WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED ON “GOOD-FRIDAY”?
TEXT: JOHN 19:16-42
INTRODUCTION: In order to really understand the strange and compelling three days of our Lord’s great victory at Calvary, we need to be certain about the Sabbath days.
The importance of the Sabbath to the nation of Israel can hardly be overemphasized. The Sabbath was never given to any other nation other than Israel.
In the coming weeks I am going to be bringing messages surrounding the events of the passion of Christ. In order for us to understand some of what I will be bringing, it is imperative that we understand the time line for each of these events. (I have given you a chart)
And that timeline is predicated on three Sabbaths in a row.
Look at almost any calendar at the Friday before Easter and you will more than likely see “Good Friday” written in the space at the bottom.
Many churches celebrate this day as the day Jesus was crucified. I have one question for them, how do you get three days and three nights into Friday-Sunday?
Jesus said He would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
Mat 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Mat 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Some try to explain that they were part days, part Friday, Sat., part Sun, as we will see that can’t be but even so, what about the nights? You only have Friday night and Sat. night because Jesus arose early Sunday morning.
Well why do people think that Jesus was crucified on Friday? Because the Bible says they had to get Jesus off the cross because the Sabbath was drawing close.
Mark 15:42 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
Mark 15:43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
What is the Sabbath?
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Sunday is the first day of the week and Saturday is the seventh or the last day of the week. We don’t think that way though do we. We generally think Monday-Sunday. But look at our calendar. What day is first?
So for the Jews Saturday is the Sabbath day. And since people read that Jesus was taken down from the cross the day before the Sabbath, they assume that Jesus was crucified on Friday.
But as I’ve already stated, it doesn’t fit. So is the Bible in error or is man? How do we rectify this? Well, we need to have an understanding of the Sabbaths.
The Sabbath was very important to the Jewish nation. Its restrictions were severe and when Israel was in God’s favor its observance was rigidly enforced.
You couldn’t travel more than 3,000 ft, just over one-half mile. Look what happened to a man found gathering sticks on the Sabbath;
Num 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
Num 15:33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
Num 15:34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
Num 15:35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
Num 15:36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Work was forbidden;
Exo 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
The Sabbath was never given to any other nation but Israel. The importance of this day is both national and religious.
In sending messages of rebuke to Israel, God charged them with among other sins, profaning His Sabbaths;
Ezek 22:8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
In the OT. The Sabbath was used as a thermometer by which the spiritual temperature of Israel could be accurately taken. Defiling the Sabbath was the charge against Jesus that was most often used by His enemies.
Mark 3:1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Now you need to know that in the NT. the Sabbath was done away with. Every commandment except the fourth ‘remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” is restated in the NT.
We see in;
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
The handwriting of ordinances of the commandments, which include the Sabbath as a holy, set apart day, were a “shadow.” The real substance of the commandments and law covenant was Jesus Christ.
He took the shadow “out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” Freeing men from the bondage of the law. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Sabbath. We find our rest in Christ.
The NT. day of worship is the first day of the week, or Sunday. The Sabbath was the last day of the week, or Saturday. But many people today still erroneously refer to Sunday as the Sabbath.
Scripture firmly establishes the fact the Sabbath was not observed by the apostles or the early church. They observed Sunday as the day of worship.
1 Cor 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Acts 20:7 7And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow;
The law covenant was a covenant of works. A Sabbath – whether it was a weekly Sabbath or one of the seven others – may be simply defined as: a day of rest which follows work.
Under the law no sin was ever forgiven in the N.T. sense of forgiveness. Sins were merely covered by animal blood.
The innocent blood of the slain lamb would allow God to pass over the sins without executing judgment until, in the fullness of time, the precious blood of Jesus Christ would wash them away forever.
Just as the animal sacrifice ceased because there was no further use for it, so did the Sabbath. Here is the difference.
The law of Moses provided a rest only after the work was done. It spoke in type to the spiritual rest.
No Israelite, though, not even those named in Heb. 11, ever entered into that spiritual rest. There was a continual offering made for sins as there was a continual breaking of the law.
When Jesus died and rose again, all sins, everyone ever born, were paid for. 1 John 2:2 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
This was an infinite sacrifice given for an infinite number of sinners, who had, or have committed, or will commit an infinite number of sins.
