Discourse 87 – The Turin Shroud.

The Turin Shroud at Immanuel.at: the image of an idol? / Reply Herbert Röder 00, 2007-03-10

The Turin Shroud / Wikipedia Encyclopedia

The collapse-hypothesis / Results of the research group of Prof. John Jackson, Colorado Springs

The linen wrappings and the face-cloth / Reply Wolfgang Niemetz 00, 2007-04-02

The three days and three nights / Replik Giuseppe De Candia 00, 2007-04-08

When did the women buy the spices and perfumes?

The Passover

A new view of "Holy Week"

The sign of Jonah – How long was Jesus in the tomb? by Dr. Werner Papke, Pp. 38ff / Book by Dr. Werner Papke

Table – The true "Holy Week" - tabular Overview of the Week of Jesus’ Crucifixion

The Lamb of God

Did the Lord’s Supper and the crucifixion occur on the same day? / Reply Walter Neumeier 00, 2007-09-11)

The reconstruction of the face in the Turin Shroud / Morphing method, Dennis Hooper, journal "Profil" of 1995-01-23

The image of the body on the Shroud is not explicable / Study by the National Agency for Energy and Sustainable Economic

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

The image of an idol

The website of the Catholic church, then, referred to by H. Röder here in his e-mail of this text is indeed a typical example of the Catholic practice of reverencing relics and worshiping idols.

They worship demons, and the idols of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

Rev 9,20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. Rev 9,20

And it is also completely correct that the Catholic church, with intent to deceive its adherents, has kept quiet about the second of the ten commandments up to the present day. But because that would have resulted in only nine commandments, the tenth commandment has been divided into two. That way it comes out to ten again.

(See also Discourse 32: "Commentary on the manifesto Dominus Jesus of the Catholic Congregation of Faith.")

Now the Catholic church has every reason to hush up the second commandment, seeing that in the Catholic Mary they worship an idol and by calling on Catholic "saints" practice a cult of the dead, which to God is an abomination.

Do not turn to mediums or spiritists.

Lev 19,31 ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. Lev 19,31;

Should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Isa 8,19 When they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? Isa 8,19;

The second of the ten commandments forbids all believers from making any images of idols or images of existing things in order to bow down before them and worship them.

You shall not make for yourself an idol. You shall not worship them or serve them.

Ex 20,3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 20,4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the eart, 20,5 "you shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 20,6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Ex 20, 3- 6;

When we look carefully at the text, we can see that this commandment is not about forbidding the faithful to make any images at all. Surely Mr. Röder too must have a few pictures in his possession – even if they are only photos of members of his family. Nor is it written here that "we should not make for ourselves an image of God", as Mr. Röder writes above – on the contrary, the text reads: "You shall have no other gods before Me." So the point here is quite simply that people are not to make for themselves any images of idols or worship them or bow down before them, like the endless genuflections of the Catholics in their church before all possible kinds of figures and images. And this background is also shown, with quite exceptional clarity, when we look at the translation of this commandment from the Hebrew by Martin Buber, which is as faithful as possible to the original:
And the Turin Shroud is a linen cloth in which a man who had been crucified was wrapped. We find an objective assessment of this in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, for all its undeniably worldly orientation:

Do not make for yourself any graven image, do not bow down to them and do not serve them.

Names (Exodus) 20,3-6 Let no other godhead be against my countenance. And do not make for yourself any graven image – and all forms that are in the heavens above or on earth or in the waters that are below the earth, do not bow down to them and do not serve them, for I your God am a jealous Godlord, attaching the faults of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those that hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep my commandments. Names 20, 3- 6;

So although this interpretation cannot be doubted, either in logic or in reality (after all, there have always been pictures!), in brethren who have one-sided background information an incorrect basic understanding may be found. This is also supported by some translations – e.g. the Elberfeld and King James bibles – which end the sentence at the end of verse 4, and start a new sentence in verse 5. As a result the fact that these two statements belong together gets lost, and each sentence – especially Ex 20,4 – is incorrectly regarded in isolation as a commandment in its own right.

King James:

Ex 20,4 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. – 20,5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them;

Some German and English translations (e.g. Luther, Darby) resort to a colon at the end of verse 4, so as to emphasize the way these texts belong together. But the right way of reading the passage is as follows:

Ex 20,4-5 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth and you shall not worship them or serve them. Ex 20, 4- 5;

So we should not make for ourselves an image to bow down before it and worship it. An image which is not worshiped, where there is no invitation to worship it, is thus not an idol and so does not contravene the second commandment either. But this point of view is also confirmed by quite concrete examples in the Bible. All those brethren who think that the second commandment forbids the making of images and sculptures as such would be recommended to read Exodus 25. There the Israelites are given the task, for example, of making a cover for the Ark of the Covenant. And there we read:

You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.

Ex 25,17 "You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. 25,18 "You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. 25,19 "Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. 25,20 "The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat. Ex 25,17-20;

Here the Israelites had to make two cherubim – two angels, that is, and thus heavenly figures. And the order to do so came from God the Almighty. So it is not conceivable that in Ex 20,4-5 God would proclaim a commandment whereby images and sculptures (carven images) were absolutely forbidden, and then in Ex 25,17-20 command the Israelites to make two angels of hammered gold. As so often with Christian faith, what is definitive is not what we have before our eyes but what we have in our heads. And here, of course, there is wide scope for differences.

But one thing is quite clear: in the second commandment of God it is not the "likeness/picture" that constitutes the criterion, but the "worship". Only when people serve this image and bow down before it are they idol-worshipers and an abomination to God. And we then likewise find a situation like this with the people of Israel in Ex 32,1. Moses had been with God on Sinai, to receive the two tables of the law, and his return was delayed.

Come, make us a god who will go before us.

Ex 32,1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Ex 32, 1;

Although God had given the Israelites more than enough proofs of his grace and friendliness, they had very quickly thrown their loyalty to God over board and made themselves an idol. Interestingly, there is here a certain similarity that can be made out with the behavior of the Catholic church in our own day. There too people said "Come, make us an idol", when the dogma of the "infallible" Pope in the year 1931 decreed the Catholic Mary to be the "Mother of God" and "Queen of Heaven" and soon thereafter, in the year 1950, also made the "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" into a dogma. In this way in the Catholic church this Mary, as the "Mother of God", has been practically raised to a hierarchic level above the Son, our Lord, who is now only referred to as the "child Jesus". As long ago as 1854, after all, they invented the "Immaculate Conception of Mary" – which does not, as might be supposed, relate to the virgin birth of our Lord, but rather to the fact that Anna, the mother of Mary, according to Catholic doctrine is supposed to have conceived her in just the same immaculate and virginal way, and through the Holy Spirit, as Mary did the Lord. Consequently the only blemish remaining was the lack of a demonstration of the physical assumption of Mary into heaven, which then was finally done away with as well with the dogma of 1950, so that in the Catholic church the idol Mary is practically put on the same level as the Son of God.

