It has been my position for years now that Jesus died on Thursday and was raised on Sunday of that week some 2,000 years ago. Here is a run through the Scriptures that cause such a belief:
John 12:1-11, Jesus came to Bethany just outside of Jerusalem six days before Passover. Due to Sabbath travel restrictions, it had to be on a Friday that he arrived there. Sundown began the weekly Sabbath. After sundown that Saturday Sabbath there was a large meal where Mary anointed Jesus’ feet. The next day He presented Himself as the Lamb of God riding the foal of a donkey, John 12:12.
Exodus 12:1-8, Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night;
- The lamb was to be taken in on the 10th day of the first month to be observed for flaws.
- The lamb, if flawless, was to be killed between 3 p.m. and sundown on the 14th day.
- The meal of the lamb was taken after sundown on the 15th day – the first day of Unleavened Bread.
- The 14th is a Thursday. (Sun 10th, Mon 11th, Tues 12th, Wed 13th, Thur 14th)
Jesus took the Passover meal on Wednesday (Matthew 26:17). Due to great crowds, those from a distance were permitted to observe the Passover a day early.
Thursday, the 14th, was the Day of Preparation (killing lambs) for those of Jerusalem and Judea.
John 19:14, Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
John 18:28, Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.
Jesus died at 3 p.m. that Thursday. Luke 23: 44-46, Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour… He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.
Jesus died as lambs were being killed before the altar on temple mount; a picture that had happened for 1500 years was now happening exactly as God had determined, shown and declared.
Thursday evening began a Sabbath – thus Friday was a Sabbath followed by the weekly Sabbath.
John 19:31, Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Leviticus. 23:6-7, And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.
So, Jesus was in the tomb maybe an hour of Thursday and all day Friday and all day Saturday. He was in the tomb all of Thursday night and all of Friday night and some of Saturday night. Thus, He was in the earth 3 days and 3 nights. Matthew 12:38-40, Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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.
Considering days and doings before and after His death, the only day that fits the Scripture is that He was crucified on Thursday.
Friday and Saturday were holy days thus forcing the women to wait until Sunday to go to the tomb.
God’s Passover was exactly fulfilled in Jesus and thus our redemption. Glory be to God!!!
a PK Musing 
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