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BibleTruth.cc "Teachings of Messiah" Series The Sign of Jonah: 3 Days and 3 Nights On the Death and Resurrection of Messiah By David M Rogers www.BibleTruth.cc Published: May 2011 Table of Contents Yochanan 2:19-22 - The Temple: "I Will Raise It in Three Days" Matthew 12:39-40 - The Sign of Yonah: 3 Days and 3 Nights Mark 8-10 - Yahusha Taught His Disciples Plainly That He Would Rise After Three Days The Problem With the Friday-Death/Sunday-Resurrection Theory Matthew 27:57-66 - The Time of Yahusha's Burial Matthew 28:1 - The Time of Yahusha's Resurrection What About the Other Gospel Accounts? The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (aka Yahusha, his given Hebrew name) is at the heart and center of the redemption account as given in Holy Scriptures. The contemporary Christian world observes and remembers Messiah's death on the so-called Good Friday, and they celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. This has been a long held traditional belief, started by the Catholic Church centuries ago. But these traditions are erroneous to the facts as revealed in Scripture. For too long now there has been inaccurate information propagated in Christian circles concerning the length of Messiah Yahusha's stay in the grave. Everyone who has been to church has heard that Messiah was to be in the tomb for three days and three nights, and that he would then be raised to life. But no reasonably educated person can count from Friday evening to Sunday morning and come up with a sum total of three days and three nights. The purpose of this biblical study is to show the meaning and application of the "three days and three nights" teaching so as to understand what Yahusha meant by this saying, to ascertain exactly how long he really was in the grave, and to know at what hour he was put in the tomb and what hour he came out alive from the tomb. Why do we need to take the time to do this? It's important to get to the truth on this issue because we must get the erroneous traditions out of our thinking and out of our worship, so that we can serve our Creator in truth. The Bible, not tradition, should be the source of our beliefs and the authority for our customs and practices. The errors in calculating the time Yahusha was in the grave serve to support the erroneous traditions of Easter and Good Friday. Yochanan 2:19-22 - The Temple: "I Will Raise It in Three Days" It is logical to begin our investigation into the exact length of time Messiah was in the grave by examining some of his own statements and promises regarding these events. The first of those statements Yahusha made was that of his being able to raise the temple in three days. On his first visit to Yerushalayim near the Pesach season following his baptism and stay in the desert, Yahusha entered the temple site and began overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers, scolding them for desecrating the House of Elohim.
The Yehudim challenged his right to do this by asking,
"What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all
this?" Of course, the Sanhedrin leadership thought he was speaking about the temple building when he said he would raise it up in three days, but he was cryptically speaking of his own body and his own resurrection. The boast of Yahusha was that he would raise his own body in three days. This statement caused such a stir among the Pharisees that they ridiculed him for making such an outrageous statement. How could anyone raise a temple in three days which took Herod forty-six years to build! How absurd. Yet, that was not what Yahusha meant. The claim to raise the temple in three days made such an impact on the people that many of them later remembered he had spoken these words. While he was being examined by the high priest, his adversaries were looking for witnesses to testify against Yahusha so as to put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of Elohim and rebuild it in three days.'" (Matthew 26:60-61) Mark's Gospel records the same event: Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.'" Yet even then their testimony did not agree. (Mark 14:57-59) Since their testimony did not agree the high priest could not condemn Yahusha for essentially claiming the same power that Elohim has to rebuild the temple so quickly (though that again is not what he meant). Later, while
Yahusha was hanging on the tree, people were insulting him and
ridiculing him, as Matthew records:
Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and
saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three
days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of
Elohim!" (Matthew 27:39-40) And Mark testifies to the same thing:
Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and
saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in
three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!" (Mark 15:29-30) The reason this is so important is to establish exactly what Yahusha said. Though he was completely misunderstood by most people, still, the exact words he spoke are recorded. There are five testimonies which we have cited above that he claimed to be able to raise the temple (of his own body) in three days. Not after one day or after two days. But in three days he would raise himself from the grave. Matthew 12:39-40 - The Sign of Yonah: 3 Days and 3 Nights In
addition to his veiled disclosure that his temple body would be raised
in three days, Yahusha Messiah also made a series of more explicit
statements regarding his resurrection.
As the crowds increased, Yahusha said, "This is a wicked generation. It
asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of
Yonah. For as Yonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the
Son of Man be to this generation. (Luke 11:29-30)
The comparison Yahusha was making between the city of Nineveh and the
present generation leads one to the conclusion that just as Yonah's
miraculous survival of being in the big fish was a sign for the
Ninevites, Yahusha's resurrection from the dead would be a sign to this
generation (and every generation). The similarity between the two
events was to be the focal point.
The story of Yonah is well known even outside the family of faith.
Yonah was told to go and bring a message of judgment to the Ninevites to
encourage them to repent. But Yonah didn't savor the indignity of
preaching to those pagans, and besides thought his life could be
endangered by bringing a rebuke and warning of catastrophe to those
people. He turned and went in the other direction.
But the ship he sailed in ran into severe weather which threatened the
life of all aboard. He confessed that it was he who was
responsible for the turn of events, and was thrown off the ship.
His departure into the sea calmed the waters. But Yonah was
swallowed by a large sea creature, and for three days remained alive
inside the creature praying for his life. Yahuwah heard his
prayers and had the sea creature vomit him out onto the land after three
days and three nights inside its body.
Yonah then went to the city of Nineveh and was a sign to these Ninevites
who honored the fish god. Yonah had spent three days and three
nights in the big fish and had overcome. The message was clear:
Yahuwah, the Elohim of Yonah was more powerful that the great fish god
of Nineveh. Thus was Yonah a sign t the city of Nineveh. And
they repented of their rebellion against Yahuwah and Yahuwah relented of
his intention of destroying them.
So, when Yahusha tells "this wicked generation" that the only sign that
would be given to it would be the sign of Yonah, everyone knew exactly
what he was speaking of. So the son of man would be a sign to that
generation as Yonah was to the Ninevites.
Yahusha later made this even more clear. He emphatically reveals
that the three days and three nights that Yonah spent in the belly of
the great fish would be the sign that he would give to this generation:
He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a
miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the
prophet Yonah. For as Yonah 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. (Matthew 12:39-40) The testimony of Yonah is that he was inside the great fish for "three
days and three nights":
But Yahuwah provided a great fish to swallow Yonah, and Yonah was inside
the fish three days and three nights. (Yonah 1:17) And Yahusha stated plainly that he would be in the heart
of the earth for the same length of time that Yonah was inside the great
fish. Three days and three nights is that time frame - no more and
no less. Again at a later time, Messiah
Yahusha repeated this promise to the people that the only sign that
would be given to it was that of Yonah: "A wicked and adulterous
generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except
the sign of Yonah." Yahusha then left them and went away. (Matthew 16:4) So, at the end of the day, the Master left a very clear message to all
the people that he would be in the grave for three days and for three
nights, just as Yonah was three days and three nights in the body of the
fish.
Mark 8-10 - Yahusha Taught His Disciples Plainly That He Would Rise
After Three Days
As if he previous messages about his resurrection
after three days and three nights in the grave weren't enough, Yahusha
also indicated this same message straight-forwardly to his disciples.
There was no parable to decipher or riddle to solve when he told them of
this. He then began to
teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must
be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about
this, and Kepha took him aside and began to rebuke him. (Mark 8:31-32) Yahusha wanted his disciples to understand without any
ambiguity about it, that he would be killed and would rise from the
grave after three days and three nights. There is no way anyone
could have misinterpreted what he said. Then, for the second time (as it is
recorded in Mark), the Master plainly told his disciples again about his
upcoming death and resurrection after three days: They left that place and passed through
Galilee. Yahusha did not want anyone to know where they were, because he
was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to
be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three
days he will rise." But they did not understand what he meant and
were afraid to ask him about it. (Mark 9:30-32) Though he spoke very plainly and openly about this, his
disciples couldn't digest this thought which was foreign to their
thinking about Messiah. They didn't understand that he had to die
before he would be esteemed by the Father.
Then, for the third time, the Master repeats these
things to his disciples:
"We are going up to
Yerushalayim," he said, "and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the
chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death
and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on
him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise." (Mark
10:33-34) Even after three times telling them plainly, the disciples were confused
about this. They didn't understand the plan until after he was
raised from the dead.
After he was laid in the tomb and the door closed, there were skeptics
who had heard him say that after three days he would rise from the dead.
So, they asked for Roman guards to be placed at the tomb to guard it
from Yahusha's disciples.
"Sir," they said,
"we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After
three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to
be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come
and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the
dead. This last deception will be worse than the first." (Matthew
27:63-64)
The reason this is important is that not only the disciples, but the
enemies of Yahusha and others who had no interest in the outcome had
heard and testified that Messiah had said that after three days he would
rise.
The Problem With the Friday-Death/Sunday-Resurrection Theory
It is helpful at this juncture to review the statements made by Messiah
Yahusha regarding the time he would be in the grave. He told the
Pharisees that if they destroyed the temple, he would raise it again
"in three days." Next, he told the crowds that "as
Yonah 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." And he told his disciples privately that
"he must
be killed and after three days rise again." So, he would
be raised in three days and after three days, and would spend three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Now the mainstream Christian belief is that Jesus died late Friday
afternoon, was laid in the tomb as the sun was setting on Friday, and
early Sunday morning, as the sun was rising, he was raised from the
dead. Isn't it plain to see that there is a serious problem with
this? The problem is one that a first grader would be able to
solve, yet educated and highly decorated theologians, pastors and
teachers don't seem to be able to count to three!
If Jesus was laid in the tomb as the sun was setting, here's the count:
Friday night - first night; all day Saturday - first day; Saturday night
- second night. And he rose from the dead at daybreak on Sunday
morning. That come to one day and two nights - not really the same
as three days and three nights. Can Christians count to three?
Or do they just believe their shepherds no matter what they teach them?
Is anyone as uncomfortable with this kind of counting besides me?
Okay. I'll give some benefit of the doubt (although this is
ridiculous) for the way they count the time. Christians say that
that last minute or two of Friday as they were setting him down in the
tomb counts as "day one." And they say that Sunday morning, for
the minute or two that passed before he (allegedly) rose from the dead
counts as "day three." Even if we allow this shoddy counting - and
this is a bigger stretch than Santa Claus - then we still only have
three days (hah) and two nights. This still does not fit with what
the Master clearly taught numerous times in various forms. He said
very plainly, "three days and three nights" just as Yonah was in the
belly of the fish.
Surely, Christians don't hang their hats on that kind of sloppy
reckoning, do they? Unfortunately they do. But we are
writing this Bible study article to show you that the Friday/Sunday
theory is wrong on many levels. And we are about to show you how
Messiah's words were fulfilled exactly as he promised it would be.
There was no inaccuracy in what Yahusha taught many times and to many
people regarding the time he would be in the tomb.
Matthew
27:57-66 - The Time of Yahusha's Burial
Let's look now to what the New Testament accounts testify to regarding
the time of the Master's burial. The
passion account of the gospels concludes with the record of the burial
of the deceased Yahusha.
As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named
Yoseph, who had himself become a disciple of Yahusha. Going to
Pilate, he asked for Yahusha's body, and Pilate ordered that it be given
to him. Yoseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He
rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the
Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that
while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will
rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure
until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the
body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This
last deception will be worse than the first." "Take a guard,"
Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So
they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and
posting the guard. First, note that the following
events occurred "as evening approached": Yoseph went to Pilate, obtained
permission to have the corpse of the deceased Yahusha, took the body,
wrapped it and placed it in his own tomb. Then he rolled a large
stone over the entrance to the tomb. Now, it's
anyone's guess as to exactly how long it took for Yoseph to do all these
things. But he didn't have much time, because evening was
approaching. Then, we roll into this narrative the details
provided by Luke: Now
there was a man named Yoseph, a member of the Council, a good and
upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came
from the Yehudite town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom
of Elohim. Going to Pilate, he asked for Yahusha's body.
Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb
cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was
Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who
had come with Yahusha from Galilee followed Yoseph and saw the tomb and
how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared
spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the
commandment. (Luke 23:50-56) So, it was Preparation Day and evening was approaching,
which was the rest of a Shabbat. As he laid him in the tomb, the
text says that the Sabbath was about to begin. There were several
women who saw where he laid the body. These women went home and
prepared spices. But we know that since the Sabbath was about to
begin, the women could not do the work of preparing spices until after
the Sabbath. So, it then says that they rested on
the Sabbath according to the commandment. There is some ambiguity
in the text, but what is clear from the Jewish customs is that they
could not have done the work of preparing the spices on this Sabbath
day. But then it says that they discovered the empty tomb after
the Sabbath. So, when did they prepare the spices? The answer to this is to understand
that Yahusha was crucified on the day that the lambs were slaughtered
for the Passover. This would be on the afternoon of the 14th of
Aviv, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Then, that evening,
as the 15th day of the month arrived, the Feast of Unleavened Bread
arrives. This day is like a Sabbath day in that no work at all was
to be done (except for the preparation of the meal). So the women,
who saw where Yahusha was laid, went home and could not prepare spices
the next day because it was a day of rest. The following day, they
could prepare the spices. But then the day after that was the
weekly Sabbath, so that they could not do any work again, which is why
they couldn't put the spices on the body of the deceased Messiah yet.
