Those who keep the Easter Sunday tradition maintain that Yeshua was buried just before sunset on “Good Friday” afternoon, and resurrected early Sunday morning. This logic accounts for only two nights and one day, or thirty-six hours!  Some argue the definition of the word “day.” They cite rabbinical or Jewish tradition which dictates that any part of a day is considered the whole day. Thus a part of Friday, all day Saturday, and then a part of Sunday constitutes three days. Yeshua did not say that He would be in the heart of the earth a part of three days and a part of two nights, but three days and three nights. (Mark 8:31 and John 2:19-21)

The Sunday resurrection proponents contend that He had risen just moments before. If they were correct, then “three days and three nights” earlier would mean just before sunrise on Thursday morning. Yeshua wasn’t buried on Thursday morning or any morning for that matter and with good reason. Biblical days, including Sabbaths, begin at sunset and end the following sunset (Genesis 1:5-31; Leviticus 23:32). They include a nighttime period followed by a daytime period. When Joseph of Arimathaea laid Yeshua’s body in the tomb, “the Sabbath drew near” (Luke 23:50- 54). Yeshua was buried in the late afternoon, before a particular Sabbath began at sunset.

If we assume that Yeshua was buried on Friday afternoon, as the Good Friday tradition asserts, then His resurrection seventy-two hours later would have been on Monday afternoon. Remember that Yeshua had already risen before the women came to His tomb prior to daybreak Sunday morning!

What then, is the answer?

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 that occur during YeHoVaH’s Festivals. Each of these days was considered as a Sabbath, meaning a “rest” from normal labor.

Now the mystery can be solved by reading the following verse.

John 19:31, “Therefore, because it was the preparation day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” NKJV

Yeshua died on the cross on Passover – the 14th of Abib or Nisan according to the Hebrew Calendar. This Scripture 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.

Leviticus 23:5-7, “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.” KJV

Let us put together the facts.  From the Bible, we clearly understand that Yeshua died and was buried on Passover afternoon, and that the following day was an annual Sabbath. It is also clear that he was resurrected at the same time of day – late afternoon. But which afternoon is the question.  Since the women found him already gone Sunday morning, it would be sensible to conclude that he had been resurrected the previous afternoon on Saturday! This would mean that he was buried three days and three nights earlier, on Wednesday afternoon.

For an in-depth discussion and more Scriptural proofs, read Sunday Is Not the Sabbath? pages 51-57. The Book is available in our Bookstore.