Having endured the cross, despising the shame, Jesus is “seated” at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 12:2). In the tabernacle there was no chair for the ministering priest of the law because they could never finish their work.
But Jesus’ work was finished (John 19:30) to all who will accept Him. We who are saved have gained the merits of His completed work and enter into the rest provided by His death, burial and resurrection.
Heb. 10:10-14 10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Yes! We work. Not to enter rest, but from the fact that we have already entered. God declares that we are a new creation when we are saved;
Eph. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
I. OTHER SABBATHS
Were there other Sabbaths? Yes there were. Look at Lev. 23:1-8 Vs. 3 “holy convocation;” The feast are holy con, Sabbaths. Vs. 23-24, 26-32, 39
There were seven Sabbath days (festival or high days) besides the weekly Sabbath given to the nation Israel.
1. Passover sabbath on the 14th day of Nisan
2. Unleavened Bread on the 15th day of Nisan
3. Feast of Firstfruits
4. Feast of Pentecost
5. Feast of Trumpets
6. Feast of Atonement
7. Feast of Tabernacles
So we see here that there were other Sabbaths besides the Saturday or weekly Sabbath. In our study this morning we are only concerned with two high Sabbaths which are connected to the crucifixion. Now look back at our text, John 19:31 “High day Sabbath.”
The first was the Passover Sabbath which John was referring to which was on the 14th of Nisan (our March-April) and the second was always followed by the Unleavened Bread Sabbath on the 15th of Nisan.
There was no exception to this order of occurrence. At every Passover there were two Sabbaths back to back. Both of these Sabbaths were subject to full Sabbath restrictions. Lev. 23:4-8
Since there were two Sabbaths at the Passover every year it isn’t surprising to find that the thirteenth day of Nisan was a preparation day. Look again at John 19:31
There was a lot to get done on the preparation day, including removing all leaven from the houses. During the two days following the preparation no work could be done, nor any buying or selling.
So it was essential to have enough food to make it through these Sabbaths. There was no preparation day for the weekly Sabbath.
With this simple observation we have negated the possibility of Jesus having been crucified on Friday as church tradition unfortunately teaches Him to have been.
If He had been crucified on Friday it would mean that the Passover Sabbath (14th of Nisan) fell on the seventh day of the week: Saturday; that is, on the weekly Sabbath day.
The next day (15th of Nisan, the first day of the week, Sunday) would have been the Sabbath of unleavened bread and it would have been unlawful for the women to carry spices to the tomb.
Mark 16:1 1And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
They couldn’t have carried the spices until the second day of the week (Monday) nor could they have anointed Him with the spices as was their intention. They were coming to the tomb in order to further embalm the body of Jesus which tells us the Sabbaths were past.
There can be no doubt about the Sabbath restrictions being past; Mark 16:3 3And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
No Jew would have even thought about having this huge stone moved on the Sabbath day. Since we are told in all four of the Gospels that they came with spices to the tomb on the “first day of the week,” Sunday, the time frame we are talking about is an established fact.
This leaves only the seventh-day Sabbath to reckon with. In determining the relationship in time between the Passover and Unleavened Bread Sabbaths and the weekly Sabbath, I will establish conclusively that Friday is exactly two days late for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to have happened.
According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary: Whenever the Passover fell on the regular weekly Sabbath (Saturday), the sacrifice was slain at 1:30 P.M. and offered at 2:30 P.M. on Friday to be finished before sundown on Friday, the beginning of the regular Sabbath.
If the Passover Sabbath fell on Friday, the sacrifice was slain at 12:30 P.M. and offered at 1:30 P.M. on Thursday.
However, on all other days the Passover sacrifice was slain at 2:30 P.M. and offered at 3:30 P.M. on the day previous to the Passover Sabbath itself.
Consider: Jesus was three days and three nights in the tomb. When daylight arrived on the first day of the week, the tomb was already empty (we know He was entombed in the evening, not in the morning).
Consequently, He arose at 6:00 P.M. at the end of the weekly Sabbath which is also the beginning of the first day of the week.
