The Day Jesus Christ Died
[An advanced study]
Part One
I want to discuss
with you and take you into the Word of God and let you see for yourself again
the great accuracy with which the Word of God sets these things forth and how
we have been going on week after week, month after month, year after year
mainly by what people have taught us rather than what the Word of God says. I know that as we deal with the month, the
day of the month, and the day of the week that Jesus Christ died and arose
again, that we are going to be cutting across especially for our radio audience
and for some of you people perhaps that are here in the biblical research
center for the first time tonight. But
I’m sure that for many of our radio people tonight, I will be dealing with
sections of the Word of God which are entirely strange to them from the right
dividing. The reason we hold many of
these opinions we hold is simply because somebody has told us they were so, and
so we simply accepted them without reading them and studying them for ourselves.
I know that Good
Friday is commonly accepted as the day on which Christ Jesus died and was
crucified. As far as I’m concerned, it
was a good day when Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins as we sang in that
wonderful hymn just a moment ago. And I
thank God that Jesus Christ took our sins and so forth, but it is wrong
biblically speaking to make Friday the day of the event of the death of Jesus
Christ. If Friday were the true day of
the event of the death our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ
arose from the dead after being in the grave only one night and one day. And this contradicts all the Word of God and
all the Scriptures in the Word of God.
But the reason we
have been going by this is because we have become acclimatized this way because
of the pictures we see, the services we go through, the environment in which we
live and hardly any man’s got the courage to stand up against society or
against environment.
And so instead of
taking a stand on the accuracy of God’s Word, we just go along with what
everybody’s yacking about and what they’ve been doing
for centuries right or wrong. Had the
apostle Paul been that way, you and I would not have the Word of God. Had Peter been that way, we wouldn’t have the
Word of God. Had the prophets of old
been this way, we wouldn’t have the Word of God. These men dared to hear God’s Word and then
when they knew God’s Word, they took a stand.
It cost Jeremiah the pip. It cost
Paul his neck, it cost Peter his neck and yet somehow or other, these men
stood. And it seems to me, if we’re
worth our salt, if we’re worth being Christians and having the name of
Christian, the least we can do is work the integrity of God’s Word when God’s
Word says something and we say Yay and amen. If it contradicts what society believes, nuts
to society. If it contradicts what the
organized outfits have taught, so what.
You don’t have to
go by the pictures you see on the wall or in religious publications. We are bound to go by the Word of God. And let me remind you before I teach this
tremendous truth again tonight. That the Word declares that God set His Word above His name. Of all of God’s works, the greatest of His
works is His Word. And He set His Word
above His name. And you and I can only
manifest the more abundant life and walk in the light as He is the light if we
rightly divide the Word of truth. And to
the end we rightly divide it, we will have true Word. To the end we wrongly divide it, we will have
error. We may be very sincere but
sincerity is no guarantee for truth.
Truth is truth if nobody believes it.
So we are to begin with tonight, we are in that great book of Exodus
chapter 12.
In order to
understand the day Jesus Christ died, the month, the day of the month, the day
of the week and so forth, you will have to become very familiar with some of
these records in the Old Testament. Here
in Exodus chapter 12, I want to begin reading with the first verse.
And
the LORD spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the
Speak ye unto all
the congregation of
Speak
ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of
this month day they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house
of their fathers, a lamb for an house: -- Exodus 12: 3
And if the
household be too little for one lamb, and by the way this had to be a lamb, a
male lamb of the first year. Remember
after the appearances of Jesus when he appeared to Peter. He said to Peter lovest
thou me and Peter said sure you know I love you. And in the King James it said, feed my sheep
or feed my lambs and this kind of thing.
The truth is in the text. It says
first of all feed my male lambs. The
second one in that record is feed my female lambs. And the third record should read feed my
sheep. These male lambs of the first
year were kept in on the best grass.
They were tended only by the shepherd himself, the master, or one in his
household because out of that fold of those male lambs had to come that one
Lamb which was to be used on this wonderful occasion we’re reading about.
And
if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto us every man according as he to his
house take it according to the number of the soles;
every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. -- Exodus 12: 4
Now verse 5: Your lamb shall be without what? Blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall
take it out from among the sheep, out from
among the male sheep is what he’s talking about. And from the goats:
Your
lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: -- Exodus 12: 5
Now you know why
they kept goats among those male lambs?
Because the goats wouldn’t run like sheep and get their horns pitched and
go after a fellow. So they kept some
goats around these male lambs for protection.
Now verse 6: And
ye shall keep it, the lamb until the what?
Fourteenth day.
They got it on the tenth day. Now
they kept it until the fourteenth day of the same month and the whole assembly
of the congregation of
And
he shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and a whole
assembly of the congregation of
And they shall
take of the blood, and strike it on the two side
posts and the upper post of the houses where they shall eat it.
And
they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of
the houses, wherein they shall eat it. -- Exodus 12: 7
And
they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread: and with
bitter herbs they shall eat it. -- Exodus 12: 8
Eat not of it raw,
nor sodden (boiled) at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and
so forth.
