HAPPY EASTER SATURDAY & GOOD WEDNESDAY TO YOU!

Believe It Or Not The RESURRECTION was NOT on Sunday!

IT is commonly supposed, today, Jesus was crucified on FRIDAY, and that the resurrection occurred about sunrise on Easter Sunday morning. It would seem that no one, ever thought to question or to PROVE this "Good Friday Easter" tradition. Yet the Bible tells you to PROVE all things. As usual the church conveniently ignores the clues in order to make their religion palatable to pagan 'converts'. The Easter the west celebrates today is the Spring equinox (pagan) and hence the Easter bunny and all those eggs. Jokes on them.

Was Jesus three days and three nights in the grave, as He said in Matthew 12:40? Can you figure three days and three nights between sunset "Good Friday" and sunrise Easter Sunday?

Tradition No Evidence
There were no eye witnesses to the resurrection. Even so called "apostolic fathers" had no source of information save that record which is today available to us. Tradition, then, must be dismissed. What are the recorded facts? The doubting Pharisees were asking Jesus for a SIGN a supernatural evidence in proof of His Messiahship. Jesus answered: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall 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. 12:38)

Now consider, the tremendous import the overwhelming significance of Jesus' statement! He expressly declared that the ONLY SIGN He would give to prove He was the Messiah was that He should be just THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the rock hewn sepulchre in "the heart of the earth." These Christ rejecting Pharisees demanded PROOF. Jesus offered but one evidence. That evidence was not the fact of the resurrection itself, it was the LENGTH OF TIME He would repose in His grave. Jesus staked His claim to being your Saviour upon remaining exactly THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the tomb. IF He remained just three days and three nights inside the earth, He would PROVE Himself the Saviour if He failed in this sign, He must be rejected as an impostor!

The Dilemma of the Higher Critics
This one and only supernatural PROOF ever given by Jesus for His Messiahship has greatly bothered the commentators and the higher critics.

Their attempts to explain away this sole proof for Christ's divinity are ludicrous in the extreme. For explain this away they must, or their "Good Friday Easter" tradition collapses! One commentator says, "Of course we know that Jesus was actually in the tomb only half as long as He thought He would be!" Some expositors impose upon our credulity to the extent of asking us to believe that "in the GREEK language, in which the New Testament was written, the expression 'three days and three nights' means three PERIODS, either of day or of night!" Jesus, they say, was placed in the tomb shortly before sunset FRIDAY, and rose at sunrise Sunday morning two nights and one day.

The BIBLE Definition
But the BIBLE definition of the duration of "nights and days" is simple. Even these same higher critics admit that in the HEBREW language, in which the book of Jonah was written, the expression "three days and three nights" means a period of 72 hours three twelve hour days and three twelve hour nights.

Notice Jonah 1: 17: "And Jonah was in the belly of the fish THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS!" This, they admit was a period of 72 hours. And Jesus distinctly said that AS Jonah was three days and three nights in the great fish's belly, SO He would be the same length of time in His grave!

Notice the BIBLE DEFINITION of the expression, "THE THIRD DAY."
In Genesis 1:4 God "divided the LIGHT from the DARKNESS. And God 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 three periods of darkness called NIGHT three nights) and the morning (now three periods of light called DAY three days) were THE THIRD DAY." (Gen. 1:4 13)

Here we have the ONLY BIBLE DEFINITION which explains and COUNTS UP the amount of time involved in the expression "THE THIRD DAY." It includes three dark periods called NIGHT, and three light periods called DAY three days and three nights, and Jesus said they contained TWELVE HOURS for each period a total of 72 hours! That ought to be conclusive! Any seven year old, near the end of the second grade, could figure it easily.

What Is Wrong?
What is wrong with these plain, simple words of Jesus? How do these wise and prudent theologians KNOW Jesus was crucified "Good Friday" and rose "Easter Sunday?" The simple answer is, THEY DO NOT KNOW IT for IT IS NOT TRUE! It is merely Tradition, a tradition we have been taught from childhood, and carelessly ASSUMED! Jesus warns against making "the Word of God of none effect through your TRADITION."

"And He began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and AFTER three days rise again." Our young second grader can figure this. IF Jesus had been killed on Friday, and then AFTER one day He had risen, the resurrection would have occurred on Saturday evening. IF AFTER TWO DAYS, it would have occurred Sunday evening, and if AFTER THREE DAYS, it would have occurred MONDAY EVENING!

Examine this text carefully. You cannot, by any process of arithmetic, figure any less than a full 72 hours three days and three nights in a resurrection which occurred three days AFTER the crucifixion! If Jesus was in the grave only from Friday sunset to Sunday sunrise, then this text too, must be torn out of your Bible or else you must reject Jesus Christ as your Saviour! If He rose AFTER THREE DAYS, it might have been more than 72 hours, but it could not have been a second less!

The TIME OF DAY of Resurrection
Now notice carefully this fact: In order to be three days and three nights-72 hours-in the tomb, Jesus had to be resurrected at exactly THE SAME TIME OF DAY that His body was buried in the tomb! Let us realize that very vital fact. If we can find the TIME OF DAY of the burial, then we have found the TIME OF DAY of the resurrection! If the burial, for instance, was at sunrise, then in order to be left an even three days and three nights in the tomb, the resurrection likewise had to occur at sunrise, three days later. If the burial were at noon, the resurrection was at noon. If the burial was at sunset, the resurrection was at sunset, three days later.

