No one understands the Bible. Almost everyone admits it, and those few who don’t admit it… should. People study the Bible, learn it, memorize it, use it to make moral points… but they don’tUNDERSTAND it!
The reason is simple. Most people who read the Bible believe it is the infallible, inspired word of God.Which is good, so do I! But, while believing the Bible cannot be wrong, they ALSO are willing to believe that much of what it says IS wrong. For example, look at this scripture:
John 3:13 And no one has ever gone up to heaven but he who came down from heaven, the Son of man.Do you believe what that says? That NO ONE except Jesus has ever gone up to heaven? EVER?
Probably not. Most people believe the exact opposite – that all of the righteous dead have gone up to heaven.Remember, they claim to believe the Bible; they believe it is infallible; but they believe the exactopposite of what this scripture says! And so when people stumble upon verses like this that say strange things, they just assume that this scripture is mistranslated, inaccurate, or just plain wrong.
Remember, these are the same people who believe the Bible is infallible! Yet the first time the Bible says something difficult to understand, they simply brush it aside as inaccurate! To understand the Bible, you must TRUST the Bible! Can the word of God be broken? John 10:35.
This is something you’ll see a lot in this course, so I’ll explain it now. I’m going to ask you a question, like that, and then post a scripture after it. You’re supposed to turn to that verse in your own Bible – DON’T assume you know what it says! – and then you’ll see where the Bible answers that question. See? Simple! The Bible says NO, the scripture CANNOT be broken!
There are many keys to understanding the Bible which we will cover as you study these lessons, but the biggest one is the simplest: EVERY VERSE IS TRUE. You cannot use one scripture to wipe away another. If you could, then the scripture WOULD be broken, which God said can’t be done!
Let’s take a classic example, the words written over the cross. What, exactly, was written there? We could turn to dictionaries, we could Google the question, we could ask our pastor… or we could go to the original SOURCE, the ONLY record on the planet that was inspired by God and written by people who were actually THERE!
So we turn to the gospels. The four writers each told the story, so turn to your Bible and read Mark 15:26. Then read Matthew 27:37. Then read John 19:19. Finally, read Luke 23:38. Not one of these versions matches! So what did you read there? Four disagreeing versions? Four stories, told by fallible
men, at least three of whom were wrong? Or did you read four inspired perspectives on ONE truth? The way most of the world does Bible study, they pick the story they like and reject the ones which disagree; they make up reasons why this book was corrupted, that text was mistranslated, and that writer was biased to a certain viewpoint. And so, naturally, no one agrees on what it REALLY says… and, also naturally, no one understands what it says! How much of the Bible was inspired? How much of it is useful to us? 2 Timothy 3:16.
Remember, look up that verse to get the answer. Not MY answer, not your opinion, but GOD’S answer to YOUR question! And God’s answer is that ALL scripture was inspired by God, and ALL of it – that means EVERY WORD of EVERY VERSE – is profitable for our instruction!
So, knowing that all four versions of what was written on the cross are true, we’re going to go back and try a different method. We’re going to act like the Bible is all true. And instead of choosing one verse instead of another, we’re going to take ALL versions and ADD them together!
Mark 15:26 THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Luke 23:38 THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Matthew 27:37 THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
John 19:19 JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Only if we add them all together can we construct the COMPLETE TRUTH! And now it becomes so obvious any child can understand it! The original sign said “This is Jesus of Nazareth The King of the Jews”!
Every version is true, but ALL are incomplete! They must be harmonized, treated as a SINGLE truth, by a SINGLE, divine Author, in order for ANY of them to make sense! To understand the Bible on any subject you must find ALL the scriptures that have any bearing on the subject.
Then add up what ALL those scriptures say, and let each of them explain the other, until you are left with one inescapable truth. THAT is how you understand the Bible – whether it’s something trivial like the text of the sign over the cross, or something life-altering like the fate of the dead or the meaning of life!
