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Good Friday is a Myth;
Jesus died on a Wednesday!!
by Roy A.
Reinhold
I was quite blown away recently
to hear Hal Lindsey state on his
national radio program that he has
come to believe that the scriptures
show a Wednesday crucifixion.
Perhaps you ought to examine the
evidence and decide for yourself; be
like the Bereans who were
complimented in scriptures for
examining the teaching of Paul in
light of the scriptures to see if it
was so. There is clear, concrete
evidence in the scriptures for a
Wednesday crucifixion; you be the
judge.
DAYS AND 3 NIGHTS IN THE HEART
OF THE EARTH
One of the most common questions
asked by new Christians is,
"How could Jesus have been in the
heart of the earth for three days
and three nights if He died on a
Friday afternoon and rose before
sunrise on a Sunday?" Most
Christians duck the question, since
at most they can only come up with
one day and two nights (Friday
nighttime, Saturday daytime, and
Saturday nighttime in our measure of
days). If they add in the Friday
daytime they get two periods of
daytime, even though Jesus would
have died in the late afternoon on a
Friday. This late afternoon death is
consistent with the Passover lamb
being killed between the two
evenings of Jewish teaching. The
lamb was killed between 3 and 6 PM
on the afternoon of the 14th of Abib/Nisan
and prepared, because the 15th was
the first day of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, which was an
annual Sabbath observance (the first
and last days of Unleavened Bread
were annual Sabbaths in addition to
the normal weekly Sabbaths). This
search of the Word is important, not
because it affects salvation, but
because it answers the questions
posed on whether Jesus kept His
Word, and whether the Bible is true
in this matter. A legitimate concern
and question for all Christians!!
"In the
first month, on the fourteenth day
of the month at twilight is the
Lord's Passover. Then on the
fifteenth day of the same month
there is the Feast of Unleavened
Bread to the Lord; for seven days
you shall eat unleavened bread. On
the first day you shall have a holy
convocation; you shall not do any
laborious work. But for seven days
you shall present an offering by
fire to the Lord. On the seventh day
is a holy convocation; you shall not
do any laborious work." Leviticus
23:5-8
The above text confirms that the
first and last days of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread are annual
Sabbaths, to be observed as a day of
rest in addition to the weekly
Sabbaths. These days would occur on
the 15th and 21st of Abib/Nisan. The
Passover meal was an important
religious observance in which to
remember that the blood of the lamb
on the doorposts of their houses
kept them alive when the angel of
death passed by, and that God had
delivered them from slavery in
Egypt.
The Passover is a perpetual
observance to celebrate passing from
death to life. These ancient events
foretold the blood of Jesus being
spilled for our sins, and our
passage from death to eternal life,
by the everlasting covenant of the
blood of Jesus. They also foretold
that Jesus would die exactly on the
14th of Abib/Nisan and that the day
following was an annual Sabbath.
What follows is a close
examination of the biblical record,
in which Jesus was killed on the
14th of Nisan in the afternoon, and
the next day was the annual Sabbath,
the first day of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. We shall also
see from the biblical record that
this annual Sabbath did not fall on
the weekly Sabbath, in the year that
Jesus died.
Then some
of the scribes and Pharisees
answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we
want to see a sign from You." But He
answered and said to them, "An evil
and adulterous generation craves for
a sign; yet no sign shall be given
to it but the sign of Jonah the
prophet; for just as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly
of the sea monster; so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth."
Matthew 12:38-40
But later on two came forward,
and said, "This man stated, I am
able to destroy the temple of God
and rebuild it in three days."
Matthew 26:61
Now on
the next day, which is the one after
the preparation, the chief
priests and the Pharisees gathered
together with Pilate, and said,
"Sir, we remember that when he was
still alive that deceiver said, 'After
three days I am to rise again.'
