Why celebrate Good Friday? Because...

(Matthew 27:57-66; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:14, 31, 42)

Common Questions: If Jesus arose from the grave on Sunday, how could He have been in the grave “three days and three nights”? (Matthew 12:40) Why do most scholars not think He was crucified on a Wednesday or Thursday?

- First century Jews used this phrase loosely, referring to any portion of a day or night. Even in our culture, we seldom use “day” to refer to a 24-hour period.

“The matter of three days and three nights is often used either to prove Jesus was mistaken about the time He would actually spend in the tomb or that He could not have been crucified on Friday afternoon and raised early on Sunday, the first day of the week. But as in modern usage, the phrase ‘day and night’ can mean not only a full 24-hour day but any representative part of a day … The Jewish Talmud held that ‘any part of a day is as the whole.’ Jesus was simply using a common, well-understood generalization.” -John MacArthur

- The Old Testament uses “three days” loosely, not requiring three 24-hour periods.

(Genesis 42:17-18; 1 Samuel 30:12-13; 2 Chronicles 10:5, 12; Esther 4:16-5:1)

- In the New Testament, Jesus’ Sunday resurrection took place “on the third day,” making a Friday crucifixion most probable.

(Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 27:64)

- Jesus ate the Last Supper on the evening before His crucifixion, purposely giving new significance to the Passover meal.

(Matthew 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-17; Luke 22:7-20; John 13:1-2; 18:28; 1 Corinthians 11:23)

- Many Jews enjoyed the Passover meal on the evening before the holiday. In AD 33, they ate on Thursday, placing Jesus’ crucifixion on Friday, Nissan (Ne-sun) 15 (April 3).

Why celebrate Good Friday? Because...

(Romans 9:22-23; Ephesians 1:3-10; 2 Timothy 1:9; Revelation 13:8)

Why celebrate Good Friday? Because...

(1 Corinthians 11:23-26)