For any who may be interested in going through the associated passages in the Gospel accounts:
Many
mistakenly believe that Jesus died on a Friday, because we are told in the Gospel accounts that they had to get the body down before the Sabbath began (at sunset). What many may not realize is that there were
TWO SABBATHS (
Matt. 28:1) the week of the crucifixion. It obviously couldn't have been a Friday, because even if we count both Friday night and Saturday night it would only be two nights.
The first was a "high" Sabbath (or high holy day – please see
Lev. 23:5-7), which marked the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows Passover.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for
that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.
The second was the weekly Sabbath which took place on Saturday, the seventh day of the week, as always (beginning immediately after sunset on Friday and ending at sunset on Saturday).
If we take a look at all of the gospel accounts of the Crucifixion and Resurrection—and read what they
ACTUALLY say—the picture becomes quite clear.
Matthew 28:1-6
28:1 After the (two) Sabbath
s, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
28:3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
28:4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead [men].
28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Christ-Jesus was not there early on Sun-day (the first day of the week)
because He had already risen on Saturday, the Sabbath Day/The Lord’s Day.
Mark 16:1-8
16:1
And when the (High) Sabbath was PAST,
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, had BOUGHT sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
16:2 And very early in the morning the first [day] of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
16:3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
16:4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
16:5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
16:6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus the Nazarite, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
16:7 But go your way, tell his disciples AND Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
16:8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any [man]; for they were afraid.
Please note well that the Marys came just after the weekly Sabbath had ended and they found the tomb
EMPTY. Why?
BECAUSE HE HAD ALREADY RISEN ON THE SABBATH DAY (Saturday). Please also note that Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, would not have known to buy sweet spices before the crucifixion, nor would they have been able to buy them on either the high Sabbath or the weekly Sabbath. Conducting commerce of any kind is strictly forbidden on the Sabbath (
Exod. 20:8-11,
Neh. 10:31,
13:15-21), i.e. there's no buying or selling allowed.
Remember, they had to hurry to take down the body of Jesus (
Mark 15:42-47) and bury it
before the high Sabbath began. So there wasn't anytime for them to purchase spices before the Sabbath. And yet very early on the first day of the week they came to the sepulchre, with spices
THEY COULD ONLY HAVE BOUGHT AND PREPARED ON FRIDAY, the day between the high Sabbath on Thursday and the weekly Sabbath on Saturday.
The account in Luke confirms this as well.
Luke 23:44-56
23:44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
23:45 And the sun was darkened, and the "Temple Veil" (to the "Holy of Holies") was rent in the midst.
23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the Spirit.
23:47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.
23:48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.
23:49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.
23:50 And, behold, [there was] a man named Joseph, a counsellor (and "Minister of Mines" - to the romans as well as the jews); [and he was] a good man, and a just (and was Jesus' great-uncle):
23:51 (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them

[he was] of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the Kingdom of God.
23:52 This [man] went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
23:53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
23:54 And
that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.
23:55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.
23:56
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments (which they bought on Friday, AFTER the High Sabbath); and rested the (weekly) Sabbath day according to the Commandment (
Exod. 20:8,
Deut. 5:14)
.
Please pay particular attention to the final three verses. They laid the body of Jesus in the sepulchre on the day of preparation (the Passover day preceding the high Sabbath) and the Sabbath drew on (the sun set and the high-Sabbath began).
It then says they returned and prepared spices and ointments – a task that they would not have been able to do on the Sabbath by Law – and then rested the (weekly) Sabbath day, after preparing the spices on Friday.
John 19:40-42, 20:1
19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
19:42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation [day]; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
20:1 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.
It would have been
impossible for the two Marys to have purchased the spices before Jesus was crucified because they didn't know in advance He would be arrested and executed, all of which happened in less than 24 hours. On Tuesday evening that week (as the sun set Tuesday evening and it became Wednesday) Jesus was celebrating the Passover with His Disciples. He was then arrested in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday and crucified later that same day, from the sixth to the ninth hour.
So again, the
only way the two Marys could have purchased and prepared the spices/ointments, is for there to have been a day in between the high Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath that week.
This confirms the Wednesday crucifixion prophesied in Daniel 9:27, placing the high Sabbath on Thursday.
Christ even defined the length of a day and a night if anyone cares to take notice:
John 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
12 hours in the day + 12 hours in the night (when people stumble in the dark) = 24 hours.