Good Thursday Not Good Friday                                            

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                                                                      by Ted Montgomery

The Timeline and the Passover Found Here

Evidences

An Overview

Jesus was crucified and died on the same day the Passover lamb was sacrificed at the temple in Jerusalem.  Traditionally, this has been thought to have occurred on a Friday.  However, I would like to demonstrate that Jesus’ crucifixion and death occurred, instead, on the day before: Thursday.  My Final Week Chart, near the bottom of this page, displays my depiction of the week during which

  1. Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey (on Palm Sunday, Aviv 10),

  2. He was crucified four days later (on Thursday, Aviv 14), and

  3. He was resurrected from the dead on the third day after that (on Sunday, Aviv 17).

The first two points are a fulfillment of (Exodus 12:2,3,6), where the first Passover lambs were to be taken in on the tenth of the first month (Aviv or Nisan) and slaughtered four days later, on the fourteenth day of the month.  The third point is a fulfillment of Jesus’ own prophecy:  “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).

Some believe that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday.  The crucifixion not on Wednesday section demonstrates why I am convinced this was not the case.

Pesach or Passover

While the Israelites were being held captive in Egypt, God described to Moses and Aaron how the first Passover would take place (Exodus 12:1-28), after which all the firstborn of the Egyptians were struck down by the Lord, and then the Israelites were able to make their Exodus out of Egypt (12:29-51).  On Aviv (or Nisan) 10, each household was to take in a lamb without defect.  Each lamb was to be cared for, for four days, by a family (or two neighboring families) until Aviv 14, on which day the lamb would be slaughtered (sacrificed) at “twilight,” which was at mid-afternoon, not at sunset or dusk (see Twilight).  A hyssop branch was to be dipped into the blood of each lamb and the blood placed on the lintel (top of the door-frame) and on each door-jamb (two side-posts of the door-frame) of every Hebrew house (12:3-7).

I believe it can be assumed that at least one or two drops of the blood would have dripped from the top of the doorway to the bottom.  (Thus, the blood on the four sides of each door-frame would have demarcated a cross .)  Later, every family was to roast its lamb over a fire and eat it; it had to be fully cooked, even the inner parts (Exodus 12:8,9).  Traditionally, to cook it evenly inside, as well as outside, a wooden stake was driven vertically through the lamb, while another stake was inserted horizontally.  (Note, again, that the configuration of the stakes formed a cross .)

At midnight (on Aviv 15, since the Jewish day begins at sunset), the Lord allowed the “destroyer” (death angel) to strike dead the firstborn of every household in the land which did not have blood applied to the doorway.  But the homes where the blood was present were passed over (thus the name, “Passover” or Pesach) and were not disturbed (Exodus 12:23).  In every Egyptian dwelling (including Pharaoh’s palace), each firstborn son, as well as the firstborn of every kind of animal, was killed (11:5, 12:12,29,30).  However, no one in any Jewish family, nor any of their livestock, was harmed (11:7, 12:13,23,27).  When Pharaoh discovered that even his own firstborn son was dead, as prophesied (4:23), he finally told Moses to take the Israelites and their livestock and leave (12:31,32).

Sacrificing the Pesach or Passover lamb on Aviv 14 was a ceremony to be observed as a lasting ordinance for all subsequent generations (Exodus 12:24,25; Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16; Deuteronomy 16:1,2,5,6).  It was to be a reminder to them of God’s special care and concern for, as well as deliverance of, His chosen people—chosen to be the agents through whom He later would reveal His great and wonderful Plan of salvation to those in the world who willingly would accept and embrace it.


Parallels between Jesus and the Passover lamb

It was on Aviv 10 (Palm Sunday) that the procession of the national Passover lamb for Israel was taking place.  The lamb, which was being taken to the temple in Jerusalem (to be the public sacrifice for all of Israel, four days later, on Aviv 14), was led into the city from the east.  The lamb was met by crowds of people waving palm branches and joyously singing Psalm 118 as they remembered God’s miraculous delivery of their ancestors from the clutches of the Egyptian Pharaoh.  One passage being sung was, “Oh Lord, please save us, Oh Lord, please save us.  Oh Lord, send us prosperity, Oh Lord, send us prosperity.  Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord,” an expansion of the psalmic verses, “Oh Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 118:25,26).

Following the procession of the Passover lamb, Jesus made His final entrance from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21:1-11)—as had been prophesied long before (Zechariah 9:9)—indicating that He was coming humbly, in peace.  He followed exactly the same path to the temple that the Passover lamb had just taken.  The crowds of people, most of whom had witnessed or known of Jesus’ great miracles, placed more palm branches on the pathway in front of Him (thus, the name “Palm Sunday”) and shouted to Him as He passed, “‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’  ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’  ‘Hosanna in the highest!’” (Matthew 21:7-9).  (“Hosanna” or Hoshana means “Deliver us!”)

For four days, the Pesach lamb was kept in public view at the temple for everyone to examine to make sure that it was perfect and without defect.  During the same four days, the chief priests, elders, Pharisees, and Sadducees interrogated Jesus; but He always left them speechless, because they could find no fault with His impeccable logic and character (Matthew 21:23-27, 22:23-46, 26:59,60).  Moreover, after Jesus was arrested, Pilate (governor of Jerusalem) and Herod (governor of Galilee) could find no evidence against Him nor fault with Him (Matthew 27:22,23; Luke 23:4; John 19:4,6).  This is because Jesus was perfect and without defect, just as the Passover lamb was expected to be.

The Passover lamb was to be sacrificed in the temple on Aviv 14 at “twilight” (Exodus 12:6), or at the “twain of the evening.”  In Hebrew, this is translated, bain ha’arbayim, or “between the evenings.”  The last half of the daylight hours (from about noon to 6:00 p.m.) was further divided into two parts: the minor evening oblation (noon to 3:00 p.m.) and the major evening oblation (3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.).  Thus, “between the evenings” means between these two periods, or about 3:00 p.m.  This was the time midway between the beginning of the sun’s descent into the west (about noon) and its setting (about 6:00 p.m.).  So the Passover lamb was killed at about 3:00 p.m. on Aviv 14.

The Passover lamb in the temple was bound to the altar at about 9:00 a.m.  Similarly, “It was the third hour when they crucified [Jesus]” (Mark 15:25); that is, it was the third hour of daylight, or about 9:00 a.m.  Darkness came over the land (not explainable by a solar eclipse, because there was a full moon rather than a new moon) from about the sixth to the ninth hour (noon to 3:00 p.m.); and it was about 3:00 p.m. that Jesus died (Luke 23:44-46)—the same time that the sacrificial Passover lamb in the temple was slaughtered.  As the high priest killed the lamb, he would have announced, “It is finished.”  It is no accident that, on the cross a few miles away, Jesus’ last words also were, “It is finished” (John 19:30), which literally meant, “Paid in full.”

Now, recall the two “cross” configurations mentioned in the previous section.  Jesus was sacrificed on a wooden cross, as was the Passover lamb impaled on a wooden cross to be roasted.  Also, the blood stains of Jesus’ head, hands, and feet on the cross matched the locations of the blood of the lamb on the doorframe (top, sides, and bottom) of each Jewish family’s house in Egypt.

Finally, it was forbidden that any of the Passover lamb’s bones be broken (Exodus 12:46).  After the crucifixion, the legs of the two criminals crucified along with Jesus were broken to ensure that they would die (by suffocation) quickly, as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Aviv 15, was soon to begin at sunset.  But Jesus already was dead, so they did not break His legs (John 19:31-33).  Indeed, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

It might be added that it often took two or three days for a person to die on a cross.  But it took Jesus—a strong, healthy man—only six hours to die.  Besides the fact that he had been severely flogged and beaten beyond recognition (Isaiah 52:14), He had more appointments to keep.  Jesus had said, “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.  I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again” (John 10:18).  Moments before Jesus died, mid-afternoon on Aviv 14, He called out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46); then He voluntarily gave up his Spirit (Matthew 27:50).  He knew He had to keep the appointment of dying at the same time as the Passover lamb in the temple, as well as to leave time to be buried before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began at sunset.


Crucifixion not on Friday

Traditionally, it has been accepted that Jesus was crucified on “Good Friday.”  The assumption for this is based upon the fact that, after Jesus’ death, the Jews asked that all crucified bodies be taken down from the crosses, in respect for the Sabbath which began at sunset and continued through the next day (John 19:31a).  Also, other passages state that it was the Preparation Day, the day before the Sabbath which was about to begin (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54).

Because the usual weekly Sabbath began at sunset after Friday was over, it easily could be (and traditionally has been) assumed that Jesus died on Friday.  Had Jesus died on Friday, though, He would have been in the grave for portions of only 2 days (the rest of Friday and all day Saturday) and 2 nights (the beginning of Saturday and the beginning of Sunday—see the Final Week chart).  Thus, His own prophecy (“...the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”—Matthew 12:40) would not  have been fulfilled.

Actually, though, the Sabbath referred to in this case is “Shabbaton,” which included one of the “special” or “high” Sabbaths occurring each year.  This was a day on which a sacred assembly was to be held and no regular work was to be done (Leviticus 23:6,7)—which, by definition, is a “Sabbath of rest” (23:3).  According to John, the crucifixion day “...was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath...” (John 19:31).  The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 15), the “special” Sabbath under consideration, began at sunset after the day of Passover or Preparation (Aviv 14) had ended.

Passover (Aviv 14) was referred to as the “day of Preparation” (John 19:14,42), because it was the day the Passover lamb was slain in preparation for the evening meal, eaten after sunset (when Aviv 15 began).  Thus, in that particular year, there were two Sabbaths in a row: Aviv 15 (a special Sabbath) and Aviv 16 (the regular weekly Sabbath).  This further is inferred in Matthew’s account by the statement, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week...” (Matthew 28:1a).  Here, “Sabbath” is a mistranslation into English; the Greek reads “Shabbaton” (σάββατον) (sabbaton, 4521), not “Shabbat”, thus indicating that more than one Sabbath (both a High Sabbath plus the weekly Sabbath) had passed since Jesus’ crucifixion.


Passover and crucifixion on Thursday

Three Gospel accounts, as translated directly from the Greek, indicate that it was the “first day” or the “day” of unleavened bread, the same day the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, when Jesus told Peter and John to go to a certain man in the city to arrange for them to eat the Passover meal at his house.  However, in the translations to English of two Gospel accounts, there is a mistranslation:  “On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread...” (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12).  Here is a direct translation from the Greek of the first portion of each verse:

Now on the first [day] of unleavened bread... (Matthew 26:17)
And on the first day of unleavened bread... (Mark 14:12).

In neither case is the word “feast” present, because this was not the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Not only was it permissible to eat unleavened bread on the day of Passover, but this frequently was (and still is) done.  So, although unleavened bread is eaten on Passover, the actual feast technically did/does not begin until sunset, following the day of Passover.

In Mark’s account, the sentence continues, “...when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb....” (Mark 14:12).  This obviously could not  have been the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 15), since it has been shown that the Passover lamb was sacrificed the day before—that is, on Preparation day (Aviv 14).

Only in the third Gospel account is the translation from Greek to English correct:  “Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed” (Luke 22:7).  Now, the day the Passover lamb was sacrificed (Preparation Day) always was Aviv 14 (Exodus 12:6).  Here, it is clear that this is the “first [day] of unleavened bread,” since unleavened bread commonly was (and is) eaten on this date, as it was/is for the next seven days during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The fourth Gospel account correctly notes that the time was “...before the Passover Feast” (John 13:1).  The feast began on the 15th, which was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Jesus seemed to display a sense of urgency in saying that His appointed time to leave the world (be killed) was near (Matthew 26:18; John 13:1).  He was eager to celebrate the Passover with His disciples before He suffered (Luke 22:15).  Jesus had in mind that He must die that very date (Aviv 14)—being the Passover Lamb for humanity (1 Corinthians 5:7b)—at the same time that Israel’s annual Passover lamb was slain.

Jesus would have known that He would be unable to eat the traditional Passover meal the following night (Aviv 15), because He would not then be alive.  Since Jesus, being Jewish (in the flesh), celebrated every Jewish festival and holy day, He would have insisted on observing the Passover meal, albeit early.  (Twice in the past, the Passover had been celebrated one month late—Numbers 9:6-11; 2 Chronicles 30:2,3,15.  So it was entirely permissible for Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, to observe it one day early.)

The Festival (or Feast) of Unleavened Bread began on Aviv 15 and lasted for 7 days (Exodus 12:15,16; Leviticus 23:6).  On Aviv 15, a sacred assembly was to be held and no work was to be done (23:7)—which, by definition, is a Sabbath (23:3), in this case a “special” Sabbath (John 19:31).  (No work was to be done on the first day and on the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Aviv 15 and 21, other than to “prepare food for everyone to eat”—Exodus 12:16.  This did not  include the slaughtering of the Passover lamb, which had to be performed on Aviv 14—Preparation Day.)  Aviv 15 was a special  Sabbath, immediately following Preparation day, Aviv 14 (23:5), on which the Passover began when the lamb was slaughtered in the mid-afternoon (that is, at “twilight”).

Therefore, it would have been in the evening, at the beginning of Thursday, Aviv 14 (immediately after sunset following Wednesday, Aviv 13), when Jesus instructed His disciples to go make preparations to eat the Passover meal, albeit 24 hours earlier than usual.  The large upper room, where Jesus and the disciples ate their Passover Seder (the “Last Supper”), already was furnished and ready (Mark 14:15,16; Luke 22:12,13).  Thus, the preparations would not have taken long; and the meal could have been eaten that very night, Aviv 14.  This would have permitted Jesus to be nailed to the cross hours later, at about 9:00 a.m.

Traditionally, a “day” can be any portion of a day, and a “night” can be any portion of a night.  With the death of Jesus being in the mid-afternoon (bain ha’arbayim or “twilight”—about 3:00 p.m.) on Good Thursday, Aviv 14, at the very time the Pesach lamb was sacrificed in the temple, Jesus’ prophecy (Matthew 12:40) would have been fulfilled properly.  This is because His body would have been in the grave for portions of 3 days and 3 nights (the rest of Thursday, all night/day Friday, all night/day Saturday, and into the night-time hours of Sunday).  This would have allowed Jesus to be resurrected sometime between sunset following Saturday, Aviv 16, and sunrise on the first day of the week: Sunday, Aviv 17.  (See the Final Week chart.)


Crucifixion Was not on Wednesday

Some believe that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday.  I disagree.  Here are a few questions that have been proposed to me, along with my responses:

1) Doesn’t Jesus’ prophecy, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40), imply a 3-day (or at least a 72-hour) time interval in the tomb?

Traditionally, any part  of a day or night was considered to be a “day” or a “night.”  There is no stipulation anywhere indicating that Jesus had to have been “in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40) for a minimum of 72 hours (which is 24 hours × 3).

We know that it was the ninth hour of daylight (about 3:00 p.m.) that Jesus died (Matthew 27:45-50; Mark 15:33-37; Luke 23:44-46).  If this were at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and assuming the 72-hour time limit, then the latest  Jesus could have risen would have been at mid-afternoon on Saturday.  Surely the guards (and others nearby) would have been awake during daylight hours and, presumably, would have seen Jesus emerging from the tomb, or at least would have seen the stone being rolled away.

Even without the 72-hour time constraint, if Jesus had died at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday and had risen sometime after sunset following Saturday, this would have comprised parts of four days and four nights (the remainder of Wednesday, all night and all day Thursday, all night and all day Friday, all night and all day Saturday, and the beginning of the night on Sunday), nullifying Jesus’ prophecy.  Thinking that there must  be three full  days and three full  nights, in my opinion, is an attempt to force Jesus’ prophecy to comply with one’s personal preferences and wishes.

If I say, “I visited my friend in the hospital yesterday and last night,” it does not necessarily mean that I had to have been there from dawn yesterday morning to dawn this morning—one entire day and one entire night, or 24 hours.  In fact, anyone listening to me most likely would have assumed that I was not  there that entire time.  I could have gone there at 9:00 in the morning and left at noon, then gone again at 6:00 p.m. and left at 9:00 p.m., which meant that I was there only part  of a day and part  of a night.

