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.**