Did Jesus Die on Good Friday?

August 5, 2001 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following study is by Dr. James D. Crumpton, founder, Maranatha Baptist Mission, Natchez, Mississippi:

How could there be three days and three nights from late Friday afternoon until early Sunday morning? At the most, there could only be two nights, one day, and a part of another! Had the Scriptures only said three days, we could have understood them to mean a part of three days, since both in and out of the Scriptures we use the word to mean only a portion of a day. However, the Scriptures specify "three days and three nights," and thus verbal inspiration demands three twenty-four hour days.

It is good for us to note the difference in the Roman day, the Jewish day, and our present day. THE ROMAN DAY began at 6:00 A.M. and closed at 6:00 the next morning. THE JEWISH DAY began at sunset and closed at the next sunset (or from about 6:00 P.M. to the next 6:00 P.M.). OUR DAY begins at midnight and closes the next midnight.

The Lord Jesus was placed on the cross about 9:00 A.M. our time and was there until about 4:00 P.M. It was on Wednesday! He was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb before sunset-- before the beginning of the sabbath. Note that this was not the beginning of the regular weekly sabbath at sunset on Friday, but a "high sabbath"--a Passover sabbath which came on Thursday that week! [See Lev. 23:5-7, where we find that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a sabbath day.] At about sunset on Thursday He had been in the grave one day and one night. At about sunset on Friday, He had been in the grave two days and two nights. Then, just after the three full days and nights, He arose. He arose as it began to dawn the first day of the week (just after sunset Saturday, our time). The women came early Sunday morning, our time, but He was already gone. The expression "on the third day" in the Gospels referring to His resurrection would be "after the third day" in our way of saying it.

Many have sunrise services commemorating the resurrection, and we see nothing wrong with that. It would be fine to have a high noon service commemorating His resurrection. But maybe we should have a sunset service.

He arose about sunset on Saturday. And that was sunset for our sins--because they were gone forever. Hallelujah!!! [Used by permission from Maranatha!!!, April 1982, Westside Baptist Church, P.O. Drawer 1425, Natchez, MS 39121]