According to Leviticus 23 and Joshua 5, the following occurred in the Jewish month of Nisan:
1. Fourteenth day – The slaying of the Passover lamb.
1. Fourteenth day – The slaying of the Passover lamb.
2. Fifteenth day – The Feast of Unleavened Bread.
3. Sixteenth day – The firstfruits of harvest presented to the Lord.
3. Sixteenth day – The firstfruits of harvest presented to the Lord.
Jesus was the One to Whom all those types and ceremonies pointed. He was the true Passover Lamb. That is why John cried out, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” in John 1:36. Paul showed how Jesus fulfilled the Passover in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 [ESV]: 7Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
This is exactly why Jesus died on the fourteenth of the Jewish month of Nisan. He did it to fulfill the Scriptures. Paul declared, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” Jesus had to die on the same day that the Passover lamb died in order to meet the prophetic type and to establish His identity as the true Passover Lamb. The sheaf of firstfruits was to be offered to the Lord before the people ate of the harvest of the land.
But just as surely as Jesus died on a certain day according to the Scriptures, He also “was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:4 [ESV]). He not only was our Passover, but He was also the Firstfruits! And Paul ties the firstfruits specifically to the resurrection: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20 [ESV]). Again in verse 23 [ESV] of that chapter, Paul writes, “But each in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.” No wonder, then, that Paul wrote so confidently about the resurrection on the third day according to the Scriptures. No wonder that Jesus stated this so emphatically time after time! Christ rose from the dead as the Firstfruits of those that slept. He was the antitype of the wave sheaf, and His resurrection took place on the very day that the wave sheaf was to be presented before the Lord. We can now understand why Jesus and His followers used the expression “third day” more than any other to describe the resurrection. Prophecy had decreed hundreds of years earlier that He would be the fulfillment of the types and shadows surrounding the Passover observance. As the Firstfruits, it was essential for Christ to be “harvested” and “presented” before the Lord “on the day after the Sabbath.” In the year of the crucifixion the Passover Sabbath coincided with the weekly Sabbath, making it “a high day” (John 19:31). It was the next day after that Sabbath that Jesus arose from the grave – on Sunday. The biblical proof of those three successive days during Passover Week answers definitively how Jesus was resurrected on the third day, “in accordance with the Scriptures.” The proof of the resurrection of Jesus just gets stronger as the years pass by!
This is exactly why Jesus died on the fourteenth of the Jewish month of Nisan. He did it to fulfill the Scriptures. Paul declared, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” Jesus had to die on the same day that the Passover lamb died in order to meet the prophetic type and to establish His identity as the true Passover Lamb. The sheaf of firstfruits was to be offered to the Lord before the people ate of the harvest of the land.
But just as surely as Jesus died on a certain day according to the Scriptures, He also “was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:4 [ESV]). He not only was our Passover, but He was also the Firstfruits! And Paul ties the firstfruits specifically to the resurrection: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20 [ESV]). Again in verse 23 [ESV] of that chapter, Paul writes, “But each in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.” No wonder, then, that Paul wrote so confidently about the resurrection on the third day according to the Scriptures. No wonder that Jesus stated this so emphatically time after time! Christ rose from the dead as the Firstfruits of those that slept. He was the antitype of the wave sheaf, and His resurrection took place on the very day that the wave sheaf was to be presented before the Lord. We can now understand why Jesus and His followers used the expression “third day” more than any other to describe the resurrection. Prophecy had decreed hundreds of years earlier that He would be the fulfillment of the types and shadows surrounding the Passover observance. As the Firstfruits, it was essential for Christ to be “harvested” and “presented” before the Lord “on the day after the Sabbath.” In the year of the crucifixion the Passover Sabbath coincided with the weekly Sabbath, making it “a high day” (John 19:31). It was the next day after that Sabbath that Jesus arose from the grave – on Sunday. The biblical proof of those three successive days during Passover Week answers definitively how Jesus was resurrected on the third day, “in accordance with the Scriptures.” The proof of the resurrection of Jesus just gets stronger as the years pass by!
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