EXAM DAY FOUR - THE DAY OF PREPARATION - the day that the Passover lamb must be killed.

THE DAY OF PREPARATION

The day that the Passover lamb must be killed.  It is important to remember that the Biblical day begins at sundown, not at midnight, not at sunrise.  

This is where people have mistakenly placed the crucifixion on Friday at 3:00 PM because they assume Jesus and his disciples ate the last supper at sundown on the Passover Sabbath, (Wednesday) rather than the eve of the Day of Preparation (Tuesday) after sundown, which would still be rendered as the Day of Preparation in the bible since it took place after sundown. 

So why is it important to discuss which day he died and which day he supped with His disciples? 

Because of the sign of Jonah:

1.  Jesus said only ONE sign would be given to prove his authenticity, as the Messiah, the promised deliverer of Israel. That ONE sign was that he would be in the ground three days and three nights. 
2. If Jesus does not fulfill this one sign it disqualifies Him as the Messiah. Whether he lied or simply made a mistake His Sonship would be called into question, or the doctrine of the inerrant Scripture would be in question. 
3.  If Jesus did not die at the proper time, in conjunction with the law of the Passover lamb, how could He offer Himself as the Spiritual fulfillment of Passover? Replacing forever the temporary four-footed lamb, The law dictates the hour and the day that the lamb was to be slain. 
4. It is clear from Jesus' actions, that He considers Himself replacing the Passover Lamb.
1. His carefully orchestrated the prophetic action of following the lambs on the parade to the city and up to the temple on the Day of Selection.
2. He walked out the 4 days of examination by the Priests, (Sadducees) the Scribes, the Pharisees and the Herodians.
• He held his last supper at the extreme beginning of the Day of Preparation still within the bounds of the law, so that he could fulfill the part where he would die at exactly the proper hour.  
• He would die before the natural (national) lamb was being slaughtered in the temple, and by the same priests who had sentenced Him to death. 
5. The sign Jesus gave, required that He remain in the ground for three days and three nights. You cannot get three days and three nights if he died on Friday afternoon (Good Friday)
1. Night One - Friday night
2. Day One - Saturday
3. Night Two - Saturday night
4. Day Two - Sunday AM 
6. They needed to get His body down before the Passover Sabbath which started at sundown on Wednesday. This means he died before the time of the Passover meal because that sundown was the deadline to have him buried; Before the Day of Preparation came to a close at sundown. 
7. The Sadducees, Pharisees, and the scribes determined not to arrest him during the feast, so if they arrested him after the Day of Preparation ended at sundown, they would have not only arrested Him during the Feast but at the very most important part of it.
8. The religious leaders would never have defiled the Passover Sabbath, or their part in it, by conducting a Sanhedrin trial and two secular trials when each of them should have been home conducting their own Passover Seder.  The penalty for not practicing the festivals is to be cut off from Israel.

Tomorrow we look into the Sign of Jonah...