The next morning, after the weekly Sabbath, they went at daybreak to
find an empty tomb. So the three days that Messiah
Yahusha had promised to be in the heart of the earth were: the first day
of the Feast of Unleavened Bread - first day; the following day which is
when the ladies prepared the spices - second day; and the weekly Sabbath
day - the third day. Then the following morning, they discovered
the empty tomb. When you count this up, it means
that Yahusha was hung on the fourth day of the week (Wednesday) and was
laid in the tomb as the fifth day of the week was about to begin
(Wednesday night). Then he rested Thursday, Friday and Saturday in
the tomb. That's three complete days! No need to fudge the
numbers there! That also means that he laid in the tomb Wednesday
night (as we reckon it), Thursday night and Friday night - all night
long - a full three nights in the tomb, just as Yahusha promised.
So the three days and three nights
are: Wednesday night (first night), Thursday daytime (first day),
Thursday night (second night), Friday daytime (second day), Friday night
(third night), and Saturday all day long (third day). That comes
to a full three days and three nights. And "after three days
and three nights" he was to rise from the dead. So then, when did he get up from the
tomb?
Matthew 28:1 -
The Time of Yahusha's Resurrection
Since Jesus was laid in the tomb at sunset (no matter what day of the
week that was), the only way the prominent prophesy of the three days
and three nights could be fulfilled would be if he rose from the dead at
sunset. And that would have had to take place at the end of the
Sabbath, since on the morning of the first day of the week the tomb was
empty. So, let's see if that pans out.
It is Matthew's account of these events that gives us the details that
we need to see exactly when Jesus rose from the dead and came out of his
grave. The common translations of Matthew's account usually read
something like this: In
the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day
of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord
descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,
and sat upon it. (28:1-2, KJV) The NIV renders it this way: After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first
day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the
tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord
came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and
sat on it. And the New American Standard Version says this: Now after the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe
earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. Judging from these translations, it would appear that
the Marys came by on Sunday morning to find an empty tomb. But,
the only way for the prophesy to be fulfilled precisely, since he was
buried at sunset, is if Jesus was raised at sunset on the Sabbath, as it
was turning into the first day of the week. And the Greek text provides us with
the detail to answer this problem. The Greek word which is
translated as "as it began to dawn" and "at dawn" and "as it began to
dawn" in the translations above, is th/|
evpifwskou,sh| (pronounced tay epiphos-kousay). This
root word, according to the BDAG Lexicon, means to grow
towards or become daylight, shine forth, dawn, break, perh.
draw on. While it's not apparent from
that definition, perhaps the final rendering of this word fits in our
context: "as it began to draw on towards the first day of the
week." What makes this rendering of our
word compelling is the other place in the New Testament where this word
occurs. Epiphosko only occurs two times in all the New
Testament. The other occurrence is in Luke's Gospel where Yoseph
is seen wrapping the deceased body of the Master and laying it in the
tomb: ...this man went to Pilate and asked for
the body of Jesus. 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. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was
about to begin. (Luke 23:52-54, New American Standard) Epiphosko is translated "was about to begin"
in the phrase "and the Sabbath was about to begin." What
does epiphosko indicate here? It is referencing the evening
hour as the sun was setting. It is easy to see in this context
that this is what it refers to. You see, in Hebrew reckoning, it
is at sunset when the next day begins. So, epiphosko is a
technical term for the onset of a new day at sunset! An understanding and proper
translation of the Greek text changes things, doesn't it? So, the
Greek textual evidence indicates that Yahusha was gone from the tomb at
sunset on the Sabbath, according to Matthew's account of things. Thus, he was in the heart of the earth
exactly three days and three nights and no longer nor less, just as he had said so many times.
What About the Other
Gospel Accounts? If Matthew 28:1 is telling us that
the tomb was empty just after sunset (Saturday evening),
then what about the testimony of the other gospels in regard to the Marys visiting the tomb? Don't they tell us that it was early
morning on the first day of the week? Let's check it out. In Mark's account, the translations
indicate early morning as the time of their visitation to the tomb: When the Sabbath was over, Miryam of
Magdala, Miryam the mother of Ya'acov, and Salome bought spices so that
they might go to anoint Yahusha's body. Very early on the first
day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the
entrance of the tomb?" But when they looked up, they saw that the
stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. (Mark 16:1-4) But this translation, like nearly
all other English Bible translations, takes some liberties on the
meaning of the Greek text. A more literal rendering of the text of
Mark would read like this: And when the Sabbath had elapsed,
Miryam Miryam the mother of Ya'acov, and Salome bought spices so that
they might go to anoint Yahusha's body. And very early on the
first of Weeks they came to the grave as the sun was rising... The first sentence indicates that
they bought the spices on the day after the first day of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, which is a day of rest on which they could not
purchase the spices. Then it says that on the first of the Weeks
(probably a better translation than "the first day of the week"), they
came to the tomb. There is clearly a space of time between the
first statement and the second, which is the day between the first day
of the Feast and the weekly Sabbath. That was the day they
purchased the spices. Then he speaks of "very early" on
the first of Weeks, which is the first day of the week. "Very
early" is not very precise. It could be the middle of the night.
