He is risen contains amazing new knowledge for the church.

Was the resurrection of Christ the same as when He was raised from the dead?

Let’s look at the scriptures and see the amazing new knowledge on this subject.

Let’s see that the resurrection and the time that Christ was raised from the dead are in fact two different times. Astounding and yet very true.

Firstly we will look at the days from Christ’s death until He was raised from the dead.

Christ died on Wednesday, 14^th Abib at approximately 3 pm in the afternoon. On Passover day also called the preparation day.

Joh 19:14  Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

Mar 15:34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

Mar 15:35  Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!”

Mar 15:36  Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.”

Mar 15:37  And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.

Mar 15:38  Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Before Christ was entombed there were several things that happened. Joseph of Arimathaea went and asked for the body of Christ.

Mar 15:43  Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Joh 19:38  After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus.

His body was then removed from the cross, this in itself would have been time consuming as the nails would have been removed in such a way as to not harm the body of Christ any more than it was already. I am sure this would have been done with great sorrow and with every care. Showing dignity and love for Christ.

Then His body was anointed with spices and wrapped according to Jewish custom.

Joh 19:39  And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

Joh 19:40  Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Christ was buried before sunset, as the next day was the Holy Day, the First Day of Unleavened Bread.

Joh 19:31  Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

Christ died around 3 pm Wednesday afternoon and was buried sometime between 3 pm and sundown. Before the Sabbath.

Luk 23:53  Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before.

Luk 23:54  That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.

Time was getting on, the garden where Christ was buried was at the place where He was crucified.

Joh 19:41  Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

Joh 19:42  So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.

Notice that the sepulcher belonged to Joseph of Arimathaea.

Mat 27:59  When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

Mat 27:60  and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.

Most readers have probably not been to Jerusalem and seen firsthand the sepulcher where it is thought that Christ was entombed. We have seen it and it is above the ground. Today when we bury someone they are placed under the ground probably around 6 feet deep. But in stark contrast the sepulcher of Christ is not under the ground but as the scriptures state it is hewn out of rock. Christ was actually laid a few feet above ground level, not under the ground at all.

Mat 28:6  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

If Christ was buried under the ground, why did Mary and the disciples look for His body in the sepulchre? Mary and the disciples knew that Jesus was placed on a solid slab of stone, in full view of anyone who entered the tomb. This is where they had left His body on Wednesday afternoon.

The place where Jesus lay was not under the earth. So this burial was not what Christ was talking about when He said He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. What He was referring to was what would happen to Him after He was resurrected on Thursday morning, a few hours after His death.

Christ died approximately 3pm Wednesday afternoon. Sometime Thursday morning, the first day of Unleavened Bread, Christ was resurrected.

The sepulchre had a large stone placed at the opening, this was sealed some time Thursday, the 15^th Nisan, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, and a watch of the guards placed there.

Mat 27:62  On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate,

Mat 27:63  saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’

Mat 27:64  Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

Mat 27:65  Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.”

Mat 27:66  So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

When Jesus was resurrected He folded His grave clothes and departed to Hell.

Joh 20:6  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there,

Joh 20:7  and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.

It was some time Thursday morning the 15^th, the First Day of Unleavened bread that Christ was resurrected. He then went to Hell or Hades for three days and three nights. The three days are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the three nights are Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night. He rose from the dead Sunday morning, early.

Mat 12:40  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Act 2:27  FOR YOU WILL NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HADES, NOR WILL YOU ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION.

Rev 1:18  I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

Rom 10:6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO  HEAVEN?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)

Rom 10:7 or, “ ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

Christ was resurrected into a physical body.

In the following verse the word within can and does mean after.

Mar 14:58  “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”

Christ descended to Hell.

Eph 4:8  Therefore He says: “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE, AND GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”

Eph 4:9  (Now this, “HE ASCENDED” what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?

Eph 4:10  He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

What did Christ do when He descended to Hell? He spoke to the spirits in prison.

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

1Pe 3:19  by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

1Pe 3:20  who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

Let’s recap on the events so far. Christ died, on Wednesday, He poured out His soul unto death.

Isa 53:12  Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

When He died He asked the Father to take His Spirit.

Luk 23:46  And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.

When He was resurrected He was resurrected to flesh, but His soul and spirit were with Him.

The following verse shows that Christ’s soul was with Him in Hell.

Act 2:27  FOR YOU WILL NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HADES, NOR WILL YOU ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION.

The following verse shows that Christ’s spirit was with Him in Hell. Notice it was by the spirit He went and preached to the spirits in prison.

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

1Pe 3:19  by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

1Pe 3:20  who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

A further example of the ones Christ preached to in Hell.

Jud 1:6  And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The Father then raised up Christ on Sunday morning.

Mat 16:21  From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

Act 2:24  whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

Act 2:32  This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Act 10:40  Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly,

The following scripture shows clearly that Christ was raised on Sunday morning.

The stone was rolled away.

Mat 28:1  Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

Mat 28:2  And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

Then Christ appeared to Mary first. This scripture states clearly that Christ rose on Sunday morning.

Mar 16:9  Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

The following event also happened very early on Sunday morning because Christ had not ascended to the Father.

Joh 20:17  Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

A very short time afterwards people were able to touch Him and so He had returned from the Father.

Mat 28:9  And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

Christ appeared in many different forms to the brethren during the 40 days He was with them. Mary thought He was the gardener, He walked to a town with two of them in another form and they did not know Him.

He also told them that He was flesh.

Luk 24:39  Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Luk 24:40  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

It is very clear in this article that the time of Christ’s resurrection occurred early Thursday morning on the first day of Unleavened Bread.

Then Christ spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth preaching to the spirits in prison.

Then early Sunday morning He was raised from the dead [the dead here refers to Hell] the meaning of the dead used here, is a place not a state, it has been clearly shown that Christ was not dead at this time, His body was destroyed but His spirit and soul were not destroyed.

This is very important new knowledge for the church. We have shown very clearly that the resurrection of Christ and the time that He was raised from the dead are two different times.

He was resurrected on Thursday morning.

He was raised on Sunday morning.