(See also Discourse 78: "The doctrine of the Catholic church and the Bible a debate")

So we see that the Catholic church does not shrink from any lie or deceit in order to help its idol – and so of course itself as well – to power and glory. And so it would also be quite conceivable that someone there might one day hit upon the idea of reverencing and worshiping the Lord Jesus as the "Lamb of God" – as he is after all described in Scripture. Would Mr. Röder then also ask me to remove the picture at the top of my home page of my sheep and lambs in the meadow, on the grounds that otherwise some Catholics might "be encouraged to reverence it"?

Or if we consider the position of the Koran in Islam – there the sacred book of the Moslems is described as having been "sent down from heaven", and it is reverenced and kissed. Now seeing that Pope John Paul II has already kissed the Koran (on 5.14.1999), it would be quite conceivable that the Catholic church should also call for the Bible to be reverenced and kissed. Would Mr. Röder then insist on my deleting the picture of a Bible from the welcoming page of Immanuel.at? And what would then be the situation with the reading of the Bible? In the opinion of the above commentators, would we even still be allowed to read it? Or would they then see the Bible too as being a "false word of God" and an "antichristian book", just because the Catholic church has declared it to be a relic?

As we can see, views like these result in completely incorrect interpretations. The inquisitors of the Catholic church may have had a similar attitude of mind when, under the pretended necessity of protecting the church against heretics, they persecuted and tortured rightly believing Christians and burned them at the stake if they refused to abjure their faith. By contrast with Catholic doctrine, which appeals to its oral and written tradition and puts the Bible in second place, the doctrine of Christians faithful to the Bible is founded exclusively on the Bible itself, and here in particular on the statements of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here there are no unbiblical saints, relics, transformations of bread or reverencing of idols, but we pray in spirit and truth to God the Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Jn 4,21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 4,22 "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 4,23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 4,24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Jn 4,21-24;

Nor do we pray in public in front of people and in the churches, as the hypocrites do. They already have their reward in the respect that people accord them as a result. But we, in order to pray, go into our inner room, close the door and pray to our Father in heaven who is in secret. Nor do we babble and mumble our way through ten "Ave Marias" or prayers to some kind of saints – instead we speak to our God and our Lord Jesus Christ without artifice, but in humility and uprightness, offer thanks in quite concrete terms for what we have already received, and ask for what we think we still are in need of.

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret.

Mt 6,5 "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6,6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 6,7"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Mt 6, 5- 7;

If we were to go to a church in order to pray, we would run the risk of dishonoring the true temple of God that we ourselves are. We will not find God in churches and public services, but in our spirit and in the quiet and seclusion of our inner rooms. Anyone who worships images and figures in the churches is worshiping idols. And what connection do we have, as the temple of God, with images of idols?

We are the temple of the living God, And He will be a father to us, And we shall be sons and daughters to Him.

2Cor 6,16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 6,17 "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate," says the Lord. "And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. 6,18 "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. 2Cor 6,16-18;

Gottfried Daniel Pomacher, an Awakening preacher from Wuppertal, took the same view when he said:

"Christianity does not consist in words, but in the power of the Holy Spirit in the faithful. The pillars of the temple are not those who with their public prayers of "Lord, Lord" earn the admiration of those who hear them, but rather those who address their prayers to God at home, in the quiet of their inner room and without anyone listening - these are the real carriers of the congregation."

And now the second of the ten commandments says that we should not make for ourselves any images of idols. But just in the same way as a person is only saved when he comes to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ – and not before - so a picture (or a man or an animal – Rom 1,22-23) only becomes an idol when it is worshiped and reverenced. So this commandment is not telling us that we should not make any images at all of things in heaven, on earth or under water, but that we should not make any images for worship, because that would be service paid to idols. If this happens in other religions and churches, that lies in the responsibility of those people who believe in such practices, and not in ours.

As Christians faithful to the Bible, we do not worship either images or figures, nor do we pray in public, but only in the intimate prayer of our inner room. And like any other picture, the picture of the Turin Shroud on the welcoming page of Immanuel.at cannot violate the second commandment, provided that there is no invitation there to reverence and worship this picture. Moreover we find there, quite on the contrary, as a commentary on the picture the following explicit indication:

For us believing Christians, whether the Turin shroud is genuine and how Jesus actually looked are matters completely irrelevant. We love him because he is our Lord, God and Savior. Because he died for us on the cross, to atone for our sins to the Father. – And because he rose from the dead and thereby showed us the way that we too will go.

Just from these four sentences even a Catholic would be able to recognize the true gospel. When he then returns to his church and there continues to worship the dead "saints" and the idol Mary, what happens to him will be according to the promise of the Lord in Jn 3,36:

He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Jn 3,35 "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 3,36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Jn 3,35-36;

As for the "picture of our supposed Lord and Savior" on the Turin Shroud to which Herbert Röder objects, we have the statement of John in Scripture, amongst others, that he and Peter found the grave in which the Lord had lain empty, and only saw the linen wrappings there in which Joseph of Arimathea had wrapped him three days before (Mt 27,57-61).

And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there.

Jn 20,3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. 20,4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; 20,5 and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 20,6 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, 20,7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. 20,8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. Jn 20, 3- 8;

And the Turin Shroud is a linen cloth in which a man who had been crucified was wrapped. We find an objective assessment of this in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, for all its undeniably worldly orientation:

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

In the judgment of the experts, then, who have been investigating the Turin Shroud scientifically for decades, it has not been possible to date to disprove the authenticity of the shroud. One might well wish that a similarly objective scientific verdict could be delivered in connection with the doctrine of creation.

The claim at the start of these investigations that the shroud, though magnificently executed, was a painting has now been disproved beyond all possible doubt on the basis of the most modern photographic techniques. The frequently quoted dating of the shroud to the Middle Ages, based on ¹⁴C dating (radio carbon method/short time meter), has also turned out to be unsustainable in view of the effects of fire on the shroud.

