Last Sunday [note: see Bible Class I, 3/16/08], we were talking about the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, the timeline, basically, not of history, but of the Holy Week. We looked at Palm Sunday, and that was what we were observing last Sunday, in a sense, or that is what is on the calendar anyway. And this Sunday is Easter Sunday.
The story of the Cross, or the story of the Gospel, really can be summed up to be the story of the Lamb. Remember how God speaks of the Lamb as being “slain from the foundation of the world.” Before God even created the world, the Lord Jesus, who is that Lamb of God, was slain.
Then when we get into the creation of the world and mankind upon earth, it was not long after man sinned that God slew some animals and covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve, through the slaying of the animal. We do not know what kind of animal it was, but He covered their physical nakedness with animal skins, pointing to the necessity and the great need of sinners to have their sins covered by the blood of an innocent. Of course, that first death of the animal that God slew, all the way through the Old Testament and all the sacrifices, all of those animal deaths pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Abraham, when he was questioned by Isaac his son as to “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”, Abraham said, “God will provide Himself a lamb.” This is because God has always had the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in view throughout history, from before the foundation of the world, all through the Old Testament history. At the time when Israel departed out Egypt, it was the Passover; it was the lamb, the blood of the lamb, which was to be applied to the doorposts. It was the blood that would cause God to skip over. This is what the word “passover” actually means, “to leap,” “to go over.” He would bypass this Jewish home and that Jewish home if they had blood on the doorpost, because they obeyed Him in slaying the Passover lamb.
Actually, it all pointed to Jesus. This is how a sinner—and it is the only way—can escape the judgment of God and utter and total destruction; it is through the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” It is only through His blood that anyone can find forgiveness and have their sins washed away and be cleansed.
Last week, we looked at Exodus 12 and the first Passover Feast, and Passover has everything to do with Easter. It has everything to do with Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
We read in Exodus 12:1-3:
And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
We looked a little bit at this last week. The lamb, the Passover lamb, was to be selected on the tenth day of the first month, which is known as Nisan or it is also known as Abib. This was when the Passover lamb was to be selected, and there were certain qualifications.
For instance, it says in Exodus 12:5:
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
There was a reason why God said, “Your lamb shall be without blemish.” They could not pick just any lamb. It had to be as perfect as anything in this world can be or as pure as any animal can be; which is, it had to be without spot: no marks of any kind, no bald spot where there was no covering on the lamb. There had to be no blemishes. It had to be pure, in that sense, and that would be the lamb that would be qualified.
The reason is, we know, that Jesus was without sin. There was no mark upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He was completely without any kind of blemish, as far as transgressing the Law of God. The Bible makes this absolutely clear.
Actually, throughout the whole crucifixion that we read about in the Gospels, again and again and again, everyone was proclaiming Jesus innocent, everyone except for Israel, the church of His day. For example, Pilate the governor said, “I find no fault in Him.” The Romans later would say, “Truly this was the Son of God” and “Certainly this was a righteous man.” The thief on the Cross reviled for a time, but later, as he began to observe Jesus a little closer and as God worked in his heart, he said to the other thief, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds…but this man hath done nothing amiss.” Everyone, except for the Israelites, the so-called people of God, were saying that this Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, was without fault, that He did nothing worthy of death and that He should not have been crucified.
This is why God says in 1 Peter 1:19:
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Do you see how Jesus’ blood, His very existence, His life, was pure: no blemish, no spot of any kind?
No one could make the claim that He had sinned. Even the Jewish council, when Jesus was before the high priest, tried to find something, but they could not. They could not find anything that Jesus had actually done wrong; so at the last, they just make, really, a false accusation, “He blasphemest; because He said, I am the Son of God.” Then they took Him to Pilate, and it was all based on a false accusation.
So this was the qualification for the Lamb. It had to be without blemish and the lamb would be chosen on the 10th day of the first month, Nisan.
We talked a little bit about this last week. Mr. Camping has developed this and you will find this in some of his books. The 1335-day period mentioned in Daniel 12 is impossible to relate to an end-time scenario of any kind. Mr. Camping said that he struggled with this.
By the way, I am referencing Mr. Camping because he wrote the book and you are supposed to give a reference when you are talking about what someone has written. It is funny, you know. Some people are immediately taken aback, “Oh, no!” If I had said Calvin or Edwards or Spurgeon, no one would have even noticed. But they did not write about the1335 days—Mr. Camping did.
