Three Days and Three Nights

Matt 12:40

Now I’d like to look into another Misunderstood Text of the Bible and again this will really smack in the face of tradition and possible upset a number of you. But again, our hearts desire should always ask “What saith the scripture” and not what church history or the tradition of man teaches. We must read the Bible and believe what IT says. As God does not want us to be ignorant brethren.

With that said, I’d wish to look at the days starting with the crucifixion and ending with the glorious day of the resurrection of the week of His Passion. Tradition tells us explicitly that Jesus was crucified on Friday [Good Friday] and rose again on Sunday [Resurrection morning] and while I am in complete agreement that Jesus rose from the death on Sunday, I have to question the day of His crucifixion.

Why? Because in Matthew 12:40 Jesus make this explicit statement about the duration of His death and resurrection . He says “For as Jonas [or Jonah} was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” And later, Jesus repeats this with increased emphasis as a specific sign to the nation of Israel that he is their Messiah in Matthew 16:4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas [Jonah]...” This makes it clear that the duration of His time in the earth is a sign to them and that the story of Jonah was a type of our Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection. And the 2nd temple Jews believed that Jonah was literally 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish.

The issue at hand is that Jesus claims that He will be in the heart of the earth, “3 days and 3 nights. The fact that “three days” is used by Hebrew idiom for any part of three days I do not dispute; because that was the common way of reckoning. But, when the number of “nights” is stated as well as the number of “days”, then the expression ceases to be an idiom, and becomes a literal statement of fact. XXX Let me say that again, the partial day idea does not apply when both days and nights are mentioned together as a duration. And It will be noted that the Lord states this twice, so that we may not mistake it.

Now, the most significant understanding that we must unlearn is that the reckoning of a day and a night by the Jews was different that our Gentile way of reckoning the beginning and ending of a day. The Hebrew day began at sunset, and the day was reckoned from one sunset to another, the “twelve hours in the day” (John 11:9) being reckoned from sunrise, and the twelve hours of the night from sunset. This is taken from God’s description of a day in Genesis Chapter 1 when He says “the evening and the morning were the first day”. So, according to the Jewish reckoning of a day and the understanding of the gospel writers and their readers was that a day started at 6pm [the evening], then 12 hours later was the start of day at 6am [which lasted another 12 hours] and ended at 6pm the next day.

And one more fact that we need to take into consideration is that there were two sabbaths that week. The “high day” or sabbath is mentioned in John 19:31 and is the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread and this “high day” immediately followed the Passover. We learn this from Lev. 23:5-7. And we know that Jesus had to be buried before the that High day as the Jews insisted at Pilate that bodies should not remain on the cross on that sabbath day for that was an high day John 19:31. This is the reason Jesus had to be buried before sunset or 6pm, before the start of the High Day. Then there was the regular sabbath on Saturday which is not called an high day.

So this day before the High day [which is the Passover} is the day of the last supper, the betrayal, the agony in the garden, the arrest, and the scourging and the denials. Which all happened at night from 6pm to 6am. Then in the daylight hours, the events of the crucifixion occur. And Jesus is buried before 6pm, on the end of the day of preparation or Passover. XXX

Now, if we accept that the 3 days and 3 nights are to be understood as full, literal days, then the crucifixion had to take place on our Wednesday. And that puts Jesus in the earth from Wednesday at 6pm to Thursday 6pm [the first night and the first day]. Then Thursday at 6pm to Friday at 6pm [ the second night and second day]. And finally, fromFriday at 6pm to Saturday at 6pm which is the third night and the third day. And since the Jewish Sunday started on our Saturday at 6pm this is when Jesus rose from the dead. On Sunday according to the Jewish day, on Saturday night according to our Gentile day.

But someone will say that Jesus rose from the dead at sunrise on Sunday. Well not according to the Gospel of John chapter John 20:1 “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.” So Jesus rose from the dead before sunrise, long before sunrise. And according to the sign of the 3 days and 3 night in the heart of the earth, Jesus had to rise right after 6pm on Saturday so as not to be in the earth for a fourth night.

So folks, Jesus died on Wednesday!!! We should be celebrating GOOD Wednesday, not Good Friday. As far as we know, nothing happened on Friday. Thursday was the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread and was a high sabbath day and Friday was the second day of the feast and then Saturday was another sabbath. This is what has to be if we are to accept that Jesus meant 3 full days and 3 full nights in the earth. XXX

But, I know that you will say that these days and nights were only partial days and nights. Well, even if we account that the 3 days and 3 nights are taken as partial days, and if Jesus was crucified on Friday, then, According to the Jewish day, you could get Friday as a day, but not a night as night, for night preceeded daylight in the Jewish day. Then Saturday would be counted as a night then a day and Sunday only as a night, since Jesus arose before dawn, So partial days don’t get you 3 nights or 3 days.

What if we use the Gentile reckoning for a day? Does that work? Let’s see, using partial days you can get a day and night for Friday, a day and night for Saturday and only a night for Sunday since Jesus rose before dawn. So that doesn’t even give us 3 days and 3 nights. So folks, since Jesus made it clear that He was to spend 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth and since this was meant to be a sign for the nation of Israel, we cannot just blow the number of days and nights off. Tradition has got this timeline wrong and contradicts the prophesy of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it is wise to ignore a prophesy from the very mouth of Jesus.

Now, lest you think, hey Gary what does it matter what day Jesus was crucified? My response is that this is the Word of God out of the Mouth of God and is intended to be a sign that He is God. Isn’t the Word of God more important than the traditions of men. Jesus scolded the Pharisees for making void the Word of God by the traditions of men. And the disciples in the book of Acts replied to the Sanhedrin when they were told to stop teaching about this Jesus said, “We Ought To Obey God Rather Than Men” Acts 5:29. So this prophesy about the most important days in history is a big deal.

Now, I know that this might seem a bit confusing, so I am attaching in the description below, a cool YouTube presentation of the timeline of the 3 days and 3 nights. A picture makes a world of difference.

https://youtu.be/EmtyYqq11Qc?si=jiZ5MbcBoTwksV4W

So, there you have it. What are you going to believe? Tradition? or The Word of God? The choice is yours. But now you know and understand the meaning of what Jesus meant when He stated that He would spend 3 days and 3 nights in the earth. And now you know on what day Jesus truly was crucified. You cannot unhear this. He that hath ears, let him hear. And now this is no longer a misunderstood text of the Bible.