For centuries there has been much confusion when people try to reason the different accounts of Jesus’ resurrection as recorded by the apostles. The fact that they all seem to have a different story to tell does not help. Perhaps, a good way to consider their seemingly different reports is to view them like transparent overlays, similar to the one’s we have seen in books showing the skeleton, then the nerves and blood vessels, organs, muscular and finally the skin and hair.

The Gospels, similarly, are each reporting different events which had taken place around a major singular occurrence, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fact is that these different events are recorded in God’s word and are therefore true. Perhaps the answer to the confusion is to consider that there were multiple trips made to the tomb.

The best way to determine the possible order of these trips to the tomb is to consider the different details that have been given about the time of day and light of the sun. Was the sun going down or coming up? These questions are actually quite easy to answer. However, we must remember that the Sabbath, like all the other biblical days, began and ended with sundown, see Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 and Lev. 23:32.

Matthew clearly tells us that when the two Marys where first headed to the tomb it was “IN the end of the Sabbath.” Therefore, according to Matthew this trip took place Saturday evening prior to sunset, “IN the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.”

The word translated “end” is the Greek word “opse,” # 3697 in Strongs Concordance. It means – late in the day; by extension, after the close of the day: –(at) even, in the end. The translated phrase “as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week” adds to the confusion of most people and caused them to think Matthew is talking about the sunrise, or “dawn” as we would refer to it. The Greek word here was translated “dawn,” while at times a correct translation, is not however of necessity the intent original. The implication of the word, since it follows “opse,” properly means to “draw on,” or, “as the first day approached,” without specifying a precise time. As a matter of fact, that is exactly how the same word here translated “dawn” is translated in Luke 23:54, “And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.”

In English the word “dawn” is frequently used to mean the beginning of something – like “the dawn of space travel” would be a reference to the first flight of man in space. This careful chronological statement, “IN the END of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of …read more

Source: Worthy Christian Forums