Last Friday, after our time of prayer, some of the men were talking, and wife of my former pastor came up. I mentioned that she had found a church to attend in the DC area, but she was disappointed that her new pastor was leading the church in a “Good Friday” worship service. For a few moments we talked about the fact that several of us don’t believe Christ died on Friday. And I was encouraged to share with you what I believe. So these thoughts may be a week late, but hopefully they are not that proverbial “dollar short.”
Like our friend in Virginia, I would not have a problem attending a church, if the only difference between us was on which day of the week Jesus died. You may disagree with me, but I’m not going to break fellowship with someone who differs in this matter. If a church believes that the eternal Son of God took upon himself human flesh in order to die as a substitutionary sacrifice for my sin, I’m okay with whatever day it was accomplished. And yet, I do have an opinion which differs with much of Christianity.
I’ll get to the details in a minute, but the basic difference between a Wednesday or Friday crucifixion is whether we are going to emphasize what Jesus said or what is commonly believed about Jewish practice.
Let’s begin by considering two groups of scriptures.
First, there are those scriptures which speak about Jesus’ death in relation to the Jewish Sabbath. Please keep in mind that the word “sabbath” refers to “rest” or to the “cessation of work.” At the end of the creation week, Jehovah “rested” in the sense that He stopped creating, and He blessed that day. That happened to be on the seventh day of the first week of creation. Translating that into our modern calendars, God rested on Saturday. And the Jews have been “resting” and worshiping on Saturday ever since. But a problem arises when people make the mistake thinking that “sabbath” means “seventh.” It doesn’t, and it never did. “Sabbath” speaks of “rest” or the “cessation of work,” and it has since the second chapter in the Word of God.
In regard to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection each of the gospels refer to the sabbath several times. Matthew 28:1 says, “In the end of the SABBATH, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.” And they found the tomb empty except for an angel. In Mark 15:42 we read, “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the SABBATH, Joseph of Arimathaea, and honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.” Then just a few verses later – “When the SABBATH was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning of the FIRST DAY of the week, they came unto sepulchre at the rising of the sun.” So Joseph took possession of Jesus’ body on the preparation day before the sabbath, and several ladies came on the morning after the sabbath, but the body was gone.
Now turn to Luke 23:54 – “And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.” Luke basically gives us the same information as Mark.
Then John 19 describes our Lord’s crucifixion, concluding with “when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished; and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” The next verse, John 19:31 adds – “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.”
Probably picking up what Roman Catholics had been teaching for 1,500 years… Protestant teachers and preachers have almost universally pointed to the Biblical references to “the sabbath,” declaring that Jesus died the day before the sabbath, and He was resurrected the day after the sabbath. Since the Jewish Sabbath is Saturday on our calendars, then Jesus must have died on Friday – they say.
Now let me take you to another group of scriptures. In Matthew 12 certain scribes and Pharisees demanded, “Master, we would see a sign from thee” – give us something else which will prove that you are the Messiah. Among other things, Jesus said, “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.” Earlier in His ministry, as recorded in John 2:13, Jesus attacked the merchandising of the temple: “Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his BODY.” Later, Mark and Matthew tell us that as Jesus hung on the cross, wicked people came by saying, “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross” – Matthew 26:40. Then a few verses later the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again.” They were referring to things the Lord Jesus had said in a couple other scriptures. And Mark 8:31 says, “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
Here then is the core of the argument between Jesus’ death on Friday versus His death on Wednesday.
Are we going to bind our opinion to the word “sabbath” or to the words of the Lord Jesus?
In defense of the Friday opinion, many people squeeze three days between Friday and Sunday. They say, Jesus died on Friday (day #1); He was in the tomb all day Saturday (day #2) and He came out of the grave on Sunday at dawn (day #3). Personally, I have never used that kind of logic to explain any three days in my life – ever. If something took place at supper time on Friday and something else occurred at dawn on Sunday, then at the very most, to my mortal brain, only a day and a half transpired, or if I was feeling really liberal I might say two days. I would never say three days passed, and I find it impossible to say it in regard to Jesus’ time in the tomb.
