In the King James Version of the Bible, the word “time” is used forty times in the small book of Ecclesiastes alone. The word “time” is used hundreds of times throughout the scriptures. Galatians 4:4 states that Jesus was born in the “fullness of time”. A close examination of the scriptures will show “time” to be a vital part of God’s Truth. In some cases, our “traditional” teachings of Bible times and events, do not concur with the actual “scriptural” teachings of those times and events.
Jesus, Himself, said that He would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The common church teaching is that Jesus was buried on Friday around sundown and was raised from the dead around daybreak on Sunday. The scripture teachings and the “traditional” teachings do not agree.
The question that one must ask is; why is it that our nation and especially the church seem to be so unconcerned about the correct keeping of time, when teaching about the duration of time that Jesus was in the tomb? Certainly, we would never be so unconcerned about time in the natural realm.
During a football game there is one official on the field who is in charge of keeping time. On occasions we have seen those officials stop the game and tell the scoreboard keeper to either add a few seconds to the scoreboard clock or the take a few seconds off the scoreboard clock.
The scoreboard clock is just for the benefit of the fans only, and it is not the official time of the game. The official timekeeper on the field is the one who would handle any discrepancy of time.
In the spring, we may have received an invitation card in the mail or seen the church sings out front, which would invite us to join them for their “Good Friday Service” to commemorate the death and burial of the Lord Jesus Christ! Usually they will follow with another invitation, which might include: Also, come to our early “Sunday Sunrise Service” to commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead!
This should make us stop and think! Who were the timekeepers when the events of Good Friday and Easter were established in the church? It is obvious they were not the official timekeepers!
As we know, Jesus, himself, made a statement in the scriptures about the duration of time between his burial and his resurrection!
Matt 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks 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
After pondering what Jesus said about himself being in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, if we get our fingers out and start counting, we will run into a math problem. Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night, and He arose before sunrise???
Well, no one can get three days and three nights of time, from very late Friday afternoon until sunrise Sunday morning. We shouldn't think that maybe our fingers are not working correctly!
If we go to other believers and ask them about this discrepancy of time, we will notice most often that they are totally geared towards trying to force three days and three nights into Friday about sundown to Sunday about sunrise.
Jesus, who created time, would surely be the only logical “official timekeeper” of this big event!
So let’s look at something that Jesus said about the “time keeping” of his day.
John 11:7 Then after that said he (Jesus) to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him.
Jesus said that there are twelve hours in the day. As you read the Bible we will see that the night is also twelve hours divided into four watches each consisting of three hours each.
The need to bring this out is because it is very clear that Jesus was talking about a twenty-four period when he mentions the day and the night together.
So, when Jesus said that he would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, how long was Jesus in the heart of the earth? Of course, three days and three nights! How much time would that be in hours? Seventy-two hours!
If we judge the traditional teachings, which teaches us that Jesus went into the tomb very close to
6:00 pm Friday and arose from the tomb very close to sunrise or 6:00 am Sunday, how many hours is that? That only totals thirty-six hours!!
The scoreboard keepers are way off from the official timekeeper. Some thirty-six hours are missing! How did that happen? During the time of a football game, the scoreboard keeper tries to keep in sync with the official timekeeper, however if the scoreboard keeper gets out of sync, the official timekeeper will step up and address the time shown and get the scoreboard clock back into agreement with the correct official time.
When we search the Scriptures, we find that God’s method of keeping time is very different from the way we Gentiles keep time. God may not have a problem with the way we keep time however; it is very much different from the way He established the keeping time in Genesis.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
From this account of the beginning of time, we can clearly see that God began time with the evening, which we Gentiles now know as 6:00 pm. With God’s timing, the beginning of the day is the evening, or 6:00 pm (as we know it), and the “date” of that day ends at the following evening, or 6:00 pm (as we know it). According to the scriptures, one twenty-four hour day period is counted from evening to evening or 6:00 pm to 6:00 pm (as we know it).
The Jewish people of today still go by God’s timing in Genesis. We probably have all heard some news anchor state; “The Jewish Feast of Passover begins today at 6:00 pm”. The Genesis account is very emphatic and clear on this 6:00 pm to 6:00 pm length of a day.
Gen 1:8 And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Seeing this from the scriptures, what would be “early on the first day of the week” to God and the Jews? 6:01 pm Saturday, (as we know it). The beginning of each new day of the week begins at
6:00 pm (as we know it). Jesus did not arise from the dead at Sunday sunrise. Jesus would have risen from the tomb very close to 6:00 pm Saturday, (as we know it), but to the Jews and to God, 6:00 pm Saturday, (as we know it), is the beginning or the first day of the week which is Sunday.