MERGE AND HARMONIZE
Should you read the Bible as if it were words of fallible men, or words of God? 1 Thessalonians 2:13. To understand the word of God, how must you approach it? Isaiah 66:2. If you approach God’s word thinking you know more than He does, you will certainly fail to understand it! You must approach it humbly, trembling, EAGER to have it correct you! (Proverbs 15:33).
This is another thing you’ll see often in these lessons, so I’ll explain it now. When you see a scripture after a question mark, you’ll know that scripture answers the question that was just asked. But when you see a scripture in parentheses, you’ll know that scripture supports the statement that was just made.
Is God’s word reliable? Psalms 18:30. Some people may tell you we don’t have an accurate Bible today. Is God able – and willing – that His word should survive, and do what He intended for it to do? Isaiah 55:11. Has God’s word been corrupted, broken, or faded? Matthew 24:35. Can we be CERTAIN that we have the inspired testimony of God? Psalms 19:7.
This is how we solve problems – with honest Bible study, just asking the Bible the right questions. If God is omnipotent, then surely God was ABLE to keep a copy of the Bible around for us to study. God promised that His word would ACCOMPLISH what He sent it to do, and it would PROSPER! It can’t do that if it’s been corrupted and lost over the ages!
Most people have put together jigsaw puzzles, and they’re a good metaphor for understanding the Bible. How do you know you’ll get the full picture if some of the pieces are missing? You don’t! That’s why the Bible just told you all the pieces are still there!
The pieces are all there, and they all fit together. If you are trying to fit together a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit, a hammer is not the solution! Twisting, cutting, and forcing the piece to fit will NEVER make the right picture come to life!
So, if a scripture doesn’t fit your belief, should you twist it and force it to say what YOU want it to say? 2 Peter 3:16. There are some complicated topics in the Bible, some things “hard to be understood”. And those who are “unlearned and unstable” twist those things around to say things God never intended!
But if you’re putting a puzzle together and you can’t make a piece fit, what do you do? You lay it aside and work on something else until you have a better grasp of the big picture! Back to the first example given in this lesson, John 3:13, you could ignore that scripture; dismiss it; or say “oh, obviously Jesus didn’t mean NO ONE had gone to heaven!”
Or, you could TREMBLE before the word of God, humbly LISTEN to it, acknowledge that it is
inspired and true… and set it aside and study something else until you understand the big picture better! And that’s what we’re going to do. We won’t answer that scripture today, but when we do, we will use the merge and harmonize method you’ve learned here. First, we’ll find all the scriptures on the subject. If we’re studying heaven, then we might do a search
for “heaven”, “salvation”, “promise”, “with God”, and so on. Everything that talks about what we want to know. Then we’ll read what they all say with an open mind.
Then we’ll merge all of these scriptures into a single concept, making sure not to dismiss any of them as less important or less inspired. We’ll use the clearer, easier-to-follow scriptures to help us understand the vague, unclear scriptures.
We will set aside our own beliefs and preconceptions, we will ignore all doctrines of every church, we will dismiss anything written by church fathers, pastors, commentaries and so on as second-hand hearsay.
This is a BIBLE study course, not a doctrine study, opinion study, or a philosophical argument. The question is not “what do I believe?” The question is, and will always be, “WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?” You may not like what it says. You may decide to not DO what it says, but WHAT it says is EASY to prove IF you have ears to LISTEN to it! (Matthew 13:15-16).
So, we find all the scriptures, we read them for what they really say, we merge them, and finally we harmonize anything that doesn’t seem to fit with the others. We look at the apparent contradictions, we read the context and try to understand what God MEANT when He inspired that person to write those words! This is the only way to understand the Bible!
This correspondence course is not like any other you have ever read. I am not here to teach you church doctrines. I do not have a church I’m trying to get you to join. I don’t want your money.
But most importantly of all, I don’t want you to believe any man, especially me! Don’t believe me, believe your Bible! (Psalms 146:3).
My intention in this course is to let the Bible teach you, with as little interference from me as possible. So, if I make a statement, I expect you to challenge it. That’s why every important thing I say will have a reference to where the Bible supports that idea. If it doesn’t, feel free to ignore it!
