Because the content of this Heavenly work is new to most, a lot of people may feel offended. However, The Heavenly Father, God Almighty in his brilliance explains how to overcome this offensiveness - Romans 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Changing your mind to what God’s Rightly Divided Word states Not manmade religiosity), that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Every Year we hear a lot of different versions about the crucifixion of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the humiliated one, and the resurrection of Christ Jesus, the Glorified One. Some of the most prevalent ones are that Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday with two others and Christ in the midst, and Christ arose bright and early Easter Sunday Morning. We also hear that Jesus Christ carried his own cross to his crucifixion and, of course, the fourteen stations of the cross.
Due to revelation and the rightly dividing of God's glorious, matchless word of truth the following realities have been unveiled for your learning that you may know the truth concerning the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and be set free from the rudiments of this world concerning this subject.
Some of you may feel offended because the truth differs from what you have been taught over the years, but keep in mind the only way people can get offended is if they let themselves be offended.
However, the scriptures tell us in Romans 12:2 - "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (changing your way of thinking to God's rightly divided word of truth), that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."
To get the full understanding of what really happened at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ we must start prior to going to Golgotha, the place where they crucified him. In doing so, we will discover many truths that have been hidden for centuries behind the shroud of religiosity with its paintings and endless misconceptions.
We are going to pick up the story when Jesus Christ was taken from the mount of Olives to Caiaphas, the high priest.
Matthew 26:47 - 49 - And while he (JC) yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. (JC)
Matthew 26:57 - 27:2 - "And they that had laid hold on Jesus led (the word 'led' was translated from the New Testament Greek Word "Apago" meaning to lead by the rope because the hands of the one being led were tied together) away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled .....
Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death, but found none ... And the high priest .. said unto him (Jesus) I adjure (command) you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said unto him, you have said; nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power
He has spoken blasphemy, what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now we have heard his blasphemy. What do you think?
They answered, he is guilty of death. Then they spit in his (Jesus') face,
(Mark 14:65 states they also covered his face after they spit on him. The New Testament Greek word from which "cover" was translated is "perikalupto" meaning to blind-fold.) and buffeted him (New Testament Greek Word that "buffeted' was translated from is "kolaphizo which means to hit with a closed fist), and others smote him with the palms of their hands. (slapped him).....
Mark 15:21 - "And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by (the great hall as they were coming out of it - another example of the impeccable timing of God) ... to bear (carry) his (Jesus') cross."
Luke 23:26 - "And as they led him (Jesus Christ - "Apago" - with hands tied together) they laid hold upon one Simon..... and on him (Simon) they laid the cross, that he (Simon) might bear (carry the cross) after Jesus. (The New Testament Greek word that the word "after" was translated from, in this precise location, is "opisthen" meaning from behind or to follow. If the word "after' meant to carry next in line after someone else had already carried the cross, it would have to have been the N. T. Greek word "kathexes" meaning next in order, but it wasn't.)
Expounding more perfectly-
The custom of the times prescribed that those who were to be put to death on the cross would have to carry their own cross as part of their punishment.
There are two reason why Jesus could not carry his own cross
1) His hands were tied together ("Apago")
Because of the beatings that Jesus Christ had at Caiaphas' the high priest's place and in the hall, called Praetorium, Jesus Christ was not in any physical shape to carry anything, let alone his cross and don't forget J.C's hands were tied together also. Therefore, God Almighty planted Simon of Cyrene at the front doors of the Great Hall just as they came out with Jesus Christ in tow; thus, making it available for Simon to carry Christ's physical cross.
About the Cross that Jesus Christ Bore -
Matthew 10:38 - "And he that does not take his own cross and follow after me is not worthy of me."
Matthew 16:24 - "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, ...let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Mark 8:34 - "... take up his cross and follow me (Jesus Christ)"
Mark 10:21 - ".... take up the cross and follow me."
Luke 9:23 - "..... and take up his cross daily, and follow me"
Luke 14:27 - "And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."
It is a little ridiculous to even think that all Christ's disciples all had their own wooden crosses that they "threw" over their shoulders every day and followed Christ.
