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I was taught that the Yahushua was crucified on a Friday, rested in the Tomb on a Saturday and rose from the grave on Sunday morning. Isn’t this empirical proof that Saturday is the seventh-day Sabbath?

Answer: This is a very intelligent question.  To demonstrate Scripture accurately, let’s begin with the Old Testament.

Old Testament Passover Perspective:

"In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahuwah’s Passover." Leviticus 23:5

This short sentence lays the parameters of the Feast of Passover.  On the 14th date of the month of Abib at “evening” commences the Passover festivities.  Remember this is also the 6th day of the week, also known as the preparation, which meant that the following day was the seventh-day Sabbath.

So in order to have all the pieces fit, the logical location to place this particular “evening” is following the daylight hours on the 14th day of the month.  We know this to be true specifically because of the time centric criteria presented at the time of Yahushua’s crucifixion on the cross as it relates to His death fulfilling the requirements of Passover.

"Now you shall keep it (the lamb) until the fourteenth day of the same month.  Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night. . . 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is Yahuwah’s Passover." Exodus 12:6

Notice here how the “night” in verse 8 follows the twilight in verse 6, and both remain on the 14th day.  When the night arrived it did not all of a sudden become the 15th.  We know this because the Feast was to begin at evening or twilight and not end until the next morning.

"You shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun. . ." Deuteronomy 16:6

New Testament Passover Perspective:

"Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him." Mark 15:25

So was this the third hour of the day or the third hour of the night? If you say “day”, then you must realize that this time continuum is counting from sunrise, making sunrise the beginning of each new day. Thus it would place Yahushua on the cross at approximately 9:00 A.M. However, if you say “night”, because you believe Sabbath began counting from sunset, then you are saying that Yahushua was crucified at approximately 9:00 P.M. and died about 3:00 A.M. during the darkness of night.  It simply can’t be both ways.

Placing Yahushua the Lamb of Yahuwah into the equation only works with a 12 hour Sabbath that begins at sunrise.  Only once a year at the Feast of Passover is a Holy convocation kept during the dark hours, and ending as a seventh-day Sabbath.  While Yahushua died at the 9th hour on the 14th, the thieves had to be removed from the cross prior to their death, because the “Sabbath” was drawing on.  Yes, the seventh-day Sabbath was coming soon, but the Sabbath or Holy Convocation that was going to affect every man in Israel beginning that evening of the 14th was the Passover Feast Sabbath. This is what was to commence at twilight.  No one was to be left upon the cross for any Holy Convocation, and all men must hurry home to prepare for the sacred Feast of Passover.  Time was of the essence.

The only reason Yahushua’s body was not embalmed during the dark hours after His death was because it was the Feast of Passover, a Holy Convocation, and also called a yearly Sabbath. This Feast of Passover was the only Holy convocation to be kept during the dark hours, which began at sunset on the 14th of Abib.  This was not because a seventh-day Sabbath was to begin at sunset.

During the life of Yahushua there is no mention of His entering the synagogue as the Sabbath commenced at sunset.  Nor is there any mention of dark Sabbath hours, or 24 hour Sabbath days.  While Yahushua died on the sixth day, rested in the tomb on the Sabbath, then resurrected from the dead early on the first day of the week, these days were not Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  For more details please refer to the eCourse, “Twelve Criteria of the True Crucifixion Date”.