Bible Study Seattle

March 29, 2015 was Palm Sunday.  Friday is celebrated as the execution day, and Sunday April 5 is celebrated as the resurrection.  Scripture demands that Jesus be crucified Nisan 14.  The lambs were to be chosen Nisan 10.  If Friday was the crucifixion day, then it would’ve had to have been Palm Monday.  Furthermore Jesus said he would fulfill the sign of Jonah: three days and nights in the heart of the earth.  Even if we allow for partial days or nights, that still requires at least 2.1 days in the grave.  Scripture is clear that Jesus died about 3pm.  That means he couldn’t have risen till after 3pm Sunday!  Nobody proposes that Jesus rose that late.  Therefore the traditional Friday to Sunday scenario is impossible.  Scripture doesn’t explicitly state when Jesus rose.  Some propose that he rose with the earthquake of the angel rolling away the stone.  We can’t know.

“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, and lo, there came a great earthquake, for a messenger of the Lord, having come down out of heaven, having come, did roll away the stone from the door, and was sitting upon it, and his countenance was as lightning, and his clothing white as snow, and from the fear of him did the keepers shake, and they became as dead men.”  Matthew 28:1-4

It seems that the earthquake and appearances like lightning were to scare away the guards so the angels could talk to the women without interference.  (Although it seems the angels could of made fast work of the guards if they chose to fight.)  There is some controversy what day this was, although the traditional understanding is Sunday morning.  To get 2.1 days from Sunday morning requires Jesus to have died Thursday at 3pm.  That would make Nisan 10 a Sunday.  But Jesus could’ve rose on the Sabbath.  Then the crucifixion was Wednesday and Nisan 10 was also a Sabbath.

Some will say, “Who cares!”  But it matters for typology.  If we want to see how and when our resurrection might be, we need to know as many details as we can about Jesus resurrection.