THE TRUTH ABOUT EASTER AND THE DAY CHRIST DIED

by Pastor N. Olson

 
   Roman Catholicism has dictated the dates of many Christian events and
distorted the meanings of others. Baptists who ought to know better
continue to celebrate Good Friday without ever questioning why. The fact
is that Christ was not crucified on Friday at all, nor did he rise on
Sunday morning as Baptists have been taught by Roman Catholics to
believe.
 
Yet in spite of the truth, we continue to cling to the traditions of men
and in so doing, miss the tremendous type and symbol contained in the
historical accuracy of the Passover. This paper will attempt to correct
error while pointing to the Lamb of God as Savior.
 
    "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." (Matt 12:40) According to tradition, Jesus died on the cross
at 3:00 p.m. on Friday and raised very early Sunday morning. Many have
wondered how three days and three nights can be compressed into such a
short time span, especially since Christ was so clear in His statement in
Matthew 12:40 .  Most Christians simply ignore the obvious problem and
hold the traditional view.
 
   Most commentators argue that ancient Jews reckoned a fraction of a day
as a whole day; so they say that a very small part of Friday, all of
Saturday, and a small part of Sunday can be figured this way. Jesus,
however, was clearly stating that He would remain in the grave exactly
the same length of time that Jonah spent in the whale's belly.
 
   The solution to the problem is clear: Nowhere in the Bible does is say
or imply that Jesus was crucified and died on Friday. It is said that
Jesus was crucified on "the day before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:42 And now
when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day
before the Sabbath,)The Jewish weekly Sabbath came on Saturday, commencing at
sunset the evening before. But what we forget is that the Jews had other
Sabbaths beside the weekly Sabbath. For example, the first day of the Passover
week, no matter what day that may be, was always a Sabbath   (Exodus
12:16; Lev 23:7; Num 28:16-18).
 
    Knowing this, ask whether the Sabbath immediately following Christ's
crucifixion was the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) or the Passover Sabbath,
falling on the 15th of Nisan, which came on Thursday the year that Christ
died.
 
    Even though history should cause us to consider that our tradition
is wrong, our first hint that something is missing from our tradition is the
wonderful symbolism expressed in the Passover lamb. It was not accidental
that Christ died during Passover. The Bible Itself tells us clearly when
Jesus died. John tells us plainly that the day on which Jesus was tried
and crucified as "the preparation of the Passover" (John 19:14). Christ
then was not tried and crucified before the weekly Sabbath (Friday), but
the day before the Passover Sabbath, in that year falling on Thursday.
Therefore, the only conclusion we can make is that Christ was crucified
on Wednesday.
    John makes this fact crystal clear. John's Gospel was written later
than other accounts and seems to clarify (for obvious reasons) areas that
may lead to possible error. One false impression that we have accepted by
our ignorance of Biblical truth is that Jesus ate the Passover at the
regular time of the Passover. To correct this false impression, John
clearly states that Jesus ate it the evening before and that He Himself
died on the cross at the very moment that the Passover lambs were being
killed "between the two evenings" on the 14th Nisan (Exodus 12:6).
God's real Paschal Lamb--Jesus--of  Whom  all other paschal lambs offered
through the centuries were only types, was therefore slain at the very
time appointed of God. He would not therefore eat the Passover Lamb on
the Passover day, for He WAS the Passover Lamb on that day.
 
        Everything about the Passover Lamb was a picture of Jesus:
  1. He was a Lamb without spot or blemish (Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall
be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the
sheep, or from the goats:)
 
  2. He was chosen on the 10th day of Nisan (Exodus 12:3  Speak ye unto
all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for an house:), for it was on the 10th day of the month,
the preceding Saturday, that the triumphal entry into Jerusalem was made,
and not on "Palm Sunday" as tradition suggests.  This fact is made
abundantly clear since Jesus came from Jericho to Bethany six days before
the Passover (John 12:1  Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to
Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the
dead.) and that would be six days before Thursday, which would have been
Friday that He made the trip from Jericho to Bethany.
If the Roman
Catholic Palm Sunday is historically correct, it would mean that Jesus
made the trip on Saturday (six days before Friday) in violation of the
Law(Exodus 16:29) which was interpreted to allow Jews to travel no more than
2,000 cubits on the Sabbath. Bethany however, was a Sabbath's Day Journey
from Jerusalem (Acts 1:12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the
mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.   compare
Luke 24:50  And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up
his hands, and blessed them.)
    Jesus entered Jerusalem on "the next day" (John 12:12  On the next
day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus
was coming to Jerusalem, and following verses).   It was also the same
day that Judas went to the chief priests and offered to betray Jesus for
thirty pieces of silver (Matt 26:6-16; Mark 14:3-11). That evening
(Friday night) Jesus and His disciples at dinner at Simon the leper's house. That
same night (now Saturday, 10th Nisan--remember that the next day begins
at sunset) Judas sold Jesus. This was an exact fulfillment of prophecy in
Zechariah 11:12  And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my
price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of
silver.
 
Exodus 12:3-6  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,
saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man
a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:  And
if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour
next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every
man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.  Your
lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out
from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
 3. Jesus was killed on the 14th Nisan between the evens, just before the
beginning of the 15th Nisan as sundown (Exodus 12:6  And ye shall keep it
up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of
the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.)
  We ought to accept what the Bible says: Jesus was not crucified on the
Passover day but on "the preparation of the Passover,"  and that he was
to be three days and three nights in the grave, and as "the preparation of
the Passover" that year would be Wednesday and His resurrection early on
the first day of the week, this allows exactly three days and three
nights in the grave.
      It seems inarguably correct that Jesus died around sunset time on
Wednesday.  It seems inarguably correct that exactly 72 hours later,
exactly three days and three nights, at the beginning of the first day of
the week (Saturday at sunset), He arose from the grave.
 
   When the women came just before dawn on Sunday morning, they found the
grave already empty.  There is no need to fumble with fractions of days
or to twist our Lord's words to mean something other than what He said. The
statements of Jesus were literally true. Three days and three nights His
body was dead and lay in the sepulcher. He Himself however went into
Paradise and declared that the perfect sacrifice had been made and then
led the Old Testament saints out of that place and into the presence of
God (1 Peter 3:18-19  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:  By which also he went and
preached unto the spirits in prison;)
 
         If we take exactly what the Bible teaches, we see perfectly the
marvelous fulfillment of prophecy and Old Testament typology.  On the
other hand, if we accept the Roman Catholic tradition, we rob Christ of
essential glory.  In fact, the traditional Good Friday/Easter Morning
tradition not only robs Christ, it also neglects the clear teaching of
God's Word, thus placing it beneath the traditions of men; a thing Jesus
condemned  (Mark 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the
tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such
like things ye do.)
 
            Some object to this explanation by the Sunday morning
statement of those in  Luke 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) by stating that if the
crucifixion took place on Wednesday, Sunday would be the fourth day since these
things were done.
   The explanation is that "these things" mentioned by the men on the
road to Emmaus were concluded on Thursday (Wednesday night). The first day
since Thursday would be Friday, the second day, Saturday, and the third
day would be Sunday, the first day of the week.   This objection supports
the facts.  On the other hand, there is no way that "three days since"
could be reckoned if Christ died on Friday.
 
Some of the Scriptures that prove the facts are:   Matthew 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
    Matthew 26:61  And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the
temple of God, and to build it in three days.
 
Matthew 27:40  And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and
buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross.
    Matthew 27:63  Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said,
while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
 
Mark 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.
 
Mark 9:31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son
of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and
after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
    Mark 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.
    Mark 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.
    Mark 15:29-30  And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their
heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it
in three days,  Save thyself, and come down from the cross.
    Luke 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.
    John 2:19-22 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six
years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three
days?
But he spake of the temple of his body.  When therefore he was risen from
the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and
they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
 In conclusion:  There is absolutely nothing in favor of a Friday
Crucifixion or any verses whatsoever to support it. On the other hand,
everything Scripture offers on the time of our Lord's Crucifixion points
to Wednesday.
   You may ask, "So What?"   The answer comes when we understand the
wonderful picture of the Lamb of God and how He became our Passover.
There is nothing in Roman Catholic tradition that can possibly compare
with the truth of God's Word.
     I urge you to distribute this truth and teach it. I urge you to
leave behind the traditions of men which hide the Glory of the Lord, Jesus
Christ.
 
N. Olson, Pastor
Freedom Church
Wolverine, MI


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