THE GOOD FRIDAY MYTH: YOU DO THE MATH

Matthew Chapter 12







Today we are walking in: The Good Friday Myth: You Do The Math







Today we look to the word-THREE H7969 shalowsh--three, triad, third









The Torah testifies...............








Exodus 10:22




And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three H7969 days:






The prophets proclaim..................



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 H7969 days and three H7969 nights







The writings bear witness...........................






Esther 4:16




Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three H7969 days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.




Three Days & Three Nights in the Heart of the Earth: The Good Friday Myth




Many of us have been brought up in the church to believe that Yahusha (whom many call Jesus) died on “Good Friday” and he resurrected on “Easter Sunday.”




Well today, I am going to dismantle these lies, and show how these deceptions actually prove to discredit him as the authentic Messiah.




In Matthew 12:38, the religious leaders of his day asked him for a “sign” to prove that he was their awaited Savior that was prophesied about by Moses and the prophets.




His response to their asking for a sign is in (Matthew) 12:39-40:




39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet (Jonas).





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.





If he had not resurrected EXACTLY THREE DAYS & THREE NIGHTS after he was killed on the evening of Passover, then his prophecy would have failed, and this would have rendered him a false prophet, and not the true and genuine Messiah.




When the Christian Church teaches that he died on “Good Friday,” and then resurrected on Sunday morning, HaSatan dances with glee, because he knows that this makes him out to be a false prophet!




We all know that you cannot get three days and three nights out of 36 hours. HaSatan wants to discredit Yahusha as the Messiah, so that our faith in him will be destroyed. This would mean that his victory over death, Hell, and the grave was not won, and therefore, we are all doomed to eternal damnation. At least, this is what HaSatan wants you to believe!




That is why proving that he was in the heart of the earth for EXACTLY three days and three nights is crucial to our salvation!




Before I get into the meat of this study, we must first ask ourselves, “Why have we been conditioned to believe that Messiah was crucified on the 6th day of the week on Friday?”




The answer to this question is simple. The gospel accounts tell us that after Messiah was crucified, and his body taken down from the stauros (crucifixion stake), the women were in a hurry to anoint his body with spices, because at sundown began a High Sabbath.




Those who are uneducated in the Mosaic Law (Torah) see the word “Sabbath,” and they naturally assume that he was buried just before the weekly Sabbath, (what we today call Saturday). In John 19:31, it specifically tells us that this was not a regular weekly Sabbath, but an annual Sabbath:





(John) 19:31 The (Jews) therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the crucifixion stake 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.




What is a High Sabbath Day? The Greek word in John 19:31 used for “high day,” is “megas,” which means “great, mighty, large, high.”




(Exodus) 12:42 It is a night to be much observed unto The Most High Yah for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of The Most High Yah to be observed of all the children of Yisrael in their generations.




Our Messiah was killed on the 14th day of the first Hebrew Month known as “Abib” (Exodus 12:2 & 13:4). The Torah commands that we kill the lamb on the 14th day of the first month in the evening. The Hebrew word for evening is “ereb,” which means “dusk.”




He was nailed the crucifixion stake at 9:00 a.m. and he died at 3:00 p.m. It was getting close to darkness at 3:00 p.m., for they did not have daylight savings time in 1st Century Jerusalem. This means that at 3:00 p.m. in the month of April, it was already growing dark by this time.




(Exodus) 12:6 And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Yisra’el shall kill it in the evening.




After the sun went down on the 14th of Abib, it then became the 15th of Abib, The Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remember, on the Creator's reckoning of time (Genesis 1:5), a calendar date changes at sundown, not at midnight. It was Pope Gregory who caused the date to change at midnight in the year 1582.




Right after our Messiah died on the 14th (Passover), he was taken down from the crucifixion stake, and then buried before the High Sabbath, known as The Feast of Unleavened Bread:




(Leviticus) 23:




5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is The Most High Yah's Passover.




6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto The Most High Yah: seven days you must eat unleavened bread.




