[NOTE: This is the position I arrived at through my studies back in 2012. If you want to see further studies and my current position as of March 2019, I encourage you to read What If...? and The Death of Christ Jesus.]
Jesus said that He would be in the tomb “three days and three nights.” The Hebrew idiom of part of a day meaning a full day does not apply here because we would only end up with three days and two nights. Current tradition has him in the tomb 1.5 literal days.
We know that Saturday is a weekly Sabbath, so we will start with that as our focal point. Mark 16:1 says that after the Sabbath the women bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus’ body. Luke 24:1 says that on the first day of the week—Sunday—at early dawn they took the spices they had prepared. John 20:1 says that on the first day of the week—Sunday—they came to the tomb while it was still dark. Looking at the two verses from Luke and John we know that the women came to the tomb on Sunday while it was still dark, before dawn. Looking at the information in Mark and Luke about the spices, we know that they bought them and prepared them. This did not happen Sunday morning before the sun came up. Sunday they brought the spices, but they did not buy and prepare the spices on Sunday. Scripture tells us that after the Sabbath they bought them (Mark) and after the Sabbath they brought them (Luke).
Matthew 28:1 uses the plural form—Sabbaths. Further, John 19:31 says that the Sabbath after the crucifixion was a High Day Sabbath. So, we know that there were two Sabbaths in that week. Now, let us take the information from above and connect it to this information. This means that our High Day Sabbath was on Thursday because on Friday the women bought their spices and prepared them, as Saturday they would not be able, for Scripture says they rested on the weekly Sabbath as the Law commanded. Then there was the weekly Sabbath on Saturday, followed by Sunday when the women came to the tomb with their spices. With all this information, Wednesday was the day of our Lord’s crucifixion.
Let us return to the Sunday. Scripture tells us that the women arrived at the tomb while it was still dark, before dawn, and the tomb was already empty. Jesus was not there. He had already risen! We are looking at approximately 6:00 in the morning, and Jesus was not there. A Hebrew day went from 6:00 at night until 6:00 the following night. Jesus could have risen at any time between 6:00 p.m. and when the women arrived at the tomb, all of which was Sunday.
So there we have it. The details of each passage bearing light on the issue considered and mapped together. Each detail is there by deliberate Divine design. Praise God! Let’s worship Him in Spirit and in Truth!
According to a number of online Hebrew calendar converters (http://www.abdicate.net/cal.aspx, http://www.rosettacalendar.com/, http://www.midrash.org/calendar/), the 14th of Nisan (Passover—the day on which Jesus was crucified) appears approximately as such in history on the Julian calendar (with the Gregorian calendar dates in brackets):
Friday, March 22 (20), 26 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3786)The reason I looked up such a broad spectrum of dates is because nobody knows the exact year in which Christ Jesus was born. It typically ranges between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C (sometimes as great as 7 B.C. and 3 B.C.). Luke 3:23 tells us that “Jesus Himself began to be about 30 years of age.”
Wednesday, April 9 (7), 27 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3787)
Monday, March 29 (27), 28 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3788)
Saturday, April 16 (14), 29 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3789)
Wednesday, April 5 (3), 30 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3790)
Monday, March 26 (24), 31 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3791)
Monday, April 14 (12), 32 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3792)
Friday, April 3 (1), 33 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3793)
Monday, March 22 (20), 34 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3794)
Monday, April 11 (9), 35 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3795)
Friday, March 30 (28), 36 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3796)
Wednesday, March 20 (18), 37 A.D. (Nisan 14, 3797)
Most historians are split over one of two dates for Jesus’ crucifixion. One group of historians claims that Jesus was arrested on Thursday, April 6, 30 A.D. If you observe the dates I have provided above with the image below (Fig. 1), you will see that this date does indeed fall on a Thursday on the Julian calendar. However, notice what every Hebrew calendar website informs us: the 14th of Nisan was a Wednesday—not a Friday. There are two problems with historians holding to a Friday date in 30 A.D. First, it puts Jesus’ crucifixion after the Passover. Second, a Friday date does not correspond with the biblical data that we have examined or the literalness of Jesus’ words. However, if 30 A.D. is the correct year of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Wednesday date matches perfectly with all the biblical data we have examined and the literalness of Jesus’ words. It also matches well with a B.C. birth date.
The second group of historians claims that Jesus was crucified on Friday, April 3, 33 A.D. If you observe the dates I have provided above with the image below (Fig. 2), you will see that this date does indeed fall on a Friday on the Julian calendar. For those who believe that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, this date does seem to support them. However, there are two problems with this date. First, unless B.C. and A.D. overlap somewhere, this date would make Jesus nearly 40 when He was crucified. Second, this date does not correspond with the biblical data that we have examined or the literalness of Jesus’ words.
The idea that Jesus was crucified on a Friday not only ignores the biblical data given to us, but also comes down from Roman Catholic tradition, which is nothing but error. People need to learn to study this subject (and others) objectively rather than subjectively. If you examine The Companion Bible, edited by E. W. Bullinger, you may be able to find a better argument for the information I have provided here than what I have written. Nevertheless, you need to be your own judge on this issue. After all, scripture tells us in Romans 14:5 to “Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.” Ultimately, the precise date does not matter (just as with Jesus’ birth). What matters is that it happened and that we must believe it to be true. Believing that what the Bible says is true is the only thing that really matters. If we had exact Hebrew dates for Jesus’ birth and crucifixion, we would be able to figure it out more accurately. The fact God did not provide them for us pretty much informs us that the dates are not important—only the truth of the information is. “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). Our faith in Jesus is not based on empirical evidence (historical, archaeological, and scientific), although all this information does support our faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Faith in the empirical evidence is no faith at all. True biblical belief does not stop with mental assent to the facts. If it did, it would not be genuine faith.
As a final note, if you paid close attention to the above dates, you will have noticed that not once is the Passover on a Thursday. For those who believe Jesus was crucified on a Thursday, they have absolutely no support whatsoever for their view.