Sabbath vs. Sunday Resurrection

Sabbath Resurrection vs. Sunday Resurrection

by Daniel Gregg

Yayshua our Saviour rose from the dead on the weekly Sabbath, which was Saturday, March 27th, 34 c.e. You see the Christian world has been completely deceived by a false translation of the resurrection passages. Ask yourself a hard question: Why did the translators switch from the word "sabbath" to the word "week" in Matthew 28:1: "In the end of the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week ...", when the Greek word is the same in both cases? That word is sabbatwn. It is the common everyday word in the Bible for "Sabbath." Consider a correct interlinear translation:

        Latter    yet    of-Sabbaths at-the    dawning    on    first    of-sabbaths

        Oye                 de          sabbatwn            th                    epifwskoush    eiV       mian            sabbatwn

        There is no other conclusion possible. The translations lie. The Greek tells the truth. And no matter what you think it means, the translators did bury the idea of the Sabbath altogether when they translated it "week." Often the translators make the excuse that the Jews counted days with respect to the Sabbath. If that is the case here, then why didn't they count "one day from the Sabbath"? Because, they still don't want the Sabbath mentioned! At any rate their excuse is invalid. The Jews do not count days "from the Sabbath." They count days "to the Sabbath," and that, my friends, is impossible to get out of the Greek.   There is no way to get around the literal plain sense of the Greek. It says what it says. Even, if it could be proved that "week" was a possible rendering of the word sabbatwn, it still would not be the usual meaning of the word. In fact, it can be questioned whether the word ever meant "week" at any time. The only places it is so translated are in the resurrection passages and two other passages, in which the first Sabbath comes right after Passover!
         In any case, if you are wondering why such a complete deception was foisted upon the Christian world, I have more bad news, that is related to, but not the subject of the page, which I will be writing up eventually:   The Church Translators of the New Testament Books have mangled and corrupted the literal meaning of every important religious word in those books. You can click here for a list of them. So the saying is true, "Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness" (Isaiah 1:5-6). I will mention the 7000+ times that they also mistranslated "Yahweh" as "Lord" in the Law and Prophets, defying the divine command in Exodus 3:15, "Yahweh your Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Avraham, the Elohim of Yistkhaq, and the Elohim of Ya'akov has sent me to you, THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation." So what can we expect of a generation of scholars and translators that has blotted out Yahweh's very name? Mark my words. Yahweh will blot them out when he returns as "Lord of lords, and king of kings." Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Yayshua is Yahweh of Hosts.
          Now, as I said, the literal translation of the passage is "On the Latter of the sabbaths, at the dawning on the first of the Sabbaths ..." So let us explore this topic. What is the first Sabbath, and what is the later Sabbath. And how did the later Sabbath come to be called the first? Let us start with an observation of E.W. Bullinger from the Companion Bible, when he comments on Luke 6:1, "And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that He went through the corn fields."

The second sabbath after the first. All this represents only one word in the Greek (deuteroprwtw), i.e. the second-first. Occ. only here in the N.T. The first and second sabbaths can occur only in the week of the three great Feasts. The first day of these feasts is a Sabbath "high day" (Heb. yom tov ), and is the "first" or great sabbath, whatever day of the week it falls on (see Lev. 23. 7, 24, 35), the weekly sabbath then becomes the "second". This "second sabbath" was therefore the ordinary weekly sabbath, as is clear from Matt. 12.1. Not seeing this the current Greek texts solve the difficulty by ommiting the word altogether! L. Trm. WH R.

Now the first day of Unleavened bread was called "The Sabbath" by the Jews (Lev. 23:11). And since it was the first high holy day, it was called the first Sabbath. I must urge you not to let the Church, the Samaritans or the Sadducees confuse you on this point. They all refuse to heed the historical record that Lev. 23:11 speaks of the festival Sabbath --- a fact documented in Josephus, Philo, the Targums, the Rabbis, the LXX, and by the Pharisees, who were endorsed by Yayshua himself as the legitimate interpreters of Torah (Mt. 23:1-3). The following weekly Sabbath was called the second sabbath, or as we have it in Mt. 28:1, the "Latter Sabbath." Now I will summon two more witnesses: The first is the Concordant Version Commentary, written by A.E. Knoch. He comments on Luke 6:1:

