THE CRUCIFIXION, WAS IT ON A FRIDAY?

Good Friday the Friday before Easter Sunday is celebrated worldwide among Christians as the anniversary of Christ’s death on the cross. This day was set apart as a holy day as long ago as the 300’s, in the time of Constantine. But the big question is: Was Christ crucified on a Friday?

In predicting His death Jesus Christ said to His disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be turned over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, insult Him, spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. On the third day He will rise again” (Lk.18: 31-34).

On the day of Christ’s resurrection; the women who came to anoint the body of Jesus, was reminded of Christ’s predictions concerning His death by two angels who said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again. Then they remembered His words” (Lk.24: 5-8).

What day was Christ resurrected?

Scriptures confirmed that, “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus” (Lk.24:1-3; Jn. 20:1).

What time on the first day was Christ resurrected?

Scriptures confirmed that, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 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.” Then the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here: He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay” (Matt. 28:1-6).

What time is dawn of a new day?

According to the word of God the dawn of a new day is “The evening” (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). And the dawn of the first day of the week is, “After the Sabbath” (Matt. 28:1).

It is therefore conclusive that Our Lord Jesus was resurrected after the Sabbath, at the beginning of the first day of the week.

How long is a day?

There is no shadow of a doubt that, a day consists of twenty four (24) hours. For we have all learnt that, there are twenty four (24) hours in a day. Jesus Himself said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of the world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him” (Jn.11:9-10). Thus indicating that, a day consists of twelve hours day light time, and twelve hours of darkness.

How long Christ predicted He would stay in the grave?

The scribes and Pharisees wanted a sign from Jesus Christ to prove that He was indeed the true Messiah, Jesus’ answer to them was, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it (His Messiah-ship) except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:39-40).

What time was Christ placed in the tomb?

Scriptures confirmed that, “When evening had come, because it was the preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus” (Mk. 15:42-43; Matt. 27: 57-61)

According to the scriptures, Jesus Christ’s body was placed in the tomb at evening (sunset) .Because it was the Preparation Day. The bodies were not to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high Day (Jn.19:31).

When, and what was this High Day Sabbath?

If the preparation Day which preceded the High Day Sabbath was Friday, and the High day Sabbath was Saturday the weekly Sabbath, then please explain:-

How much time did the women who followed Jesus Christ and observed the tomb and how His body was laid, had, to return, prepare spices and fragrant oils, and then rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment, when it was already evening when the body was laid in the tomb? (LK.23: 54-56; Mk. 15: 42).

If the day which followed the Preparation Day was the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) as commonly assumed, would the chief priests and Pharisees who were strict adherents to the Sabbath law gather together with Pilate on the Sabbath? Saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, after three days I will rise. Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day” (Matt. 27:62-66).

If they did gather with Pilate on the weekly Sabbath (Saturday), it would have to be after the Sabbath, that the guards were posted to guard the tomb, and by that time Christ would have already been raised from the dead.

Therefore, the Preparation Day for the High Day Sabbath was not on Friday, but on a Wednesday. It was the preparation for the Passover meal which was eaten between the two evenings. As it is written: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening” (Exo.12:14).

This unleavened bread was to be eaten along with the Passover lamb which was sacrificed at twilight, at the going down of the sun because no leavened bread was supposed to be eaten with it (Deut. 16: 3, 6).

The Thursday was the feast of Unleavened Bread, which even in the New Testament dispensation we are asked to observe, saying; “Let us therefore celebrate the Feast, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1Cor.5:7-8).

So then, the Jews and the women who followed Christ rested on that day, because it was a High Day Sabbath.

Friday was the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath, the women brought and prepared spices and fragrant oils, then rested on the weekly Sabbath according to the commandments, and at the end of the Sabbath as the first day of the Week (Sunday) began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb, bringing the spices with them, but Christ had already risen from the dead. (Matt.28:1-8).

If Christ was buried on Friday evening, and rose on Saturday Evening, I now beg the question, where are the three days and the three nights (72 hrs) that proves His Messiah-ship?

Who will you believe? The choice is yours.

Love in Jesus’ name
lucius Joseph