Post by Watchman on Feb 9, 2006 20:39:38 GMT -5
Question:
"Just because Jesus never told His disciples to keep Easter, wouldn’t they surely have celebrated the Sunday on which He was resurrected anyway?"
Answer:
This is an interesting and widley held viewpoint, a viewpoint worthy of examination. Not only is such an argument used to support the celebration of Easter Sunday. It is the main argument for weekly Sunday worship as well.
There is, however, one major problem with it: Christ was not resurrected on Sunday!
Notice what Christ told the Pharisees, who were looking for a sign of the Messiah: “...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: 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. ” (Matthew 12:39-40).
The only sign Jesus gave to prove He was the Messiah was the length of time he would be in the grave “three days and three nights” (or 72 hours). But the Easter tradition maintains that Christ was crucified just before sunset on “Good Friday” afternoon and resurrected early Sunday morning—only two nights and one day (or 36 hours)!
Some will argue the definition of “day”, since Christ clearly stated, “Are there not twelve hours in the day?” (John 11:9). Easter proponents take this remark and conclude that Christ was in the grave 3 days x 12 hours = 36 hours. However, this leaves out the “three nights.” There are approximately 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime in one 24-hour day! So three days and three nights are definitely 72 hours.
Also consider that, when the women came to His tomb Sunday morning, “when it was yet dark” (John 20:1) and He had already risen. How could this be? The Sunday resurrection proponents contend that He had risen just moments before. If they are correct, then “three days and three nights” earlier would be just before sunrise on Thursday morning, yet no one believes Christ was buried on Thursday morning—or any morning for that matter—and with good reason. When Joseph of Arimathea laid Christ’s body in the tomb, “the Sabbath drew near” (Luke 23:50-54). Biblical days, including Sabbaths, begin at sunset and end the following sunset (see Genesis 1:5; Leviticus 23:32).
—a nighttime period followed by a daytime period.
Christ was buried just before a particular Sabbath began at sunset. Three days and three nights later would be the exact same time of day—just before sunset. Now we have another problem. If we assume that Christ was crucified and buried on Friday afternoon, as the Good Friday tradition asserts, then His resurrection—72 hours later—would be Monday afternoon. Yet no one believes this either! What, then, is rhe truth?
Why have so many thought that Christ was put in the grave on Friday afternoon? Mark 15:42 states that “...it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, .” Since the weekly Sabbath always occurred on the seventh day of the week (now called Saturday), the “Preparation Day” was normally on Friday. However, we have already seen the problem with this. The answer to the apparent dilemma is that the weekly Sabbath is not the only Sabbath mentioned in the Bible. Leviticus 23 lists seven annual holy days which occur in YHWH's festivals- YHWH's Holy Days and Harvest Plan of salvation. Each of these days was considered a Sabbath (or a “rest” from normal labor). All of these annual Sabbaths or “High Days” (except Pentecost) fell on particular calendar days based on yhe cycle of the moon, rather than set days of the week.
Now the mystery can be solved by reading 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,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.” Christ kept the Passover with His disciples the night before His death (Luke 22:15). He was crucified the next morning, dying on the cross that afternoon, which was still Passover (the 14th of Abib on God’s Sacred Calendar—Leviticus 23:5). Leviticus 23:6–7 reports that the next day, beginning the evening after His crucifixion, was not a weekly Sabbath, but an Annual Sabbath—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Putting together the facts, it is clear that Christ was crucified on Passover afternoon—a Wednesday that year—and resurrected exactly three days and three nights later, at the end of the Saturday Sabbath. That’s why the women found Him already gone Sunday morning. The Bible shows Christ was not resurrected on Sunday. So His disciples would never have observed it.
Nor will true servants of the Most High God.
"Just because Jesus never told His disciples to keep Easter, wouldn’t they surely have celebrated the Sunday on which He was resurrected anyway?"
Answer:
This is an interesting and widley held viewpoint, a viewpoint worthy of examination. Not only is such an argument used to support the celebration of Easter Sunday. It is the main argument for weekly Sunday worship as well.
There is, however, one major problem with it: Christ was not resurrected on Sunday!
Notice what Christ told the Pharisees, who were looking for a sign of the Messiah: “...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: 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. ” (Matthew 12:39-40).
The only sign Jesus gave to prove He was the Messiah was the length of time he would be in the grave “three days and three nights” (or 72 hours). But the Easter tradition maintains that Christ was crucified just before sunset on “Good Friday” afternoon and resurrected early Sunday morning—only two nights and one day (or 36 hours)!
Some will argue the definition of “day”, since Christ clearly stated, “Are there not twelve hours in the day?” (John 11:9). Easter proponents take this remark and conclude that Christ was in the grave 3 days x 12 hours = 36 hours. However, this leaves out the “three nights.” There are approximately 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime in one 24-hour day! So three days and three nights are definitely 72 hours.
Also consider that, when the women came to His tomb Sunday morning, “when it was yet dark” (John 20:1) and He had already risen. How could this be? The Sunday resurrection proponents contend that He had risen just moments before. If they are correct, then “three days and three nights” earlier would be just before sunrise on Thursday morning, yet no one believes Christ was buried on Thursday morning—or any morning for that matter—and with good reason. When Joseph of Arimathea laid Christ’s body in the tomb, “the Sabbath drew near” (Luke 23:50-54). Biblical days, including Sabbaths, begin at sunset and end the following sunset (see Genesis 1:5; Leviticus 23:32).
—a nighttime period followed by a daytime period.
Christ was buried just before a particular Sabbath began at sunset. Three days and three nights later would be the exact same time of day—just before sunset. Now we have another problem. If we assume that Christ was crucified and buried on Friday afternoon, as the Good Friday tradition asserts, then His resurrection—72 hours later—would be Monday afternoon. Yet no one believes this either! What, then, is rhe truth?
Why have so many thought that Christ was put in the grave on Friday afternoon? Mark 15:42 states that “...it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, .” Since the weekly Sabbath always occurred on the seventh day of the week (now called Saturday), the “Preparation Day” was normally on Friday. However, we have already seen the problem with this. The answer to the apparent dilemma is that the weekly Sabbath is not the only Sabbath mentioned in the Bible. Leviticus 23 lists seven annual holy days which occur in YHWH's festivals- YHWH's Holy Days and Harvest Plan of salvation. Each of these days was considered a Sabbath (or a “rest” from normal labor). All of these annual Sabbaths or “High Days” (except Pentecost) fell on particular calendar days based on yhe cycle of the moon, rather than set days of the week.
Now the mystery can be solved by reading 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,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.” Christ kept the Passover with His disciples the night before His death (Luke 22:15). He was crucified the next morning, dying on the cross that afternoon, which was still Passover (the 14th of Abib on God’s Sacred Calendar—Leviticus 23:5). Leviticus 23:6–7 reports that the next day, beginning the evening after His crucifixion, was not a weekly Sabbath, but an Annual Sabbath—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Putting together the facts, it is clear that Christ was crucified on Passover afternoon—a Wednesday that year—and resurrected exactly three days and three nights later, at the end of the Saturday Sabbath. That’s why the women found Him already gone Sunday morning. The Bible shows Christ was not resurrected on Sunday. So His disciples would never have observed it.
Nor will true servants of the Most High God.