So in his writing, he discovered that the 1335-day period had to do with the first half of the seventieth week of Daniel 9. It really was a time that God was tying in from the baptism of Jesus in A.D. 29, and this can be shown because it was the “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.” Luke 3:1 gets into this. From there, Jesus’ ministry would go 3 ˝ years.
When you go from there, 3 ˝ years to the Cross, you fall short of a 1335-day period. 3 ˝ years is 1277 days, or rounded off to 1278 days. But Mr. Camping went on to say that he remembered that Palm Sunday, the day when that Passover lamb was selected, was an integral part of the Cross.
So, actually, the 3 ˝ years from Jesus’ baptism, when John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” until Palm Sunday, when the lamb is to be chosen, is the 3 ˝-year period or 1278 days.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. We call it Palm Sunday because the people of Jerusalem laid out palms before Him and hailed Him. Yet when He rode into Jerusalem, it was Nisan 9. That was the date, and it was March 27th of our calendar. It was Nisan 9, but the lamb was to be selected on the 10th of Nisan, on the 10th day of the month.
We saw last week that all of the events of that Palm Sunday actually unfolded into the evening. As soon as it got evening on that Sunday, March 27 or Nisan 9 on the Jewish calendar, it became Nisan 10. It became Nisan 10 and that was the day when the lamb was to be selected. So that Palm Sunday does qualify as the day that Jesus was chosen as the perfect Lamb of God to redeem His people and to be offered for sacrifice.
This was how a Jewish day went. They went evening to morning, like the creation week. God said this on the first day. He created, “and the evening and the morning were the first day.”
So the Jewish calendar is based on this. Nisan 9 was Sunday. Nisan 10 was Sunday evening. This was the 10th day of the month.
Then from there, which is 1278 days, is the five-day period, from that Sunday to the Cross. Then from the Cross to Saturday in the tomb is one day. From that Sabbath Saturday, it would be the Feast of Pentecost, and, really, Jesus’ work was not accomplished, it was not completed, until the Holy Ghost was poured out on Pentecost Sunday, which I believe was May 21st in 33 A.D. So it would be the morrow after the Sabbath when Jesus was in the tomb; it would go seven Sundays or seven weeks, and that would be the 50th day.
When you add this all up, the 1278 up until Palm Sunday; the 5 days, Sunday to the Cross; the Cross to Saturday in the tomb, 1 day. That Saturday until Pentecost equals 1334 days; inclusively, 1335 days.
This is the fulfillment of Daniel 12:12, which says:
Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Remember that they were crying out on Palm Sunday, “Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” This is almost a direct reference to Daniel 12:12. So this was the 1335-day period.
We want to get into this because we are actually hearing more and more from people who do not understand the events of that week. They are trying to push the crucifixion back from Friday to Thursday, or even earlier. I have heard some people even say earlier. What they do not realize is that the Passover was the time when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, and that lamb spiritually represented Jesus.
For instance, go to 1 Corinthians 5:7-8:
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Jesus our Passover Lamb, it says it very clearly, was sacrificed for us. He fulfilled the Passover Feast—what it had always meant, what God had initiated it for, why He had commanded Israel to observe it ever since the exodus. On a yearly basis, they were to observe the Passover Feast, pointing to the Passover Lamb, the Son of God, Christ Himself. One day the Messiah would come and He would provide the blood that would enable God to pass over the sinner so that the sinner could escape destruction, so that the sinner could live in God’s sight. Jesus is that Lamb.
Let us go on a little bit. Back in Exodus 12:6, it says:
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month:…
They chose the lamb on the 10th day. They had to keep it for four days. They had to keep it until 14th day of the same month:
…and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
If you look at the Hebrew, if you get an Interlinear Bible, it actually says “kill it betwixt (or between) evenings.” This is the literal reading of it. And the word “evenings” is plural. It is not a singular word; it is a plural word. The lamb was to be killed betwixt, between the evenings. Remember that Thursday, which would have been March 31st of our calendar, is the day, or the daylight period of Thursday, of Nisan 13. It was on Nisan 13 that the disciples asked Jesus where they should go to prepare the Passover dinner.
