Good Thursday - Easter Week Timeline

 

Upon Which Day of the Week was Jesus Crucified?

March 21, 2015 at 5:47am by David Ickes

There have been scores of volumes written upon this very subject over the centuries concerning the exact timing of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The majority of these writings have been an argument for or against the idea of Christ being crucified on a Friday. Many have disputed the “Good Friday” teaching of the Roman Catholic Church because it is such a high profile or well known doctrine, and because it is a very simple teaching to disprove.  Almost everyone, including non-Christians all over the world, are familiar with the fact that Jesus was supposed to be dead for three days and three nights before he would arise.  Well, anyone with an elementary understanding of the scriptures and simple mathematics could demonstrate that it is not possible to be dead for three days and three nights if one were to die on a Friday and rise on a Sunday before dawn.  If one were witnessing to a Roman Catholic adherent, this would be an easy topic to use to point out the fallacy of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. If they cannot even get the basics of simple addition correct, how can they be trusted with more difficult doctrines such as that of salvation? Bringing out this point should enable the soul-winner in teaching the truth of God’s word, and showing the authority of the scriptures (sola scriptura).  The aim would be to free the Roman Catholic (and most Protestants for that matter) from the bonds of the Roman Catholic traditions (Col 2:8- Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ).

            While it is a noble quest to spread the truth while at the same time tearing down false teachings, it still leaves us with the question of, “If not Friday, then when”? 

            Since a “Good Friday” teaching is easy to disprove, even with limited knowledge of the scriptures, we will not outline the proofs for or against it in this thesis. It is simply felled by one verse. 

Mt 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.

            With Friday no longer being a scriptural (or common sense) option, we must look deeper into the word of God and try to discover just when and on which day of the week our Lord Jesus was crucified.

What Time Is It?

                 It is important to understand that the Gregorian calendar which we use today is not the same method of timekeeping that the Jews used based on the Old Testament scriptures. There are similarities of course, such as a seven day week. However, one of the biggest differences which may affect our ability to clearly understand the times in the scriptures is the fact that the Jews’ calendar days began at nightfall (basically 6:00 pm) and not midnight (12:00 am) which is what we are familiar with.  

Gen 1:5- And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Gen 1:8- And the evening and the morning were the second day.

 Gen 1:13- And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Gen 1:19- And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Gen 1:23- And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Gen 1:31- And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

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. 

Another important point is that the Jews also had their days divided into two parts. While we currently have what we call A.M. and P.M., the Jews had evening (or night) and day.

Joh 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?

As you can discern from the above scriptures, a 24 hour day begins at the evening (nightfall through 12 hours of nighttime) and finishes with the morning (sunrise through 12 hours of daylight).

            The night is usually spoken of in terms of 4 watches of three hours apiece, in which the watchmen stood watch during the night for possible approaching enemies.

 Mr 6:48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

Lu 12:38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

            Therefore, we now should have a better understanding of the way that the scriptures detail the passing of time. For example when the Bible speaks of the second watch of the night, it is speaking about the second three hour shift of the night watch. The night (and new calendar day) begins at 6:00 pm. The first watch therefore would be from 6:00 pm-9:00 pm. The second would be from 9:00 pm-12:00 am. The third was from 12:00 am- 3:00 am. And finally, the fourth would be between 3:00 am-6:00 am and thus would bring to a conclusion the night portion of a calendar day.

            The second portion of a calendar day would be the daytime portion. This is usually broken down into one hour sections. Thus when the Bible says things like this in Matthew during the day of the crucifiction:

Mt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

it is not saying that this happened at 9:00 am, but rather the ninth hour of the day which began at 6:00 am. Since 6:00 am is the beginning of the daytime, the first hour of the day would be 7:00 am, and the second would be 8:00 am and so on counting upwards one hour at a time. This would make the ninth hour of the day the equivalent of 3:00 pm.

            Also, they simply used a numbering system for the days of the week instead of what we know as Sunday through Saturday. What we know as Sunday was simply the first day of the week and so on until the seventh day of the week which is equivalent to Saturday.

Knowing this then, we need to study this subject with our minds retrained to think in terms of Biblical time. Therefore, what we are really searching out is whether or not Jesus was crucified on the 4th or 5th day of the week (Wednesday or Thursday).

 Was it the Fourth Day (Wednesday) or Fifth Day (Thursday) of the Week? 

