Crucifixion Week PT2
"Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with odour of the ointment." John 12:1-3.
We are now ready to consider the details of the chronology of the crucifixion week. We have developed a number of time-points, and the basic structure of the events during this week has emerged. But now it's time for us to begin at the day that our Lord Jesus Christ made the final part of His journey to Bethany from Jericho and step-by-step carefully go through the details of the Scriptural record that will take us event-by-event to that early Sunday morning when the empty tomb was discovered.
Friday, the Ninth of Nisan
Our starting point is John 12:1-3. You'll recall that there had been several changes in the observance of the Passover since God had given this feast through Moses at the time of the Exodus.
Originally, Scripture referred to the fourteenth of Nisan as the "Passover" and the seven days of Nisan fifteenth through the twenty-first as the "Feast of Unleavened Bread." However, in the days of our Lord, the Jews referred to the entire eight-day celebration as both the "Passover" and the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" interchangeably. The high point in the celebration was the Passover Sabbath, which was observed on Nisan fifteenth. To the Jews of our Lord's day, this was the focal point of the entire celebration, and it was referred to as the "Passover." The day previous, Nisan fourteenth, God's Passover, was referred to as the Preparation day.
Therefore, when John wrote that "Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany," he was using the term "Passover" as it was used at that time. He had in view the high Sabbath of the Passover celebration, which was Nisan fifteenth. So we can identify the day on which our Lord arrived in Bethany. That was Friday, Nisan the ninth. It was on this day that our Lord arrived at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, in the little village of Bethany, which was fifteen furlongs (1 7/8 miles) from Jerusalem.
The Lord Jesus Christ arrived in Bethany sufficiently early on Friday afternoon to permit Martha and Mary to prepare a supper for Him. We can be sure that the preparation of the food was finished before sunset. However, the supper was not eaten until after the sun had set and a new day had dawned. When Mary took the pound of ointment of spikenard and poured it on Jesus' feet and then wiped them with her hair, the evening of the tenth of Nisan, a seventh-day Sabbath, had already begun. This act of Mary's was the first phase of the selection of the Paschal Lamb, which God's law said must be done on the tenth day of the month.
Scripture does not tell us whether or not our Lord spent that entire evening in the home of Martha and Mary. The inference is that He did. It is significant that after our Lord's arrival in the vicinity of Jerusalem to keep His appointment with the cross, He never spent a night in the city of Jerusalem. In Scripture Jerusalem represents the fold of Judaism, the housing place of the sheep of that nation. After our Lord's selection as the true Paschal Lamb who was to die, not only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but for all peoples, it was necessary for Him to remain separate. The law required that the selected Paschal lamb be set apart from the rest of the sheep. Bethany represents the position of separation "outside the camp."
Saturday, the Tenth of Nisan
"On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." John 12:12-13. This was the next day, the day following that evening on which our Lord Jesus Christ was anointed by Mary for His burial. It was Saturday, Nisan tenth, a seventh-day Sabbath, and the day on which God's law said that the acceptable "lamb without blemish" must be selected and set apart. Christ began the day by presenting Himself to Israel as her King. He was recognized as such. But then He was rejected, and the people of Israel selected Him as a Lamb for slaughter instead.
And what did the Lord of the Sabbath do when He reached the temple? Mark tells us that "Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve." Mark 11:11.
It was the Sabbath. All was quiet. There were no money-changers or merchants at work in the temple. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, simply inspected His house. "He looked round about on all things."
Herod's temple was a beautiful structure. But despite the beauty of this magnificent edifice, our Lord saw a great deal of ugliness, too. The evidence of a sinful and disobedient people was all around. But on this particular day, Nisan the tenth, the temple area was quiet, for it was a Sabbath. Thus our Lord simply inspected His Father's house and then withdrew Himself to Bethany as the sun began to sink in the west, closing the day on which the true Passover Lamb had been selected.
Sunday, the Eleventh of Nisan
"And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it." Mark 11:12-14.
