Each year just before the Passover season we seem to be inundated both in written material and oral proclamations by the nay sayers of a Good Friday crucifixion of Christ. Every scheme imaginable is suggested to explain how and why Jesus was not crucified on a Friday because that would not allow for Him being in the grave three days and three nights, as the Bible declares. We are tutored on a Wednesday execution for Christ, extra sabbaths, a passover breakfast heretofore never mentioned, and even a late Saturday resurrection. I weary with this each year and for the most part have ignored it as so much braying of equus asini.
Finally, after the prodding of many friends I have decided to add my comments to the debate of whether or not Jesus was in the grave a full 72 hours. My conclusion will be that He was not; nor did he need to be to satisfy the prediction of being in the grave three days. What follows will be my explanation of the events.
The method applied in this study is called the Inductive Method of Bible Study. Inductive Bible study is an approach to God’s Word focusing on three basic steps that move from a general overview to specifics. Through these three steps, we apply inductive reasoning, which is defined as the attempt to use information about a specific situation to draw a conclusion. The steps are observation (what does it say?), interpretation (what does it mean?), and application (for this present topic: how is the meaning applicable to biblical doctrine).
Let us begin.
I. OBSERVATION
The Pharisees demonstrated their impertinence in asking Jesus for a sign that He was of God just after accusing Him of performing His miracles by the power of Beelzebub. It was in that setting that Jesus gave the “Sign of Jonah” as the thing that would authenticate His credentials to the world for all time to come.
The task of Bible teachers is to interpret the Word of God in such a way that every part is in harmony. The Psalmist writes: “The sum of Your word is truth ...” (Ps 119:160 NASB). Therefore to arrive at the truth of this, or any, subject it is necessary to gather together in one place all the information the Word of God provides on our topic. It will be a little tedious to read (yet necessary), but given here is a catalogue of the texts that are germane to this study. Please take the time, and effort, to become familiar with these texts.
Jesus announces the Sign of Jonah (the Resurrection)
Matthew 12:38-42,
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas 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. 41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Matthew 16:14,
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. And he left them, and departed.
Luke 11:29-32,
And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
John 2:18-22,
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
The Circumstances Surrounding Christ’s Death
Matthew 27:45-46,
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
vv57-58, When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
Vv62-66, Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. 65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. 66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
Matthew 28: 1,
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.
V13, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
V47, And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.
Mark 15:25,
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
V33-34, And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Vv42-43, And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
Mark 16:1-2,
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
V9, Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
Luke 23:44,
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
Luke 23:54,
And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
Luke 24:1-2,
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
Vv6-8, He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet 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,
Vv13ff, And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. … 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 … and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
John 18:28,
Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
John 19:14, And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
v31, The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Vv41-42, Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, … 42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
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.
V19, Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
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II. INTERPRETATION
Having pulled the Scriptures together into one place that relate of the subject of the interment of the Savior we will set about interpreting all the texts. Since no one evangelist gave all the information we must mine the texts in order to arrive at the biblical picture. So what follows will be the events as recorded in the Gospels.
Upon being challenged by certain of the scribes and Pharisees to produce a sign, Jesus refused. Instead He promised that as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the great fish (Jonah 1:17), so He would be three days and nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39-40; 16:14; Luke 11:29-32; John 2:18-22). Jesus’ reference to the “heart of the earth” is an allusion to the grave. (This statement could be extrapolated to include His visit to the underworld where he preached to the souls in prison etc. But that is not our point of interest here.) This is called the “Sign of Jonah” (Matthew 12:39; 16:14; Luke 11:29). It is observed that in Luke’s parallel passage the “heart of the earth” and the time spent there is omitted. (E.g. Luke 11:29-30, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.) Nor is there any other reference in the New Testament of three days and three nights. This has lead some to suggest that the reading as we have it in the first Gospel is an interpolation of Matthew’s original text. If it is, it found its way into the text very early, for it appears in all available sources. It is this writers opinion that since other texts of holy Scripture support the three days, albeit not the three days and three nights, (i.e. John 2:18-22 and Matthew 27:63) we must allow at least the three days entombment as being genuine in Matthew 12:39-40.