What lends the Turin Shroud a considerable amount of credibility, moreover, is the fact, first of all, that whereas the pictures of Christ in past centuries showed the wounds of the nails in the palms, the Turin Shroud shows these wounds at the wrist.

And this is exactly the position that is confirmed by modern archeological research in which crucified persons from this period have been exhumed. And then, too, the numismatic experts Prof. Filas (Chicago) and Prof. Whanger (Durham) have identified the two coin imprints on the eyes as procurator’s coins.

They originate from a copper coin that Pilate had minted between 28 and 30 AD, and which was no longer in circulation after the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. This coin is known in several minted versions, and bears the inscription "TIBERIOU KAISEROS" (Emperor Tiberius). Only in the year 29 did the master of the mint make a slip.

He wrote KAISEROS with C instead of a K. And it is just these rare coins that have left their imprint on the shroud – imprints that it has been possible to identify beyond doubt.

Procurator␁s coin. On the right, the reconstructed inscription UCAI and the shepherd’s crook
(aus https://www.huinfo.at/grabtuch/default.html)

If we leave aside the way in which the likeness has been created, which science is unable to explain, all these details – the imprints on the eyes of coins from the time of Pontius Pilate, the traces of scourging, the wounds of the nails and wound in the chest – could in principle be those of any crucified person from about the year 30 of our era.

But what we would hardly expect to find with an ordinary criminal crucified by Pilate is a hood of thorns. Here what is at issue is not so much the fact that in the Orient pictures of Christ generally showed a hood of thorns rather than a garland of thorns as in western lands, while the Turin Shroud likewise shows a hood of thorns – it is more a matter of the biblical circumstance that this "crown" was set on the head of Jesus Christ by Roman soldiers in mockery, because he said he was the King of the Jews.

"Are You the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."

Mt 27,11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him, "It is as you say." Mt 27,11;

Jesus was handed over to Pontius Pilate by the high priests and elders on the grounds that he claimed to be the King of the Jews. And Pilate, having interrogated him and found no fault in him, wanted to release him. But the Jews yelled, and even threatened Pilate on the grounds that he was no friend of Caesar if he released Jesus.

But the Jews cried out saying, "Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar."

Jn 19,12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar." Jn 19,12;

The Lord’s statement that he was the King of the Jews, and the hatred felt by the Jews for this Jesus of Nazareth, were thus the official reason why Pilate condemned him to death on the cross. Then when Jesus was handed over to the soldiers, they scourged him and mocked him by dressing him in a scarlet robe, twisting a hood of thorns and setting it on his head, and then kneeling to him and crying, Hail, King of the Jews.

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

Mt 27,27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 27,28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 27,29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 27,30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 27,31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. Mt 27,27-31;

And just this, now, is the critical point. Seeing that, on the basis of the scientific findings referred to above, it has been impossible to show that the Turin Shroud was artificially produced, and because of a general reluctance to identify the person wrapped in the shroud with Jesus of Nazareth, the indications leave only one alternative – the supposition that we here have to do with another victim of crucifixion from the time of the Pontius Pilate’s procuratorship. But it is practically impossible to believe that just any criminal of the period would have been mocked as "King of the Jews" and would have had a crown of thorns set on his head, as the Turin Shroud shows was done. Looking at it in this way, this very mocking of the Son of God by the Roman soldiers would turn out to be a historic demonstration, millennia later, of his existence, death and resurrection.

For a long time it was an insoluble problem that the likeness had been produced without distortion in the manner of a photographic projection onto a plane surface, and so could not be a contact imprint. In spite of this it shows the front and back of the person depicted in full and identical size. In any kind of contact imprint the outline of the image would have to be distorted, just because of the topology of the human body – e.g. the side imprints of the face, on the cloth that was then laid flat, would have yielded a widened image. This has been investigated by a research group under John Jackson, Professor of Theoretical Physics in Colorado Springs. The group included members from prestigious institutions like NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, IBM, the Santa Barbara Research Center, the N.U.T.E.K., the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Nuclear Technology Corp., Lockheed Missiles and Space Corp., Los Alamos National Laboratory and others. The development of computer-based graphics analysis technology gave Jackson the idea of applying these new techniques to the Turin Shroud.

He got Donald Devan of the Information Science Institute in Santa Barbara and Dr. Eric Jumper, an air force officer and physicist, interested in the shroud. Jackson, Jumper and other scientists now spent every available minute studying photos of the shroud that had been taken in 1931 and 1973. They investigated the pictures with the VP8 image analysis tool – a sophisticated piece of equipment that can transform the intensity of the image into a vertical relief. To their surprise they found that the picture on the shroud contains exact three-dimensional data, which is not the case with traditional photographs and paintings. With the help of the computer data, they were able to construct a three-dimensional model of the image.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

The principal reason why worldly scientists who are halfway objective are unable to classify the image of the Turin Shroud as a forgery is the impossibility of explaining, in scientific and empirical terms, the way in which it was created or the background to the process of its creation. This is a problem complex which we, as Christians familiar with the Bible, might be able to clarify. In 1Cor 15,51-53 Paul writes to the Corinthians about the raising of the dead on the Second Coming of the Lord, and proceeds to tell them of a mystery:

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

1Cor 15,51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 15,52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 15,53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1Cor 15,51-53;

As Paul writes, on the Second Coming of the Lord the dead in Christ will be raised in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and will be transformed and become imperishable. He refers again to this transformation in his second letter to the Corinthians, where he admits:

We groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven.

2Cor 5,1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 5,2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 5,3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 5,4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 2Cor 5, 1- 4;

And here Paul writes that he longs to be clothed, while still alive, with the "dwelling from heaven" – the spiritual body – rather than first dying (being unclothed) and only later at the Second Coming of the Lord being raised and clothed in the same way with the body of his glory.

(See also Excursus 07: "The resurrection body.")

Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.

Phil 3,20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 3,21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Phil 3,30-21;

As John tells us in the passage quoted above (Jn 20,3-8), at the time when he and Peter found the linen cloths in the empty grave, Mary Magdalen was also with them. Only after the two of them had gone did she dare to look into the tomb.

Jesus says to her, Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

Jn 20,11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 20,12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 20,13 And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."

20,14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 20,15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." 20,16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher).