The somewhat enigmatical word second-first in the Greek has proved so inexplicable that many texts have omitted it, and few editors retain it. Many explanations have been offered, but most of them are base on conjecture. The solution seems simple. The Jews had several sabbaths besides the seventh day of the week. The fifteenth and the twenty-first of Nisan were sabbaths, being the first and last days of the festival of Unleavened Breads. When the weekly sabbath came on the sixteenth, two sabbaths would come together, one a "great day" (Jn. 19³¹), and the next an ordinary sabbath. To distinguish the fifteenth ... sabbath from the double sabbath a week later it was called the first, and to distinguish the second day form the first it was called the second-first (Lev. 23.6-8). This was probably the day of His resurrection" (pg. 99; Luke 6:1, Concordant Commentary on the New Testament).

So, the 15th, the first day of unleavened bread, the first rest day of the feast, was called "The first Sabbath," and the following weekly Sabbath was called the "second-first" Sabbath. So we have two 'first' Sabbaths, the former being the feast day, and the latter of these Sabbaths being the weekly Sabbath (see figure). Now, will the next witness please enter. What additional reason was there for calling the weekly Sabbath, the "first of the Sabbaths"? Johnston M. Cheney exposits on this mystery, while proving that Yayshua's ministry lasted at least 4 years (4 1/2 to be exact 30 c.e. to 34 c.e.):

The second Passover alluded to: There is a reference, however, to the second Passover; but it is not given by John. Luke speaks of an early harvest event in Chapter 6, in which he gives an oblique reference to a second Passover, just after Jesus had called the Twelve for full-time discipleship (Sec. 36). On that occasion Jesus and His disciples were condemned for eating grain in the harvest field on a sabbath. This springtime event was obviously between the first and third Passovers, as evidenced in all three Synoptics. But further evidence of it being the second Passover is provided in a curious rendering of Luke 6:1, which has been all but lost in translations. The reason for its being lost was probably that it was altered by an early scribe who totally misunderstood its meaning. The phrase in question is, "the second First Sabbath," whis footnoted in the United Bible Society's new Greek text as having strong support win the Western and Byzantine Texts. The reading giving in Sec. 36 of THE LIFE OF CHRIST IN STEREO is:

And it came to pass on the second First Sabbath that he was walking through the grain fields ....

What is the meaning of "the second First Sabbath?" A clue to its probable meaning is found in Leviticus 23:15-21, where directions for setting the date of Pentecost are given. Seven sabbaths were to be counted from the Feast of First-fruits or Passover. Consequently, these came to be known as "First Sabbath," "Second Sabbath" etc., down to the seventh. And according to Julian Morgenstern, former President of Hebrew University, this practice continued in Galilee till the time of Christ or the Common Era. It is still observed by some groups in Palestine today. Thus, there was an annual date known as "First Sabbath," just after Passover. And Luke, the careful historian, records that this event in the grain fields took place on the "second First Sabbath" .... This, then pin-points the occasion of the second Passover and indicates the completion of the first year of His public ministry.

So, now we can begin to understand Matthew 28:1, "On the latter of the Sabbaths, at the dawning on the first day of the Sabbaths, Miryam of Migdol and the other Miryam came to view the grave." (cf. also Mark 16:1-2; Luke 23:56-24:1; John 20:1, 19). The weekly Sabbath of Passover week was both the latter sabbath (see diagram) with respect to the first sabbath day of unleavened bread, and also the first of the sabbaths in a seven sabbath count leading up to Pentecost (see diagram). In terms of the year of Yayshua's death and resurrection, the 25th of March was the Passover Sabbath, and the 27th of March was the weekly Sabbath, hence the designation "Latter" given by Matthew.
Now in the week of Yayshua's death and Resurrection there were two Sabbaths, which were the first day of Passover and the regular Sabbath. These fell on March 25th, and March 27th in 34 c.e. The former Sabbath of the week is the Passover Sabbath, and the "latter of the Sabbaths" is the regular Sabbath.

