The customary manner in which the Easter season has traditionally been observed consists of honouring Friday, known as Good Friday, as the day on which Jesus was crucified, and then observing Sunday morning as the moment of His resurrection. Nevertheless, this practice stands in contradiction to the manner in which God instructed that the death and resurrection of Christ should be commemorated.
Commemorated
To begin with, it is necessary for us to determine whom we are going to place our belief in. Shall we place our trust in Almighty God and in His holy scriptures, or shall we instead choose to follow the traditions that have been established by man? Without a doubt, if it is truly the truth that you are searching for, then the sole source from which your information and inspiration may be drawn is the Bible.
Pro 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
At such times when you find yourself in search of guidance or direction regarding a particular matter, I would respectfully ask that you not overlook the Old Testament. A considerable number of individuals in the present day are inclined to view this book as outdated and as having little or no bearing upon the circumstances of our contemporary era. Nevertheless, what is it that the word of God declares concerning this very subject?
2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
All scripture means exactly what it says. ALL SCRIPTURE, both the old and the new testaments.
Creation of the World
There is one particular point that I wish to emphasise at this juncture, and it is essentially the following. Before they undertook the creation of the earth, God the Father and Jesus Christ possessed the whole of eternity in which to determine precisely how everything would unfold and in what sequence it would take place. No errors whatsoever have been made by them, and there is absolutely nothing that has been left to chance, nor is there anything that came about as a mere afterthought. The entirety of the creation was meticulously planned by them for the purpose of directing our attention towards something of tremendous magnitude.
Consequently, we may with complete confidence trust that the sequence of events surrounding the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Christ, just as it has been recorded in the scriptures, is precisely accurate, even down to the very hour in which each occurred. At the time when Jesus observed the Passover meal during the early hours of the 14th of Abib, shortly after sunset, He did not err in His timing; and likewise, when He passed away upon the cross during the late afternoon of that very same day, He again did not err in His timing.
Whenever Jesus speaks, we should pay very careful attention to what He is saying. God Himself has given this excellent advice.
Mar 9:7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
The initial statement that I wish to present within this concise introduction is the following. The most essential scriptural passage that is required in order to clarify this enigma is found in Mat 12:39.
Mat 12:39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
The sign of Jonah is the most important thing to understand if you want to come to the correct conclusion about the timing of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.