The signs and miracles of Christ we read about in the New Testament are not just random acts, but carefully orchestrated events taking place on specific days for specific reasons. It was all by design from creation through Pentecost. Every major event in the life of Jesus happened on a Jewish holiday, and is foretold in the Old Testament.
What we know as Easter Sunday is the second day of Passover, known as the feast of First Fruits. On that day the priest would go to the field, cut off some of the crop and take it to the temple, where he would make an offering to God.
According to Jewish tradition, if there was a good first fruits offering that meant the harvest would be good. It is significant that Christ rose on that particular day. The Apostle Paul referred to Jesus as the “first fruits” from among the dead.
If Christ rose, that meant that all who believe in Him would rise too. Jesus is the guarantee. Everything in is time on was by design.
Count down to Pentecost
The day Jesus rose began the countdown to Pentecost, which is the day that Moses came down from Mount Sinai. Following the resurrection of Jesus, the Day of Pentecost became the day God gave His Holy Spirit to all believers. First came the Law, then came grace and then the Holy Spirit. It was not an accident.
Think about it. Jesus was crucified during Passover. In Exodus, God told Moses to tell the people to spread lamb’s blood over the doorpost of their houses. If God saw the blood He would “pass over” the house and the plague that came upon Egypt, claiming the first born male child, would not kill them.
Once told to do this, the people had to exercise faith and believe that God would save them. After all just spreading blood over the door doesn’t make a lot of sense, but having faith is what God wants from us does.
Passover and the Crucifixion of Jesus are related
The blood of the lamb, the Passover in Egypt and the Crucifixion, nearly 1500 years later, are all tied together. Jesus’ followers wanted to remove His body from the cross and bury Him before sunset, the beginning of Shabbat (the Sabbath).
Jesus was always doing something on Shabbat, the day of rest. No Jew was allowed to do any work on Shabbat, not even to look for food. What God had intended for rest, the Jewish religious leaders took as an absolute command, never to be questioned or broken.
A day that was created for man to rest, was turned into a way to control and dominate people. Healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, making the crippled walk were all events that took place on Shabbat.
Jesus was Crucified because He angered the religious elite
The religious elite considered the healing the Jesus did during the Sabbath to be blasphemy. It is a major theme in the television show “The Chosen.”
The Pharisees were outraged and some tried to gather evidence to take to the Sanhedrin, the ruling council. We see the plot develop, from mere outrage to a plan to kill Jesus. The Bible tells us of seven times Jesus performed a miracle on the Sabbath.
Jesus healed a man with a withered hand (Mark 3:1-6). He healed the mother-in-law of Simon Peter (Mark 1:29-31). The Lord gave sight to a man who had been born blind (John 9:1-16).
Also of note is the belief of Jews at the time that the reason some were afflicted was because of their sin, the blind man was an exception because he was born without sight. The Messiah healed a crippled woman (Luke 13:10-17).
A man with swollen arms and legs was healed by Jesus in the view of Pharisees (Luke 14:1-6). Jesus cast out a demon (Mark 1:21-28). At the pool of Bethesda Jesus healed a lame man and told him to get up and walk (John 5:1-8). All done on the Sabbath. None of this was well received by the Pharisees. They were incensed.
It was all by design
The Pharisees were always trying to trip Jesus up by asking trick questions, or any question that would go against their own beliefs if answered honestly. Therefore, it would have been a lot easier for Jesus to lay low and not do anything in public, but the signs and wonders were necessary to establish who He was and what He was about.
The Pharisees, the Romans, the Sanhedrin were all in on the crucifixion of Jesus and it was no accident. God had everything planned. God knew what these groups would do and He used their actions to serve His purpose. It was all by design.