Upon Jesus’ arrest He was brought before Annas and Caiaphas, the hight priests. Then “from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they (the Jews) themselves went not into the judgment hall (Praetorium: Roman headquarters, the barracks; as a dwelling place of the Gentiles it was unclean), lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover” (John 18:28). The Jews would not go into Pilate’s judgement hall because they had to keep themselves clean in order to eat the Passover meal that night. We are told by Luke, and several times by John, that this particular day was the day of preparation for the sabbath (Luke 23:54; John 18:28; 19:14, 31). The Jewish day is religiously reckoned from sundown to sundown; the Jewish sabbath (Saturday), then, began at sundown on Friday evening. The day of preparation lasted from sundown Thursday to sundown Friday. This means that the arrest, the trials early in the day, the crucifixion during midday and the burial all took place on the day of preparation: i.e. Friday. We are further told that this particular sabbath was a high day, or high sabbath (John 19:31). The weekly sabbath became a high sabbath when one of the seven feast days of the Jews (Leviticus 23) happened to occur at the same time. In the case before us the passover and the weekly sabbath coincided: thus, making the weekly sabbath a high day. Some have suggested that the passover sabbath was Thursday (or some other day) and not on Saturday this year. We do not think that possible, because the feast day sabbaths do not require a day of preparation. While the seven feasts are days of rest (Leviticus 23), they did not carry the prohibitions from all work, like lighting fires (Exodus 35:3) and food preparation (Exodus 16:4, 23). Only the creation sabbath (weekly sabbath) has these proscriptions, and, thus, required such a day. The day of preparation, before the creation sabbath, is so established that the name the Jews used for Friday, the sixth day of the week, was "Preparation Day." In the Greek language, this is true even today: Παρασκευὴ (Paraskeuê). Moreover, the presence of the day of preparation excludes this passover sabbath from being any other than the weekly sabbath that year.
The evangelist John lets us know that at 6:00 AM on the day of preparation Pilate presented a purple robed, beaten and throne crowned Christ before the Jewish authorities and said “Behold your King” (John 19:14). It is important that we acknowledge that John references 6:00 AM as the sixth hour. Whereas Mark reckons the time of the actual crucifixion as the third hour, or 9:00 AM, John references 6:00 AM as the six hour. This confusion is cleared up when we understand that Mark is referencing time according to the daylight hours that begin at 6:00 AM. John, on the other hand, is using Roman time which reckons the day to begin at 12:00 AM (midnight), as we do today. Further evidence of reckoning time from midnight in Roman provinces is found in the martyrdoms of Polycarp and Pionius: “at the eighth hour” (8:00 Am), and at “the tenth hour” (10:00 AM): Mart. Pol. xxi; Acta Mart. p. 137; respectively. Our modern method is sometimes spoken of as the Roman method. Further evidence that John is using Roman time reckoning is John 20:19 where he writes of the late Sunday evening visitation of Christ with His disciples as the “same day” as the early morning resurrection. If he were using Jewish time, the late evening would have been the day AFTER, not the same day, the events of the resurrection.
We know from the evangelist Mark that Jesus was crucified at 9:00 AM; he called it the “third hour” (Mark 15:25). Mark further tells us that at 12:00 PM darkness came “over the whole land” until 3:00 PM: he referenced the time of the darkness as from the “sixth hour” until the “ninth hour.” All the synoptic gospels are in agreement: see Matthew 27:45 & Luke 23:44. The division of the day by hours is first mentioned in Daniel 3:6, 15; 4:19; 5:5. This system of time-keeping was borrowed from the Chaldeans. Sunrise to sunset was divided into 12 hours, and the hours were of variable length depending on the length of sunlight (John 11:9). It was 3:00 PM (the ninth hour) that Jesus cried “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”: Matthew 27:46. It was at this time that Jesus gave up His spirit and died (Matthew 27:50).
At some point after mid afternoon the Jews, because it was the day of preparation and not wanting the bodies on the cross during the passover, came to Pilate and requested the legs of the crucified persons be broken (John 19:31). This way they could not left themselves on their legs to breath and would die sooner of asphyxiation. Then their bodies could be removed (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).
It is now evening (between 3:00 PM and sunset); Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, and Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews asks Pilate for the body of Jesus (Matthew 27:57-56; Mark 15:42-43; John 19:38-39). Because it is late in the day or preparation and the Sabbath is quickly approaching there is urgency to get Jesus’ body off the cross and into the tomb before sundown. Joseph’s tomb happens to be near the place of crucifixion and Jesus is interned there because of the nearness and the approaching sabbath (Matthew 27:57-58; Mark 15:42-43; Luke 23:54; John 19:41-42). Thus, we know that Jesus was in the tomb BEFORE sunset on the day of preparation.
