Was Jesus Three days and Three nights in the tomb "as it is written"?

Home | Part two of Three Days and Three Nights | Locating by Astronomical Calculation. | Locating the year Christ died by Astronomical Calculation.

What year was the Messiah put to Death? On what Day of the Week did He die on according to script?

You can know the Day and Year the carnal Jews put their promised Messiah to death from the dates recorded in Roman history and the corresponding history recorded in the Bible of the events that happened during the years Rome controlled Israel.

It is an easy matter to determine the year of the Messiah's death if one takes the time to study Roman and Bible history together. One can do this from the recorded history found in the Bible that use Roman Historical dates to pinpoint a certain event that happened in Israel. We can know when John baptized the Jewish Messiah by dates and times of Biblical event recorded in Jewish and Roman History.

One should not refer to dates in the marginal columns as proof as most of them are wrong. The common New Testament chronologies as to the death of the Messiah (found in the margins of most Bibles), are not correct. They were merely assumption by Roger Bacon in the thirteen centuries. Since then, they have been accepted by present Bible Societies. The honest seeker of the truth must demand proof from Roman History and the Bible, and not nearly assume man's word for it.

It is also freely conceded by most scholars and students of chronology, that the Messiah was born on or before the year of four AD. (Mat 2:1 3 KJV) "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, {3} When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him."

Herod died in October of 4 BC. Jesus had to of been born before that date. The date for the beginning of the Christian era was set at a date several years after the birth of Jesus. The date was based on false reckoning, therefore we must let the Bible itself settle these matters. The Messiah and John would have been only 27 years old at the time they started their ministers according to the marginal dating.

We know positively from the Bible records, that John begin to preach and baptize in the spring of AD. 27. The proof is as following: It was in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. Luke 3:1-4. The 15th year of Tiberius Caesar was 15 years after AD. 12, when Tiberius begins to reign jointly with Augustus Caesar. (See any reliable history) The reign of Tiberius begins Oct. 23, AD. 12. He reigned jointly with Augustus for two years before Augustus death in AD. 14. Some count the beginning of Tiberius Caesar reign from the death of Augustus. Fifteen years after he began to reign jointly with Augustus in AD. 12, would bring us to AD. 27, not AD. 29.  John begin baptizing in the spring of 27 AD, and our Messiah came to John in the fall of AD. 27. The record: (Luke 3:21-23 KJV) "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, {22} And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. {23} And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Hell,"

According to Jewish law, 30 years was the legal age for ministry, not 27. (Num 4:3 KJV) "From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation." This accounts for the fact that neither John the Baptist, nor Jesus begin to preach until they had reached the age of thirty, and for this reason too, the Bible says very little on the life of Jesus or John, prior to that time.

The date of the Messiah's baptism was firmly established by history as occurring in the fall of A D. 27, by the Historical records of the death of Augustus Caesar in AD. 14.  From the history of the Caesar's, recorded in "THE ROMAN EMPERORS, A BIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO THE RULER'S OF IMPERIAL ROME. 31 BC - AD 476" we can know that Tiberius Caesar ruled jointly with Agustus for two years before his death in AD. 14, because Agustus was to sick to rule.

(Luke 3:1-3 KJV) "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, {2} Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. {3} And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;"

Caesar begin to rule with Agustus Caesar in AD. 12. Fifteen years after Tiberius Caesar begin to reign, John baptized Jesus. That year and time would have been the fall of AD. 27. From these facts recorded in the Bible and in Roman history, it is a very simple matter to locate the date of the death of Christ on the stack. Add three and one half years to the fall of AD 27 and it brings us to the spring of A. D. 31. The Ministry of Jesus as the Messiah was to last three and one half years. (Dan 9:27 KJV) "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease"---. This scripture was fulfilled in the last 7 year week of Daniel 9:27.

He ate His first Passover six months after he was baptized, in the spring of AD. 28. (John 5: 11-17). His second Passover was one year later, in the spring of AD. 29.-- (John 5:1-3). His third Passover was eaten one year later, in the spring of A. D.30, (John 6:1-4), In the spring of A. D. 31, He did not eat that Passover as he was the lamb of God slain for the sins of His people.  In the spring of A. D. 31, (John 13:1-2) He was taken and put to death at the same time the Passover lamb was killed. That make 3 1/2 years from His baptism to His death by the carnal Jews. On the day before the Passover Lamb was killed He initiated the "Lord's Supper, a wedding supper with His disciples before His death.