Let us take a look at this. I think that this is in Luke 22. In Luke 22:7, it says:
Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
“The day of unleavened bread,” if you remember, is the same day as the Passover. They ate unleavened bread that night, long ago in Egypt, along with the Passover sacrifice, and that began the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which God commanded to be observed for seven days. But the first day of the Feast was the same day as the Passover, and sometimes the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also called the Passover.
Luke 22:7-15:
Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
This is important because some people are trying to say that Jesus began to suffer before the garden of Gethsemane, that He began to suffer on Wednesday. Yet here, it is Nisan 13. It is soon to be Nisan 14 in the evening. They are preparing the upper room for the Passover dinner, and Christ, before He goes to that Passover, says that He has not suffered. “I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.”
There is no way that Jesus began to suffer on Wednesday, absolutely no way. We have had this part correct. We have made correction on many things, but we have had this part correct.
He began to suffer Thursday night in the garden of Gethsemane. This is when we read in the Gospel accounts that “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” He is “in an agony.” He is “sorrowful unto death.” Why? Because He is the Passover Lamb.
Thursday evening is Nisan 14. After they have their supper, they sing a hymn, they go out into the garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus begins suffering as the Lamb of God. He begins to suffer as the Passover Lamb. Three times, He goes to pray, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”
After the third time, Judas and a band of soldiers and men from the chief priest come to take Him. And they do take Him after Christ asks, “Whom seek ye?” He then makes the statement, “I am,” and they “went backward, and fell to the ground.”
Then they take Him to the high priest’s house, to Caiaphas, and for the rest of that night, all night long, He is questioned. They are trying to find some guilt. They are trying to find something that they can accuse Him of, until finally the high priest gets so frustrated that he says, “I adjure Thee by the living God,”—and He is leading the witness, that is what he is doing—“that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God.”
Then Jesus makes the statement that really confirms that He is the Son of God, and the high priest says, “He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?” Then, quickly, they take Him to Pilate.
It is interesting to note what Jesus had said to Peter. He said to Peter, “Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice.”
If we go to John 18:25-26, Peter was without the court, and it says:
And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off…
So, of course, he was a relative of the man who had his ear cut off. He was there and he is noticing that this Peter looks pretty familiar to the one who was wielding that sword.
Then we read in John 18:26-27:
One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crew.
This would have been the second time. In another account, it tells us that the cock crew twice, two times, and Jesus had said, “Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice.”
This was Peter’s third denial. The cock crew, and what did that signify? Well, just like today, when the cock crows, it means that it is close to dawn. It is close to the springing of a day.
So the cock crew the first time. Then an hour later, the cock crew a second time. This indicated that the day was about to break. And God has built this into that animal. He has built it in. It is like an internal clock that the cock has. I am a city boy and I do not know anything about this, but I did some studying on it. Just about everybody recognizes that when the cock crows, it is close to dawn. It is close to daylight. So this indicates that Thursday night is turning into Friday morning.
Now look at John 18:28:
Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
Jesus and His disciples ate the Passover on Thursday evening. But the Jews, the Jewish leaders, the Jewish officials, had not yet eaten of the Passover. I am not sure how that worked out. We know that the Passover was Thursday evening till the next evening. Remember that the verse in Exodus said that they would kill it betwixt the evenings, which would have been between Thursday evening and Friday evening. So there could have been on official ceremonial slaying of the sacrificial animal, perhaps, for all of the Jews, as their high priest and the priests would perform this ceremony. Maybe individual families and individual groups got together and had their own little feasts, like Jesus and the disciples. This could explain it, but we know that both are correct. They ate the Passover Thursday night in the upper room, and yet, on Friday, Good Friday, April 1, 33 A.D., they were still going to eat the Passover animal.
So this is letting us know that early, very early in the morning, they took Him to Pilate. Pilate was either an early riser or they got him up very early in the morning, because they wanted this done. They wanted Christ dead; the sooner, the better. So they went to him at the crack of dawn, or even before—it could have even been a little dark out—and they were demanding that Pilate judge Him and crucify Him. From the cock crowing to when they took Him to Pilate, it would have been several hours later, until the “third hour” of the day, as it says in Mark 15:25:
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
That would have been 9:00 A.M.
