Is That Really What The Bible Teaches?

There are a number of traditional beliefs and practices that many Christians accept without considering whether they are true or not.  Some believe they don’t really matter.  This Easter season has called attention to one such belief.

It is generally accepted that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday.  He was crucified and the sun was darkened from about noon until about 3:00 pm.,  Shortly after that, he was declared dead, and Joseph took his body for burial.  A hasty burial in Joseph’s tomb ensued because it was close and at sunset the day officially changed.

All the gospels record that Jesus was raised very early Sunday morning.  John 20:1 is most specific.  “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.”  Jesus was already raised before sunrise Sunday morning.

In Matthew 12:40 Jesus declared that he would spend at least part of three days and nights in the tomb.  “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.”  He made a similar statement in Mark 8:31.  “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”  

The chief priests and Pharisees were familiar with his statements, referring to them in getting Pilate to post guards to prevent the theft of his body in Matthew 27:62-64.  “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.”

No matter how I figure it, I cannot come up with more than two days and two nights between Friday and sunrise Sunday.  According to Deuteronomy18:21-22, the proof that a prophet was from God or not was whether the prophecy happened.  “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”  In fact, they were to take him out and kill him for his blasphemy according to earlier verses.

If tradition is correct, and Jesus was crucified on Friday, he did not spend three days and three nights in the tomb.  Instead he was a liar, claiming to speak for God, and could not be the messiah, or our savior.  While it seems a minor point, it is critical to what we believe.

If we accept that he was crucified on Thursday instead, a number of problems disappear.  First, we have the proper number of days involved.  Secondly, breaking the malefactors legs to hasten their death in order to get them off the crosses before the Sabbath makes more sense since they would have had twenty four hours to die, rather than just a couple.

The rush to get Jesus buried would have been less urgent, because Friday would be the preparation day, starting at sundown Thursday.  No work or business was permitted on the Sabbath, and this would also allow the ladies to do what is described in Luke 23:54-56.  “And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.  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.”  It seems obvious that Jesus was crucified on Thursday rather than Friday as tradition teaches.

While it appears a minor distinction on the surface. In reality it raises the question as to whether the Bible can be trusted or not, and whether our salvation is real.  This is too important to ignore, in my opinion.  What do you think?

Don’t Force It

Several years ago, a woman complained that her sewing machine wasn’t working properly.  I offered to check it out and see if I could fix it, because I had recently obtained a book on sewing machine repair and wanted to try it.

When she brought the machine, the tensions were both out of adjustment, and I had to set them back to specs to make it sew at all.  Once I got them readjusted , the machine sewed rally well.  I took it back and after just a couple hours she brought it back again.

I checked it out a lot more carefully that time, looking for something that could cause intermittent malfunctions.  Every thing was normal and met the manufacturers specs.  I suggested she try a different thread if it happened again as unevenly spun thread can result in tension changes and cause skipping.

After she brought it back several times, I got it working again and asked her to sew on it with me watching.  Rather than allowing the machine to feed the material through itself, she was forcing it through, causing the machine to skip stitches.  In and effort to correct the problem she then fiddled with the tension making the problem worse.  I tried to explain to her that the machine was designed to feed the material at the proper rate and all she needed to do was guide it, but she never seemed to get the idea.  I suspect she still thinks I was a pretty poor repairman.

A lot of people make a similar mistake in serving the Lord.  We begin to think we make things happen, rather than just placing ourselves at his disposal and letting the Holy Spirit control it, then wonder why the results were so unsatisfactory.  Some have been doing it that way for so long, they think the poor results are normal, and never understand that the problem is that they are trying to accomplish spiritual results using fleshly power.

If the ability to speak in tongues is one of the gifts of the spirit, why do we expect to be able to teach others how to do it?  Wouldn’t it have to be his power, rather than our teaching that enabled them to speak in tongues?

If we really believe that no man can come to Christ except the father draw him, as John 6:44 says, why do so many preachers psychologically “prime the pump” by having some come to the altar to convince others to come?  Why do we try so hard to be bold, forcing ourselves to ignore our fear, rather than simply allowing the Holy Spirit to give us the faith and peace to speak where we are?  If we believe that “the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are sons of God,” why do we try to give other people assurance of their salvation, instead of letting him do it?

By such efforts, we hinder the Holy Spirit.  There are hundreds of people speaking in tongues that the Holy Spirit had nothing to do with, and God gets little of the glory.  Thousands make meaningless professions, and are convinced they are saved when they are not.  People force themselves to go soul winning and alienate unsaved people because they are so pushy.  Then the results are laid at the Holy Spirit’s door.  Doesn’t that come awfully close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit?