Do you believe the Bible to be true? Even more specifically, do you believe the red letters, the words that Jesus spoke, to be true? If your answer is yes, let’s test that.
In Matthew 12 we find Jesus saying, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” He gives this response to “the Pharisees and teachers of the law” when they say to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answers them in verse 39, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He is referring them to Jonah 1:17, “Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.” Click the links or, better yet, open your Bible and verify this.
Christians all over the world will go to church on Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. They will hear a message about how Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, died about 3PM, was placed in the tomb just before sunset, 6PM, and then resurrected on Easter Sunday morning. Matthew 28:1 says, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.” At dawn, about 6AM, on Sunday morning, the two Marys found the tomb already empty. With this reckoning of the timing of the events we find that Jesus was supposedly in the tomb for less than 36 hours. If we are to believe Jesus’ own words, it should be twice that number for “three days and three nights.”
The traditional Christian explanation for this can be unpacked in this article. Basically, the short version is that “Jews consider any part of a day a full day.” If that is true, why was Jesus so specific saying, “three days and three nights?” Why didn’t he just say three days? He did say it was the sign of Jonah so it should match what the book of Jonah says. The book of Jonah does say that “Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.” Do we believe that? The Bible says that. Was Jonah swallowed by the fish about sunset and vomited out on the beach 36 hours later? That’s not what that story says. It says, “three days and three nights.” (View The Jonah Code for more details).
If I just say, “three days,” I may be implying that I mean both the light part of the day as well as the dark part, night, are included: the full 24 hours. If I am specific and use the both words, “day” and “night,” I am distinguishing between the light part and the dark part of the full day. If “day” in this scenario includes the dark portion then night is redundant, unneeded. The verbiage used in both Matthew 12:40 and Jonah 1:17 both distinguish between the light part of the day and the dark part of the day and say that both are included in counting the days. With that understanding, we must have three dark periods, nights, between the burial and the resurrection. In the traditional reckoning discussed above, we have Friday night, Saturday night. Where is the third night?
In the scene below from 1984, O’Brien asks Winston how many fingers he is holding up. O’Brien is holding up four fingers, but Winston is supposed to see, and say, five. This is a version of what the Easter Sunday message is going to be like. Friday night, one. Saturday night, two three. See, three nights! You don’t see three; let’s do it again. Friday night, one. Saturday night, two three. See, three nights! I’m sure you see it now!!
Let us consider another possibility for the reckoning of the timing of these events. The year is 28 of the common era (28AD). According to Leviticus 23, the Passover Lamb is to be killed before sunset on the fourteenth day of the first month, the month of the aviv barley (more details here). Jesus is our Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He was killed a few hours before sunset on the 14th day of the first month and was laid in the tomb before the sun set that day. In the year 28, that was April 28th, a Wednesday. He was crucified on Wednesday!! He was in the grave all day Thursday, one; all day Friday, two; all day Saturday, three; three days. He was in the grave Wednesday night, one; Thursday night, two; Friday night, three; three nights. He was in the tomb three full days (light periods) and three full nights (dark periods), just as He said He would be. He rose just before sunset on Shabbat, Saturday, exactly 72 hours after He was put into the tomb, as He said He would! The tomb was found to be empty early the next morning. Your Bible never says that He rose Sunday morning, it only says the tomb was found to be empty at that time.
My prior piece, Have you considered this: where are they now? goes deeper into some of this and will help your understanding.
Does this matter? Friday to Sunday or Wednesday to Saturday? Does the truth matter? Have you considered this: Truth? dives deep into this question. In John 8, Yeshua said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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