Cold Noses At The Pearly Gates



Good Friday. Did Jesus Really Die on a Friday?I actually saw two men almost go to blows over whether Jesus died on a Friday or not. Why such emotional debate over what day Jesus died? Does it really matter or is this just something else for bored Christians to argue about? It would be easy to assume that what is at play here is simply denominational differences, as is the case in so many other controversial topics, but I believe there is much more to it than that.Some think the celebrating of Good Friday is restricted to just one sect of Christendom. Not so. It may be true that observance of this day did originate within one particular denomination, but in these modern times many recognize this day of the week as the day that Jesus Christ was crucified and died. In fact, it has become a commonly accepted fact even outside of the Christian faith; recognized on many secular calendars in government and the business world as an official holiday.But was Jesus indeed hung on the cross on Friday? If not, then what day did he die? How long was he in the grave? When did he arise? Is it really that important? Can the Bible give us trustworthy answers to these and other questions? Based upon what I see in scripture, the answer to these questions are fairly easy to come by. Admittedly, it does take some exegetical research and application, but I have done all that work for you. But more importantly, I have organized the answers in such a way that it will allow you to determine for yourself if the actual day Jesus died has eschatological importance. That may sound a bit mysterious, perhaps even overly sensational, but I assure you it is not. In fact, I am not sure that I have emphasized strongly enough how important knowing the facts on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is, at least in terms of the exact days and time. So, allow me to stress that it is very, very important that we know the details. Almost every major event in scripture was foretold or prophesied about and, in some cases, the event had to take place on a specific date or day in order to qualify as true prophecy. The death and burial of Jesus Christ is one of those events. It was prophesied and it must have taken place precisely when and how scripture predicted.Now then, I am about to make a starling statement, and I am fairly certain that your initial reaction will be to reject what I have to say and that you will probably not want to read any further. Please do not be offended and please do read on. I will prove the Biblical accuracy of the statement to your satisfaction if you give me the opportunity.And the statement is simply this: “The Bible gives us the day that Jesus was crucified and it was not Friday. Had Jesus died on Friday as some suppose and celebrate, then the Bible is in error. And if the Bible is in error than it is not trustworthy and this Jesus that it reveals to us is not the Son of God. He is no different and no greater than any of the others throughout history who came falsely proclaiming to be of God. The implication is obvious, if the Bible is in error, Jesus then was not and is not the Son of God.”Now of course we know without doubt that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. I did not mean to suggest otherwise, or to be irreverent; but was using the absurd to emphasize just how critical the exact times and days surrounding his death and burial are. Many do not consider, or even know that there is a time-assigning prophecy connected to this world-changing event. But we will disclose and consider it here, in just a moment.Let us first focus on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus from the traditional Roman Catholic and Protestant view, events commonly known as “Good Friday” and “Easter.” Easter is held by virtually all to occur on the first day of this historical week in April following the weekly Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath is Saturday of each week and the first day of each week is Sunday. So, Jesus rose on Sunday. There is no denominational dispute of this fact regarding the day we call Easter. So we will focus our attention on Good Friday rather than Easter Sunday.Now then, the question we must consider is: “Is the celebration of Friday as the day that Jesus Christ was crucified and buried correct or not?” If you believe the majority opinion, it was. And the majority rules, right? Unfortunately, scripture trumps the majority opinion every time. Still, Friday as the day Jesus was crucified is the opinion of most mainstream denominations. Again, as I pointed out earlier, they do not stand alone; in some secular arenas this day is also recognized as it is given much credibility and is considered a paid holiday for employees. So many people cannot be wrong, can they? Or can they?Strict Biblicists (of which I am one) hold that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday and not a Friday. “What? How can that be? At a quick glance any idiot can do the math; that would be five days. Friday, Saturday and Sunday adds up to three days; so the majority must be right, right? How can you say it was Wednesday? Not so fast; perhaps your quick glance was indeed too “quick.” In this case quick computations result in nothing more than fuzzy math. The Bible is much more specific and precise about the timing of this event. In Matthew 12:38-40 the Bible says:“Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Master, we would see a sign from thee’ (speaking to Jesus). 