Bible Study Seattle

Did Jesus rise from the dead on Sunday?

“Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.”  Matthew 28:1 NLT

“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.”  Matthew 28:1 NIV

“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 see the sepulcher.”  Matthew 28:1 KJV

“Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Mag′dalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher.”  Matthew 28:1 RSV

“And on the eve of the sabbaths, at the dawn, toward the first of the sabbaths, came Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulcher,”. Matthew 28:1. YLT

All these translations emphasize dawn.  The problem is that by Hebrew reckoning, dawn is the middle of the day.  No day starts at dawn.  And what is the ‘first of the Sabbaths’?  This is referring to the seven Sabbaths until Pentecost, or the feast of weeks.  It is very important to know if Jesus rose on Sunday.  This would be the eighth day of the week which has large prophetic implications.  If however, Jesus rose on the Sabbath, that also has large prophetic implications.  The fact that he was gone at dawn leaves no ambiguity between two possible days.  Notice that Young’s Literal Translation says ‘toward the first of the sabbaths’, not the first of the week.  This is important.  Jesus told us that he would return for us and raise us to be where he was so that the saints and Jesus could reign a thousand years.  This almost has to be the Sabbath for all the types to work.  Contrary to common thinking, Jesus rose from the dead during the evening (first half) of the Sabbath.  Now if we think in Roman terms with the day starting at midnight, Jesus could have indeed have risen during the first part of Sunday, but the scriptures were written with God’s calendar in mind, not Pope Gregory XIII’s.  This author is not clear if the Jewish Sabbath starts at the end of the Roman Saturday or the beginning.  But there is no way the scriptures were written with Pope Gregory’s 1582AD calendar in mind.  Jesus did indeed rise on the Sabbath.  And he was not crucified on Friday, but that’s another story.  A good discussion of this is at Hebrew4Christians:  http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/First_Fruits/first_fruits.html