Fundamental Belief

I'd like to ask you to turn with me over to Matthew 12. We were quite close there in the sermonette, so just the next chapter, Matthew 12. And I want to look at one of the fundamental beliefs that the United Church of God identified many years ago now. And that is the fundamental belief that has to do with three days and three nights. And so in Matthew 12, we find that there were those who went to Jesus Christ and asked Him if they would give Him some type of a miraculous sign. They recognized Him as Rabbi, as Nicodemus called Him, or Teacher, as some translations render it, but they wanted a sign. Are you the one we've been looking for? So in Matthew 12, verse 38, then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.

The New International says, Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you. Then He gives them, as we read here in verse 39, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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.

And we can pause right there. But the one sign that Jesus gave when He was asked, are you essentially the one we're looking for? Are you the Messiah? Are you the promised one? Are you the anointed one? He gave them a sign of being three days and three nights in the belly of the earth, and then be raised from the dead. Now, let's talk about some of the the most common explanation for three days and three nights. We realize what the Christian world around us proclaims, that somehow they conclude from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning.

Roughly a day and a half. That three days and three nights can be found in about a day and a half. But is that possible? Well, in the mathematics that I was taught, I realized it was out in Oklahoma, but it just doesn't quite add up. And we'll talk about that. Essentially, what the common explanation involves is saying that Christ was in the tomb for about a day and a half.

And there are those who will say, well, there's this Hebrew idiom that parts of days can equal a day. Well, at best then, if you had a little daylight Friday, and then you had all day Sabbath, and then a little daylight Sunday, but it's Sunday morning, He arose, you can say parts of three days. But between those, you have two nights.

You cannot say parts of three nights. And so for a number of reasons, it just doesn't pan out. But Jesus here said three days and three nights in the tomb. Now, we, the Church of God, has understood this to mean that we're looking at a literal 72-hour span of time. Let's next go to John 20. John 20, and we'll read the first two verses. John 20 verse 1. We realize from what is stated here that there is a problem with claiming Sunday, even as any kind of a day portion, because when Mary Magdalene came, it was still dark, and He was already gone.

So verse 1, now 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. So we would say the wee hours of Sunday morning, by the way we call days today, and she went and the stone was moved.

Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, John's code for referring to Himself, and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him. We find that with the early church, with these disciples, that it was slow to dawn on them.

It slowly was sinking in. It really wasn't until Jesus appeared to walking on the road once. You had the disciples gathered once. You had, as it says later, even as many as 500. But as He began appearing to them, it really began to sink in that He has come back from the dead. Now, we have a fundamental belief statement.

I didn't put this out as a handout today. I'm going to read the fundamental belief statement, and it's only the first half that we're going to deal with today in this message, but the belief statement on three days and three nights. And then I quote, We believe that the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead after His body lay three days and three nights in the grave, thus making immortality possible for mortal man. He thereafter ascended in heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father as our high priest and advocate.

But as I said, we'll deal with essentially the first half, that we believe that the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead after His body lay three days and three nights in the grave. I brought with me the companion Bible, edited by Bullinger. I think that even though it's quite a number of years old, the value of it is this whole section in the back of all these appendices. And he is one, and there aren't many, but he is one who very clearly sees the three days and three nights and how that it has to equal the 72 hours, that it's not parts of days and parts of nights.

Let me read from this. Again, Bullinger is the companion Bible. This is page 170, which is the basic Bible, and then the numbering for the appendices is different. So this is page 170 back in the appendices, and this is appendix 144. And let me read just three or four sentences from what he writes here. He says, the fact that three days is used by Hebrew idiom for any part of three days and three nights is not disputed, because that was the common way of reckoning, just as it was when used of years.

Three or any number of years was used inclusively of any part of those years, as may be seen in the reckoning of the reigns of any of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then he says, 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.

So if you refer to, well, this is going to take place in four days, the Hebrew idiom allowed for parts of days. Or if you look back at the king lists and so and so reigned 11 years, well, it may have been 10 and a half, maybe 11 and four months.

So it allows for that. But as he states, when you say X number of days and X number of nights, it needs to be, it has to be seen literally. And again, that has been the understanding the church has had for as long as any of us has been around. So when Jesus was asked for a sign, he gave him one sign, and that sign was the sign of the prophet Jonah.

As Jonah was three days and three nights and the fish, Jesus was to be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth or in his tomb.

Now, I'm going to set Boelinger aside for a little bit, and let's talk about days once again.

