The following information is taken from my book,
Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts
which is available from my online bookstore at www.rbooker.com.
When was Jesus Crucified and Resurrected?
Have you ever wondered how a Friday-to-Sunday crucifixion and resurrection can be possible since the Bible says that Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights? Well it is not possible. How did we get this idea? This teaching came about many centuries ago because the early Christian leaders were Gentiles who did not understand the biblical Hebraic-Jewish roots of the story.
For example, when John says that Jesus was crucified on the Preparation Day and that the body of Jesus should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (John 19:31), the scholars assumed John meant the weekly Saturday Sabbath. So in their mind Jesus must have been crucified on Friday. However, the Scripture clearly says that the Sabbath was a “High Sabbath” not the weekly Sabbath. We learn in Leviticus 23 that there was a number of “High Sabbath” days connected to the feasts that were not the weekly Sabbath.
Jesus told His disciples that He would be crucified on Passover to fulfill the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:40; 26:2). Matthew reads, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth: (Matthew 12:40).
Jesus said three days and three nights. Whenever the Bible connects days and nights with the word “and,” it means the full 24-hour period. So three days and three nights mean a 72-hour period of time. The only way that Jesus could be in the tomb for the required full three days and three nights (a 72-hour period) and fulfill the witness of the Torah is if He was crucified on Wednesday and resurrected at the close of the weekly Sabbath (at night) and the beginning of the first day of the week, the Feast of First Fruits. Yes, Jesus was resurrected at night (See John 20:1).
Without going into all the details, Jesus was crucified on Passover, Wednesday, April 3, AD 30, buried at approximately 6:00 pm at Unleavened Bread (Thursday-Friday-Saturday), and resurrected at night at the close of Shabbat (April 6) and the beginning of First Fruits (April 7), which was the first day of the week.
Have a blessed Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits Resurrection of our Lord.
