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Updated 4/10/09

Questions & Answers...

The Good Friday - Easter Sunday
DILEMMA

Early Christianity became divided Over the Passover/Easter
Sunday Controversy. What are the Biblical proofs
for Passover vs. Good Friday/Easter Sunday?
Which should Christians observe?


Recently I was asked why I believe Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and rose again on the Sabbath before sunset.

This person said, "You say that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday… This can't be. We know from Luke 23:53-54 that he was taken down and laid in the sepulcher the same day that he was killed. That means that Wednesday night (would have been) the first night He was 'in the belly of the whale.' Thursday…the first day. Thursday night…the second night. Friday…the second day. Friday night…the third night. Saturday…the third day. We know that He rose again the first day of the week: Sunday morning. If true, that means that He would have been 'in the belly of the whale' on Saturday night, making it 4 nights, not three (see Mat 12:38-40). This cannot be. Now, if he was crucified on a Thursday, this would work, but not on a Wednesday. See my point?"

And further from Luke 23:54-56, he said, "We can see that Pilate took down the body, wrapped it in linen and laid it is the sepulcher and that these things happened right after Jesus died…(and) that day was the prep day, so it had to have been a Friday. (And in) Verse 55, they (the women) followed after them that took the body on Friday evening to lay it in the sepulcher, again, on Friday evening. Verse 56, they left the site and came back on Friday evening with their ointments and spices because they knew they would not do so the next day, the Sabbath day of rest. This is evident as we read in the last half of verse 56. He must have been crucified on a Friday. Your thoughts?"

These are good questions. How would you answer those who observe Good Friday as the day of Christ's crucifixion, and Easter Sunday as the time of His resurrection? And how can you prove if Jesus was crucified on Wednesday afternoon and resurrected on the Sabbath before sunset? (See Jesus Last Passover & Resurrection - A combined Narrative)

False Assumptions?

Sometimes the best answer to a question is another question (Mat 21:23-27; Prov 26:4-5). This person believed in a Good Friday crucifixion/Easter Sunday resurrection. Since he had referred to Jesus' statement about the "three days and three nights" in Matthew 12:40, I asked him, 'How many days and nights are there between Friday evening and Sunday morning?' The obvious answer is only two nights and one day (36 hours), NOT three days and three nights (72 hours).

According to W. G. Scroggie, Guide to the Gospels, pp. 569-577, from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database, 1962 by Moody Press: "Those holding to the traditional Friday crucifixion explain the time here as idiomatic for parts of three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Those holding to Wednesday crucifixion explain the reference literally as denoting seventy-two hours, from sundown Wednesday to sundown Saturday."

So how do we solve this dilemma? How can we prove which is right from the Bible?

This person was correct in saying that the Bible says Jesus was crucified and laid in the sepulcher (tomb) on the Day of Preparation, and that Friday is a prep day for the weekly Sabbath. But he assumed that THIS Preparation Day had to be a Friday, and THAT Sabbath was the weekly Sabbath.

Let's consider what John wrote in John 19:31: "…because it was the Preparation Day, that bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for THAT Sabbath was a High Day)…" And in verse 14 he explained that THIS Preparation Day was "the Preparation Day of the Passover," not the weekly Sabbath. According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, "high day," from the Greek "megas," meaning great, is here virtually equivalent to Holy.

There are seven annual High Holy Day feasts in the Old Testament, called "The feasts ("moed," meaning appointed times or appointments, seasons) of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations." They are called Holy Days (meaning sanctified or set apart for God's purpose, and Sabbaths (meaning a time of rest to cease from one's labor) (Ex 35:2; Lev 23:1-4,24,32,37-39; Neh 8:2,9-11). Traditional Christianity does not understand or proclaim them because they have substituted and keep pagan "holidays" instead of God's true Holy Days (see "God's Holy Day Plan - Hope For All Mankind" and "Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Keep?", at www.ucg.org/booklets).

The Passover, which always occurs on the 14th day of the first month of the biblical year (Abib or Nisan - Ex 12:1; 34:18; Est 3:7), is not a Sabbath Holy Day or High Day, but is the Preparation Day for the first Holy Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is the 15th of Nisan (a High Day Sabbath - Lev 23:5-8).

This High Day Sabbath is also called the Passover (Lk 22:1; John 19:14), which is when they normally ate the Passover Lamb that was killed on the Preparation Day of the 14th (see Ex 12:6-17, and John 18:28 - those who led Jesus to the Praetorium (hall of judgment) on the morning of the 14th did not go in "lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover" that evening at the beginning of the High Day of the 15th).

The High Day Sabbath on the 15th is also called, "a night of solemn observance to the Lord, for bringing them out of the land of Egypt" (Ex 12:42,8-14).

Was Jesus Resurrected on Sunday?

Another assumption this person made is that, "We know that He (Jesus) rose again on the first day of the week: Sunday morning."

Is that what the Scriptures really say?