The Hebrew day began at sunset or thereabouts. You know, the Bible doesn't just absolutely nail it down. But to look at, you know, the, what is it, Noah, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we look at their websites and basically they can give us charts on a given day. This is what sunset will be. And so that's close enough. Close enough. We use that and go until that time the next day to observe the Sabbath or to observe a holy day. And so their days, however, were 12 hours long and correspondingly their nights were 12 hours long. Let's back up a few chapters to John 11. John 11. And of course, this is the chapter dealing with the story of the death and the resurrection of Lazarus. Let's look at verse 9. Verse 9, Jesus answered, Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone, if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. But are there not 12 hours in the day? He's talking about the daylight portion. Now, recently, we looked at some parables. And one of those parables, the parable of the workers in the vineyard, you have the the landowner going out and hiring workers. They started basically six o'clock in the morning. And then he went and looked for more at the third hour, which would correspond to nine o'clock, sixth hour is noon, ninth hour would be three o'clock in the afternoon. And he even went the 11th hour. And so both of these speak of the way they reckon time, daylight, basically 12 hours, and then corresponding to that 12 hours of the night coming up with the the full 24 hour day. Now, let's go back to Genesis 1. And we see the pattern established from creation. We have in Genesis 1 the first six days of the creation, or perhaps more accurate, the re-creation.

But either way, we have with the end of each day a statement that the evening in the morning were the first or second or third day. So in Genesis 1, we see in verse 5, verse 5, God called the light day and the darkness He called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

And the Hebrew word translated day is Yom, transliterated Y-O-M. And then first is, I used to remember these, but it's the word, Echad. So the evening and the morning were Yom Echad, the first day. Then you go down to verse 8, and the evening and the morning were the second day. And then down to verse 13, the evening and the morning were the third day. And so it goes all the way through six days. Now, it does not do that in chapter 2 with respect to the Sabbath, and it doesn't have to. But we do have this pattern that a day includes the nighttime portion followed by the daytime portion. And from approximately sunset, you know, the Bible doesn't tell us. There are some who have said, well, a day begins, we can go out, and you can see there's three certain stars that you can see. Well, what if there's a cloud cover? I think just using these sunset charts is close enough for our purposes today. Let's go to Leviticus 23.

This is a chapter, as we know, discusses not only the weekly Sabbath, but then all of the annual Sabbaths. And it's good to be reminded with where we're going to go a little later that there are annual Sabbaths and there are weekly Sabbaths, two different types of Sabbaths. And that's going to come in a little later when we realize in a three-day, three-night period of time, the only way to understand it is if you have two Sabbaths in that period of time.

So in Leviticus 23, let's just notice verse 32, because here it's talking of the day of atonement.

And with all of the other feasts, it mentions in it, you shall do no customary work. You know, it's already said that, you know, this day of unleavened bread or Pentecost or trumpets, that it is commanded assembly, and you do no customary work except that which every man should eat. But this time it doesn't, obviously, because it's a day of afflicting your soul. So in verse 32, it shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls. Now it tells us when that period of time is, on the ninth day of the month. You know, up above, it had said on the tenth day of the seventh month. But here it defines it as you start the ninth day, it ends at even.

From evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath. And so that lays out as well the pattern of what a day means in biblical use. You have the evening portion, the nighttime, the dark portion, followed by the light or the daytime portion. Now let's go to Jonah chapter 1. We're going to look at a lot of scriptures here today, obviously. We already have, but we will be going back and forth in the various gospel accounts a little later. Jonah chapter 1, and we only have to look at the last verse, verse 17, because this is where Jonah decided that he was going to get out of there, and he was not willing at that point to cooperate with calling God and giving to him, of going to Nineveh. So in verse 17, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And of course, chapter 2, the first, well, most of it, the first nine verses, has this prayer, and I'm sure it was a fervent prayer. And then in verse 10, chapter 2, verse 10, so the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. So that's all we need to notice there. But we did read, he was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now, let me go back to Bullinger's appendix 144 for another couple of sentences, because a little later, he refers to this story of Jonah, and he says, hence, when it says that, Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, it means exactly what it says. And that this can then only, this can be the only meaning of the expression in Matthew 12, verse 40, which we read a little while ago of Jesus being three days and three nights in the tomb, or the belly of the earth. Here, Bullinger points out, and in part of it I skipped over, there's a distinction in the nuances of language. There are things the Greek might allow, but the Hebrew, and he makes the point that the Hebrew does not allow for this idiom that we spoke about a little earlier. When it says three days and three nights, in other words, he's saying it means 72 hours. It is to be taken literally. When it's worded that way, the Hebrew does not allow for anything else. Now, we read Matthew 12, verse 40, a while ago, the sign he gave them. Three days, three nights, Jonah and the fish, three days and three nights, Christ and the earth. Four different times you have the word that is translated in the English three appears. That comes from the Greek word trace, t-r-e-i-s. And if we look at it at face value, it seems the simplest explanation is to just simply believe what he says and just believe three days and three nights means three days and three nights. Of course, human beings don't always like to do that. I think it's helpful for us to look at that word trace that is translated three, and we find it a lot of places in the New Testament where that Greek word was used. And when we look at the context of how it's used, we realize there is not a pattern for concluding that three days and three nights can be divided into parts or portions as you desire.