I am not here to give you my answers. I am here to help you ask the Bible the right questions, so you can get the answers directly from God’s own lips. And when you get those answers, listen to them! Even if it means rejecting beliefs you’ve held all your life!
If you honestly study the Bible, you will learn shocking, exciting, terrifying, and beautiful new pieces of understanding. Not from me – but from the Bible. Things your church doesn’t know, things your friends don’t know… and things they will not like.
I want to propose a very serious question to you. What WON’T you do if God tells you to do it? What WON’T you accept, if God reveals it to be true? How much is TOO much to ask? Here, again, we can ask the Bible for the correct answer.
In John 6, Jesus had just finished telling a huge crowd of devout Jews that if they did not eat His flesh and drink His blood, they could not find salvation (verse 53 for instance). If you and I find that gross and unsettling, you can only imagine how the strict Jews of the day, who would not so much as eat a gnat (Matthew 23:24) would feel! How did they react? John 6:66.
But what did Jesus mean? Did He mean for them to become cannibals? John 6:60-63, Matthew 26:26- 28. Jesus was speaking not of the physical body and blood, but the spiritual. The symbols of which were given at the Passover service.
But most of the people, rather than ASK Him what He meant, left in horror. Rather than try to understand the whole story, they got stuck on one or two statements and ignored everything else! So, after all this, what did Jesus ask the disciples? John 6:67. And how did they respond? Verses 68-69.
Jesus KNEW this was shocking! He KNEW that the disciples would be tempted to leave, as all the others had left. He KNEW the disciples had to be thinking, “What will my friends think? They’ll be saying I’m in some cannibalistic cult!” But they didn’t leave! Why? Because they knew that HE HAD THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE, and no one else did!!
So I want to put you in the shoes of those disciples. You’re going to be studying the Bible in depth before this course is over. You’ll be hearing the words of life from Jesus, from Abraham, from David, and all the righteous men and women in the Bible. But many of the things you learn will be different from what you’ve heard before. Will you turn away from Jesus when that happens?
If you are given a choice between what you read in the Bible and what your church says, whom will you follow? Or what will you do when the Bible threatens your job, your marriage, your very life? I want you to seriously, prayerfully consider these questions. What YOU will do is up to you. But the right answer is, as always, found in the Bible. Ask Jesus these questions in Matthew 10:34-39. When you have that answer, proceed to study the next segment of this lesson.
HOW LONG WAS JESUS IN THE GRAVE?
The only correct method of Bible study is to find all the scriptures, read exactly what they say, merge them, and harmonize anything that doesn’t make sense. What’s left is the answer! You’ll be astonished at how easy it is to find it, once you start to trust the word of God, and listen to it!
The entire Christian world believes that Jesus died Good Friday afternoon, was in the tomb all day Saturday, and was resurrected Easter Sunday morning at the exact moment of dawn. But I want you to ask the Bible if that’s REALLY what happened… or not.
Again, I will not ask you to believe me. I will, however, expect you to believe your Bible, your own eyes, and simple logic. If you find an answer that is not what you have always believed, then think about that question I just asked you to ask yourself… will you also go away? (John 6:67).
The NT references Jesus’ death and resurrection many times, so there are a lot of scriptures to read. That’s good – this is a Bible STUDY course, after all! Fortunately, the references are mostly quite similar, and can be merged very easily, which is why this makes an excellent introductory lesson.
Read Matthew 12:38-40. The Jews wanted a sign to prove Jesus’ identity as Messiah, and He promised them ONE sign – the length of time He would be in the ground before He was resurrected. The sign was that He would be there for 3 days and 3 nights. This was a big deal, because this was the ONLY sign they were going to receive!
Now between the afternoon of Friday and dawn Sunday are about 40 hours. Three days and three nights is 72 hours! So why is it that the entire world believes something radically different from what the Bible says? Especially about such a crucial issue as their Savior’s ONLY PROOF that He was, indeed, their Savior!