Therefore, give orders for the grave
to be made secure until the third
day, lest the disciples come and
steal Him away and say to the
people, 'He has risen from the
dead,' and the last deception be
worse than the first." Pilate said
to them, "You have a guard; go, make
it secure as you know how." And they
went and made the grave secure, and
along with the guard they set a seal
on the stone. Matthew 27:62-66
The above verses show that Jesus
had openly taught that the major
sign that He was the Messiah was
that He would die and three days
later rise again. Even more clearly,
He said that He would be three days
and three nights in the heart of the
earth. This promise meant that 72
hours would pass from His death to
His resurrection and that this would
be the sign for the Jews that He was
who He said He was (the Messiah).
The Friday crucifixion with a
resurrection before sunrise on
Sunday morning totals approximately
36 hours. If we understood Jesus to
mean that within three days
and three nights He would rise
again, then any period short of that
would suffice. But He taught that
after three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth,
then He would rise again. This
logically would necessitate the
crucifixion on a Wednesday, then the
daylight and nighttime periods of
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday would
be three days and three nights. We
count from either His actual death
shortly after 3 PM or from the time
His body was laid in the tomb,
shortly before the annual Sabbath
began, although I believe we should
count the 72 hours from the time the
body was laid in the tomb.
You'll notice that the above text
from Matthew 27, recorded that the
chief priests met with Pilate the
morning after the crucifixion to get
permission to post a guard and seal
the tomb. The Bible records that
this was the day after the day of
preparation. This day of preparation
is the 14th of Abib/Nisan, when the
homes were scoured for any leavened
bread within the house and a
preparation of food was readied for
the Passover meal, and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread [Mark 15:42, Luke
23:54, John 19:14, 31, 42].
Therefore, the grave of Jesus was
not sealed until the morning of the
15th of Abib/Nisan, on the annual
Sabbath. In the text from John 19,
we learn that the body of Jesus
needed to be removed from the cross
because the Sabbath was about to
begin and
that Sabbath was a high day or
annual Sabbath. This is
consistent with the other verses
which teach that the day of
preparation was the day that Jesus
died. Now we only need to determine
whether the annual Sabbath and
weekly Sabbath fell on the same day,
which would lead us to the
conclusion that Jesus died on a
Friday afternoon, shortly after 3 PM
as commonly taught. If not, then He
died on another day of the week.
The Jews
therefore, because it was the day of
preparation, so that the bodies
should not remain on the cross on
the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was
a high day), asked Pilate that
their legs might be broken, and that
they might be taken away. John 19:31
And
Nicodemus came also, who had
first come to Him by night; bringing
a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about
a hundred pounds weight. And so they
took the body of Jesus, and bound it
in linen wrappings with the spices,
as is the burial custom of the Jews.
John 19:39-40
And
Joseph took the body and wrapped
it in clean linen cloth, and laid it
in his own new tomb, which he had
hewn out in the rock; and he rolled
a large stone against the entrance
of the tomb and went away. And
Mary Magdalene was there, and
the other Mary, sitting
opposite the grave. Matthew 27:59-61
And
Joseph bought a linen sheet,
took Him down, wrapped Him in the
linen sheet, and laid Him in a tomb
which had been hewn out in the rock;
and he rolled a stone against the
entrance of the tomb. And Mary
Magdalene and Mary the mother
of Joseph were looking on to see
where He was laid. Mark 15:46-47
And it was
the Preparation Day, and the
Sabbath was about to begin. Now
the women who had come with Him out
of Galilee followed after, and saw
the tomb and how His body was laid.
And they returned and prepared
spices and perfumes. And on
the Sabbath they rested according to
the commandment. Luke 23:54-56
In totality, the above verses
together give us the complete
picture of what happened after
Jesus' death, how His body was
prepared for burial, and who
observed this process. It is
extremely important to notice that
none of the above texts alone gives
the complete story, and that you
have to read all together to get the
whole story.
Joseph took Jesus' body after
receiving permission from Pilate,
bought a linen sheet, and bound the
body with Nicodemus' assistance.
