Trips to the Tomb

[BlindSeeker]

Discerning the time frame and events around the death and resurrection of Jesus has confused a lot of people for a long, long time. The fact that each of the four books of the Gospel seems to give different accounts certainly doesn't help as we have seen throughout the thread. One angel in one place, two angels in another, two women here, three women there, then just Mary with Peter and John? The records certainlyjust don't seem to agree. But the word of God is true so they all must be in agreement somehow. It is up to us to be willing to prayerfully seek out the truth if God is going to reward us.

• Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
  
  Now there is a "theory" about how that back then the people would regard any part of a day as a day in regards to the counting of days. This theory has enabled people to offer an explanation for the "three days" in the tomb in regards to a Friday crucifixion and a Sunday morning resurrection. Still, there are too many other biblical problems with those days being the actual days.
  
  The biggest problem with the normal accepted Friday evening-Sunday morning (which really is only 2 nights and 1 daytime) is in Jesus's own words in regards to His burial. Jesus did not say He would be buried for three days, any part thereof, He said, "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 12:40).
  
  That is three whole days, which is exactly the length of time the Jews would have assumed from their reading the scripture in Jonah 1:17, "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. " No one hearing Jesus' words at the time would have thought anything else but approximately 72 hours.
  
  Now, "three days and three nights" back wards from a Sunday morning resurrection would mean Jesus had to die . . . , well, lets just count the days and nights backwards;
  • 1. A Sunday resurrection would had been at the conclusion of Saturday's night. Thus,
    Sat. "Night #3"
    2. Sat. "Day # 3"
    3. Fri. "Night # 2"
    4. Fri. "Day # 2"
    5. Thurs. "Night # 1"
    6. Thurs. "Day # 1"
    
    
    Another problem with a Friday-Sunday I mentioned in the OP is with the women and the spices.
    
    
    • Luke 23:54-56 And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.
      
      Here the women witnessed how Jesus' body was prepared and laid in the tomb. The time is the Sabbath, and it was drawing on, meaning it was getting later into the Sabbath. We know this for it is confirmed by Mark
      
      
      • Mr 15:42 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
        43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
        44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
        45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
        46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.
        47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.
        
        
        
        • Joh 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
          42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
          

But this can be confusing to some about the spices. Do you see what the scripture says? Look, "And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." First, "the Sabbath drew on(?)...They (then) returned and prepared spices and ointments, (then) rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment(?)" How can that be?

The amount of spices used in a Jewish burial was considerable. As we see in John 19:39, "Nicodemus . . . brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight." Now the women were going to prepare even more spices because the preparation of the body was not done proper in their eyes. The preparation of the spices was a procedure which probably took them a significant amount of time to accomplish.

But wait, there is yet another problem here. It says in Mark 16:1-2, "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." It says "bought" not "brought." Most people for some reason read it "brought." But no, they purchased sweet spices after the Sabbath. This time of purchasing would make sense since the markets would have been closed at the time of Jesus' burial. They could not have bought the spices anywhere in Jerusalem.

I admit this can be really confusing and it had me stumped for some time, for in Luke 23:56 it says they prepared the spices and rested the Sabbath according to the commandment, but here in Mark it was after the Sabbath that they purchased the spices. This simply cannot be, UNLESS there were two Sabbaths during that week. Well, as a matter of fact, that is exactly what everyone seems to overlook.

John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

31 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.

The first Sabbath that week was a High Sabbath. It was the one in Leviticus 23:5-7, "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." Jesus was crucified on Passover, the fourteenth day of the month. He was our Passover Lamb. At sunset, the fifteenth day began the Feast of the Unleaven Bread, which lasted for seven days. The commandment was no work on the first day of the feast, nor the seventh day, for they were "High Days." Because of the commandment not to work these "High Days" were also referred to as Sabbaths.

Le 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

37 These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:

38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.

See how it says, "These are the feasts of the Lord . . . every thing upon his day: Beside the Sabbaths of the Lord." These High Sabbath were "beside," meaning "apart from" the normal weekly seventh day Sabbath.

Now in Daniel 9:27 it says, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease . . . " Most churches are interpreting this to be the Antichrist making a covenant with Israel for seven years. But if we interpret this "he" as Jesus confirming the Covenant of God to Abraham and his children, and where it says "in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease" to mean that the death of Jesus was a fulfillment of that which all the sacrifices and oblations pointed to. It was in the midst of the week, 3 1/2 years into his ministry, that Jesus' death occurred. But it was also on a Wednesday, the middle of the week!

Let's count the days from Jesus death on Passover, Wednesday, the eve of the Feast of the Unleaven Bread. Wednesday day time, Jesus was crucified and they hurried to bury Him because the High Day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread is beginning at sunset. The women witness His burial and felt it was not adequate. Therefore, they purposed in the hearts to buy spices and redo Christ's body properly.