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: 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.”The measure of time alluded to here by the Lord is the same measure of time he used when he created the world; literal 24-hour days. Now if you are an evolutionist or even a theistic evolutionist, that may not sit well with you, but we cannot take the time here to discuss this side issue. For our purposes, I just want to show that the Lord was talking about literal 24-hour days and not parts or portions of days. Now let’s be completely honest; as far as most Christians are concerned, the day selected by majority denominations to recognize the crucifixion is as good a day as any other. Like Christmas, the actual day of the event does not matter to them, as long as due reverence is paid to the Lord for his sacrifice. December 25 is not the actual day Jesus was born; we know that. It was just a day chosen by the early church whereby all could focus on the event in harmony. The exact day of his birth was relatively unimportant and not critical to our faith. What is important is THAT he was born, not WHEN.For the unlearned, the same thinking should be apropos of the day Jesus died; as long as we set aside a day where we reverence him it doesn’t really matter what day it is. Friday, Thursday, Wednesday…what does it matter?Now, that may be fine for the unregenerate world, but I submit to you that it should and does matter to Christians to know the precise day of Christ’s death. It is extremely important to people of faith. In fact, it is absolutely critical that Jesus died on a specific day and rose again at precisely the time God prescribed (and prophesied), for if it happened at any other time or on any other day, the death of Jesus was for naught. A harsh statement to be sure, but also provable. So, let’s prove it; let’s look at the disparity between the day called “Good Friday” and the Wednesday that I mentioned above to see what the Bible has to say.According to the traditional view that I claim is erroneous, Jesus was crucified on a Friday; he died between the hours of three p.m. and sundown, spending three days and three nights in the earth (grave), and rose from the dead very early on Sunday morning.Okay, let’s do the math for that scenario. Friday is one night, Saturday is one day and one night and Sunday is small part of one day. Our total comes out to about 40 hours, not the 72 that Jesus foretold. Hmmmmm, I think we have put our finger on the disparity. It is in the traditional view. The traditional view comes up nearly two full days and one full night short. It is very difficult to argue with non-fuzzy math. Figures do not lie. Now, some commentators, and sadly even some of my fellow theologians, try to explain this difficulty away by saying that in ancient times the Jews counted part of a day as a whole day, or even just a few hours as a whole day. I find that rather convenient, but whether it is true or not, I don’t know. But what I do know is that when God says something, we can take it at face value. To God, words mean things because he does not want his message to us to be ambiguous. It is through words that he has revealed himself and his son to us and God is always precise in his revelation. He tells us a thing and that thing is so. He gives us a location where something occurred and that is where it occurred. He gives us a number and you can take that number to the bank. Scripture warns us not to delve into our own imaginations to try to make what God said fit our understanding; but rather to accept what the Spirit (Holy Spirit) says expressly. We don’t need some secret decoder ring or the guidance of some pompous self-proclaimed scholar to guide us (who by the way gave us the erroneous traditional view in the first place). God writes clearly in language we can understand and what he says is trustworthy and true. I remember in Bible College learning how some of today’s modern historians claimed that the book of Daniel in the Old Testament is in error when it comes to one of the main characters of that book, King Nebuchadnezzar. Their claim is that Nebuchadnezzar was never the king of Babylon. In fact, they went as far as to say that Nebuchadnezzar had never even been to province of Babylon in his entire life. Imagine their shock when archeologists digging in the ruins of that once great city found that not only had Nebuchadnezzar been to Babylon; not only had he been the king of Babylon, but they found that every brick in the city had his name emblazoned upon it. So then, when God tells us a thing, that thing is true; not a lot of times, not most of the time, not a high percentage of the time, but every single time, all of the time. Accordingly, let us proceed in this study with the thought that there is no ambiguity; that God meant three literal days just like he said.At this point you may want to read at least one of the gospel accounts of the crucifixion, which are found in these chapters: Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23 