This day was Sunday, Nisan the eleventh, the first day of the week. It was just one week prior to that time when our Lord would come forth from the tomb in resurrection life, "the firstfruits of them that slept." It is most appropriate that the incident of the cursing of the fig tree took place on this day. This incident is a living parable which predicts the setting aside of the nation Israel during the present inter-advent age. The fig tree is a figure used in Judges 9 in Jothan's "parable of the four trees," but it has continued throughout the Old Testament record.
On the first day of the week, Sunday, the temple area was a beehive of activity once again. Only two days remained until the fourteenth of Nisan which ushered in the eight-day celebration that the Jews referred to interchangeably as the "Feast of Passover" and the "Feast of Unleavened Bread."
To the temple merchants, Nisan fourteenth was a time of business--big business. There were many thousands of pilgrims present in Jerusalem. They had come from all over the Roman Empire. Many of then had only Roman money or money from their homeland, and this money had to be exchanged for the "shekels" of the temple in order to be useful for the buying of sacrifices and for giving in offerings. Those who had traveled far were unable to bring animals for sacrifice; so these had to be purchased.
This was like "Christmas" for the temple merchants. The business that they did during the Passover season often determined whether their fiscal years were successes or failures. In the same way, many businesses of our day have to depend on their volume of Christmas business for financial "success."
So on this first day of the week, the money-changers and merchants were in their booths early. No doubt they were calling out to the pilgrims who passed into the temple courts, hawking their merchandise and services. It is no wonder that the Lord Jesus Christ, in righteous anger, said to them, "Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves." Mark 11:17. And in this we see the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi 3:1. "And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts." And as we have seen, this occurred on Sunday, Nisan the eleventh.
7. Chronology: Monday and Tuesday
Monday, the Twelfth of Nisan
When the disciples saw the withered fig tree, Peter, who remembered the incident of the previous morning, called the Lord's attention to it.
"And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God." Mark 11:20-22.
Our Lord used this object lesson of the withered fig tree to deliver a great dissertation on faith and prayer.
This occurred on the second day of the week, Monday, Nisan twelfth. We have no way of knowing whether the dawning of this Monday was the proverbial cloudless one or not. But we can know that it was a fateful day. It was the last day that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, would offer Himself to God's chosen people, Israel, as their King and Messiah. This was a day full of dramatic incidents. It was a tiring day and from the viewpoint of those unable to see God's divine plan, it was a day that ended in failure.
The Lord and His disciples entered again into Jerusalem, and went into the temple court. Here there were a long series of encounters with those who sought to discredit our Lord's testimony. The chief priests and the scribes attacked Him in an effort to entrap Him in His own words. They first asked Him the source of His authority to do "these things." And by this, they doubtlessly referred to His cleansing of the temple the day before. Immediately the Lord brought out clearly His source of authority when He asked, "The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me." Mark 11:30.
That ended that line of questioning, but it did not end the encounter. The Lord then related the parable of the hedged vineyard and the wicked husbandmen, in which the chief priests and scribes clearly saw themselves portrayed in the roles of the wicked husbandmen. They were humiliated in front of the people, and they were put into confusion. "And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way." Mark 12:12.
Next it was the Pharisees' turn, and they joined forces with their old enemies, the Herodians--which was a strange combination indeed. They concocted a brilliant scheme to place the Lord Jesus Christ at odds with the Roman authorities and thus remove Him from the scene. But the little coin with Caesar's image on it sent them crashing down in defeat. Then the Sadducees came and tried their hand. The result was the same. The day finally drew on toward sunset after all had their turn to try to entrap Christ. All comers had been silenced. But their hatred had now crystallized. The Lord's hour was approaching. Things were moving rapidly toward that rendezvous with the cross.