                Herein lies the question. In order to end all suspense, it will be stated here at the outset that based on the overwhelming scriptural evidence the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified upon the fifth day of the week which is what we know to be Thursday. We will present this evidence in this thesis.

Why Do Some Believe in a Fourth Day (Wednesday) Crucifixion? 

            There may very well be many different motives or reasons to the question of “why”, but there seems to be one main theory which supports this position.

            The first verse presented for this position is Matthew 12:40.

Mt 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.

            Since the verse says “….so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”, and since God is a perfect God (and he is), then Jesus must have been in the grave for exactly 72 hrs. Not a minute more or less. It is held that Jesus would have been crucified on the fourth day and subsequently placed in the grave at exactly 6:00 pm which is the beginning of the fifth day. Therefore, he would be in the grave from the evening of the fifth day (remember the day starts with the evening so this would be what we call the evening of Wednesday, but is Biblically the beginning of Thursday at 6:00 pm.  As stated earlier, the days start 6 hours before we currently recognize the start of the next day), through the daylight of the seventh day (Saturday). He then would have risen at 6:00 pm which is the beginning of the first day of the week (Sunday). This way, he is buried for exactly 72 hours.

            As noble as this effort is, this position has been built upon a few erroneous assumptions.

The first error is assuming that “the heart of the earth” means the grave. In the same verse from which this phrase comes, it is likened to the time that Jonah was in the whale’s belly. In Jonah chapter 2 and verses 1-2 we read that although Jonah was in the belly of the whale, Jonah was dead and in hell. Jesus likewise went to hell and paid for our sins. 

Ac 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

It is this principle of hell being equated with the heart of the earth that proves that the grave is not it. Hell is in the center, or the heart of, the earth.

            Another point that often gets overlooked is that “three days and three nights” begins its count with days and then nights, yet this theory begins its count at 6:00 pm which is the start of the night. If this theory of the 3 days and nights begins at 6:00 pm as this Wednesday crucifixion proposes, then shouldn’t Matthew 12:40 have said “three nights and three days”? It should if this verse is to be used as proof for it. Unfortunately, the verse says days first and then nights. This is no accident. The correct position would go in the order of day, night, day, night, day, night. The Wednesday position goes night, day, night, day, night, day. This doesn’t match Matthew 12:40 and thus is no proof for that at all. It is actually proof in support of a fifth day (Thursday) crucifixion.

Furthermore, since we have seen that “the heart of the earth” is the center of the earth, we must ask “when did Jesus go to hell?” Did he go there before he was buried or after? Does the time clock begin with his death or his burial? He certainly went there before his burial. Jesus was in hell for a short time and then in paradise (also known as Abraham’s bosom – Lk 16, which was also in the center of the earth) for the remainder of the three days and nights. He promised the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43 that he would be with him “to-day in paradise”. This means that when he gave up the ghost at the ninth hour (3:00 pm- Lk 23:44), Jesus only had, at most ,two hours and 59 minutes before he would have to meet the thief in paradise because the day would end at 6:00 pm. He had from 3:00 pm until 6:00 pm to fulfill this promise.

            This all demonstrates for us that the clock begins ticking for Jesus being in the “heart of the earth” at 3:00 pm when he gave up the ghost (when he died) and NOT at 6:00 pm when he was buried.

            More support for the start of the time-clock of the three days and three nights as beginning with the death of Jesus and not his burial, is John 2:19-21.

Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 

In verse 21 Jesus explains that he is referring to his body being destroyed. Therefore, the time-clock must begin at his death because that is when his body was destroyed and not at his burial. His body was destroyed on the cross and not in the grave. Those that begin their clock at his burial have our Lord being dead for 75 hours!! This would be more than three days. This would clearly violate not only John 2:19-21 but all of the other verses which describe our Lord being raised IN three days.

Mt 26:61 And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.

Mr 14:58  We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

Again, does the clock start with the death or burial of Jesus? We can read many verses which state explicitly that our clock starts when he is killed and not when he is buried.

Mt 16:21 ¶ From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Mt 17:23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Mt 20:9 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Mr 10:34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Lu 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

Lu 18:33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.

Lu 24:7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 

Lu 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (note: rise from the dead, not the grave).

Ac 10:39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;

            As we have read, the scriptures clearly demonstrate to us that the proper formula for keeping time is from the moment that he was killed, crucified, slain, hanged upon a tree, until the time that he arose from the dead on the third day.