20,17 Jesus says to her, "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’" 20,18 Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her. Jn 20,11-18;;

Mary Magdalen here saw the Lord, three days after his death, directly after his having been raised from the dead. And he had that "body of his glory" – the spiritual body – of which Paul writes in Phil 3,21 quoted above. This is also indicated by the express commandment of the Lord to Mary Magdalen that she should not touch him because he had not yet ascended to his Father in heaven. Only following his having been raised from the dead, and then having ascended to his Father in heaven, and subsequently returning, in his resurrection and in the resurrection body to earth in physical form to meet his disciples, would he have no worries about being touched by the disciples. On the contrary, he then showed them that his body was of flesh and bones – he even ate fish and drank something to lay to rest the disciples’ fear that he might be a spirit.

Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

Lk 24,36 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be to you." 24,37 But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 24,38 And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

24,39 "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 24,40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

24,41 While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 24,42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 24,43 and He took it and ate it before them. Lk 24,36-43;

Reach here your hand and put it into My side.

Jn 20,26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." 20,27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Jn 20,26-27;

(See also Chapter 12: "The Resurrection")

So the dead body of the Lord lay for three days in the tomb, while his spirit was in the realm of the dead and there preached the gospel to the the spirits of the dead – that is, to all people who have lived and died since the beginning of the world.

The Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Mt 12,38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, ’Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’ 1239 But He answered and said to them, ’An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 12,40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Mt 12,38-40;

He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth.

Eph 4,8 Therefore it says, ’when He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’ 4,9 Now this expression, ’He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 4,10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things. Eph 4, 8-10;

The gospel has been preached even to those who are dead.

1Ptr 4,6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. 1Pet 4, 6;

(See also Excursus 09: "The Paradise.")

Here we not only have the decided statement that the Lord descended, after his death, into the realm of the dead – we also have an explanation of what he was up to during this time spent in the realm of the dead: as in his lifetime he preached to the living, here now, as one of the dead, he preached the gospel to the dead in the realm of the dead, those who had died before his earthly existence, and offered them salvation through grace. On the third day he then returned from the realm of the dead, and the spirit of life from God came into his body and he was raised.

God raised Him up on the third day and we ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.

Acts 10,38 "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 10,39 "We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 10,40 "God raised Him up [egeiren] on the third day and granted that He become visible, 10,41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose [anastenai] from the dead. Acts 10,38-40;

(See also Chapter 12: "Raising from the dead and Resurrection.")

We also have an excellent example of this process of raising in Revelation. The two witnesses of God, to whom full authority is given by God to prophesy for 1260 days, and during this time to close the heavens and to strike the earth with every kind of affliction whenever they please, are killed when their period comes to an end by the beast from the sea, the demonic Antichrist. And their bodies will now lie in the streets of Jerusalem, and people will rejoice that they are finally rid of these prophets who tormented them, and will celebrate, and prevent their bodies being buried. But after three and a half days, here is what happens:

But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them.

Rev 11,11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. 11,12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. Rev 11,11-12;

So after three and a half days the two witnesses of God are raised from the dead (clothed) and translated to heaven. But this, now, is exactly the process of which we have a report from the apostles in the passage quoted earlier in relation to the raising of the Lord. And this same process of raising, whereby the spirit of life from God transformed (clothed) the body of the Lord, could be the origin of the otherwise completely inexplicable imprint of the body on the Turin Shroud.

Science, unfortunately, will reject this argument as unscientific, and will prefer to remain in uncertainty. Although we can do no more than just accept these facts because worldly men have no faith and certainly have not the least idea of the Bible, for believing Christians it is a different matter. One who, as a Christian, refuses to take these possibilities into account, classifying them a priori as "antichristian" and "blasphemous", as the contribution cited at the start of this text from the website of Bibelkreis.ch does, only succeeds in demonstrating his superficiality and ignorance of Scripture, so we must simply assume that the rest of what he believes is not founded on the Bible either.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

Many thanks for this comment, which is altogether justified and testifies to an exceptionally attentive reading of the text. The fact that in the above Discourse these scriptural passages were not mentioned is probably attributable to the circumstance that, so far as I know, there has been no biblical commentator in the past who has gone into these details in connection with this particular theme, and so clearly they escaped my notice as well. At the same time it must be remarked that it is only John who mentions these linen wrappings, whereas the other evangelists only speak of a single linen cloth, as is shown by the following passages.

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth.

Mt 27,57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 57,58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 27,59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 27,60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. 27,61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave. Mt 27,57-61;

Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth.

Mk 15,42 When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 15,43 Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. 15,44 Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. 15,45 And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 15,46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 15,47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid. Mk 15,42-47;

And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth.

Lk 23,50 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man 23,51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; 23,52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 23,53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. 23,54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 23.55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Lk 23,50-55;

Now the reports we find in the synoptic gospels, unlike the Gospel of John, are not direct eyewitness reports, but rely on statements made by contemporary witnesses at second or third hand. So a particular value attaches to the Gospel of John in this case, and we must examine his statements in connection with this theme very carefully. So let us try to see what is going on here, and take another look at the relevant passage in Scirpture:

Simon Peter saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head in a place by itself.

Jn 20,1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 20,2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." 20,3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. 20,4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; 20,5 and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 20,6 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, 20,7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. 20,8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. 20,9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 20,10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes. Jn 20, 1-10;

The linen wrappings

If John writes here of linen wrappings, in the plural, it seems to me that there may be two reasons for this. When people were buried in Israel at that time, it was by no means customary to wrap the dead person in just one big gravecloth. Cloths of this size – and the Turin shroud measures 4.36 meters in length and 1.10 meters in width – were after all rather expensive, and an average family probably would have been unable to afford it or unwilling to pay the expense. We find proof of this in Scripture, when Lazarus is raised by the Lord:

The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings.

Jn 11,41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 11,42 "I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." 11,43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 11,44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Jn 11,41-44;

So Lazarus’ feet and hands were wrapped in a number of gravecloths. This was the standard, and at the time the generally familiar way of proceeding in the case of burials under the Mosaic law. And now when John, in the above passage, bends down to look into the tomb without entering immediately, he sees "linen wrappings" lying there. Having seen the empty tomb, both Peter and John then left again immediately, without inspecting these linen wrappings at close quarters. The reason for their hesitation about entering the tomb is to be sought in the severe regulations of the Law of Moses, according to which touching the objects of a dead person – and even entering the tomb where a dead person is lying – makes the believer ritually impure so that he must do subsequent atonement. It is therefore altogether plausible to suppose that John, on a cursory inspection, presumed that there were, as was customary, a number of cloths lying in a heap, although in fact there was only one cloth there.