The answer is simple. The cross that they bore was a symbolic cross meaning that they were to put out of their minds or do away with their own personal problems so that they could emerge themselves into Jesus Christ's ministry.
The Apostle Paul best clarifies this in -
Colossians 2:14 - "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing (securing) it to his (Jesus' symbolic) cross."
Isaiah 53:6 - "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord (God) has laid them on him (Jesus Christ) the iniquity of us all"
2 Corinthians 5:21 - "For he (God) has made him (Jesus) to be sin for us .that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (Jesus Christ)."
Galatians 5:1 - "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free ("has" is in the past tense. How has Christ made us free? By bearing that cross, the cross of bondage, for us) and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Thus, accurately, John 19:16 & 17 should read - "Then Pilate delivered Jesus Christ unto the people to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away with his hands tied together. And Christ bearing his symbolic cross of iniquity, sin and bondage, on our behalf, went to a place called 'place of a skull' in the Hebrew language called 'Golgotha'."
Expounding More Perfectly - The reason that it was called a place of the skull was not that it was the place where they crucified people but rather the face of the hill which looked like a skull -
About the Crucifixion Cross -
In order to get a full understanding of the word 'cross' we must concern ourselves with three New Testament Greek words -
1) dendron - this word means a living, growing tree.
Incidentally, the straightest tree trunk in the area was Palm Trees which could be
used for a crucifixion
One of the reason Christ was crucified on a tree/stake/pole was
Rome was trying to make a statement
Deuteronomy 21:23 - His
body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury
him that day; ( for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that
thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Galatians 3:13 - Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it
is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth (Greek κρεμάννυμι (kremannymi) meaning
of one hanging on a cross) on a tree:
The New Testament Greek word used in
Mark 15: 21, And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
Mark 15:30 & 32 - Save thyself, and come down from the cross. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. Luke 23:26 - And as they led him (JC) away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear (carry) it after (following) Jesus.
is the above word "stauros" meaning an upright pole or stake. NOT a hand-made ‘t’ cross as we see in paintings. Had it been the man-made cross, then the word would have been "xulon", but it wasn't.
Scripture Verification -
Acts 5:30 - " ..... whom you slew and hanged on a tree" (tree used here comes from the New Testament Greek word "stauros")
Acts 10:39 - " And we are witnesses of all things he did .... whom they slew and hanged on a tree." (stauros)
Acts 13:29 - "And when they had fulfilled all that was written of (about) him they took him down from the tree ..." (stauros)
Galatians 3:13 - " ... cursed is every one that hangs (is crucified) on a tree" (stauros)\
1 Peter 2:24 - "who his own self bares our sins in his own body on the tree ... " (stauros)
Notice that none of these references used the New Testament Greek word "xulon" meaning something made from wood. In other words, NOT the man-made cross that we see in paintings.
Religion Teaches that two were crucified with Christ, one on the right, the other on the left.
Rightly divided, God's Word Says :
In Matthew 27:38 and Mark 15:27 that there were "two thieves", while Luke 23:32 says "two malefactors. Furthermore, both thieves (or robbers) reviled Jesus according to Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32, while in Luke 23:39 and 40 - only one of the malefactors "railed on him (Jesus)" while the other malefactor defended Jesus.
Another added discrepancy, by tradition, is in regard to the two malefactors who were "led with him to be put to death". According to Luke 23, when they had arrived at Calvary they, then and there, "crucified him (JC), and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left."
There are four New Testament Greek words that must be examined to understand exactly what transpired.
1) "Duo Lestai" means "two robbers" - not thieves
2) "Duo Kakourgoi" means "two malefactors" which means evil doer.
3) "Allos" means "the 'other' or second of two when and where there may be more."
4) "Heteros" means "the 'other' or second of two when and where there are only two."
Matthew 27:35-38: "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were there two thieves [duo lestai] crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left."
