1
Resurrection not on afourth day
by Gerhard Ebersöhn
(Antithesis pp 53/54)
Answers:
Sabres (Died on Thursday; on Sabbath Resurrected)
Thursun (Thursday died; on Sunday rose)
Trad (Friday crucified; Sunday resurrected)
Wed (‘Messianic Christians’ – Crucified onWednesday, raised on Sunday)
Sabres
IN SABBATH’S-TIME BEFORE THE LORD
FOURTEEN ABIB FIRST FIRST DAY
GOSHEN TO GETHSEMANE –
PREPARE THE DAY OF PASSOVER!
BEGIN! REMOVE ALL LEAVEN!
TO THE END TO SACRIFICE THE LAMB!
FIFTEEN ABIB FIRST OF PASCHAL DAYS AGAIN
FEAST! REMEMBER! EAT!
UNLEAVENED BREAD’S ROASTED LUMP!
OUT FROM UNDER EGYPT’S CLAIMS
TO FLAME TO ASH TO EARTH WITH THE REMAINS
SIXTEEN ABIB THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES
YAHWEH’S PASSOVER CONSUMMATE!
FIRST OF WINTER HARVEST DAYS –
WAVE THE SHEAF – CLARION CALL TO SHAVUOT!
IN SABBATH’S TIME BEFORE THE LORD!
FEASTON STILL, BITTER LEAVEN-LESS BREAD
FIRST OF FIFTY TO THE DAY
LAST OF WINTER’S GROWTH,
TWO LOAVES WAVED – ONE THE BODY THAT IS CHRIST’S
IN SABBATH’S TIME BEFORE THE LORD!
Crucified on the day before Burial, and Resurrection on the
day after Burial, Friday, “The Preparation which is the
Fore-Sabbath”
From the first to “the third day according to the Scriptures”. . .
Mk.14:12/17, Mt.26:17/20, Lk.22:7/14, Jn.13:1-17:26
“Evening” –Preparation for, and the Lord’s Supper
. . . theFIRSTday, 14 Nisan, “Preparation of the Passover”, Thursday, begins!
“Night” – Anguish, Betrayal, Denial
Mt.12:40, Mk.14:26-42, Jn.18:1-27
“Early” – Trial, Delivered, Way to Cross
Jn.18:28-19:22
Middle Day – Crucifixion, Mocking, Darkness,
Mk.15:25, 29, 33, Jn.19:23-29
Afternoon “The ninth hour”, – Died, Deserted
Mt.27:46, Jn.19:30, Lk.23:48
Jn.19:31-40, Mk.15:42, Mt.27:57, Lk.23:52
“Evening” – Jews; “after this”, Joseph
. . . theSECOND day, 15 Nisan, Passover Feast, “The Fore-Sabbath”, Friday, begins!
“Night” – Took the body down, prepared
Mk.15:42-46b, Mt.27:58-59, Lk.23:53a Jn.19:32-40
“Afternoon” – Buried
Mk.15:46c-47, Mt.27:60-61, Lk.23:53b-56b, Jn.19:41-42
Luke 23:56c
“Began to rest”
. . . “the THIRD day”, 16Nisan, First Sheaf Wave Offering, “Sabbath”, begins!
“Morning” –Guard
Only Mt.27:62-66
“Afternoon” – Resurrected
Only Matthew 28:1-4
Only Mark 16:1
. . . the fourth day, 17 Nisan, Sunday, begins :
“The Sabbath past”
“Early darkness”, first sight of opened grave
Only John 20:1-2
“So shall the Son of Man have been in the heart of the earth for three days and for three nights” when raised from the dead “for a sign”! Matthew 12:40.
Prophetic Feasts
Spring – Winter Harvest
Nisan (First Month) Passover
14 Preparation Lamb slaughtered Crucifixion
Day of Removal of Leaven
15Passover SabbathFeast Lamb eaten Burial
First Day of Unleavened Bread………….Eaten
16 Day after Sabbath First Sheaf Wave Offer
“Day after Sabbath” of Passover
“The third day” of Passover;2nd day of Unleavened Bread; first day of “Fifty Days”;
Resurrection
17 3rd day of Unleavened Bread
Appearances
Fortieth Day Ascension
Wait in Jerusalem (till harvest completed)
Fiftieth DayFirst Bread Wave Offering
Apostolic Outpouring of Holy Spirit
Fulfilled in Holy Spirit and Ecclesia……….Body of Christ
Autumn – Summer Harvest
Tishri Day of Atonement
9 Preparation Tribes ordered Priests offer for self
Fulfilled in Israel
Atonement: Morning: Goat Slaughtered
Fulfilledin Christ’s Suffering, Humiliation, Death
High Priest Enters
Fulfilled in Christ’s Presentation, Ascending Trone and Exaltation
Afternoon:High Priest Returns
Fulfilled in Christ’s being “brought again from the dead”
Goat Sent into Wilderness
Fulfilled in Life of Christ Raised, Presented, Exalted
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
15 Feast of Trumpets
Fulfilled in, 1, Judgement, Sacrifice and Resurrection of Christ 2, in Pentecost
3, in Sabbaths’ Feast 4, in Christ’s Return
Feast of Tabernacles
Fulfilled in 1, Incarnation 2, Resurrection 3, Church 4, New Earth
Introductory Question Posed by Traditionalist (Trad)
Was Jesus raised on the first day of the week like the Scriptures say He did?
