by Timothy W. Burnett
Our first point of reference is found in John 12:1, "Then Jesus six days before the passover..." The last point is in the Gospel records of the women who returned to the grave on the "first of the week" (John 20:1, Luke 23:56-24:1, Mark 16:1-2 and Matthew 28:1).
Another point of reference is found in Matthew 26:2 where Jesus said, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the son of man is betrayed to be crucified."
The scripture distinguishes between the weekly sabbath and the high day known as Passover. The abover reference to the "first day of the week" was the day after the weekly sabbath. The Passover was a special day that was kept annually.
The day before Passover was the day of prparation (see Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54 and John 18:42). It was during preparation that the Passover lamb was killed and prepared for the Passover feast. It is interesting to note that Jesus Christ was crucified on the same day that the Passover lamb was killed and prepared for the feast.
Understanding the Hebrew calendar helps a great deal inthis study. The Hebrew calendar day began and ended at sunset. Given this information, we will know to count the days from sunset to sunset.
Jesus' prophecy of his burial provides the exact amount of time he stayed in the grave. He said, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the sonn of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). Thereference to "three days and three nights" dispels any possible confusion on this subject. It refers to three 24-hour days.
Now we can start to pinpoint the days that our Lord Jesus lay in the grave.
According to Luke 23:54 Joseph buried Jesus' body toward the end of the preparation day, as the day of Passover drew near. In other words, he was buried around sunset just before the feast of Passover began.
It is commonly understood among Biblical Hebrew scholars that the Passover began at sunset on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, and that this day fell on our calendar day of Wednesday.
Let's count three 24-hour days from sunset on Wednesday:
Wednesday - Thursday (day 1)
Thursday - Friday (day 2)
Friday - Saturday (day 3).
God's word is perfectly exact. If His word says that His son would lay in the grave for three days and three nights, then it can be established that He resurrected His beloved son just prior to sunset on the weekly sabbath, which is our Saturday.
Now we can understand better the records of the women arriving at around dawn on the first day of the week which is our Sunday. to find Jesus' body missing. Upon their arrival, our Lord Jesus was already alive!
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