Tradition of the Church accepts that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, dying at 3pm. and was raised from the dead early the following Sunday morning. This is assumed according to Roman time and not Jewish Time, nor by the Jewish Religious Calendar.

The Bible tells its readers differently. The greatest occurrence of all ages did take place in 3 days AND 3 nights as Jesus said, also in keeping with the traditional Jewish Passover order.

There was an exact time for Jesus to be born, an exact time for baptism, also for His anointing, an exact time for His ministry, an exact time for His death, and an exact hour for His resurrection.

How can it be three days and three nights from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning? This is a time of approximately 36 hours. If Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday, it would make His body in the grave only one day and one night. This is not what He Himself had stated.

Ancient Christian tradition attests to the Last Supper being held on Tuesday Night of the final week.

In Roman time a day starts at 12.00am. midnight through to 12.00pm noon, continuing another 12 hours to 12.00 midnight.

The Hebrew day starts at 6pm. sunset through to sunrise then to 6pm. sunset, making 1 day. A Hebrew weekly Sabbath of Saturday starts at the time of sunset at 6.00pm. Friday to 6.00pm. Saturday evening, which then begins the first day of the week, Sunday while on a gentile (non-Jewish) calendar Saturday has still to continue another 6 hours before Sunday begins.

The Bible clearly states that Jesus' illegal trial was at night, Hebrew time, the beginning of Preparation Day which by Roman time is the evening prior to Preparation Day of the Passover Sabbath, and was crucified on Preparation Day, Wednesday the 14th day of the Month of Nisan, followed by The Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th day of Nisan. This was not the routine weekly Sabbath.

Exodus 12:3.3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

Exodus 12:16 Leviticus 23:5-7 5 The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6 On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. 7 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.

Numbers 28:16-18.16 "'On the fourteenth day of the first month the Lord's Passover is to be held. 17 On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. 18 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work".

God's Passover Lamb, was Jesus. Over the centuries the slain lambs at Passover were only types. Jesus was without blemish or spot (Exodus 12:5). He was chosen on the 10th day of Nisan (Exodus 12:3). According to Law the buying of the Passover Lamb must occur on the 10th day of Nisan, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the day which Judas received the temple money for the betrayal of Jesus. Not a bone was broken in the Crucifixion, as required by God for all Passover animals, He died on the 14th day, for the Lamb was to be kept for four days and then slain.

The Bible records that Jesus as The Passover Lamb was slain on The Preparation Day, the day before Passover Sabbath, the Day before the Festival of Unleavened Bread. If Friday was the Crucifixion day of Jesus, it means Passover was 6 days prior falling on the Saturday that Jesus travelled from Jericho and Bethany. This was impossible to do according to obeying the Mosaic Law. (John 12:1).

It is recorded that Jesus was crucified before the Special Sabbath. However, it is a well known fact that The Passover is celebrated as a Holy Day, including The Feast of Unleavened Bread on the same High Day. Jesus would have been buried at Wednesday sunset, the beginning of a Holy High Passover Sabbath week, 3 days before the weekly Saturday Sabbath. All Jewish festivals were Sabbaths. Jesus died on Wednesday, He could not remain in the Cross because the next day was a Sabbath High Day, and after His body had been in the grave exactly three days and three nights, 72 lours later He rose from the dead, Saturday at sunset. The women visited the tomb early the next morning, it was still dark they found the tomb empty.

Matthew 12:40, 26:61, 27:63, Mark 8:31. John 19:14

The Bible does not favour the traditional Friday Crucifixion. Many scholars reject Roman time, Good Friday as the day of Jesus' crucifixion, and Sunday morning as the time of resurrection. Jesus did rise on the first day of the week, but according to the Jewish reckoning, Sunday began Saturday at 6.00 p.m.. Jesus' body can not be in the tomb on a 4th night.

On the Friday, the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the women bought their spices from merchants, and prepared them to take to the grave, but they had to wait a day because the following day was the weekly Sabbath. There were two Sabbaths during the last week while Jesus' body was in the tomb.

Matthew 12:40 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

When the morning came, Jesus had already risen, the resurrection having taken place the previous sunset, which was the beginning of the Jewish Sunday, the first day of the week.

On the road to Emaus, it was said the 'third day since these things have happened' Luke 24:21. The Jewish Religious Schedule by time reckoning all was completed on Thursday (beginning Wednesday at 6.00pm). Since the first day after Thursday is the Friday and the second day is Saturday, to Jewish disciples calculation, the third day from Thursday is Sunday.

John states clearly that Jesus was crucified before The Passover Sabbath and not the weekly Sabbath.

John 19:31-34 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

Roman time at 6.00 p.m. is Saturday evening but it is the end of the Jewish Sabbath Day and the beginning of Sunday, the first day of the week.

Christ was crucified Hebrew time 9.00am, after an illegal night trial, He was on the cross until 3pm. His body was placed in the tomb before sunset on Wednesday, the 14th of Nisan began on Tuesday sunset at 6.00 p.m, The Preparation Day before the High Day Sabbath Passover. The killing of the Passover Lambs had began soon afterwards eaten at twilight, sunset to sunset, with unleavened bread.

The Hebrews kept a weekly Sabbath, the 7th day of each week. Throughout the year, there were extra festival Sabbaths. Passover, Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacles were the main High Days. The first day of each High Day Sabbath, no work was to be done, no matter what day of the week it fell on.

There has been the lack of understanding of the Sabbaths in Hebrew/Roman time, that has caused confusion and in the history of the last week of Jesus' Life on earth. The Sabbath of Passover has been mistaken by Gentile (non-Jew) interpreters to be as ordinary weekly Sabbath.

On Wednesday Christ had been on the Cross until 3.00 p.m. when He gave up His Spirit as an act of His own will. The Bible definitely reports that Jesus was buried before Jewish Wednesday sunset. Two distinguished Pharisees, who believed Jesus was sent from God, asked to bury the body and received the permission to carry out the burial.

The Passover Lamb - a type of Christ, was always to be slain on the fourteenth Day of the first month of the Jewish Religious Calendar. God's Passover Lamb was Christ, and God did not change His schedule.

God would not change His orderly design of the Passover in the Old Testament that commemorated the freedom of Israel from the bondage of Egypt which was the beginning. God commanded Israel to take the lamb on the 10th day and set it aside until the 14th day of the 1st Month. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th day and was slain on the 14th day, 4 days later. He is the firstborn male lamb. The Death of The Passover Lamb brought deliverance. Unleavened bread to be eaten for 7 days. Jesus Christ is the Firstborn lamb, from death, the First born of the dead, the First born of all new creatures. Church is Firstfruits, Christians have the Firstfruits of The Holy Spirit. The day of the resurrection had to be on the First day of the week. A sheaf, symbolic of Christ and the coming harvest was waved before God; Christ was the sheaf of first on the day of his Resurrection. It was commanded by God that the Israelites had to explain Passover to their children through the generations. All is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Referring to Jonah, the only sign that would be given, Jesus stated 3 days and 3 nights His body would be in the heart of the earth. If Friday was the day of His Crucifixion it means that Jesus would have only spent no more than approximately 36 hours buried instead of approximately 72 hours He stated, although any part of a day could be classed as a full day. The sign of Jonah was also judgement, salvation and resurrection.

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