How Long Was Jesus on the Cross?
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Jesus’s death was not easy—the Romans were master executioners who kept their prisoners almost at the point of death as long as possible. Crucifixions could last a few days, so when we celebrate Easter and daily remember Jesus’s sacrifice, we must understand what happened to Jesus, which begs the question: How long was Jesus on the cross?
When Was Jesus Crucified?
Thankfully, the Bible gives us a timeline of events for Jesus’s final hours.
He was arrested on Thursday after Judas met Him outside the Garden of Gethsemane. During those late-night hours into early Friday morning, Jesus was on “fake trial” with the religious leaders before He was shuttled back and forth to Pilate and Herod. He was flogged and beaten and made to carry the crossbeam (with assistance from Simon of Cyrene) before being hammered with stakes to a wooden cross.
To understand the timeline, we must be careful to distinguish between the Roman and Jewish systems of time measurement.
John’s gospel tells us that Jesus was at trial before Pontius Pilate at about the sixth hour, Roman time. For the Romans, that equates to 6 a.m. (see John 19:14).
We know from Matthew 27:45 that at the sixth hour (12 p.m. or noonday), the sky turned pitch black, so dark that you wouldn’t be able to see your hand in front of your face. The darkness lasted for three hours and is broken with Jesus crying out.
Therefore, we know that Jesus was on the cross for roughly six hours, much less than some who lasted up to four days during their crucifixions.
How Did Jesus Die on the Cross?
We must understand that Jesus was in complete control of what was happening on the cross. When the Romans mocked Him, telling Jesus to call on His angels to save Him, Jesus could have done that. Jesus could have displayed a mighty act by reigning down legions of angels upon the crowd. But instead, He asked God to forgive “those who do not know what they do,” and he suffered our eternal punishment.
The Bible says that after the darkness, Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabacthani” (“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”). He was offered wine vinegar, cried out again, and gave up His spirit (see Matthew 27:50).
Jesus didn’t die from the torture.
He didn’t die from blood loss.
He didn’t die from asphyxiation.
Remember, the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves crucified with Jesus so they wouldn’t be able to push off the spikes in their feet to lift their bodies enough to take a breath.
In fact, Jesus speaks a total of seven recorded times from the cross. He prays, speaks to the thief, talks to His mother and John, shares that He is thirsty (a vulnerable sign of His humanity), and makes declarations. See all seven utterances here.
The constant act of gasping for breath as your body weight bears down on the spikes must have been unbearable, and yet, the Bible is careful to record that Jesus, in the final seconds of His life, cries out in a loud voice.
By the time the soldier got to Jesus, He was already dead, having sacrificed Himself for us.
Jesus’s life was not taken; it was given.
Do We Know What Time Jesus Died?
In the gospel of Mark, he records, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice…and breathed His last” (see verses 34-37).
The ninth hour equates to 3 p.m. Fascinatingly, the ninth hour is also the time of the second sacrifice. While Jesus hung dying on the cross, the priests were preparing to slaughter the lambs brought by the people who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover.
The spotless, without blemish lambs were sacrificed at 3 p.m., the same time that Jesus, the Lamb of God, without sin and utterly blameless, gave up his life.
Interestingly, some Bible scholars believe it was during the period of darkness, the three hours in which Jesus was silent on the cross, that He was enduring the spiritual death of our punishment of hell and separation from God the Father.
How Long was Jesus in the Tomb?
You may have heard Christians say, “On the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead.” How do we know it was three days?
We know that Jesus died on Friday, which is Day One. Then Joseph of Arimathea requested to have Jesus’ body taken down from the cross before the Sabbath, and Pilate agreed. That night, Jesus was placed in Joseph’s tomb.
Saturday was the Sabbath, Day Two.
John 20:1 NIV says, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw the stone had been removed from the entrance.”
Along with Mary Magdalene, there was also Mary the mother of James, and Salome (the mother of James and John, wife of Zebedee).
The first day of the week is Sunday (Day Three). Mark 16 gives more detail to the timeline, sharing in verse 2, “Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb.”
The women were headed to the tomb to prepare Jesus’s body since they didn’t have time Friday night and weren’t allowed to on Saturday. When they arrived at the tomb, they were met by the angel and saw the stone had been moved.
Jesus was no longer dead—He was surely alive!
There is an explanation for any naysayer who might argue that three days is equivalent to a minimum of seventy-two hours. It’s true that technically, Jesus was not in the tomb for three entire days. He was placed there sometime on Friday evening, was in the tomb all day Saturday, and was raised from the dead sometime on Sunday morning.
Some say that “three days and nights” means a full three days and three nights, so Jesus didn’t fulfill His own prophecy. However, “three days and three nights” is a Hebrew idiom, which can include part of a day, not a literal 24-hours. Patheos.com shares a couple of Old Testament passages that indicate such: 1 Samuel 30:12-13, cross-referenced with Genesis 42:17-18).
Easter is the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, the pinnacle of our faith. But it is Jesus’s death and Him taking our sins upon Himself that brings us to the cross with horror mixed with praise, glory, and ultimately, repentance.
The beauty of the resurrection story is that it didn’t end with the tomb being empty. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden. He appeared to His disciples and let Thomas touch His hands. It wasn’t enough to be seen by a small group of followers who knew and loved Him, so Jesus appeared to over 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:3-7).
Jesus even appeared to those who hated him, including his half-brother James. Remember, Jesus was born of Mary but had no shared DNA with Joseph, therefore making Jesus’s other siblings all half-related. We know from Scripture that His brothers didn’t believe He was the Son of God (see John 7:2-9), so Jesus’s appearance to James is quite significant. In fact, James is the author of the book of James in the New Testament, which is truly amazing when you stop to think about it!
While we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection on Easter annually, let us remember what Jesus said to His disciples at the last supper when he broke bread and shared the wine. “Do this in remembrance of me.” As we reflect on Jesus’s time before the crucifixion, on the cross, and then the empty tomb on Sunday morning, let us remember that our God sacrificed His own Son so that we live eternally with Him in Heaven.
Glory be to God.
Jesus is alive.
Further Reading:
Bible Story of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
The Crucifixion of Jesus - Facts About His Death on the Cross
6 Beautiful Truths about the Crucifixion - Bible Study Tools
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She is a military wife to her college sweetheart and a work-from-home momma-of-boys who loves planners, suspense novels, and all things girly.
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