Page 24 - BV2

The word "batheos" is rendered "profound (as going down, lit. or fig.) -- deep, very early"
by Strong's #901.

Moving now to Mark 16:2, we read: "Very early in the morning, on the first day of the
week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen."

According to the Greek, this verse reads: "And very early, the first day of the week (sabba-
ton), they came to the tomb as was coming the light (anateilantos) of the sun."

Now anateilantos, in Strong's (#393) means "to arise, while in Liddell-Scott it is ren-
dered "to make to rise or grow up...to give birth to, bring to light...(of the sun and moon)" (p.63).

The parallel verse in the book of John (20:1) is as follows: "On the first day of the week
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been
taken away from the tomb."

Going to the original Greek, we find: "But on the first of the week (sabbaton), Mariam the
Magdalene came early, it still being dim (skotias), to the tomb."

The word skotias, explains Strong's (#4653), means "dimness, obscurity," whereas
Liddell-Scott (p.735) translates it as "darkness, gloom." This word is a reference to the dimness
just before the dawn.

As a result of all this, we can readily see that even a brief analysis of these passages re-
veals that the time of the women's visit to the tomb of Christ took place JUST BEFORE SUNRISE
on the first day of the week -- and NOT at the end of the Sabbath when the first day of the week
was just beginning at evening, as proponents of the Saturday resurrection maintain. The majority
and correct rendition of the verses themselves DO NOT contend that the visit took place right after
the Sabbath at evening. A day being somewhere around the evening is not the timing being spoken
of here. These verses do, however, clearly show that the visit of the women took place in the
EARLY MORNING of the first day of the week. Thus, the argument that these passages prove that
Christ's body was already risen and gone by the very end of the Sabbath is simply not demonstra-
ble at all and is TOTALLY IN ERROR.

The Preparation Day

According to the Wednesday crucifixion-Saturday resurrection people, the first reason for
interpreting "the day of Preparation" as meaning Wednesday rather than the sixth day of the week
(Friday in our pagan calendar) is that "the day before the weekly Sabbath was never called a
'preparation' in the Bible." This reasoning is strange to say the least, because it completely flies in
the face of the undeniable Biblical and historical usage of the term "Preparation (paraskeue)" as a
technical term for the sixth day. Aside from its occurrence in John 19:14, the term "Preparation
(paraskeue)" is used five times in the gospel accounts as a technical term for the sixth day (Matt.
27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54 and John 19:31, 42).

24