But Jesus introduced another word into the equation and the argument – “nights.” Matthew 12:40 – “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.” Christ’s meaning could have been entirely different, if He had only said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days… in the heart of the earth.” When Jesus added “three nights” to His stay in the heart of the earth, arguments change dramatically. Even if someone squeezed really hard and got three days between Friday and Sunday, it is absolutely impossible to get three nights in there as well.
Working backward, if Christ came out of Joseph’s tomb on Sunday morning that would be: Saturday night, Saturday, Friday night, Friday, Thursday night and Thursday. But, we know that Jesus died about sundown, making Thursday impossible at least to my mind. So here is how I see it. Jesus died on our Wednesday, as the sun was setting. He was in the grave Thursday, Friday and Saturday. More specifically, He was in the grave Wednesday night, Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night and Saturday. Then as the sun was going down and the next Jewish day was beginning, Christ arose. I believe that the tomb was empty at about 6:00 in the evening on Saturday and the ladies found it empty the next morning. That gives us all three days and all three nights. Does that answer every objection? Probably not. But it answers more than the alternative does.
I believe there is an answer to the question about the Jewish sabbath. First, let’s remember the meaning of the word “sabbath,” both in the Greek and in the earlier Hebrew, is “rest.” Turn to Leviticus 16:29 where we read God’s instructions about the Day of Atonement. “And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It shall be a SABBATH of REST unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.” The “sabbath” referred to in this scripture is not the ordinary Saturday; it is whatever day was the tenth day of the seventh month.
Now go to Leviticus 23:7. This is speaking about the Passover which came within the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “In the first day ye shall have not holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.” It isn’t specifically said, but any day in which the Jews did not servile work was a “sabbath” – a rest day.
Now notice verse 23 which speaks once again about the Day of Atonement: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a SABBATH, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.”
Leviticus 16:29 tells us that in the Jewish calendar the 10th day of the 7th month was a “sabbath.” And Leviticus 23:24 says that the 1st day of the same 7th month was also a “sabbath.” Even if one of those days – the 1st or the 10th – fell on a Saturday, the other didn’t. And it is possible and neither one fell on the common, weekly sabbath. What I am trying to say is that the Jews had special “sabbaths” which did not fall on Saturday. And during the Passover period, in the Spring, and the Day of Atonement, in the Fall, some weeks had more than one Sabbath. I believe that Jesus died on the preparation day prior to a special Passover sabbath, and that He rose again the day after the common sabbath.
Now, I’m going to one more point that I had never seen until yesterday. This one could easily make some people angry with me, but I’ll forgive you in advance. I have here a copy of the Greek New Testament – “the Textus Receptus.” Some of the very few English words in this book are on the title page: “The Greek Text underlying the English Authorised Verison of 1611.”
In John 19:31 we have the word “sabbath” with an added special designation. “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)…” Doesn’t the statement “that sabbath was an high day,” tell us that it was special? The Protestants say that it was special only because the Passover fell on the common sabbath. I say it was special because it was a special day, as Leviticus might allow. The Greek word translated “sabbath” in this verse, as we might expect, is in the singular form – σαββατω – seven letters.
Now go Matthew 28:1 once again. “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.” First of all, the reference to both the end of the sabbath and the arrival of the first day of the week is a little redundant, if it was the end of the common sabbath. Even though that means something to me, I’ll let people ignore it. What I would like you to know however, is that the Greek word “sabbath” in Matthew 28:1 is not singular but plural – σαββατων – eight letters. These ladies came to the empty tomb after both the sabbaths for that week were finished – the special one which came earlier and the common one which came the day before.
Conclusion:
Once again, I have no intention of disfellowshipping any preacher or ignoring any church which disagrees with me that Jesus died on Wednesday. But upon the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe He was in the grave for three full days and three full nights, forcing me to believe He died on Wednesday. Furthermore, I believe I have a Biblical answer to those people to point to the word “sabbath” demanding that Jesus have died on Friday.
Now, I know that some of your minds are as slow as mine. I have been following my notes this evening, because if I didn’t have them I’d be totally lost. And if you’d like to go over these things later, I have copies of this message for you to take home..