Page 23 - Eschatology - Masters revised

In all four Gospels in the passages that describe the women coming to the Tomb on the “first day of the
week” the actual language in Greek says the came on the day after the “Sabbaths” (plural), indicating
that there were two Sabbaths that week: the High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (Passover) and the
regular weekly Sabbath.

The only explanation that does not violate the biblical account of the women and the spices and holds to
a literal understanding of Matthew 12:40, is that Christ was crucified on Wednesday. The Sabbath that
was a high holy day (Passover) occurred on Thursday, the women purchased spices (after that) on Friday
and returned and prepared the spices on the same day; they rested on Saturday, which was the weekly
Sabbath, then brought the spices to the tomb early Sunday. Jesus was buried near sundown on
Wednesday, which began Thursday in the Jewish calendar. Using a Jewish calendar, you have Thursday
night (night one), Thursday day (day one), Friday night (night two), Friday day (day two), Saturday night
(night three), Saturday day (day three). We do not know exactly what time He rose, but we do know that
it was before sunrise on Sunday. The discovery of the empty tomb was made just at sunrise (Mark 16:2),
before it was fully light (John 20:1). That makes three days and three nights in the tomb, just as Jesus
told us. Here is a timeline of what has been presented:

With all of that said, it must be noted that the day of the week that Jesus was crucified is not something
we know from Scripture. We can only conjecture. If God wanted us to know whether it was
Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, it would have been clearly stated.

What we do know is that it occurred on Passover as a model of the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb, and
that He rose again on the Feast of First Fruits, since He is the First Fruit of the resurrection. It is fine to
hold a personal view, but unwise to become dogmatic about it. We should celebrate the cross and the
resurrection every day, not just once a year on Easter.

Can you see that these events could not “just have happened” as a coincidence? God told men what
would happen, and it happened just as He predicted, to the exact detail. Also, it is no coincidence that
these events occurred on Jewish Feast Days. God told Israel to celebrate these feasts as a rehearsal for
what was to come in the future. The death and resurrection of Christ was events which had been
rehearsed over thousands of years.

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