Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday, NOT a Friday

by James; God bless


The premise in existence for about 1600 years saying Jesus died on Friday cannot hold any truth. It is very important to get such details correct, because any prophetic study requires this precision.

We can accurately calculate when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. To do that we first use Daniel's prophecy 9:24-27 and apply it counting forward. Many date web sites are not accurate in dates before 1700 because of all the calendars and changes that were made over the centuries.

The only accurate way of determining historic dates is to begin and end with the Julian Date Calendar which was developed for astronomical observations and hence independent upon local calendars. This site can be accessed by this URL http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.php

Using Daniel's prophecy of the weeks of years in Dan 9:24-27, and the Julian Date (JD) we start with Artaxerxes' decree to go and rebuild Jerusalem, which was given March 14, 445 BC. This date is solidly established in many ancient texts.

March 14, 445 BC            JD 1 558 959.5
Add 173 880 days (69 x 7 x 360)     the JD date is 1 732 839.5
Input JD 1 732 839 .5 to get the date, and it is April 4, 32 AD

There are other scholars who have argued for 30 AD, 31, 33, and 34 AD as the year of crucifixion. All those years were too early or too late for the Passover. However the only year that fits the equinox, and the full moon for the Passover is 32 AD. In that year the full moon was on a Thursday.

This is how to address the inaccurate belief that Jesus was crucified on Friday. It is impossible for Jesus to NOT be in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights, to fulfill His prophecy as Jonah was likewise in the belly of the whale 3 days and 3 nights, if people believe He was crucified on Friday. Since the Passover was on a Thursday, the Passover lamb had to be killed about 3 hours before sunset on the Preparation day which was Wednesday, which is the day immediately before Passover. Jesus died at 3 pm Wednesday fulfilling that requirement exactly.

Keep in mind the Hebrew calendar requires the end of the day at sunset and the new day begins at sunset, not midnight in the modern world. So counting the start of Thursday at sunset as the first evening, we get 3 nights and 3 days by the time we get to Saturday sunset. At the end of the Saturday Sabbath at sunset, the day changed to Sunday. Shortly after sunset, now Sunday, Jesus would have been resurrected then and there.