Good Wednesday, Not Good Friday?!?!

 

Image from: http://mdevega.blogspot.com/2013/03/golgothas-cross.html

Passion week is here.

Palm Sunday begins.

Good Friday is around the corner.

Resurrection Sunday follows.

But what if our timeline is off?

What if Scripture is FULLY correct, and we have tried to fit the timeline into our western thinking instead of fitting our thinking into the scripture's timeline?

Does it even matter?

For many of my readers there is no doubt that Jesus died on the cross, and subsequently rose from the dead.  Christians celebrate this great exchange of 'Grace' for 'Law', of 'New Covenant' for 'Old Covenant' each year at Easter (aka Resurrection Sunday).

Leading up to this pivotal event in our Christian faith, many find themselves celebrating Good Friday, but is that really the correct day to call 'good'?  No, not that a gruesome death on a cross is good, but what Jesus accomplished through that death is absolutely good!  Should it really be Good Wednesday?

Let's take a look at the scriptures.  Let's assume that those scriptures (as the inerrant Word of God) are fully accurate.  And let's create a timeline.  Note: it is very important to remember a few things as we look at the timeline and the scriptures.  

1. We are on a Jewish timeline.  Days begin at sunset and end at sunset the following day.
2. We are dealing with Jewish customs and ways of thinking. (very important when it comes to death)
3. We are dealing with 2 Sabbath's that particular week.  The High Holy Sabbath due to Passover, and the regular weekly Sabbath.

Timeline:

Tuesday: 

    Morning/Day: 

• Disciples sacrifice the Passover pesach lamb registered to Jesus in the temple

    Evening/Night: (Sunset begins the High Holy Passover Preparation Day)

• The Last Supper (Passover Seder meal) after sunset
• In order for Jesus (Y'shua) to BE the Passover lamb for us, sacrificed on preparation day, according to the Mosaic covenant, He had to eat the lamb a day earlier, which one could do so long as there was no leaven in the home
• John 13:1-2 - It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.  The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
• We see in the above scripture that Jesus is eating His Last Supper (His Passover Seder meal) just before the Passover Festival. 
• This scripture is in John 13 and Luke 22

• Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane
• John 18:1-11, Luke 22:39-46
• Jesus asks, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him."
• Jesus was NOT asking the Father to remove the cross, but rather to remove the tremendous burden of the sin of the world that He had already begun to carry, and was threatening to kill Him early.  He asked for that to be removed so He could live to endure the cross for us.

• Jesus Arrested
• Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-11

• Jesus brought before the Jews
• John 18:19-24; Luke 22:63-71

Wednesday: 

    Morning: 

• Day of Preparation for the High Holy Sabbath of Passover

• Jesus brought before Pilate
• Luke 23:1-5; John 18:28-19:16

• Jesus on the cross by 9 a.m.
• John 19:17-27; Luke 23:26-43

• Jesus died by 3 p.m.
• John 19:18-30: Luke 23:44-46

• Jesus Side Pierced
• John 19:31 (KJV) this scripture clarifies that this is the Preparation Day for the high day.
• John 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) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

    Afternoon/Evening: (Sunset begins the High Holy Passover Sabbath)

• Jesus in the tomb before sunset
• Luke 23:52-54 - Going to Pilate, he (Joseph of Arimathea) asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
• The preparation day and the Sabbath spoken of in this scripture was the High Holy Sabbath of Passover, not the weekly sabbath.
• Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42

• Sunset: High Holy Passover Sabbath begins
• John 19:42; Luke 23:56

• Jesus' 1st full night in the tomb

Thursday: 

    Morning/Day: 

• Jesus's 1st full day in the tomb

• High Holy Passover Sabbath continues on until sunset
• Everyone 'rested' according to scripture
• John 19:42; Luke 23:56

    Night: 

• Jesus's 2nd full night in the tomb

• High Holy Passover Sabbath ends at sunset

Friday: 

    Morning/Day: 

• Jesus's 2nd full day in the tomb

• Spices bought and prepared on the only available day to work and prepare to fully anoint the body of Jesus (other days are rest days due to the Passover Sabbath and weekly Sabbath)

• Preparation Day of the weekly Sabbath: also must prepare for tomorrow's weekly Sabbath so they can honor their Jewish law

    Night: 

• Jesus 3rd full night in the tomb

• Weekly Sabbath begins at sunset
• Weekly rest begins according to Jewish law, not able to visit the tomb

Saturday: 

    Morning/Day: 

• Jewish weekly Sabbath
• Everyone Rests according to Jewish law, not able to visit the tomb or anoint Jesus' body without breaking the law

• Jesus's 3rd full day in the tomb

    Night:

• Weekly Jewish Sabbath ends at sunset

• Jesus IS ALIVE, RISES from the GRAVE, between sunset Saturday and sunrise Sunday sunrise

Sunday:

    

    Morning:

• Jesus' tomb found empty because He rose sometime between sunset and sunrise
• Luke 24:1-2 - On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
• The 7th day (or last day) of the week is Saturday, Sabbath.  The 1st day of the week is Sunday in the Jewish culture.
• Scripture clarifies that it is the First Day of the Week (Sunday). I believe one reason for this clarification is due to the two sabbaths this week (due to Passover), and because it is not the next physical day, but rather a few days have passed since the last scripture where Jesus was laid in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb.  Otherwise clarification of what day it is may not have been needed.
• Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-10

In order for the Bible to be fully correct Jesus HAD to be in the grave/tomb 3 full days AND 3 full nights.  The words below were spoken by Jesus, and for him to be God, He must speak absolute truth.

    Matthew 12:40 (NIV)

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Why does this timeline matter?

In order for a Jew to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as the risen Messiah (Yeshua Hamashiach), Jesus HAD TO BE DEAD 3 FULL DAYS and 3 FULL NIGHTS, or he was not raised for the dead.  This is pivotal when witnessing to Jews.  

In Jewish custom a person is not declared fully dead until after three full days and three full nights have passed.  The Jewish customs believed that a person's spirit hovered near the body for there days and nights before crossing over to the final spiritual realm.  Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES could a body come back to life after the spirit departed at the 3 FULL DAYS and NIGHTS mark.  

This is why it was imperative for Jesus to take his time getting to Lazarus.  Lazarus had to be fully dead for the miracle of raising him from the dead to have such an impact.  His spirit was no longer hovering.

Any person coming back to life prior to the three full days of death can be explained away in their culture as having been unconscious, half-dead, or not fully dead, and the person's spirit simply reentered the body.

After the 3 FULL DAYS and NIGHTS it could only be explained as a miracle from God and a true resurrection of the dead.  Also, full days are counted from sunset one day to sunset the following day.  We can not count Friday as day 1, Saturday as day 2, and Sunday as day 3...it does not fit with the Jewish laws and customs, nor does it account for the High Holy Passover Sabbath plus the weekly Sabbath.  Everything Jesus did was fully Jewish.

Then WHY? Good Friday and Easter Sunday?

Easter was originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. After Constantine Christianized the Empire, Easter was changed to represent the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This was a pagan festival that Christians attempted to 'Christianize' to bring pagans in to learn about the Bible and Jesus.  This calendar was drawn from the pagan festivals and had nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus until the church made this change.  (And the same actually goes for Christmas.  Interesting.)

Technically Correct:

If we wanted to get really technical and be fully accurate in celebrating the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, it wouldn't even be Good Wednesday, Good Friday, or Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday.

It would be Good Preparation Day, Passover, two days waiting, then Resurrection Day on a Jewish calendar that will not fall on Wednesday or Sunday since Passover moves to different days each year. But I don't see the Gentile Church changing that anytime soon. 

So for now, know the truth, but use these celebrations as a time to remember what the Lord has done for us, and to share the Gospel with those around you.

For the Jew:

Isaiah 53 (KJV)

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

**PS - In first century Judaism, there were two Passovers. One was based on the written Torah (the Sadducees followed).  The other was based on the traditions of the P’rushim (the Pharisees followed). Since there were two Passovers celebrated on two different days in Judaism, we have two distinct days of ‘preparation.’  You can read all of those timelines broken down HERE.**

Scorched Ground - Dream - 5/13/2020

Image from: 
https://www.inlander.com/spokane/scorched-earth/Content?oid=2139162

Scorched Ground – Dream – 5/13/2020

I had this dream in May of last year, during COVID and before Winter Storm Uri.

 

Dream:

In this dream the setting was ‘soon’.  It was not now, and it was not in the past, but it was soon.  It was also a further SHAKING of the earth, and specifically the Christians, those that love and follow God.  The non-Christians were equally shaken, maybe even more so, but the outcome was to make the Christians rise up and do what they are suppose to be doing. 

Wayne and I were out doors, and when we look out from where we were standing the land had been scorched.  The trees were still standing, and some plants and bushes were still there, but all of the ground, earth, dirt, grass and low creeping plants hand been scorched as in fire and were completely burned up and lay bare.  The fields, hills, yards and more were bare, burnt, fallow dirt. 

As we looked out we were at perfect peace and KNEW exactly what we were suppose to do, yet we could ‘feel’ the panic, fear and other emotions rising up off many on the earth. 

We began praying while heading to seek out other believers, many which may not have previously been considered mature, to make sure that they also KNEW what their current job was, and if not, to help teach them.  We made our way to one particular friend in the Sugarland area named Brandon to be sure he was alright and knew what to do.  When we reached him he was doing exactly what he was suppose to. 

Brandon was standing up on an elevated area looking over vast barren and burnt fields.  As he stood there he was in a posture of worship, standing tall with his arms and hands outstretched toward those fields.  He was praying over the ‘land’, just as we had come to inform him to do.  When we reached him in his elevated location he never let his posture change or his arms lower, but smiled and greeted us happily with his facial expressions and his voice.  None of us spoke of or felt fear, but he said, “Man guys, this is wild.”  We all three nodded and smiled and Wayne and I responded, “It sure is.  Wild.”  We talked a few moments making sure he knew his part and before departing to check on the next set of believers.  Once we had checked on our assigned set of believes we would also take a stance to stand, look over and pray for our ‘fields’ in earnest.  We were praying for them as we checked on the others, but it would become more concerted.

He said, “Yes, I know what to do.  I am suppose to pray over the harvest.  First the lettuce will spring up, tiny little sprigs.  Then those will grow in size and cucumbers and tomatoes will grow up.  Finally (after other crops spring up) the bread will grow, and that is the end result.”  We nodded that he was correct and were very happy that he knew that.  It is important to note that only one crop would grow at a time, so the lettuce would grow until it turned into cucumbers and that would grow until it turned into tomatoes and so on until finally the bread would grow.  Interesting to note, I knew the end result was NOT Wheat with which to make bread, but actual loaves and rolls, baked to perfection and shined with butter on top.  Already baked bread growing.  And we referred to this process as the harvest growing, and the harvest was not ready until the ready-made bread was growing.  Also note, while we were standing there with Brandon, tiny sprigs of lettuce were already beginning to pop up all over the barren land before him!

End Dream

 

PS – I looked up what the name Brandon means since I was curious why God chose to put him in our dream.  His name means, “Beacon Hill.”  Wow!  Hill of hope, safety, light…whatever you think of a beacon as.

Friends, get ready!  There is more ‘shaking’ to come.  I do not know what it looks like, but it will feel more scorched, barren, dry than this Coronavirus.  Also, we were at perfect peace and knew what to do, so do NOT fear and BE PREPARED for God’s supernatural provision (yes, still do what you know to do.  It is our job to be prepared and let God do the rest).  And third, it IS HARVEST time, and prayer is pivotal.

Healing Wings - a memoir; The Writing Process, and Order Today

 It is finally here...Healing Wings!  

After many years of arguing with God and telling Him that I would not be writing a memoir about surviving Guillain-Barre' syndrome, He finally won.  

I knew in my heart that I was suppose to put pen to paper and tell the details of my deathbed experience, and the hope and miracles that abounded during that time, but there were just two problems.  One, I HATED writing.  That is not an understatement; writing was my nemesis.  Moving words from brain to paper was extremely difficult for me -- my former English teachers Lori Kerr and Beverly Still can attest to that.  Yet, with the Holy Spirit and having lived the ordeal myself, this book practically wrote itself.  Two, although I was able to verbally tell people my testimony about the horrors of Guillain-Barre', sifting through the emotions to relive and tell the story on paper was an entirely different experience.  To put it mildly, it was a painful process.

I have had dozens, if not hundreds, of people tell me that I needed to write a book about my journey.  I nodded, smiled, and said, "Maybe one day."  That is until I met Ashley Soden.  Ashley was in my life weekly for our children's home-school co-op, and we immediately hit it off as friends.  Ashley was a writer.  One day I told her part of my testimony of being healed from Guillain-Barre and she said those famous words, "You should write a book."  I looked Ashley straight in the eye and said, "I know!  God has told me to write a book, but I've been running from Him in that area.  Will you help me?"  Ashley agreed to help me, and every single week for the next year she would ask me, "Have you started writing your book yet?"  And I would say, "No, not yet."

On August 18, 2017, after I tucked my children in to bed, I sat down at my computer and began typing.  That was the evening of my 37th birthday.  The next morning I let Ashley know that I had started my book, and would not stop until it was finished.  

I didn't know then (August 2017) that we would have a world wide pandemic at the time of my book release.  It never crossed my mind that we would be having the roll-out of a new vaccination during my book release.  The timing was not planned by me, but I do believe God's timing is always perfect.  My memoir is based on my journey through Guillain-Barre, which in my case was caused by a vaccine injury, but this is not an anti-vaccine book.  The cause of my syndrome is mentioned, and not harped on in these pages.  I believe all vaccines (along with other life altering decisions such as surgeries, medications, marriage...) should be taken before the Lord in prayer and each person and family should ultimately obey God in those decisions.  Having said that, I will say that Guillain-Barre' is listed as one of the first side effects on almost all vaccines, including the newest one being released, so this book could lend an ear to anyone that wants to know what on earth that side effect is or could look like in real life, or give hope to anyone that does suffer from Guillain-Barre' or other vaccine injuries or any long term illness.  

It took me 3 years to write and rewrite my manuscript.  With my first draft I wrote during the night after the kids were asleep, and would weep heavy wracking sobs as I relived every moment and emotion.  That first draft took quite a long time to complete as I would take weeks off at a time to allow myself to heal emotionally when writing a particularly difficult chapter.  

During the second draft I only cried during the truly brutal parts of my journey.  

There were no more tears during the revisions and edits beyond the second draft.  I felt free from the pain that I had apparently held without realizing it was even there.  

Once my manuscript was complete it took another 5 months to have it professionally edited, proofread, formatted, cover designed, and all those details that go into turning a manuscript into a book.  I had no idea what I was doing, so I called in the "big guns" in the form of my dear friend Kiersten Oliphant; a fellow author.  She gave me the skinny on how to self publish, and I muddled through until I had a product that hopefully shines.

Watch one of my book trailers here:

Pick up Healing Wings - a memoir on Amazon in either paperback, Kindle, or Kindle Unlimited format, and feel free to share it with family, friends, ministries, small groups, long term illness groups, libraries, hospitals, birth centers, or anyone else you believe would benefit from a story of ultimate hope and healing.

Click HERE to order.

PS - don't forget to leave an Amazon review once you've read the book.  Leave comments below, I'd love to hear from you.