The Bible teaches that Friday, Nissan 14 was the day of the crucifixion. Mark 5:42-46 confirms that, “Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.”
Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Jospeh bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
Mark’s precise statements, taken together with the sequence of days in Luke 23:54 to 24:1, makes it certain beyond the possibility of doubt that Friday was indeed the day of the crucifixion. In fact, all four Gospels agree that Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Last Supper on the night preceding the crucifixion, that He lay in the tomb over Sabbath, and that He arose early Sunday morning.
The Chronology for the Last Supper and the Crucifixion:
- The crucifixion took place on “the preparation [eve] of the passover,” that is, on Nisan 14 (John 19:14; cf. Talmud Pesaḥim 58a, Soncino ed., p. 288; Sanhedrin 43a, Soncino ed., p. 281; Exodus 12:6).
- The death of Christ took place on a Friday afternoon (Mark 15:42 to 16:2; Luke 23:54 to 24:1; John 19:31, 42, 20:1), about the time of the evening sacrifice.
- Accordingly, in the year of the crucifixion, Nisan 14, the day appointed for slaying the paschal lambs, fell on a Friday; the preparation for (or eve of) the Passover coincided with the preparation for (or eve of) the weekly Sabbath (John 19:14; cf. vs. 31, 42; ch. 20:1). The first ceremonial sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Nisan 15, thus coincided with the weekly Sabbath (Leviticus 23:6–8; cf. Mark 15:42 to 16:2; Luke 23:5 to 24:1).
- The Last Supper happened the night before the crucifixion (Matthew 26:17, 20, 26, 34, 47; Mark 14:12, 16, 17; 22:7, 8, 13–15; John 13:2, 4, 30; 14:31; 18:1–3, 28; 19:16), that is, during the early hours of Nisan 14 and thus on a Thursday night.
- The gospels call the Last Supper a Passover supper (Matthew 26:17, 20; Mark 14:12, 16, 17; Luke 22:7, 8, 13–15).
- Jesus laid in the tomb during the Sabbath (Matthew 27:59 to 28:1; Mark 15:43 to 16:1; Luke 23:54 to 24:1; John 19:38 – 20:1), which would be Nisan 15.
- Jesus rose from death early Sunday morning, Nisan 16 (Matthew 28:1–6; Mark 16:1–6; Luke 24:1–6; John 20:1–16; Mark 15:42, 46).
Summary
The Passover lamb was killed in the late afternoon of Nisan 14, following the regular evening sacrifice, and eaten, with unleavened bread, after sunset that same night, during the early hours of Nisan 15 (Exodus 12:6–14, 29, 33, 42, 51; 13:3–7; Numbers 9:1–5; 33:3; Deuteronomy 16:1–7; Josephus Antiquities ii. 14. 6; iii. 10. 5; xi. 4. 8 [311, 312; 248, 249; 109, 110]; War v. 3. 1 [98, 99]; vi. 9. 3 [423]; Philo De septenario, sec. 18; Mishnah Pesaḥim 5. 1, Soncino ed. of the Talmud, p. 287).
Thus, the type met the anti-type. Jesus died at the time of the evening offering of the lamb. “Christ our passover,” who was to be “sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). The slaying of the Passover lamb was a shadow of the death of Christ. The Passover feast was also a memorial of the freedom from Egyptian captivity on the night of the deliverance, the angel of death passed over the homes where the blood was seen on the doorposts (Exodus 11:7; 12:29).
Similarly, the wave sheaf of the Feast of Unleavened Bread typified “Christ risen from the dead, … the first-fruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23), to all those that have placed their trust in Him as their personal Savior from sin.
All this point to a Friday crucifixion confirming the seventy-week prophecy of Daniel 9.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
Scott, the expression “three days and three nights,” in Matthew 12:40, was a Jewish idiom, according to the inclusive Jewish Reckoning of time, meaning a period of time spanning parts of three days. Thus, Jesus could have been in the tomb for a portion of Friday, all of Saturday, and a portion of Sunday, fulfilling the prophecy without requiring a literal 72-hour period.
Inclusive reckoning of time was the method used throughout the Bible for computing time. And this method is stated clearly in the Jewish Encyclopedia: “A short time in the morning of the seventh day is counted as the seventh day; circumcision takes place on the eighth day, even though, of the first day only a few minutes after the birth of the child, these being counted as one day.” Vol. 4, p. 475. Thus, we learn that the Jews reckoned any small part of a day as the entire twenty-four hour period.
Scott, the answer to your good question is found at: https://bibleask.org/was-jesus-dead-for-three-days-and-nights/
Jesus/Yeshua said in 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.” By your calculation Jesus/Yeshua was only dead 2 nights and 1 full day and a partial 2nd day. Doesn't your teaching contracted Matthew 12:40?
You make a great argument for the crucifixion not being on Friday, however you miss what Mark 16'1-2 tell us about that week.
Three women have an amazing and tearful 5 days! They are at the cross of Jesus when He is crucified. When He says it is finished at the 9th hour, the sacrificial lamb is being slaughtered. When His body is taken from the cross before dusk they follow to His grave. As the next day is a Sabbath, they return to their homes and are obedient to the law of the Sabbath until the following day. As it is a preparation day for the weekly Sabbath they go to the market to buy spices and return home to prepare them to anoint His body!
As it is another Sabbath day, the 2nd one that week, they again honor the Sabbath and anxiously wait for the sun to rise on the 1st day of the week to rush to the grave to anoint His body but find His grave is empty, He has arisen! They rush to tell the Apostles that His body is not there, He has arisen from the grave! We see then that the Passover (preparation day) on the 14th was a Wednesday, the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th was Thursday Holy Day, the 2nd preparation day was on Friday, the 16th, followed by the weekly Sabbath on the seventh day, Saturday the 17th. We also see one on the women going to the grave while it was still dark on the 18th, the nighttime of the 18th to find He was already risen!