7 In the first day you shall have an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein.




The day in which Yahusha’s crucifixion took place was called the “preparation day.” On the 14th day of Abib (Passover) we are commanded to prepare the Passover Lamb, and clean out all the leaven from our homes. Our Messiah was buried just before the sun went down on the 14th, and then it became the 15th of Abib, the Feast of Unleavened Bread.




Since Yah introduced his divine calendar to us at creation in Genesis 1:5, a new calendar date was to begin at sunset. However, as I already mentioined Pope Gregory XIII caused the new date to change at midnight during his reign in 1582.




In Daniel 7:23-25, the angel told Daniel that the “fourth beast” (Rome) “shall think to change times and laws,” and since Rome has been instrumental in altering the calendar of our creator, the result has been the distorting of many prophetic events.





At the time of Yahusha’s crucifixion, Yisra’el and the entire world still acknowledged Yah’s standard of measuring time. Therefore, Yahusha was crucified and died on the 4th day of the week (what we today call Wednesday) at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and then he was buried at sunset, around 6 p.m. After sundown, the date changed, and it then became the 5th day of the week, (what we today call Thursday).




Since the day was almost over when he died, we don’t start counting “Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” until he was buried, and the sun went down that Wednesday evening. The count of 72 hours (three days and three nights) begins on Wednesday Night after sundown once he was in the grave.




It is important to note that whenever we see a word in italics in the King James Version, it means that the word was not there in the original text. It means that the English translators added that particular word into the text to help the sentence structure flow better.




In order to help you see where the words are italicized in the King James Version, I will highlight in red the italicized words for “day.” This will bring clarity to many of the translation anomalies in the gospels which seem to confuse people about the timing of these events.




At creation, Yah “divided” (separated) the 12-hour period called “day” from the 12-hour period called “night,” and he treated them as two separate periods.




In Genesis 1:4-5 we read: “And The Most High saw the light, that it was good: and The Most High divided the light from the darkness. And The Most High called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”




As you can see, the “day” has a different name than “night.” He also did not include the “night” in with the period called “day.” He divided the 12 hours of day from the 12 hours of darkness and called them two different things.




In Genesis 1:5 people are often confused by the phrase “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” They assume that the word “evening” means the same thing as “night” and that The Most High was combining these two periods of “day and night” and calling the combination of the two periods “day.”




However, this does not make sense, because he had just finished dividing the two periods in the previous verse, yet why would he combine day and night again and call it “day?” The Hebrew word for “evening” is “ereb” which means “dusk, mixture of light and darkness,” and it is still considered part of the twelve-hour period called “day.” However, it becomes “night” when all the light is completely gone. The Hebrew word for “night” is “layil” which means “opposed to the day.”




Thus, we see that there were actually six 12-hour periods being spoken of in the prophecy of Jonah wherein our Messiah said that he would be “Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” If he was speaking of three 24-hour periods, he would have only said “Three days in the heart of the earth.”




You may be asking yourself “Why is this important?” It is important because some people would try to argue that he was in the heart of the earth approximately three days or “inside of three days.”




Many people rationalize that if one counts the day of his crucifixion (allegedly on Friday at 3:00 p.m.), the entire day counts as day # 1. The next logical conclusion is that day # 2 was Saturday, and day # 3 was Sunday.






They claim that even a fraction of the day counts as the same thing as a 24-hour period when reckoning the three days and three nights prophecy. The only problem with this logic is that Yah, our Creator always uses precise measurements when it comes to prophecy. He is perfectly accurate in all of his ways.




From Friday evening at 3:00 p.m. until Sunday morning (when he allegedly resurrected) would mean that he was rendering a 36-hour period as “Three days & three nights.” However, we know that he purposely spoke of “Three days & three nights” because it is exactly 72 hours.






Hence, the reason why it is important to distinguish that a day is only 12 hours--not 24 hours! The period called “night” is also a 12-hour period.




(John) 11:9 Yahusha answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walks in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world.






Yahusha rose again as the Sabbath was ending “After three days.” This is why he said that he is “Lord of the Sabbath.” The Catholic Church changed the Sabbath to Sunday because they rationalize “Jesus resurrected on Sunday morning.” However, a careful study in the original language of the New Testament (Aramaic & Greek), will clear up this false notion of a Sunday resurrection.




