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 12:40
It’s Good Friday!
I grew up believing this was the day Jesus was crucified but have since grown up, matured, and done a bit of studying rather than just believing the traditions of men.
Was this the day Jesus died?
I’ll give a definite “NO”!
It doesn’t take a genius to do the math and see there are not 3 days and nights between 3pm this afternoon and Sunday morning.
I make it out to be about 39 hours instead of the needed 72.
It was the day before Passover and it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. Mark 15:25
Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.'” Having said this, He breathed His last. Luke 23:44-46
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. John 19:31
Jesus was crucified at the third hour (9am) and died at the ninth hour (3pm).
The Jews weren’t willing to have criminals dying throughout the long and drawn out way of crucifixion, and through the Passover, so they requested breaking the legs of all three to speed up death.
One could stay alive for days after being crucified but that person had to use his legs to push up to breathe, thus breaking the legs would assure a quicker death by asphyxiation.
So Jesus dies at 3pm, the time of the evening sacrifice, the Passover sacrifice and is buried before sundown, the beginning of Passover when no customary work could be done, just like the Sabbath rest.
The next day begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread and it, too, is like a Sabbath with no customary work.
The next day was the regular weekly Sabbath and no work would have been done, which explains why the women came to the tomb the next morning.
Now a Jewish day runs from 6pm to 6pm not midnight to midnight like ours.
I believe Jesus was crucified on Wednesday afternoon of that year.
Wednesday evening (6pm) would have started the Passover.
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Luke 24:1-3
I also believe that Jesus did rise on the first day of the week (Sunday) but not necessarily in the morning.
That’s just when the ladies arrived to find the empty tomb but by 6am-ish Sunday morning half a day is already gone because the first day of the week began at 6pm the evening before (Saturday).
Jesus could have already been gone for 12 hours by the time the ladies arrive and still fulfill the excuse the soldiers used for the missing body.
When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ Matt 28:12-13
I don’t know about you but I’m tired every evening by 7-9pm and ready to go to bed.
So it would not be too unusual for the guards to have been able to fall asleep at the beginning of the first day of the week, right after 6pm.
It is written Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, (already 12 hours into the day) Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. Matt 28:1-4
Jesus was already gone!
The stone was not rolled away by the angel to let Him out but to let the women and disciples in.
We can each have our own opinion and be right or wrong but one thing we will all agree on – HE IS RISEN!