THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION
--A. Ralph Johnson
Three different days have been proposed for the crucifixion of Jesus
1. Friday, the date given by most commentators
2. Thursday, with a “high Sabbath” followed by the weekly Sabbath
3. Wednesday, with Thursday as a “high Sabbath,” followed by a day of preparation between it and the weekly Sabbath.
Mark 16:9 says he arose on the first day of the week.
Fifteen times the Bible says he arose “on the third day.” Counting back from Sunday three days puts his crucifixion on Friday, the day before the Sabbath.
The primary problem is the difficulty of reconciling Matthew 12:40 with the other scriptures concerning the resurrection.
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.
I. CALCULATING THE DAYS
All three of the synoptic gospels indicate that Jesus died about the ninth hour. (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46)
Matthew 27 says,
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
This would put his death about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. He had to be buried before sundown, around 6: PM when the Sabbath began. That would be the first day of our count towards the resurrection.
The day following is said to have been “the Sabbath.” Because it was the Passover Sabbath that began the countdown to Pentecost (Lev. 23:15). John calls it a “high day” (John 19:31). This included a night and a day, the second day.
If the burial was on Friday afternoon and the resurrection was before sunrise on Sunday, then it would be “on the third day” (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). However, our modern technical view would consider this, as only two days and two nights (one part day and one night, plus one day and one part of a night).
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2nd day |
3rd day |
4th day |
5th day |
6th day |
7th day--Sabbath |
1st day of week |
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Fri./Sat. dark
“High Sabbath”
1st night |
Sat./Sun dark
Raised 2nd night |
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Fri. afternoon Preparation
Crucified Buried 1st day |
Sat. daylight
“High Sabbath”
2nd day |
3rd day |
If the burial took place on Friday afternoon and the resurrection was after sunrise on Sunday, then the resurrection would also be “on the third day.” However, technically, there would have been three days and two nights (two parts of days, one whole day and two whole nights).
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2nd day |
3rd day |
4th day |
5th day |
6th day |
7th day--Sabbath |
1st day of week |
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Fri./Sat. dark
High Sabbath
1st night |
Sat./Sun dark
2nd night |
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Fri. afternoon
Preparation
Buried 1st day |
Sat. day
High Sabbath
2nd day |
Sun. morning
Raised 3rd day |
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WHEN WAS HE RAISED?
Mark 16:9 “Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene...”
Some Saturday keepers place his resurrection late on Saturday. They raise two objections.
OBJECTION: By moving the comma after “week” to follow “risen” it can be made to say that it was on the first day of the week that he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, not that it was the first day of the week that he was raised.
ANSWER: This poses several problems.
1. There is no grammatical basis for such a claim, and the translators do not generally reflect that view.
2. It does not solve the problems in the text involving the counting of the days.
There are clear indications that the first day of the week was the day upon which the church met to eat the Lord’s supper (Acts 20:7, cf. Acts 2:42; 1Cor. 11:17-34), and that was the day they took their offerings (1Cor. 16:1, 2).
From the most ancient times (long before the edict of Constantine), Christians met on the first day of the week, which they called “The Lord’s Day.” They unanimously recognized that Sunday was the day He arose. (See quotations farther below)
OBJECTION: Mark 16:9 is in doubt as being in the original. Some of the most ancient manuscripts have it either missing or have a shorter ending.
ANSWER: In those manuscripts where it is missing it seems clear that there originally was an ending that had been lost. Many reliable authorities accept this as the proper ending.
EVIDENCE CITED IN FAVOR OF A SABBATH RESURRECTION
Those who opt for a Sabbath resurrection cite Matthew 28:1 which some translations render as “late on the Sabbath came Mary Magdalene...”
ANSWER:
Many other translations render Matt. 28:1, “After the Sabbath...” (Revised Standard Version; New Revised Standard; New King James etc.)
Matthew continues to say, “...as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week” (28:1). This sounds like early morning, which is exactly what the other gospels indicate (Mark 16:1, 2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).
Mark says that Mary Magdalene and other women came to the tomb with spices, “when the Sabbath was past” (Mark 16:1). This is not part of the questioned text.
Luke says that “on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they (the women –23:55, including Mary Magdalene --24:10) came unto the tomb, bringing spices” (Luke 24:1).
John says “on the first day of the week” Mary Magdalene came early, “while it was yet dark.” By Jewish time, “dark” would be the first day of the week (Gen. 1:5; Lev. 23:32).
OBJECTION: These scriptures do not tell the day upon which Jesus was raised. They only tell when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb.
ANSWER: It is clear that the women came to the tomb at sunrise on the first day of the week.
If the scriptures concerning the events at the tomb are rejected as indicating the time of resurrection then we must turn to calculating from the day when Jesus died.
As we have seen above, the scriptures clearly teach that this was the day before the Sabbath. However, some claim there was more than one Sabbath in that week. They maintain that when it speaks of a “high Sabbath” that would be a different one than the weekly Sabbath. The answer to that, of course, is that since that Sabbath was the Passover, it would be a high Sabbath. However, let’s see if the Scriptures support the possibility of two Sabbaths.
The claim that Jesus was buried on Wednesday and arose on the Sabbath, makes him rise on the fourth day, conflicting with fifteen scriptures that say he was raised “on the third day.”
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4th day of week |
5th day of week |
6th day of week |
7th day--Sabbath |
1st day of week |
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Wed./Thur. darkHigh Sabbath
1st night |
Thur./Fri. dark
2nd night |
Fri./Sat. dark
Sabbath
3rd night |
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Wed. afternoon
Buried 1st day |
Thur. daylight
High Sabbath
2nd day |
Fri. daylight
preparation
3rd day |
Sat. afternoon
Sabbath
Raised 4th day |
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Wednesday advocates claim that Mark 16:1 is speaking of them coming to the tomb on a day between the “high Sabbath” and the weekly Sabbath. They contend that verse 2 is speaking of coming a second time on the first day of the week when the sun was risen.
Mark 16:1-2 is cited as indicating two different occasions, the first when they purchased the spices after the high Sabbath, and verse 2, coming to the tomb following the resurrection.
ANSWER:
Actually, verse 2 is just the result of verse 1. Nothing is said of different days.
The tomb was sealed and the Roman guard would not have permitted access between the Sabbaths.
If there had been a day between Sabbaths, and the Disciples had access, they surely would have completed the embalming on that day.
OBJECTION: It is argued that Sunday night following the Sabbath, the women could not have purchased the spices (Mark 16:1). Therefore, this must have taken place on a day between the two Sabbaths.
ANSWER:
There is no reason to question their purchase of spices immediately after the Sabbath. Throughout history, business has often continued after dark. The disciples thought that Jesus sent Judas to buy things for the feast at night (John 13:29-30). Jesus was taken in the evening after the Passover supper and the Jews were up all night trying Him (Matt. 26:75; 27:1). The story of the five foolish virgins speaks of them going at midnight to buy oil. They had oil lights for night activities even in those days. Paul preached until midnight (Acts 20:7). It is clear that it was possible to buy things after dark.
The claim that mention of it being a “high Sabbath” (John 19:31) distinguishes it from the weekly Sabbath, does not hold up. If the weekly Sabbath was a Passover Sabbath, it would be a “high” day.
OBJECTION: Daniel 9:27 says the Messiah was to be cut off in the midst of the week. That would place the crucifixion on Wednesday.
ANSWER:
Daniel 9:24-27 is speaking of a prophetic period of 70 weeks of years, like in Ezekiel 4:4-6. Verse 24 of Daniel 9 says the count begins with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. There was to be 69 weeks of years and in the midst of the 70th week he was to be “cut off,” bringing about the end of the sacrificial system. Those “weeks” are using days to represent years, as we see in Ezekiel 4:4-6.
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CLAIM FOR A THURSDAY CRUCIFIXION |
A Thursday crucifixion, with Christ raised Sunday night, at first looks good but presents other problems.
First, a Thursday crucifixion with a Sunday resurrection has Jesus raised on the fourth rather than “on the third day.” Thursday would be the first, Friday, the second. Saturday, the third, and Sunday would be a fourth day.