Evening, the closing of that fateful Monday and the dawning of Tuesday, was rapidly drawing near. It was probably with reluctance that the Lord, with the twelve, left the temple courts and passed beyond the walls of the city to the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The evening sun was sinking low over toward the west side of the city, and it would soon be lost to view behind the hills. "And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" Mark 13:1. This enthusiastic remark, probably made with the intent of cheering up the Lord after that trying day, set the stage for that great prophetic revelation that Bible scholars call the "Olivet Discourse." This discourse came at the close of the day on Monday, the twelfth of Nisan.
Now, let's turn our attention to a passage of Scripture that allows us to check our chronology. The passage is found in the opening verse of Mark 14. Here Mark wrote, "After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death."
This verse not only gives us a time mark to check our chronology, but it also verifies the records that have come down through secular channels concerning the terminology used by the Jews in our Lord's time. Although God's Word designates the fourteenth of Nisan as the Passover and the fifteenth of Nisan as the first day of Unleavened Bread, the Jews used these terms interchangeably. The fifteenth of Nisan, the high Sabbath of Passover, had become the focal point of the entire celebration; and it was the day commonly called "the Passover." Mark identified the day of Nisan fifteenth when he used the combination expression "the passover, and of unleavened bread" to refer to a single day.
Tuesday, the Thirteenth of Nisan
The Lord Jesus Christ and the twelve had climbed the slopes of the Mount of Olives at the close of Monday, Nisan twelfth. While they were there, the Master had delivered His discourse, which included the prophecy of the coming destruction of the temple and the city. The sun had set on Nisan twelfth, and the evening of the thirteenth day of Nisan had just dawned. And apparently, after the discourse, they went back to Bethany for the night. At this point Mark wrote, "After two days was the passover, and of unleavened bread." Mark 14:1. The evening was Nisan thirteenth, and the next day was to be Tuesday, Nisan thirteenth. Two days later would be Thursday, Nisan fifteenth, the day that Mark designated as "the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread."
"And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people." Mark 14:1-2. Notice that the word "feast" is not used in Mark 14:1. The verse literally says, "After two days was the passover, and of unleavened bread." The King James Version inserts the words "the feast of" in italics, but there is nothing in the Greek text corresponding to these words. The expression in Mark 14:1 refers to Nisan fifteenth. And the expression "on the feast day" in Mark 14:2 apparently refers to the same day, that is, the high day of the Passover celebration, Nisan fifteenth.
So the plot began to take form. The Lord Jesus Christ was to be apprehended and slain before Nisan fifteenth. God used the modifications of the Jews to take the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross on Nisan fourteenth, God's Passover.
It was on the evening of the thirteenth of Nisan, a Tuesday, after our Lord had delivered the Olivet Discourse, that the Lord and His disciples came down off the mountain and once again headed toward Bethany. This time they went to the house of Simon the leper.
Many Bible teachers have tried to establish that the evening meal in the house of Simon the leper was the same meal as that with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, reported by John in the opening verses of chapter 12. The reason for this is that the incident of the anointing of the Lord by the woman, described both in Mark 14:3-9 and in Matthew 26:6-13, does have many similarities to the incident of the anointing by Mary described in John 12:3-8. But careful reading also shows a great many differences. Mary anointed the Lord's feet (John 12:3), but the woman in the house of Simon the leper anointed His head. Mark 14:3; Matthew 26:7. The Scripture seems clear that the incident mentioned by Matthew and Mark occurred on a different day and in a different house and that the anointing was performed by a different woman from that in the incident mentioned by John. This second anointing of our Lord occurred on Tuesday evening, after the setting of the sun and the closing of Nisan twelfth.
"And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?" Mark 14:12. This brings us to the day of Tuesday, Nisan thirteenth. This was our Lord's last day of freedom before His arrest and crucifixion. It is confusing because Mark prefixed this record with "And the first day of unleavened bread." But we should keep in mind that the Gospel writers used terms according to the contemporary usage in their day, not strictly according to the definition of Mosaic law. Josephus recorded that in those days the Jews celebrated "eight days of Unleavened Bread." They included the fourteenth of Nisan, the day that Moses designated as the "Passover," in the feast of Unleavened Bread (which was only seven days long).