This is more clearly understood as we look at when Jesus died and what followed his death. The following day was a Sabbath feast. Not the weekly Sabbath, or Saturday, but a “high Sabbath”.
So let’s look at the time of the death of Jesus as recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Matt 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mark 15:33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Luke 23:44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
We can see that Jesus died close to the ninth hour (or 3:00 pm as we know it). Remember, that with God, the morning, which he called day, began at 6:00 am, (as we know it). So nine hours past 6:00 am (as we know it) would have been three in the afternoon, or 3:00 pm (as we know it).
This timing of his death put a “hurry up” condition on those who were burying the body of Jesus, and the Bible tells us why!
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.
The day before any “high Sabbath” was called the “preparation”, because all the Jews had to do their ceremony of washing with the water of purification prior to the beginning of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath would begin at 6:00 pm (as we know it). If they missed the washing ceremony they would not be allowed to participate in the rituals of that particular Sabbath.
Jesus died on the cross very close to the ninth hour (3:00 pm as we know it). So they had to get him off the cross and prepare his body for burial and get him in the tomb and still have enough time to do their own “water of purification ritual” on themselves. There was a lot to be done in less than three hours time. John gives us an account of this time remaining, just before 6:00 pm.
John 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid.
42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulcher was nigh at hand
They were running out of time!! This would have looked like a James Bond movie, when James is trying to defuse a bomb, and we are all allowed to see the timer ticking down. Time is of the essence! Well, they made it with 007 seconds to spare.
So, if Jesus went into the tomb very close to 6:00 pm (as we know it), then when would he have come out of the tomb? Three nights and three days later! His resurrection would have occurred very close to 6:00 pm, (as we know it).
We also know from the Bible, that Jesus fulfilled the Law of the feast of firstfruits and now has become our firstfruits.
1 Cor 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1 Cor 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
When we study the feast of firstfruits, we will find that the Priest was instructed to wave the offering of firstfruits on the day after the Sabbath, and this was the weekly Sabbath, or Saturday, (as we know it). The day after the weekly Sabbath is Sunday. Again the beginning of the first day of the week to the Jews, which is Sunday, begins at 6:00 pm Saturday, (as we know it). 6:00 pm Saturday (as we know it) was the end of the Sabbath to the Jews, and they could then go back to work, including the Priestly duties.
Lev 23:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
The Priest could have waved the sheaf of the firstfruits, shortly after 6:00 pm Saturday (as we know it), which was the beginning or the first day of the week to the Jews or they could also wait until morning.
In like manner, Jesus, who is the firstfruits of them that sleep, was waved by God, or presented to the world, as the Supreme Firstfruits, just after 6:01 pm Saturday (as we know it). Jesus was the supreme fulfillment of the feast of firstfruits. However, no one saw Him until Sunday morning.
Knowing that Jesus fulfilled the feast of firstfruits, He would have been raised from the dead close to 6:00 pm Saturday, (as we know it). This would be three days and three nights after He was buried. With this knowledge, all we have to do is back up three days and three nights, and we can know, without doubt, on which day of the week Jesus was buried and it wasn’t Friday. Jesus was buried prior to or very close to 6:00 pm Wednesday (as we know it).
We need to call an official “time out” in church leadership and say, put thirty-six hours back on the scoreboard clock!
In the natural realm, even a football game, is played with every second accounted for. Occasionally a football game has been won or lost in the last seconds of the game. However, when it comes to the knowledge of the Truth of God’s Word, we seem to have accepted some serious error in timekeeping.
All that is necessary, for anyone to see how and why we are so far off, in our time keeping, is to study some history books or encyclopedias or the Bible, concerning the origin of Good Friday and Easter. This information is not hidden from anyone!
The Pagan worship of the goddess of fertility and the Pagan worship of the sun god were both blended into Christian worship, as far back as the three hundreds A.D. by Constantine of Rome. Good Friday, the bunnies, the egg and our spring break are all steeped in the Pagan worship of fertility goddess Ashtoreth and the practiced rituals.
The climbing to a high place or a mountain and facing East at the rising of the sun, is all part of the Pagan worship of the sun god Baal. These same practices were happening in the Old Testament with the Nation of Israel.
Judg 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
We must develop the ability to search and discuss the scriptures without getting upset with each other.
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Grace and Peace multiplied in the name of Jesus.
Compiled by Jerry Thomas 01/02/2010.
All scripture references are (KJV) unless otherwise denoted.
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