Answer: What people have been taught to believe may not be in the Bible. Billions of professing Christians believe that Jesus Christ was crucified and entombed on a Friday afternoon—”Good Friday”—then was raised to life again at sunrise on Easter Sunday morning, a day-and-a-half later, but what did Jesus Himself say about how long He would be in the grave?
In Matthew 12:40 (NIV) we read, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The Pharisees were looking for a sign from Jesus and the only sign Jesus gave them, that He was the promised Messiah, was the sign of the prophet Jonah.
The Bible says that Christ was the Passover sacrifice (1 Corinthians 5:7). He celebrated Passover with His apostles, washed their feet and shared with them the symbols of His body and blood as a memorial of His death.
Many people attend some form of worship service on Easter Sunday because they assume they are commemorating Christ’s resurrection on that day. But as we search the scriptures, we find that a Good Friday crucifixion followed by a Sunday resurrection does not “add up”—it cannot be the three days and three nights promised by the sign of Jonah. Christ had to be in the tomb for three days and three nights, just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish.
So, does your Bible describe any kind of sunrise service? Yes, it does! Ezekiel 8:16-18 (NLT) "Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD’s Temple. At the entrance to the sanctuary, between the entry room and the bronze altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary of the LORD." They were facing east, bowing low to the ground, and worshiping the sun! "'Have you seen this, son of man?' he asked. 'Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these detestable sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and provoking my anger? Therefore, I will respond in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they cry for mercy, I will not listen.'”
Nowhere in your Bible is a sunrise service an approved way to worship or honor God the Father or Jesus Christ. Rather, God calls it something “detestable.” Surely you do not want to do something God calls “detestable,” do you?
Tomorrow's World Digital Magazine Subscription
Want to receive our free, digital Christian magazine? Subscribe now!
Want to learn more?
Order our comprehensive Bible guide to learn what else you haven’t been told.