Adding 3 1/2 years from the fall of A. D. 27, brings us to the spring of A. D. 31. That was the year carnal Israel demanded  His death on the stake. To locate the year historically, attention is called to the darkness at that time of His death, which continued from the sixth to the ninth hour, or from noon until three o'clock. It was not an eclipse, as an eclipse of the sun could not last so long. Astronomical calculations show that the moon was full at that particular time. It was the time of the Passover. The Passover always occurred on the day following the first full moon after the spring equinox. This darkness was supernatural and was witnessed at Heliopolis in Egypt, according to Dr. Hale, by Dionysius the Areopagite, who afterwards became a convert to Jewish Christianity under the preaching of the Apostle Paul at Athens.-- (Acts 17:34)

"In the consulate of Tiberius Caesar Aug. V., and Elius Sejanus (U.C. 784, AD. 31) Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, on the 8th of the Calends of April (25th of March); when there happened such an eclipse on the Sun as was never before nor since.' In this year and in this day agree also the Council of Caesarea A. D. 196 or 198; the Alexandrian Chronicle, Maxiums Monachus, Niceporus Constantinus Cedrenus; and in this year but on different days, concur Eusebius, Epipanius followed by Kepler, Bucher, Patinus and Petavius, some reckoning it the 10th of the Calends of April, others the 13th;" -- Hales Vol. 1, Page 69, 70.

We have now established that the time of the Messiah's death was in the spring of A. D. 31. We have first proven this fact from the New Testament alone, and then from historical reference given in the foregoing quotations. There it must stand against all arguments of man.

Day Of The Crucifixion.

While the historical quotations given, absolutely agree as to the year of the crucifixion, there seems to be a disagreement as to the day of the month; yet all agree that it was either on the 8th, 10th, or 13th of the calends of April, which according to our reckoning, would be either the 25th, 27th or 30th day of March.

Now as to the day of the month, and the day of the week, of the crucifixion, we shall proceed to settle that question beyond a peradventure or doubt, and show as plain as day that Jesus Christ was crucified on Wednesday, the 28th of March, which was the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan, the day on which the Passover lamb was slain.

Not On Friday.

Dan 9:27 "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice." The midst of the week is always Wednesday, not Friday. John 10:35 "The scriptures cannot be broken".

Consider for a moment the illogical position of those who claim that Jesus died on the stake on Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock, and that He was resurrected on Sunday morning, while it was still dark. This would make the time that Jesus was in the tomb less than 36 hours, or one full day of 24 hours and about 11 hours of another day. First of all, such a position is unwarranted by the plain record of the events found in the New Testament. Such a belief would make the Words of Jesus Christ to be a liar, for our blessed Savior said:

(Mat 12:39-40 KJV) "But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: {40} 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."

Again, He also said in Daniel 9:27 that He would cause the Sacrifice to occur on the midst (4th Day) of the week, our Wednesday.

John 10:35 "If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;"

It is not wise to brake the scriptures or is it good logic to say "three days and three nights", is simply a figure of synecdoche, when Christ said that "the scriptures cannot be broken". Was Jonah three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster?  Laserus was in the grave three full days and nights as Christ did not come tell the forth day. Using parts of three days  is breaking the scriptures. In such was the case, He would have left out the time and would simply have said, "so shall the Son of Man been in the heart of the earth," but instead of this He makes time the essence of His statement when He says,"

(Mat 12:40 KJV) "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."

Can one truly say from the statement Christ made about Jonas, that Jonas was only in the fish for thirty six hours? We also have the example of Lazarus in John Ch 11. Here we find that Jesus Christ waited tell after the three day was over before He came to Lazarus's  grave to resurrect him from the dead.

(John 11:17 KJV) "Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave FOUR DAYS  already." Jesus did not come tell Lazarus's body was stinking. Why did He not come tell after four day was there?

(John 11:39 KJV) "Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days."

It was back again to the Jewish custom in those day, that a man was not confirmed to be dead tell he had been dead for three full days or his body had started to stink from decay. Jesus honored the customs of the Jews in regards to Lazarus's body when He raised him from the dead.

