For many years Christians have celebrated the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This celebration is commonly known as "Easter". However, most have little or no understanding of what the Scriptures reveal about this most important event in all of history. Friday has traditionally been heralded as the day of the week when Jesus was supposed to have been crucified and buried. It has even acquired the name of "Good Friday." But is Friday the correct day on which Jesus was crucified? Some say, "What difference does it make?" Well, we shall see. If you love Truth and want to know the truth about this matter, then please, by all means continue.

We know from the Scriptures that Jesus was born of a Hebrew virgin named Mary. Because the Heavenly Father chose Jesus to be born as a Hebrew, He lived and ministered among the Hebrew people. And because He did, His parables and teachings were based upon Jewish terms and customs with which His Jewish disciples were familiar and therefore understood. And so the New Testament is recorded accordingly. If we truly want a better understanding of what Jesus was saying and meant, then it is absolutely necessary that we be familiar with these Jewish terms, the Jewish life style, and the Jewish customs of those people who lived during that particular time. Most likely the Church recognizes Friday as the day on which Jesus was crucified and placed in the tomb because of the following scripture concerning His burial:

To the average Bible student it would seem logical that because the regular weekly Jewish sabbath has always been -- is now - - and will always be Saturday, then obviously "the day before the sabbath" as referred to here in Mark 15:42 could only be referring to Friday. How could it mean anything else?

We also know from the scriptures that Jesus was resurrected prior to sunrise on "the first day of the week", (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2; Luke 24:1). No one would argue that these parallel references refer to any day other than Sunday.

But have you have ever wondered how those "three days and three nights" that Jesus mentioned in Matt. 12:40 could fit between 3 P.M. Friday evening and before daybreak Sunday morning? If you have you are certainly not alone!

Has anyone ever asked you to explain this apparent contradiction of time? If so, how did you answer them and how confident were you of your answer? This happens to be one of the most frequently asked questions among both the saved and the lost. It ranks right up there with "Where did Cain get his wife?" I believe we owe it to both the saved and the lost to know the answers to these questions.

There are some who think the day of the week is not important. Well, I believe it is. The Word says that we must worship God "in spirit and in Truth" - - not in the flesh and tradition (John 4:24)! And it's the knowledge of the Truth that sets men free, not tradition. So we must rightly divide the Word of Truth. I have often wondered how many lost souls have refused to accept Jesus simply because of this one traditional belief in Christendom which doesn't add up! It helps them see the Bible as being flawed! So I believe we must ask ourselves, "Is Friday the correct day on which Christ was crucified or is Friday simply a man-made tradition based upon a false assumption?"

2 Timothy 2:15 – "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth."

Jesus spoke to the so-called "religious" ones of His day and told them that the Word of God is rendered useless because of their traditions (Mark 7:13). The apostle Paul also warned about the traditions of men in his epistle to the church at Colosse:

Colossians 2:8 - "Beware lest any man spoil (rob) you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments (principles) of the world, and not after Christ."

Before examining the scriptures which deal with this fascinating subject, we must first have some understanding of the Jewish calendars and the Jewish accounting method for days, months, years, and special sacred events.

The Jews actually utilize two calendars. The first is the civil calendar which is officially used to keep track of legal events such as kings, childbirth, contracts, etc. The second is the sacred calendar which is used to compute the timing of the sacred Jewish memorials which were given them by God. The same months are used for each calendar and the months are listed in the same order for each. However they are different from each other because each has a different month designated for its first month. For this study, we will only be concerned with the Jewish Sacred Calendar.

The sacred calendar, as instituted by God, is based on the phases of the moon rather than the earth's revolutions around the sun like the Gregorian calendar that you and I use. The moon is a better calendar guide than the sun because it visually changes every night while the sun does not. Also the first of each sacred calendar month begins with the new moon. This causes the middle (mid-point) of each month to fall on a full moon. This is very important to our study, so remember that.

The Jewish day consists of 24 hours like ours does. However, and this is very important to our study as well, instead of beginning at midnight, the Jewish day begins at sunset, or approximately 6 PM. So every Jewish calendar day begins and ends at sunset. We can see from the scriptures that God's plan from the beginning was for the night to precede the day:

Notice here that the evening precedes the day, while our main text (Matthew 12:40) states that Jesus said that He would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, - - - days mentioned first. There is a reason for this and it is also crucial to this study. So be sure and remember this as well.

