28/04/2025
The Day Of Crucifixion:
Jesus Christ could not possibly have died on Friday. This, of course, refutes the tradition of Good Friday. If anything, the tradition should be Good Wednesday, and we will see why.
Earlier in His Ministry, Jesus said that between His death and resurrection He would be “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Matthew 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. v.39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: v.40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
At that time, the scribes and Pharisees were looking for a way to trap Jesus. They did not recognize the deity of Christ and would not address Him as Lord. Yet, they determined to see a miracle. What gall! Jesus performed countless miracles right before their eyes in times past. But Jesus did not perform the miracle they desired and instead directed their minds to the true issue, THE WORD OF GOD.
“Three days and three nights” is not a figurative phrase, but refers to a literal three days and three nights. Just as in Genesis chapters one and two, one day and one night represent a twenty-four-hour period. Therefore, Jesus said that He would be in the grave for a literal seventy-two-hour period.
By application of simple arithmetic we can establish the time of Chrit’s death by counting back three days and three nights from the time of His resurrection. Knowing that Jesus rose sometime before Sunday morning, using the Judean calendar we can count backwards “three days and three nights” which brings us to Wednesday, 14 Nisan.
According to the Mosaic Law, all preparations for the Passover meal, including slaughtering the lambs, had to be completed on 14 Nizan before twilight (Exodus 12:6, 14). The Judean Jews killed the Passover lamb in the afternoon of 14 Nizan and ate the celebratory meal that evening after 6 P.M. on 15 Nizan – the first day of Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread taught every generation of Jews to remember their deliverance from Egypt by Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity ( Exodus 12:17), the One they were putting to death.
Passover was the meal the Pharisees were so anxious to observe that they would not defile themselves by entering the Praetorium to bring their indictment against Christ (John 18:28). Yet, by 9 A.M Wednesday, 14 Nizan, they had seen to it that Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross. Between 12 noon and 3 P.M., the very same time the lambs “without blemish” (Leviticus 1:3, 10) were being slain for the Passover meal, Jesus Christ DIED SPIRITUALLY for the sins of the world: “Christ our Passover… (Who) has been sacrifice” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Sometime in the afternoon, about 3 P.M., He dismissed His spirit (John 19:30).
When Jesus Christ died, His body was put in the grave by Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus just before the sundown (John 19:38-42). Therefore, according to the Judean time line, His time in the heart of the earth began Thursday, 15, Nizan. Then, counting forward the next day, Thursday, the first of Jonah’s three days and three nights is completed. Friday night – the second night, Friday day – the second day, and Saturday night and Saturday day completed the three days and three nights. Hence, any time after sundown Saturday He came out of the grave fulfilling the sign of Jonah.
In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul says that Jesus Christ rose on “the third day.”
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Cor. 15:3-4
Here, Paul used the Gentile time line which starts and ends at midnight to confirm what Jesus had said about the sign of Jonah. Rising Saturday night after sundown and before midnight fulfills this prophecy of “the third day” in both the Jewish and Gentile timetables.