The Word of God says we are supposed to worship Him in spirit and in TRUTH.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth
It is not TRUTH that Jesus was crucified on Friday. It is not TRUTH that Easter is a Christian holiday. It is not TRUTH that Christmas is a Christian holiday. In this article, we will take an honest, Scriptural look at the TRUTH about Jesus' death, burial, and ressurection.
To learn more about the trickery of Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, click here.
God specifically says that His people are not to worship Him in the same way the heathen/pagans/unsaved worship their gods. Perhaps you don't think it matters about Good Friday and the other holidays. Perhaps you think it matters what you make it mean. Truth may not matter to you, but it matters to God. The heart is deceitful. We must follow the TRUTH, not what's in our hearts.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? -Jeremiah 17:9
And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God. -Deuteronomy 12:3-4
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain -Jeremiah 10:2-3a
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. -John 4:23-24
Jesus said he would be in the grave three days and three nights. The Bible also tells us that Jesus rose from the dead early Sunday morning. Therefore, He could not have been crucified on a Friday, else He would have been in the grave only one full day - Saturday.
Jesus, in speaking about His death, burial, and resurrection, said:
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 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. -Matthew 12:38-40
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. -Jonah 1:17
Jesus taught that just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so would He be in the grave three days and three nights.
The Scriptures say Jesus was raised from the dead early Sunday:
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. -Mark 16:9
Sunday is the first day of the week. The weekly Jewish Sabbath was on the last day of the week - Saturday.
Jesus broke bread with the disciples on the Passover:
And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. -Mark 14:14-15
We reckon days from midnight to midnight. The Jews reckoned days from sunset to sunset. In the above, their Passover day happened to land on sunset Tuesday until sunset Wednesday.
Before each weekly Sabbath, the Jews had a day of preparation, in which they would prepare for their weekly rest. The Jews also had a day of preparation before each special holiday Sabbath rest. There was a holiday (not the regular weekly) Sabbath rest that followed the Passover Day. That day kicked off the Days of Unleavened Bread.
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. -Leviticus 23:5-8
Now let's start putting these pieces together...
The Passover fell on Tuesday sunset to Wednesday sunset that year (on our Wednesday - 30AD). Jesus and the disciples broke bread, and Jesus told them how the broken bread and the wine are to be done in remembrance of Him, for He would be broken and bled to pay for our sins on Passover.
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. -Luke 22:19-20
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. -1 Corinthians 11:24-26
After their passover meal, Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, and soon thereafter, Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus, led the soldiers to Jesus, to arrest Him.
Against Jewish Sanhedrin law, Jesus was put on trial at night, during a Holy Day, and was executed the same day. Trials were supposed to, by Sanhedrin law, take place during the day, and not on Holy Days, and execution was not to take place until the next day.
Jesus was put to death as Passover was drawing to a close. The Jews had to prepare for the high Sabbath - a holiday Sabbath, not the weekly one. This high Sabbath was the day of rest and the first day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. They had a high Sabbath on the first day of these seven days, and another on the last day of the seven days.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 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. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs -John 19:30-33
Shortly before Jesus' crucifixion, we were told what time it was:
And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! -John 19:14
The sixth hour would have been noon. Tuesday night Jesus was arrested. He was crucified Wednesday at noon. The Jewish Passover was from Tuesday sunset until Wednesday sunset. The end of Passover was approaching, and the Jews had to prepare for the next day, which was a high Sabbath.
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 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? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 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. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. -Matthew 27:45-50
We see from the above that Jesus died around the ninth hour, that would have been around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon.
When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. -Matthew 27:57-60
Jesus hung dead on the cross for a little while, until evening drew on. The sun was going to set soon. Joseph of Arimathaea put Jesus' dead body into a tomb, and then he had to leave, because it was almost the beginning of the high Sabbath. There was no time to do a proper preparation on Jesus' dead body, for Thursday was a high Sabbath, Friday was the preparation day for the regular weekly Sabbath, and Saturday was the regular, weekly Sabbath. This meant that the soonest anyone could finish preparing Jesus' dead body was on Sunday - the first day of the week.
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. -Mark 16:1-6
Very early Sunday morning, the women went to finish preparing Jesus' body. What they found, was that He had resurrected. Here is the timeline of Jesus' death and resurrection:
Tuesday sunset to Wednesday sunset - The Passover. Jesus died around 3:00pm Wednesday afternoon.
Jesus was entombed just before Passover ended, and the high Sabbath began.
Day one in the tomb - Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset
Day two in the tomb - Thursday sunset to Friday sunset
Day three in the tomb - Friday sunset to Saturday sunset
Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset marks the first day of the week, in Jewish reckoning. Jesus rose sometime after Saturday sunset, and before Sunday sunrise. He rose from the dead on the first day of the week, before the two Mary's arrived at the tomb early Sunday morning.
Clearly, we can see that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, not Friday.
