Which day Christ died

Which day Christ died?

Rado Moskov (MA)

Dedicated to Morne Myburgh and the beloved in the Volksrust Church , South Africa

All bold highlights in the Biblical texts used are mine.

Mat 12:40 For as Jonah 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.

Let's first establish the facts from the Bible.

1. Christ rose from the dead on the first day:

Mat 28:1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay"

2. The Sabbath was the day before the first day, that is, the seventh day:

Mat 28:1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week,

3. The Sabbath is the seventh day:

Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God:

4. The Sabbath is preceded by a day of preparation. During the desert journey manna came from heaven in double quantity only on the day preceding the seventh day Sabbath, with the provision for two days and had to be prepared for the next day:

Exo 16:5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

5. There are two "Sabbaths" in the Bible:

1) The Seventh Day

Ex.20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

2) Ceremonial days of rest, being 'shadow of the things to come'

Lev. 23:23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 24Speak 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.

Can the 1st day of the 7th month always fall on the 7th day of the week, Sabbath?

Since the 1st day of the 7th month won't fall of the same day of the week every year, we see that this Sabbath is not the one in the 10 Commandments

Lev16:29 "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work-whether native-born or an alien living among you- 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. 31 It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

If the 1st day of the 7th month was the 7th day of the week, Sabbath, how can the 10th day also be the 7th day of the week, Sabbath?

Since the 1^st day of the seventh month is a Sabbath, and the tenth day of the seventh month also is a Sabbath, they can't be the Sabbath of the 10 Commandments, because it is every seventh day.

There was no provision of double amount of manna on the day preceding those ceremonial days, also called Sabbaths. The Bible is silent on this, while on the instructions for the day before the seventh day Sabbath there is a whole chapter (Ex 16 - see quotes above) dealing with it. Therefore the preparation day as mentioned in the Bible is only the day preceding the seventh day, Sabbath

6. Jesus died on the preparation day, the day before the seventh day Sabbath

Luk 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. 49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. 50 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counselor; and he was a good man, and a just: 51 (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. 52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. 54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. 56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

Mar 15:42 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

The Sabbath after the death of Christ is called "high Sabbath" - because it was both ceremonial Sabbath (Lev 23:6And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD) and the 7^th day Sabbath.

John19:31 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)

7. The day Jesus rose from the dead was the third day starting from the day of His death

Luk 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

Luk 24:13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.

8. The Bible uses inclusive counting - that is counting incomplete units of time as completed ones.

2 Kings 18:9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. 10And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

In the fourth year of Hezekiah the siege started. At the "end of three years" we should expect to be Hezekiah's 7^th year, but the Bible says it is "in the sixth year of Hezekiah" It counts inclusively the 4,5 and the 6^th year.

Let's hear Jesus Himself:

Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Today - 1^st day. Tomorrow - 2^nd, the day after tomorrow - 3^rd day.

The Gospel writers use the expression "three days and three nights" and "third day" interchangely, even under the pen of the same author for the same event.

Mat 12:40 For as Jonah 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.

Mat 16: 21From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Jesus uses it freely

Mark 8:31And 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.

Mark 9:31For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

Even the same people in a single occurrence use the expressions "after three days" and "third day" as synonyms.

Mat 27:62Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.

If the being "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" means 3x24 hours then Jesus would have risen on the second day of the week afternoon, (1x24 - 6^th day afternoon till 7^th day afternoon, 2x24 till 1^st, 3x24 till 2^nd Day afternoon) while the Bible says that He was risen on the first.

If the being "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" means the fancy notion of being delivered into the hands of evil men instead of being laid in the grave, this will bluntly disregard the Bible.

The adherents of this theory erroneously try to reconcile the modern and ancient (not only Biblical!) counting with the clear Bible statements of death of Christ on the 6^th day, called preparation day or the day before the Sabbath, and resurrection on 1^st day. They count - Thursday 1day, Friday (preparation day) - 2days, Saturday (Sabbath) - 3 days and the resurrection correctly placed on 1^st day, Sunday.

Jesus was delivered into the hands of evil men on Thursday night according to our counting and that would have been perfectly correct if the Bible counts the beginning of the day as we today do it - at 12 midnight. The problem is that in the Bible the day starts at evening, not at midnight:

(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.

Lev 23:32 It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.")

When Jesus was arrested, it was night, therefore the 6^th day have already had began. If we accept this theory the end of 3x24 hrs will carry us until the night of the second day, or Sunday night in modern terms. The Bible states that on the first day Jesus was risen early, at dawn he was already risen.

Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week

Mat 28:1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

If in case the followers of this theory try to use both inclusive counting and their belief that being "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" means the fancy notion of being delivered into the hands of evil men instead of being laid in the grave, they can't justify their explanation else than thumb suck, which is completely unnecessary if they follow the Biblical way of counting shown here.

Final note from me: God never intended we to lend our brain to any man, even if he is a world famous preacher and to stop studying the Bible for ourselves, because he will do better job than us.