It’s the Sabbath of Passion Week. Jesus has been in the tomb for two days now. Tomorrow, the third day, is Resurrection Sunday, the first day of the new week.

You can read about this time in Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; and John 19:38-42.

Even the tomb Jesus was buried in was a fulfillment of prophecy. (Isaiah 53:9) Joseph, a “rich man” and Nicodemus had brought spices to prepare His body for burial. Then they proceeded to place His body in a new tomb that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. All of this fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah over 600 years prior to these events.

Just for the sake of clarity, allow me to explain how the days were counted. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 that Jesus “died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

For the Jews, their days were calculated from sunset to sunset rather than midnight to midnight. Any portion of a day counted as a full day.

Since Jesus was crucified on Friday, it meant the Jewish Sabbath would have started at sunset probably about 6 PM. To keep themselves from becoming unclean for the Sabbath, the Jews would have hurried to get the bodies of the three victims washed, rubbed in spices and wrapped in cloth then into tombs. The idea of allowing them to hang on the crosses during a Sabbath, which was also Passover, was an abomination. This explains why the Romans soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves. Breaking their legs would keep them from gasping for breath and cause death sooner. But since Jesus was already dead when they came to Him, they did not break His legs. This also was a fulfillment of prophecy found in Psalm 34:20. This also goes back to the commands of God to Moses and Aaron regarding the Passover Lamb. Its legs were not to be broken. And since Jesus was the ultimate, once for all Passover Lamb, His legs were not to be broken either.

Let’s get back to counting the days. Even though Jesus died at 3 PM, the time of the Evening Sacrifice but was placed in the tomb prior to sunset, the start of the next day, it constituted a full day, day one.

Day two was the Sabbath, starting at sunset on Friday and lasting until sunset on Sabbath. Day three would have started at sunset on the Sabbath. We know that Jesus rose from the dead early on the morning of the third day, which in our week would have been Sunday, the first day of the week. Always remember, Jewish days are counted from sunset to sunset not midnight to midnight.

That’s how we get the three days.

Always in Pursuit!

Don