What follows is a detailed and exhaustive study on the timing of the resurrection conducted by a man named Roy Reinhold. Mr. Reinhold has done an excellent job of dissecting all four gospels and laying it out for us to see, that our Messiah resurrected on what we today call Saturday (the seventh day of the week), just as the Sabbath was ending!




Biblical Proof Yahusha (Jesus) Died Wednesday & Rose on Sabbath: Good Friday is a Myth, Yahusha (Jesus) Died on a Wednesday!






3 DAYS AND 3 NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH




One of the most common questions asked by Christians is, this:




“How could Jesus have been in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights if He died on a Friday afternoon and rose before sunrise on a Sunday?”




Most Christians duck the question, since at most they can only come up with one day and two nights (Friday nighttime, Saturday daytime, and Saturday nighttime in our measure of days). If they add in the Friday daytime they get two periods of daytime, even though Yahusha would have died in the late afternoon. This late afternoon death is consistent with the Passover lamb being killed between the two evenings according to the Mosaic Law.




The lamb was killed between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. on the afternoon of the 14th of Abib/Nisan and prepared, because the 15th was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was an annual Sabbath observance (the first and last days of Unleavened Bread were annual Sabbaths in addition to the normal weekly Sabbaths). This search of the Word is important, not because it affects salvation, but because it answers the questions posed on whether Yahusha kept His Word, and whether the Bible is true in this matter. A legitimate concern and question for all followers of Messiah!




(Leviticus) 23:5-8 In the fourteenth [day] of the first month at evening is The Most High Yah’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto The Most High Yah: seven days You must eat unleavened bread. In the first day You shall have an holy convocation: You shall do no servile work therein. But You shall offer an offering made by fire unto The Most High Yah seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: You shall do no servile work therein.




The above text confirms that the first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are annual Sabbaths, to be observed as a day of rest in addition to the weekly Sabbaths. These days would occur on the 15th and 21st of Abib/Nisan.




The Passover meal was an important religious observance in which to remember that the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses kept them alive when the angel of death passed by, and that Yah had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.




The Passover is a perpetual observance to celebrate passing from death to life. These ancient events foretold the blood of Yahusha being spilled for our sins, and our passage from death to eternal life, by the everlasting covenant of the blood of Yahusha. They also foretold that Yahusha would die exactly on the 14th of Abib/Nisan and that the day following was an annual Sabbath.




What follows is a close examination of the biblical record, in which Yahusha was killed on the 14th of Abib/Nisan in the afternoon, and the next day was the annual Sabbath, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We shall also see from the biblical record that this annual Sabbath did not fall on the weekly Sabbath, in the year that Yahusha died.




(Matthew) 12:38-40 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Yonah (Jonah): For as Yonah (Jonah) 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.




(Matthew) 27:62-66 Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, You have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as You can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.




The above verses show that Yahusha had openly taught that the major sign that He was the Messiah was that He would die and three days later rise again. Even more clearly, He said that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This promise meant that 72 hours would pass from His death to His resurrection and that this would be the sign for the Jews that He was who He said He was (the Messiah). The Friday crucifixion with a resurrection before sunrise on Sunday morning totals approximately 36 hours.




If we understood Yahusha to mean that “within” three days and three nights He would rise again, then any period short of that would suffice. But He taught that “after” three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, then He would rise again. This logically would necessitate the crucifixion on a Wednesday, then the daylight and nighttime periods of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday would be three days and three nights. We count from either His actual death shortly after 3:00 p.m. or from the time His body was laid in the tomb, shortly before the annual Sabbath began, although I believe we should count the 72 hours from the time the body was laid in the tomb.




You’ll notice that the above text from Matthew 27, recorded that the chief priests met with Pilate the morning after the crucifixion to get permission to post a guard and seal the tomb. The Bible records that this was the day after the day of preparation. This day of preparation is the 14th of Abib (Nisan), when the homes were scoured for any leavened bread within the house and a preparation of food was readied for the Passover meal, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14, 31, 42].




