Looking for Resurrection TRUTH

[JoeCanada]

                                                           Did Jesus rise on a Sunday?

Tradition tells us that Christ was crucified on a Friday, and that He rose from the dead on a Sunday. But is this really the truth?

The Pharisees challenged Jesus to prove He was the Messiah. He offered them this proof, His sign that He was true:

“ An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there shall be 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”                  (Matt 12:39-40)

That’s a very specific sign.

In 1Thes 5:21, the Apostle Paul tell us to ….”Prove all things; hold fast that which is good”

We should also consider Jesus’ warning in Mark 7:7-8…….” In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men”

Jesus placed His entire identity on the line with His sign that we just looked at in Matt 12:39-40.

Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, critics and scholars acknowledge that in the Hebrew language, ‘three days and three nights must mean a 72 hour period of time. There is no room for any ‘periods of time’ in the Hebrew.

Jonah 1:17 plainly states….”And Jonah was in the belly of the fish ‘three days and three nights’.

The Bible does say in several places that Christ rose ‘the third day’. If we look at Genesis 1:4-13, it plainly says that God ‘divided the light from darkness’. He called the light ‘day’ and the darkness He called ‘night’……..”And the evening (darkness)  and the morning (light) were the first day……And the evening (darkness) and the morning (light) were the second day…..And the evening (now 3 nights) and the morning (now 3 days) were the third day….”

Did Jesus understand the length of a ‘day’, or the length of a ‘night’…...........John 11:9-10…”Are there not TWELVE hours in a day?...but if a man walk in the night, he stumbles”

So, according to the Bible, the length of time for the phrase ‘the third day’…….spanned three periods of darkness and three periods of light. That’s six periods of twelve hours…… 6x12= 72 hours.

The Crucifixion:

All four Gospels tell us that the day Christ was Crucified was the ‘preparation day’. So which preparation day was this?

Leviticus 23:4,7,24,27-32 speaks of Annual Sabbaths….HOLY DAYS.  John 19:14 explains “it was the preparation of the Passover”….and in verse 31, he continues on “for that Sabbath day was a high day”.                                       

A ‘High Day’ is a Feast Day or an ‘Annual Holy Day’, and Israel was commanded to keep these days, year after year. Leviticus refers to all these Sabbaths as ‘Feasts of the Lord”…..and  ”Holy Convocations”.

The “Passover” was the one feast wherein work was not prohibited. There is little doubt if any that Christ was crucified on the Passover. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us”….I Cor 5:7……………”The Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world”…..John 1:29

The Passover fell on a Wednesday in AD31, the year of Jesus’ crucifixion, according to the Hebrew calendar. This marks Thursday as an annual Sabbath. The Old Testament Passover always precedes the Annual Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.                                       Numbers 28:16-17…..” And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the Feast.”….(the Feast of Unleavened Bread)

After Jesus was crucified, at the 9^th hour, it was  after that when the disciples asked for His body so that they could place Him in the tomb. The Sabbath was at hand, so time was of the essence.  (Luke 23:53-54,  John 19:41-42)

The Gospel accounts verify that there were two Sabbaths that week….an annual Holy Day, and a Saturday Sabbath.                                      Look at Mark 16:1… “Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.”……………. Since they were there at His crucifixion, they wouldn’t have had time to buy spices that day, and the next day was the High Holy Day. Their first chance to buy the spices was on Friday, and with these two events, Jerusalem would have been very busy. Not only did they have to buy the spices, but they also had to prepare them to anoint His body.

 Luke 23:56 tells us that it was AFTER the women prepared the spices and fragrant oils that they rested on the Sabbath (Saturday) according to the commandment. This alone proves that the women couldn’t have bought and prepared the spices and oils if Christ was crucified on a Friday.

It was after the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) that they went to the tomb to embalm the body of Jesus. And this was typically a job for women. They went early, (Luke 24:1; Mark 16:1)) while it was still dark (John 20:1) as it began to dawn,(Matt 28:1) But when they arrived at the tomb, Jesus’ body was not there. He had already risen. Luke 24:6, Mark 16:6, Matt 28:5-6.

