Jesus Wasn't Crucified on Friday or Resurrected on Sunday: How long was Jesus in the tomb?

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Jesus Wasn't Crucified on Friday or Resurrected on Sunday

How long was Jesus in the tomb?

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Jesus Wasn't Crucified on Friday or Resurrected on Sunday: How long was Jesus in the tomb?

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About one billion Protestants and another billion Catholics believe that Jesus Christ was crucified and entombed on a Friday afternoon—"Good Friday"—and raised to life again at daybreak on Easter Sunday morning, a day and a half later.

Yet when we compare this to what Jesus Himself said about how long He would be entombed, we find a major contradiction. How long did Jesus say He would be in the grave? "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 12:40).

The key to understanding the timing of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection lies in understanding God's timetable for counting when days begin and end, as well as the timing of His biblical festivals during the spring of the year when these events took place.

The context in which Jesus Christ said these words is important. The scribes and Pharisees were demanding a miraculous sign from Him to prove that He was indeed the long-awaited Messiah. "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'" (verse 39).

This was the only sign Jesus gave that He was the promised Messiah: "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" (emphasis added throughout).

Traditional timing doesn't add up

The Gospels are clear that Jesus died and His body was hurriedly placed in the tomb late in the afternoon, just before sundown when a Sabbath began (John 19:30-42).

By the traditional "Good Friday–Easter Sunday" timing, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown is one night and one day. Saturday night to Sunday daybreak is another night, giving us two nights and one day.

So where do we get another night and two days to equal the three days and three nights Jesus said He would be in the tomb?

This is definitely a problem. Most theologians and religious scholars try to work around it by arguing that any part of a day or night counts as a day or night. Thus, they say, the final few minutes of that Friday afternoon were the first day, all day Saturday was the second day, and the first few minutes of Sunday morning were the third day.

Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

The trouble is, it doesn't work. This only adds up to three days and two nights, not three days and three nights.

Also, John 20:1 tells us that "on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb."

Did you catch the problem here? John tells us it was still dark when Mary went to the tomb on Sunday morning and found it empty. Jesus was already resurrected well before daybreak. Thus He wasn't in the tomb any of the daylight portion of Sunday, so none of that can be counted as a day.

That leaves us with, at most, part of a day on Friday, all of Friday night, a whole daylight portion on Saturday, and most of Saturday night. That totals one full day and part of another, and one full night and most of another—still at least a full day and a full night short of the time Jesus said He would be in the tomb.

Clearly something doesn't add up. Either Jesus misspoke about the length of time He would be in the tomb, or the "Good Friday–Easter Sunday" timing is not biblical or accurate.

Obviously both cannot be true. So which one is right?

Understanding God's time is the key

The key to understanding the timing of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection lies in understanding God's timetable for counting when days begin and end, as well as the timing of His biblical festivals during the spring of the year when these events took place.

Most people have no idea that the Bible talks about two kinds of Sabbath days—the normal weekly Sabbath day that falls on the seventh day of the week and seven annual Sabbath days.

We first need to realize that God doesn't begin and end days at midnight as we do—that is a humanly devised method of counting time. Genesis 1:5 tells us quite plainly that God counts a day as beginning with the evening (the night portion) and ending at the next evening—"So the evening [nighttime] and the morning [daylight] were the first day." God repeats this formula for the entire six days of creation.

In Leviticus 23, where God lists all of His holy Sabbaths and festivals, He makes it clear that they are to be observed "from evening to evening" (Leviticus 23:32)—in other words, from sunset to sunset, when the sun went down and evening began.

This is why Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, followers of Jesus, hurriedly placed His body in Joseph's nearby tomb just before sundown (John 19:39-42). A Sabbath was beginning at sundown (John 19:31), when work would have to cease.

Two kinds of "Sabbaths" lead to confusion

As John tells us in John 19:31: "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies [of those crucified] should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken [to hasten death], and that they might be taken away."

In the Jewish culture of that time, the chores of cooking and housecleaning were done on the day before a Sabbath to avoid working on God's designated day of rest. Thus the day before the Sabbath was commonly called "the preparation day." Clearly the day on which Christ was crucified and His body placed in the tomb was the day immediately preceding a Sabbath.

