THE DAY CHRIST DIED

Ever since the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost following Christ's Ascension, Christians have struggled with the Scriptures trying to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the Lord's prophecy of being in the grave for three days and three nights, and the Friday Crucifixion of Church tradition. I am sorry there is a need to say this, but whenever tradition is in conflict with the Scripture, tradition is always wrong!

The entire basis for the tradition of a Friday Crucifixion is from misinterpreting the texts referring to the reason the religious leaders wanted Pilate to order the breaking of the legs of those being crucified; they wanted them dead and buried before the Sabbath began. Because everyone knows the Sabbath was to begin at sunset, they needed a hasty death. The Sabbath to which they referred is mentioned in three of the four Gospels (Mk. 15:42; Lk. 23:54; Jn. 19:42). Unfortunately, very little attention is paid to John's comment about that particular Sabbath. In John 19:31, he writes, "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,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." The special Sabbath about which John was speaking, was the Sabbath of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

"Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. These are the Feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein" (Lev. 23:3-7).

Based upon Matthew 12:40, which states Jesus would be in the grave three days and three nights, I would offer the following as an alternative explanation:

*******SUNDAY, HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
(Matt. 21:1-11; Mk. 11:1-11; Lk. 19:29-44; Jn. 12:12-19).
The Lamb selected in the daylight hours between sunset Sat. and sunset Sun. (10th of Nisan - Ex. 12:3-5).

*******WEDNESDAY, CHRIST SHEDS HIS BLOOD TO BE OUR PASSOVER LAMB
(Jn. 19:31; 1 Cor. 5:7).
The Lamb killed and prepared in the afternoon between sunset Tues. and sunset Wed. (14th of Nisan - Ex. 12:6).

*******THURSDAY, JESUS IS THE UNLEAVENED BREAD OF LIFE
(Jn. 6:35; Heb. 4:15).
The Lamb eaten between sunset Wed. and sunset Thur. (15th of Nisan - Ex. 12:7-11).

*******FRIDAY, JESUS IN PARADISE
(Lk. 23:43; 1 Pet. 3:19).
The Lamb preached in paradise between Thur. and sunset Fri. (16th of Nisan)

*******SATURDAY, THE WEEKLY SABBATH
(Lk. 23:56)
The Lamb rested in paradise between sunset Fri. and sunset Sat. (17th of Nisan - Ex. 20:8-11).

*******SUNDAY, JESUS IS THE FIRST FRUITS FROM THE GRAVE
(1 Cor. 15:23; Eph. 4:8-10).
The Lamb led "captivity captive" between sunset Sat. and sunset Sun. (Lev. 23:9-14).