The women that had come from Galilee with Christ follow the men and see where they buried the Lord (Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55).
It is now Friday evening after sunset, which is the Jewish sabbath. It is also the passover this particular year. The Jews are celebrating the first day of Unleavened Bread and the passover meal is being eaten. Jesus is in the grave and the disciples are in their own places during the passover sabbath. No one is celebrating the passover meal this year— they are in mourning and hiding. In the future, the disciple would refer to the Last Supper they had with Christ on the evening before the passover as their passover meal that year (Luke 22).
"Now the next day, the following day of the preparation, the chief priest and the pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 Saying, sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was still alive, After three days I will rise again. 64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse that the first. 65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as you can. 66 so they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." Matthew 27:62-66.
Early in the morning on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, started for the tomb while it was still dark bringing the spices which they had prepared after the sabbath ended the previous night. They arrive at the tomb after sun rise and find the tomb empty (Mark 16:1-2; Luke 24:1-2; John 20:1). Jesus had raise early on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). At the tomb, instead of Christ, they found two angels who reminded them that Jesus had said that he would rise ON the third day, not AFTER the third day (Luke 24:7).
Later in the day, on the first day of the week, two of Christ’s disciples set out on the road to Emmaus: 7.5 miles from Jerusalem. Along the way Jesus joins them and teaches them during the journey — though His identity is withheld from them. They arrive at their destination and invite Jesus to lodge with them for the night—for the day is far spent (late afternoon at best). During the evening meal Jesus is revealed to them and He vanished out of their sight. Upon this revelation the two disciple immediately start back for Jerusalem; another 7.5 miles. Now, a military forced march is expected to cover 4 miles in one hour. So, at best speed this journey back to Jerusalem took 2 hours. It is now after sundown (7 or 8 o-clock at the earliest), the disciple are all together; all, except Thomas. The Emmaus road travelers go immediately to the disciples and relate their story, and hear of Christ’s appearance to Peter earlier in the day. “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” (Luke 24:13-35 cf John 20:19). By John referencing both the early dawn journey of the women to the tomb and the night appearance of Jesus, to the disciples behind closed doors, as taking place on the first day of the week (added to his time reference of Pilate’s presentation of Jesus as the Jew’s King as the sixth hour) is proof positive that John is reckoning time by the Roman method: from midnight to midnight; not the Jewish method: from sundown to sundown.
III. APPLICATION
In our study of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ so far we have observed what the Bible says about the events; we have interpreted the events as the Bible gave them; now it is time to apply what we have discovered to how these things should affect biblical doctrine.
While the “Sign of Jonah” certainly includes much more that the time Jesus spent in the grave as compared to the time Jonah spent in the belly of the whale, the amount of time in the fish is our subject in this writing.
There seems to be no end of amateur Bible expositors who want to demonstrate their knowledge, and reveal the ignorance of the rest of us. We are told that Jesus predicted He would be in the grave three full days and three full nights: a total of 72 hours. Then it is asserted that from Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning was not the required 72 hours Jesus’ had promised as the ‘Sign of Jonah.” Of course this sounds true, and the uninformed feel lied to by their churches when it is preached that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter morning. Since Jesus would not lie, we are told, then it must be the Church that is deceiving the people. And then all kinds of “pagan” reasons are put forward as to why the Church has misled the people for two millennia. Within all the jabber jabbing there is always an attack on the Church’s holy days of Good Friday and Easter. These are pagan, we are told, and the reason for the deception is to trick Christians into worshipping pagan deities.
Firstly, it should be asked, “What kind of audacity and presumption does it take to even question two thousand years of Christian tradition and understanding of holy Scripture, let alone bring a charge of blasphemy against the observance of Good Friday and Easter? I mean, Who are these people? No one could ever accuse them of being humble, or unpretentious.