Josephus also said that it was customary to kill the lambs between three o'clock and five o'clock in the afternoon before the Passover Supper, which then were roasted and eaten in the evening. The Jews of Mark's day still ate the Passover on the evening of Nisan fourteenth, but they often referred to this meal as the "first Chagigah." Alfred Edersheim in his book, The Temple--Its Ministry and Services, tells us that "the Chagigah which was strictly a peace offering might be twofold. The first Chagigah was offered on the fourteenth of Nisan, the day of the Paschal sacrifice, and formed afterwards part of the Paschal Supper. The second Chagigah was offered on the fifteenth of Nisan, or the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread." It is this second Chagigah which the Jews were afraid they might be unable to eat, if they contracted defilement in the judgment hall of Pilate. John 18:28.
The Lord ate the "first Chagigah," which was the true Passover Supper, with His disciples. Since the Jews included the fourteenth of Nisan in their designation "the Feast of Unleavened Bread," and since they allowed the hours after three o'clock in the afternoon on Nisan thirteenth to be considered as a part of Nisan fourteenth for the purpose of the slaying of the lamb, then it seems that Mark was designating the late afternoon of Nisan thirteenth in his prefix to this exchange between our Lord and His disciples.
So it was on Tuesday, Nisan thirteenth, that the disciples asked the Lord where He wished to eat the Passover. Evidently Judas was present when this question was put to the Lord; and since the Lord knew of Judas' plot to betray Him, He replied in a guarded way. Instead of naming the place, the Lord Jesus Christ sent Peter and John to find and follow the man bearing a pitcher of water. (By the way, this instruction was not so ambiguous as it might seem to us because men normally did not carry water in those days.) This was evidently a clever method of delaying the betrayal by Judas until after the Paschal Supper. Judas would not know until the time of the supper itself where it was to take place. This arrangement assured an uninterrupted evening following Tuesday, Nisan thirteenth. This brings us to the evening of Nisan fourteenth, the Wednesday on which our Lord would die.
8. Chronology: Wednesday and Thursday
Wednesday, the Fourteenth of Nisan
Immediately after sundown on Tuesday afternoon, the fourteenth of Nisan began. The lamb had been slain and roasted and was now ready in the upper room. The Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples arrived early after sunset and partook together of the Passover Feast. "And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Luke 22:14-16. It was on the occasion of this evening that the disciples' feet were washed, the Lord's Supper was instituted, and that wonderful discourse of our Lord was given beginning with the words "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." John 14:1.
The Lord Jesus Christ knew that Judas was anxious to bring the soldiers to arrest Him. So when the supper had progressed to a certain point, the Lord said to him, "That thou doest, do quickly." John 13:27. This gave the betrayer an opportunity to get away and carry out his unholy purpose.
It is not the intent of this study to go into the details of those events of the crucifixion day. The point that is important to our study of the chronology of the crucifixion week is that the crucifixion took place on Wednesday, Nisan fourteenth. The Lord's body was placed in the tomb just as the sun was setting on that sad day. And with the placing of His body in the tomb, the fulfillment of the Lord's own prophecy that He would be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" was begun. Three days later, again at sunset, He would come forth in resurrection life.
"The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross 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." John 19:31. This verse establishes that the day following our Lord's crucifixion was a "high day." That in turn established that it was Nisan fifteenth, the great Passover Sabbath, the day that God had designated as "the first day of unleavened bread." The Passover Sabbath was the greatest Jewish Sabbath of the year. It was not only a day of rest and worship like Saturday, the seventh-day Sabbath; but, unlike that day, this Thursday Passover Sabbath was a "high day." The fifteenth of Nisan fell on a different day each year, and that particular year it fell on Thursday as the Scriptural "time-points" clearly affirm.
Thursday, the Fifteenth of Nisan
What happened on this particular day? Scripture provides us with a record of only one specific event. And this record is found in 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, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch."