Eat
not of it raw, nor sodden (boiled)
at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs,
and with the pertinence (innards) thereof. -- Exodus 12: 9
And ye shall let
nothing of it remain until what? The
morning; and ye shall burn it with fire.
And
ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn it with
fire. -- Exodus 12: 10
And thus shall ye
eat it with your loins what? Gird. Shoes on your feet. Your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it
how? In haste. Like nobody’s business.
Just eat it. Get it over
with. And they had to stand to do this
with their loins, gird, their feet shod.
Shoes on their feet, their staff in their hand. They stood up to eat the Passover. It’s remarkable because as I was telling you
in this little volume here when you study what Passover did Jesus eat, he could
not have eaten the Lords supper could not have been the Passover. Why?
If for no other reason, the Bible says he sat down. This told him stand up, get your shoes laced
up and get yourself ready to go. This is
the Passover we’re reading about. Well,
he couldn’t have eaten the Passover, he may have eaten
something else. But he could not have
eaten the Passover because it says he sat down with his disciples. Here they were. Eat it in haste for it’s the LORD’S what? Passover.
And
thus shall ye eat it; with
your loins gird, your shoes
on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S Passover. -- Exodus 12: 11
Now that’s
wonderful. Remembering these things now,
this will help you a little on. First of
all, they went to get the lamb on the tenth day. They groomed him, got him ready for the
Passover and the Passover was celebrated on the fifteenth of Nisan. The fifteenth of the first
month, although it was slain on the fourteenth at evening. It was slain on the fourteenth in the
afternoon
Now, in Matthew
chapter 12, remembering some of these things, we’re going to put it all
together for you tonight. Matthew chapter 12.
Here it says very
plainly in verse 40: For as Jonas was
three days and three nights
(I’m in Matthew
Far
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. -- Matthew 12: 40
As Jonas was three
days and three nights, so the Son of man shall be three days and three
nights. Now a part of a day in Jewish
reckoning may be considered a whole day-complete day. In other words, if you have one hour left in
a day, you can say well that was Saturday.
But whenever the Bible uses the word day and night, it becomes a literal
period of 24 hours. This is the
difference. Even by the greatest stretch
of logic which usually ends up being illogical regarding this
field. The most anybody can get
out of Jewish reckoning from Friday night to Easter Sunday morning would be
Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, Sunday. That’s all you can get out of it with
greatest reckoning. Then what about
scripture like this where the Word says he’d be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth. You know. Wasn’t it in Exodus we read about this
convocation? Right. A little further down. As we go back to Exodus 12, I better cover
this with you tonight so that you get it very plainly.
Because the first thing you’ve got to note now
after the record that as Jonah was three days and three nights, so the Son of
man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. You got to come back to Exodus to discover
something that has caused all the error regarding the death of Jesus. They have not understood that the first day
of the feast of the Passover was a Sabbath day.
That it had nothing to do with what day of the week it came. That the first day if it
came on Tuesday, that first day would be a Sabbath day. If it came on Wednesday, that first day would
be a Sabbath day. If it came on
Saturday, the first day would be a what?
Sabbath day.
But if it came on Saturday, which was the weekly Sabbath of the Jews,
then this Passover would take precedent over the weekly Sabbath. Just like Christmas takes precedent for our
people in this society . . If . . . . Is it
Christmas that comes on a Sunday? Some time. That’s
right. Christmas would do the deal. If Christmas comes on Tuesday, we have a
celebration. If Christmas comes on
Sunday we have a what? But then the
Christmas celebration takes precedent over the weekly Sunday. It carries greater significance and
importance, do you understand? Now the
Passover is just like this. So here in Exodus 12.
Now verse 14.
Exodus 12.
And
this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the
LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for
ever. -- Exodus 12: 14
Seven
days shall ye eat unleavened bread: even the first day ye shall put away leaven
out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened
bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from
Israel. -- Exodus 12: 15
Now verse 16: In the first day there shall be a what? Holy convocation, [the word convocation is
translated at other places Sabbath, holy Sabbath] a holy day, a Sabbath
day. And in the what
day? Seventh day, there shall be an holy convocation.
See it? So on the first day and
on the seventh day, they would have a Sabbath day-holy convocation of that
Passover feast. Now going down to verse
18 of this chapter 12:
In
the first month on
the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until
the one and twenty-first day of the month at even. -- Exodus 12: 18
Now, I think this
is very plain, isn’t it? But let’s say
the Passover came on a Tuesday, then that Tuesday would be a holy convocation
day, a Sabbath day. Would it have
anything to do with the weekly Sabbath?
No, no, no. When the weekly
Sabbath would come, that would follow into line like every weekly Sabbath did
for them. But, this is the only thing
you have to remember. In working the years, you’ll have to
remember that some times, because the Passover date shifted, sometimes that
Passover would fall on the weekly Sabbath.
And if it should fall on a weekly Sabbath, that Passover would take
precedent over the weekly Sabbath. But
that is not true of the year when our Lord and Savior died. It didn’t fall on the weekly Sabbath as we
shall see when we work the Word.
End of Part
One
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