Did Jesus Really Die On Good Friday? A Bible Study

What does the Bible say about the day on which Jesus died? Was it as most believe, on Good Friday?

Was Jesus in the Grave for Three Days?

Jesus is believed to have died on Good Friday but some people have a hard time seeing that from Friday to Sunday morning He would have been dead for three days but even if you take part of Friday, then Saturday and then Saturday night into Sunday, that is still three days because Saturday night after sunset is when the day begins for the Jews and that’s the way they reckoned time. So if Jesus died on Friday and then you count that day, then Saturday, then Saturday night (Sunday) into Sunday morning, that is still three days. Jesus never stated that He would be in the grave for three full days because even part of a day today is still considered one day. If you’re like most people, you get up in the morning and go to work and then get home by early evening or late afternoon and you say “I worked a full day” but did you really? You didn’t work a full day because you were asleep, most likely at midnight, the start of your day and you may have slept until 7 or 8 am meaning that you slept away 1/3^rd of your day so you didn’t really work all day…just part of the day, likely only 1/3^rd of that day but you still considered it a day didn’t you? I hope you see my point. If you make a deposit of someone else’s check by 3 pm at our bank, you can have it counted to your account in three business days but they count that day as one day too, even if you deposited it late in the day before 3 pm.

Jesus Raised From the Dead

Whether Jesus died on Thursday as some biblical scholars attest to or whether it was Friday, all I need to know is that He stated that “On the third day he will rise again” (Luke 18:33) for “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again” (Luke 24:7). All we need know is “They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen” (Acts 10:39-40). The focus is always on the day He was resurrected or raised from the dead and not on the day that He died. It is crucial that He died for sinners, not on what day He died. The phrase “on the third day” is repeated in the Scriptures, not that He died on such and such a day. When the two men met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, they told Jesus that “it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body” (Luke 24:21-23). The two men didn’t even realize who they were talking to…yet! Jesus was said to have risen on the third day and some verses name which day it was; on the first day of the week, which would have been Sunday (see Matt 28:1-10). None of the Scriptures say He was raised exactly “on” the third day. To assume you must have three full 24 hour days to be counted as three full days are not paying close attention to what the Scriptures actually do say.

The Day of Jesus’ Death

Since the Passover was not on a fixed day of the week like the Sabbath was, it could occur any day of the week. That’s just the same for us today as Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and even the 4^th of July. These holidays can be on a Monday, a Wednesday or any day of the week for that matter so Jesus didn’t have to die on a Friday but we believe it may well have been since the Scriptures indicate “It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath)” (Mark 15:42) and the bodies of the deceased were not supposed to remain on the cross for a High Day or Holy Day. The Preparation Day is obvious to any orthodox Jew as being Friday because this is the day on which they prepare for the weekly Sabbath so the Preparation Day could very well have been the Passover too because as John writes “Since it was the Day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would 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” (John 19:31). So that Preparation Day was also a High Sabbath and a High Sabbath is clearly a Holy Day meaning that the Passover must have been on that Friday, which also happened to be the Preparation Day, which of course means it came the day before the weekly Sabbath.

Conclusion

Does it really matter if it were three full days or partial days that Jesus was in the grave? His body was laid in the grave but the very moment Jesus body gave out, His Spirit went to be with the Father as Jesus said “Into Your hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46) because Jesus being God could not die “because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24) therefore it’s not necessary to know the exact day of His death, only the fact that He died for sinners (Rom 5:8). Isn’t that the crucial fact?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.