Ted's Response:
There are reasons why I am convinced that Jesus rose from the dead sometime after sunset following Saturday, at which time Sunday had begun:
- Leviticus 23:3 indicates that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath. Leviticus 23:9-14 describes the celebration of firstfruits, and the specific day for this to occur is seen to be the day after the regular Sabbath (23:11), making it be the first day of the week. Jesus fulfilled the four Spring feasts/festivals (Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits, and Shavuot) at His first coming or soon after His resurrection. As the firstfruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20,23), Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by rising from the dead on that day.
- Leviticus 23:15 reiterates that, during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day after the (regular weekly) Sabbath/Saturday (that is, the day of the Feast of Firstfruits) would begin a 50-day count, ending on the day after the seventh (regular weekly) Sabbath/Saturday (23:16). This fiftieth day, on which the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot fell, being the day after the Sabbath, also was on the first day of the week: Sunday. This was the day of Pentecost (which is an indication of fifty or fiftieth), on which the Holy Spirit (led and directed by the risen Lord Jesus) came upon all the Jews gathered in one place (Acts 2:1-4)—see gifts of the Holy Spirit.
- Mark states, "When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week..." (Mark 16:9).
- "Now on that same day [the first day of the week—Luke 24:1], two of them were going to a village called Emmaus..." (Luke 24:13). Jesus came and walked along with them, asking them questions and getting them to talk about the events that recently had happened to Jesus, including the crucifixion (24:19b-21a). They said, "And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place" (24:21b). If they said this to Jesus on the first day of the week, and we count back three days, we get back to Thursday (not Wednesday or Friday) as His crucifixion day.
As long as Jesus rose at some point after the previous sunset, which was the beginning of Sunday (and which began the final night of the "three days and three nights" sequence), then He rose on the first day of the week. It doesn't matter whether he rose before or after midnight; either way, it still was on the first day of the week, as long as it was after sunset following Saturday. See more details at Good Thursday.
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