This fixes the time of His death at 3:00 P.M. on Wednesday and His entombment by 6:00 P.M. on the same day.
It should be clear that what we have at the passion of Jesus is not one, not two, but three Sabbaths all in a row. Thursday, the Passover Sabbath; Friday, the Feast of Unleavened Bread Sabbath; and Saturday, the seventh-day weekly Sabbath.
This explains many things which would otherwise have remained puzzling as we study other events surrounding the passion.
The tradition of “Good Friday” as the day of the crucifixion is an error stemming from the failure to distinguish the Sabbaths.
It is wrongly based on the idea that where the Sabbath was mentioned in Scripture, it always referred to the weekly Sabbath.
To see that this day – the Sabbath following the day of Christ’s crucifixion – was not the weekly Sabbath, we only need to look at John 19:31 again;
31The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The Holy Spirit has carefully inserted a parenthesis to distinguish this Sabbath day. The greatest Sabbath in the calendar of Israel was this Sabbath of the Passover.
II. THE JEWISH RECKONING OF A DAY
The Jewish day begins at 6:00 P.M. not 12:00 midnight as ours does. It runs from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. So when it is 6:00 P.M. Wed. by our reckoning to the Jews Thursday is beginning.
III. HOW MANY HOURS IN A DAY?
Mat 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
How long is a day? Can just a part of a day be counted as a full day? Listen to Jesus again because He is the one who divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
John 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
Twelve hours in the day and twelve hours in the night. Twenty-four hours to each day and night, and three periods of equal length, make an even figure of seventy-two hours total.
Look at Luke 23:44-46 Jesus died at 3:00 Wednesday. Now look at vs. 50-56 Joseph went to Pilot, Pilot sent to see if Jesus was dead, they had to clean the body from all the blood, prepare the body for burial. All this took time.
Vs. 54 “The Sabbath drew on.” It was close. The day was almost over. If Jesus was to be entombed at all it must be done before the Sabbath began at 6:00 P.M.
Just as the notes from the rams horn sounded announcing that the three Sabbaths all in a row had begun, the stone fell into place closing the door to Jesus tomb.
Calvary was within a Sabbath day’s journey (3000 ft.) of the farthest part of Jerusalem, so there was no breach of Sabbath restrictions as the burial party returned to their homes.
IV. THE TIME TABLE
Jesus was buried at 6:00 P.M. on Wed., the thirteenth day of Nisan. The fourteenth (Thursday) began at this time and ended twenty-four hours later. This is one day and one night.
Friday made two days and two nights. Saturday made three days and three nights. Jesus was buried at 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday and resurrected at 6:00 P.M. on Saturday/Sunday. This made Him exactly seventy-two hours in death just as He said He would be.
The Friday crucifixion error allows only thirty-six hours for the time of entombment, and through the years Christendom has tried to explain this away.
But again the following Scripture clearly determines the length of time He was actually buried.
Matt. 12:39-40 39But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Can we really believe that Jonah was actually in the belly of the whale those seventy-two hour? It all depends on who you choose to believe.
The One who “had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah” (Jonah 1:17) said Jonah was three day and three nights – seventy-two hours – in the whale’s belly. Rom. 3:4 Let God be true, but every man a liar.”
Again, look at the chart.
Did you notice that if Jesus did indeed rise at 6:00 P.M. on Saturday/Sunday, and the tomb was not visited until 6:00 A.M. on Sunday, there are twelve unaccounted-for hours? We will be looking at that as one of the coming sermons.
Maybe you are here this morning thinking I am overemphasizing the importance of this timeline and oversimplifying the explanation. There is a reason for dealing so completely with this subject.
First, the time element is established with such emphasis because of the widespread misunderstanding which prevails on the Good Friday tradition.
Tradition is held by many people to be as binding as Scripture. But tradition is often (as it surely is here) dead wrong.
An error that is as deeply entrenched in the minds of people as is the Friday crucifixion myth will not just quietly walk away. So my aim in this sermon was to exhaust the subject repetitiously in the simplest terms possible.
I hope you have been enlightened this morning as to the importance of when Jesus was actually crucified. As I said, this timeline will help explain many other parts of the messages I will be brining in the weeks to come. So save your charts.