A word which every reader of the Bible occasionally comes across is the word, "watch". I’m referring to the noun and not the verb. For example the "second watch" and the "third watch" are mentioned in Luke 12:38. If we don’t know about the Jewish watches, we won’t understand this scripture.

Each twelve hour Jewish night and each twelve hour Jewish day is divided into four equal three hour segments. Each of these three hour segments is known as a "watch", and each watch is identified by a number. The number of the watch depends upon what part of the day or night they occur. These watches are often used to describe when certain events occur. To further explain these watches see the following:

WATCHES OF THE NIGHT HOURS

First Watch Sunset (6 PM) to 9 PM

Second Watch 9 PM to Mid-night

Third Watch Mid-night to 3 AM

Fourth Watch 3 AM to Sunrise (6 AM)

WATCHES OF THE DAY HOURS

First Watch Sunrise (6 AM) to 9 AM

Second Watch 9 AM to Noon

Third Watch Noon to 3 PM

Fourth Watch 3 PM to Sunset (6 PM)

Passover is the first memorial or celebration of the Jewish sacred year. It is a memorial remembering the Israelites' deliverance from death when the angel of death "passed over" the houses where the blood of the sacrificial lamb had been applied over the doorway of their homes. Both Jews and Gentiles understand this from Exodus Chapter 12. The Jews certainly understand it since it was their ancestors who were "saved" by the blood of that original Passover lamb only hours prior to their exodus from Egypt. Since that initial literal Passover, the Jews have passed this memorial down through the years from generation to generation just as they were told to do. According to the Scriptures Jews are commanded by God to observe these memorials at their set time every year.

Today under the New Covenant, we Christians, both Jew and Gentile alike, can just as surely be saved and delivered from the bondage of "the law of sin and death" (see Romans 8:2) by applying the blood of the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) over the doorway of our hearts.

In addition to providing memorials of past historical sacred events, each feast also points to a future Messianic event and fulfillment. The four spring memorial Messianic events have already been fulfilled. For example, Christ was crucified on Passover; He was buried at the beginning of an Unleavened Bread; He was resurrected on First Fruits; He sent the Holy Spirit on the following Pentecost to empower the fifty-day-old Church.

The three fall feasts have still not been fulfilled, but they will be shortly. One day very soon now, Christ will come for His bride on Trumpets (Rapture); Seven years later He will return to Earth with His wife (the Church) on Atonement; He will then establish His Earthly Kingdom on the following Tabernacles. All of these events, occurring at these precise times, is no mere coincidence! So we see how important these memorials are, and why God commanded the Israelites to observe them annually.

As previously stated, the sacred festival year begins with the Feast of Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and The Feast of First Fruits, both of which closely follow Passover, each play a very important part of our quest for the correct day on which Christ was crucified. It should be noted that sometimes in the Scriptures the word "Passover" refers to the slaying of the passover lamb. Sometimes it refers to the preparation of the passover lamb, and sometimes it refers to the eating of the passover lamb. God instructed the Israelites to eat the passover lamb after sundown, at the end of the 14th - - as Nisan 15 begins (Exodus 12:6-8). Eating the lamb shortly after sundown causes the passover meal to be the first meal eaten on Nisan 15. And don’t forget, the 15th of each Jewish month always falls on a full moon.

John 19:42 refers to Nisan 14 as "the preparation day". This is referring to the day on which the Passover lamb is killed and then prepared to be eaten. Once again, the Passover meal is not to be eaten until after sundown. As previously stated this ensures that the Passover Lamb will not be eaten until Nisan 15^th. Since the lambs are to be sacrificed at 3 PM on the 14th of Nisan (we’ll discuss this later), the lamb is to be prepared between 3 PM and 6 PM.

New Testament References - Matt. 26:27-28; John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7

These verses precede the Lord's detailed instructions to the Israelites concerning the feasts which they were to observe throughout their generations. Notice that God reminds them to continue to observe the regular weekly sabbaths which always follow the six days of work as if to point out and say, "I am now going to instruct you concerning some memorials which you are to proclaim as high sabbaths (holy convocations). But in so doing, make sure that you don’t forget or neglect the regular weekly sabbaths."

During the Jewish sacred year there are seven of these special (high) sabbaths . The Jews refer to them as the "Shabbaton". In the book of Leviticus all sabbaths are referred to as "holy convocations". The Hebrew word for "holy" is qodesh (ko'-desh), which means "a sacred place or thing." The Hebrew word for convocation is miqra (mik-raw') which means "something called out, ie. a public meeting." The Hebrew word for sabbath is sabbath (shab-bawth') which means "intermission"; ie. To desist from exertion".

Five of these seven high sabbaths can occur on any day of the week, depending upon the year in question. Only First Fruits and Pentecost occur on a set day of the week and they both occur on Sunday. Following is another chart showing these seven special (or high) sabbaths and when they are to be observed.

Passover Nisan 14 No

Unleavened Bread Nisan 15 thru 21 Yes – 15^th and 21^st

First Fruits First Sunday After 14^th No

Pentecost Seventh Sunday After Yes

First Fruits

Trumpets Tishri 1 Yes

Atonement Tishri 10 Yes

Tabernacles Tishri 15 thru 21 Yes – 15^th and 22^nd

This chart shows the seven memorials, their dates, and whether or not they are a high sabbath. However, for this study we are only concerned with the first "high sabbath" of the sacred year. From this chart you can see that we’re concerned with the one which always occurs on the first day of Unleavened Bread - - on Nisan 15. This special sabbath is very crucial to our quest for proving the day on which Christ was crucified. The Jews were commanded to observe all seven of these "high sabbaths" on the above specified dates, every year, in addition to their regular weekly Saturday sabbaths.

At this time it is strongly suggested that the details of the Israelites exodus from Egypt as recorded in the 12th through the 14th chapters of the Book of Exodus be diligently and carefully read. Particular attention should be given to all scriptures that pertain to time, ie. months, seasons, dates, and times of day. After reading these Old Testament chapters you will see that those exodus events perfectly pointed forward in time to those New Testament events which concern the crucifixion of Christ.

Assuming that you have now read the above suggested chapters in Exodus and that

you have a fairly good knowledge of the New Testament, you should now begin to see a picture of the New Testament fulfillment of the first three feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits). So let’s explore some of that now.

New Testament - God provided a deliverer (Jesus Christ, "the Lamb of God") so that all of the peoples of the Earth might be saved from their slavery to sin and be freed from the control of Satan.

Old Testament - Commemorates the events which took place on the night of the 15th of Nisan - the eating of the sacrificial lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and the actual departure from Egypt after midnight.

New Testament - Jesus, the Messiah, was buried at the beginning of the 15th day of Nisan, at sundown of Passover Day.

Old Testament - On the first Sunday after the 15th of Nisan the Israelites descended down into the Red Sea and emerged alive on the other side. To acknowledge the fertility of the "promised land", the Israelites, upon arriving there, were commanded to bring the "first fruits" of their barley harvest as a wave offering before God.

New Testament - On the first Sunday after the 15th of Nisan Jesus emerged alive from the grave and presented Himself as the "first fruits of them that slept [died]" (1 Cor. 15:20). As His wave offering to the Father, He presented "many saints which slept (died)" and had been buried at Jerusalem (Matt. 27:52).

It should be noted that the Israelites were owned by Pharaoh and that they had requested permission to be gone for no more than three days into the wilderness, and that for the purpose of making a sacrifice to the Lord (Exodus 3:18). Had Pharaoh not died, the Israelites would have had to return after those three days just as they had requested. Only upon Pharaoh's death would they be free to continue their journey to the promised land. As you know, when Pharaoh initially refused to let the Israelites go, God gave Moses authority to call down various plagues on the land of Egypt. After the first nine plagues, Pharaoh still refused to give his permission.

It was then that God gave the Israelites the instructions concerning what is known and properly named by God as "Passover". God told them that He was going to pass through the land of Egypt and smite the firstborn of both people and beast of every household. So that the "Angel of Death" would pass over every Israelite house and spare them, God instructed the Israelites to do the following on particular dates.

The head of each household picked from their flocks or purchased a male lamb or kid goat less than one year old. The animal was to be examined for four days, 10^th through the 14th day of Nisan, so that it could be determined to be an animal suitable for sacrifice to God.

On this day the lamb or kid must be slain at a specific time. That time was to be at three o'clock in the afternoon, "in the evening" (Exodus 12:6). The phrase "in the evening" in Hebrew literally means, "between the evenings", or midpoint in time between the sun's declining in the west (about noon) and its setting (about 6 PM). We will later see that Jesus, the "Lamb of God" died on the cross at "the ninth hour" (3 PM) of the same day!

The Israelites placed the blood of the sacrificial animal upon the two sides and the upper post of the door to their house so that the death angel would "pass over" their homes.