Theory: Crucified on Wednesday
Wed
Crucifixion happened on a Wednesday and not a Friday. It says He was taken off the cross before the sabbath began, but the sabbath that is referred to is the Sabbath of the passover feast, which was on a Thursday.
Sabres
Where does it say ".... the Sabbath of the passover feast, which was on a Thursday"? It never says it! You take it from the air!
Where does it say ".... He was taken off the cross before the sabbath began"? It never says it! You take it from the air!
It says – Mk15:42, Mt27:57 – He was taken from the cross "After that it had been evening for quite a while already". The Greek, that is, and virtually exactly so translated in the KJV. Noticed how it has been changed in the newer 'Translations'? Why?
Then Luke 24says Joseph closed the grave "While being afternoon the Sabbath nearing." Noticed nobody ever attempted to change this? But have you noticed how they changed the very same word for the very same time of the day in Mt28:1 the third phrase? Why?
Therefore, why must the body be taken downbefore sunset, while the Scriptures directly the opposite, instructed the body of a cursed should not “hang on the pole all night”, but must be removed from the pole “before sunrise-light-of-morning”and “that same day must be buried”? (Dt21:23) (See my study on this subject, ‘Taken Down Before Sunrise’, appended.)
Each and every argument against theWednesdaycrucifixion theory somehow or other is an argument against theFridaycrucifixion Sunday resurrection tradition. In essence they are identical – both consist of but fallacy.
Resurrection on Fourth Day
The Wednesday crucifixion theory implicates a fourth “day”: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday = four days!
The complication from another angle:
Day One: Fourth Day (Wednesday) First of “three days”: Crucifixion.
14 Nisan. “Buriedbefore sunset.” Day ends: “Sunset”.
Day Two: The Fifth Day (Thursday) 1st of “three nights” …and the 1st “day”.
15 Nisan. Day ends: “Sunset”.
Day Three: The Sixth Day (Friday) 2nd of “three nights” … and the 2nd “day”.
16 Nisan. Day ends: “Sunset”.
Day Four: The Sabbath (Saturday) 3rd of “three nights” … and the 3rd “day”.
17 Nisan. “Resurrection just before Sunset”.
1, According to the Wednesday crucifixion theory,Wednesday all day, crucifixion, death, and, entombment, occur and are finished, “before sunset”.
2, According to the Wednesday crucifixion theory, from entombment
3, counting of the “three days and three nights”, starts and not from death.
4, According to the Wednesday crucifixion theory, the first “night” of the “three days and three nights” follows from after sunset.
5, According to the Wednesday crucifixion theory, reckoning of Day begins “from sunset”.
6, According to the Wednesday crucifixion theory, “from sunset Wednesday”, Thursday begins … the second day!
Clearly something, already, is awry!
According to the Wednesday crucifixion theoryThursday night and Friday day together make a day the Sixth Day of the week the third day of the “three days and three nights”. Only two nights, and we already have three days! Jesus was not resurrected on Friday! Friday night and Saturday day together makes a day the Sabbath Day the fourth day of the “three days and three nights”. But if Saturday had been the day of Resurrection, it could not have
been the fourth day!Saturday should have been the third day. Crucifixion should have been on Thursday!
If this fact of a fourth day, rule out the Wednesday crucifixion theory, it just as effectively rule out the Thursday crucifixion theory that places the Resurrection on afourth day, 17 Nisan.
The question is whether the “three days and three nights” are involved in the sense ofone periodor whether “three days and three nights”,are what they are, the “three days”of prophetic Scriptures!
All of these theories call on John 11:9, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” If it has to be the full number of hours,by principle it should also be the full number of minutes and seconds. Then the resurrection occurs where it cannot, where there is notime to occur.They cannot say Jesus rose “on”, or, “in” the third day because “after the third day”, must be taken for “literal” and its idiomatic force be ignored. The result: “After the third day” should mean morethan 72 hours, which should make the resurrection “on thefourthday”. And so one could go on and on.
Now the Wednesday crucifixion theory maintains the resurrection occurred “after 72 hours from sunset Wednesday”. The day being reckoned from sunset to sunset – which the Wednesday crucifixion theory accepts – resurrection occurs on Sunday, Saturday night being the First Day. The Wednesday crucifixion theory in effect places the resurrection on the fifth, and not, on “the third day”.
