Why our "traditional" Good Friday through to "Easter" time-frame
just doesn't add up in God's Word. Thee Days and Three Nights.

Think about this...how many days are there between "Good Friday" and "Easter" Sunday? I count two. Yet, the Bible specifically states that Christ would be in the tomb for three days and nights. Let's see what God's Word - The Bible - has to say:  

We are furnished by Scripture with certain facts and fixed points which, taken together, enable us (1) to determine the events which filled up the days of "the last week" of our Lord's life on earth; (2) to fix the day of His crucifixion; and (3) to ascertain the duration of the time He remained in the tomb.

The difficulties connected with these three have arisen (1) from not having noted these fixed points; (2) from the fact of Gentiles' not having been conversant with the law concerning the three great feasts of the LORD; and (3) from not having reckoned the days as commencing (some six hours before our own) and running from sunset to sunset, instead of from midnight to midnight.

To remove these difficulties, we must note :--

I.  That the first day of each of the three feasts, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, was "a holy convocation", a "Sabbath" on which no servile work was to be done.  See Lev. 23:7, 24, 35.  Cp. Ex. 12:16.

"That Sabbath" and the "high day" of John 19:31, was the "holy convocation", the first day of the feast, which quite overshadowed the ordinary weekly Sabbath.

It was called by the Jews Yom tov ( = Good day), and this is the greeting on that day throughout Jewry down to the present time.

This great Sabbath, having been mistaken from the earliest times for the weekly Sabbath, has led to all the confusion.

II.  This has naturally caused the further difficulty as to the Lord's statement that "even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Matt. 12:40).  Now, while it is quite correct to speak according to Hebrew idiom of "three days" or "three years", while they are only parts of three days or three years, yet that idiom does not apply in a case like this, where "three nights" are mentioned in addition to "three days".  It will be noted that the Lord not only definitely states this, but repeats the full phraseology, so that we may not mistake it.  See the subject fully discussed in Ap. 144.

III.   We have therefore the following facts furnished for our sure guidance :

    1. The "high day" of John 19:31 was the first day of the feast.

    2. The "first day of the feast" was on the 15th day of Nisan.

    3. The 15th day of Nisan, commenced at sunset on what we should call the 14th.

    4. "Six days before the Passover" (John 12:1) takes us back to the 9th day of Nisan.

    5. "After two days is the Passover" (Matt. 26:2.  Mark 14:1) takes us to the 13th day of Nisan.

    6. "The first day of the week", the day of the resurrection (Matt. 28:1, &c.), was from our Saturday sunset to our Sunday sunset.  This fixes the days of the week, just as the above fix the days of the month, for:

    7. Reckoning back from this, "three days and three nights" (Matt. 12:40), we arrive at the day of the burial, which must have been before sunset, on the 14th of Nisan; i.e. before our Wednesday sunset.

    8. This makes the sixth day before the Passover (the 9th day of  Nisan) to be our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.

Therefore Wednesday, Nisan 14th (commencing on the Tuesday at sunset), was "the preparation day", on which the crucifixion took place :  for all four Gospels definitely say that this was the day on which the Lord was buried (before our Wednesday sunset), "because it was the preparation [day]" the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, "for that Sabbath day was a high day", and, therefore, not the ordinary seventh day, or weekly Sabbath.  See John 19:31

IV.   It follows, therefore, that the Lord being crucified on "the preparation day" could not have eaten of the Passover lamb, which was not slain until the evening of the 14th of Nisan (i.e. afternoon).  On that day the daily sacrifice was killed at the 6th hour (noon) and offered about the 7th hour (1 p.m.).  The killing of the Passover lambs began directly afterwards.  Thus it is clear, that if the killing of the Passover lambs did not commence until about four hours after our Lord had been hanging upon the Cross, and would not have been concluded at the ninth hour (3 p.m.) when "He gave up the ghost;" -- no "Passover lamb" could have been eaten at the "last supper" on the previous evening.

V.   With these facts before us, we are now in a position to fill in the several days of the Lord's last week with the events recorded in the Gospels.  By noting that the Lord returned to Bethany (or to the Mount of Olives) each night of that week, we are able to determine both the several days and the events that took place in them.

[For the sequence of events connected with and following the Resurrection, see Ap. 166.]

It will be seen from the above that we have neither power nor authority to alter or shift any day or date; or to change the order or position of any of the events recorded in the Holy Writ. Each day is marked by a return to Bethany during the last week (up to the Preparation Day); and each day is filled with the recorded events.

It follows, therefore, that the Lord was crucified on our Wednesday; was buried on that day before sunset; and remained "three days and three nights" in the tomb, as foretold by Him in Matt. 12:40; rising from the dead on "the third day", "the first day of the week"!!!

The fixed days and dates, at either end, hold the whole period as in a vice, and place the whole subject on a sure foundation. (*1) The words in Mark 14:12 and Luke 22:7 refer to "the first day of unleavened bread", which was the 14th day of Nisan, and therefore "the preparation day".  That is why the Lord goes on to tell the two disciples to go and make preparation for the Passover.

In the first mention of His sufferings (Matt. 16:21) the Lord mentions the fact that He would be "raised again the third day". In John 2:19 He had already mentioned "three days" as the time after which He would raise up "the Temple of His body".

The expression occurs eleven times with reference to His resurrection (Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19. Mark 9:31; 10:34. Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 46. Acts 10:40. 1Cor. 15:4.).

We have the expression "after three days" in Mark 8:31, used of the same event. This shows that the expression "three days and three nights" of Matt. 12:40 must include "three days" and the three preceding "nights". While it is true that a "third day" may be a part of three days, including two nights; yet "after three days", and "three nights and three days" cannot possibly be so reckoned.