            Also, if the clock were to start from his burial, then as stated above, he would have physically been dead for 75 hours which is more than three days. The Bible tells us that a body has seen corruption on the fourth day of death when we look at the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead in John 11.

Joh 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

The scriptures tell us that Jesus did not see corruption in Acts 2:27.

Ac 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Ac 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

            To continue with this thought, it is important to note that even in the clearest description of what the gospel of Jesus Christ is in 1Corinthians 15, we notice that special emphasis is placed upon his death and resurrection and not upon his burial.

1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Notice that his death and resurrection are qualified as having fulfilled the scriptures while his burial is just mentioned in passing. This is very important in proving our point that the clock begins with his death and not his burial. 

Now armed with this knowledge, we can conclude that the position of a Wednesday crucifixion beginning its timeline with his burial is erroneous. The Bible makes it clear we are to begin our clock with his death. 

The Road to Emmaus 

            Here is another key portion of scripture which shoots down the Wednesday crucifixion-

Luke 24:21.

Lu 24:21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

            This verse appears in the middle of a conversation between the risen Lord and two men on the road to Emmaus. In verse 14 we see that the dialogue was about “all these things which had happened”.

Lu 24:14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

“These things” refers to the subject matter stated earlier in this same chapter. It is a description of the women’s and Peter’s accounts concerning what had happened earlier “that same day”.

Lu 24:13 ¶ And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

According to verse one of this chapter, it was the first day of the week upon which it was discovered that Jesus had arisen. These two men then begin explaining to Jesus (at that time not realizing that it was him) what things had happened.

Lu 24:17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 

 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.  22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

They explained that the chief priests had delivered Jesus to be crucified in verse 20. Then verse 21 says “….to-day is the third day since THESE THINGS were done”. Therefore, what we learn here is that these two men were on their way to Emmaus discussing the things that had happened that morning. Jesus then drew near to them and started walking with them in verse 15. Jesus asks them what they are discussing in verse 17, and then the men proceed to tell Jesus about the crucifixion. Notice here that, again, there is no mention of his burial. The only things mentioned are the trial and the crucifixion. Knowing this, we can conclude that Jesus must have been crucified on the fifth day of the week to the exclusion of all others. If Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, then Sunday (the first day of the week) would have been the fourth day “since these things (the trial and crucifixion) were done”. Lk 24:21 says that the first day of the week was the third day “since these things were done”, and not the fourth. The only day which fits this verse is the fifth day or Thursday.

            There have been explanations for the meaning of this verse by those who hold to a Wednesday position, but they must change the scripture to get it to fit. One such explanation went so far as to say that the two men on the road to Emmaus also told Jesus about the guards being placed in front of the tomb on the following day. This would solve their problem here, but the scriptures do not say this. They simply added this to it. Well, most Christians know that this is a dangerous thing to do. It is wrong. Also, those that hold onto Wednesday usually use Luke 24:1 and Mark 16:1.

Lu 24:1 ¶ Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

Mr 16:1 ¶ And 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 theorize that since one verse says that the women brought the “spices which they had prepared”, and the other says that they “had bought sweet spices”, they can conclude that the women would have only had time to do this on Friday the sixth day. They say that a Thursday position does not allow time to accomplish these things. We know that the day after the Passover is the day of unleavened bread, which is a high day Sabbath.

Joh 19:31 ¶ The 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,)

This verse shows us that the Jews did not want the bodies on the crosses on the high day. The Wednesday theory then postulates that Jesus was crucified on the fourth, and buried before or at 6:00 pm at the start of the fifth day because it was a Sabbath, and they cannot do work or be unclean on that day. The fifth day was a Sabbath and, of course, the seventh day was the weekly Sabbath and therefore the only day the women had to buy and prepare the spices would have been the sixth day of the week (Friday).

On first glance, this seems to make sense, because a Thursday position would have Friday as the high day and Saturday as the weekly Sabbath and therefore no time for this process of preparing the spices. However, Mark 16:1 says that these spices were bought “when the Sabbath was past”. This means that they were bought after 6:00 pm Saturday night which is the beginning of the first day of the week and they were prepared before morning as verse two says that they brought them very early in the morning (note: another possibility is that they had bought these spices when Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus had died). If this Sabbath which was past is a reference to the high day Sabbath and not the weekly Sabbath, it would have qualified it as such just like John does in John 19:31. Since the qualifier is not used, then it is speaking of the weekly Sabbath on the seventh day of the week. Also, Mark makes no reference to the high day Sabbath in his account, so to apply what John says in his account to what Mark is saying would be a strange way of reading the verse in its context. Mark’s context has no mention of the high day so the reader of Mark has no reason to read into Mark 16:1 what isn’t there. 

In Three Days, The Third Day, and After Three Days 

            Another problem with trying to hold onto a perfect 72 hour position is that we would have a difficult time reconciling the different prepositions used to describe the timeline of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have already pointed out the use of such phrases as “the third day”, but the Bible also says “in three days”, and “after three days”. Well, obviously, if we squeeze ourselves into an exact 72 hour position, we cannot reconcile these phrases. Here are just a few verses to make the point with.

Mr 10:34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

Mr 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

            As we have just read, we would have a hard time making an exact 72 hours fulfill the qualifications of “the third day”, “in three days”, and “after three days”. How is this then reconciled?

            It is reconciled by submitting to the idea that only partial days be included in our timeline. While partial days are used in trying to somehow satisfy a “Good Friday” position, that position lacks parts of both three days and three nights which is the Bible qualification. “Good Friday” only would have part of Friday’s daytime, all of Friday night, all of Saturday and part of Saturday night. That is only parts of two days and two nights and if one included Sunday morning as part of a day that is still only parts of three days and two nights when what is required is three of each according to Matthew 12:40. So that is ruled out.

            Having already learned that we must start our timeline upon the death of Jesus and not his burial, the Wednesday position would include part of the 4th day of the week, all of the night of the fifth day, all of the daytime of the fifth day, all of the nighttime of the sixth day, all of the daytime of the sixth day, all of the nighttime of the seventh day, all of the daytime of the seventh day, and part of the nighttime of the first day of the week in order for Jesus to fulfill his resurrection upon the first day of the week. This would equal parts of 4 days and 4 nights. In this scenario, even if Jesus did rise at exactly 6:00 pm and we didn’t count the nighttime of the first day of the week, we would still have 4 days and 3 nights and we know that would disqualify Wednesday from being the day that Jesus was crucified.

            That leaves us with one more possibility which would be the fifth day of the week (Thursday). Does this day satisfy all of the scriptures concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Let us examine this day as well.

If the Lord was crucified on Thursday, we would have a scenario that fulfills all of the scriptures we have quoted thus far. We would fulfill Matthew 12:40 by having part of the day of the fifth (Thursday), all of the nighttime of the sixth day, all of the daytime of the sixth day, all of the nighttime of the seventh day, all of the daytime of the seventh day, and part of the nighttime of the first day with Jesus rising before sunrise. A Thursday crucifixion possesses parts of 3 days and 3 nights. Thursday is so far, so good.

Thursday meets the requirements of the various phrases describing the timeline such as “the third day”, “in three days”, and “after three days”. The first day of the week when Jesus arose from the dead would be “the” third day “since” (see discussion of Lk 24:21 again) he died. The first day “since” the crucifixion is the sixth day of the week (Friday), the second day “since” the crucifixion would be the seventh day of the week (Saturday) and the third day “since” the crucifixion is the first day of the week (Sunday). This checks out with the phrase “the third day” and also with Lk 24:21 which states that the first day of the week was the “third day since these things (trial and crucifixion of Jesus) were done”.

Thursday would meet the requirement of “in three days” because this timeline is less than 72 hours. At most we would have Jesus dying at 3:00 pm on the fifth day when the clock starts ticking and at the latest it stops ticking before 6:00 am at sunrise on the first day of the week. That gives us a maximum of 63 hours. Thursday checks out good again.

Thursday also fulfills the requirement of “after three days” in the sense that it would mean that 4 calendar days are included in the timing. There would be the fifth day of the week, the sixth day of the week, the seventh day of the week and the first day of the next week. This makes it “after three days”.

Therefore, we see that the fifth day of the week is the only day which satisfies all of these requirements. It fulfills Matthew 12:40 by beginning with day and then night (“three days and three nights”). It fulfills Luke 24:21 which explicitly tells us that the first day of the week was “the third day since these things (the trial and crucifixion) were done.” No other position is able to fulfill that requirement. It also fulfills all of the phrases related to the timeline between the crucifixion and the resurrection, which no other day can do either.

In conclusion, it should now be known without exception that the only day which is able to fulfill and satisfy the various demands of the scripture is Thursday and not either Wednesday or Friday.