Secondly, they have their “facts” wrong. We have often heard that everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions, but no one is entitled to his/her own set of facts. For example it is not a “fact” that the Bible declares Jesus would be in the grave a full 72 hours. The Scripture does say three days (Matthew 27:63; Luke 27:7; John 2:18-22). And we could go further and allow three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40). But biblically any part of a day or night is counted for the complete day or night. “In Jewish communal life part of a day is at times reckoned as one day; e.g., the day of the funeral, even when the latter takes place late in the afternoon, is counted as the first of the seven days of mourning; a short time in the morning of the seventh day is counted as the seventh day; circumcision takes place on the eighth day, even though of the first day only a few minutes remained after the birth of the child, these being counted as one day. Again, a man who hears of a vow made by his wife or his daughter, and desires to cancel the vow, must do so on the same day on which he hears of it, as otherwise the protest has no effect; even if the hearing takes place a little time before night, the annulment must be done within that little time. …” (1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, DAY (Hebrew, “yom"). In this manner, the Jews reckoned time in such a way that if an event touched on any part of three days, it was considered a three-day event—ending on the third day. Concerning the time Jesus was in the grave, both the two Angels at the grave, and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus testify that Jesus resurrected during, not after, the third day (Luke 24:7 & 21 respectively). If Jesus was in the grave a full 72 hours the disciples on the road to Emmaus could not have said: “to day is the third day since these things were done.” They would have said “today is the fourth day … .” Likewise, the Angels testified that Jesus had said that He would raise on the third day. If He was in the grave a full 72 hours he would have resurrection on the fourth day instead of the third. So, a full 72 hours are not possible. Technically, three days and three nights could be as little as 38 hours, or three days could be as little as 26 hours.
Thirdly, the insistence on reckoning time in the Jewish modal has caused an unworkable time table for the Scriptural information given to us, if one insists on three days and three nights and not just three days. It is clear from what we know from the biblical information that the “Sign of Jonah” is to be reckoned by the Gentile modal. The first indicator is given when Jesus said the only sign would be the “Sign of Jonah”: Jonah was the prophet to the Gentile city of Nineveh. The second barometer is given by the fact of Jesus’ executioners were Gentiles (Romans). But the final witness was that the evangelists whom recorded the crucifixion, burial and resurrection did so in/with a Gentile time model. Matthew, Mark and Luke used the Chaldean hours of the day: before the captivity the Jewish day was originally divided into 3 parts—evening and morning and noon (Psalms 55:17); after the captivity the day was divided into hours (Daniel 3:6, 15; 4:19; 5:5; Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:25; Luke 23:44). The evangelist John used the Roman model of reckoning time from midnight (John 19:14; 20:19). Therefore, to attempt to understand the three days and three nights with the Jewish model would give us three days and two nights, at best. But by reckoning the “Sign of Jonah” by the Gentile (Roman) model the “Sign of Jonah” is fulfilled.
It looks like this: Jesus is in the grave before sundown on Friday (Friday day = first day), from 6:00 PM till midnight Friday (Friday night = first night); from midnight Friday till sun-up Saturday morning (night time Saturday = second night), daylight hours Saturday (Saturday day = second day), sun-down Saturday till midnight (second part of Saturday night = still the second night); midnight Saturday til sun-up Sunday (night time Sunday = third night), sun-up Sunday till resurrection (Sunday daylight [even if minutes] = third day).
Final Thoughts
There has been a long standing debate over Matthew 12:40, “for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Not least of the debate is whether or not these are ipsissima verba of Christ. Since the “three days and three nights” do not appear in any other New Testament accounting of the “Sign of Jonah” it is highly likely that an early scribe brought Jonah’s words (from Jonah 1:17) into Matthew’s text. It has already been demonstrated that scribal interpolations have entered Matthew in the person of the Trinitarian baptismal formula of 28:19. If it were ever proven that the “three days and three nights” clause is an interpolation then the events are much easier to bring into agreement with the “Sign of Jonah.” Since all we would have to do is show Christ in the grave three days, which is easily done no matter the time model one uses. In such a scenario there would be no need to divide the second night into two halves as I have done in order to show three nights. However, I am content that the approach I applied is sound.
We have demonstrated that the evidence supports the traditional view that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon and was in the grave part of Friday (the day of preparation cf. Luke 23:54-55), all of Saturday (Luke 23:56), and part of Sunday, the first day of the week (Luke 24:1). So not only is the Friday crucifixion and Sunday resurrection taught in holy Scripture, but also Christian tradition has always maintained. Notice the words of Justin Martyr: "For he was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you for your consideration," (First Apology, 67, AD 155-157).
