The Crucifixion Preceded a Sabbath—But Which Sabbath?

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We have now reached the important issue of when to start counting the 72-hour period of Christ’s sign. It involves the Sabbath. But we might ask, which Sabbath? Could this question lie at the heart of why people assume a Friday crucifixion? We have already proven from all four Gospels that the day of Christ’s crucifixion was called “the preparation.” John 19:14 explains “it was the preparation of the Passover.” However, Jn 19:31 goes further by stating, “for that sabbath day was an high day.” What does this mean? What is a Sabbath that is a High Day?

Any Jew will tell you that a “High Day” is a FEAST DAY or an ANNUAL HOLY DAY! Leviticus 23:1-44 describes seven of these days that the nation of ancient Israel was commanded to keep year by year. A simple review of this chapter (Lev. 23:24, 26-32 and 39) reveals that God considered these days to be Sabbaths. Notice that Leviticus 23:2 refers to all of these Sabbaths as “the feasts of the LORD” and “even these are my feasts.” This same verse also calls them “holy convocations”—meaning commanded assemblies. These days do not fall on the same day, year after year, any more than do the common pagan holidays that most people observe today.

Matthew 26:2 states, “You know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” (Leviticus 23:1-44 shows that the Passover was the one feast that was not also a Sabbath, wherein work was prohibited.) There is no doubt that Christ was crucified on the Passover.

The original Passover is described in Exodus 12:1-51. A lamb was slain and the blood of this lamb was struck over the doorposts of all the Israelite houses. It was this blood that caused the death angel to pass over any particular house, thus saving the firstborn of that house from death! Hence, the term “passover.”

The Old Testament Passover always preceded the annual Sabbath called the first Day of Unleavened Bread. This day was a High Day or a feast day to be celebrated each year, again, on the day immediately following the Passover. Notice Numbers 28:16-17: “And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast.” This feast was the first Day of Unleavened Bread.

Jesus Christ was slain by crucifixion on the exact same day that the Passover lamb had been slain every year. 1 Corinthians 5:7 plainly states, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” John the Baptist called Christ “the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Christ was crucified on the Passover and this day then would automatically be a preparation day for the feast day, or annual High Day Sabbath—which was to begin almost immediately after His burial.

As mentioned, annual Sabbaths could occur on any day of the week. Tuesday and Thursday are more common than any other day for the first Day of Unleavened Bread, following the Passover. Thursday is probably the most common of all. For instance, in the thirty-six years (counting inclusively) between 1998 and 2033, the first Day of Unleavened Bread occurs on a Thursday 12 times, and on a Tuesday 10 times.

All other days are less often during this period. In the year of Christ’s crucifixion, according to the Hebrew calendar, the Passover occurred on a Wednesday! This means that the annual Sabbath had to be one day later—or Thursday! It was, in fact, THIS SABBATH that was approaching, thus requiring the swift burial of Jesus’ body prior to its arrival. The weekly Sabbath, or Saturday, was to occur two days after that.

Which Was the Day of the Resurrection?

If Christ’s Resurrection was not on Sunday, then when was it? The world commonly believes that it was Sunday morning. Does the Bible say this, or have millions made an assumption?

Recall that John 20:1 says, “The first day of the week comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and sees the stone taken away from the sepulchre.” Compare this verse with Mark 16:2 and Luke 24:1.

It is now very early Sunday morning (it is still dark) and the tomb is open. Do these verses supply the supposed proof for the Sunday resurrection tradition? Do they support “Easter sunrise services”? A problem already presents itself. Christ is gone from the tomb before sunrise!

Now notice Luke 24:6. Mary Magdalene, and the others with her, are described as finding two angels standing before them. These angels stated plainly to these women, “He is not here, but is risen.” Also see Mark 16:6 and Matthew 28:5-6.

Christ was GONE—He was already risen! Notice the past tense of the two angels’ statement.

We can now establish the day of Christ’s resurrection. We have already established the time of day of His death and the burial soon thereafter and, therefore, also the time of His resurrection. It was late afternoon, between 3 and 6 p.m. Obviously, Christ was already risen, by this time, in the darkness of Sunday morning—because He had been gone from the grave since late afternoon on SATURDAY! Let us state this plainly. Christ died on the late afternoon of a Wednesday Passover and was resurrected three days later on the late afternoon of the very next Saturday. Thus, the resurrection did not even occur on Sunday—period!

Christ’s Sign Fulfilled

Who will you believe? Will it be theologians, scholars, higher critics, and other traditionalists, who love to profess Jesus, but reject the sign that He gave? Or will you believe the words of your Bible—that Jesus Christ rose from the dead exactly as He said He would?

It is now time to read a different Gospel account of the two angels’ statement to the women at the tomb. This time notice Matthew 28:6. It states, “He is not here: for He is risen, as He said” (Matt. 28:6). This would be impossible if Christ had been in the grave one second more or one second less than 72 hours. The One who said, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” was well aware of exactly how long His sign required that He remain in the “belly of the earth”—the grave.

Not only did Christ state that He would fulfil His sign, but it was also established by the mouth of two witnesses (Deut. 17:6; 19:15), who happened to be mighty angels of God.

Paul adds a final, great, corroborating proof that Christ did spend three entire days and three entire nights—from late Wednesday afternoon until late Saturday afternoon—in the tomb. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul validates the words of Christ and the two angels who witnessed His fulfilment. Notice: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again THE THIRD DAY according to the scriptures.”

Further, the prophet Daniel gave a prophecy he described as “seventy weeks” (Dan. 9:24-27). In this prophecy, the Messiah was foretold to be “cut off.... in the midst of the week.” Wednesday is literally the fourth, or middle day, of a seven-day week. So then, it was in the “midst of the week” that Christ was “cut off.” (It should be noted that this prophecy in Daniel was a foretelling of Christ also being “cut off” in the midst of His ministry—after 3 1/2 years [Fall A.D. 27 to Spring A.D. 31]—if the biblical application of “a day for a year” is properly applied to the seventieth week of that prophecy.)

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