It could be just before the light of morning appeared. We just
don't know specifically at what time he is referring to. But we shouldn't get bogged down
into the exact time the Marys arrived at the tomb, because when they
arrived at the tomb, Yahusha was not there! Mark never tells us
when Yahusha came back to life and came out of the tomb. He only
tells us when the women found the tomb empty! So Mark's account
tells us nothing about when Yahusha was raised. It only tells us
that at sunrise on the first day of the week, he was not there. Luke's account reads a little
differently. On the first day of the week, very
early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the
tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Master
Yahusha. (Luke 24:1-3) The Greek here is o;rqrou
baqe,wj (pronounced orthrou bathe-os) and is usually
rendered at dawn or at daybreak. So, like's Mark's
account, Luke records that the Marys came to the tomb very early in the
morning, as the sun was just coming up. But what is important in Luke's
account is not the exact time the Marys came to the tomb. When
they arrived, the stone had already been rolled away and the body of the
Master was not there. Luke says nothing about the time of
Yahusha's resurrection and coming out of the grave. He only
records when the women came to the empty tomb. Turning to the Fourth Gospel, which
is usually attributed to John, we find yet another point of view about
when the women came:
And on the first of the Weeks (perhaps "first day of the week") Mariam
the Magdalene came early while it was still dark to the tomb and
saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she came
running to Shimon Kepha and the other disciple, the one Yahusha loved,
and said to them, "They have taken the Master out of the tomb, and we
don't know where they have put him!"
This Gospel puts the time of the
women's arrival at the tomb before sunrise, while it was still
dark. And again, Mary finds an empty tomb. The Fourth
Gospel does not tell us when Jesus came back to life and left the tomb.
It only tells us when Mary discovered him missing from the tomb. An interesting point to ponder about all four
gospel accounts is that they all record that, at the very latest, the
women arrived at the empty tomb at sunrise or earlier. Therefore,
those who believe in the Friday/Sunday theory have to admit that they
cannot even count Sunday as one of the days of the Three Days / Three
nights prophesy of the Master. Therefore, in the scenario they
embrace, Jesus was only in the tomb for one day and two nights.
Since he was placed in the tomb at sunset on Friday, you cannot count
Friday as one of the days. And Sunday is eliminated too. The
Friday/Sunday theory just simply does not fit in with the biblical data
and therefore must be wrong.
We have presented the biblical evidence that the Master Jesus said over
and over again that he would be put to death, that he would be in the
grave for three days and three nights, and that he would raise up from
the dead on the third day and after three days.
The Friday death / Sunday morning resurrection theory embraced by most
of the Christian world does not make sense. In order to believe
that theory, you are required to be unable to count to three, you must
reject the evidence and testimony of Jesus and the Scriptures, and you
must put your sensibilities aside.
On the other hand, if we can count to three, and if we believe what
Jesus said about the time frame of his burial, and if we believe the
Scriptures and accept them with our sensibilities, we can know for sure
that Jesus was indeed in the grave for three days and three nights, that
he rose on the third day, and that he came to life after three days.
The scenario when all of these conditions are met is to understand that
the Master was put to death in the middle of the week, which is the
fourth day - the one we call Wednesday. He was placed in the tomb
at sunset on Wednesday evening. He spent a full three days and
three nights in the grave - which are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
nights, and Thursday, Friday and Saturday daytime. That comes to
three days and three nights. As the third day was coming to a
close at sunset, the Master came to life and came out of the tomb.
That fulfills the prediction that he would rise on the third day (it was
still the third day and was the very last moment of Saturday), and the
predication that after three days he would rise (the three days were
concluded)
Then, sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning (the Gospels
each tell their own account), the women found the empty tomb. And
the rest is a matter of record.
Our faith does not require us to believe and accept tenants that are
unreasonable and cannot be substantiated. We are only required to
believe and trust in the integrity of the promises of our Elohim and our
Master the Messiah. The Wednesday sunset through Saturday sunset
model of the time of our Master's burial makes perfect sense of all the
facts of Scripture. Won't you accept this as the correct
interpretation of Scripture and the truth of these things?
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