There is a parable of the workers in the vineyard that we read about in the Gospel of Matthew. The owner of the vineyard, if it was a vineyard…the owner of the field wanted workers to go into his field. He goes out and he hires some early in the morning. Then it says that he hires them “about the third hour” and “about the sixth and ninth hour.” Finally, he hires someone “about the eleventh hour.” Then later, it indicates that one hour had passed “when even was come.” This would have been the twelfth hour. It would have been “even” or 6:00 P.M.
At that point, I think that God is giving us the calendar, in the sense of how a day operated. The “third hour” of the day was 9:00 A.M. The “sixth hour” was 12:00 P.M. The “ninth hour” was 3:00 P.M. The “eleventh hour” would have been 5:00 P.M., and the “twelfth hour” would have been 6:00 P.M. So here, it was the “third hour,” and they crucified Him early on Friday morning.
A lot of churches observe Noon to 3:00 P.M. as the crucifixion. There is a reason why they do this. If we look at Mark 15:33:
And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have this type of statement in them. “When the sixth hour was come, there was darkness…until the ninth hour.” At the “ninth hour,” Jesus cries, “It is finished,” “the veil of the temple was rent in twain,” and He “gave up the ghost.” This is pretty consistent in the Gospels as well.
This is what happened just after 3:00 P.M. The darkness ended and Jesus died. He finished His atoning work. And that was at 3:00 P.M. So a lot of churches observe 12 Noon to 3:00 P.M. as the time when Jesus was on the Cross. But actually, He was on the Cross, not for three hours but for six hours. From 9:00 A.M. till 3:00 P.M.
During this period of darkness, 12 Noon till 3:00 P.M., the Bible does not really tell us much. It does not tell us what was going on. It does not really give us any details. It just says, “there was darkness over the whole land.” The whole world became dark for three hours while Jesus was on the Cross.
But remember, there were a lot of other events taking place: passersby were wagging their tongues at Him, [transcriber’s note: actually “wagging their heads”] the leaders of the Jews also were saying, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save” and “Let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” This was what was going on from 9:00 A.M. to 12 Noon.
Also in that 9 to 12 period, there were two thieves on either side of Christ. They were reviling Him as well and “cast the same in His teeth.” Until finally, during that period from 9:00 A.M. to 12 Noon, one of the thieves changes his mind—and only God could make him change his mind.
We can read about this in Luke 23. We read in Luke 23:39-40:
And one of the malefactors…
“Malefactor” means “evildoer.”
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him,…
He did not do this at first. He was a thief. He was a criminal. He was an evildoer. In the Gospel of Matthew, it says that both of the thieves “cast the same in His teeth”—both.
As Jesus is in the center and each thief is on either side, we come to know that the one thief who eventually became saved was on the right hand of Christ and the other thief would have been on His left. We know this because of other Scripture where God indicates that the “wise” are on the right and the “fool” is on the left. Matthew 25 gets into this, as well as Ecclesiastes 10. We can know that God, who is in control of all events and circumstances, would have arranged for the one thief to be on Jesus’ right side and the other thief, who would not become saved, on Jesus’ left side.
The one on the right was just as evil, just as bad, just as much a filthy sinner as the other one, and yet God is showing us His glorious Gospel, His saving of sinners. He does not necessarily choose the righteous. He does not choose the upright. He saves even the worst of sinners.
So it says here in Luke 23:39-44:
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
This happened prior to the “sixth hour.” This had to happen in that three-hour period of the “third hour” to the “sixth hour.” This would have been from 9:00 A.M. till 12 Noon, by our clock, when God was saving this man; He was drawing him.
The man started out speaking evil of Jesus, like everyone else, but he is noticing Him and watching Him. God is giving him an interest in Christ, and he is seeing how Jesus is suffering unjustly. He sees that Jesus is the One who came to be the Saviour. This is why he calls Him, “Lord,” and this is why he says “remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom.” So God gives us this picture of salvation right there on the Cross, the last place we would ever expect to find it, as this one thief is saved right before the eyes of all of the enemies of God.
So it was the “third hour” when Jesus was crucified and the crucifixion went until the “ninth hour,” yet it is not as easy as that. When we look at the Gospel accounts, we find in John 19 some other information. In John 19:13-14, it says:
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
If you read the following verses, they go on to crucify Him. But it said in Mark that they took Him in the “third hour.” Yet here in John 19:14, it says that it was “about the sixth hour.” But it was “about the sixth hour” when “there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour,” and this passage in John 19 is prior to even Jesus being on the Cross.