[Note: Sunday came to be called the "Lord's Day," to justify changing from keeping the "Jewish" Sabbath, based on the assumption that Jesus rose from the grave on Sunday, the first day of the week. But Jesus said the true Lord's Day is the Sabbath,
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath," not Sunday (Mk 2:27-28; Lk 6:5).
     God's Sabbath has always been the seventh day, which the Lord God sanctified after creating man (Gen 2:1-4).
     The biblical significance of the first day of the week, called Sunday from early times by sun worshippers, is for the wave sheaf offering offered during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was prophetic of Jesus Christ ascending to heaven after his resurrection to make intercession for us with His blood before the throne of God (John 20:1,17; 1 Cor 15:20-23; Heb 9:11-12,18-26). Also Pentecost is counted beginning on that day and occurs 50 days later on a Sunday (Lev 23:10-16,21).
     The Day of Pentecost, also called the "Feast of Harvest of the firstfruits", and "Feast of Weeks" is prophetic of the completion of the spiritual harvest of the firstfruits of salvation (Ex 23:16; Deut 16:9-10; 1 Cor 15:20-23; Rev 14:4-5; 20:4-6) - see "Mystery of Pentecost..."]

Matthew 28:1-6 says: "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb." Angels said to them, "Do not be afraid, for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is (has) risen, as He said.…"  (see also Mk 16:2-6 and Lk 24:1-7).

Notice that it does NOT say when He rose, but rather that He had already risen, even as He said He would. That is, He said He would rise after three days, or after being dead and in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (72 hours) (see Mat 12:40; 17:23; 26:61' 27:63; Mk 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34), as the angels also said, "Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again" Lk 24:6-7).

The Scriptures will be clear to those who believe and obey them (Psa 111:10). Jesus said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). And what is truth? "Thy (God's) word is truth" (John 17:17). He said to those who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32). If we believe the Scriptures, then we must believe that Jesus rose as He said, after being dead and in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, that is from Wednesday evening to Saturday (the weekly Sabbath) evening, not Friday evening to Sunday morning. Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees who wanted to see a sign proving He was the Messiah:

"An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights (72 hours) in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mat 12:38-40).

When Did the 3 Days and 3 Nights Begin and End?

So when did the three days and three nights began and end according to the Scriptures? (See Biblical narrative of Jesus' last three days.

We know that Jesus had already risen BEFORE very early Sunday morning, "as the first day of the week began to dawn" (Mat 28:1). Also we know that He was laid in the tomb in the evening, just before the High Holy Day Sabbath (Mk 15:42-46; Lk 23:53-54; John 19:14,31,38-42). If He was laid in the tomb in the evening and was there three days and three nights (72 hours), as He said He would be (Mat 12:40), then He rose in the evening BEFORE Sunday morning, which would have been on the weekly Sabbath just before sunset - NOT Sunday morning!  

We can therefore count back three days and three nights to determine what day Jesus was laid in the tomb. Counting back three days and three nights from Saturday (Sabbath) evening takes us to Wednesday evening.

The Preparation Day for the Passover was therefore on a Wednesday, the 14th of Nisan, (actually from Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening because biblical days begin and end at sunset - Gen 1:5,8; Lev 23:27,32). And the 15th of Nisan, which was the first day of Unleavened Bread on the biblical calendar (the Sabbath High Holy Day), was on Thursday (actually from sunset Wednesday evening to sunset Thursday evening).

Jesus was therefore crucified and died on Wednesday afternoon and laid in the tomb just before sunset and rose again three days and three nights later on the evening of the weekly Sabbath before sunset. (See calendar)

All four gospel accounts agree on the events of Jesus crucifixion and resurrection, but some add details left out by the others. All accounts say that Jesus was crucified and put in the tomb on the Preparation Day (Matt 27:31-35,57-62; Mk 15:20,25,42-46; Lk 23:33,50-54; John 19:16-18,30-42), but John's account, which was written many years later, clarifies it saying that THIS was the Preparation Day for the Passover (the 14th of Nisan, first lunar month of the year - Ex 12:2), a High Day Sabbath (John 19:14,31).

Confusion and controversy had probably become a problem over observing the Passover with the bread and wine on the 14th, as Jesus Christ and His disciples did (see "Passover...The beginning of Salvation," or eating what John called the Jew's Passover (John 2:13; 11:55; 18:28) on the 15th, or keeping Sunday as the day of resurrection, which later became known as the "Quartodeciman (meaning "14th") Controversy," which was a controversy between those who kept the 14th of the first lunar month, and those (Gentile pagans being converted) whose customs were to keep Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday later became fixed into what became the Roman Catholic church at the Nicean Council of 325 A.D. by Roman Emperor Constantine (not by God or from the Bible), and the Passover and Sabbaths (anything considered "Jewish") were then forbidden.

Which should Christians keep, Passover or Easter?

Should Christians keep Easter Sunday or the Passover, and when is the Passover to be kept?

The Scriptures are clear that Christians (disciples of Jesus Christ) should follow the example of Jesus. Jesus and His apostles kept God's Holy Days and the Passover (see Mat 5:17-20; 26:17; Lk 2:41-42; 22:13-20; John 4:45; 5:1; 7:2,10,37; 12:12; 13:1; Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Cor 5:7-8; 11:23-25). He said, concerning the Passover:

"I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you… If you know these things, happy (blessed) are you if you do them" (John 13:15,17).

Peter wrote concerning Christ's example:

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example, that you should follow His steps…" (1 Pet 2:21).

The Passover is always on the 14th of the first lunar month (Nisan) of the biblical year, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th (Ex 12:1-2,6-19,42; Lev 23:5-8). But the Passover Feast varies on days of the week it occurs from year to year (see "Passover...The beginning of Salvation," and "God's Holy Day Plan - Hope For All Mankind").


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