The Day Death Died - Part 4

The Third Day Changes Everything

There is a Pattern Third Day Encounters in the Scripture:

In short:

1) The Third Day is When God Speaks to the Wanderer

Setting of Exodus 19:10–20

Time in the Story

About three months after the Exodus from Egypt

Israel has just arrived and is preparing to enter covenant relationship with God

Location:

At the foot of Mount Sinai (also called Horeb) in the wilderness

After Israel leaves Egypt and journeys through the desert

This is the mountain where Moses first encountered God in the burning bush (Exodus 3).

Exodus 19:10–11, 16

Exodus 19:10–11 NKJV

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Exodus 19:16 NKJV

16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

Exodus 19:17 NKJV

17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Exodus 19:18–19 NKJV

18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.

Exodus 19:20 NKJV

20 Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Israel had been delivered mightily from Egypt. The Ten Plagues.

They had been given the sign of the Passover. The sign of the cross.

They had spoiled the Egyptians - the spoils of war.

They had been eating Manna for about a month and a half.

And yet they were wandering in the Wilderness. They had been there 3 months and the most direct route from Egypt to the Promised Land (Canaan) was 11 days. They were aimless.

“If you don’t know where you’re headed, any road will take you there.”

They needed to hear from God.

God makes His Covenant with them and gives them the 10 Commandments as a guide.

2) The Third Day is When God Gives the Runaway a Second Chance

Tell the Story of Jonah

Jonah 1:17–2:2 CSB

17 The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish: 2 I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice.

Jonah 2:10–3:3 NKJV

10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. 1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

Jesus uses Jonah’s encounter as a Sign of His Divinity:

Matthew 12:38–40 NKJV

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 12:41 NKJV

41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

Three Day and Nights - Day in the Hebrew understanding: A night and a day was considered a “Day,” but any portion could be counted as a whole.

3) The Third Day is When the Terminal Becomes the Temporary

2 Kings 20:1–6 NKJV

1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ” 2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”

Isaiah 53:1–6 NKJV

1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

4) The Third Day is When God Teaches the Meaning of Sacrifice

Genesis 22:1–5 NKJV

1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

The term “Moriah” in the Hebrew language, is a construct of two words. MORI = my teacher, and YA = the short version of the name Yahweh.

According to this, The entire region is properly named “God is my teacher”

On Mt. Moriah, God was teaching Abraham what true worship is:

Hebrews 11:17–19 NKJV

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Gen. 22:5 is the first place “worship” is used in Scripture

Romans 12:1 NIV

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Worship involves sacrifice. It is the letting go of the thing that you hold on to tightest so that you can place God in that position.

On Mt. Moriah, God was teaching Abraham what trust was.

On Mt. Moriah, God was teaching Abraham His plan of redemption that would take place nearly two thousand years later.

5) The Third Day is The Day Death Dies and Life is Restored

Luke 24:1–8 NKJV

1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” 8 And they remembered His words.

God’s original plan was to fellowship with His creation forever.

Two trees: Knowledge and Life

Eat of the tree of Life and live forever

“The Lord said, “They now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever.” Genesis 3:22 (CEV)

In order to restore life as God intended it, both sin and death had to be defeated.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 NKJV

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9–10 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”