1. Wednesday night is "Night #1"- Markets are closed Because of the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread till sunset Thursday at earliest, Friday daytime must likely.

2. Thursday daytime is "Day #1"

3. Thursday night is "Night #2"

4. Friday daytime is "Day #2" - The women go and purchase the spices and prepare them .

5. Friday night is "Night #3" - The women rested the weekly Sabbath day according to the commandment.

6. Saturday daytime is "Day #3" - This day will conclude the duration of "three days and three nights in the belly of the earth."

"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, (which began at sunset Saturday), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." There is no mention of the spices, for they were not going there to anoint Jesus' body because it was still the Sabbath. They were going simply to visit His tomb and mourn their loss.

Suddenly, "there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."

Matthew 28:11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers.

When the soldiers finally got it together, they went and told the priests what had happened. The priest then summoned a meeting of the elders to decide what to do about what had taken place. They knew come light of day that everyone would find out what had happened. So in the middle of the night, during the early morning hours, they took counsel together.

Finally, they agreed to pay the soldiers to say the disciples came and stolen His body that night while they slept. The four Gospels record many aspects of the confusion that followed His resurrection in the end of the Sabbath, Saturday night, and lasted well past Sunday morning all the way up to Sunday night when Jesus appeared to the disciples.

[Guest lnj]

Exuse me Blind seeker, actually you judged my Faith by your remark of my Bible being closed. Please, think first before replying. LNJ

Lnj,

Your initial post was one that demonstrated a lack of respect for my submission of how all the Gospels truly do accurately present the events surrounding the resurrection of Christ. For what appears to be conflicts in the Gospels are explained easily by discerning the time mention in each Gospel and the purpose of that particular trip made to the tomb.

Your flippant comment,

[Guest lnj]

Exuse me Blind seeker, actually you judged my Faith by your remark of my Bible being closed. Please, think first before replying. LNJ

Lnj,

Your initial post was one that demonstrated a lack of respect for my submission of how all the Gospels truly do accurately present the events surrounding the resurrection of Christ. For what appears to be conflicts in the Gospels are explained easily by discerning the time mention in each Gospel and the purpose of that particular trip made to the tomb.

Your flippant comment,

[BlindSeeker]

Exuse me Blind seeker, actually you judged my Faith by your remark of my Bible being closed. Please, think first before replying. LNJ

Lnj,

Your initial post was one that demonstrated a lack of respect for my submission of how all the Gospels truly do accurately present the events surrounding the resurrection of Christ. For what appears to be conflicts in the Gospels are explained easily by discerning the time mention in each Gospel and the purpose of that particular trip made to the tomb.

Your flippant comment,

[Guest lnj]

Exuse me Blind seeker, actually you judged my Faith by your remark of my Bible being closed. Please, think first before replying. LNJ

Lnj,

Your initial post was one that demonstrated a lack of respect for my submission of how all the Gospels truly do accurately present the events surrounding the resurrection of Christ. For what appears to be conflicts in the Gospels are explained easily by discerning the time mention in each Gospel and the purpose of that particular trip made to the tomb.

Your flippant comment,

[Guest lnj]

Exuse me Blind seeker, actually you judged my Faith by your remark of my Bible being closed. Please, think first before replying. LNJ

Lnj,

Your initial post was one that demonstrated a lack of respect for my submission of how all the Gospels truly do accurately present the events surrounding the resurrection of Christ. For what appears to be conflicts in the Gospels are explained easily by discerning the time mention in each Gospel and the purpose of that particular trip made to the tomb.

Your flippant comment,

[Old Timer]

BlindSeeker, You make a good argument, especially,

Plus, as I mentioned in my OP that the report she brings to Peter and John in the Gospel of John is not that the Lord has risen, rather

Edited June 26, 2006 by Old Timer

[BlindSeeker]

. . . In any case, Blindseeker, good thoughts, nice discussion. . .

Agreed my friend.

Peace.

William / BlindSeeker

[Joshua-777]

Wow, thanks.

[Guest shiloh357]

Let's assume that Passover was on a Wednesday, which would have (regardless of our assumption) been the fourteenth day of the first month, (Lev 23:2). Then the Fifteenth day would have been Thursday, day one the Feast of the Unleaven Bread, declared by God to be a holy convocation and a High Sabbath. Therefore after the fifteenth day "was past" Friday came, they went out and "bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him" (Mark 16:1) and then, "prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the [fourth] commandment," (Luke 23:56).

That is what I think as well. A Wednesday crucifixion fits squarely with Jesus' declaration that He would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

The theological gymnastics employed to make 36 hours equal three days by other scholars is laughable at best.