Nicodemus had brought a hundred
pounds of myrrh and aloes, which
they bound with the body. The tomb
was near where Jesus was crucified,
and belonged to Joseph who had
carved this tomb out of rock. It was
a new tomb that had never before
been used. Also, Mary Magdalene and
Mary the mother of Jesus accompanied
the body from the cross and watched
the entire process of burial. When
Jesus' body was laid in the tomb,
then Joseph, assisted by Nicodemus,
rolled a large stone in front of the
tomb opening and left. Finally, the
two Mary's left and prepared spices
and perfumes, before resting on the
Sabbath. Up to this point, we have
no evidence that the annual Sabbath
and weekly Sabbath did not fall on
the same day as traditionally
taught.
The next collection of verses
will explore the role of the women
in preparing spices and perfumes
with which they intended to anoint
the body of Jesus.
And they
returned and prepared spices and
perfumes. And on the Sabbath they
rested according to the commandment.
But on the first day of the
week, at early dawn, they came to
the tomb, bringing the spices which
they had prepared. and they found
the stone rolled away from the tomb.
Luke 23:56, 24:1-2
Now late on
the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
came to look at the grave. And
behold a severe earthquake had
occurred, for an angel of the Lord
descended from heaven and came and
rolled away the stone and sat upon
it. And his appearance was like
lightning, and his garment as white
as snow; and the guards shook for
fear of him, and became like dead
men. Matthew 28:1-4
And
when the Sabbath was over, Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James, and Salome, bought spices,
that they might anoint Him. And very
early on the first day of the week,
they came to the tomb when the sun
had risen. And they were saying to
one another, "Who will roll away the
stone for us from the entrance of
the tomb?" And looking up, they saw
that the stone had been rolled away,
although it was extremely large.
Mark 16:1-4
Now on the
first day of the week Mary
Magdalene came early to the tomb,
while it was still dark, and saw
the stone already taken away from
the tomb. And so she ran and came to
Simon Peter, and to the other
disciple whom Jesus loved, and said
to them, "They have taken away the
Lord out of the tomb, and we do not
know where they have laid Him." John
20:1-2
You may have to reread the above
verses to notice that the women who
had watched Jesus' body being laid
in the tomb, prepared perfumes and
spices.
The Mark 16 text says that Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary bought
spices
AFTER the Sabbath and
prepared them. While the Luke 23
text states that the women
prepared
spices and then rested on the
Sabbath. This is
consistent with an annual Sabbath on
Thursday, the first day of the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, and the weekly
Sabbath on Saturday. We know that
these are the same women because the
Bible verses all relate that Mary
Magdalene was involved in all these
events. However, two other Mary's
are mentioned, one the mother of
James and Salome, and the other the
mother of Joseph. In all cases, Mary
Magdalene was involved. Therefore,
the women saw Jesus' body being laid
in the tomb on a Wednesday
afternoon, they rested on the annual
Sabbath on Thursday, and bought
spices on Friday. They
prepared the spices on Friday and
then rested according to the
commandment on the weekly Sabbath
on Saturday. After the weekly
Sabbath, they intended to anoint
Jesus' body with the perfumes and
spices. Therefore both
intuitively and by evidence, we have
proven that Passover was on a
Wednesday, and that Jesus did as He
had said, which was to rise again
after three days and three nights.
What remains to determine, is
whether Jesus rose as the weekly
Sabbath was ending or at sunrise on
Sunday?
You'll notice through a
comparison of the four gospels that
Mary Magdalene and the disciples
went to the tomb a number of times.
In some it was still dark, and in
some it was already light. It wasn't
until it was light on Sunday that
they actually discovered that He had
risen, in the first visits the
tomb was empty. The above text
in John 20, tells us of the first
visit by Mary Magdalene when it was
dark, the tomb was empty, and she
had not been told that Jesus was
risen, and only saw the stone rolled
away. I will leave it to the reader
to compare the applicable verses in
the four gospels to reconstruct the
various visits to the tomb. However,
there is one verse which seems to
tell us that Jesus rose on the first
day of the week.