The King James says "two thieves;" the Greek words are "duo lestai" of which duo means two, lestai means robbers. The Greeks used an entirely different word for thieves, "kleptes". - The English word "kleptomaniac" comes from this Greek word kleptes. Usually violence is not associated with a kleptomaniac - A thief is one who acts stealthily while a robber is one who deliberately plans and openly carries out his crime, using violence if necessary. In legal terms robbery is a worse crime than thievery. Thieves would be punished, but not by such an extreme sentence as crucifixion. In some cases a thief would lose a finger or a hand Robbers would receive a crucifixion sentence because of more extreme actions. This distinction is obscured in the King James Version.
Duo lestai - two robbers - , were. crucified with Jesus after a short period of time. The Word of God states plainly that the soldiers crucified Jesus, they parted His garments, sat down and "then were there two thieves (duo lestai) crucified with him ...
Verse 44: "The thieves (duo lestai) also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth."
As the bystanders mocked Jesus, the two robbers, not just one, joined in with the crowd.
Mark 15:24-27 - "And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with him they crucify two thieves (duo lestai); the one on his right hand, and the other on his left."
The two robbers (duo lestai) were crucified after the garments were parted.
After Jesus had been nailed on the tree, the crowd reproached Jesus.
Luke 23:32 - "And there were also two other malefactors (duo kakourgoi), led with him to be put to death."
Here we learn that there were two malefactors (duo kakourgoi) led with Jesus when He was led forth to be put to death."
Matthew and Mark concur that there were two robbers (duo lestai) crucified with Him after the garments had been parted and the soldiers had sat down and were watching what was going on. The two malefactors (duo kakourgoi) were crucified at the time Jesus was crucified, while the two robbers (duo lestai) were crucified later. The malefactors (duo kakourgoi) were led with Him from Pilate's Hall and crucified at the time Jesus was crucified.
Luke 23:32,33 - "And there were also two other malefactors (duo kakourgoi), led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left." The two malefactors were then on either side next to Jesus Christ.
Luke 23:39 - "And one of the malefactors (not both) which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If you be Christ, save thyself and us."
Luke says that one malefactor railed on Him.
Luke 23:40-43 - "But the other malefactor answering rebuked him (the other malefactor who was crucified at the same time as Christ), saying, Do you not fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, today shall you be with me in paradise".
Expounding More Perfectly -
The phrase "Verily I say unto you, today shall you be with me in paradise” has created all kinds of misunderstandings. Most religious organizations use this phrase to teach that the minute you die you go to heaven. Here are four reasons why this is simply not true -
1) man added the punctuation, supposedly to make the scriptures a little easier to understand. However, punctuation has no bearing on the accuracy, integrity and simplicity of God's Rightly Divided Word of Truth. If any punctuation was to be inserted the comma should be placed as follows ".. Verily I say unto you today, shall you be with me in paradise."
2) Paradise is in the future. It is the new earth, not heaven. Only those who are born again according to the instructions given in God's Word go to heaven as recorded in - John 3:3 - " Verily, verily I (Jesus) say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see (enter into) the kingdom of God"
When one becomes saved, which is to be born again, they receive the Holy Spirit of Promise, which Christ sent AFTER he ascended into heaven.
3) Christ was entombed for seventy-two hours and then got up without the malefactor.
4) Common sense should dictate that If everyone went to heaven the minute they died, there would be no need for Christ to come back and collect his people, they would already be there.
Matthew, as well as Mark, records that the robbers both reviled Christ. The Gospel of Luke has only one reviling Christ and that one is called a malefactor. In Matthew and Mark, the two robbers were not crucified until after Christ's garments had been divided. In Luke two malefactors were led forth with Christ from the presence of Pilate and were crucified at the same time as Jesus Christ.
There is a simple answer to understanding the Word of God - Instead of being conditioned by the pictures we have seen, we must believe what The Word says after Rightly Dividing it! ..
Two malefactors were crucified with Jesus at the same time He was crucified, and two robbers were crucified AFTER the garments were parted, the signs in three different languages were made and placed, and they sat and watched him for awhile and cast lots for Jesus Christ's garment. Of the two malefactors, one was on His right and the other was on His left; and also, of the two robbers, one was on His right and the other on His left. So the answer to this subject is simple. Four were crucified with Jesus Christ. Two on the left and two on the right and Christ in the 'midst'.
Expounding More Perfectly -
Every robber is a malefactor (evildoer), but not every malefactor (evildoer) is a robber. If I break a law, I am not necessarily a robber; but I am a malefactor. The Word of God does not tell what the two malefactors did to deserve crucifixion.
The Gospel of John is not concerned about the time element. It does not give the when, but it gives the where. John culminates this whole subject.
John 19:17&18 - "And he (Jesus Christ) bearing his (symbolic) cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst."
AND
One small word from John 19:18 should immediately attract our attention, and that is the word "midst." The word "midst" is a key word, because grammatically one individual cannot be crucified in the midst of two. With the use of the word "midst" four, six or eight are indicated. When a person is situated with one on either side, the person is not in the midst; they are between or in the middle of. A person is between two, but in the midst of four.
An interlinear translation of the Stephen's Greek Text, from which the King James Version was translated in 1611, reads in - John 19:18 - "and with him, others, two on this side and on that side."
The word "one" appears in the English, but no corresponding Greek word is above it. To indicate that the translators added the word "one" they put it in brackets. The King James translators, therefore, added the word "one." If the word "one" is not in the critical Greek texts, why is it in the King James? Because by 1611 the Western world had been so indoctrinated by a picture showing Jesus on the center cross and one evildoer on either side of Him that, when the translators were translating this verse of the 19 chapter of John, they inserted the word "one."
John 19:32,33 - "Then came the soldiers, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs."
The word "other" in John 19:32 is allos. The word allos is used when more than two are involved. The two malefactors and the two thieves (robbers) make four. So, the soldiers broke the legs of the first and of the other (allos) of the four involved. That is why they use the word allos for the word "other."
Luke 23:32: "And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him "
The word for "other" here is not the word allos, but it is 'heteros' because there were only two involved, the two malefactors. This is the unbelievable accuracy of God's Word. They led the two malefactors with Him, later, after they had crucified Jesus, they parted His garments, then they cast lots,then they sat down. Then they made up the accusation. This accusation took time to inscribe in three different languages Greek, Latin and Hebrew, as recorded in Luke 23:38. Then after all this, finally they brought the two robbers and they crucified them.
People, any way you cut it, two plus two make four, plus Jesus Christ
Psalms 34:20 - "He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken."
Exodus 12:46 - "In one house shall it be eaten; thou shall not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof."
Numbers 9:12 - "They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it."
Incidentally, the Jews and the soldiers didn't take Jesus' life upon the tree; he laid it down. He gave up His life. He didn't die because they crucified Him, He died because He gave Himself for us. This is the accuracy,
integrity and simplicity with which the Word of God fits together in its rightly divided form, and this is the remarkable usage of The Word as it develops the scriptures by interpreting itself right where it is written.
Interesting enough - At Ploubezere near Lannion, in the Cotes-du-Nord, Brittany, there is a representation of Calvary showing five crosses –
Three days and three nights consist of 72 hours - three 24-hour periods.
Now if this is true I have a question. How can you get 72 hours out of Good Friday at 3:00 in the afternoon until bright and early Easter Sunday Morning? You Can't! That is only 36 hours. What happened to the other 36
hours?
Let's examine -
I Corinthians 5:7 says, "... Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." Jesus Christ in fulfilling the law had to carry out exactly the demands thereof. One important part of the law was the observance of the Passover which was first established as Moses and Aaron prepared to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Exodus 12:1-6 - "And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month (Abib or Nisan) of the year to you. Speak 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: And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor 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. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: You shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And you 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. "
The tenth to the fourteenth of the first month (Abib or Nisan) are days to prepare for the high day of Passover. The first day of the Passover was always on the fifteenth of Nisan. - April
Leviticus 23:5 - "In the fourteenth day of the first month at even (evening) is the Lord's Passover."
The fourteenth day at evening began the fifteenth of Nisan as the Jewish day begins at sunset. The fourteenth was the day before the Passover, the Feast of Un-leavened Bread, the day of preparation. On the fifteenth of Nisan the Passover Feast officially began.
Leviticus 23:6 & 7 - "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Un-leavened bread (which is Passover) unto the Lord: seven days you must eat Un-leavened bread. In the first day you shall have an holy convocation..... "
The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the fifteenth, would always be a holy convocation, a Sabbath day, a high Holy day. If the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread came on a Tuesday, that Tuesday would be a Sabbath day. If the first day of the Feast came on a weekly Sabbath, on a Saturday, then it still was a high day and it would have pre-eminence over the weekly Sabbath. This pre-eminence is like our holiday; but if Christmas comes on a Sunday, the special day of Christmas takes priority over the weekly Sunday. This point has bearing upon the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The greatest point of confusion comes by not differentiating between the Sabbath which was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the weekly Sabbath. The day before the weekly Sabbath was Friday so the teaching has therefore been that Jesus died on Friday. But the day after Jesus’ death does not refer to the weekly Sabbath, as explicitly stated in -
John 19:31 - "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation (the day before the fifteenth of Nisan), 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."
The fact that Jesus was crucified before a special Sabbath is emphasized in the King James by putting the notation in parentheses: "... (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) .. " Jesus was crucified the day before a special day, the high day, which was the first day of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, The Passover, and not on the day before the regular weekly Sabbath.
The Gospels document the specific time of day that Jesus Christ died on the fourteenth of Nisan.
Matthew 27:45,46,50 - "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice ... Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. "
Mark 15:33,34,37 - "And when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost."
Luke 23:44-46 - "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."
After Pilate released Jesus to the Jews, John 19:15-30 records Jesus’ being led away (hands tied together) to Golgotha. His crucifixion, the title being nailed above Jesus’ head, His clothes being parted, the attention given to His mother and His receiving the vinegar. Then verse 30 repeats the account of Jesus’ death.
John 19:30 & 31 - "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
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 holy day,)
The day and time of the crucifixion and burial are clearly on the fourteenth of the first month between three and six o'clock in the afternoon. All four Gospels also readily agree on the time of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Three o'clock was the time of death. To fulfill the Passover rite, Jesus, our sacrificial lamb, had to be buried sometime between 3 P.M. and sunset, for after sunset began the high day and there on no one could do manual labor.
Leviticus 23:6 - "In the first day you shall have a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein. "
Joseph of Arimathea had to work quickly after Jesus’ death to get
permission from Pilate to remove Jesus’ body and to place it in his newly hewn tomb.
John 19:41,42 - "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulcher was nigh at hand."
These four records pinpoint the day of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial as being the day before the Passover, the fourteenth of Nisan, and the time of Jesus’ death as being the ninth hour, which by our reckoning of time is three o'clock in the afternoon.
Matthew 28 :1 - "In the end of the Sabbath (this is the weekly Sabbath), as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week (Sunday), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher."
This is early Sunday morning. In verse 6 of Matthew 28 the report was, "He is not here: for he is risen .. " This verse does not say that He arose on what is called Easter Sunday morning. It says that by the time the women got to the tomb, the angel reported that Jesus was not there for He had already risen.
Mark 16:1 & 6 - "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And he (the angel) said unto them, be not frightened: You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him."
Again, in Luke 24:6 the angel declared to those at the sepulcher on Sunday morning, "He is not here, but is risen .. " Once more, The Word simply declares that He was already up. It does not tell in Matthew, Mark nor Luke exactly when He got up; but it does tell that by the time the women came, which was very early, Christ had already risen. John 20:1 recorded that when Mary Magdalene arrived at the sepulcher in the dark of the early morning of the "first day of the week," the tomb was empty. Not one of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke nor John states that Christ arose on Easter Sunday morning. That is tradition, not The Rightly Divided Word of Truth.
Matthew 12:40 states that Jesus was not simply to be dead three days and three nights; He was to be buried three days and three nights. A legal standard is involved in the "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." In Biblical times no one could be officially pronounced dead until he had been interred for seventy-two hours, three days and three nights. Why did God not raise His Son immediately after Jesus died, since God obviously had the power? The reason lies in the legality of the event, for Jesus Christ had to fulfill ALL the law; that is, He had to be in the grave three days and three nights and not just part of this time.
The failure of a lot of Biblical Scholars to recognize that the first day of the Passover was a High Sabbath, a holy day, a special convocation, and their failure to understand that the Jewish day began at sunset have caused most of the difficulty regarding the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in John 19:31 that Jesus was crucified and buried on the day of preparation, the fourteenth day of Nisan. Matthew 27:46 tells us that Jesus died at 3:00 P.M., which is the ninth hour by Jewish reckoning. Jesus had to be buried before sunset because sunset started the next day, which was the Passover. To get three complete nights and days beginning with the late afternoon of the fourteenth of Nisan, the seventy-two-hour duration
would end with the late afternoon of the seventeenth of Nisan. So at whatever time He was buried between 3:00 and sunset on the fourteenth of Nisan was the hour He was raised on the seventeenth of Nisan seventy-two hours later. Now we must count backward to calculate the days of the week
We know that when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early on Sunday, the first day of the week, the tomb was already empty, because Christ had already risen.
So, Christ had to have risen sometime between 3:00 P.M. and 6 PM (sunset) on Saturday, the seventeenth of Nisan. That means He would have had to have been buried between 3:00 P.M. and 6 PM (sunset) on Wednesday, the fourteenth of Nisan, three days and three nights or seventy-two hours previously.
Jesus Christ literally fulfilled the law; He carried out the Word of God by being buried on Wednesday afternoon and being raised seventy-two hours later Saturday afternoon.
Jesus Christ literally fulfilled the law. While the Jews selected their spotless lamb to be used as the Passover sacrifice, Jesus Christ was "selected" and acknowledged as acceptable when He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. While the Passover lamb was being sacrificed in the late afternoon during the preparation, Jesus Christ was dying on Golgotha. The blood of the Passover lamb was of non-effect beginning with this occasion as Jesus was the true Passover, the complete Passover.
However, just because Jesus Christ died on a Wednesday, I am not going to advocate that we change to 'Good Wednesday ' instead of Good Friday for Galatians 4:9 & 10 says that we are not to be observers of days or times or special hours. But I am going to adhere to the accuracy of God’s Word and acknowledge its truth. The pieces of the puzzle fall into place when the days of the months are rightly divided, when the hours of the days are rightly divided, and when the special days are understood. These tie together the whole record of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
2) I'm going to share with you is the last statements Jesus made while hanging on the cross just before giving up His life, is recorded in -
Matthew 27:46 - "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
We understand Matthew 27:46 word by word except for the foreign words. God apparently forsook Jesus because Jesus became sin and God could not stand sin. God consequently left Jesus to die alone. This idea contradicts every other pertinent verse in the Word of God.
Matthew 27:46, as well as the same record in Mark 15:34, should have caught our attention from the beginning. Why did the translators leave those foreign words in the verse? This deviation from normal translation procedures should have caused us to wonder.
Let's go to God's Word and see exactly what God's Word says. Look at the Gospel of John where Jesus spoke to His apostles.
John 16:32 - "Behold, the hour comes, yes, is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. "
Jesus was referring to the time of His crucifixion and of His death, the coming time; He said, "The Father is with me." Yet Matthew 27:46 says, "My God, my God why has thou forsaken me?"
John 10:30 testifies - "I and my Father are one (spiritually)."
2 Corinthians 5:19 says - "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself."
How are you going to separate one, separate God who was spiritually in Christ, when He was dying on the cross?
Colossians 2:9 - "For in him (Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."
How are we going to separate the fullness of the Godhead which dwelt in Christ while He was present on earth? How was it possible for God to forsake Jesus when Jesus was the fullness of the Godhead?
Matthew 26:53 - " Think you that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? "
I Don't know about you, but a person must be on awfully good talking terms with God Almighty to get that kind of assistance. God would have given Jesus Christ 72,000 angels. Jesus could have walked right out from among this group of men if He had wanted to. How? Because "I and my Father are one (spiritually)," "the Father is with me," "I always do the Father’s will." If Jesus Christ was always doing the Father’s will, He must have been doing His Father’s will when He was dying upon the cross. Yet Matthew 27:46 says, "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why has you forsaken me?"
This verse clearly contradicts the rest of The Word.
Let's clarify this First, the foreign words in verse 46 of Matthew 27 are not Greek words; they are Aramaic. Jesus Christ spoke Aramaic.
(Aramaic is also called Hebrew in the King James Version.) These Aramaic words show up in this Scripture because the translators were not absolutely certain about their meaning. They let the Aramaic words remain and then, also, added what they thought the English translation might be, basing it on a similar translation they found in Psalms 21:1 - "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?....... "
However, there is no such Aramaic word as lama, but there is the word Lmna. Lmna is a declaration of "for this purpose" or "for this reason." The root of sabachthani is shbk or shbq. The root word shbk means to spare, to leave, to reserve or to keep.
Going back to Matthew 27, it was about the ninth hour, three o’clock in the afternoon, when Jesus spoke from the cross. Hanging on the cross at that critical hour, Jesus came forth with this utterance from the depths of His soul -
"My God, my God (Eli, Eli), for this purpose (Lmna) you spared me (sabachthani)."
In other words the correct translation of Matthew 27:46 is “My God, my God, for this purpose was I spared "
God stayed with His Son. This was not only their triumphant hour but ours also, for it was at this point that Jesus Christ, the second Adam, fulfilled all the legal requirements for our redemption and salvation. This was Christ’s purpose for coming into the world as found in
Romans 5:19 - "For as by one man's disobedience (referring to Adam when he sinned by taking a bite of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and destroyed the spiritual connection between God and mankind many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one (Jesus Christ who willingly gave up his life and then got up, went to Heaven after forty days, and sent the Holy Spirit of Promise that man could get back that which Adam lost) shall many be made righteous."
Pontius Pilate -
Roman prefect (governor) of Judaea (26–36 CE) under the emperor Tiberius. Pilate presided at the trial of Jesus and gave the order for his crucifixion and made JC's sign.
John 19:19 >24
19 - And Pilate wrote a title, and (had it) put it on
the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
20 - This title then read many of the Jews: for the place
where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew,
and Greek, and Latin.
21 - Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate,
Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
22 - Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
23 - Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took
his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat:
now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 - They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend
it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be
fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture
they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
JESUS OF NAZARETH THE
KING OF THE JEWS.
ONE LAST THING -
In 1990, when archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority excavated a Jewish burial cave from the first century C.E. It had been uncovered during road works in Jerusalem’s Peace Forest, a park in the south of the city. The cave contained 12 ossuaries, limestone boxes in which Jews of this period traditionally placed the bones of the deceased once the bodies had decomposed. An exceptional fancy ossuary found dated back to the first century.
(An ossuary is a chest, box, (60 cm.– 23.622 inches x 35 cm.- 13.7795 inches x 30 cm. -11.811 inches) a site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains They are frequently used where burial space was scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary.)
The bones of the sixty-year-old man found in the exceptional fancy ossuary according to Zvi Greenhut - Israel Antiquities Authority - and others is that of the High Priest involved in Christ’s crucifixion whose name was Caiaphas. Counted with Oher artifacts found in Caiaphas’ tomb were two nails.
Expounding More Perfectly -
Scripture
states that Jesus Christ was crucified on a tree (Greek word stauros) not a
manmade cross depicted in paintings. His hands together over his head and his
feet crossed needing only two nails just as they found in Caiaphas ossuary.
NOTE - Booth the ossuary and two nails can be seen at the
archaeology department in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem,
The difference between a columbarium and ossuary? A Columbaria vault is a structure for the respectful and usually public storage of urns that holds cremated remains or ashes of the deceased. On the other hand, an Ossuary vault is a container or room in which the bones of your departed loved ones are placed
Researched, Rightly Divided and Compiled by
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