The Constant Church of God presents clear answers to your questions, directly from the Bible!

Was Jesus crucified on a Friday and resurrected on sunrise Sunday?

Are you sure?

Have you proven it for yourself?

Or have you merely accepted it, simply because the overwhelming majority believe it as fact?

There were no eyewitnesses to the actual resurrection.

So we must turn to the only reliable authority for proof: the Bible.

And, what does the Bible say?

Jesus Christ Himself told the religious authorities that He would be in the tomb “three days and three nights.”

But a Friday crucifixion and a Sunday resurrection do not add up to three days and three nights.

Religious scholars maintain that “three days and three nights” was a common Hebrew idiom referring to PARTS of three days and three nights.

The book of Genesis says an evening and a morning describe a complete 24-hour day.

Clearly, 3 days and 3 nights is a literal period of three 24-hour days or a duration of 72 hours.

Was Jesus then in the grave for the entire 3 days and 3 nights?

Both Matthew and Mark — using the Jewish method of reckoning time — record Jesus died at the ninth hour, which corresponds to our 3:00 in the afternoon.

He was buried that same day before sunset because it was a "preparation day."

What is a "preparation day"?

A preparation day is that day before the Sabbath, when all manner of activities, such as cooking and housework, were done.

Consequently, many have mistakenly assumed that the crucifixion was on a Friday.

But the preparation day referred to here was what John called a “high day” Sabbath, the feast day of Unleavened Bread one of the 7 annual holy day Sabbaths, which began at sunset Wednesday that year!

That’s why Joseph of Arimathea had to bury the body of Jesus before sunset.

So Jesus was buried right before sunset Wednesday!

His body was in the grave the three nights of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

And in the three daylight parts of Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

To fulfill the sign He Himself had given the Pharisees, Jesus had to have risen before sunset on Saturday, after exactly three days and three nights — THREE 24 hour days, 72 hours — in the grave!

And He did!  Exactly as He had said.

At dawn Sunday, while it was yet dark, as the sun was beginning to rise, these three women — Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome — went to Jesus’ tomb.

But when they got there, they found the large stone had been rolled away and Jesus’ tomb empty!

They saw a young man — actually an angel —who told them that "He is not here, but he has risen" just as He said.

Jesus Christ had risen from His grave late Saturday afternoon right before sunset.

By sunrise Sunday, He was already risen!

The plain truth of the Bible is clear, despite the claims of those who staunchly adhere to the Friday crucifixion-Sunday resurrection tradition.

Jesus Christ was crucified, died and was buried Wednesday afternoon, before sunset, on the preparation day for the annual high day Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, that began sunset Wednesday.

Not the weekly Sabbath from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset.

He remained in the grave for exactly three days and three nights, from Wednesday before sunset to Saturday before sunset, when He rose from His grave.

It was not a Sunday resurrection. It was a Saturday resurrection.

This is Ross Abasolo with the Constant Church.

Join us again next time to hear more about what the Bible actually says!