Then they roasted the animal over an open fire with everything intact except the skin and prepared it to be eaten after sundown, which is the beginning of the next calendar day. So the sacrifice and the preparation was to be done on the 14th between 3 PM and 6 PM, before the beginning of the 15th of Nisan.

According to the calculations of the Rabbanan and The Biblical and Historical Background of the Jewish Holy Days, by Abraham P. Block, KTAV Publishing, pg. 186, "the exodus from Egypt began on a Friday (15th), which would therefore cause the crossing of the sea to be on a Sunday, (17th)."

Assuming these calculations to be correct, and I believe they are, then Passover, the 14th of Nisan would have fallen on a Thursday. Later we will find, according to the harmony of the Gospels, that Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection fell on these very same dates and very same days of the week!

We must first establish the year that Christ was crucified because most of the following calculations rely on the year being correct. When it comes to establishing the year of His crucifixion, we can use certain information connected with Herod's reconstruction of the temple and the Scriptures. History records that Herod became king of Judea in 37 B.C. The historian, Josephus, writes that Herod’s temple reconstruction began during the 18th year of his reign. The year easily calculates to be 19 B.C., ( 37 B.C. minus 18 years).

During Jesus' first ministerial trip to Jerusalem for a passover celebration (John 2:13) the Jews stated that the temple's reconstruction was in its 46th year (see John 2:20). Using this information we can now calculate that this particular Passover took place in the year of A.D. 27. Here’s how it’s calculated.

Since Jesus was born in our month of September or October and since Passover usually occurs in our month of April, His ministry would have been about six or seven months old when He went up to Jerusalem to His first ministerial Passover.

After raising Lazarus from the dead at Bethany, Jesus went to a city named Ephraim which was located near the wilderness, about 23 miles via the main road from Jerusalem. He went there because, from the day that He raised Lazarus from the dead, the Jews planned how they might put Him to death. Therefore He wanted to avoid them as much as possible until the time was right (John 11:53-54).

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."

John 12:12,13 – "On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord".

Then six days before "the Passover" Jesus returned to Bethany (John 12:1). The phrase, "the Passover", is referring to the Passover meal - the first meal of the seven-day-long feast of Unleavened Bread when the sacrificial lamb is to be eaten. As previously discussed, that first meal is to be eaten after sundown, which always causes this meal to occur at the beginning of Nisan 15. We can probably see this better in the following scripture.

NOTE : Verses which indicate a transition from one Jewish calendar day to the next, are marked as **.

SUNDAY, NISAN 10 (Palm Sunday)

During Friday, Nisan 8, Jesus and His disciples traveled about 20 miles from Ephraim to Bethany via Jericho and arrived at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus about dark, which would be the beginning of Saturday, Nisan 9. There they made Him a supper and Martha served (John 12:2).

"On the next day", Sunday, Nisan 10, (**John 12:12) Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young ass (John 12:14; Zech. 9:9) and made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

You will remember from Exodus Chapter 12, prior to the Israelites leaving Egypt, God instructed the children of Israel to select a lamb on Nisan 10. That day has now been calculated to have fallen on a Sunday.

Then some 1480 years later, in 30 A.D. when Jesus made that almost two mile journey into Jerusalem, the children of Israel fulfilled that which the Exodus event foreshadowed. They didn’t realize it, but they were selecting THE Lamb of God on Sunday, Nisan 10 - and they were doing it on the very same month, date, and day of the week as it had occurred back in Egypt! God’s prophecies are always perfect!

And so it was with Jesus. He "gave up the ghost" (died) on the cross at 3 PM on this Thursday, Nisan 14, at the precise time the Exodus lamb was to be slain. Then during the next three to four hours, the lamb was to be prepared for eating along with the bitter herbs and unleavened bread and other required trimmings. But let’s go back now to the very beginning of this day, Thursday, Nisan 14.

When this day was just beginning, about sundown but not yet dark, Jesus sent Peter and John (see Luke 22:8) into Jerusalem to meet a man who led them to a particular house with a large room which was "furnished and prepared" (Mark 14:15) where they would eat the passover meal together as soon as it became dark. Notice that this room was furnished and already prepared so that little time would be needed for Peter and John's part of the preparation. "And when the hour was come [after dark], He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him" (Luke 22:14).

The apostle Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, "Christ our passover [lamb] is sacrififced for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Indeed Jesus is our passover lamb and it is by His blood that salvation is made available which delivers each of us from the law of sin and eternal death.