The question is, which Sabbath?

Most people assume John is speaking of the regular weekly Sabbath day, observed from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. From John's clear statement here, most people assume Jesus died and was buried on a Friday—thus the traditional belief that Jesus was crucified and died on "Good Friday."

Most people have no idea that the Bible talks about two kinds of Sabbath days—the normal weekly Sabbath day that falls on the seventh day of the week (not to be confused with Sunday, which is the first day of the week), and seven annual Sabbath days, listed in Leviticus 23 and mentioned in various passages throughout the Bible, that could fall on any day of the week.

Because traditional Christianity long ago abandoned these biblical annual Sabbath days (as well as the weekly Sabbath), for many centuries people have failed to recognize what the Gospels plainly tell us about when Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected—and why "Good Friday–Easter Sunday" never happened that way.

Most people fail to note that John explicitly tells us that the Sabbath that began at sundown immediately after Jesus was entombed was one of these annual Sabbath days. Notice in John 19:31 his explanation that "that Sabbath was a high day" —" high day" being a term used to differentiate the seven annual Sabbaths from the regular weekly Sabbath days.

So what was this "high day" that immediately followed Jesus Christ's hurried entombment?

The Gospels tell us that on the evening before Jesus was condemned and crucified, He kept the Passover with His disciples (Matthew 26:19-20; Mark 14:16-17; Luke 22:13-15). This means He was crucified on the Passover day.

Leviticus 23, which lists God's festivals, tells us that on the day after the Passover a separate festival, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, begins (Leviticus 23:5-6). The first day of this Feast is "a holy convocation" on which "no customary work" is to be done (Leviticus 23:7).

This day is the first of God's annual Sabbaths. This is the "high day" of which John wrote. Several Bible commentaries, encyclopedias and dictionaries note that John is referring to an annual Sabbath here rather than the regular weekly Sabbath day.

Passover began at sundown and ended the following day at sundown, when this annual Sabbath began. Jesus kept the Passover with His disciples, then was arrested later that night. After daybreak the next day He was questioned before Pontius Pilate, crucified, then hurriedly entombed just before the next sunset when the "high day," the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, began.

Leviticus 23 tells us the order and timing of these days, and the Gospels confirm the order of events as they unfolded.

Jesus crucified on Wednesday, not Friday

Several computer software programs exist that enable us to calculate when the Passover and God's other festivals fall in any given year. Those programs show that in A.D. 31, the year of these events, the Passover meal was eaten on Tuesday night and Wednesday sundown marked the beginning of the "high day," the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Jesus, then, was crucified and entombed on a Wednesday afternoon, not on Friday.

Try as you might, it is impossible to fit three days and three nights between a late Friday burial and a Sunday morning resurrection. The Good Friday–Easter Sunday tradition simply isn't true or biblical.

Can we find further proof of this in the Gospels? Yes, indeed we can!

Let's turn to a seldom-noticed detail in Mark 16:1: "Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him."

In that time, if the body of a loved one was placed in a tomb rather than being buried directly in the ground, friends and family would commonly place aromatic spices in the tomb alongside the body to reduce the smell as the remains decayed.

Since Jesus' body was placed in the tomb just before that high-day Sabbath began, the women had no time to buy those spices before the Sabbath. Also, they could not have purchased them on the Sabbath day, as shops were closed. Thus, Mark says, they bought the spices after the Sabbath— "when the Sabbath was past."

But notice another revealing detail in Luke 23:55-56: "And the women who had come with [Christ] from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment."

Do you see a problem here? Mark clearly states that the women bought the spices after the Sabbath—"when the Sabbath was past." Luke tells us that the women prepared the spices and fragrant oils, after which "they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment."

So they bought the spices after the Sabbath, and then they prepared the spices before resting on the Sabbath. This is a clear contradiction between these two Gospel accounts—unless two Sabbaths were involved!

Indeed when we understand that two different Sabbaths are mentioned, the problem goes away.