But if you show this to any preacher, they will respond with the quick answer, “Oh, that was just a Greek idiom (slang expression)! He meant parts of three days and parts of three nights!” This is the answer he learned in seminary school. This is not something he learned from the Bible, which says no such thing!
This is what I meant about people not trusting the Bible, thinking they know more than it does. They are gladly willing to rewrite the Bible they CLAIM is infallible whenever what it says becomes inconvenient! But we will not be doing that. We will be merging and harmonizing instead.
First, let’s answer their argument. There is no evidence there WAS a Greek idiom. But let’s say they’re right. Let’s say there WAS such an idiom… in Greek. No one claims that the same idiom existed in Hebrew! But Jesus’ claim was based on an event recorded in Hebrew, in Jonah 1:17!
Read that, and you will see that Hebrew ALSO said, with no chance of an idiom, that Jonah was in the belly of the whale – just as Jesus said HE would be in the belly of the Earth – three days and three nights! And how many hours are there in a day? John 11:9-10. Jesus said that there are TWELVE hours in the day, and therefore TWELVE hours in the night! So if you go someplace for THREE DAYS and THREE NIGHTS, you will be there for 72 hours!
That was enough proof to discredit the idiom argument, but there is another way to prove it’s impossible. Hebrew days, which were observed by the Jews, are not like our modern days. When did the first day begin and end? Genesis 1:4-5. So first there was a darkness, then a light; and that made one complete 24-hour day.
When did the second day begin and end? Verse 8. When did the third day begin and end? Verse 13. When did days begin and end under Moses? Leviticus 23:32. So the days began at sundown, when the sun disappeared behind the horizon. The evening or dark period of the day came first, then dawn came, then the next sunset ended that day and began the next.
Go get a calendar, and divide Friday, Saturday, and Sunday into halves vertically. Shade the first half of each day with a marker to show that it was darkness. Now at 3PM Friday, which is towards the right side of the light portion, write “Jesus died”. At dawn Sunday – this is right on the line between dark and light on Sunday – write “Jesus resurrected”.
Now count the light and dark portions between those two events. WERE there parts of three days and parts of three nights?? Or were there only TWO full nights, and parts of TWO days!! Hopefully you’re starting to see what you’ve always been taught does not fit with this scripture.
WHEN DID THE CLOCK START?
Did “three days and three nights”, whatever it means, start with Jesus’ death, or with His burial? Again, go back to Matthew 12:40. This prophecy referred, not necessarily to the total time He was dead, but specifically to the total time He would be in the EARTH! In other words, His burial would last exactly 72 hours!
Some people have invented an argument, without any proof, that “the heart of the Earth” referred to is Jerusalem. There is absolutely no evidence for this. An argument with no evidence deserves no answer. Why was this argument concocted? To support a belief the Bible did not teach, but which they did not want to abandon!
Nonetheless, we can conclusively prove that the heart of the Earth referred to the grave. Remember, Jesus was making a comparison between Himself and Jonah, saying that Jonah’s experience in the belly of the whale was prophetic of His own experience in the tomb. So if we study Jonah’s experience, we’ll understand Jesus’ better!
Jonah 2:1-2 (Calvin Bible) And Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God from the belly of the fish, And said… FROM THE BELLY OF THE GRAVE I cried, thou didst hear my voice.
Whenever I use parentheses after a scripture reference like that, it means I’m quoting from a particular translation of the Bible, in this case, John Calvin’s. I use many translations, merging and harmonizing the translations to get the best sense of what the scripture really says. I usually start with the KJV, but it’s much less important what translation you read, than that you listen to what it says.
Back to Jonah, he clearly considered the whale’s belly as “the belly of the grave”. This was a PROPHECY of Jesus’ own time in the Earth’s belly – the grave! Verse 6 speaks of the “bars of the Earth” being around him forever, but then rejoices that God “brought up my life from corruption”! Compare that to the wording used about Jesus in…
Acts 2:31 (Murdoch) And he foresaw, and spoke of the resurrection of Messiah, that he WAS NOT LEFT IN THE GRAVE, neither did his body SEE CORRUPTION. So as Jonah was not left “in the belly of the grave”, but had his life “brought up from corruption”, so Jesus said He would be in the “heart of the Earth” for the same time as Jonah, 3 days and 3 nights!
