’s Word. God means what He says, and says what He means, with a depth of precision and understanding that is breathtaking.
The last week of Jesus’ earthly life is the most detailed seven days in the whole Word of God. To put together the pattern of understanding of what happened that week there are a number of things we must understand, and we must be willing to put aside our traditional thinking to see what the Bible says:
1). The Hebrew day began at sunset, not midnight like our reckoning. Genesis says, ‘and the evening and the morning were the first day’ – a twenty-four-hour period.
2). The Hebrew daylight hours were reckoned by points on the sundial – the ‘1st hour’, the 3rd hour’, and so on, corresponding roughly to our six am, nine am, etc. The nighttime was divided into four watches – the evening watch, the midnight watch, the cockcrowing watch and the morning watch, perhaps by the pivot of the stars around the north star. Interestingly, the first day of Spring, near when Jesus died, is almost exactly twelve hours of light and twelve of darkness.
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) John 19:31NKJV
Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath… Mark 15:42-43 NKJV
‘These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. Lev 23:4-7 NKJV
Now when the Sabbath (the weekly Sabbath) was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. Mark 16:1-2 NKJV
3). There were two Sabbath days on the week that Jesus died – the High Sabbath that was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then there was the regular weekly Sabbath.
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 (the high day, Passover/the Feast of Unleavened Bread) drew near. Luke 23:53-54 NKJV
4). Jesus was buried before sundown on the preparation day before the High Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which began after sundown with the Passover meal, the eating of the lamb.
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'” Luke 24:1-7 NKJV
5). The Bible does NOT say that Jesus arose on Sunday morning. He arose at the end of the third day, the seventy-two-hour period. It says He was first SEEN on Sunday morning. The angels rolled away the burial stone on Sunday morning so that they could demonstrate that Jesus was risen, NOT so that He could arise. Jesus could pass through walls in His resurrected body. He did not need the stone moved so that He could arise. The angel said, He is risen, meaning Jesus arose sometime prior to him making that statement. Do you understand?
The question is, when did Jesus arise? We know He was risen by Sunday morning, and that He had been dead and buried for three days and three nights, to fulfill the prophecy of Matthew 12:40. We know that he was buried before sunset on the Preparation day. We can safely assume that ABBA would not leave Jesus in the grave one second beyond the seventy-two-hour requirement. If He were first seen on Sunday, the latest He could have been risen, fulfilling every prophetic requirement, was at sundown on Saturday evening, the end of the weekly Sabbath. Are you still with me?
Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” John 19:14 NKJV
Now, when did Jesus die? Counting back seventy-two hours from the moment of the Resurrection on Saturday at sundown, we can say He died on Wednesday about the ninth hour, approximately three pm. When was Jesus crucified? He was crucified at the third hour, about 9am on Wednesday. Tradition says he was crucified on Friday about noontime and He died three hours later. The Bible says He was crucified on Wednesday and He died six hours later. Tradition says we have to jam three days and three nights into Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. We are wrong on every point! We don’t have to ‘jam’ anything…we simply must align our thinking to what the Bible says. Trying to say that Jesus died and was buried on Friday and arose Sunday morning, and that’s three days and three nights, just makes us look stupid, and don’t think the world doesn’t notice.
So, if He is crucified on Wednesday morning, then when was He arrested, and when was the last supper? Here’s an abbreviated version of the sequence of events – after the last supper, Jesus and the disciples go to the Mount of Olives where Jesus wrestles in prayer for over three hours. There Judas leads a posse for Jesus’ arrest, and He is arrested. The next major event is the ‘night’ trial before the high priests, then the ‘morning’ trial before the whole Sanhedrin. Then He is delivered to Pilate who sends Him off to Herod. Herod sends Him back when Jesus does no miracle for Herod’s entertainment. Pilate examines Jesus, has Him scourged, then presents Him to the Jewish mob and says ECCE HOMO! (Behold the Man!). The Jewish mob betrays Jesus and cries CRUCIFY HIM! This occurs at the sixth hour, about noontime, on Tuesday. Between Tuesday at noon and Wednesday early morning before 9am when He is led away to be crucified, He is in the hands of the Roman soldiers…
So, if Jesus appeared before Pilate at noon on Tuesday for His public presentation – already arrested, tried four times, scourged and plated with a helmut of thorns – then when was He arrested, and when was the ‘last’ or final supper which was NOT the Passover meal (He WAS the Passover for all time that year)? The arrest would be on early Tuesday morning on the cockcrowing watch, and the final supper on our Monday evening at sunset or before sunset.
Instead of trying to compress all these events into Thursday night and Friday morning, which you CAN’T do because Jesus is crucified at the 3rd hour and appears before Pilate at the 6th hour, we simply work back from Easter Sunday morning, and let all the variables fit in easily to give us a complete picture of the greatest week, the fulcrum of history and eternity. Putting it all together, Jesus’ final supper, before the wedding feast in the new Jerusalem, was on our Monday evening before or after sunset. Then the events in the Garden including His arrest occur Monday night/Tuesday morning before dawn. Jesus then goes through four trials plus scourging/crown of thorns, before His public presentation by Pilate on Tuesday at noon. Then on Wednesday morning He is led out to be crucified and is crucified about nine am. Darkness covers the earth from noon to three pm when Jesus dies, at the time when the High priest is selecting the Passover lamb to be slaughtered. He is buried before sunset because it is the preparation day for the Passover/Feast of unleavened Bread. He arises on Saturday before sunset and appears on Sunday to Mary, then all the apostles. Hallelujah!
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:16-17NKJV
Most of us seem to read our Bibles as if we were reading a novel or even scrolling through Instagram. We read a chapter or a psalm and remember nothing, because our minds and hearts aren’t engaged. We are bored because we have read it. But Lake said that if we would read our Bibles the way a scientist reads his texts, examining, questioning, thinking about every word and seeking for understanding, we would be better instructed. We would learn and grow and the Holy Spirit would enrich us with understanding. I don’t recommend we change from ‘good Friday’ to ‘good Wednesday,’ because we aren’t supposed to observe days and hours and feasts. Every day is Resurrection day, every day we feast on what Jesus did for us, and we acknowledge, worship and rejoice in Him every day. But please receive this as a simple, ‘I really like you’ thought 😊 from my heart to you – ‘Happy Resurrection Saturday!’ Love you!
Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…