Jesus cried on the cross soon after "the ninth hour" or three o'clock in the afternoon. (Matt. 27:46-50) The crucifixion day was called "the preparation," or day before "the sabbath." (27:62). This day ended at sunset, according to Bible reckoning (Lev. 23:32). Yet Jesus was buried before this same day ended,before sunset. (27:57 He died shortly after 3 p.m. Therefore-notice carefully!-the BURIAL OF CHRIST'S BODY WAS IN THE LATE AFTERNOON! It was between 3 p.m. and sunset.

And since the RESURRECTION had to occur at the SAME TIME OF DAY, three days later, THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST OCCURRED, not at sunrise, but IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, near sunset! If Jesus rose at any other time of day, He could not have been three days and three nights in His grave. If He rose at any other time of day, He failed to prove, by the only sign He gave that He was the true Messiah, the Son of the living Creator! Either He rose near the END of a day near sunset, or else He is not the Christ! He staked His claim on that one and only sign! So a time-honored tradition must be shattered!

What Day Was the Resurrection?
Now which DAY OF THE WEEK was the resurrection day? The first investigators, Mary Magdalene and her companions, came to the sepulchre on the first day of the week (Sunday) very early, while it was yet dark, as the sun was beginning to rise, at dawn. (Mark 16:2).Now here are the texts most people have SUPPOSED stated the resurrection was at sunrise Sunday morning. But they do not say that! When the women arrived, the tomb was already OPEN! At that time Sunday morning while it was yet dark-JESUS WAS NOT THERE! The angel says "HE IS NOT HERE. BUT IS RISEN!" (Mark 16:6) Jesus was ALREADY RISEN at sunrise Sunday morning! Of course He was. He rose from the grave IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, near SUNSET! And since we know the resurrection was just shortly prior to that Sunday morning, and that it occurred in the late afternoon of the day, we now may know THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST OCCURRED LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON. The Sabbath day ended at sunset. It was late on that day, before the beginning of the first day of the week. It was not, then, a Sunday resurrection at all it was a Sabbath resurrection!

Did Christ Fulfill His Sign?
Now all this is based on the supposition that Jesus did fulfill His only SIGN of being three days and three nights in the grave. All our evidence is based on the claims of Jesus BEFORE His crucifixion. THE ANGEL gives this testimony "He is not here: for He is risen, AS HE SAID." And He certainly did not rise unless He rose at the precise TIME that He had said! So we have the proof of the ANGEL, recorded that Jesus did fulfill His sign-He was three days and three nights in the earth-He did rise Sabbath afternoon, and not Sunday morning! The THIRD DAY following His Wednesday burial was the Sabbath; THREE FULL DAYS spent in the grave ended Saturday afternoon just prior to sunset, not Sunday morning.

Which Day Was the Crucifixion?
It is not difficult now to determine the day on which Jesus was crucified. Counting back three days from the Sabbath when He rose, we come to Wednesday, the fourth or very middle day of the week. Jesus was crucified on WEDNESDAY, the middle day of the week, He died on the cross shortly after 3 p.m. that afternoon, was buried before sunset Wednesday evening. Now COUNT the THREE DAYS and THREE NIGHTS. His body was Wednesday, Thursday and Friday NIGHTS in the grave THREE NIGHTS. It also was there through the daylight part of Thursday, Friday and Saturday THREE DAYS. He rose Saturday-the Sabbath late afternoon, shortly before sunset, at the same TIME OF DAY that He was buried! And Sunday morning at sunrise He was NOT THERE-HE WAS ALREADY RISEN!

WHAT Sabbath Followed the Crucifixion?
Now we come to an objection some may raise, yet the very point which PROVES this truth! Perhaps you have noticed that the Scriptures say the day AFTER the crucifixion was a SABBATH! Hence, for centuries, people have blindly assumed the crucifixion was on Friday! Now we have shown that the crucifixion day-Wednesday-was called "the preparation." The preparation day for THE SABBATH.

Just what is a "HIGH DAY"? Ask any Jew! He will tell you it is one of the annual holydays, or feast days. The Israelites observed seven of these every year-every one called SABBATHS! Annual Sabbaths, falling on certain annual calendar dates, and on different days of the week in different years, just like the Roman holidays now observed. These Sabbaths might fall on Monday, on Thursday, or on Sunday.

And what was THE PASSOVER? It was the ancient day of Israel commemorating their deliverance from Egypt, and picturing to them the crucifixion of Christ and their deliverance from sin. In the twelfth chapter of Exodus you will find the story of the original Passover.

The children of Israel killed the lambs, and struck the blood over the doorposts and on the side-posts of their houses, and wherever the blood had thus been applied the Lord PASSED OVER that house, sparing it from death. Following the Passover, was a holy convocation or annual Sabbath. Observe the dates: "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." (Num. 28:16-17)

The Passover lamb, killed every year on the 14th of the first month called "Abib, JESUS WAS SLAIN ON THE VERY SAME DAY THE PASSOVER HAD BEEN SLAIN EVERY YEAR! He was crucified on the 14th of Abib, the first Hebrew month of the year! And this day, the PASSOVER, was the day before, and the preparation for, THE FEAST day, or annual highday Sabbath, which occurred on the 15th of Abib. THIS Sabbath might occur on ANY day of the week. And the Hebrew calendar shows that in the year Jesus was crucified, the 14th of Abib, Passover day, the day Jesus was crucified, was WEDNESDAY. And the annual Sabbath was THURSDAY. This was the Sabbath that drew on as Joseph of Arimathea hastened to bury the body of Jesus late that Wednesday afternoon. THERE WERE TWO SEPARATE SABBATHS THAT WEEK!

So now do you STILL believe everything the church tells you as truth? as infallible? Question authority, think for yourselves. Easter is just a pagan tradition transformed into a messiah myth. They don't even use their own timetables as written in the Bible. You are being lied to. Celebrate spring.