The Days of Crucifixion and Resurrection
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Gen. 1:1-5)
God created the heavens and the earth in six days, with each day consisting of "evening and morning” (Gen. 1:5,8,13,19,23,31). ). The seven Biblical Feasts of the Lord that God established with the people of Israel (See Covenant of Love) were all defined in the same way. For example, God designated that “On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.” (Lev. 23:5). God rested from the work of creation on the seventh day and made it a holy Sabbath (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:11). In addition to the weekly Sabbaths, God ordained 7 annual High Sabbaths during the feasts of the Lord. These include the first day (15th day of the first month) and the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:6-8), Pentecost (Lev. 23:16,21), the Feast of the Trumpets (Lev. 23:24), the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:27-28), the first day and the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:34-36).
According to the Bible, the Lord Jesus died on Passover - the evening of the 14th day of the first month (Luke 23:44-46), and was buried on the same day, which was the day of preparation for the High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (Mark 15:42; John 19:31). Jesus was resurrected on the day after the weekly Sabbath, the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1-6), which is Sunday in today’s calendar. To this day, the Jewish people still regard sunset (6pm) to sunset (6pm) as one day, with Saturday as the weekly Sabbath, starting from Friday evening (sunset) to Saturday evening (sunset).
For details of Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection, please refer to Jesus Footstep - The Crucifixion of Jesus.
From the above we can see that:
1 A day in the biblical /Jewish calendar is "night + day", from the first sunset to the second sunset (Gen. 1:5,8,13,19,23,31).
2 God designated the evening of the 14th day of the first month as the Passover, and unleavened bread should be eaten on that night until the evening of the 21st (Exod. 12:18), thus, the Passover is also called the Day of Unleavened Bread or the Preparation Day, preparing for the High Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Luke 22:1,7; John 19:31).
3 The 15th day of the first month, the day following Passover, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the High Sabbath, when unleavened bread was eaten for seven days until the 21st (Lev. 23:5-7).
4 Before Jesus' crucifixion, He told the Pharisees that He would be buried for 3 days and 3 nights, just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights (Matt. 12:40).
5 Jesus was resurrected on the day after the weekly Sabbath, which was the first day of the week (Matt 28:1).
Therefore, Jesus was arrested on the “NIGHT" of the 14th of the first month of Passover, crucified and buried on the “DAY" of the 14th of the first month of Passover, and resurrected on the third day after two Sabbaths (High Sabbath + weekly Sabbath), which was the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Luke 24; Mark 16:2; John 20:1). See the details below.
According to the table above –
On Wednesday night/ the NIGHT of the 14th day of the first month (Jewish calendar)
- Jesus had the Last Supper with His disciples;
On Thursday/ the DAY of the 14th day of the first month (Jewish calendar)
- Jesus was crucified on the cross and buried in a rock tomb;
On Sunday/ the early morning of the 17th day of the first month (Jewish calendar)
- Jesus was resurrected!
As Jesus Himself said, He was in the tomb for three days and three nights (Matt 12:40). The day of the biblical calendar or Jewish calendar begins in the evening, and Passover, the 14th day of the first month in the year of Jesus' crucifixion, began at 6 pm on Wednesday and ended at 6 pm on Thursday.
The first month of the Jewish calendar is called Nisan, or Abib (Exod. 12:1-2). According to the Bible, Jesus began His ministry at the age of about 30 (Luke 3:23), and there were three years in the 10-year period around 30 AD when the 14th day of the first month of Nisan fell on a Wednesday in the Gregorian calendar:
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- Nisan 14 3787 – Wednesday, April 7, 27 AD
- Nisan 14 3790 – Wednesday, April 3, 30 AD
- Nisan 14 3797 – Wednesday, March 18, 37 AD
The Bible does not give the exact dates of Jesus’ birth and crucifixion. However, based on the relevant records in the Bible, most historians and Bible interpreters agree that Jesus was born in 6-4 BC and suffered in 27-30 AD.
