Beth Elohim Messianic Synagogue
Was Yahshua Crucified on Friday, or was it Wednesday?
Traditionally, Good Friday is supposed to be the day on which Yahshua was crucified. Yet, Yahshua said he would be in the heart, or the belly of the earth three days and three nights. There is no possible way, by any stretch of the imagination, that someone can calculate three days and three nights from Friday night to Sunday morning, no matter what calculations are used. Nevertheless, Christians go along, year after year, tradition after tradition, following this incorrect calculation and belief. Let me remind you that our G-d, the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a G-d of detail, free from inaccuracy. G-d does not make mistakes, and Yahshua did not change the rules during his time on earth for our shopping convenience! Either He was or He wasn’t in Sheol for three days and three nights and we must be able to find our proof in the Bible.
Let us read Matthew 12:38-40“At this, some of the Torah –teachers said, ‘Rabbi, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.’ “He replied,” A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign? No! None will be given to it but the sign of the prophet Yonah. For just as Yonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.”
Let us read Matthew 27:62-64 “Next day, after the preparation, the head Cohanim and the P’rushim went together to Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember that the deceiver said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be raised.’ Therefore, in order that the grave be made secure till the third day; otherwise the talmidim may come, steal him away and say to the people, ‘He was raised from the dead’; and the last deception will be worse than the first.”
Notice that these were those who would distract people from Yahshua, those who were opposed to his ministry and opposed to His claims as the Messiah. Out of their mouths came what they heard very clearly that Yahshua said, “After here days I will rise again.”
Reading Mark 8:31 we learn “ He began teaching them>[talmidim] that the Son of Man had to endure much suffering and be rejected by the elders, the head Cohanim and the Torah –teachers; and that he had to be put to death; but that after three days, he had to rise again. He spoke very plainly about it.”
So, what is the explanation for the three days? Is there an inaccuracy in the Bible? Of course not. Easter and all the peripheral symbols and dates are not Biblically based. Easter and everything about it is based on tradition and an amalgamation of pagan worship and doctrine, relative to the Vestal Virgins of Babylon and the goddess of fertility all packed up in the celebration of “Easter.” It has infiltrated into the church system to water down the reality of the resurrection and make a mockery in the eyes of the world. The fact is that Yahshua, G-d incarnate, the only begotten Son, the Son of Man rose triumphantly over the grave, death, and hell, never to die again.
Mark 15:42-43 reads “Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before Shabbat), as evening approached, Yosef of Ramatayim, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who himself was looking for the Kingdom of G-d, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Yahshua’s body.”
This is where religious tradition gets the idea that Yahshua was crucified on Friday; it said the next day was the Sabbath and it would be if we are talking about the weekly Saturday Sabbath. Note the words “preparation” and “a Sabbath.” John 19:14 reads “And it was the Preparation Day for Pesach (Passover).” This is when Pilate handed Yahshua over to have him crucified. This is referring to the very same event that is recorded in Mark’s Gospel, only in this account the Holy Spirit specifies what the Preparation Day is for. It is not the weekly Sabbath, but the preparation for the Passover Sabbath.
Now we need to see that the Passover is a Sabbath. In fact, the Jews had more than one Sabbath day and this is the source of confusion. Tradition has assumed that this was the Saturday Sabbath, but preparation on Friday could not be possible. Why? Because you cannot add three days and three nights to Friday and still end up on Sunday morning. Yahshua very clearly stated that the only sign He would give would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Let us go back to Leviticus for a moment and read about the mandated festivals. “Leviticus 23:1 reads: “Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Tell the people of Israel: The designated times of Adonai which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are my designated times.” Work is to be done on six days; but the seventh day is a Shabbat of complete rest, a holy convocation; you are not to do any kind of work; it is a Shabbat for Adonai, even in your homes.”
This is talking about the Saturday Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath. It is called a day of rest; a Holy Convocation. Keep in mind that “ye shall do no work therein. It is a Sabbath of the L-rd in all your dwellings.” These are the feasts of the L-rd, even Holy Convocations; even the Sabbaths! These shall be proclaimed in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first day at even in the L-rd’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread. In the first day ye shall do no servile work therein. This is in reference to the Preparation Day of the Passover, or the first day of Passover, referred to as a Holy Convocation, or Sabbath.
Leviticus 23:27 speaks if a Day of Atonement, and Holy Convocation [meaning Sabbath]; verses 38-39 make references to Sabbaths in the pleural; more than one. These scriptures provide ample proof that there is more than one Sabbath.
The Passover was a shadow of the type of Yahshua. Yahshua is our Passover Lamb; our substitute, perfect without blemish; an Olah offering unto G-d. He freed our people from Egypt then and from spiritual Egypt now if we spiritually place the blood of the Lamb on our doorposts and accept the sacrifice. John the Baptist called Yahshua the Lamb of G-d which taketh away the sin of the world. Yahshua was the Passover Lamb. When G-d told the children of Israel to place the blood of the lambs on the doorposts it was the fourteenth of Nissan. I submit it was the 14th of Nissan when Yahshua was crucified, consistent with the rest of G-d’s Torah. This fulfills every detail of the shadow described in the Old Testament; the Passover Lamb taking away the sin of the world separating the believers from the sinful nation and way of life in which they were enslaved.
The death of Yahshua was the fulfillment of the Passover. In the year Yahshua was crucified, the 14th day of Nissan when the Lamb was to be slain was a Wednesday, NOT a Friday.
At evening or sundown at the end of the day (remember the day ended at 6:00 PM in the evening and the night began as states the Bible), they took his body down form the execution stake. They took him down because they could not allow bodies to remain on the stake during that particular Holy Convocation, or Sabbath. Why? Because it was the Passover, and they had to remove his body. That was a Wednesday night. Wednesday night was the first night in the grave, and Thursday the first day. Thursday night was the second night in the grace, and Friday was the second day. Friday night was the third night in the grave, and Saturday was the third day. When the women came to the tomb, they had to wait for the weekly Sabbath to pass by. The end of the Sabbath would technically have been at 6:00 PM Saturday evening. The Bible states in Luke 23:54-56 that” It was Preparation Day, and a Shabbat was about to begin. The women who had come with Yahshua from the Galil followed; they saw the tomb and how his body was placed in it. Then they went back home to prepare spices and ointments. “On Shabbat the women rested, in obedience to the commandment.” Reading on to Luke 24 and forward: “but the next day, while it was still very early, they took the spices they had prepared, went to the tomb, and found the stone rolled away from the tomb!
The women were told by the two men that “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has been raised! (Luke 24:5). Yahshua was already risen when they came which was as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week. So, Yahshua rose from the grave sometime after sundown Saturday and sunrise on Sunday. Mark 16:9 reads “When Yahshua rose early on Sunday, he appeared first to Miryam of Magdala from whom he had expelled seven demons.” Knowing that a day begins at sundown, this account is consistent with the others. Any time after sundown Saturday would be considered Sunday. Finally, Matt. 28:1 reads: “After Shabbat, as the next day was dawning, Miryam of Magdala and the other Miryam went to see the grave. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, for an angel of Adonai came down from heaven, rolled away the stone and sat on it.” Note that the scripture says “After Shabbat (Sabbath). It does not say “After Shabbat (Sabbath). The article “a” is yet another subtle but important indicator that the Sabbath spoken of at the time of Yahshua’s crucifixion was not the weekly Sabbath. Rather, it was a Sabbath associated with Passover.
Biblically, there is no such thing as “Good Friday.” Yahshua did not die on Friday. He died on Wednesday, the 14 day of Nissan, perfectly and accurately fulfilling the shadow and type if the Passover Lamb in the Old Testament.
Shalom v’brachas,
Rabbi Tamah Davis-Hart