So this has caused some confusion with people, but we can know that this is a different reckoning of time. It is a different reckoning of time. This is not following that 12-hour day, as Jesus had said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day?”
This, somehow, I think is connected to the Passover, because it says in John 19:14:
And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour:…
So, in some way, I have not really been able to discover it, but in some way, this “sixth hour” is identified with the slaying of the Passover. This is interesting, because right after this, they take Jesus out to crucify Him, and that would be the “third hour” or 9:00 A.M., and six hours later, Jesus will die.
Is this a reference to that? Is it connected to that? Perhaps, but I do not know. We do know that this is not telling us that Christ was put on the Cross at 12 Noon. That can not be because of what we read in Mark and in other places about all of the events that took place. But it is a time that is connected to the Passover.
Go a little further in John 19 and look at John 19:31, where it says:
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation,…
The word “preparation” means just that, “to make ready.”
…that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day,…
The Sabbath Day would start in “the even” of Friday. Nisan 14 was also Friday during the day. Nisan 15 would have been the Sabbath, which would have come Friday evening. Jesus had given up the ghost at 3:00 P.M., so it is getting close to “even.” It is close to the evening and close to the Sabbath, which began that Friday evening, probably at 6:00 P.M.
John 19:31:
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,)…
What does this mean? In a “high day,” the word for “high” is the Greek word megas. We use this word today. “Mega” means something big, something great, something grand. This is the same word for “great tribulation,” megas thlipsis. It is a “great” day. This is not a typical, ordinary Sabbath Day. It is a “high” day. It is a “great” day. This is because the Feast of Unleavened Bread extends seven days.
So that Saturday Sabbath, beginning Friday evening, was a Sabbath that fell on a Feast day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, also known as the Passover, and they wanted Jesus off of the Cross. They wanted Him, as well as all of those who were being crucified, to be down so that they not defile their Sabbath.
John 19:31 continues. And they:
…besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
If we go back to Mark 15, this is following Christ giving up the ghost, it says in Mark 15:42:
And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
“The even was come.” This is when Joseph of Arimathaea is going to Pilate, begging the body of Christ.
Some people have read this and said, “Well, you see, even had already come,” and they are trying to use this to develop their own kind of timeline for the Holy Week. But actually, we have learned that we have to look more carefully at the Greek and the Hebrew. We do not have to be a scholar. God has given us many Bible helps. He has given us Interlinear Bibles. He has given us concordances and other helps so that we can learn to understand these things.
So in Mark 15:42, when it says:
And now when the even was come,…
That is an aorist participle in the middle voice. Actually, it is better translated, “and it becoming evening already.” This is kind of like, during our day, when we start to see it get a little dusk and twilight, we know that evening is coming.
This is what happened. It was 3:00 P.M. Joseph of Arimathaea went to Pilate a little after that, “secretly for fear of the Jews,” and “begged the body of Jesus.” This is also a wonderful picture of crying out to God for salvation. Joseph is begging for Christ’s body. This is really what every sinner ought to do, “May Jesus’ death be mine. May I have His body, in that sense.”
Pilate first questions if Christ was dead already. Then he lets Joseph of Arimathaea have the body. Also, Nicodemus was involved somehow. And they take Christ’s body and they go near where He was crucified. The tomb that He was lain in was close at hand because the Sabbath was drawing on. They only had maybe an hour, an hour and a half, two hours at most, from 3:00 P.M. or 4:00 P.M., it took some time to go to Pilate to get permission. He only had a short while to obtain Christ’s body before the Sabbath.
It also says in John 19:41-42:
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
It was very quickly becoming dark, and the Sabbath was moving on. At that point, God had said that they were to rest. They could not do any work. They were not to be carrying bodies. They were not to be burying people. They were not to be doing any of that kind of thing.