This "latter of the Sabbaths" with respect to Passover week, is also called "the first of the Sabbaths" with respect to the feast of Penteocst: For it is written:

"And you shall count from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths complete shall be; Meanwhile from the day after the seventh Sabbath, continue counting the fifty days." (Lev. 23:15-16). So seven Sabbaths are to be counted between Passover and Pentecost while also fifty days are to be counted between the same.

So, the weekly sabbaths would be enumerated, "the first of the sabbaths," "the second of the sabbaths" ... "the seventh of the sabbaths." So the Resurrection was on the first of these.

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Now it is clear that the women arrived in the morning while it was still dark (cf. John 20:1), or while still "deep dawn" (Luke 24:1) as the sun was coming up (cf. Mark 16:2). There is only one morning on the Sabbath day which they could arrive at, and that is before dawn on the Sabbath, not after the Sabbath on Sunday. For we just showed that they came "on the first of the Sabbaths" (also called "the latter of the Sabbaths"). Therefore, the resurrection occured in the night part of the Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunrise). All, the resurrection appearances occured on the Sabbath day.

Now it is established beyond all doubt that "first of the Sabbaths" in the resurrection passages means the Sabbath day by usage, grammar, and parallel examples. We can then proceed to demonstrate how the Sabbath Resurrection is able to harmonize the entire chronology of the scripture, and that it does not in any way contradict Torah.

The Sabbath Resurrection explains Matthew 12:40, where it says that Yayshua would be in the grave "three days and three nights." The days are (1) part of Wed, (2) Thur, (3) Fri, and the nights are (1) Wed night, (2) Thur night, and (3) part of Fri night (see diagram):

The Sabbath Resurrection also explains those passages that say Yeshua would rise "after three days" (Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31). When the sun set on Wed, it was "after one day," and when the sun set on Thur., it was "after two days," and when the sun set on Fri., it was "after three days" (and note this:) it remained "after three days" until sunset ending the Sabbath. The "after three day" passages create fatal problems for the Friday-Sunday senario. See diagram.

              The Sabbath Resurrection even explains those passages which say he would rise "on the third day" (1 Cor. 15:4, etc, See Figure). In this case, the day must be reckoned from sunrise as in Lev. 23:32 for the day of Atonement. The first day is sunrise Wed. to sunrise Thur.. The second day is sunrise Thur to sunrise Fri. And the third day is sunrise Fri to sunrise Sabbath. But note this: the resurrection was before sunrise on the Sabbath, which was still the third day by sunrise reckoning.
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                The Sabbath Resurrection explains why Matthew alludes to two Sabbaths ("the latter of the Sabbaths"), and why Mark mentions two Sabbaths ("passing the sabbath ... but on the first of the sabbaths"), and also why Luke mentions two Sabbaths ("On the one sabbath they rested ..., but on the first day of the sabbaths ..."), and also why John makes note of the high Sabbath (John 19:31).

                The Sabbath Resurrection also explains why "first day of the sabbaths" only occurs after Passover just before Pentecost (including in Acts 20:7, and I Cor. 16:2).

     The Sabbath Resurrection is confirmed by astronomy in 34 c.e.
     The Sabbath Resurrection explains Daniel's Prophecy of "Seventy Sevens," which are broken down into "seven sevens" and "sixty two sevens" and "one period of seven." (Dan. 9:24-27). A "seven" is a sabbatical year as is proved in Deut. 15:9. Exactly sixty nine Sabbatical years will fit between 445 b.c.e., when the decree to rebuild the city was given, and 34 c.e. when the Messiah was cut off, so that he died.
     Only the Sabbath Resurrection can explain Daniel's prophecy without either tampering with history as we have received it from the Persians and Romans or by introducing ridiculous assumptions into the biblical calendar such as the so called 360 day prophetic year.
      The Sabbath Resurrection provides adequate time for Yayshua's ministry. It harmonizes with the 3 b.c.e. birth of Yeshua on the feast of trumpets, and the sign of Rev. 12:1-3. It proves and demonstrates the traditional Jewish rule that the new moon of Aviv is always the one nearest to the equinox. It also proves and demonstrates that the new moon is at the first visible crescent.
       The Sabbath Resurrection proves that the Pharisees were right on how to count to Pentecost, and that the Sadducees were wrong.
       The Sabbath Resurrection establishes which year is the sabbatical year, and provides the critical link to establish which year is the year of Jubilee.