Only AFTER which His soul would be brought up from the grave, lest His body “see corruption”, or start to decay! This means that the “clock” started when He was set in the tomb (1 Corinthians 15:4 ). When exactly was that? Luke 23:54, Mark 15:42, Matthew 27:57, John 19:42. Adding and merging these verses, we can only conclude that it was JUST before sundown beginning a Sabbath.
WHEN WAS JESUS RESURRECTED?
Was Jesus resurrected AT dawn, or before? John 20:1. So before dawn, while it was STILL DARK, Jesus was already resurrected. Theologians, trying to make the Bible fit their beliefs, come up with farfetched reasons why it might still be dark there even though they tell you this was after dawn. They are not trying to understand the Bible. They are trying to force the Bible to teach them what they want to hear! (2 Timothy 4:3).
But what does the Bible SAY? That it was STILL DARK! Had it dawned yet? Matthew 28:1. Was Jesus rising then? Verses 2-6. It had only BEGUN to dawn, it had not dawned yet. And Jesus was already LONG GONE! He had risen, folded His bedclothes neatly (John 20:5-7), left the tomb, and then when the women came later it was still DARK, only BEGINNING to dawn!
But again, read ALL the verses before you form a conclusion. So read Luke 24:1-6 and Mark 16:1-6. This was very early “at the rising of the sun”, or just as the sun was starting to rise – again, harmonizing all three versions. And again, He had ALREADY risen! Not ONE verse says that Jesus ROSE at dawn! In fact there is no verse in the Bible that records the moment of His resurrection! For example, look at Mark 16:9.
This does not say, as most people read it, “Jesus was rising early the first day of the week”. Read it again! It says “Jesus was risen”! The word is PAST TENSE! He had ALREADY RISEN by dawn, early on the first day of the week!
Based on these scriptures alone, we do not know the exact moment that He was risen, except that it was long enough before dawn to remove the linens that were painstakingly wound about His body (Luke 23:53). This cannot have been done in 5 minutes. Then at some later time, but still before dawn, the women came to the tomb. So the idea of a dawn resurrection is simply impossible to reconcile with the Bible.
MERGING THREE DAYS
But we haven’t done a proper study yet. Remember, we have to gather ALL the scriptures before we arrive at a conclusion! Read Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, 27:64. (Whenever you see a string of verses like that, they are all in the same book – in this case, Matthew). Then read Mark 9:31, 10:34, Luke 9:22, 13:32, 18:33, 24:7, 24:46, Acts 10:40, and 1 Corinthians
15:4. All 13 of these scriptures say that Jesus would be raised on or in “the third day”. So they can all be merged together as one fact: Jesus would be raised the third day. What exactly does that mean? The term is vague. Literally, the third day begins 48 hours from now, and ends 72 hours from now. (Compare to Genesis 1:13 again.) Anything in between those hours would fulfill this scripture and make it true.
Now read John 2:19, 21, Mark 14:58, 15:29, Matthew 26:61, 27:40, John 2:20. So here we have 7 verses which say Jesus would be resurrected IN or WITHIN three days. That literally means anything LESS than 72 hours. So far, these scriptures agree perfectly; but now we find something strange!
Read Mark 8:31 and Matthew 27:63. This appears to contradict the earlier verses! Shall we toss them out? Claim God didn’t preserve the Bible after all? Should we allow sheer force of numbers to make some scriptures less important? Do 20 scriptures saying Jesus would be resurrected in LESS than 72 hours trump 2 scriptures that say Jesus wouldn’t be resurrected until AFTER 72 hours? No! For the scripture CANNOT be broken!
The same Bible, written by the same God, inspired by the same holy spirit, can’t disagree with itself! So how can we make SENSE of this, without ignoring some of the scriptures and twisting others? How can we make them ALL AGREE?