And then there is the second possibility – that in actual fact there were several gravecloths. The dead body could have been wrapped in the long shroud lengthwise, and then had several smaller cloths wrapped around it from side to side. This is admittedly improbable, as we will see in a moment, but in this case as well the effect of the imprint on the shroud at the time of the raising from the dead would have been the same as it would have been if the body had only been enveloped in the one big linen cloth.

Now if we compare the burial of Christ with the burial ritual then prescribed and practiced in the Jewish religion – and to some extent still practiced today - we can see that in the case of the death of the Lord it was no means a matter of a ritual burial in accordance with the Law. The Mosaic ritual prescribes, for example, that the dead person must be washed, and the mortal is then wrapped in linen cloths. If the Turin Shroud is genuine, both of these prescriptions were ignored. The many bloodstains on the shroud make it evident that the body was not washed; and then, too, its being enveloped in a single linen cloth rather than being properly wrapped prompts the question why Joseph of Arimathea should have left so much undone. So if we are to come to a better understanding of the situation, we need to acquaint ourselves more closely with the person of this Joseph of Arimathea and with the background circumstances prevailing at the time.

Joseph came from Arimathea, today called Rentis, situated to the north-east of Lydda, a small town not far from Tel Aviv. He was a respected council member (Mk 15,43; Lk 23,50) which also made him a member of the Council of elders of the people. He was a rich man (Mt 27,57), one who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God (Mk 15,43), and he had not consented to the verdict of the Council that Jesus of Nazareth should be handed over to the Romans to be crucified (Lk 23,51), because although he was a member of the Council of elders he was at the same time himself a disciple of Jesus (Mt 27,57).

The crucifixion day was a preparation day. That is the day before a Jewish feast day, thus either before the weekly Sabbath, i.e. Friday, or as in this case (Jn 19,31) before the annual "Great Sabbath," (Sabbath haGadol), which is not bound to a certain day of the week but to a date (the 14th day of Nisan). A further peculiarity of Jewish chronology was that the 24 hour day did not start at midnight, as is usual today – instead, the day started when the sun went down. The counting of the hours therefore started at 6.00 pm with the night (the ‘eve');, which then lasted twelve hours up to six in the morning. Then at six in the morning the day started, and lasted for twelve hours, until six in the evening. And it is in this light that we must understand statements about time in the biblical reports of the crucifixion.

Jesus’ death on the cross.

Mk 15,24 And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 15,25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 15,26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS." 15,27 They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. 15,28 [Ad the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with transgressors."] 15,29 Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 15,30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!" 15,31 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. 15,32 "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. 15,33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 15,34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "EOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" 15,35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah." 15,36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down." 15,37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. Mk 15,24-37;

At the third hour of this day – that is, at nine o’clock – they crucified him and at the sixth hour – at twelve o’clock midday – there was a darkness over the whole land, and at the ninth hour – that is, at 3:00 p.m. - our Lord died on the cross. Joseph of Arimathea owned a rock-hewn tomb in Jerusalem, which he had purchased for his own burial. And he had resolved to take the Lord down from the cross and to lay him in this unused grave.

But now Joseph of Arimathea was faced with a race against time. For him to be allowed to take the Lord down from the cross, he had to get authorization from Pilate. The latter first summoned the centurion in command of the soldiers at Golgotha, the place of the skull (Mt 27,54; Mk 15,44-45), to ask him whether the Nazarene was really dead. When this was confirmed, Pilate granted the body to Joseph. Joseph then bought the linen cloth and the face-cloth in the town (Mk 15,46), and he still had to get servants together to take the dead man down from the cross and carry the body to the tomb in the rock.

The time pressure that Joseph was under was to be put down to the circumstance that at 6.00 pm the Great Sabbath would begin, after which Jews were not allowed to perform any kind of work, and certainly would not have been allowed to carry out a burial. So he had something like three hours of time available, the greater part of which must have been used in his going into town to visit Pilate and get permission to take down the body from the cross, his procuring the linen cloths, assembling servants and getting back to Golgotha, plus the deposition itself and the transport of the body to the tomb – for the burial itself, there cannot have been a lot of time left over. And in view of the fact that under the Law of Moses contact with a dead person entailed seven days of ritual impurity (Num 19:11,14) – which would include the entire period of the Passover festival - Joseph of Arimathea of all people, as a member of the Council, could not touch the body himself, and so had to postpone the actual ritual burial, by Jewish men and women, to the day after the Sabbath.

The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days.

Num 19,11 ‘The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days. 19,12 ‘That one shall purify himself from uncleanness with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. 19,13 ‘Anyone who touches a corpse, the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him. 18,14 ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean for seven days. 19,15 ‘Every open vessel, which has no covering tied down on it, shall be unclean. 19,16 ‘Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a sword or who has died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days. Num 19,11-16;

The reports in the Gospels (e.g. Mt 27,59-60) that state that Joseph of Arimathea himself wrapped the Lord in the linen cloths, himself laid him in the tomb and himself rolled the heavy stone to block the entrance are therefore to be seen as narrative abbreviations, a common enough phenomenon in Scripture. The same applies to the statement in Mt 27,60 that Joseph had himself hewn the tomb in the rock, or the statement in Jn 19,41 to the effect that this tomb was situated in a garden adjoining the place of crucifixion. A rich and highly regarded member of the Council of elders like Joseph of Arimathea would not hew his tomb out of the rock in person; and if he had acquired it, he would never have purchased a tomb in close proximity to the spot used by the occupying Roman power for the execution of criminals. So the transport of the body to the tomb in the rock, which after all must have been a bit further away, must also have taken up much of what was left of those three hours.

And all this now seems to account for the fact that Joseph of Arimathea, being pressed for time, postponed the ritual operations of washing, embalming and wrapping in the gravecloth, laying Jesus in the grave as quickly as he could with the intention of doing what was required on the day after next. And that, too, is why we find all these bloodstains on the shroud, because the body was not washed, and there is not a trace of embalming – only loose aloes and myrrh, probably to cover the smell of the body that was to be expected when the burial was carried out on the day after the Sabbath. And finally the body was just enveloped in a large linen cloth, instead of being properly wrapped.

The only people who followed Joseph of Arimathea from the cross to the tomb, and so were eyewitnesses of his being laid in the tomb, were those women (Mt 27,61; Mk 15,47; Lk 23,55) who had also been present at the cross during the crucifixion (Lk 23,49; Jn 19,25-26). We find no indication in the synoptics that the disciples were present at the cross or at the Lord’s being laid in the tomb. To the contrary, as we read in Mt 26,35, all the disciples of the Lord abandoned him when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and fled.