To recap what we have seem so far I offer the following, with a few added points, as my summary:
(1) To us, three days and three nights generally means 72 hours, but we must understand the Bible historically and culturally. For the Jewish mind, this could mean any part of the first day, all of the second day, and any part of the third day. This is obvious by comparing Esther 4:16 and 5:1. Esther mentioned fasting for three days and nights and said that she would then go into the king, which she did, but 5:1 tells us clearly that it was on the third day that she went into the king, not after three days or on the fourth. This simply illustrates the way the Jews reckoned time.
(2) Further, the statement “after three days” could mean to the Jewish mind “on the third day” since any part of that day was considered the third day (cf. Matt. 27:63-64). Note the statements, “after three days” and securing the tomb until the third day. More will be said on this below.
(3) But on the third day could not mean on the fourth day, i.e., after a full 72 hours. By comparing Luke 24:1 with 24:21 we read that they arrived at the tomb on the third day when we see in verse 21 it is stated that “it is the third day.” This would be impossible to say if Jesus had stayed in the tomb for a full 72 hours, for He would have then resurrected on the fourth day.
(4) Also, “the day of preparation” (Luke 23:54) could only refer to Friday before the sabbath since no work of any kind could be done on the sabbath. On special sabbaths, such as holy days, domestic work could be done like making fires and cooking. No special preparation was needed for these feast day sabbaths. We might also note that the “day of preparation,” the Greek paraskeue, means Friday in modern Greek. See Ex. 16:22-23. The point here is that the weekly sabbath was the only time a preparation day was needed, The creation sabbath, is our Saturday.
(5) In several passages (the majority, about 4-1) it is said Jesus would rise “on the third day.” If the resurrection occurred after a full 72 hours (3 days) it would have been on the fourth. Compare Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Luke 24:7, 21, 46; 1 Cor. 15:4. See below also regarding the use of the dative case here.
(6) Comparing all that is said in Luke 23:54-24:1 and John 19:31, settles the issue because of the day of preparation, Friday, being needed to prepare for the sabbath, along with the fact the women came to the tomb on Sunday morning which is described as the third day.
(7) Finally, the Jews who heard the Lord use the phrase “three days” in Matt. 12:40 did not seem to necessarily understand a full 72 hours. Compare their comment in Matt. 27:62-64: “Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.” Notice, they said, “until the third day”, not, “until the fourth.” Matthew could have used a Greek construction here which would have stressed through (duration) the third day, but using the preposition ἕως with the genitive, it basically meant “till or up to” and does not stress the idea of duration meaning “through.” The genitive case typically stresses during, at, or within a time range. Had the accusative been used alone or with a different preposition, it could have stressed extent or duration of time. It is probably significant that “Every occurrence of the ‘the third day’ with reference to Jesus’ resurrection in the Gospels is put in the dat. (dative case) without an accompanying preposition” (Dan Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basic, Zondervan, p. 156). The significance of this is that nouns used in the dative case like “the third day” express a point in time rather than duration of time. So it means, “at a point in time, on the third day.”
Conclusion
We have established, to anyone with one eye and walking around sense, that the Jewish passover coincided with the weekly sabbath on this particular year. For the integrity of the Old Testament to remain intact as the schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24) for the New Covenant, Jesus the passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) had to be killed at the same time the priests were slaughtering pascha lambs in the temple courtyard. He was! That is why we call it Good Friday. Furthermore, just as the Hebrews were instructed to put all leaven (a type of sin) out of their houses on the feast of unleavened bread (Exodus 12;15), Jesus who became sin for all men (2 Corinthians 5:21) was taken outside Jerusalem, killed and was buried. Moreover, the feast of first fruits was on the day after the passover sabbath and this is why Christ arose from the grave on the first day of the week to become the first fruits of them that die in faith (1 Corinthians 15:23). Any attack on the Good Friday death and burial and the Easter resurrection is an attack on the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ and anathema to all the faithful.
Apostolically Speaking
☩☩ Jerry L Hayes
Hello friends, I am a full time biblical researcher. I rely on freewill love offerings (from those of you who benefit from my work) and book sales for my support. Would you please consider leaving a small donation at the link provided here? Thank you for your support. -JLH