During Christ’s last supper, there was strife among the disciples as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Jesus spoke to them about this question of who should be the greatest. After supper He began to demonstrate the attitude of a servant by washing the disciples' feet.

After washing their feet, Jesus became troubled in His spirit and told them that one of them would betray Him. They were uncertain of whom He was speaking. Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot and he went out into the night to find those to whom he had already promised to deliver Jesus.

Then Jesus began to speak to them of such things as the "New Commandment", Peter's upcoming denial of Jesus, the only way to the Father, and the promise of the Holy Spirit. It was then that He then gave them the teaching on the vine and branches. After that, He spoke to the disciples about the hatred of the world, persecution, His departure being necessary so that the Holy Comforter might come, of their sorrow turning into joy, and of His overcoming the world.

When He finished those sayings, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and began praying for those who were had been given to Him by the Father and for those who would believe in the future because of their testimonies.

After praying, Jesus and the disciples went to a garden called Gethsemane which is located a short distance from the temple at the western edge of the Mount of Olives. It was there that He asked the disciples to wait while He went on a little farther into the garden to continue praying. By this time it was rather late, possibly close to midnight. After a little while He returned to the disciples who were asleep. He asked them to stay awake and pray.

Because of His foreknowledge of the events which were to take place during the next hours, He became very sorrowful. Therefore He went back to pray once again. Later He returned to the disciples who had fallen asleep again. Knowing that the time had come for His betrayal, He awoke the disciples and told them to arise.

SUNDAY, NISAN 17

Sometime during Sunday night (remember all Jewish calendar days began at sundown) and prior to any visits to the tomb, the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and rolled back the stone which had blocked its entrance.

The purpose of opening the tomb was not so Jesus could exit. When Jesus arose as "the firstborn from the dead" He possessed a glorified spiritual body made of flesh and bone (no blood) which requires no door (Luke 24:39). The spiritual is always superior to the physical, because in the beginning it was the spiritual which created the physical. And that which creates is always superior to that which is created. The tomb was opened so that those who would be coming could see that it was empty, that Christ had risen on the third calendar day just as He had said He would, and that He was alive!

The tomb guards were very fearful and "became as dead men" (Matt. 28:4), or as some would say "slain in the Spirit" when the angel removed the stone from the entrance. At least one additional angel was visible because there is more than one reference to two angels.

"The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher" (**John 20:1). We know from other scriptures that she was accompanied also by Mary, the mother of James, and Salome. These three brought the spices which they had purchased and prepared in order to finish the burial process according to their custom. On their way to the tomb, they wondered who they might get to roll back the stone for them. But when they arrived, they found that the stone had already been removed and that the tomb was empty.

One of the angels talked with the women who, by then, were very frightened. The women quickly departed from the tomb. Mary Magdalene ran and reported to Peter and John that the body of Jesus had been stolen. Peter and John were reluctant to believe her. The other Mary and Salome were too afraid to say anything to anyone.

These two disciples also informed Jesus how the women had reported to them that they had found the tomb to be empty but had seen angels who told them that Jesus was alive, and how other disciples had also gone to the tomb and also found it to be empty, but saw nothing else.

Jesus then explained to these two disciples all the scriptures, beginning with Moses, that concerned Himself. When they drew near Emmaus, they invited Him to join them for the supper meal and stay for the night. He accepted their invitation.

During the supper, when Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. At this point He immediately vanished out of their sight. Within the same hour the two disciples returned to Jerusalem and found the apostles and some other disciples gathered together.

These two disciples told the group, "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon (Peter)". They also related the events while on the road to Emmaus and how they had not recognized Him until He broke bread at their table.

As they were telling the events of the afternoon and their experience with Jesus to this group of disciples, Jesus appeared in the room and stood in their midst. His appearance was so sudden that they were frightened and thought they were seeing a ghost. After showing them His hands and feet and trying to convince them that it was Himself, He asked for some food. They gave Him some broiled fish and honeycomb which He ate.

After eating He talked with them for a while and then breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained" (John 20:22B-23).

When He breathed on these disciples they received the "indwelling" of the Holy Spirit. However, even though they had received the "indwelling" of the Holy Spirit, they would not be "filled with the Holy Spirit" and thereby receive spiritual power for Godly service until fifty days later at The Feast of Pentecost. At Pentecost they received this Godly spiritual power through the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" that John the Baptist talked about in Matt. 3:11.