Now after
He had risen early on the first day
of the week, He first appeared to
Mary Magdalene, from whom He had
cast out seven demons. Mark 16:9
The above text would seem to
conclusively prove that Jesus rose
early in the evening on the first
day of the week, what we would call
Saturday night. Some commentators
have speculated that verses 9-20 of
this chapter were later added since
they weren't in any of the early
manuscripts. Whether or not that is
true, the reader ought to know that
the meaning of a verse may be
altered by the addition of a comma
or a deletion. The original text did
not have these punctuation marks in
the Greek text, so they were added
later. If a comma is added after
risen, the verse takes on an
entirely different meaning. Now
after He had risen, early on the
first day of the week He first
appeared to Mary Magdalene, from
whom He had cast out seven demons.
This change is not altering
scripture since it was not written
with punctuation marks. This makes
the verse consistent with all the
four gospels, where Mary Magdalene
visited the grave, shortly after the
Sabbath ended (Saturday evening),
and saw the empty grave with the
stone rolled away, but did not see
an angel or see Jesus.
It was later, when the sun had
risen on Sunday morning that she
came with Mary the mother of James
and Salome back to the tomb, saw an
angel who told her that he had
risen, and then saw Jesus. One can
imagine that Mary asked Mary
Magdalene, "Who would roll away the
stone?" as they approached the tomb,
since Mary Magdalene had not
mentioned that she had been there
earlier and saw the empty grave.
Then she went and told the disciples
that she saw the angel and saw
Jesus. What any reader should
realize is that the Holy Spirit gave
us the four gospels with fragments
of the story in each, and it
takes a study of all together, to
arrive at the complete picture.
The following verse clearly shows us
that Mary Magdalene came to the
grave as the weekly Sabbath was
ending.
Now late
on the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn toward the first day of the
week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary came to look at the
grave. Matthew 28:1 (NASB)
Bishop Papias was an early church
bishop in Syria and he wrote that
the book of Matthew was originally
written in Aramaic, and then
translated into Greek by the
apostles. Irenaeus and Clement also
mentioned seeing the original
Aramaic of the book of Matthew. We
have some precedence and evidence
that at least some of the new
testament books were first written
in Aramaic, and translated by the
apostles into Greek, and Matthew is
one of them. I say all of this
because the Aramaic of Matthew
28:1 in Aramaic is much clearer
than the Greek. A literal, word for
word translation of the Aramaic
directly to English is as follows
(commas separate meaning of each
word).
in the
evening, but, at/in the Sabbath,
that was beginning (dawning), first,
in the week, arrived/came, Miryam,
the Magdalitha, and Miryam, the
different (the other), that came to
see, the tomb (the grave).
It is obvious that "at/in the
Sabbath" where the beginning of the
first of the week was near, that it
is making the point that it was at
twilight that Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary came to the tomb.
The twilight period belongs half to
the day ending and half to the next
day beginning. The verse drives
home the point that this was
Saturday evening, but that the
twilight period still belonged to
the Sabbath (i.e. within 1/2 hour
after sundown). There were no
streetlights then, and no
flashlights, so if the full moon had
not yet risen, then when it got
dark, it got really dark, really
fast. The two Mary's had just enough
time to look around and leave. No
one can read the Peshitta Aramaic of
Matthew 28:1 and mistake it for any
other understanding than
that the Mary's arrived at the tomb
at twilight on Saturday evening and
the stone had already been rolled
away.
Note: some people try and make a
trivial argument that the word "nagah"
literally means beginning of
daylight and cannot mean
metaphorically the twilight. They
are mistaken. Why? because Matthew
28:1 says it was still in the
Sabbath and the Sabbath ended 1/2
hour after sundown. The context is
clear that "nagah" is being used
metaphorically.