and John 19. If you are very ambitious, please read them all. But please make it a point to read at least Mark 15:34-43, paying special attention to verse 42, where it says:“And now when the even (evening) was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath…”The day that Jesus was crucified was the day BEFORE the Sabbath. You might be confused by that and ask “Well okay then; you just made the traditional case. You said earlier that the Sabbath is Saturday and now you point out scripture that says Jesus was crucified the day before Saturday, which in most parts of the world is Friday…duh!”While it is true that Friday is always the day before the weekly Sabbath, which is always Saturday, verse 42 is not speaking of the weekly Sabbath. There are other Sabbath days identified in scripture apart from the weekly Sabbath; several of them in fact. These Sabbaths were routinely observed by the orthodox Jews of old. And the Sabbath mentioned in verse 42 is one of those days, NOT the weekly Sabbath. Allow me prove this.This was the week of the Passover celebration. The first day of the Passover week is always a high Sabbath day; always, no exceptions, no matter what day of the week it falls on. But numerically speaking, this high Sabbath day is always on the 15th of Nissan or April. You can check this quickly against the following scripture references: Exodus 12:16-18; Leviticus 23:5-6; and, Numbers 28:16-17.Now watch closely. The Passover Sabbath for the year of the crucifixion fell on Thursday. This is fact. There is no dispute with this. It is easily verifiable. It was Thursday.So, which Sabbath was Mark speaking of, the weekly Sabbath (Saturday), or the Passover Sabbath (Thursday)? This is clearly spelled out in John 19:14; one of the referenced portions of scripture that I gave to you that describes the crucifixion. Here it says. “And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour; and he (Pilate) saith unto the Jews, Behold your King.” It was the preparation of the Passover Sabbath, not the weekly Sabbath. Pilate confirmed this while Jesus hung on the cross. The Passover Sabbath was Thursday and the Jews were preparing for it (See also John 19:31 for further confirmation of this). There can be no doubt, the day that Jesus was crucified was the day before the Passover Sabbath (Thursday). So, the day Jesus was crucified was Wednesday. And lest you think that I have finished making my case, this is just the beginning. There is so much more to know about this day. Please read on.The verse said “…and about the sixth hour.” What time was that? Well, if we were using the Jewish time table, it would have been around noon. But John was using the Roman timetable. You can confirm this in Mark chapter 15, verse 25, where Mark used the Jewish time table. Mark said it was the third hour. Clearly, it was 9 a.m. in the morning on Wednesday.There is no conflict in these reports. John used one timetable and Mark another; each reflecting exactly the same time of the day. They are in harmony with their reports. Jesus was crucified on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the morning. But he did not die at 9 a.m. That was when he was nailed to the cross and raised above the earth in open shame for our sin. He would spend several hours suffering before he passed away, after declaring “It is finished.” And that was what the Jews wanted, because they could not have him hang on the cross on the Passover Sabbath, the next day. From their perspective, he had to die, which is why his illegal trial, void of any defense, was rushed through.The important thing at this point is to focus on what day Jesus was crucified. Again, the questions might be asked “Is it really that important?” “Does it really matter what day Jesus died?” Yes, the day is absolutely critical to our faith and to the trustworthiness of scripture. And that is not an embellishment or overstatement. There is much at stake, and here is why:If Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, the 14th of April…Prophecy was fulfilledTradition was followedThe Word of God is correctGod’s order is reflected in itThe Word of God is in harmony with itselfThe Bible is true and can be trusted in all of its teachingsGod is real and can be trusted If Jesus was crucified on Friday, the 16th of April (or any other day)…Prophecy did not come trueGod’s Word fell short of its predictionWe cannot trust the Word of God to be accurateJesus was not and is not the Son of GodJesus did not rise from the deadYour faith in Christ is in vainThe Bible was probably written by men and not inspiredThe Christian faith is a hoaxThere probably is no afterlife and therefore no hopeIs the day that Jesus died important? You bet it is! It is one of the most critical building blocks of the Christian faith; that the believer can trust God’s prophecies, and therefore His Word. That the Christ of God, was made to be the Lamb of God exactly how, when and where God predicted, ranks as one of the most fundamental elements of faith in God. The idea that most people do not know or recognize the exact day of the week Christ Jesus died does not seem very important on the surface, but to officially deny the importance of God’s prophetic accuracy is