The answer lies in the very first scripture we read – Matthew 12:40. There is only ONE way all 23 verses on this subject can agree; only ONE way to make the Bible make SENSE, and not abuse a single one of the scriptures!
The ONLY possible way to HARMONIZE every scripture is if Jesus Christ was resurrected EXACTLY 72 hours after He was laid in the grave! That makes it the third day (48-72 hours), it makes it within three days (72 hours or less), it makes it AFTER three days (72 hours or more), and it makes it 3 COMPLETE DAYS AND THREE COMPLETE NIGHTS, totaling 72 hours!
Isn’t the Bible a beautiful, amazing, awe-inspiring book, when you fully and truly UNDERSTAND IT, and allow it to explain ITSELF! When all the pieces of the giant puzzle come into place, they can fit in only ONE WAY, and you now know what that way is!
HARMONIZING
We have merged, and we have seen impressive agreement among all these scriptures when we just LISTEN to them. Now we harmonize, by looking at other scriptures which don’t seem to fit the picture we’ve just built. Scriptures which are not directly connected to the argument, but which have a bearing on it.
We usually do this simply by reading the scriptures, and most importantly READING THE CONTEXT. This is something I will be telling you a lot, because it is vitally important to understanding the Bible. If you take any book, any letter, any conversation, and pull 10 words out of the rest of the sentence you will MISS the point of what was said!
You cannot take any 5 or 10 words out of the Bible, put them on a billboard, and ignore the rest of the Bible! Most especially what was said before and after those words! WHY were they said? What ELSE was said to modify the meaning of those words?
After Jesus was resurrected, the afternoon of that same Sunday, He disguised Himself and appeared to the disciples and talked to them about His death and resurrection. And in Luke 24:21 they said, “today is the third day since these things were done.” This was said around mid-afternoon on the fourth day from the time when Christ was crucified, counting from sundown which was when “all these things were done”, and it was all finished. And they were explaining to an incognito Jesus all the things that had happened – the betrayal, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus.
This appears to contradict our earlier study, for if this was Sunday, and if that was the “third day”, then the other scriptures we just studied are all wrong! But remember, scriptures cannot be used to discredit each other! “After three days”, “three days and three nights” simply do not fit with this scripture as we understand it now!
But you have to understand what the disciples understood – which, to be honest, wasn’t that much at the time (Matthew 15:16, Luke 18:34). They didn’t really understand things until later this same day, in fact (Luke 24:45). What did they believe was Jesus’ immediate goal? Acts 1:6.
The disciples, even after all this, still believed that Jesus’ goal on the Earth was to set up a literal kingdom, as had existed under David, and which was promised in hundreds of OT scriptures (Ezekiel 37:24, for instance). They remembered, after the fact, that He had told them He would rise again (Luke 24:7-9).
But they believed that as soon as He rose, He would RIGHT THEN take over the throne of David and rule all nations. They did not understand until much later that many other things had to happen first. So when Jesus asked why they were sad, they said it was because “…we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel” (verse 21).
They were sad because they TRUSTED Jesus to redeem Israel, and as far as they could tell, He hadn’t! Of course, Jesus HAD redeemed spiritual Israel by making salvation possible, but since He hadn’t set their nation up as head of the nations instantly upon His resurrection, He hadn’t redeemed Israel in their eyes!
They well knew, then, that Jesus was to be resurrected after three days and nights, which had obviously ended before that morning. And yet He hadn’t rescued Israel from Roman domination! And they were upset because “the third day” had come and gone, and the kingdom still hadn’t appeared!
Luke 24:21 (Phillips) But we were hoping he was the one who was to come and set Israel free…. Yes, and as if that were not enough, it’s three days since all this happened; Luke 24:21 (BBE) …In addition to all this he has now let three days go by… Luke 24:21 (Murdoch) …And lo, three days HAVE PASSED, since all these things occurred.
Rather than saying that Sunday was the third day from the burial, we see now that Sunday was the day AFTER THREE DAYS HAD PASSED since His burial! Jesus’ deadline was up, and nothing had happened that they knew of to redeem Israel! Do you see why, if you simply rejected this scripture or the others, you would NEVER have fully understood the Bible?