Considered separate entities of “days” and “nights”, the “three days and three nights” on and within the three calendar days of Jesus’ crucifixion, entombment and resurrection from the dead, agree with the historic events of the Passover. Three days occurred and are to be considered according to the principle the part represents the whole. “The third day”, especially, was not a full day of twenty-four hours. The resurrection occurred in but an instant and as such represents the third day as “the third day”. The resurrection besides occurred considerable time before sunset and approximately three quarters of that day are considered “the third day according to the Scriptures” fully and unreservedly.
The day Jesus was buried was Friday without a doubt as we have shown many times. Mark 15:42 in parallel with 16:1 is the clearest and most definitive Scripture in this respect. Also John 19:31 in parallel with 42, Luke 23:54 in parallel with 56 and Matthew 27:62 in parallel with 28:1 leave no doubt that Friday was the day of the week of Jesus’ burial. It could not have been circumscribed and identified any better, with more or better detail or in simpler and
clearer language. In just as simple and unambiguous language though is it also stated that before Joseph buried the body and after it still hung on the cross, “the evening had come”, which, together with many other factors, make of the day of interment the day after, crucifixion.
Then, again with just as simple and unambiguous language (unfortunately manipulated through translation) Matthew 28:1 states that the resurrection occurred on the Sabbath, the day after, interment. Which gives us “the third day”, and, “three days”, and, “three days and three nights” considering the significance of Gethsémané night, without any difficulty or confusion. Together, the first “night” (Wednesday night) – Gethsémané , and the first “day” (Thursday day) – crucifixion and death, and forsaking by all, constitute the first day of the “three days” “according to the Scriptures”. Then “came evening”, the second day of the “three days” beginning. (Thursday) The second “night”, Passover Feast Meal, “Being the Preparation, the Jews demanded of Pilate … After this, Joseph went in to Pilate”, the body granted, taken down, removed, prepared. The “day” saw the women following after to the grave and Joseph eventually closing the grave and all returning to prepare for the Sabbath – “day declining towards the First Day of the week” <epefohsken sabbaton>.
“Started the women to rest” the third day of the “three days” began – so the third “night”. “Come morning” and “day” the third, Mt.27:62, the Jews and Pilate, the grave sealed and guarded. “The third day”, “In the Sabbath’s fullness being afternoon”, saw the angel descend, and roll away the stone— “the day after the sabbath” of Passover, thou shalt wave First Sheaf before the LORD”; “In the sixteenth of the First Month they made an end … to cleanse … the Inner Part (‘Most Holy’) of thehouse of the LORD … They brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation … They made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded … The Song of the LORD began with trumpets … and all the Congregation worshipped … when they had made an end of offering the king and all that were present with him, bowed themselves and worshipped.” 2Chr29.
I say this before, because the Wednesday Crucifixion Theory will not be our topic, and must please be referred to as little as possible.
Wed
“Sabbath ...sixteenth of the First Month ...”Your sources must be flawed. Day of First Fruits isalways the First day of the Week. ( Lev 23:11-12), it was the next day after the Sabbath, not the Sabbath.
Sabres
“... it was the next day after the Sabbath”, Wrong! “The day after the sabbath (of Passover)— not “next” day after the (Passover-)Sabbath.“Day after the sabbath”, “the sabbath” being ‘sabbath’ of PassoverNisan 15, “the day after” would be Nisan 16— not Nisan 17, not “the next day after the Sabbath”. So, sorry, really, your sources must be flawed!
In fact, you don’t have sources at all! I dare you present me one ‘source’! Day of First Sheaf is on any day of the week and it was “the (first)day after the 'sabbath'”— not the Sabbath of the week, but the 'sabbath'-day Nisan 15that came after "The Day of Preparation Of The Passover" Jn19:14, Nisan 14. Your view is 'based' upon the so-called but un-demonstrate-able 'Saddusaic'-view ( Lev 23:11-12), an opportunistic manipulation of the Passover-dating that originated centuries AD. I have challenged many scholars to present but a single authentic 'Saddusaic' illustration of the 'always after the weekly Sabbath'-idea of the Day of First Sheaf Wave Offering. Allow me to supply you this little information surer than the Laws of Newton: It does not exist in the Scriptures; and it did not exist before those Jews deep into the Christian era have made mention of it!
Allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves, and there's NO discrepancy or difficulty in the chronological sequence the Scriptures create and follow!
Thursun
With all respect, Matt. 12:39-40 and Lev. 23. Let the Scriptures speak for itself, in its own context, and not attempt to read into it what we may wish to see. This was written by Moses, who was quoting a pretty good source, I think.
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The
feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.
The Sabbath
3 ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
The Passover and Unleavened Bread
4 ‘These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at
their appointed times. 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’”
The Feast of Firstfruits
9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a
statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The Feast of Weeks
15 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD. 17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD. 18 And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the LORD. 19 Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. 20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’”
The Feast of Trumpets
23 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an