This full period admits of the Lord's resurrection on the third of the three days, each being preceded by a night, as shown in Ap. 144 and 156. But, why this particular period? Why not two, or four, or any other number of days? Why "three" and no more nor less?

1. We notice that the man who contracted defilement through contact with a dead body was to purify himself on the third day (Num. 19:11, 12).

2. The flesh of the peace offering was not to be kept beyond the third day, but was then to be burnt (Lev. 7:17, 18) as unfit for food.

3. John Lightfoot (1602-75) quotes a Talmudic tradition that the mourning for the dead culminated on "the third day", because the spirit was not supposed to have

finally departed till then (Works, Pitman's ed., vol. xii. pp. 351-353).

4. Herodotus testifies that embalmment did not take place until after three days (Herod. ii. 86-89).

5. The Jews did not accept evidence as to the identification of a dead body after three days.

This period seems, therefore, to have been chosen by the Lord (i.e. Jehovah, in the type of Jonah) to associate the fact of resurrection with the certainty of death, so as to preclude all doubt that death had actually taken place, and shut out all suggestion that it might have been a trance, or a mere case of resuscitation. The fact that Lazarus had been dead "four days already" was urged by Martha as a proof that Lazarus was dead, for "by this time he stinketh" (John 11:17, 39). We have to remember that corruption takes place very quickly in the East, so that "the third day" was the proverbial evidence as to the certainty that death had taken place, leaving no hope.

Mislead by tradition and the ignorance of Scripture on the part of medieval painters, it is the general belief that only two were crucified with the Lord. But Scripture does not say so.  It states that there were two "thieves" (Gr. lestai = robbers, Matt. 27:38.  Mark 15:27); and that there were two "malefactors" (Gr. kakouryoi, Luke 23:32).

It is also recorded that both the robbers reviled Him (Matt. 27:44.  Mark 15:32); while in Luke 23:39 only one of the malefactors "railed on Him", and "the other rebuked him" for so doing (v. 40).  If there were only two, this is a real discrepancy; and there is another, for the two malefactors were "led with Him to be put to death" (Luke 23:32), and when they were come to Calvary, "they" then and there "crucified Him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left" (v. 33).

But the other discrepancy is according to Matthew, that after the parting of the garments, and after "sitting down they watched Him there", that "THEN" were there two robbers crucified with Him, one on the right hand and the other on the left" (Matt. 27:38.  Mark 15:27).  The two malefactors had already been "led with Him" and were therefore crucified "with Him", and before the two robbers were brought.

The first two (malefactors) who were "led with Him" were placed one on either side.  When the other two (robbers) were brought, much later, they were also similarly placed; so that there were two (one of each) on either side, and the Lord in the midst.  The malefactors were therefore the nearer, and being on the inside they could speak to each other better, and the one with the Lord, as recorded (Luke 23:39-43).

John's record confirms this, for he speaks only of place, and not of time.  He speaks, generally of the
fact :  "where they crucified Him, and with Him others, two on this side, and that side, and Jesus in the midst" (John 19:8).  In Rev. 22:2 we have the same expression in the Greek (enteuthen kai enteuthen), which is accurately rendered "on either side".  So it should be rendered here:  "and with Him others, on either side".

But John further states (19:32, 33) :  "then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him.  But when they came (Gr. = having come) to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs."  Had there been only two (one on either side) the soldiers would not have come to the Lord, but would have passed Him, and then turned back again.  But they came to Him after they had broken the legs of the first two.

There are two words used of the "other" and "others" in John 19:32 and Luke 23:32 (See Ap. 124. 1).  In the former passage we read, "they brake the legs of the first and of the other."  Here the Greek is allos which is the other (the second) of the two when there are more (see Matt. 10:23;  25:16, 17, 20;  27:61;  28:1.  John 18:15, 16;  20:2, 4, 8. and Rev. 17:10).

In the latter passage (Luke 23:32) the word is heteros = different (See Ap. 124. 2) :  "and others also, two were being led with Him."  These were different (*1) from Him with Whom they were led, not different from one another; for they were "in the same condemnation", and "justly", while He had "done nothing amiss" (vv. 40, 41).

From this evidence, therefore, it is clear that there were four "others" crucified with the Lord; and thus, on the one hand, there are no "discrepancies", as alleged; while, on the other hand, every word and every expression, in the Greek, gets (and gives) its own exact value, and its full significance.

To show that we are not without evidence, even from tradition, we may state that there is a "Calvary" to be seen at Ploubezere near Lannion, in the Cotes-du-Nord, Brittany, known as Les Cinq Croix ("The Five Crosses").  There is a high cross in the center, with four lower ones, two on either side.  There may be other instances of which we have not heard.

"In the Roman Catholic church ... the altar slab or "table" alone is consecrated, and in sign of this are cut in its upper surface five Greek crosses, one in the center and one in each corner ... but the history of the origin and development of this practice is not fully worked out" (Encycl. Brit., 11th (Cambridge) ed., vol. i, pp. 762, 763).  This practice may possibly be explained by the subject of this Appendix.

(*1)  Cp. Matt. 6:21, 24;  8:21;  11:3.  Luke 5:7;  6:6;  7:41;  9:56;  14:31;  16:13, 18;  17:34, 35;  18:10;  28:40.

I Garden of Eden I Three World Ages I the Rebellion of Satan I What is the Mark of The Beast ? I
I Rapture of the Church Bible study I Rapture of the Church: the LIE that leads to the Beast I
I Christmas I Gentiles and the Jews I The Two Figs I the Da Vinci Code - Christians Beware! I
I Easter? It's PASSOVER, not bunnies and eggs!!! I Thee Days and Nights! I

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