WHAT DAY DID JESUS DIE?
Most of the world believes Jesus died on a Friday based on John 19:31 and other scriptures that mention Jesus’ crucifixion before a Sabbath day. This is true, but only part of the story. You will be tired of hearing me say it before you’ve finished with this course, but READ WHAT IT SAYS! Was this Sabbath any ordinary Sabbath, or a SPECIAL, unusual Sabbath?
That PARTICULAR Sabbath was special, because it was “an high day”. Jews, like their Hebrew ancestors, kept a Sabbath every seventh day, on our Saturday, which God commanded from Mt. Sinai. But most people don’t realize that God ALSO commanded seven special annual holidays, which God also called “Sabbaths”. Read Leviticus 23:1-7.
We will study those at length in the future, for now just notice that there are regular weekly Sabbaths, and also special “feasts”, which are also called Sabbaths. Jesus died on the day of Passover, the daylight period after what people call the “last supper” (Luke 22:1-15). He died on the 14th day of the first Hebrew month which, like our months, could fall on any day of the week. Jesus was buried that same day before sundown. That sundown began the 15th day of the month. What was special about that day? Leviticus 23:6-7. The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days. The first day of the feast (the 15th of the month) was holy, and work was forbidden.
It was a day of rest like the regular Sabbath, only of greater importance, hence it was called “an high Sabbath”! Let me make it clear that these special Sabbaths could fall on ANY day of the week, just like many modern holidays. But this holy day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, ALWAYS fell on the day after the Passover – the day after Jesus was crucified!
Therefore, there was ALWAYS a high Sabbath after that day but not necessarily a weekly Sabbath! The Jews were very aware of this, and went out of their way not to kill Him on the “feast day” (the 15th day, the high Sabbath) (Mark 14:1-2). So they killed Him the day before, taking Him into custody just after Jesus ate the Passover (Luke 22:1-20). This started the chain of events which ended with His death at approximately 3 p.m. the next day, which was about three hours before the sundown which began the high Sabbath day, the Feast Day of Unleavened Bread.
TWO SABBATHS
We have proved that the Sabbath after Jesus’ death was a yearly feast day, a high Sabbath – but it might have ALSO been a regular Sabbath. We don’t know – yet. So what do we do? Get all the scriptures, and then shut up and let them talk!
Jesus’ friends and family rushed to get Him wrapped and preserved before the Sabbath, when no work could be done. They didn’t get it all done, but they got it started (Mark 15:42-46). This makes it clear that evening – darkness – was coming fast.
Comparing the gospel accounts which you’ve already read, this must have happened just minutes before sundown, with the closing of the tomb probably happening at the very instant of sunset. Now read Mark 15:47-16:1. Why do we read several translations when we study? Proverbs 11:14. So what do some other translators say about this verse?
Mark 16:1 (Douay) And when the sabbath was past, [they] bought sweet spices… Mark 16:1 (Murdoch) And when the sabbath had passed, [they] bought aromatics… Mark 16:1 (Phillips) WHEN the Sabbath was over, [they] bought spices…
They couldn’t have bought them before, for the sun was fast going down, and they only had time to “behold where He was laid” (Mark 15:47) before the high Sabbath. Then, when the Sabbath WAS OVER, they went and bought spices for embalming. This is critical, so I’m going to repeat it:
They bought the spices AFTER a Sabbath! They couldn’t buy them on the Sabbath, for it was a crime in Israel to even pick up your bed on the Sabbath (John 5:9-10), much less to buy and sell spices! Now compare the parallel account in Luke 23:54-56.
Did you see the contradiction?? They viewed the sepulcher, returned, prepared spices, and THEN RESTED ON THE SABBATH DAY! We can do as most Bible students do, ask our preacher which verse is right and which is wrong… or we could just LISTEN to what the Bible is screaming!
If I tell you that I bought spices AFTER a Sabbath, and then tell that I bought the same spices BEFORE a Sabbath, you have two choices! You can believe I’m stupid, wrong, or simply lying…. or you could believe I was talking about TWO DIFFERENT SABBATHS!