So, a Wednesday crucifixion on the Passover, buried at the end of the day……”evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen1:5)…….and ‘the evening and the morning were the third day” (Gen 1:13)……..Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, Friday evening. Thursday day, Friday day, Saturday day.  Three days and three nights.

Jesus was, thus, in the tomb on Wednesday at evening, and rose from the dead Saturday at evening.

There is no Sunday morning resurrection. There is no Sunday worship for true Christians. There is no Easter Sunday Resurrection. I truly believe that we, as true Christians, follow the commandments of God.

God did not tell us to follow anything but His commandments. He did not institute another ‘day’. God rested on the seventh day. He blessed the seventh day. He sanctified the seventh day. (Gen 2:3) Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Mk 2:28, Matt 12:8, Luke 6:5)

I think this is a very important debate to be had amongst brothers and sisters. Because in Revelation 14:12, Jesus tells us ….”Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”. See also John 14:15,21, 14:23, John 15:10-11.  1Jn 5:2, 1Jn 3:22, 1Cor 7:19’ Ps 105:45, Lk 11:28, 1Tim 6:14.

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”……Rev 12:17

Please don’t put a label on me. I am not a Seventh Day Adventist, nor anything else. I’m just a humble born again Christian, searching for an answer, searching for the TRUTH.

I  know  of the way of the Catholics. I was an altar boy for 7 years. I was churched for many more in the Catholic Church. Here is their teaching:

In the Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, we read:
 

Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday….

Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.

Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
—Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

In Catholic Christian Instructed,
 

Q. Has the [Catholic] church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?
A. ...Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God’s worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.
—The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, and Observances of the Church By Way of Question and Answer, RT Rev. Dr. Challoner, p. 204.

In An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, 
 

Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.

Q. How prove you that?
A. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest [of the feasts] by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.
–Rev. Henry Tuberville, D.D. (R.C.), (1833), page 58.

In A Doctrinal Catechism,

Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.
–Rev. Stephen Keenan, (1851), p. 174.

In the Catechism of the Council of Trent,

The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday!
–p 402, second revised edition (English), 1937.  (First published in 1566)

In the Augsburg Confession,

They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord’s day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments.
—Art. 28.

Edited September 21, 2018 by JoeCanada
edit

[Eliptic01]

Well, Joe, I am not the official answer man here, but here is my understanding.

Mark 16:9:

8So they left the tomb and ran away, overwhelmed with shock and amazement. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone. 9After Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with Him, who were now mourning and weeping.…

So this scripture plainly tells me that He did.

As for the three days and nights argument, that takes a bit of scholarship and reading outside of the confines of the Catholic Church to further understand.

Here is a link to a very good article that answers the three days and nights controversy:

https://answersingenesis.org/jesus-christ/resurrection/three-days-and-nights/

Also, for your information, at the time Our Lord walked the earth they had not yet invented the 24 hour clock. So the days were divided into 12 hours by using the sun's shadow during the day, and the nights into three "Night Watches":

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/watches-of-night/

Hope this helps

 

[stillseeking]

I don't see a discrepancy here.  Jewish days began in the evening of what we'd call the previous day.  Sabbath began on Friday evening and ended on Saturday evening.  Practicing Orthodox Jews and Seventh Day Adventists still use this idea.  With that same schedule, the first day of the week, Sunday, actually began on a Saturday evening.  

[JoeCanada]

18 hours ago, Eliptic01 said:

Well, Joe, I am not the official answer man here, but here is my understanding.

Mark 16:9:

8So they left the tomb and ran away, overwhelmed with shock and amazement. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone. 9After Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with Him, who were now mourning and weeping.…

So this scripture plainly tells me that He did.

As for the three days and nights argument, that takes a bit of scholarship and reading outside of the confines of the Catholic Church to further understand.

Here is a link to a very good article that answers the three days and nights controversy:

https://answersingenesis.org/jesus-christ/resurrection/three-days-and-nights/

Also, for your information, at the time Our Lord walked the earth they had not yet invented the 24 hour clock. So the days were divided into 12 hours by using the sun's shadow during the day, and the nights into three "Night Watches":

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/watches-of-night/

Hope this helps

 

Hi Eliptico1....

