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AS
H E
SAlO" ! Jesus did fulfiJl his
sign! He IS the Savior! Then he
could not have been crucified on
Good Friday!
What Day Was the Cruci tix lo n?
Jesus was buried shortly before
sunset on the day of the crucifixion
( Luke 23:53-54). S ince Jesus said
that he would "rise the third day"
after his crucifixion, it is obvious
that the resurrection mus t have
occurred precisely at the comple–
tion of the third day following his
burial and the closing of the tomb.
That moment would be near sunset
three days later.
When the women carne to the
tomb early Sunday morning, J esus
was already risen! T he angel said ,
" He is risen; he is not here" (Mark
16:6). He was not at the sepulcher
Sunday morning. Therefore Jesus
could not have risen later than Sat–
urday evening- three days after his
burial.
Three days before Saturday
wou ld place the crucifixion on
Wednesday! T hat Wednesday was
a preparation day- a preparation
day for what? For the annual Feast
of Unleavened Bread . The firs t day
of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is
always an annual Sabbath . So
Thursday that year was an annuaJ
Sabbath.
So that we would know that that
Sabbath which followed the cruci–
fixion was not the weekly Sabbath,
J ohn was inspired to call it a " high
day" (John 19:31 ). According to
J ewish usage this expression means
an annual Sabbath or Holy Day
that may occur any day during the
week.
Now look at your Bible again.
Mark picks up John's account by
adding that after that Sabbath–
the high day of the first day of the
Feas t of Unleavened Bread- the
women bought sweet spices to use
in anointing the body of J esus
(Mark 16:1 ) . This purchasing of
the spices could not have bcen on
Thursday, the annuaJ Sabbath.
lt
had to be on the following day, Fri–
day.
Having made their purchases
and prepared these ointments on
Friday, the women then "rested the
sabbath day according to the com–
mandment" (Luke 23:56). This
was a different day- the weekly
40
Sabbath, the seventh day of the 11th edit ion, article "Easter," says:
week. Upon its close Jesus was "There is no indication of the
raised from the dead exact ly three observance of the Easter fes tival in
days and three nights after he was the New Testament or in the writ-
buried and the tomb closed.
ings of the Apostolic Fathers....
Could anything be plainer?
The first Christians [the original
Your Bible proves that the resur-
TRUE
C hurch of J esus and the
rection was not on Sunday. T he apostles] continued to observe the
cruc ifixion was not on Friday. Jewish [that is Goo's] fest ivals,
Rather, Christ was crucified on though in a new spirit, as commem–
Wednesday and was resurrected on orations of events which those festi–
Saturday, three days and three vals had fo reshadowed. T hus the
nights later. (This is all explained passover, with a new conception
in much greater detail in the book- added to it , of Christ as the true
Jet
The R esurrection Was Not on
Paschal Lamb and the fi rst fruits
Sunday.
Write for it.
lt
is free.)
from the dead, continued to be
But then where d id the Good observed ."
Friday-Easter Sunday tradition
Of course! The Passover and all
come from? How did it find its way of God's Holy Days were ordained
into the profess ing C hristian by God to picture God's
PLAN
of
Church? Why is it o bse rved salvation.
throughout the entire Western
Christ, the apostles and the New
world today?
- Testament Church-both J ewish–
Whe re Easte r Carne From
Believe it o r not, Easte r was
observed thousands of years before
the time of Christ and the begin–
ning of the Christian era!
Easter
is merely the slightly
changed English spelling of the
name of the ancient Assyrian god–
dess, Ishtar. It was pronounced by
the Assyrians exactly as we pro–
nounce
Easter
today.
Hislop says in
The Two Baby–
lons
that Easter "bears its ChaJ–
dean origin on its very forehead.
Easter is nothing else than Astarte,
one of the titles of Beltis, the
'queen of heaven,' whose name, as
pronounced by the people of Nine–
veh, was evidently identical with
that now in common use in this
country" (page 103).
In the Bible, God condemns the
worship of Astarte, the "queen of
heaven," as the most abominable of
all pagan idolatries. In connection
with the Eas ter celebration, God
specifically condemns sunrise ser–
vices (Ezek. 8: 13- 18) and the mak–
ing of " hot cross buns" (Jer. 7:18-
20; 44:19).
How did this pagan celebration
ever become one of the two most
impor tant holidays of the profess–
ing Christian Church?
Easter a Counterfe l t
ot
God 's
Passover
Now read the facts for yourself.
The
Ency c/opaedia Britannica,
and gentile-born Christ ians- kept
these fest ivals. Read it for yourself
in Acts 2: 1; 18:21; 20:6 ; and 27:9.
Then open your Bible to these
instructions of Paul to the gentiles
in 1 Cor inthians 5:7-8; 11:20-34
and 16:8.
These scriptures prove that the
New Testament Church continued
to observe the days God made holy,
including the Passover, long after
Christ had ascended into heaven.
Hislop states: "The festival, of
which we read in church history,
under the name of Easter, in the
third and fourth centuries ... at
that time was not known by any
such name as Easter.
It
was called
Passover .... That festiva l agreed
originally with the time of the Jew–
ish Passover, when Christ was cru–
cified .... That festival was not
idolatrous, and was preceded by no
Lent" (page 104).
God 's Passover pictured Christ's
death.
Contrast this with Easter.
It
falsely c laims to commemorate
Christ's
r esu rrection- no t
hi s
death.
When did this clever counterfeit
creep into the professing Christian
Church?
How a Pagan Eas t e r
Became " Christian "
Eas ter was a pagan festival long
before Christianity and the New
T estament Church ever existed. lt
anciently commemorated the Fri-
The PLAIN TRUTH