Dr. Mike Jones

Was Jesus Crucified On Bloody Wednesday Or Good Friday?

Jesus was crucified on Wednesday

Teaching Notes: Dr. Mike Jones

[Statistically] About one billion Protestants and another billion Catholics believe that Jesus Christ was crucified and entombed on a Friday afternoon—”Good Friday”—and raised to life again at daybreak on Easter Sunday morning, a day and a half later.

SAINTS: You need to know that the Jews counted (a day and night time period) in Bible days than what we have today. Our day starts at 12.01 AM and ends at 12.00 midnight making it a 24 hour day.  In Bible days, the day began at sundown, which was approximately 6.00 PM our time and it ended the following day again at sundown. The time from sundown to sunrise was divided into what the inhabitants of Jesus day called “WATCHES”. So, our 9.00AM was their 3rd hour, Remember in Acts 2:15, Peter said, “These men are not drunk as ye suppose, seeing it’s only the 3^rd hour of the day!”  our 12.01 PM was their sixth hour and our 3.00 PM was their ninth hour, and sunset approximately our 6.00 PM was their 12^th hour of the day.

The church has been teaching and believing that Christ was crucified on “Good Friday” and arose on the first day of the week, which was Sunday. This creates a major problem as Jesus Himself said in Matthew 12:40, “As Jonah was in the belly of the whale, three days and three nights so must He also, be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Three days/three nights adds up to 72 hrs. If He was buried at sundown on Friday and arose Sunday morning, the  maximum time would only be 36 hrs.

So, what other scriptures show that He was crucified in the middle of the week: The prophet Daniel, who shows a total of 72 hours that transpired, from burial to resurrection. In Daniel 9:27 “And in the midst of the week He (Jesus) shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.” (What this is saying is, the Messiah would be the ultimate sacrifice – there would be no more animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.)

Also, John 20:1 tells us that “On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.”

Did you catch that? John tells us it was still dark when Mary went to the tomb on Sunday morning and found it empty. Jesus was already resurrected well before daybreak. Thus He wasn’t in the tomb any of the daylight portion of Sunday, so none of that can be counted as a day.

While there in John 20, look at verse 31: “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies [of those crucified] should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken [to hasten death], and that they might be taken away.”

The MAIN REASON that people miss the Wednesday crucifixion is because the Bible is makes reference to TWO SABBATHS instead of ONE that most people talk about. In 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.”

During that time in history, if the body of a loved one was placed in a tomb rather than being buried in the ground, friends and family would commonly place various spices in the tomb alongside the body to reduce the smell as the body decayed.

Since Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb just before the HIGH-DAY Sabbath began, the women had no time to buy those spices before the Sabbath. Also, they could not have purchased them on the Sabbath day, as shops were closed. So, Mark says, “They bought the spices after the Sabbath— “when the Sabbath was past.”

Listen to Dr. Luke in Chapter 23:55-56, “And the women who had come with [Christ] from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.”

So, between Dr. Luke’s account and Mark accounts, people who adhere to ONE SABBATH says there’s a contradiction in scripture – when in actually it NOT – you’re looking at TWO SABBATHS!!!

So they bought the spices after the Sabbath, and then they prepared the spices before resting on the Sabbath.

In the Jewish culture of that time, the chores of cooking and housecleaning were done on the day before a Sabbath to avoid working on God’s designated day of rest. Thus the day before the Sabbath was commonly called “the preparation day.” Clearly the day on which Christ was crucified and His body placed in the tomb was the day immediately preceding a Sabbath.

Matthew 28 :1 “In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the sepulchre, and behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven; and came and rolled back the stone and sat upon it,” verse. 6 “ He is not here: for He is risen, as He said – – – “.   This was Sunday the first day of the week. The stone was not rolled away to release Jesus from the grave, but for the women and His disciples to see the empty tomb. Jesus did not stay in the grave more than three days and three nights. In Leviticus 23:11, “Sunday being the day after the Sabbath, the priest, shall wave the sheaf before the Lord. “ This is symbolic of Christ the first fruit and as believers we now celebrate Sunday to worship Jesus Christ on His resurrection day just as His disciples started doing by breaking bread on the first day of the week.