Mark tells us that after the "high day" Sabbath, which began Wednesday evening at sundown and ended Thursday evening at sundown, the women bought the spices to anoint Jesus' body. Luke then tells us that the women prepared the spices—activity which would have taken place on Friday—and that afterward "they rested on the Sabbath [the normal weekly Sabbath day, observed Friday sunset to Saturday sunset] according to the commandment."

By comparing details in both accounts, we can clearly see that two different Sabbaths are mentioned along with a workday in between. The first Sabbath was a "high day"—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which fell on a Thursday. The second was the weekly seventh-day Sabbath.

The original Greek in which the Gospels were written also plainly tells us that two Sabbath days were involved in these accounts. In Matthew 28:1, where Matthew writes that the women went to the tomb "after the Sabbath," the word Sabbath here is actually plural and should be translated "Sabbaths." Bible versions such as Alfred Marshall's Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Green's Literal Translation Young's Literal Translation and Ferrar Fenton's Translation make this clear.

When was Jesus resurrected?

We have seen, then, that Jesus Christ was crucified and entombed on a Wednesday, just before an annual Sabbath began—not the weekly Sabbath. So when was He resurrected?

John 20:1, as noted earlier, tells us that "on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb." The sun had not yet risen— "it was still dark," John tells us—when Mary found the tomb empty.

Obviously, then, Jesus was not resurrected at sunrise on Sunday morning. So when did this take place? The answer is plain if we simply read the Gospels—and Jesus Christ's own words—and accept them for what they say.

"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," said Jesus (Matthew 12:40).

As we have proven, Jesus was entombed —placed "in the heart of the earth"—just before sundown on a Wednesday. All we have to do is count forward. One day and one night brings us to Thursday at sundown. Another day and night brings us to Friday at sundown. A third day and night brings us to Saturday at sundown.

According to Jesus Christ's own words He would have been resurrected three days and nights after He was entombed, at around the same time—near sunset. Does this fit with the Scriptures? Yes—as we have seen, He was already risen and the tomb empty when Mary arrived "while it was still dark" on Sunday morning.

While no one was around to witness His resurrection (which took place inside a sealed tomb watched over by armed guards), Jesus Christ's own words and the details recorded in the Gospels show that it had to have happened three days and three nights after His burial, near sunset at the end of the weekly Sabbath.

Try as you might, it is impossible to fit three days and three nights between a late Friday burial and a Sunday morning resurrection. The Good Friday–Easter Sunday tradition simply isn't true or biblical. But when we look at all the details recorded in the Gospels and compare them with Jesus' own words, we can see the truth—and it matches perfectly.

The words of the angel of God, who so startled the women at the empty tomb, are proven true: "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said" (Matthew 28:5-6, New International Version).

Let's not cling to religious traditions and ideas that aren't supported by Scripture. Be sure that your own beliefs and practices are firmly rooted in the Bible. Are you willing to make a commitment to worship God according to biblical truth rather than human tradition? 

Comments

  • MsTree

    My main question about your article is why did you choose 31AD as the year Christ was crucified. I agree completely with the 3-day and 3-night concept and clearly there had to be two Sabbaths involved. Are there other days that would work? The High Sabbath is always the day after Passover, but if the high Sabbath and the weekly Saturday Sabbath occurred close together, would other dates work? For instance in 34AD, Passover was also on a Wednesday and therefore the same situation would occur as in 31AD.

  • Scott Ashley

    Greetings, Patricia. Good question. I didn't have space to cover this in the article, but the key to understanding the A.D. 31 date lies in understanding the 70 Weeks Prophecy in Daniel 9, which reveals when the Messiah would appear (not when He would be born, but when He would begin His earthly ministry). This prophecy tells us the Messiah would appear in A.D. 27, and His 3 1/2-year ministry brings us to A.D. 31 as the year of His crucifixion. You can find all the details about this prophecy in our online Bible commentary on Daniel 9 at this link: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-commentary/bible-commentary-daniel-9

  • SRR

    I have to say that there are several points that I respectfully disagree with in this article. However, I think it best that I focus on one area, such as when a biblical day begins; in my humble opinion, a day does not begin when folks are getting ready for bed. The translators of the Bible clearly understood that a Biblical day begins at sunrise, hence why Mark 15:25 KJV, says Christ was crucified at the third hour and other translations say it was nine in the morning (CSB, AMP, CJB, NLT, NLV, etc). If a day begins in the evening (typically around 6pm), Christ would've been crucified at 9pm at night, not 9am in the morning.