Thanks for your response.

I have heard all the arguments over the years about the reckoning of time. Most of them are conjecture, all of them are non-scriptural. 

It still doesn't answer the question. Jesus gave ONE sign to prove that He was indeed the Messiah.

"Three days and three nights in the grave".

If we look at Luke 23:56...."And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment"

If Jesus was crucified on Friday, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the Sabbath begins at 6 in the evening, there was no time to get supplies for the embalming.

It was at the 9th hr, (3 in the afternoon) that Christ died. Then the soldiers went and broke the legs of the other two, but when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they thrust a spear into His side. This all takes time. Then they had to  go and get permission from Pilate to take His body down, remove the spikes, wrap His body and carry it to the tomb. All before 6. Even IF they managed to get the spices and oils before 6, they would not have had anytime to prepare them, as the Sabbath began at 6 in the evening.

Look how little time they had. John 19:41...."Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never yet man laid in......(42) There they laid Jesus, therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand (close by)

All that I am looking for is the scriptural truth/support for a Friday crucifixion. I have studied and studied it and I can find no support for it. None!

There was the Passover....Christ crucified (Preparation day)

Then the Feast of Unleavened Bread....which always follows the Passover

Then a day.....

Then the weekly Sabbath....(Saturday)

Christ would not have been the Lamb of God......would not have been 'Christ our Passover'....had he been crucified on that Friday, missing the Passover by TWO days.

See the dilemma. 

[JoeCanada]

12 hours ago, stillseeking said:

I don't see a discrepancy here.  Jewish days began in the evening of what we'd call the previous day.  Sabbath began on Friday evening and ended on Saturday evening.  Practicing Orthodox Jews and Seventh Day Adventists still use this idea.  With that same schedule, the first day of the week, Sunday, actually began on a Saturday evening.  

Hi stillseeking....

You've missed what I was saying in the article.

Read my response to Eliptico1

Thanks for your reply

[stillseeking]

Quote

All that I am looking for is the scriptural truth/support for a Friday crucifixion. I have studied and studied it and I can find no support for it. None!

Is this what you're referring to?  Still don't see an issue.  The Bible doesn't say what day he was or wasn't crucified, so I see no issue with the Bible.  Why are you looking for support of a Friday crucifixion?

Edited September 22, 2018 by stillseeking

[JoeCanada]

15 hours ago, stillseeking said:

Is this what you're referring to?  Still don't see an issue.  The Bible doesn't say what day he was or wasn't crucified, so I see no issue with the Bible.  Why are you looking for support of a Friday crucifixion?

Hi stillseeking....

I am not looking for support for a Friday crucifixion. The churches worldwide celebrate Jesus' Resurrection on Easter Sunday. They also contend that He was crucified on 'Good Friday'. How can this be if Jesus' only sign that He gave was 'three days and three nights in the grave'?

I'm saying that this ' Friday crucifixion' and 'Easter Sunday'  resurrection has NO scriptural support. 

Why then, do we all follow the traditions of men? Why do we Celebrate Easter....why do we celebrate Sunday to worship? 

Mark 7:7-8…….” In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men”

 

[Eliptic01]

11 minutes ago, JoeCanada said:

I'm saying that this ' Friday crucifixion' and 'Easter Sunday'  resurrection has NO scriptural support. 

Well, JC, it looks to me like you do not want any "scriptural proof" outside of the limited passages you refer to.

For the record, as for a Sunday Resurrection, I posited and quoted the following SCRIPTURE:

On 9/21/2018 at 6:31 PM, Eliptic01 said:

Mark 16:9:

8So they left the tomb and ran away, overwhelmed with shock and amazement. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone. 9After Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with Him, who were now mourning and weeping.…

You have yet to address this plain scriptural statement that Jesus was resurrected on the "first day of the week".

