The timing of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection is one of the strongest pieces of evidence proving that the Sabbath is on a Saturday and NOT a Sunday.

Let’s take a look at the following text.

The setting is immediately following the crucifixion. Jesus has just been taken down from the cross and put into a tombstone (or sepulcher).

“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.” -Luke 23:54–56

There are three days we need to examine closely.

1) The day when Jesus was crucified.

2) The day when Jesus lay in the tomb.

3) The day when Jesus was resurrected.

Before we proceed, a short reminder: Remember that the Hebrews, including today’s modern Jewish community, calculate a day as STARTING at sunset, and ending at the next sunset.

The new day begins in the evening.

This also means that the last supper Jesus had with his disciples occurred before sundown, in spite of what all the movies portray.

This is important to understand when attempting to ascertain WHEN certain Biblical events occurred.

So what day did Jesus die on the cross? People everywhere know that day as Good Friday.

But we’re gonna have to depart from BS Roman Catholic theology here. And a word of appreciation and thanks to Mark Johnson for correcting me!

In fact, I’m going to share what he shared in the comments below.

“Jesus (the messiah) was to be “cut off” in the middle of the week!

He was to be cut off in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week, in the middle of God’s 7000 year week and in the middle of the simple seven day week.

The middle of the week of 30 A.D. was a Wednesday Passover.

The following day, Thursday, was as is any day that follows Passover, a High Sabbath — the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when NO WORK was to be done.

On Friday (no longer the High Sabbath) the women went about procuring the items they needed to prepare Jesus’ body. (And I suspect they did their shopping as quietly as possible, without drawing attention to themselves as they may have thought they might be next.)

After gathering the items they needed on that Friday, they again rested on the seventh day, Saturday Sabbath.

Three days and three nights Jesus lay dead in the tomb (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and rose to life just after sunset beginning the 1st day of the week, Sunday.”

So what do we see here?

That Jesus was resting inside the tomb EVEN ON THE SHABBAT (both Friday and Saturday until sunset)…

And wasn’t resurrected until after sunset beginning the 1st day of the week (Sunday).

So Jesus Himself before His resurrection in His death was keeping the Sabbath.

Awesome!

© Richoka