    The problem is, many Bible scholars focus on the end of Genesis 1:5, which ends by saying, "So the evening and the morning were the first day", however the key to understanding this verse lies in understanding the beginning of the verse. A day equals LIGHT and a night equals DARKNESS...evening is part of the day simply because it contains LIGHT. The end of the verse shows the completion of a day, not its sequence. Christ said, "“Are there not twelve hours in the day?" He did not say twenty-four hours (evening to evening) are in a day. -John 11:9

  • Getrealplease

    Scott, I just wanted to thank you for this article. It is so well written and so concise that it really helped me with a subject I’ve been grappling with for years. I can’t imagine treating this subject matter any better than you have here.

  • faitaccompli

    As the Hebrew word "Sabbath" means 7th surely what you are calling "extra" Sabbaths or High Days would not also be called "sabbath" if they don't fall on the 7th day (Saturday)? It is otherwise confusing. Also, does it really matter if we mark Good Friday/Easter on the wrong day? Christmas is also the wrong day as we don't know the correct one. Surely what matters is that we celebrate the resurrection rather than fuss about when it is (why do we still use the phases of the moon to work out its date?) Easter is the wrong name too -it should be Pascha as it is in other languages(eg Paques in french). What matters is that we are an Easter people and we know what that means. Let's celebrate that!

  • joviman

    Thank you Pastor Scott for such a careful and calmly composed analysis. I gained much insight into the confusion around Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. I rejoice in finally having discovered the truth.
    I would like to add a comment to enhance the clarity of your analysis. Jesus gave up the ghost at the 9th hour, around 3 O'clock, as someone pointed out and was hurriedly buried before the Sabbath began. Recall that God counted the first day as evening and morning after creating light (Gen 1:3-5). So, Jesus was already buried before the first evening (Wed) and the first morning (Thur), which is Day 1. Day 2 would be Thur evening and Fri morning while Day 3 is Fri evening and Sat morning. So, 3 days and 3 nights were complete by the evening of Saturday, which is the beginning of the 1st day of the week.
    Jesus was quoted as saying that he would rise on the 3rd day in Matt 16:21, 17:23; Luke 9:22, 18:33; Acts 10:40 and 1 Cor 15:4. The night was counted before the day so, Jesus must have risen on Saturday evening, which counts as Sunday, the beginning of the first day of the week. It is not odd to call Saturday evening the 3rd day because it was still daytime.

  • Bob Milani

    How, then, do we explain the single verse in which Jesus says he will be in the belly of the earth for “three days and three nights”?

    If we took that literally to mean three full days—no more and no less—then it would mean Jesus would be dead for exactly 72 hours, which would place the Resurrection at 3 p.m.—something nobody proposes.

    We must therefore recognize that this expression is not to be taken fully literally. It involves a figurative expression.

    To understand that expression, we can’t impose our own culture’s ideas. We need to look at how ancient Jewish authors used language, and here scholars are clear.

    As conservative Protestant Bible scholar R. T. France notes: “Three days and three nights was a Jewish idiom to a period covering only two nights” (Matthew, 213).

    Similarly, D. A. Carson, another conservative Protestant Bible scholar, explains: “In rabbinical thought a day and a night make an onah, and a part of an onah is as the whole. . . . Thus according to Jewish tradition, ‘three days and three nights’ need mean no more than ‘three days’ or the combination of any part of three separate days” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 8:296).

  • Scott Ashley

    Part 4

    I find it amusing that when Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13 and Luke 4:2 tell us that Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, no one tries to argue that they really meant 39 days—or by arguing that 1 1/2 days from Friday afternoon to pre-dawn Sunday morning actually means three days and three nights, Jesus really was fasting only 20 days. I mention this just to illustrate the absurdity of the argument.

    As this article makes clear, one needs to only look at the details what the Gospel writers tell us to see that Jesus was in the tomb the exact length of time He foretold—three days and three nights. There’s no need to distort His words to try to fit some false human tradition.

    (I would refer you to what Jesus said about human tradition in Matthew 15:3 and Mark 7:13.)

  • Scott Ashley

    Part 3

    Even if you accept this argument as true, you still have only part of Friday and all of the Sabbath day—one full day portion and at most a few hours of Friday daylight. None of the daylight portion of Sunday can be counted because Jesus was already risen from the tomb when Mary went “while it was still dark” (John 20:1) so there’s no possible way to get even two full days, much less part of three.

    The math isn’t hard. Anyone who can count to three can do it. So why would you give such weight to an argument proposed by people who clearly can’t count to three?

    Did Jesus rise as He said He would—i.e., after three days? Notice what the angel at the tomb told the women in Matthew 28:6: “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” How did Jesus say He would rise? After three days and nights. I don’t know why some want to make this angel a liar.

    (continued in part 4)

  • Scott Ashley

    Part 2:

    I realize many scholars argue that when Jesus said “three days and three nights,” that He didn’t really mean what He said and that this is a Hebrew idiom. But that “idiom” argument falls apart when the time length is specified as ““three days and three nights” as Jesus stated. Three days and three nights cannot mean only parts of three days. For anyone capable of counting to three, it’s easy to do the math.

    Assuming the “idiom” argument is true, just look at it logically using that reasoning. Part of Friday afternoon equals one day. Friday night is one night. Saturday daylight is a second day. Saturday night is a second night. But Jesus had already risen from the tomb when Mary went there on Sunday morning “while it was still dark” (John 20:1). So there is no way Jesus was in the tomb any part of a third day, much less a third night!

    So according to this common argument, where’s the part of the third day? There isn’t any! Where’s the part of the third night? There isn’t any!

    (continued in part 3)

  • Scott Ashley

    Thanks for your comments, but they reflect a lot of common misconceptions, starting with your statement about “the single verse in which Jesus says he will be in the belly of the earth for ‘three days and three nights.’” There is not a “single verse” in which Jesus mentioned He would rise after three days. I refer you to Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:19; 27:63; Mark 8:31 and John 2:19. Jesus was perfectly clear in what He said. It’s the theologians and scholars who have to twist His words to mean something else.

    (And I can’t help but notice that every scholar using that argument fails to give a single example from Scripture proving their statement—a statement without proof is merely opinion unsupported by facts.)

    In Matthew 12:40 Jesus stated very clearly how long He would be in the tomb: “Three days and three nights”—the length of time Jonah was in the belly of the great fish. And how long was Jonah in the fish? “Three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). There is no ambiguity here.

    (continued in part 2)

  • Ray D R

    Greetings Bob,
    The beginning paragraph of your comment mentions the phrase "belly of the earth", as mentioned by Jesus. The actual wording by Jesus, as mentioned in Matt 12:40, is:
    "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
    Jesus did not say he would be "dead" 3 days and 3 nights, he said he would be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights. As the scriptures given show, he was laid in the tomb and sealed just before sundown on the 14th of Abib (Wednesday- 31AD). The next morning (Thursday), on the High Day - a Sabbath, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate to have a guard placed (Mat 27:62-66).
    The next day, Friday, when the Sabbath was past, the women went to the market (Mk 16:1) and returned and prepared the spices and fragrant oils and rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment [4th] (Lk 23:56). Jesus is still in the grave (2+2). The next, Sabbath He rose just before sundown, 3 + 3, just as He said. The next day, Sunday, the women saw the empty tomb before sunrise and were told He has risen, as He said (Jn 20:1; Mat 28:6).
    Peace!

  • shewit28

    Unbelievable,I always had this in my mind but couldn't raise the Question maybe because I realized that nobody seemed to care about it. Was even scared that someone might confront me with this. So crystal clear to me now,that all we think we know is a lie. Most of the lies in this world are THE ROMAN CATHOLICS FAULT.
    So it looks like that he rose on Saturday last hours since he was buried in the last hour of Wednesday and SUNDAY is totally biblical.
    Thank you God bless you for this effort you made so that we know Gods will.

  • Patty Graham

    Daniel 9:27 states in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice to cease. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to cover the sins of the repented and faithful elect, and Wednesday is the midst of the week. Whether the Scripture relates to subject being discussed is something to be studied. Blessings to all.

  • Ray D R

    Greetings Patty,
    Jesus' dying and burial on a "Wednesday" is half way through the week, however Dan 9:27 actually refers to the last week (7 yrs) of Daniel's 70 Week Prophecy. Jesus began preaching the gospel right after baptism at age 30 (Lk 3:23), in the fall. He preached for 3-1/2 years and was crucified, cut off, on the 14th of Abib, in the spring. Please review the UCG.org Study paper: http://streaming.ucg.org/files/papers/ucg-paper-the-70-weeks-prophecy.pdf
    Facinating!
    Peace!

  • Cervantes

    Thank you for this clear an calm explanation. I was looking for something like this after a Jewish article pointed out Jesus wasn't crucified on a Friday. So now I see that the Jewish perspective accords to the historical timeline.

    As a practicing catholic I see how the abandonment of Jewish traditions makes reading the Holy Scripture today a lot harder, and even more, one can state that misunderstandings and confusions arose.
    Still, as a catholic, traditions are one of the ways of deepening Faith. I don't see how liturgical chronology should be totally abandoned with the knowledge of the historical side. Society is now ordered in a workweek/weekend structure and 'Pasen' (as we Dutch speakers call it) is so core to our Faith that a sudden change would bring more confusion than Faith.

    That being said, I agree that the English and German language were wrong in a moment of time starting to call 'Pasen' Easter or Estern. However, Christians endorsing Easter as the word to describe Pasen or Paschae in Latin, would only have seen light with the endorsing of the vernacular langue above Latin or Greek I suppose. So not part of the right tradition. Thank you for considering this.

  • Chris Abela

    This article is based on the premise that the sign Jesus was talking about to the Pharisees referred to the burial day and days till resurrection. This verse quoted where Jesus mentions the sign of Jonah is the only one that seemingly contradicts the gospel records of events and the traditional Catholic and Protestant dating. But (1) the principal miraculous sign for those who would believe is the resurrection itself not the days and nights (although 3 days is evidence that the person was really dead, just one day would not have been that amazing possibly, although after the Lord's torturous death it still would have been)! and (2) the allegory used by Jesus of 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the earth as Johan was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights is just that, an allegory. It can be interpreted as referring literally to his being in the tomb as in the earth, although tombs were not underground but in a cave! The fact is that if Jesus, as per tradition and as can be understood from the Bible, was given to death and handed to the principalities and rulers of the earth on Thursday in Gethsemane and resurrected on Sunday am, that's 3 days and nights!!

  • Skip Miller

    Hello Chris, Because the author did such a good job of presenting the Biblical facts, I am going to take a totally different tact. The time that Jesus was in the grave is important but let's not discuss that yet . Instead let us think about the pagan word Easter. How can any supposed Christian allow that word to desecrate the Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus?
    Was the story of Jonah simply an allegory? Did he or did he not spend 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a great fish? Jesus spoke as though He saw Jonah's story as fact, Reality! I know what "Christians" traditionally think and do on Easter. Those traditions are bogus. Let us return to God's Word as the basis for our belief and way of life.

  • Jeffites

    Greetings in Christ Skip,
    Would you or the author show or prove that Jonah was inside the fish for 72 hours? Isn't it common in our wisdom, for example, when an important person visits a country a say 9am leaves the next day same time we say 2 day official visit? I believe this article has overlooked the fact that the word "day" doesn't necessarily mean 24 hours.

  • Steven Britt

    Prophecy loses its value if it's only "kind of" fulfilled - the God of the bible just doesn't operate that way. We reject that reasoning because of the specificity of Jesus' words - "3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth" cannot mean anything other than that He would be in the tomb for that period of time. You can't count a part of a night here or there, and you certainly can't count it from when His trial started.

    Jesus made less precise statements elsewhere, but in this one we get exacting detail, such that nothing short of fulfilling it precisely would suffice to uphold His words. Have you asked yourself WHY you are so ardently defending the condensed, traditional Easter timeline that requires interpretive gymnastics? It's just not the best way to understand the scriptures, plain and simple.

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