In a court of law a witness is under oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in order to arrive at all of the facts concerning an event . Please understand, even though every scripture in the Gospels is The Truth, and nothing but The Truth, it is not necessarily The Whole Truth. It takes all four Gospels together to arrive at the whole Truth - - at the sum of all the facts! One Gospel writer may reveal certain, but limited, truths about a particular event and another may reveal additional truths about this same event. And some of the writers might not even mention the event at all. So when searching God's Word for the whole truth about a matter, we must prayerfully read every scripture which mentions that particular subject and then put them all together.

Also, when reading the Word it is not difficult to find certain scriptures that seem to contradict one another. However, if we believe the above scripture in 2 Timothy, we know that truth can not contradict itself or it couldn’t qualify as being Truth. What we will find, however, if we diligently study the Word and ask for divine revelation, is that there is an explanation and that the scriptures really do agree after all!

Man's traditions, false teachings, hasty assumptions, etc. all make for distorted or false doctrines which can lead us away from Truth. So if we expect to worship God, then we must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, - - the whole Truth. We should never judge God’s Word by our experiences. Instead we should judge our experiences by His Word.

From this study and from the Scriptures we’ve seen, we should now be able to comprehend and acknowledge the following:

So the important question remains, "Is this scripture referring to a regular Saturday sabbath or a high (special) sabbath of Unleavened Bread?" Well, when we consider all we’ve learned from all of the scriptures we’ve seen in this study, which sasbbath seems to be the most logical? Which sabbath seem to fit? Friday, of course, the first special or high Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So then here’s the turn of events as I believe they scripturally occurred. We have the crucifixion day, Thursday, the 14^th - - the day before the full moon - - the day before the Friday special high sabbath - - and two days before Saturday which is always a regular weekly sabbath. I believe during that eight days that there were actually two sabbaths in a row - - one special high sabbath- - immediately followed by one weekly Saturday sabbath. By now it should be clear to us as to why Jesus said "As Jonah 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."

While those three days and three nights are not all full days and full nights, they are indeed the three days and three nights to which Jesus referred . Some people get into trouble by trying to make three full days and three full nights fit the scriptures. But Jesus never indicated that they were all full days and full nights.

Then came sundown, the end of Thursday and the beginning of Friday, Nisan 15. The 15th of every Jewish month is a full moon, and, of course, that month was no exception! This particular day was the first day of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread. God had decreed hundred of years earlier for the first day and the seventh day of this memorial to be special (or high) Sabbaths. Therefore Joseph, Nicodemus, and the women who wanted to properly prepare the body of Jesus for burial would not have returned to the tomb until Sunday. Why not on this Friday? Because Friday was a special or high Sabbath, and just like all weekly Saturday sabbaths, no menial work is to be done during special or high sabbath days either.

Saturday, Nisan 16, AD 30:

To my knowledge there are no scriptures that allude to any activities or events during this particular day. However, we do know that every weekly Saturday is a Jewish sabbath day when no menial work is to be done. We also know that He had vacated the tomb before daylight on Sunday which would confirm that it was certainly not a full day.

Also the Spirit of Jesus left His body the instant He physically died (3 PM) which also meant there was still about three hours left in that Thursday. This too would only be a part of a day. Those three hours of Thursday become our day No. 1 when counting the three days and three nights. In light of what we now know, let’s look at the correct counting for the three days and three nights:

In case that you would like even more proof or confirmation that Thursday is the correct day for the crucifixion, consider this: Today, with computers, we can calculate astronomical events and information forward and backward (ie., future and past) very quickly, while still being very precise and accurate - - even to a fraction of a second. What used to be impossible only a few years ago, is now readily available to us. No wonder Daniel prophesied, "At the time of the end, knowledge shall be increased" (Dan. 12:4)!! Therefore two additional bits of proofs are hereby presented.

Upon His physical death the Spirit of Jesus immediately went to the "heart" of the Earth and remained there for three days and three nights. Then sometime before daybreak on Sunday, Nisan 17 He was resurrected and received a glorified spiritual body of flesh and bone which He still inhabits today. Indeed AS JONAH WAS - - JESUS WAS - - THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS!!! THEN ON THE THIRD CALENDAR DAY JESUS AROSE ALIVE AND WAS SEEN BY MANY. AND HE REMAINS ALIVE NOW, THIS VERY MOMENT, AND FOR EVERMORE!!!