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2nd day |
3rd day |
4th day |
5th day of week |
6th day of week |
7th day—Sabbath |
1st day of week |
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Thur./Fri. dark
High Sabbath
1st night |
Fri./Sat. dark
Sabbath
2nd night |
Sat./Sun dark
Raised 3rd night |
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Thurs. afternoon
Preparation
Buried 1st day |
Fri. daylight
High Sabbath
2nd day |
Sat. daylight
Sabbath
3rd day |
4th day |
If we try to make “day” mean, daylight hours, we have the problem that, since he died and was buried during the day before the Sabbath began, the “third day” would fall on Saturday, which only gives two nights (Friday and Saturday).
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2nd day |
3rd day |
4th day |
5th day |
6th day |
7th day--Sabbath |
1st day of week |
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Thur/Fri. dark
High Sabbath
1st night |
Fri./Sat. dark
Sabbath
2nd night |
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Thur. daylight afternoon Preparation Crucified Buried 1st day |
Fri. daylight
High Sabbath
2nd day |
Sat. daylight
Sabbath
Raised? 3rd day |
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If we extend the resurrection to after sun-up, we end up with both four days and four daylight periods.
Here again, we have problems with the fact that no place do we find two Sabbaths, back-to-back with each other.
IMPORTANCE OF THE SCRIPTURAL RECORD
The most important factor in deciding the day of crucifixion is that it took place on the “Day of Preparation” (John 19:14, 19) followed by the Sabbath. The “third day” was the first day of the week.
All attempts to represent Jesus as crucified on any other day than Friday require two Sabbaths.
However, there was never any mention of more than one Sabbath between the day of crucifixion and the day of resurrection.
Matthew specifies that the day the Jews set up their guard at the tomb was on the “morrow” after the crucifixion. He identifies this as “the day after the preparation” (Matt. 27:62). This had to be the Sabbath because all of the accounts indicate the day after the preparation was the Sabbath.
The next thing said is “after the Sabbath was passed, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel from the Lord descended...”(Matt. 28:1-2).
Mark places the crucifixion on the day of preparation, which he identifies as “the day before the Sabbath” (Mark 15:42). He then says, “And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James...bought spices...and very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb” (Mark 16:1-2).
Luke is very explicit. He says the day they put Him into the tomb “was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath drew on” (23:54). He then says they rested on the Sabbath, and follows this immediately with coming to the tomb very early on the first day of the week.
John says the crucifixion was on “the day of Preparation” (John 19:31). He recounts the soldiers piercing Jesus, and Joseph putting His body into his own tomb. He then says, “Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb” (John 20:1)
In none of these accounts is there any mention of a second Sabbath, nor is any room for one provided.
So, how do we get Jesus “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”? Everything else can be harmonized with little difficulty, but this is a tough one.
Since any part of a day is a “day,” if He died on Friday and was raised after dawn on Sunday, the problem is not there. The problem is, how to get “three nights”? The four gospel writers indicate only two.
Most conservative scholars suggest that the answer is in the Hebrew way of expressing a “day.”
Wesley says,
40. Three days and three nights — It was customary with the eastern nations to reckon any part of a natural day of twenty-four hours, for the whole day. Accordingly they used to say a thing was done after three or seven days, if it was done on the third or seventh day, from that which was last mentioned. Instances of this may be seen, 1 Kings 20:29; and in many other places. And as the Hebrews had no word to express a natural day, they used night and day, or day and night for it. So that to say a thing happened after three days and three nights, was with them the very same, as to say, it happened after three days, or on the third day. See Esther 4:16; 5:1; Genesis 7:4, 12; Exodus 24:18; 34:28. Jonah 2:1.
Thus, from the Hebrew perspective, any part of a day was “night and day.” Three days would be expressed as “three days and nights,” even though the third day was only a part of a day. The Greeks expressed this with the word, “nuchtheemeron” (#3574).
“ON” THE THIRD DAY OR “AFTER” THE THIRD DAY?
Mark 8:31 says, “After three days” he was to rise again. This need not be made to conflict with the many statements that say he was to rise “on the third day.” It simply means, “after the third day had come.”
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SCRIPTURES THAT SPECIFY HIS RESURRECTION WAS ON THE THIRD DAY
1. Matthew 16:21. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
2. Matthew 17:23. And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
3. Matthew 20:19. And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
4. Matthew 27:64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Luke 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
9. Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
10. Luke 18:33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
11. Luke 24:7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
12. 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.
13. Luke 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
14. Acts 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
15. 1 Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: