A CHRONICLE OF THE DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again THE THIRD DAY according to the scriptures:" 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 The Apostle Paul

The Jewish calendar is lunisolar; that is, the MONTHS are reckoned according to the MOON, and the year of twelve or thirteen months, according to the sun.

The seventh day sabbath is according to the sun. It is from sunset of the sixth day to sunset of the seventh day.

The festival sabbaths are according to the moon. The Festal year begins with the new moon of Nisan.

Passover = Nisan 14

Feast of Unleavened Bread = Nisan 15. (No work was done on Nisan 15)

Wave Sheaf of FIRSTFRUITS = Nisan 16

According to the scriptures, Christ arose from the dead on Nisan 16 --not a Saturday or Sunday that are reckoned by the sun!

THE DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD; THE PREPARATION FOR THE PASSOVER

Here in the gospel of Luke we see Jesus giving instructions regarding this preparation of Nisan 13:

“Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover.” Luke 22:7-13

AFTER THE SUNSET OF NISAN 13, THE PASSOVER BEGINS WITH THE LAST SUPPER

Matthew 26-26-25; Mark 14:17-21; Luke 22:14, 21-23 John Chapters 13 through 17

Jesus Died about the ninth hour of Nisan 14.

“And about the NINTH HOUR Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46

“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” Matthew 27:50

(It important to know that Passover is a working day and is the preparation day for the festival Sabbath of Nisan 15,)

“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.” John 19:31-36

JESUS WAS BURIED ON NISAN 14

Joseph of Arimathaea had only about three hours before sunset to claim the body of Jesus and place it in his tomb that was nearby.

“When the EVEN was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.” Matthew 27:57-60

EVEN G3798

opsios
Thayer Definition:
1) late
2) evening
2a) either from three to six o’clock p.m.
2b) from six o’clock p.m. to the beginning of night
Part of Speech: adjective
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from G3796

JESUS WAS BURIED FOR A PORTION OF NISAN 14
JESUS WAS BURIED THE NIGHT AND DAY OF NISAN 15
JESUS WAS BURIED FOR A PORTION OF NISAN 16

Yet, Jesus said this to the scribes and the Pharisees:

“Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:38-40

The answer to this dilemma is that Jesus was buried the same length of time as Jonas was in the whale’s belly and we must understand how the Jews reckoned time in this kind of situation. Please read my footnotes.

THE DAY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION IS NISAN 16

(Nisan 16 starts the seven week count to Pentecost.)

CHRIST ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the FIRSTFRUITS of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ THE FIRSTFRUITS; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.

“Now when Jesus was risen early the first [day] of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” Mar 16:9

The word [day] was added by the translators.

According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words:

SABBATON is used (a) in the ***plural*** in the phrase "the first day of the week"

Let us see what happens if we omit the word [day] and translate sabbaton in the ***plural***:

It would read: "the first of the weeks" [which is Nisan 16, THE WAVE SHEAF OF FIRST FRUITS.]

Nisan 16 is the "morrow after the sabbath" of Nisan 15. The Feast Of Pentecost is seven weeks from Nisan 16. (Leviticus 23). Nisan 16 is not associated with a certain day of the week like Saturday or Sunday because it is calculated from the appearance of the new moon!

Donna Kupp

Notes: Matthew 12:40 - three days and three nights

JAMIESON

"The period during which He was to lie in the grave is here expressed in round numbers, according to Jewish way of speaking, which was to regard any part of a day, however small, included within a period of days as a full day." (Jamieson et al)

WESLEY

“Matthew 12:40 Three days and three nights - It was customary with the eastern nations to reckon any part of a natural day of twenty - four hours, for the whole day. Accordingly they used to say a thing was done after three or seven days, if it was done on the third or seventh day, from that which was last mentioned. Instances of this may be seen, 1Ki_20:29; and in many other places. And as the Hebrews had no word to express a natural day, they used night and day, or day and night for it. So that to say a thing happened after three days and three nights, was with them the very same, as to say, it happened after three days, or on the third day. See Est_4:16; Est_5:1; Gen_7:4, Gen_7:12; Exo_24:18; Exo_34:28. Jon_2:1.” Wesley

BARNES
“Three days and three nights - It will be seen in the account of the resurrection of Christ that he was in the grave but two nights and a part of three days. See Mat_18:6. This computation is, however, strictly in accordance with the Jewish mode of reckoning. If it had “not” been, the Jews would have understood it, and would have charged our Saviour as being a false prophet, for it was well known to them that he had spoken this prophecy, Mat_27:63. Such a charge, however, was never made; and it is plain, therefore, that what was “meant” by the prediction was accomplished. It was a maxim, also, among the Jews, in computing time, that a part of a day was to be received as the whole. Many instances of this kind occur in both sacred and profane history. See 2Ch_10:5, 2Ch_10:12; Gen_42:17-18. Compare Est_4:16 with Est_5:1.” Barnes

ADAM CLARKE

Matthew 12:40 
Three days and three nights - Our Lord rose from the grave on the day but one after his crucifixion: so that, in the computation in this verse, the part of the day on which he was crucified, and the part of that on which he rose again, are severally estimated as an entire day; and this, no doubt, exactly corresponded to the time in which Jonah was in the belly of the fish. Our Lord says, As Jonah was, so shall the Son of man be, etc. Evening and morning, or night and day, is the Hebrew phrase for a natural day, which the Greeks termed ??????????, nuchthemeron. The very same quantity of time which is here termed three days and three nights, and which, in reality, was only one whole day, a part of two others, and two whole nights, is termed three days and three nights, in the book of Esther: Go; neither eat nor drink Three Days, Night or Day, and so I will go in unto the king: Est_4:16. Afterwards it follows, Est_5:1. On the Third Day, Esther stood in the inner court of the king’s house. Many examples might be produced, from both the sacred and profane writers, in vindication of the propriety of the expression in the text. For farther satisfaction, the reader, if he please, may consult Whitby and Wakefield, and take the following from Lightfoot.
“I. The Jewish writers extend that memorable station of the unmoving sun, at Joshua’s prayer, to six and thirty hours; for so Kimchi upon that place: ‘According to more exact interpretation, the sun and moon stood still for six and thirty hours: for when the fight was on the eve of the Sabbath, Joshua feared lest the Israelites might break the Sabbath; therefore he spread abroad his hands, that the sun might stand still on the sixth day, according to the measure of the day of the Sabbath, and the moon according to the measure of the night of the Sabbath, and of the going out of the Sabbath, which amounts to six and thirty hours.’
“II. If you number the hours that pass from our Savior’s giving up the ghost upon the cross to his resurrection, you shall find almost the same number of hours; and yet that space is called by him three days and three nights, whereas two nights only came between, and one complete day. Nevertheless, while he speaks these words, he is not without the consent both of the Jewish schools and their computation. Weigh well that which is disputed in the tract Scabbath, concerning the separation of a woman for three days; where many things are discussed by the Gemarists, concerning the computation of this space of three days. Among other things these words occur: R. Ismael saith, Sometimes it contains four ????? onoth, sometimes five, sometimes six. But how much is the space of an ???? onah? R. Jochanan saith, Either a day or a night. And so also the Jerusalem Talmud: ‘R. Akiba fixed a Day for an onah, and a Night for an onah.’ But the tradition is, that R. Eliazar ben Azariah said, A day and a night make an onah: and a Part of an onah is as the Whole. And a little after, R. Ismael computed a part of the onah for the whole.” Thus, then, three days and three nights, according to this Jewish method of reckoning, included any part of the first day; the whole of the following night; the next day and its night; and any part of the succeeding or third day.” Clarke

Let us serve our risen Lord in the beauty of holiness.

dk