There should be no quibbling over what Christ meant. (Mat 4:4 KJV) "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

It is wrong to add to, or take away from, the words Christ spoke. The Father's Words must stand or you do not have the FAITH (understanding) of JESUS. We cannot put WORDS in the Father's mouth like "Parts of a Day". We cannot change them or He will take our name out of the Book of Life.

(Rev 22:19 KJV) "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life,"---

Counting as you will, the whole transaction as to time, is thrown out of joint by those who claim that Christ was crucified on Friday afternoon and was resurrected on Sunday morning before it was light. Try the matter either way, (Crucifixion on Friday or Resurrection on Sunday) to harmonize with the words of Christ "So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

If He was crucified on Friday, at 3 P.M. Than one day and one night would bring us to Saturday, 3 P.M. Two days and two nights would bring us to Sunday, at 3 P.M. Three days and three nights would bring us to Monday at 3 P.M.. In this case, Christ would not have been resurrected until after Monday afternoon at 3 P.M. If Christ was correct in His statement that the Son of Man should be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," How could Christ have been crucified on Friday?

Now try it the other way. If Christ was resurrected on Sunday morning before it was yet light, one day and one night before that time would be Saturday morning before it was light. Two days and two nights before would be Friday morning, before it was light; and three days and three nights would be Thursday morning, before it was day break. We know positively that Christ was crucified between the sixth and ninth hour, and that the darkness covered the earth from the sixth hour to the ninth hours. Using our time now, it would be from noon to three o'clock P. M., at which time He died; no matter which day of the week it was.

Should we grant that Christ died at three o'clock on Friday, and was resurrected before day-brake on Sunday, it gets still worse. It would be contradictory to the inspiration of God's Eternal Word; for, from three o'clock P. M. on Friday until day-brake Sunday morning would be only one full day and a half at most. It is simply a question of truth or untruth. Shall we question the veracity of our Savior? Did Jesus tell the truth, when He said; "So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth"?

Are you willing to believe Christ or will you continue to follow the Roman Catholic lies that they used to justify their Sun's-day worship? There seems to be something wrong with the view that claim that Christ was crucified on Friday and resurrected on the Sun's day. One's keeping of Good Friday, Easter and the so called sanctity of Sunday observance should not be relegated to the teachings of the Catholic Church. You should prove all things from God's Holy Word and live in His Truth. All Christians ought to obey the scriptural injunction, and say with the Apostle Paul:

(Rom 3:4 NASB) "May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT THOU MIGHTEST BE JUSTIFIED IN THY WORDS, AND MIGHTEST PREVAIL WHEN THOU ART JUDGED."

(Rev 22:15 KJV) For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, AND WHOSEVER LOVETH AND MAKETH A LIE. 

If you are making the Father a liar by your interruption of the scriptures to prove Sunday keeping against the Holy Commandment to keep the Sabbath of the God of Israel Holy, the scriptures says you are without the Kingdom of the God of ISRAEL.

Time Of The Passover.

To prove which day of the week was the day of the crucifixion, it is necessary to understand several points as to the time of the Jewish Passover, and the mode of reckoning the days among the Jews in Bible times. It is also necessary to find in the scriptures of the Old Testament where it was written as to the Day He would cause the Sacrificial system to be abolished.

Dan 9:27 "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease",

It is a well known fact that Christ was crucified on the Jewish Passover. (Mat 26:2 NASB) "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up for crucifixion."

The 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan was the Passover feast day. It was also the preparation day for the feast of unleavened bread that fell on the fifteenth day of the same month and was a High Day Sabbath, in which all servile work was prohibited. The day following this (the 16th of Nisen) was the wave sheaf offering.

(Lev 23:4-12 NASB) 'These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. {5} 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover. {6} 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. {7} 'On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. {8} 'But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.'" {9} Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {10} "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. {11} 'And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. {12} 'Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD."

Coming as they did on specified days of the month, it must be clear that these feast days fell on different days of the week each year, year by year. An example of this is the times the Passover came on different years. The Catholic's Easter always on SUNDAY.

AD. 20, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Wen. so Passover was on Friday. that year.

AD. 24, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Wen. so Passover was on Friday. that year.

AD. 27, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Wen. so Passover was on Friday. that year.

AD. 28, the first full moon after equinox fell on Mon. so Passover was on Wen.. that year.