Only John reports that he stood with the mother of Jesus and the other women by the cross, but he says nothing about his having also been there at the entombment. So we have to presume that he was not familiar either with the look of the linen cloth with which Joseph had the body of Jesus covered, and this is why he speaks, unspecifically, of the "linen wrappings" which he saw lying in the empty tomb after Jesus’ raising from the dead. By contrast with this, the information of the synoptics clearly has its origin in the statements of the women who were present at the Lord’s laying in the tomb, and so saw that the body of the Lord was enclosed in a single large linen shroud.

(See also Discourse 40: ""Are there errors in the Bible?")

And finally, there are other statements connected with this theme in the Gospel of John that disagree with the texts of the synoptic gospels. For example, John speaks of Joseph of Arimathea having wrapped the body together with Nicodemus. The synoptic gospels do not mention Nicodemus in this connection at all. John also writes that these two embalmed the body with a mixture of myrrh and aloes of "about a hundred litra". A litra is an ancient Greek unit of weight, roughly equivalent to a pound, so this would make 33 kilos.

They took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

Jn 19,39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. 19,40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Jn 19,39-40;

In the synoptic gospels, on the other hand, we read that it was the women who after returning to their houses prepared spices and perfumes (Lk 23,56), and then went to the tomb at a very early hour, at sunrise, on the first day of the week (Sunday morning), with the intention of embalming the body. But at this time they found the tomb already empty (Mk 16,2-6; Lk 24,1-3).

But even if these women were no longer able to anoint the Lord as they had planned, all the same the ritual anointing with perfumes, such as was customary with Jewish burials, had already been carried out. Two days before his crucifixion (Mt 26,2; Lk 22,1), the Lord was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, reclining at the table. And there came a woman to him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume and poured it out upon his head.

For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.

Mt 26,6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, 25,7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. 26,8 But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, "Why this waste? 26,9 "For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor." 26,10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. 26,11 "For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 26,12 "For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. Mt 26, 6-12;

As John informs us in the parallel passage (Jn 12,1-8), it was Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead by the Lord, who here anointed the Lord, so anticipating, without knowing it, the anointing for his burial on the following day.

The face-cloth

As for the face-cloth which John mentions, we must agree without reservation to the argument advanced by Mr. Niemetz in his above reply. If the head of the Lord had indeed been wrapped in the face-cloth, then when he was raised, with the transformation of the dead physical body into a spiritual body, the imprint would have been left on the face-cloth and not on the shroud.

But here again we must take into account the fact that, as with the "linen wrappings" referred to earlier, John was not present at the entombment (Jn 19,38-42) and so could not have known whether the head of Jesus was wrapped in the face-cloth or not. And just as he may, in his haste, have taken the linen cloth to be a number of cloths, because this was in accordance with custom, so here too he may automatically have assumed, seeing a face-cloth lying there, that it had been wrapped around the head of the Lord.

But in view of our analysis of the situation above, this very point is highly debatable. As we have seen, when Joseph of Arimathea reached the tomb in the rock with the body, he would have just had time to envelop it in the linen cloth and place it in the tomb. The wrapping of the head was a labor which, if it was to be carried out properly (and that would have involved washing the head, of course), would have taken some time, and time was just what Joseph did not have at this point.

From the indications given us in Scripture, we were also able to conclude earlier that Joseph had evidently decided, in view of the shortness of time remaining, to postpone the ritual burial – with washing, embalming and wrapping with the shroud and the face-cloth – till the day after the Sabbath, and for the moment just meant to cover the body in a provisional way and deposit it in the tomb. And he may perhaps have discussed this with the women as well, who had taken part in this provisional entombment and had seen how the body of the Lord had been laid to rest (Lk 23,55). This, then, is why they prepared "spices and perfumes" and went to the tomb at crack of dawn on the first day of the week, after the Sabbath, with the intention of embalming the body (Mk 16,1).

From this we can now infer that the head of the Lord was not wrapped with the face-cloth – instead, the shroud covered the entire dead body both above and below. And so the energy emitted on the transformation of the physical into a spiritual body resulted in the imprint of the face on the shroud, together with the imprint of the body as a whole.

Position of the body in relation to the shroud
(from https://www.huinfo.at/grabtuch/grabtuch.html)

But if the face-cloth was not used, a final question suggests itself after all – how could John have identified the face-cloth, unambiguously and without any doubt, when he looked into the tomb? If we consider the entire passage in this connection, we can recognize what lies behind it:

He saw the face-cloth not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

Jn 20,6 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, 20,7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. Jn 20, 6- 7;

Many biblical commentators may well have wondered here why the Lord, after his raising from the dead, paid no attention to the shroud, while carefully folding up the face-cloth and depositing it in a special place. But in the light of the above analysis the answer is quite simple: it was not the Lord who put the face-cloth to one side after being raised. It was Joseph of Arimathea who had provided the face-cloth and the shroud from the city, where he had purchased them, and seeing that the time was insufficient for a burial in keeping with ritual prescription, had enveloped the body in the shroud as a provisional measure and placed the unused face-cloth to one side so that it would be ready for the proper burial on the day after next.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(The book which G. De Candia mentions in his above reply, is "The Road to Hell" by David Pawson and the original English edition was published by Hodder & Stoughton. I thank Brother De Candia for ceding to me this excellent study.)

(See also Discourse 88: "David Pawson and the Interpretation of the End-Time Events.")

Thank you for the hint! This is actually a question with which exegesis is constantly preoccupied but has been unable to find a clear answer until now. We have the statement of the Lord in Matt 12,40:

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Mt 12,38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 12.39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 12,40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 12,41 "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here." Mt 12,38-41;

This is the entirely clear and unmistakable statement – which, on top of that, was spoken by the Lord himself – that he would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. But as Brother De Candia has correctly remarked in his above reply, the conventional interpretation sees the Lord’s time in the grave as extending only from his death on the cross on the preparation day (the day before the Sabbath, which is widely understood to be Friday) at the ninth hour (thus about 3:00 p.m. our time) until Sunday morning (somewhere around 6-7:00 a.m.), when the women discovered the empty grave.

Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

Mk 16,1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. 16,2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 16,3 They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" 16,4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Mk 16, 1- 4;

That makes only two nights and, if one takes the Jewish division of the day into account, three days in only a nominal sense, i.e. 3 hours on the day of crucifixion, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (when the preparation day ended and the Sabbath began), the whole Sabbath till 6:00 p.m. (when the Sabbath ended and the first day of the week began), and until daybreak when the women came to anoint the body and found the empty grave. Until now, this inaccuracy has been explained by reference to the fact that there are many statements of the Lord in which he prophesied that he would be raised up "on the third day." And even if these days were not three 24-hour days, they were three days according to the Jewish usage.

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must be raised up on the third day.

Mt 16,21 From that time Jesus began to show 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 up on the third day. Mt 16,21;

(See also Mt 20,19; Lk 9,22; 13,32; 18,33; 24,7.46;)

When did the women buy the spices and perfumes?

However, the following exegetical problem arises immediately: whereas Mark writes in Mk 16,1 that the women bought spices and perfumes after the Sabbath, Luke reports that the women prepared the spices and perfumes on their return from Jesus’ burial by Joseph of Arimathea late on the preparation day – thus before the Sabbath – and then rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.

Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Lk 23,54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 23,55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. 23,56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. Lk 23,54-56;

Precisely these differing reports are, however, very important because they offer the first clue to solving the problem: it certainly appears as if Mark and Luke are speaking of two different Sabbaths. Above, we established that these women had attended the burial by Joseph of Arimathea until it was over – thus shortly before 6:00 p.m. on the preparation day and therefore at the beginning of the Sabbath. But if Luke writes in Lk 23,56 that they prepared (in Mark: "had bought") the spices and perfumes when they returned, the Sabbath would have already begun at 6:00 p.m. and they would have been forbidden to do so.

It also appears that Luke speaks of two different Sabbaths: once of the Sabbath after the preparation day on which the Lord was crucified and then of a second Sabbath, which was separated by its own preparation day from the preceding Sabbath. On the preparation day for that Sabbath the women could have prepared/bought the spices. On the second Sabbath they rested according to the commandment and, very early, on the first day of the week they went to the tomb. And we will see later, this is completely plausible. The time that the women (or woman) went to the tomb seems to be the same in all the gospel accounts. Mark writes (Mk 16,2): "very early on the first day of the week" and Luke has: "On the first day of the week, at early dawn".

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb.

Lk 24,1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 24,2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 24,3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Lk 24,1- 3;

John also talks about the first day of the week, even though in his account it is only Mary Magdalene who goes to the tomb. Matthew (with King James, Darby and Luther) does confirm that there were (a number of) women who went to the tomb, namely those who have been present during the Lord’s burial by Joseph of Arimathea, but gives the time as "late on Sabbath, as it was the dusk of the next day after Sabbath". This would mean that the women went to the tomb already late on Sabbath (Saturday evening around 6:00 p.m.) and that the tomb was already empty at that time.

On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark.

Jn 20,1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 20,2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." Jn 20, 1- 2;

Late on Sabbath, as it was the dusk of the next day after Sabbath.

Mt 28,1 Now late on sabbath, as it was the dusk of the next day after sabbath, came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary to look at the sepulchre. 28,2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. Mt 28, 1- 2;

By means of this information, we can thus establish with some certainty the raising from the dead of the Lord yet before the arrival of the women – very early on the first day of the week – when it was still dark. Since this first day of the week would have begun on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. according to our calendar, the raising from the dead could have occurred already on Saturday evening, as Mat 28,1 above suggests by its "Now late on the Sabbath," It is also interesting that in Mat 28,1 the Sabbath is written in the plural in Greek, thus "late on the Sabbaths [sabbatwn]," by which we again have a reference to two Sabbaths in this week.

But what can we say then about the day of death? The statement by the Lord that he would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights indicates that his entry into the realm of the dead must have occurred three days and three nights before. Depending on whether these three days began at the time of his death or at the time of his burial, the period would have started on Wednesday between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. The continuation of the above text from Matthew would support this, for the women came to the grave already late on the Sabbath and the Lord had already been raised.

Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.

Mt 28,2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 28,3 And his look was as lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 28,4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became as dead men. 28,5 And the angel answering said to the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one. 28,6 He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 28,7 And go quickly and say to his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him. Behold, I have told you. Mt 28, 2- 7;

The Passover

We should also point out that, at that time, Passover was just around the corner – the great Sabbath. Because the high priests wanted to avoid carrying out a crucifixion that they had been given charge of on Passover, the crucifixion of Jesus was arranged on the day before the Passover, the preparation day for Passover.

Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.

Mt 26,3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; 26,4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. 26,5 But they were saying, "Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people." Mt 26, 3- 5;

To have a better grasp of the situation here, the origin of this Passover feast should be briefly explained. It goes back to the exodus of Israel from Egypt. When the Pharaoh did not want to let the Israelites leave Egypt, God promised that at midnight all the male first-born in Egypt would die – from the first-born of Pharaoh to the first-born of the lowliest slave girl and the first-born of all cattle.

But the Israelites God commanded to slaughter a year-old unblemished male lamb or kid "between the two evenings" on this day – it was the 14th day of the first month (Nisan). As in Jewish division of the day the day begins with 6:00 p.m. the first evening is meant from the sunset (6:00 p.m.) until night has fallen completely and the second evening on the next day when the sun first begins to decline (3:00 p.m.) until the sunset at 6:00 p.m. They were to spread the blood of the slaughtered lamb on their doorposts and lintels; the angel of the Lord would thus recognize these houses and exclude them from the plague. But they were to eat the meat the same night, roasted on a fire and with unleavened bread (matzot) and bitter herbs.

You shall kill it on the fourteenth day of the same month and put some of the blood on the two doorposts.

Ex 12,5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats. 12,6 And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings. 12,7 And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two door-posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 12,8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs shall they eat it. Ex 12, 5- 8;

The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live.

Ex 12,12 "For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments – I am the LORD. 12,13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." Ex 12,12-13;

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

Ex 12,17 "You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 12,18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening." Ex 12,17-18;

Starting on this day, the Israelites were to eat unleavened bread for the next seven days. This was the feast of unleavened bread (Passover) celebrated as a memorial of the exodus from Egypt, which began with the slaughter of a lamb in the evening hours of the first day (Preparation Day), on the 14th day of Nisan, and then lasted further seven days until the 21st day of that month.

A New View of "Holy Week"

Therefore, it looks as if two Sabbaths were celebrated in Israel in the week when Jesus was crucified. The first, the "great" Sabbath, was that of the annual Passover feast, which began on the 14th day of Nisan, a Wednesday, with the preparation day. The second Sabbath was then the normal weekly Sabbath, thus the Saturday whose preparation day was Friday. And this solves all the exegetical problems mentioned above: the Lord was precisely three days and three nights in the tomb; the women had a day between both Sabbaths to buy and to prepare the spices and perfumes. And the plural in the Greek text of Mt 28,1 – which translators ignored until now due to the lack of better understanding – is completely justified.

