ON WHAT DAY WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED?

This is a subject that has been debated for many years, and today the church is still divided on this doctrine. The majority of Christians today believe Jesus was crucified on Friday. That’s why many celebrate Good Friday, every Easter weekend. Still, there are many who believe he died on Wednesday, while a few think it was Thursday. Which was it? Does it even matter?

Well, some say it doesn’t matter because it’s not an issue of salvation. It bothers me when people say something in God’s word is not important. Everything in the Bible is important or God would not have inspired holy men to write it down.

Bible doctrine is like a chain. Each subject is a link to another. If we have a wrong understanding of one subject, then the chain is broken, because that link doesn’t fit. Then other connected doctrines are harder to reconcile or understand properly when some information is missing or misunderstood. That’s one reason we have so many denominations today. As you know, I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and it can be trusted.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, "ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness:"

If you doubt that the Bible is God’s word, go read the article entitled “Is The Bible Really God’s Word?” Now, let’s see if the Bible is specific about which day Jesus was crucified.

The Bible says Jesus died about the ninth hour which would have been between three and four in the afternoon (Luke 23:44-46) and he was buried just before sundown the same day (Mark 15:42-47). The Bible says he rose early on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). The first day of the week is Sunday. 

If he had died and was buried on Wednesday, three days would have ended just before sunset on Saturday, not Sunday morning as the Bible says. He would have been in the tomb longer than seventy-two hours. If he was buried just before sundown on Thursday, three days would have ended just before sundown on Sunday, not on Sunday morning as the Bible says. Still more than three whole days. 

If he was buried Friday evening, Sunday morning would not have been three whole days. So, no matter which day we believe Jesus was crucified, there’s no way to calculate it to where he was in the tomb for exactly seventy-two hours. So, let’s all drop that argument and look at what we can actually prove from God’s word.

In Mark 15:42 we see that Jesus was crucified on the PREPARATION DAY. That same verse also says it was the day BEFORE the SABBATH. Then, a few verses later, in Mark 16:1-2 we see the NEXT DAY after the Sabbath was the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. That’s three consecutive days in a row from his death to his resurrection. The PREPARATION DAY, the SABBATH DAY, and the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. We’ll see this same evidence in the next few passages. Again, it’s not a full seventy-two hours, but the rest of the study will explain that.

Look at Luke 23:52-56 continuing on into chapter 24:1-3.

Luke 23:52-Luke 24:3
52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 
53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had been buried before.  
54 And that day was the PREPARATION DAY, and the SABBATH drew near. 
55 And the women also, who came with him from Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid. 
56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the SABBATH DAY according to the COMMANDMENT.

Luke 24-1-3
1 Now on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 
3 And they went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

In Luke 23, we see again that Jesus was crucified on the PREPARATION DAY. That was the day before the SABBATH. It’s clear this was the weekly Sabbath because the Bible plainly says, they “Rested the Sabbath Day According To The Commandment” (the 4th of the 10 Commandments).

In Mark 15:42-16:2, and in Luke 23:52-24:3 we can see the timeline very clearly, from the death of Jesus to his resurrection. It spans only three days. Again, they are the PREPARATION DAY, the SABBATH DAY, and the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK which is Sunday. Most Bible believers agree he rose from the grave on Sunday morning. That’s why many Christians celebrate Easter Sunday. We also celebrate GOOD FRIDAY two days before Easter Sunday. Clearly, these are the 6th day, the 7th day, and the 1st day, or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Jesus was crucified on Friday (the Preparation Day), rested in the grave on Saturday (the Sabbath), and rose on Sunday (the First Day of the week). If that’s not clear enough, we’ll look at a few more scriptures to cement the argument.

Before his death, Jesus had said he would rise again ON the third day after his death.

Matthew 16:21
21 From that time forth Jesus began to show his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and leading priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Matthew 17:23 
23 And they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised again.

Matthew 20:19
19 And they will deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to beat, and to crucify, and the third day he will rise again.

Mark 10:34
34 And they will mock him, and beat him, and spit on him, and kill him, and the third day he will rise again.

Luke 9:22
22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and leading priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

Acts 10:40
40 God raised him up the third day, and showed him openly;

1 Corinthians 15:4
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Again, Jesus said he would rise from the dead ON the third day and he did.

Another thing of interest is recorded in Luke 24:13-21. It happened late that Sunday afternoon, the same day Jesus was resurrected. Cleopas and another disciple were on the road to Emmaus when Jesus joined them. They didn’t recognize him, so they brought him into the conversation they had been having about the death of the Messiah. Notice carefully what they said.

Luke 24:21
21 But we trusted that it had been he who would have redeemed Israel, and besides all this, TODAY IS the THIRD DAY since these things were done.

There it is, plainly. Sunday was the THIRD DAY since he was crucified, and he rose from the grave ON the third day. Saturday would have been the SECOND DAY since his death, so clearly, Jesus was crucified on Friday.

We can even be more specific than that. In Daniel chapter 9 we have the prophecy of four hundred and ninety years. This time period stretched from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, all the way down to the time of the Messiah. It foretold that he would die for others, and he did. This prophecy tells the exact year of the death of the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in every detail over five hundred years after it was written down. 

By using this prophecy, and the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, along with the dates of the Jewish feast days, we can pinpoint the exact year, month, day, and hour that Jesus died. He died in the hour between 3:00 and 4:00 pm on Friday, April 3rd, AD 33.

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IN THE BEGINNING

In The Beginning, God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). 

1) WHAT DOES THE BIBLE MEAN BY “IN THE BEGINNING?”

Hebrews 1:10 
10 And, you Lord, in the beginning, have laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

Isaiah 40:21 
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Have you not been told from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 

Isaiah 64:4  
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside you, what he has prepared for him that waits for him. 

Act 15:18
18 Known to God are all his works from the beginning of the world. 

Ephesians 3:9  
9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ: 

2 Peter 3:4  
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 

So “In The Beginning”, in Genesis 1:1, the bible is referring to the beginning of our world; the creation, not just of the earth and its atmosphere, but our entire solar system; Our Galaxy. That leads to some other questions. 

2) WHEN WERE ADAM AND EVE CREATED?

Matthew 19:4
4 And he answered and said to them, Have you not read, that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female, 

Mark 10:6
6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. 

The Bible tells us that God made Adam and Eve at the beginning of our world. He made them on the 6th day (Gen 1:24-31). 

3) WERE THERE OTHER PEOPLE BEFORE GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE? 

1 Corinthians 15:45  
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; 

The Bible plainly says that Adam was THE FIRST MAN on earth. Look at the genealogy in the books of 1 Chronicles and Luke.

1 Chronicle 1:1 
1 Adam, Seth, Enos, 

Luke 3:38  
38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. 

In 1 Chronicles 1, the genealogy of mankind starts with Adam and moves forward toward Jesus. In Luke 3, it starts with Jesus and goes backward to Adam, then says he was the son of God. Clearly, Adam WAS the first man, and he was created by God at the beginning of this world. Look at the next 2 verses.

Genesis 2:20  
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.

Genesis 3:20  
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living.

These verses show Adam naming the living creatures God had created, including his wife, Eve. Gen. 3:20 also confirms that Eve was the FIRST woman. She was the mother of the human race. 

Genesis 5:1-2 
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God; 
2 He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day that they were created. 

Some people believe Genesis chapter five refers to the second time man was created after some catastrophe wiped out the world. We have already seen from the Bible that Adam and Eve were the FIRST people on the earth. Chapter 5 is a recap of the beginning. Look back in Genesis chapter four, and you’ll see Adam and Eve have three sons; Cain, Abel, and Seth. In Genesis chapter five we see Adam and Eve have a son named Seth to replace Abel, the son Cain killed. Clearly, these two accounts refer to the same people. How anyone could say these are two different stories involving different people is beyond me.

Genesis 4:25  
25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, and she said, for God, has given me another child instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. 

Genesis 5:4  
4 And all the days of Adam after Seth was born were eight hundred years, and he had sons and daughters:

This process of retelling events is used throughout the Bible. There is a story, and later a recap or synopsis, usually adding more details. Look at the story of Noah and the flood in Genesis chapters 6-8, for example.

4) DID DINOSAURS LIVE MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO?

Romans 5:14
14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses,

Romans 5:12
12 Just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death is passed on to everyone because all have sinned:

1 Corinthians 15:21-22
21 Since death came through one man, the resurrection of the dead came through one man also. 
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive. 

There was no death before Adam sinned. Death entered our world because Adam disobeyed God. The Bible says Adam was the FIRST man on earth, and DEATH came from his disobedience. Therefore, Dinosaurs could not have lived and Died before man, millions of years ago because there was no death before Adam sinned.

God created dinosaurs along with all the other land animals on the sixth day before he created Adam. Then he brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would call them (Gen. 1:25). 

5) DID GOD TAKE THOUSANDS OF YEARS TO CREATE EVERYTHING?

2 Peter 3:8  
8 But, beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day.

This verse has been used by some to say a day in scripture equals a thousand years, or some extended period of time, trying to reconcile the Bible with “scientific” reasoning that the earth is billions of years old. We need to line our “scientific” discoveries up with the teachings of God’s word, not the other way around. God’s word has its own dictionary. The meaning of most things we read in the Bible is found somewhere in the holy scriptures. The next verse explains what 2 Peter 3:8 means.

Psalm 90:4  
4 For a thousand years in your eyes are as only yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 

This verse explains that a thousand years to God is just a small amount of time. 

In Numbers chapter 7, when the tabernacle in the wilderness was finished and it came time to dedicate the altar, God told Moses to have the Princes of Israel bring their offering, one tribe each day. This took 12 days; 12 literal days, not 12 extended periods of time. Why would this passage of scripture be literal 24 hour days, and Genesis chapter 1 not be literal days?  

Exodus 20:8-11 says
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work: 
10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it, you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: 

Why? Read the next verse carefully.

Exodus 20:11
11 Because, in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and He rested the seventh day. So the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

Here, we are commanded to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy because God created the heaven and earth and everything in them in six literal days, NOT 6 extended periods of time, NOT 6000 years. He worked 6 literal days and rested on the 7th day. We are to work 6 literal days then rest on the 7th day. Plus, at the end of each day, the Bible records that the EVENING and the MORNING (Night and Day) was the 1st day, the 2nd day, etc. Therefore these verses prove a literal 6-day creation.

6) WHAT ABOUT “THE HEAVEN” IN GENESIS 1:1?

Genesis 1:1 
1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Notice that the heaven is singular, not plural.

Exodus 20:11
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. So the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

Genesis 1:6-8 shows the creation of the heaven.

Genesis 1:6 -8 
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 
7 And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. 
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning was the second day. 

In the Hebrew language, the word firmament means EXPANSION or EXPANSE. In English, it means a space. We simply call it SPACE.

Notice that the SPACE God made to separate the water did not stop at our atmosphere.

Genesis 1:14-15
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven (SPACE) to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years, 
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. 

7) WHAT WERE THESE LIGHTS?

Genesis 1:16-18  
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 
17  And God put them in the firmament (space) of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 
18  And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good.

Jeremiah 31:35  
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar. The LORD of hosts is his name: 

Clearly, these lights that God created and put in (the) SPACE are the Sun and Moon. Notice, he had already made the Stars at some earlier time. The firmament stretchered out into space. The firmament IS space, where our galaxy, our solar system, was created by God, IN THE BEGINNING of our world.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2014 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6