Why didn't the two Mary's try to
anoint the body of Jesus on Friday,
since they had prepared the spices
and perfumes on Friday before the
weekly Sabbath began? It is because
in Matthew 27:62-66, Pilate had
given the Roman order to have the
grave sealed on Thursday morning,
and they had put the Roman seal on
it and posted guards until the 3
days were complete. Therefore, if
the 2 Marys had tried to annoint the
body on Friday, they would have
broken the law and been arrested.
They waited until after the 3 days,
so as to avoid arrest. The apostles
were all in hiding at the time,
fearing possibly their own arrest,
so it fell to the two Mary's to
anoint the body.
The fact is that the Last Supper
celebrated with the bread and wine
by Jesus and the disciples took
place on the evening of the fourth
day of the week (we would say
Tuesday evening). Jesus was
crucified on a Wednesday and was in
the grave 3 days and 3 nights. He
rose from the dead late on the
Sabbath. Finally, He revealed
Himself to Mary Magdalene and the
disciples on the first day of the
week, shortly after sunrise. Of
course this means that we have a
Palm Saturday and not a Palm Sunday.
It also means that Jesus performed
the sign He said He would, and that
Sunday being the Lord's day is a
fabrication of the bishop of Rome.
Bishop Sixtus instituted this
teaching at Rome shortly after the
death of the Apostle John, and later
Bishops of Rome perpetuated the
error he brought into the church. In
due time, even the keeping of the
Passover bread and wine remembrance
was outlawed with excommunication.
(Click here to see the visual chart
of the days leading up to the
crucifixion - by Michael J. Harris)
One will also note that the lamb
for Passover was selected on the
10th of Abib/Nisan, and this did not
occur as traditionally taught, but
on the weekly Sabbath prior to the
Passover. As the Lamb of God, Jesus
was selected as the acceptable lamb
for slaughter following the
triumphal entry, when the chief
priests met to determine His death
on the Sabbath. He was laid in the
tomb as the annual Sabbath was
beginning. On the following weekly
Sabbath, as it was ending, Jesus
rose from the dead. This is
consistent with His teaching where
He said He was Lord of the Sabbath.
.
Also, a superficial reading of
the gospels does tend to lead one to
the conclusion of a Friday
crucifixion, when read separately,
so one cannot blame the majority of
believers for this false belief.
The learned reader might say that
the Passover as kept today cannot
fall on a Wednesday, in the Jewish
calendar. That is the case today,
but then neither does Firstfruits
(wave offering) or the Feast of
Weeks (Pentecost) occur on the first
day of the week in the Jewish
calendar. The reason is a matter of
history. There was a controversy
between the Phariseean and
Sadduceean way of keeping these
important feast days. At the time of
Jesus, the Sadducees were the high
priests and kept the days according
to our present Christian
understanding from the Torah. For
example, the Sadducees believed that
Firstfruits always fell on the first
day of the week, which meant that
Pentecost also fell on the first day
of the week. While the Pharisees
believed that Firstfruits fell on
the 16th of Abib/Nisan, the day
after the annual Sabbath, leading to
Pentecost on various days of the
week. At the time of Jesus, the
Sadduceean keeping of the feasts was
in effect, but after the dispersion,
the more numerous and stricter
Pharisees perpetuated their
understanding of Judaism. They were
the ancestors of modern day Orthodox
Jews and are the keepers of the
calendar today. Their rules have
supplanted the days as kept in the
time of Jesus, even though these are
minor rule changes.
There have been many noted
believers in a Wednesday
crucifixion, from the time of the
early church until now. These
include Epiphanus, Victorinus of
Petau in 307 AD, Lactantius, Wescott,
Cassiodorus, and Gregory of Tours.
Later, Finis Dake and R.A. Torrey
also believed in a Wednesday
crucifixion. We now know that the
Bible teaches a Wednesday
crucifixion, so the reader now must
face the facts of the Bible as
compared to the traditions of men.
At the same time, I say that this
does not determine salvation, for I
know that there will be millions who
have believed the Friday crucifixion
hoax and I will see them in
heaven one day!
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