Was Jesus crucified on a Friday ???
That all depends on whether you prefer the ‘traditions of men’ or the Word of God.
Matthew 12
[40] 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.
So, do you think Jesus meant he would be in the grave 1 day and 2 nights as the crucifixion on Friday requires or are you going to believe Matt. 12:40? Oh yeh, I’ve heard numerous preachers give lame excuses about parts of days count as a day and so on. They have to protect that ‘Good Friday’ Holy Day that ‘the Church’ whipped up after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Me, I prefer the truth!
Let’s lay down a few basics before going any farther. The Jewish day started at sundown. Therefore, you always had the night before the day. This is a consistent theme throughout the Bible. God created the Earth and it was dark before he created the light. Paul and Peter told believers that they were once darkness but are now light.
[8] For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light
[9] But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
When you read the various scriptures concerning the day of resurrection you will see that Jesus’ followers came to the tomb early on the first day of the week while it was still dark (Sunday night) and the tomb was empty. You can count backwards from there to see that Jesus was ‘in the heart of the earth’ Saturday & Saturday night, Friday & Friday night, and Thursday & Thursday night (sundown Wednesday). Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and the Passover was Thursday.
Many people are confused by the scriptures concerning Sabbath preparations. You see, there were two Sabbaths that week, the Passover was a ‘High Sabbath’ and there was the weekly (Saturday) Sabbath. The confusion goes away once you understand this.
I can’t take credit for this revelation. E.W. Bullinger (Numbers in Scripture) covers this topic in a couple of the appendicies to the Companion Bible (#144 & #156). Bullinger lived and studied in the late 1800s (as my memory recalls) and was a Hebrew and Greek scholar and devoted his life to studying scripture. He was not distracted by radio, television, movies, shopping malls, and sports so his Companion Bible is full of very insightful notes, references, and appendices. I highly recommend this Bible for study but they are not easy to come by.
Bullinger believed that the death and resurrection of our Lord took place in 29 A.D. If some of you number & date experts on 5 Doves have a way to check, it would be interesting to find the year around 30 A.D. that Passover occured on Thursday.
I won’t be celebrating ‘Good Friday’ tomorrow and I won’t be coloring Easter eggs or buying Easter candy. I will, however, get tears in my eyes when I watch the New Media Bible version of ‘The Gospel of Saint Luke’ and revel in the replay of the resurrection of my Lord.
Phil2