Good Friday is the day that all of Christendom recognizes as the day on which Jesus was crucified. But what about those bible verses that say that Jesus would spend three days and three nights in the earth?
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Matt. 12:40
“But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today (Sunday) is the third day since these things happened.”
Luke 24:21
It does not matter how one counts to three, He must have died on Thursday, not Friday, for these passages to be accurate. So, let’s take a look.
People have assumed that because He died on the day before the Sabbath, that He must have died on Friday because the Jewish sabbath was Saturday. But they forget that Passover was also referred to as a Sabbath day (2 Chron. 8:1) and Jesus died on the day before Passover. As John’s gospel says, “that Sabbath was a high day” (Jn. 19.31). So the sabbath referred to was the Passover Sabbath, not the weekly sabbath. We must also remember that Passover could fall on any day of the week. It had only a one in seven chance of falling on Saturday. (Ex. 12:2-3, Num. 28:16) So, because Jesus died on the day before the Passover Sabbath and Passover could fall on any day of the week, then Jesus could have died on any day of the week, not necessarily on Friday.
Of all weeks retold in the Bible, this particular week was Holy Week and is the most thoroughly documented week in the Bible, with the exception of the week of creation. Every day is described in detail in all four gospels, starting with the previous Saturday Sabbath. So, let’s retell each day. On Saturday, Jesus did just as one would expect Him to do on the sabbath: nothing. He spent the whole day doing nothing with Lazarus, Mary and Martha.( Jn.12.1-11, Matt. 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9) The next day was Palm Sunday and Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.( Jn. 12.12, Matt. 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:29-38) On Monday, Jesus saw the barren fig tree, cursed it, went into Jerusalem and cleansed the temple.( Mk.11.12, Matt. 21:18-19) On Tuesday, Jesus and His disciples saw the fig tree withered up, went into Jerusalem again and Jesus delivered His Olivet Discourse on the end times.( Mk.11.20, Matt. 21:20-22) Wednesday was the day of the Last Supper.( Matt. 26:17-35, Mark.14.12-21, Luke 22:7-23, John 13:21-30.) The next day, He was crucified. That would be Thursday. The only other possible explanation is that all four gospel writers totally omitted an entire day during Holy Week. Such a notion is inconceivable.
The fourth biblical proof lies in a single verse. In reference to Jesus’ arrival in Bethany on the previous Saturday Sabbath, John wrote,
“Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany.”
John 12.1
If we simply count to six starting with Saturday, we discover that Passover fell on a Friday that year. If Passover was on Friday, then Jesus was crucified on Thursday.
On Tuesday, right after delivering His Olivet Discourse, Jesus said, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” (Matt. 26:2) In saying this, Jesus said something like, “I hope that you listened to all these warnings because in two days, I will be dead.” And that was on Tuesday.
There you have it. Five separate biblical proofs that Jesus died on Thursday of that week, not Friday. Good Friday conflicts with every biblical reference available. It was Good Thursday. I make no attempt to change long-established tradition, but I do attempt to bolster believers’ belief in the Bible.