If Jesus died on Thursday at about 3:00 p.m. (at “,” halfway between the minor evening oblation from noon to 3:00 p.m. and the major evening oblation from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.), and since He would have had to have been buried prior to sunset (which began the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a special Sabbath—), then He would have been in the earth the remainder of Thursday, the night and day of Friday, the night and day of Saturday, and some part of the night after sunset, beginning Sunday.  This qualifies as “three days and three nights.”  (See the

Isaac was a “type” of Jesus.  In the eyes of God, Isaac was Abraham’s only legitimate son (Genesis 22:16); and Abraham was willing to offer him as a sacrifice.  God told Abraham to go to Moriah and sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering (22:2).  At that point, Isaac’s fate was sealed; for all intents and purposes, he was dead.

The next morning (the first day after the commandment for Isaac to die), Abraham saddled his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants (Genesis 22:3).  On the third day, after they had reached their destination, Abraham told his servants to stay where they were while he and Isaac went to worship (at which time Isaac’s sacrifice would take place), after which they would return (22:4).  Abraham believed that if he were to follow through with sacrificing Isaac, God would resurrect him (Hebrews 11:19), and the two of them would return together.

We do not know on which day of the week God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac; but, for a moment, let us assume that it was a Thursday.  Essentially, that  was the day of Isaac’s sacrifice, because God had commanded it, and only God can rescind His own command.

It was the next day—the first day after the command to sacrifice Isaac—that Abraham and Isaac set out for Moriah.  On our proposed time line, this would have been Friday.  It was on the third day that Isaac’s reprieve from God came; and Isaac, in effect, was raised from death (Hebrews 11:19) on that day.  If Friday had been the first day after Isaac’s “sacrifice,” Saturday would have been the second day, and Sunday (Isaac’s “resurrection day”) would have been the third day.


2) Your premise that Jesus died on a Thursday is based upon the assumption that He rose on a Sunday.  How do we know that Jesus rose on a Sunday?  What if, instead, he rose during Saturday afternoon or Saturday night, in which case the crucifixion would have taken place on a Wednesday, rather than on a Thursday or a Friday?

There are several reasons why I am convinced that Jesus rose from the dead sometime after sunset following Saturday, Aviv 16, at which time Sunday, Aviv 17, had begun.

As long as Jesus rose at some point after the previous sunset, which was the beginning of Sunday (and which began the final night of the "three days and three nights" sequence), then He rose on the first day of the week.  It doesn't matter whether he rose before or after midnight; either way, it still was on the first day of the week, as long as it was after sunset following Saturday.

Paul said,

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Jesus was the first-fruits from the dead of those who would rise and never would die again.  It is a fact that He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by rising from death on that day.  According to Leviticus 23:11, this is the day (Sunday) after the Sabbath (Saturday).  If there is any question whether this is referring to the regular weekly Sabbath, or to a special Sabbath, we just need to look a little further in Leviticus to find out.

The Feast of Weeks, also known as Shavuot or Pentecost, was to take place seven weeks following the Feast of First-fruits:

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.  Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.  From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of first-fruits to the LORD (Leviticus 23:15-17).

That is, counting the day after the regular weekly Sabbath as day #1, then day #50 (seven weeks later) would be the day that they were to present another firstfruits offering.  The latter was to be "the day after the seventh Sabbath," which also was a weekly Sabbath.  Shavuot/Pentecost always is on a Sunday.  Likewise, the Feast of Firstfruits (Resurrection Day) was, and is, on the the first day of the week: Sunday.


3) Do we have any Scripture to confirm whether Christ arose before or after midnight on Sunday?

No, but as long as He rose at some point after the previous sunset, which was the beginning of Sunday (and which began the final night of the “three days and three nights” sequence), then He rose on the first day of the week.  It doesn’t matter whether He rose before or after midnight; either way, it still was dark on the first day of the week, satisfying the third “night” of the Matthew 12:40 prophecy.


The Final Week