another matter altogether. Believers who are earnest students of the Word of God ought to know and espouse the facts. The timing of this event, the greatest event to ever take place on this earth…the sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world, is seriously important. Let’s do some more proving and bring this case to fruition. The rules for Passover were given to Moses and Aaron and recorded in Exodus 12:1-13. These rules were to be the rules that governed the Passover for all time until Messiah came. Indeed, the reason for this is because the Passover lamb was a type of Christ, or, if you prefer, a picture of the Lamb of God to come, which was Jesus.A lamb without blemish was to be slain and the blood used to “cover” the sins of those who believed God. The blood was struck on the two side posts and overhead post of the door where they dwelled (vs. 7). When a household did this in faith, the Lord would “pass over” that household and his plague would not come upon the occupants (vs. 13).This whole act, which would become a traditional practice and observance for the Jews, was a picture of the Messiah or Christ who would come in the future and shed his perfect, precious blood for all sin. The spotless lamb used in the Passover, the shed blood that would cover the sins; all were example types of the Lamb who was to be slain for all sin. Jesus Christ was identified by John Baptist in this way “Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). It was the perfect, precious blood of Jesus the Lamb of God, that, like the blood struck on the door posts at Passover, would be applied to the heart of the trusting sinner, so that the Lord would pass over that individual when he judges the great and the small at the Great White Throne judgment. The only difference between the original Passover and trusting in Christ is that the former was something that needed to be observed annually; the atonement had to be renewed each year; whereas placing one’s trust in Jesus Christ is a one-time event that covers or blots out the believer’s sin forever.I direct your attention to verses 1-3 of Exodus chapter 12:“And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months (April is the first month on the Jewish calendar): it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.”The Passover lamb was to be selected and presented on the 10th day of the month of April. There was no room for deviation, no alternate plan, no rain date. It was set down as a rule by the Lord and Israel had to observe it as prescribed by God. The consequences for disobedience at the first Passover are obvious; had they waited another day, it would have been lethal to the firstborn of each Jewish household.Jesus was the perfect lamb of God, to be sacrificed once for all time. He did not have to be selected, because he was and is Messiah; so that was the only deviation from the traditional Passover process. Like the Passover lamb, he was presented to the people as the Lamb of God in accordance with the Passover law, on the 10th of the month, which we call Palm Sunday. John 12:1 tells us:“Then Jesus six days before the Passover (Sunday the 10th) came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.”And in John 12:12-13 we see the people placing palms in his path as he is presented as the Lamb of God.Under traditional Passover rules, the lamb was to be kept until the 14th of the month and slain in the evening (see Exodus 12:5-6). Don’t forget that the Jews had rejected Jesus as their Messiah and were still observing the old Passover with lambs. But God had prepared his own lamb, his Son. Jesus was slain in the evening of Wednesday, the 14th, which was the day before the High Passover, Thursday, the 15th. He was slain at precisely the exact moment that the Passover lambs were being slain by the Jews. Isn’t the Word of God amazing!So, let’s put it all together in summary: Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, late in the day (the ninth hour or 3 pm) – it was almost sunset and sunset signaled the start of Thursday (the Jewish 24 hour began at 6 pm each day). Having passed away at 3 pm, taking into account that it took time to beg for the body, retrieve his body from the cross, bathe him, apply ointments and spices to the body (as was the custom), wrap his body in cloth and pray over his body; it was easily after 6 pm on Wednesday, and therefore actually Thursday (because Thursday started at 6 pm) before they were able to lay him to rest in the grave or tomb. He died late on Wednesday, but was buried very early on Thursday (just after 6 pm). So here is the way the math works out:Thursday is 1 night and 1 dayFriday is 1 night and 1 daySaturday is 1 night and 1 dayFor a total of 3 whole daysAnd very late on Saturday (before the sun came up), Jesus rose from the dead. On Sunday morning he was gone before the two Mary’s arrived and the angels asked “whom seek ye” and then told them “he is not here for he is risen.”Jesus rose exactly three days after his death. Mathematically, scripturally, and prophetically, he had to be crucified on Wednesday, the 14th of April. Scripture foretold this, demanded this and fulfilled this. So happy Good Wednesday. ................
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