In researching this topic, one of the books that helped me a great deal was Das Zeichen des Jona [The Sign of Jonah] by Dr. Werner Papke, not least because it agreed with my own discoveries. In his work, Dr. Papke has meticulously researched the dating problem of the Jewish calendar especially and could even determine the date of Jesus’ crucifixion precisely to the day. This book is recommended to all readers interested in this topic. Below is a short summary of the results of his research:

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

Tabular Overview of the Week of Jesus’ Crucifixion

(Day: In Jewish division of the day, the day begins with 6:00 p.m. and ends on the next day at 6:00 p.m.)

The Lamb of God

Although the dates and facts have now been discussed in connection with the death of the Lord, his burial and his raising from the dead, there is still an area – the most important – that needs to be discussed; the symbolism of the events.

As we saw above, when we explained the Passover feast using some Scripture passages from the Old Testament (Exodus 12:5-18), God commanded the Israelites in Egypt to slaughter a lamb on the 14th day of Nisan and to spread the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and lintels. These houses would then be recognizable and be spared the plague by which God would punish the Egyptians, because they would not allow the Israelites to leave the country.

But God did not only fix a date; he also commanded a specific time for the slaughter. In Exodus 12,6 we read:

Ex 12,6 And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings. Ex 12,6;

The slaughter of this lamb would also be done "between the two evenings." As was already stated above, the phrase "between the two evenings" refers to the time from sunset (6:00 p.m.) until night has fallen completely (first evening) and the next day from the beginning of the sun’s decline (3:00 p.m.) until sunset.

And here we perceive the connection between this event in Egypt at the time and the death of the Lord in Jerusalem. Just as the blood of the slaughtered lamb protected the Israelites from the wrath of God at that time, Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, was slaughtered for us. We are saved and protected from the wrath of God by the blood of Christ. And this happened exactly on that day, i.e. the 14th day of Nisan, on which the Passover lamb was slaughtered. Indeed, even the time was the same: beginning with 3:00 p.m. the Israelites should slaughter their lamb and at 3:00 p.m. the Lord died on the cross.

However, just as at that time only those Israelites were spared who had actually spread the blood on the doorposts, so only those who believe in Christ and consciously accept his redemptive sacrifice for their sins are saved now. That must be made clear in a time in which irresponsible preachers distort the gospel and lead the people they preach to into believing that Christ had saved unciondirionally all people by his dead. The Son of God did indeed die for all people, but not all people want to accept this sacrifice. It is also up to the individuals themselves as to whether they will be saved or – like the Egyptians at that time – become the objects of God’s wrath.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

Many thanks for this tip! Your criticism is completely justified. I did not explain this point in enough detail. Above all, I did not clearly present the problem between the Jewish and Christian calendars in relation to this context precisely. The text in Ex 12,6 reads:

Ex 12,6 And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings. Ex 12, 6;

For us, who are accustomed to the Christian calendar, it is completely natural to think that "two evenings" concerns the evening of this day and the evening of the next day.

But, in fact, that is not the case. It is true that these two evenings do refer to two days according to our calendar, but, according to Hebrew dating, only to one day, namely, the 14th day of Nisan. That is because – as already explained above – the Jewish day begins at 6:00 p.m. our time and ends at 6:00 p.m. on what to us would be the following day. Therefore there are two evenings to every Jewish day: one at the beginning of the day (from 6:00 p.m. until it gets dark) and a second at the end (for us, the following day) from 3:00 p.m. (the setting of the sun) until 6:00 p.m. It is also very simple to learn it from Lev 23,32:

On the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath.

Lev 23,32 "It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath. Lev 23,32;

Unfortunately, there are also many translations of the Bible that do not take this Jewish division of the day into account. Thus, Luther translates it as "towards evening" and English translations as well, i.e. the King James and the RSV translate "in the evening." The NAS translates it in a general sense as "at twilight." Only the Darby Translation, the German Elberfelder Bible and the Italian Diodati have the correct meaning of "between the two evenings," although they do not point out that in the Jewish division of the day this is equal to the evenings of two of our days.

What is more, it is very simple to verify this view. In Lev 23 God announces to Moses those feasts that are holy gatherings and that the Israelites must celebrate. The Passover is included among them, of course.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month between the two evenings, is the LORD’S Passover.

Lev 23,4 ‘These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 23,5 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month between the two evenings, is the LORD’S Passover. 23,6 ‘Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Lev 23, 4- 6;

According to God’s command, the Passover thus occurs on the 14th day of the month, between the two evenings. And one cannot assume that, if God says "on the fourteenth day of the month, between the two evenings," he actually means the evening of the fifteenth day of the month. This is so because, if the evening were understood in that way, as presented in the above Bible translations, it must already be – as of 6:00 p.m. – the 15th day of Nisan, according to Hebrew dating.

As can be gathered from the timetables further above, the 14th day of Nisan began, according to our time, at 6:00 p.m. of the day before (Tuesday). At this same time, this was also the "first evening" of this Jewish day. The command in Ex 12,6 to carry out the slaughter between the two evenings thus means, in our understanding of time, slaughtering the lamb between 6:00 p.m. Tuesday evening and 6:00 p.m. Wednesday evening.

According to the synoptics, we now have the following situation: On Tuesday evening, from 6:00 p.m. on, at the beginning of the 14th day of Nisan, the Lord celebrated the Passover with the twelve (the start of the Lord’s Supper). After that, they went to the Mount of Olives, into the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed and where the arrest by the high priests occurred later that night. Jesus was questioned in the subsequent hours of that night (Peter’s denial) and was condemned and scourged on the following morning. Finally, there was the journey with the cross to Golgotha and the crucifixion. At 3:00 p.m. the Lord died on the cross. After that, Joseph of Arimathea took him down from the cross and, at around 6:00 p.m., at the end of the 14th day of Nisan, Jesus was laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Thus, both the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and the death of Jesus occurred on the 14th day of Nisan, between the two evenings.

To clear up this misunderstanding, I have amended the tables further above concerning the celebration of the Lord’s Supper on Tuesday.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

The image of the body on the Shroud is not explicable / Study by the National Agency for Energy and Sustainable Economic