Happy Sabbath Everyone!

The belief of the three days and three nights that Christ spent in the tomb is straightforward. Simply put it is the understanding that God the Father resurrected His Son Jesus Christ from the dead after a period of three days and three nights within the grave. In doing this, Christ became the firstborn among many brethren, opening the door for physical mortal man to enter eternal life. It is important to define that this three day and three-night period is a literal time frame consisting of 72 full hours. 

While this seems like only a matter of timing, it has important implications. We find Christ himself using this prophecy as the only sign He would offer to support His identity (Matthew 12:38-42). Of those who would witness the fulfillment of this sign (including those who are witness by reading God's word centuries later), this would be proof that Christ was greater than Jonah and Solomon, both of whom Christ mentioned in relation to this 72-hour sign.

What we find in both scriptural and historical accounts is that this prophecy came to pass exactly as Christ said. Yet, this understanding differs from what is commonly taught. Many believe and teach that Christ was Crucified on Friday afternoon and resurrected on Sunday morning. Simple math would show that this does not account for three days and three nights in any sense.  At best you can account for parts of three days and two nights.  Here are a few reasons why many hold onto this misunderstanding.

The first is that there is a purposeful attempt to move the resurrection of Christ to Sunday. Historically, the idea that Christ was resurrected on Sunday is used to justify the moving of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. In addition, this justification allows for the holiday of Easter to be placed on a Sunday. Easter celebration as well as the Sabbath move to Sunday support the deeply ingrained pagan worship of the sun. Obviously, with the connection to sun worship, there would be a push to elevate the day which, even in its name, lays claim to ancient pagan traditions.

From this biased perspective, verses are interpreted in such a way as to reinforce the preconceived idea of a Sunday resurrection. Verses like Luke 24:1, Mark 16:2, Matthew 28:1 and John 20:1 that give the account of the women who arrive at the tomb to find it without Christ inside. The descriptions of these events identify that these women came to the tomb on the first day of the week. While these verses are clear in the context that the women came on the first day of the week, nowhere is it stated that Christ was resurrected that same morning. In fact, To interpret in this way shows an obviously reading into scripture with a previously held conviction.

A second reason this teaching is misinterpreted is because of a misunderstanding of the multiple Sabbaths within the week of Christ's crucifixion. Scriptural references to the approaching Sabbath day are viewed as the weekly Sabbath rather than the first Holy Day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. Jesus was crucified on the festival of Passover, at the start of the days of Unleavened Bread (Matthew 26:18-20 1 Corinthians 5:7) this was the preparation day for the first day of unleavened Bread - which is one of the annual "Sabbaths" (Leviticus 16:31, Leviticus 23:24). The week that Christ was killed contained two Holy Sabbaths. In fact, in Matthew 28:1 the word translated Sabbath is the Greek word "Sabbaton" which is the plural form of Sabbath. Which means literally Matthew 28:1 should say "now after the Sababths, as the first day of the week began to dawn..." So, the preparation day is not referring to the weekly Sabbath, but the annual Sabbath. This allows for (as was historically the case in this year) for the Sabbath referred to occur not on Saturday, but sometime during the week.

Next time, we will look at how many justify squeezing 72 hours into a day and a half despite clear statements about 72 hours. In addition, we will use scripture to establish an accurate timeline surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ.

Pray that God bless all of our observance of His Holy Sabbath.

Devin Schulz