So Joseph and Nicodemus, and maybe they had some others helpers because it was a “great stone” that they had rolled in front of the tomb, they placed Christ in there and they prepared His body for burial with spices and wrapped Him. They laid Him there right before Friday evening and the Sabbath, right before. Then Jesus’ body lay in the tomb all of that Friday, which was April 1, 33 A.D., Saturday, April 2, 33 A.D. Then early Sunday morning, on April 3rd in 33 A.D., Jesus rose from the dead. He rose from the dead, just as we read elsewhere, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Thursday night, it began; it was the Passover. Friday night, He was placed in the tomb. Saturday night He was still in the grave on the Old Testament Sabbath Day. That is the three nights. Then Friday, He was before Pilate, and He was crucified. Saturday, Jesus was in the tomb, resting. Sunday, early in the morning, “as it began to dawn,” He rose from the dead. He was resurrected, and that was the third day. This fulfilled what God had said when He said that He would be “three days and three nights…in the heart of the earth.”
This is how the atonement week works out. Actually, I should not use the word “atonement,” because there is a Day of Atonement in the “seventh month.” But this is how God worked out His salvation plan, providing Christ as the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb, the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
The story of the Gospel is really the story of the Lamb. So let us finish here by going to Revelation 5. I am going to read some of these verses because we know that Jesus was triumphant. He paid the penalty, for those whom He came to save, in full. He satisfied the Law’s demands, thereby purchasing a people for Himself.
It says in Revelation 5:1-14:
And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
So here God gives us the completion of the whole story, which is that Jesus “the Lamb” was slain, and yet He is going to be in Heaven, glorified eternally. And all of those for whom His death provided, all of those for whom His death enabled, likewise, to enter into Heaven, will be with Him.
Let us stop here with a word of prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your Gospel plan. We thank You for the Lord Jesus. We are reminded on Easter Sunday, just like at Christmas when You humbled Yourself to enter into the human race, Easter reminds us of the great fact that You came to die for Your people, and You did die as the Lamb of God. Father, we thank You for this and we pray that You would help us to serve You and to do Your will in all things because Your will is perfect, and that we would just wait on You for Your guiding and direction. Father, we pray for the rest of this day. We ask that You would be with us as we have fellowship with one another over our food and we do ask for Your blessing. In Christ’s Name. Amen.
Does anyone have any questions or comments that you would like to ask? Also, this goes for anyone on Paltalk. If you have something, you can raise your hand and we will try to take it.
1st Question: I thank God for your teaching today. Chris, I may have missed it. What was the evidence of the resurrection of Christ after daylight on Sunday? The reason I ask is because someone had asked me that question. It was submitted that He arose before dawn, and that threw things off and I did not know how to respond to it.
Chris: I did not really read that passage in Matthew 28. Again, we have to go to the underlying Greek text because the King James Version, which is an excellent version, it is the best, still has not perfectly translated everything into our English language.
Actually, Matthew 28:1 should read:
In the end of the sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the first of the sabbaths,…
This tells us that God is finished with the Old Testament Sabbath, the seventh-day Sabbath. As Jesus rose from the dead early in the morning—and the Bible does not tell us exactly what time; all we know is that it was early in the morning—that began a new series of Sabbaths for the New Testament Age, which would be observed on Sunday. So today is Sunday the Sabbath, and that is what today is.
Now we have a different way of observing this Sabbath than the Jews did, in one sense, and that is that we want to be involved in spiritual activities. We want to be handing out tracts or going to nursing homes. We want to do activities. We want to stay busy. It is not a day where we just try to do nothing at all, but it is a day to be involved in intense spiritual activity.
God has given us this command in Isaiah 58 and in other places. He has filled us in on the Sabbath and what is expected of His people, that we might rightly observe it.
2nd Question: I do not know whether that addresses my question. What evidence do we have that it was after daylight that He arose?
Chris: Matthew 28:1 does say, “as it began to dawn toward the first of the sabbaths.” So this is the same idea as the cock crowing. It is signaling that a new day is beginning.
We do know from our time reference. Our day begins at 12:00 Midnight. The new day goes from midnight to midnight. That is our 24-hour period. So we know that this would have been April 3rd, and Jesus arose early that morning.
God was finishing up the Old Testament Sabbaths. Those Sabbaths went evening to morning. There is no indication that I am aware of that the New Testament Sabbath goes evening to morning.
So as God completed the old and as Jesus fulfilled that Sabbath rest in providing salvation for His people and that we rest in Him and do no work of any kind, that Sabbath came to an end and the New Testament Sabbath began, I would say, very early in the morning. I can not get anymore specific than that. Ever since, our Sunday Sabbath is midnight to midnight, a 24-hour period.
