Christ's Resurrection Date and Easter
Okay, so starting with days. In the beginning when God set up the days, he set it up that the day begins at sunset, not midnight, not sunrise. The Jews still follow this also. This can first be seen in Gen 1:5 (from the Interlinear Bible, translated literally from Hebrew into English) "And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day." I'm pretty sure there is more evidence of this in books like Exodus or Deuteronomy, but will have to look further for those verses later.
The Sabbath day is Saturday (the seventh day of the week), and not Sunday (the first day of the week). This can be proven throughout the Bible, but namely where God originally set it up in Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus. Again, using the Interlinear Bible: Gen 2:1-3 "And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host. And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which God had created to make." Exodus 20:8-11 " Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days you shall labor and do all your work; and the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave and your slave-girl, and your livestock, and your stranger who is in your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it." Lev 23:3 "Work is to be done six days and the seventh day shall be a Sabbath of rest, a holy gathering you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings." The reason for explaining this will be seen later.
There is also another kind of Sabbath besides just the seventh day Sabbath. This is the Sabbath of the Jewish feasts that God had set up. These are special Sabbaths which precede or coincide with specific Jewish holy days, and each has their own name. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word "shabbat" meaning "cease". On these holy day Sabbaths, the Jews would "cease" from their work, and rest. Lev 23:4 in the NLT says "In addition to the Sabbath, these are the Lord's appointed festivals, the official days for holy assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year." Verses 5-8 then explain the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. These two are connected, as can be seen in Exodus 12 at the first Passover in Egypt. This is significant because the days of these two are connected to the days in Christ's death and resurrection.
So, here's how these things start coming together. Starting with explaining the Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread and their Sabbaths. Using the NLT, in Lev 23 starting at verse 5, " The Lord's Passover begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the next day, the fifteenth day of the month, you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival to the Lord continues for seven days.... On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly (this would be considered a holy day sabbath).... On the seventh day the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for holy assembly (a 2nd Sabbath for the Festival of Unleavened bread)."
Now to look at the story of Christ's death and see how these two are connected. Starting with Mark 14:12 (also Matt 26:17 and Luke 22:7) (NLT) "On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus' disciples asked him, 'where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?'" Matt 26:20 (Interlinear) "And evening coming, He reclined with the twelve." (Remember how in Genesis [and other locations in the OT], that a day begins at sunset. So, the 14th day of the month, which is Passover, is from sunset to sunset. The disciples spent the day of the 13th [the daylight hours] preparing for the Passover feast, which would be held that evening at sunset when the 14th/Passover began.) After the meal that same evening, Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed for an hour before He was betrayed and arrested. Before the sun came up on the Passover, Peter denied Jesus three times. Then, in John 18:28 (also Matt 27:1-2), Jesus is condemned (Interlinear) “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the praetorium, and it was early. And they did not enter into the praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover." This begins His crucifixion, which is completed the same day, the day of the Passover, the day before the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was a Sabbath. This also shows how Christ was the final Passover sacrifice, but that's a different story.
Mark 15:33 (NLT) "At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. Then at three o'clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means 'My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?'" v 37 "Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last." John 19:31 (Interlinear) "Then since it was Preparation, that the bodies not remain on the cross on the Sabbath -for great was the day that Sabbath- the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and they be taken away." It would appear from this verse that that sabbath was different than other Sabbath’s to be called great. With that, it would mean that this wasn't the seventh day sabbath, but a holy day. Following what God laid out in Exodus and Leviticus about the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, this is the first day of the Feast, also the first Sabbath of the Feast.
Now for the best part, the Resurrection!
I want to use both versions for this same portion of scripture, because they use different words to describe the same thing and I think help to understand it better. The Interlinear is translated directly from the Greek, and the NLT is very similar in most places, but with different words. First, the Interlinear: Mark 16:1-2 "And the sabbath passing, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that coming they might anoint Him. And very early on the first of the week they came upon the tomb, the sun having risen." NLT: "Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus' body. Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb."
So, we see that Jesus died on the day of the Passover, the day before a Sabbath, but not the weekly Sabbath. It is easy to mistake these Sabbaths without an understanding of Jewish holy days and Sabbath's. They can get very confusing. At first glance of the story of Christ's death and resurrection, it would appear that He had died on a Friday (preparation day for the weekly Sabbath), and risen on Sunday. But Jesus Himself said that He would rise again after 3 days. mark 10:34 (Interlinear) "... And on the third day He will rise again." We can see from Christ's own words that it will be on the third day. Friday to Sunday is only 2 days. If Jesus had died on Friday and resurrected on Sunday, than wouldn't Christ have lied, because that is only the second day? So, to make real sense of everything that Jesus said and everything that happened, we must look at the rest of the Bible, and the way that God set things up. So, putting it all together, here is a time line:
Day 1: 13th day of the month of Nisan: disciples prepare the Passover meal; evening begins 14th of Nisan, the Passover, and Christ eats the Passover supper with His disciples
Day 2: 14th day of Nisan, Passover (Wednesday), Christ is crucified and dies at approximately 3pm (also considered the day of preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread), and is removed from the cross and buried before sunset, this begins day 1 of Christs death; sunset begins a Passover
Day 3: 15th day of Nisan, Day 1 of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was a Sabbath, and Thursday; approximately 3pm would begin day 2 of Christ's death (3pm Wednesday to 3pm Thursday is one day)
Day 4: 16th day of Nisan, Friday, (day 2 of the Feast), also a day of preparation for the weekly Sabbath which begins at sunset, (3pm begins day 3 of Christ's death)
Day 5: 17th day of Nisan, Saturday, the weekly Sabbath, which ended at sunset, followed by Mary Magdalene and Mary purchasing spices for Christ; 3pm ended the 3rd day of Christ's death. If He had waited until after that time, He would have risen on the 4th day (which, again, would make His statement about 3 days a lie, but Christ does not lie), so He was raised from the dead sometime after 3pm Friday, but before 3pm on Saturday. More than likely, I would assume, He would have risen shortly before the time of His death.
Day 6: 18th day of Nisan, Sunday, the first day of the week: Mary Magdalene meets Jesus at the tomb and finds that He has been resurrected. She did not see the resurrection happening, only had found Him after it had happened. So, to say that He was actually resurrected on Sunday is an assumption, and reading something into the Scripture that is not there. The evidence is there that He was risen on Saturday, and counting 3 days prior, places His death on Wednesday and not Friday. The Bible, translated directly from Greek, does not say that He died on Friday, but on the day of preparation for a great Sabbath.
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