Therefore, the grave of Yahusha was not sealed until the morning of the 15th of Abib (Nisan), on the annual Sabbath. In the text from John 19, we learn that the body of Yahusha needed to be removed from the crucifixion stake because the Sabbath was about to begin and that Sabbath was a high day or annual Sabbath. This is consistent with the other verses which teach that the day of preparation was the day that Yahuw-shuwa died. Now we only need to determine whether the annual Sabbath and weekly Sabbath fell on the same day, which would lead us to the conclusion that Yahusha died on a Friday afternoon, shortly after 3:00 p.m. as commonly taught. If not, then He died on another day of the week.




(John) 19:31 The Yahuwdiy (Jews) therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the crucifixion stake 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.




A High Sabbath was an annual Sabbath, not the weekly Sabbath. Therefore, this is speaking of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not the weekly Saturday Sabbath.




(John) 19:39-40 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Yahusha by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Yahusha, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Yahuwdiy (Jews) is to bury.




(Matthew) 27:59-61 And when Yahuwceph (Joseph) had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 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. And there was Miryam (Mary) Magdalene, and the other Miryam (Mary), sitting over against the sepulchre.




(Mark) 15:46-47 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Miriyam (Mary) Magdalene and Miryam (Mary) the mother of Yahuwseph (Joses) beheld where he was laid.




(Luke) 23:54-56 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.




In totality, the above verses together give us the complete picture of what happened after Messiah’s death, how His body was prepared for burial, and who observed this process. It is extremely important to notice that none of the above texts alone gives the complete story, and that you have to read all together to get the whole story. Joseph took Yahusha’s body after receiving permission from Pilate, bought a linen sheet, and bound the body with Nicodemus’ assistance.




Nicodemus had brought a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, which they bound with the body. The tomb was near where he was crucified, and it belonged to Joseph who had carved this tomb out of rock. It was a new tomb that had never before been used. Also, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses accompanied the body from the crucifixion stake and watched the entire process of burial.




When Yahusha’s body was laid in the tomb, then Joseph, assisted by Nicodemus, rolled a large stone in front of the tomb opening and left. Finally, the two Mary’s left and prepared spices and perfumes, before resting on the Sabbath. Up to this point, we have no evidence that the annual Sabbath and weekly Sabbath did not fall on the same day as traditionally taught.




The next collection of verses will explore the role of the women in preparing spices and perfumes with which they intended to anoint the body of Yahusha.




In the verses where the word “day” is italicized in the King James Version, the word “day” is highlighted in red to signify that the word “day” does not appear in the original text.




(Luke) 24:1-2 Now upon the first [day] of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.




(Matthew) 28:1-4 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. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of The Most High Yah descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.




It is important at this point to give an explanation of the word “dawn” inMatthew 28:1. Most people assume that he resurrected on Sunday Morning because of this verse inMatthew 28:1.




The problem with Matthew 28:1 is that the word “dawn” is a poor translation from the Greek to English. If the English translators had realized that a new calendar date changes at sunset, they would have figured this out.




We know that the “end the Sabbath” cannot be talking about Sunday morning at sunrise. The Greek word there for “dawn” is the equivalent of a word in Hebrew that means “a mixture of light and dark.” Hence, the word should really be “dusk” as the sun was going down.




The Strong’s Hebrew Concordance reveals that at sundown is the “dawning of the new day” at twilight or dusk:




#5399. nesheph neh’-shef from 5398; properly, a breeze, i.e. (by implication) dusk (when the evening breeze prevails):--dark, dawning of the day (morning), night, twilight.




The Greek words are as follows:




#2020. epiphosko ep-ee-foce’-ko a form of 2017; to begin to grow light:--begin to dawn, draw on.




#2017. epiphauo ep-ee-fow’-o a form of 2014; to illuminate (figuratively):--give light.




You can see why the English translators thought that the word should be “dawn” as in early morning, just before sunrise. The Greek word epiphosko can mean “....to draw on,” and it can mean “the beginning of something” as in the “the dawning of a new era.”