3rd Question: The three days when Christ was in “the heart of the earth,” how do you reconcile this when He told the thief, “To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise”? I do not see “the heart of the earth” and “paradise” as the same. Could He possibly have been talking as the Trinity?
Chris: There are some things that are mysterious. When we get into the Trinity, this is something that we can not know too much about because of our limitations, especially mine. We have tiny minds that are not able to comprehend really the Person of God.
We do know that in Isaiah 9, Jesus is called “The everlasting Father,” and that the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Christ.” So they are One. We can not separate them in that sense.
But when He spoke to the thief and He said, “To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise,” He was telling the thief that his soul, upon death, would go to be with God in Heaven, and I do not know if I can explain anymore than that.
4th Question: I was reading about the crucifixion being on the third day, starting from Thursday, right?
Chris: Jesus was the “lamb” selected that previous Sunday. That Thursday evening, Passover began and they had the Passover supper in the upper room. Following that, Christ went into the garden of Gethsemane where He began to suffer. He began to pay the penalty that God required for sin at that point. But the actual crucifixion would not be until the following day at 9:00 A.M.
5th Question: When Joseph of Arimathaea asked Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus, he wanted the body in order that he could bring it to his own tomb, right?
Chris: It was his sepulcher. He was a rich man, and it happened to be “nigh at hand.” The Bible speaks well of him. He was a saved person, so he was disturbed by what had happened to the Lord Jesus. He was watching, and then, finally, he had the conviction that he should go to Pilate and take care of Christ’s body. God moved in him to do this.
So from there, he requested the body from Pilate, though he did it secretly. He did not go to the chief priests or inform them at all. He did not want them to know. Then Pilate gave him the body. That sepulcher was close, near where Christ was crucified, because it was getting to Friday evening and the beginning of the Old Testament Sabbath Day. So that is how we can understand it.
6th Question: When the Jews were going to say that His body had been stolen, is there any connection to understanding that?
Chris: It is interesting that the Jewish leaders went to Pilate on the Sabbath Day. It says that they went to him the day following the preparation. The preparation for the Sabbath would begin Friday evening. So it was the following day, the day after the preparation. It indicates this in Matthew 27:62-66:
Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
I think that by this time, we could say that Pilate was a little disgusted with the Jewish leaders, because they had basically forced him into crucifying Christ. We also know that it was God’s “determinate counsel” that made it happen. But still, historically, in the situation of the day, they were demanding that Jesus be crucified, despite Pilate saying, “I find no fault in Him.” Pilate was nervous because even his wife had a dream and “suffered many things…because of Him.” We could also see his agitation a little earlier when they said, “Write not, The King of the Jews; but that He said, I am King of the Jews,” and Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” So he was upset with them. Now at this point he is saying, “Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.” Basically, he was saying, “Get out of my sight.”
So there were Roman soldiers at the tomb. But, of course, that could not stop Christ from being raised from the dead and being resurrected. That was the mighty power of God and nothing could stop that.
7th Question: Can you explain how this fits into the timeline of Mark 14:12?
Chris: Mark 14:12 says:
And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
The “first day of unleavened bread” is simultaneous with the Passover. If we would go back to Exodus 12, in that very night that they slew the passover, they ate unleavened bread. This is the night that they came out of Egypt, after God slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread continued for seven days, beginning on Passover until seven days later. The whole Feast, the whole week, is known as the Passover. So someone could refer to the Feast of Unleavened Bread as the Passover, because it is basically one and the same. It is a continuation over a seven-day period though. Here, the first day, we have to remember, would have been Thursday, Nisan 13. The Passover would not be until Nisan 14, coming that evening.
So they are basically saying, and we can understand how this would be, that it is Thursday, but they know that in that evening, it is going to be the Passover. So on one hand, that is the Passover day. When they woke up that Thursday morning, that was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was going to happen that Thursday. But, technically, officially, it did not begin until the evening.
8th Question: So the lamb would not have been killed until after 6:00 P.M.?
Chris: In the evening, betwixt the evenings. Actually Jesus died from evening to evening. He suffered the whole length of time that the Passover lamb was to be chosen and killed.
Let us stop here and we will close with a hymn.