Christ was not crucified on a Friday

It is commonly taught that Christ was crucified on a Friday, Good Friday, and then resurrected on the following Sunday. The problem with this scenario is that there is not three days between Friday afternoon (3pm) and early Sunday morning. In fact there is only about 39 hours from Friday at 3pm, which is about when Christ gave up the spirit, to Sunday at 6am, which is about when the two Mary's found the tomb empty.

One could say that this time still spans 3 different days. But that is not good enough as the Bible says in Matt 12:40 that the Lord will be in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights and this cannot mean only part of 3 days but must mean 3 full days and 3 full nights. Here is appendix 148, taken from the Companion Bible, that will explain the concept of three days and three nights in detail. See also appending 144 and 156 in the Companion Bible for additional details on this subject.

Appendix 148 – The Companion Bible – "The Third Day"
In the first mention of His sufferings (Matt 16:21) the Lord mentions the fact that He would be "raised again the third day". In John 2:19 He had already mentioned "three days" as the time after which He would raise up "the Temple of His body".
The expression occurs 11 times with reference to His resurrection (Matt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19. Mark 9:31; 10:34. Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7,46. Acts 10:40. I Cor 15:4).
We have the expression "after three days" in Mark 8:31, used of the same event.
This shows that the expression "three days and three nights" of Matt 12:40 must include three days and three preceding "nights". While it is true that a "third day" may be a part of three days, including two nights; yet "after three days", and "three nights and three days" cannot possibly be so reckoned.
This full period admits of the Lord's resurrection on the third of the three days, each being preceded by a night, as shown in Appendix 144 and 156.
But, why this particular period? Why not two or four or any other number of days? Why “three” and not more or less?
1. We notice that the man who contracted defilement through contact with a dead body was to purify himself on the third day (Numbers 19:11-12).
2. The flesh of the peace offering was not to be kept beyond the third day, but was then to be burnt (Lev. 7:17-18) as unfit for food.
3. John Lightfoot (1602-75) quotes a Talmudic tradition that the mourning for the dead culminated on “the third day”, because the spirit was not supposed to have finally departed until then (Works, Pitman's ed. Vol. Xii. pp. 351-353)
4. Herodotus testifies that embalmment did not take place until after three days (Herod. ii. 86-89).
5. The Jews did not accept evidence as to the identification of a dead body after three days.
This period seems, therefore, to have been chosen by the Lord (i.e. Jehovah, in the type of Jonah) to associate the fact of resurrection with the certainty of death, so as to preclude all doubt that death had actually taken place, and shut out all suggestion that it might have been a trance, or a mere case of resuscitation. The fact that Lazarus had been dead “four days already” was urged by Martha as a proof that Lazarus was dead, for “by this time he stinketh” (John 11:17, 39).
We have to remember that corruption takes place very quickly in the East, so that “the third day” was the proverbial evidence as to the certainty that death had taken place, leaving no hope.

We know that Christ was crucified by 3pm on the day before the main Passover feast (Matthew 27:46) and the Jewish day ends at sun down which is the start of the main Passover. So they had to have Jesus taken down and buried before 6pm that day. As an aside – in this case we can also say that Jesus became our Passover! This is confirmed in 1 Corinthians 5:7 -

“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”

It is generally accepted that Jesus resurrected on the standard sabbath, a Sunday, but in order to abide by Jewish custom the dead body must be dead for at least 3 full days, including nights, to be certain that the person is in fact dead as we just read in the excerpt of appendix 148 "the third day" from the Companion Bible.

This is not the only place where 3 days and 3 nights is used. For example, Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and nights as an example of what was going to happen to Christ in that Jonah was then resurrected from the dead from the belly of the fish and was spit upon the land by the fish and he preached to the people of Ninevah who then believed him and were saved from destruction.

Jonah 1:17 - Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

So, in order for Jesus death and resurrection to be complete and sure He had to be in the tomb for a full 3 days and nights.

Now that we know that Jesus had to have been in the tomb for a full 3 days and nights we can back up from the resurrection and calculate when Jesus body had to have been put into the tomb. So, what do we know?

We know that Jesus was crucified on the preparation day for Passover, the day before Passover.

John 19:14-18 - Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” 15 So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. 17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

We know that He was dead by the 9th hour which is 3pm.

Matthew 27:46-50 - 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 hast thou forsaken me? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

We know that his body was taken down and put in the tomb before 6pm which would be the start of Passover – the high sabbath.

Matthew 27:57-60 - 57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.  

We know He was in the tomb for 3 days and nights.

Matthew 12:40 - For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

We know He was resurrected on the weekly sabbath, this could have been sometime on our Saturday night after 6 pm or after midnight which would be our Sunday. But this is not the high sabbath which was Passover on the prior Thursday.

Matthew 28:1-6 – 1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Now, given these facts we can determine what day Jesus body was put in the tomb.

According to Matthew 28:1, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb on the first of the week – Sunday, Jesus had already resurrected. Back up 3 days from Sunday morning (about 6am) and we get Thursday at 6am. So, if Jesus body was put in the tomb sometime the evening before, around 6pm or shortly after, then that means He was crucified on Wednesday afternoon and put into the tomb early Wednesday evening, which is the start of the Hebrew Thursday. After 3 days and nights He resurrected some time during the night Saturday night or Sunday morning after midnight.

What we have then is pretty solid evidence, even proof, that Jesus had to have been in the tomb for a full 3 days and nights, which means He could not have been crucified on a Friday if He resurrected some time before Sunday morning at 6am since there is not a full 3 day period from Friday 3pm to Sunday 6am. This then begs the question, where did the idea that He was crucified on Friday, known commonly as Good Friday, come from? Also, how did this 'theory' become so widely accepted and why does it even matter? I think it matters because everything that God had put in the Bible must be important or He would not have put it in. It is just one more thing that has been misunderstood or perhaps deliberately changed because satan wants to deceive us. Satan knows the Bible quite well and uses every way he can to confuse us and keep us from knowing the truth.

In summary, according to Jewish tradition a body must be dead for a full 3 days (three 24 hour periods) before it is confirmed to be dead and the spirit has left the person. Jesus announced that he would be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth – Matt 12:40. Pilate put a watch, a guard, at the tomb where Jesus body was to make sure no one could come and take the body before 3 days had passed, thus ensuring He was dead and still in the tomb. Matt 27:63-66, The fact that Jesus body was gone was necessary to prove that He did in fact resurrect and no one could say He didn't because His body was not there. So, when the pharisees, et al., found out that Jesus body was not in the tomb they paid off the guards to say that His body was stolen while they slept.

Matt 28:12-15 - 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.