But now that we know what to listen for, that’s exactly what it says. We already know the first Sabbath was the feast day Sabbath; after that, they bought spices (Mark 16:1). Then they prepared those spices and ointments – a lot of work without electricity – and then they rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment!
This second Sabbath day was kept because of the COMMANDMENT! The feast days, while important, were not a part of the Ten Commandments God gave Israel from Sinai. The weekly Sabbath day was (Exodus 20:8-11). So the FIRST sabbath day they rested because it was the feast day. The SECOND sabbath day they rested ACCORDING TO THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT!
This is the only way these two versions can both be true! And it is impossible for them both to be true AND to have a Friday-Saturday-Sunday burial! But most importantly of all, this is EXACTLY what our earlier “merging” had already shown – that we must have 72 hours in the grave! Two Sabbaths, with a work day in between!
WHAT DAY WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED?
We’ve proven it cannot be Friday. We know that Jesus was resurrected BEFORE dawn on the first day of the week. It could have been a few minutes, a few hours, or even a whole night before. It simply doesn’t say… there. But we know Jesus was to be in the ground 72 hours, which started at sundown after His death.
Therefore, He had to be resurrected at sundown three days and nights later! Therefore it is probable (not certain yet) that He was resurrected precisely at sundown ending the Sabbath and beginning Sunday. That means He would have been buried at sundown ending Wednesday and starting Thursday!
How does God consider things to be proven? 2 Corinthians 13:1, Deuteronomy 19:15. We can consider this one witness to a Wednesday crucifixion, but we need another, so that EVERY WORD can be established. We’ll get that witness in Daniel 9:25-27.
This prophecy has several meanings, as God’s prophecies usually do. The primary purpose was to tell us when Jesus would begin His ministry, and when He would be killed – “the midst of the week”. The countdown was to begin with the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C., and 69 weeks of years later (69×7=483 years), in A.D. 27, Jesus would begin His ministry.
Then in the midst of the 70th week of years, Jesus would die for the sins of mankind and remove the need for all sacrifice. A week has seven days, and the middle day is the 4th day. Here, God was primarily talking about years, which tells us Jesus died between 3 and 4 years later, in A.D. 31.
But God’s prophecies are nearly always dual – they have one primary meaning, but also one or more smaller or larger-scale fulfillments. And though the clearest meaning of this prophecy is that He was to die in A.D. 31, a secondary meaning is that He was to die ON THE MIDDLE DAY OF THE WEEK!
Which provides us with our second witness, for the middle day of the week is Wednesday! And as you count back from Saturday night three full days and three full nights, you find that Jesus died on a Wednesday afternoon – the middle day of the week!
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
If you just listen, the Bible ceases to be a terrifyingly difficult book, and becomes quite easy to understand. Did Jesus say only wise men with theological degrees could understand the Bible? Luke 10:21. Wise men THINK they are wise, and therefore they become fools (Romans 1:22). If you are going to understand the Bible, you have to humble yourself before it.
You cannot take your doctrines to the Bible, and say “Here! Prove these for me!” Rather, you should go to the Bible and say, “What is true doctrine? What shall I believe?” Then take what it says, and reject whatever else anyone might tell you.
This is why no one has the right answers, and why no one understands the Bible. If you choose to believe your church’s doctrines instead of what you’ve read in your Bible, no one is stopping you. If you’d rather follow the wide and easy path, the path that so many millions of deceived Christians are skipping down as we speak, that is your choice.
But if you crave knowledge, if you want to UNDERSTAND and KNOW God, you must approach the Bible as a little child (Luke 18:17), knowing nothing and knowing that you know nothing. You cannot yet imagine what the Bible has in store for you, or how it will change you if you listen to it.
You might be tempted to run away, to run back to a comfortable feel-good church that expects nothing from you. But remember what the disciples told Jesus. You can leave… but only the Bible has the words of eternal life. What point is there in going anywhere else?