Being a Berean

For 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

There was a group of New Testament Christians whose nobleness is distinguished from others by their care to "receive(d) the word with all readiness of mind, and search(ed) the scriptures daily, whether those things were so..."  The Bereans didn't just believe everything that was preached to them, or accept as right everything that was tradition.  They checked things out with God's word, and we can assume they rejected in doctrine and in practice that which was not true to the scriptures.  There is much encouragement in true, Bible-believing churches to be like the Bereans.

Some time ago I wrote a post concerning the translation of the word "Easter" in the King James Bible. If you are a "Berean", then you know that the King James Bible translates that word correctly in Acts 12, standing apart from dozens of erroneous Greek texts and popular Bible versions that change the word to "Passover".

Are you ready to do a bit more searching the Scriptures?

How do we get three days and three nights out of Good Friday to Sunday?  Wasn't Jesus crucified on Friday?

No.

He was crucified on Wednesday.

Working backwards, we have the Jewish first day of the week, resurrection morning, beginning at 6 pm Saturday evening.  The Lord rose out of the grave sometime after dark on Saturday night and before light on Sunday morning.  Remember, it was still dark in Luke 24:1, when the women came to the tomb.

Saturday was the sabbath day.  On this day the women who came to Jesus's tomb rested, Luke 23:56.

Friday was a preparation day for the Saturday sabbath.

Thursday was an high sabbath, the first day of unleavened bread, the day following the Passover.  John 19:31, The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation [Wednesday], that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day [Thursday], (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

Wednesday was the Passover and the day on which the final Passover Lamb, Jesus, the Lamb of God, was offered for our sins.

That gives us Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, three nights, and Thursday, Friday, Saturday, three days.  Three whole days and three whole nights in the grave. And Jesus arose from the dead very early in the morning of the fourth day.

So that means... Palm Sunday actually took place on a Friday.

And where did Good Friday originate??  And what ever is Maundy Thursday??

Good Friday was adopted by Rome in the sixth or seventh century as the day on which Jesus died.  This is not too surprising, since over the centuries Rome adopted all sorts of non-biblical tradition, many of which were carried over into the protestant churches of the Reformation.

Maundy Thursday is so named because "maundy" comes from "mandatum", or commandment, and is commemorative of the new commandment which Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another, John 13:34.  Many people observe communion on Maundy Thursday, considered the beginning of the three-day holiday of Easter .  However, the Last Supper did not take place on Thursday.  This is just more error.

Does it matter to God what we do with all this?  It doesn't seem all that important to casual followers of Christ.  Eh, who cares?  Does it really matter how we worship God?  Yes, it does.  They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in TRUTH, John 4:24.

 I can't help thinking of King Jeroboam, of whom the Bible says, So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense, 1 Kings 12:33. (This is written of him in the context of many other things he did which were abominable to God.)  Even if Jeroboam was one of Israel's most wicked kings, it was all in God's name, right? So it was okay, right?  No.  It wasn't okay.

It's important that we follow the due order of scripture.  When Israel tried to move the ark of God on a cart, following the example of the Philistines, they did not move it the way God had instructed them.  And there was a catastrophe; see 1 Chronicles 13.  David later realized that only the Levites were to carry the ark, and that it was not to be moved on a cart at all!  He admitted, For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.  1 Chronicles 15:13.

This reminds me of another church holiday that is a feast devised of our own hearts... but that is for another time.  :)

If you are valiant for the truth, remember this:  NO LIE IS OF THE TRUTH, 1 John 2:21.

Be a Berean.