That gives us that He was in the grave 3 full days, partial days are not being counted as it was there belief the soul stayed with the body for 3 full days or 72 hours after the death of the person. Wednesday at dusk He went into the grave, He was in the grave 24 hours on Thursday, 24 hours on Friday and 24 hours on Saturday!
After dusk on the 1st day of the week, He arose from the grave. What else was going on at that time? The Priests were preparing for the Feast of First Fruits and He was the First Fruit for all mankind arising from the grave as the preparation for that Feast was underway, fulfilling the Law given to Moses for the appointed times of Genesis 1:14! It also was the beginning of the Feast of Weeks leading up to Pentecost 50 days later on the 1st day of the Week when the Apostles were in Jerusalem waiting for the Holy Spirit to appear to them and the commission of the Holy Spirit came upon them and the church was started as 3000 were baptized at that time!
EXCELLENT POST!!!! It also can explain why Mary asked Yeshua/Jesus at the tomb if He was the gardener. She asked because it was too dark to see him, however when Yeshua/Jesus said Mary, Mary cried out Rabboni; She then ran to Him and Yeshua/Jesus said don't touch me. Mary would know that voice anywhere.
I also have a supposition that they didn't expect Yeshua/Jesus to be crucified, he was beaten and scourged as a punishment my thinking is they probably thought that that was going to be enough, so they never prepared any anointing agents for Him before the judgment of crucifixion was handed down. Also as the Mary's and Martha and John were at the crucifixion all day long, they didn't have time that evening to make the anointing oils, spices and perfume simply because as you stated they ran out of daylight making it the first Shabbot/Sabbath which began on Wednesday night. Again EXXCELLENT POST!!!!
The Bible doesn’t teach the Jesus died on a Friday. It does state the Jesus died on the Preparation Day and that the next day was a Sabbath, but John 19:31 states, “for that Sabbath was a high day.” In other words, it was a High Sabbath because it was associated with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and one of the “special Sabbaths” of the Feasts of the Lord. The first and last days of the 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread were High Sabbaths.
Because Passover isn’t necessarily on the same day of the week every year, it is possible to have two Sabbaths in the same week, even back-to-back.
Passover and Preparation Day are synonymous with each other. Passover actually isn’t a “day,” it is the sacrifice. You can’t offer, kill, slaughter or eat a day as the Bible instructs people to do, but you can a sacrifice. The Preparation Day is the day appointed for killing the Passover and preparing your home by removing all leaven from it for the Feast that begins the following day.
We also know that Jesus was crucified while Pilate was governor of Judea. History has recorded his tenure as governor between the years 26 and 36 A.D. We also know all the days of the week Passover fell on during his tenure. One was on a Sunday; five were on a Tuesday; three were on a Saturday; none were on a Friday; but two were on a Thursday.
We also know from John’s recording of the cleansing of the Temple when Jesus what year the crucifixion took place. In response to the Jews asking for a sign, Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” to which the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple …” History records that the building of Herod’s Temple began in 20 B.C., since there is no year “0” and 46 years had passed, then this cleansing of the Temple had to be in the year 27 A.D.
Since John records the cleansing of the Temple in the beginning of his gospel and the other gospels record it during the Passion Week, some believe that there might have been two cleansings, John’s account and three years later during Jesus’ Passion Week. If that is the case, then the crucifixion took place in 30 A.D.
We can argue whether or not there was one cleansing or two, but the significance of these years are that the two years Pilate was governor of Judea when Passover fell on Thursday were the years 27 and 30 A.D.
In conclusion, Jesus was crucified on a Thursday, Nisan 14, and He died at the appointed time of the Passover offering, 3 p.m. Friday was a High Sabbath and Saturday was the weekly Sabbath. The resurrection took place on the first day of the week, Sunday, which would have also been the Feast of Firstfruits. Thus, Jesus was in the “heart of the earth three days and three night” just as He said, and Paul is 100% correct when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:4, “and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” We can have the full assurance “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” as Paul stated in verse 3.
Hi Tracy, yes, the argument for the Crucifixion happening on a Wednesday, where He was in the grave Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (3 days) is a popular one. While there’s good argument for it, I think the Bible is not 100% clear. It comes down to two schools of thought, either Jesus was in the grave for 3 complete days (Jesus died on a Wednesday argument), or that he rose on the third day, where he died Friday, stayed in the grave Saturday, and rose on the third day Sunday (Jesus died on a Friday argument).
I’m yet to find evidence that leans more to one over the other. Where the Sabbath prior to Christ’s death was a “high day” the Bible doesn’t define what that means. To your reference, that could have been a holiday, or it could have been a Sabbaths holiday and coincidently a Seventh-Day Sabbath.
Passover was representative of the sacrifice, but was also a holiday that was typically celebrated for at least 7 days. Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples the night He was betrayed. During the years 26AD to 34AD the Passover started twice on Sunday, twice on Friday, twice on Wednesday, and twice on Monday. There’s good argument of Jesus dying on the 31AD which supports the Wednesday argument, however, if Jesus died on 27AD or 30AD then the first day of Passover would have been on a Friday. Since the Jews considered the day ending / starting and even (sundown), this would support the Crucifixion happening on Friday.
While these topics aren’t salvation, they make an interesting study / discussion that encourages the reading of the Word, which is something we always enjoy here on BibleAsk 🙂