For something to “dawn” means that something new is approaching. The term is much broader than the English word that we use to describe “sunrise.”




(Matthew) 28:1 And in the evening of the Sabbath as it was dusk, as the first [day] of the week began to dawn, came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary, to view the sepulcher.




You will notice that Murdock is calling this time of day “dusk” but he is saying that the “week” (Sabbaton in Greek) was beginning to “dawn” or to “draw on.” In other words it was not sunrise, but it was the end of the Sabbath at sundown, as the new week was approaching (dawning).




The MRC Translation translates it like this:




(Matthew) 28:1 Now late on the Shabbat, as it began to draw toward the first of the week, Miryam of Magdala and the other Miryam went to look at the grave.




Marqos (Mark) 16:1-4 And when the sabbath was past, Miryam (Mary) Magdalene, and Miryam (Mary) the mother of Ya’aqob (James), and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first [day] of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.




(John) 20:1-2 The first [day] of the week comes Miryam (Mary) Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and sees the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runs, and comes to Shimone Keefa (Simon Peter), and to the other disciple, whom Yahusha loved, and said unto them, They have taken away The Most High Yah out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.




You may have to reread the above verses to notice that the women who had watched the body of Yahusha being laid in the tomb, prepared perfumes and spices. Then Mark 16 text says that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary bought spices AFTER the Sabbath and prepared them. While the Luke 23 text states that the women prepared spices and then rested on the Sabbath. This is consistent with an annual Sabbath on Thursday, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the weekly Sabbath on Saturday.




We know that these are the same women because the Bible verses all relate that Mary Magdalene was involved in all these events. However, two other Mary’s are mentioned, one the mother of James and Salome, and the other the mother of Joses. In all cases, Mary Magdalene was involved. Therefore, the women saw Yahusha’s body being laid in the tomb on a Wednesday afternoon; they rested on the annual Sabbath on Thursday, and bought spices on Friday.




They prepared the spices on the 6th day of the week (Friday) and then rested according to the commandment on the weekly Sabbath on Saturday. After the weekly Sabbath, they intended to anoint Yahusha’s body with the perfumes and spices. Therefore both intuitively and by evidence, we have proven that Passover was on the 4th day (Wednesday), that year, and that Yahusha did as He had said, which was to rise again after three days and three nights. What remains next to determine, is whether Yahusha rose as the weekly Sabbath was ending or at sunrise on Sunday?




You’ll notice through a comparison of the four gospels that Mary Magdalene and the disciples went to the tomb a number of times. In some it was still dark, and in some it was already light. It wasn’t until it was light on Sunday that they actually discovered that He had risen; in the first visits the tomb was empty.




The above text in John 20, tells us of the first visit by Mary Magdalene when it was dark, the tomb was empty, and she had not been told that Yahusha was risen, and only saw the stone rolled away. However, there is one verse which seems to tell us that Yahusha rose on the first day of the week.




(Mark) 16:9 Now when Yahusha was risen early the first [day] of the week, he appeared first to Miryam (Mary) Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.




“Early the first of the week” is immediately following the Sabbath at sundown on Saturday evening. It is called Havdalah in Hebrew which means “exiting the Sabbath.” The word “day” is not in the original text as indicated by the red highlighting, because it is italicized in the King James Version.




The above text would seem to conclusively prove that Yahusha rose early in the morning on the first day of the week, what we would call Saturday night. Some commentators have speculated that verses 9-20 of this chapter were later added since they weren’t in any of the early manuscripts. The original text did not have these punctuation marks in the Greek text, so they were added later. If a comma is added after risen, the verse takes on an entirely different meaning:




“Now after He had risen, early on the first [day] of the week He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.”




This change is not altering scripture since it was not written with punctuation marks. This makes the verse consistent with all the four gospels, where Mary Magdalene visited the grave, shortly after the Sabbath ended, and saw the empty grave with the stone rolled away, but did not see an angel or see Yahusha. It was later, when the sun had risen on Sunday morning that she came with Mary the mother of James and Salome back to the tomb, saw an angel who told her that he had risen, and then they saw Yahusha.