AD. 29, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Sun. so Passover was on Tues. that year.

AD. 30, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Thr. so Passover was on Sat. that year.

* AD. 31, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Tues. so Passover was on Thr. that year. *

AD. 32, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Mon. so Passover was on Wen. that year.

AD. 33 the first full moon after the equinox fell on Fri. so Passover was on Sun. that year.

AD. 34, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Tues., so Passover was on Thr that year.

AD. 35, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Mon. so Passover was on Wen. that year. AD. 36, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Fri., so Passover was on Sun. that year.

AD. 37, the first full moon after the equinox fell on Tues. so Passover was on Sat. that year.

There are only two year given to us by the US. NAVEL OBSERVATORY. and the British Astronomer Royal, where Christ could have been crucified on Friday, put in the tomb before sunset that day with Saturday being a Passover High Day of the Jews. Those two years would be AD. 30. and AD. 37.

There are only three years given to us by the US. NAVEL OBSERVATORY and the British Astronomer Royal, where Christ could have been crucified on Thursday for a Friday Passover Sabbath. Those three years are AD. 20, AD. 24, and AD. 27.

There are only two years given to us by the US. NAVEL OBSERVATORY. and the British Astronomer Royal, where Christ could have been crucified on Wednesday, put into the tomb before Thursdays High Day Passover Sabbath with a work day in between for the woman to buy and prepare the spices and then Rest according to the Seventh Day Sabbath. Those two years are AD. 31, and AD. 34. To use any other year for the Crucifixion than AD. 31, you have to prove the Bible Scriptures were wrong. (Mark 16:1 NASB) "And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salem, bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him." You would have to prove Roman and Bible History wrong as well.

Luke 3:1 "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,". The following quote is taken from the Book "History of Rome" , "TIBERIUS THE POLITICIAN." page 63. "The collapse of the faction of Julia and Agrippa had finally made it possible to give the sons of Tiberius unusual, and equivalent privileges. Tiberius own proconsular Imperium was still limited, probably to the Gaul's or to provinces which he had occasion to enter. It was not until at the eventual celebration of the triumph on 23 October, AD. 12, that all territorial limitations was removed. A consular law of 13 made Tiberius's power equal to that of Agustus and provided that they should conduct a census together, using their consular imperium." When we add the 15 years Tiberius ruled after he begin to CO-rule with Agustus Caesar in AD. 12, we have the year AD. 27. That is the year John baptized Jesus according to the Holy Scriptures. Add three and one half after that would make the year of crucifixion AD. 31. If you use the date of Agustus Caesar's death as the starting point to add 15 years to, to find the date of crucifixion, you come to the year AD. 33. In AD. 33, the first full moon after the spring equinox fell on a Friday, so Passover was on Sun. that year. To prove that the year AD. 31 is wrong, you also have to prove that both the Jews and the US. NAVEL OBSERVATORY, in WASHINGTON, DC were wrong in their Astronomical calculations of the spring equinox to find the Jewish Passover Day.

To prove that AD. 31, is wrong, you must pick a year between AD. 27 and AD. 37, as the date of the crucifixion and prove it to be right according to the Bible, History, and Astronomical calculations of the spring equinox by the US. NAVEL OBSERVATORY, in WASHINGTON, D.C..

The year of Christ's crucifixion the Passover fell on Wednesday and the High Day Sabbath (15th of Nisen) fell on Thursday, hence Friday was the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering, as well as the seventh Day Sabbath. This would make two of the Jewish feast days and the Seventh Day Sabbath come together in one week to bring two Sabbaths Days in the same week. They are; Thursday, the High Day Sabbath (Feast of Unleavened Bread), and the Seventh Day Sabbath (Saturday), which was the Sabbath of the Lord, their God. Understanding this, all well be clearly seen and explained as we proceed.

Next, it must be understood that the days with the Jews begin at Sunset and ended at Sunset, as the following scripture proves. (Neh 13:19 NASB) "And it came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates that no load should enter on the Sabbath day."

Moses said to the children of Israel: (Lev 23:32 NASB) "It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath."

In the New Testament we also have proof of this, as the Jews brought their sick to Christ to be healed after the Sabbath. (Mark 1:32 NASB) "And when evening had come, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed."

Locating the year Christ died by Astronomical Calculation.

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