Now unless you by refusing to acknowledge the obvious are seeking to justify either of these formerly established positions in your mind-set:

1. You are an atheist who is trying to justify his unbelief.
2. You are a Gnostic who denies the death and resurrection completely.
3. A confused seeker who due to his restricted and sheltered environment cannot see beyond his own self- imposed limited culturally-bound thinking.

Answer this question: 

Just what is it about this passage that is not scriptural or suitable for proof?

[Eliptic01]

1 hour ago, JoeCanada said:

They also contend that He was crucified on 'Good Friday'. How can this be if Jesus' only sign that He gave was 'three days and three nights in the grave'?

Now, once again,I adresses this question earlier when I gave you this link:

https://answersingenesis.org/jesus-christ/resurrection/three-days-and-nights/

Which you obviously did not take time to read, which once again tell me that your mind is closed to objectively receiving answers to your questions.

But for the record, the portion of the article that offers "Scriptural proof", I quote:

Quote

In Esther 4:16, we find Esther exhorting Mordecai to persuade the Jews to fast. “Neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day” (NKJV). ...in Esther 5:1, we read: “Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace.” If three days and nights were counted in the same way as we count them today, then Esther could not have seen the king until the fourth day. This is completely analogous to the situation with Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection.

There we have both plain scriptures and clear explanation that most of us seem to understand

If you wish to deny the resurrection and it's significance and importance for the believer, that is your prerogative, but please do not be disrespectful by falsely say we have offered no scriptural proofs JC.

[JoeCanada]

22 minutes ago, Eliptic01 said:

You are an atheist who is trying to justify his unbelief.

You are a Gnostic who denies the death and resurrection completely.

A confused seeker who due to his restricted and sheltered environment cannot see beyond his own self- imposed limited culturally-bound thinking.

 

Hi Eliptico1....

Let's establish what I'm not.

No, I am not an atheist.

No, I am not a Gnostic

No, I am not confused

What I am...... 

A born again,  bible believing, Spirit filled believer. I do not deny the Crucifixion or the Resurrection.

I'm questioning why do we as Christians follow the dictates of the Catholic Church who, by their own authority, changed the Saturday Sabbath to a Sunday worship, and they base it on Christ's resurrection on a Sunday morning.  All that I'm looking into is whether or not Christ's crucifixion followed what He said to be His only sign, that of 3 days and three nights in the tomb, that from a Friday crucifixion to a???? Resurrection.

The validity of Mark 16:9-20 has been questioned for 2 centuries. It seems to be written by someone other that Mark. Some of the early Church Fathers, Clement of Alexandria (AD 215) and Origen (AD 254) shows any knowledge of the existence of the verses. The Greek texts, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus from the fourth century do not have these verses. Even the American Standard Version and the NIV have footnotes " The two most reliable early manuscripts do not have Mark 16:9-20"

They went early, (Luke 24:1; Mark 16:2)) while it was still dark (John 20:1) as it began to dawn,(Matt 28:1) But when they arrived at the tomb, Jesus’ body was not there. He had already risen. Luke 24:6, Mark 16:6, Matt 28:5-6.

Mark 16:2 says that they arrived to the sepulchre "at the rising of the sun"....and Jesus was not there, He had already risen. The stone was already rolled away. And what did they see? They saw an Angel in the sepulchre. If He rose at the rising of the sun, they would have witnessed it. They also would have witnessed the stone being rolled away , would they not?

Sunday worship is inspired by pagan worship...."The Day of the Sun".  It goes back to Constantine, after his 'profession' to Christianity, (though he was no Christian, anymore than say Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck),.he kept the sun on his coins and it was HE who made Sunday into a day of worship, which was picked up and held by the RCC. And all the  Protestants followed along.

The Sabbath was established by God in Genesis 2:2. And it is the weekly observance of the Sabbath that reminds us of Creation and the Creator. "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath"....Mark 2:27

I'm only now seriously questioning this whole subject on the timeline of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, not the Crucifixion and Resurrection itself. I want to hear from others. 

Because in Revelation 14:12, Jesus tells us ….”Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”……Rev 12:17

Is the keeping of the Sabbath not one of the commandments?

Isaiah  tells us that at the restoration of all things...""And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord" (Isaiah 66:23).