One thing of significance should be noted here. The chief priests and Pharisees said, "After three days." They were perhaps the very ones who were present when the Lord had spoken of the sign of the Prophet Jonah. And they remembered well what He had said.
It is quite likely that these events (which transpired on the day of Thursday, Nisan fifteenth) were in the minds of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus when they said, "And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done." Luke 24:21. To those looking on, the sealing of the tomb and the placing of the Roman guard were very much events that were to be included in the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since these words were spoken on Sunday, and since the final steps of the putting away of the Lord took place on Thursday, the two disciples were absolutely correct in their statement of time.
9. Chronology: Friday Through Sunday
To conclude this study of the chronology of the crucifixion week, let's direct our attention to a passage from the Gospel of Mark. In his description of these events, Mark provides final verification of the chronology that we have established:
"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 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of 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." Mark 15:46-16:4.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was placed in the sepulchre, but it was necessary that those looking on hasten home because the High Passover Sabbath had arrived. Mark 15:47 tells us; "And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid." This verse refers to the events that took place late in the afternoon of Wednesday, Nisan fourteenth. The wording of this verse seems to infer that the women observed the Lord's body being placed on the shelf in Joseph's new tomb, but that they did not remain on the scene as the heavy stone was rolled in place.
Now the very next verse in Mark's Gospel, Mark 16:1, says, "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him." The word "Sabbath" as used in this verse is singular. The reference is to the High Passover Sabbath, which occurred on Thursday, Nisan fifteenth. The bringing of the sweet spices, described in Mark 16:1, was a separate visit from the coming of the women to the tomb--that visit which took place early on the first day of the week, as described in Mark 16:2. Mark 16:1 describes an event that took place on Friday, Nisan sixteenth.
Friday, the Sixteenth of Nisan
"And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid." Mark 15:47. Again, the inference of this statement is that the women saw the Lord's body placed in the sepulchre but that they left before the stone was rolled in place to seal the door. Therefore, it is possible that they did not realize the impossibility of gaining access to the Lord's body without outside help. The Roman seal and the Roman guard were established on Thursday morning. The seal and the guard were to insure that the tomb was not opened until the three days were definitely past. It is entirely possible that the women were not aware of the Thursday development.
After the High Sabbath, the women (on Friday, Nisan sixteenth) "bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him." But on arriving at the tomb they found the heavy stone in place, the official Roman seal on it, and the Roman guard posted to make sure that no one touched that seal until after the third day had passed. So the women found it necessary to return to their homes to await the passing of three full days (which included the seventh-day Sabbath) before they could again attempt to anoint the Lord's body.
The Gospel of Luke also confirms that there were two visits to the tomb by those faithful women. The two visits are seen in the passage contained in Luke 23:55-56. "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."
The statement of verse 55 indicates that the women did observe the body of our Lord Jesus Christ placed in the tomb at sundown on the day of His crucifixion. Then verse 56 says, "And they returned and prepared spices and ointments..." This speaks of that first visit to the tomb on Friday, Nisan sixteenth. The women were unable to anoint the Lord's body because of the stone with its affixed seal and the Roman guard that had been set by Pilate. Unable to complete the task that they had attempted on that Friday, Luke says that they "rested the sabbath day according to the commandment."
Saturday, the Seventeenth of Nisan
Notice that the statement of Luke 23:56, that they "prepared spices and ointments," comes before the statement of the same verse that they "rested the sabbath day according to the commandment." The spices and ointments were prepared on Friday, Nisan sixteenth, but they were not used that day. The statement about the Sabbath day refers to the seventh-day Sabbath, which occurred on Saturday, Nisan seventeenth. The second visit, as recorded in Luke 23:1, occurred on Sunday, Nisan eighteenth, the first day of the week.
