EASTER CHRONOLOGY

 

The confusion over the day that Christ was crucified is due to two things: tradition, and ignorance of the scriptures.

Matt. 22:29

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not
knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Read the verses concerning the Passover.

Exo. 12:1

And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

Christ being our true Passover lamb....

1 Cor 5:7b

For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

....must have been anointed on the tenth day of the month (Ex 12:3). On the 14th day (v6) he was killed....

Matt. 27:50

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

....by the whole assembly....

Matt. 27:25

Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

....in the evening.

Matt. 27:45

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

He was given no water. (v9)

Matt. 27:34

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

John 19:28

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

John 19:29

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

He was roast with fire. (v9)

Isa 53:10a

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin....

Acts 2:27

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 2:31

He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Traditionally, it has been taught that Jesus was crucified on Friday because of these verses.

Mark 15:42

And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

Luke 23:54

And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.

However, the Jews observed Sabbaths OTHER than the weekly Sabbaths. The feast of unleavened bread had two Sabbaths in which no servile work was to be done. They fell on the 15th and 21st days of the month regardless of the day of the week.

Exo. 12:14

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

Lev 23:5

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.
6 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.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

These Sabbaths were also called "high days." The Jewish day started at sunset....

Lev 23:32

It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

....so the passover was eaten on the 14th day which was ALSO the preparation day for the seven day feast of unleavened bread beginning on the NEXT day - the fifteenth. So Jesus was crucified on the preparation day - Wednesday the fourteenth and the next day was Thursday the fifteenth, the first day of the feast - a HIGH Sabbath.

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.

John 19:42

There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

Matt. 27:62

Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

Mark 15:42

And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

Luke 23:54

And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.

The apparent discrepancy of the Sunday afternoon discussion in Luke....

Luke 24:13

And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

Luke 24:21

But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

Luke 24:29

But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

.....is cleared when "these things" are seen to include all of the events of the betrayal, crucifixion, and sealing of the tomb which took place on Thursday.

Matt. 27:66

So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

Remember OUR time makes any day run from 12 midnight till 12 midnight. The Jewish day is from sunset (6pm) till sunset (6pm). That means that the Jewish day Monday, for instance, includes the last 6 hours of OUR Sunday and the first 18 hours of OUR Monday. Understanding this overlap helps us understand the scripture.

Now the chronology which corresponds to the Exodus Passover lamb. (Most scripture will be listed but not quotes for brevity's sake.)

(1) Jesus has supper at Bethany six days before the feast - Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.)
Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8.

Jesus is anointed for his burial.
Mark 14:3,8; Matthew 26:7,12.

John 12:3

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

Matthew and Luke give the events of the supper at Bethany in flashback fashion. The purpose for this is given in Matthew 26:16. It is to show that at that time Judas began to seek a way to betray Christ.
John 12:4-6

(2) Triumphal entry (Sunday)
Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-38; John 12:12-15.

(3) The Temple cleansed. (Sunday)
Matthew 21:12,13; Luke 19:45,46.

Mark 11:11

And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

(4) Jesus spends the night in Bethany. (The end of our Sunday, the beginning of Jewish Monday.)
Mark 11:11

Matt. 21:17

And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.

(5) The fig tree cursed (Monday)
Mark 11:20,21.

Matt. 21:18

Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

(6) The fig tree withered. (Tuesday)

Mark 11:20

And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

(7) (Tuesday) The Pharisees plot to kill Christ before the Passover feast begins.
Matthew 21:45,46; Matthew 22:15,23,34,46; Matthew 26:1-5; Luke 19;45; Luke 22:1,2.

Mark 14:1

After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.

Judas covenants with them two days before the feast.
Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 14:10,11; Luke 22:3-6.

(8) The Last Supper (our end of Tuesday, Jewish beginning of Wednesday) Jesus observes the Passover.
Matthew 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-17; Luke 22:7-14

(9) Jesus before Pilate at Midnight. (our Wednesday begins)

John 19:14

And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

(Notice the sixth hour would be six hours AFTER sundown, or midnight)

Jesus appears before Pilate again early in the morning.
(Wednesday)
Luke 23:11; Matthew 27:1,2

Mark 15:1

And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

(10) The crucifixion (Wednesday 9am)
Matthew 27:31-35; Luke 23:33; John 19:16-18

Mark 15:25

And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

(The third hour from 6am surprise - 9am)

Darkness from noon until three pm.
Matthew 27:45; Luke 23:44,45

Mark 15:33

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Jesus dies at 3 pm.
Mark 15:34-37; Matthew 27:46-50; Luke 23: 44-46. John 19:30.

Mark 15:34

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?

His burial was completed BEFORE sundown (6pm) on Wednesday because the next day (which began at 6pm sundown), a high Sabbath, was the 15th, the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread.
Mark 15:42-46; Matthew 27:57-60; Luke 23:50-53; John 19:38-42.

(11) A watch is placed on the tomb. (Thursday)
Matthew 27:62-66.

The resurrection is exactly 72 hours after the burial. This makes it BEFORE sundown on Saturday evening.
Matthew 12:38-40; Matthew 16:31; Mark 10:34, Mark 8:31; Luke 24:7

(12) The angel opens the tomb before daybreak. (Sunday morning)
Matthew 28:2-4; John 20:1; Mark 16:2-4.

(13) The women come to the tomb before sunrise. (Sunday morning)
Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1,2; Luke 24:1.

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