Recall that Matthew 28:1-2 tells us that "in the end of the sabbaths, as it was dawning toward the first day of the week," came the angel and the earthquake. The word "sabbaths" here is plural, and by using this plural form Matthew indicated that both the High Sabbath of Nisan fifteenth and the seventh-day Sabbath of Nisan seventeenth had passed. The Lord broke the bonds of death and came forth from the tomb. All prophecy concerning His death, burial and resurrection was literally and precisely fulfilled!
Sunday, the Eighteenth of Nisan
Mark 16:2-3 tells us of that second visit of the women to the tomb, which Mark asserted was early in the morning on the first day of the week. "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?" This passage definitely indicates that the women had knowledge of the presence of the stone before they arrived at the tomb early on Sunday morning. And it also infers that the time limit set by Pilate as to how long the tomb must be sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers (three full days) had passed. The women felt sure of access to the tomb if only they could find someone with adequate physical strength to roll away the stone.
The record of the second visit to the tomb by the women is confirmed by the opening verses of Luke 24. The evangelist wrote, "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. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus."
But the absence of His body was not loss. The answer of the angelic beings has been the victorious cry of Christians ever since:
"He is not here, but is risen!"
10. Chronology of Crucifixion Week Illustrated
FRIDAY
Nisan 9th
John 12:1--"Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany..."
Jericho to Bethany
Last Half of Journey
SATURDAY
Nisan 10th
John 12:12,13--"On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna..."
Mark 11:11--"And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve."
The Triumphal Entry
Jewish Seventh-Day Sabbath
"Palm Saturday"
SUNDAY
Nisan 11th
Mark 11:12,13--"And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came..."
Mark 11:15--"And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple..."
Mark 11:19--"And when even was come, he went out of the city."
Cursing of the Fig Tree
Cleansing of the Temple
MONDAY
Nisan 12th
Mark 11:20--"And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots."
Mark 11:27--"And they come again to Jerusalem..."
--Late in Day--
Matt. 24:1--"And Jesus went out..."
Matt. 24:3--"...He sat upon the mount of Olives..."
Matt. 26:2--"Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover..."
Battles with His Enemies
Announces that After Two Days the Passover
TUESDAY
Nisan 13th
Matt. 26:6,7--"Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment..."
--Afternoon--
Matt. 26:17--"Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
Matt. 26:19--"And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover."
Olivet Discourse Concluded
Supper at Simon's House
On Next Afternoon Peter and John Prepare Passover
WEDNESDAY
Nisan 14th
--Just After Sunset--
Matt. 26:20--"Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve."
--Then came Gethsemane and the arrest, the religious trial before day, the trial before Pilate in the morning, the crucifixion by noon--
Mark 15:42,43--"And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath..."
--Joseph of Arimathea went unto Pilate and requested the body of Jesus which he buried in his own tomb.
Mark 15:47--"And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid."
God's Passover
Jews' "Preparation Day"
Passover Eaten
Jesus Crucified "Between the Evenings"
"Good Wednesday"
THURSDAY
Nisan 15th
Matt. 27:62--"Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate." And secured a watch for the tomb.
John 19:31--"...For that sabbath day was an high day..."
Lev. 23:6--"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD..."
Lev. 23:7--"...Ye shall do no servile work therein."
Passover Sabbath
(The Day of "Passover and Unleavened Bread")
Jesus in Tomb
FRIDAY
Nisan 16th
Mark 16:1--"And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him."
Luke 23:56--"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments..."
Preparation Day of Seventh-Day Sabbath
First Visit of the Women
Jesus in Tomb
SATURDAY
Nisan 17th
Luke 23:56--"And rested the sabbath day according to the commandment."
Matt. 28:2--"And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it."
Seventh-Day Sabbath
Jesus in Tomb
Resurrection at Sundown
SUNDAY
Nisan 18th
Luke 24:1--"Now upon the first day of the week, very early on the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them."
Luke 24:2--"And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre."
Luke 24:3--"And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus."
Lev. 23:10,11--"...Then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest...On the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it."
Discovery of the Resurrection
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