Now, I want to mention several. I've got six different passages here. You might want to just try to write them down rather than turn to or perhaps you can keep up. But I'll just read from these verses just the key part, and I think we will remember well enough the context of the story. So the first one is in Matthew 13 verse 33. And that's one of the kingdom parables about the woman that took. It says, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened. Now, if you ladies, sorry men, don't mean to be gender exclusive here, but if you ladies have a recipe and you're following it, and it says, well, to feed this mob that you have at your table Sunday morning and you're gonna make pancakes, you need three level cups of flour. You would put three level cups of flour in there if you reason, well, I can get about two and a half or I can put three and a half in there. You might regret it. I have regretted it before because I've made pancakes. They're nationally known. My kids have eaten them in Texas and California and Tennessee and, well, anyhow, she took three measures of meal. Whatever that measure was, we, you know, most kitchens will have, you'll have your one cup, half cup, third cup, quarter cup, you will have measures. So x number of measures, this case it's three, that she put the eleven into and then in time all of its leavened. Would anyone think that she put one and a half measures there? I mean, essentially, that's what different ones are saying when they look at what Jesus said three days and three nights in the grave and they say, oh, he meant one and a half. Well, Matthew 15 verse 32, Matthew 15, speaking of a multitude that had followed Jesus and he said, they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat. So three, again, Greek word trace. Would anyone think that he meant, well, they've been following me a day and a half and they're hungry. Two and a half, no. You would think he means they've been here three days, three days and three nights, or three days and two nights, at least, in the way it's used because it doesn't talk about the nights, but a lengthy period of time and no wonder they were hungry. Now, Matthew 17 verse 4, the story of the transfiguration.

And you have them, you have Christ transfigured in his glory before the disciples, yet Peter, James, and John. And they saw Moses and they saw Elijah and Peter's the one who said, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

Now, when he said three trace tabernacles, temporary booths, I mean, he made the connection between this millennial setting and the Feast of Tabernacles foreshadowing that.

Would anyone come up with any different conclusion that he would only be thinking of building two of them, or one and a half, or he might build four? No. He said, one for you, meaning Christ, one for Moses, one Elijah. Okay, another example. Acts 7 verse 20. Acts 7 verse 20. This is in Stephen's defense, and he goes back and he's moving crossing a lot of territory. And he said, and he, referring to Moses, was brought up in his father's house for three months. Trace months. It would make no sense to think that he was there a month and a half, or two months. He said three months. Three months. Acts chapter 9. We have a story of a man who was at that time named Saul, but it was about to be changed to Paul. And he on the road to Damascus was struck blind, and it says, he, Saul, was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. And, of course, then he was led to Ananias, and you know the rest of that story. But three days without sight. We wouldn't think that it was parts, only parts of days, day and a half, maybe, total. And then one more. Acts 10 verse 19. Peter's vision. Peter is there at Joppa, and while he's waiting for dinner or lunch to be prepared, he goes in praise and he sees this vision. And then he is told, Acts 10 verse 19, Behold, trace, or three men are seeking you. And so he went down expecting what?

He went expecting to find three men. He didn't expect to find one and a half men, or two men and a boy, three men. Three is three. And in these passages, the Greek trace, when you look in the context, it literally has to mean three of whatever follows. Three measures of meal. Three tabernacles. Three men. And shouldn't we look at the statement, three days and three nights the same way? Now, let's go back to Esther. Because in Esther, we have her asking Mordecai to tell the Jews there at Shushan, fast you for me three days. Let's see the way it's worded. Esther 4, toward the end of the chapter, verse 15. Esther 4 verse 15, then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai. Verse 16, Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan. That was a palace. That's where it's taking place. The story. And fast for me neither eat nor drink for three days. But then it adds, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. Mordecai went his way and did. And then chapter 5 verse 1. Now it happened on the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner corner of the king's palace. And you know the rest of that story.

Bullinger's appendix 144 refers to that in brief. And he mentions the way she worded it. Fast for me. Don't eat or drink. Three days. And he says she defines her meaning as being three complete days because she adds night or day. Now, likely what happened as chapter 5 transpires.

They've probably gone through the three nights and two days and it's well into the third day. And as you follow the story on down, she goes and stands before the king and he recognizes her. And she makes the request for the feast to be that evening. And that would have been the completion of the three days and three nights. But she called for a fast. Three days, night or day.

Now back to the three days and three nights that we're going to look at in the gospel accounts.

The only conclusion we can come to is that there had to have been two sabbaths with the way it's all written and we're going to follow through that. We probably haven't done this in a long time and I think it's good for us as a review if nothing else. There must have been two sabbaths that period of three days and three nights. Let's go to Luke 23. Now, I have a handout and I need a couple of volunteers to pass these sheets around. We'll look at them a bit later but we just will get them going around. I had two beautiful young teenage girls who volunteered in Murfreesboro but you know you guys will do. You're close. Thank you. We'll look at this a little later but this handout on three days and three nights you'll find something similar in some of our Holy Day booklets. It's a matter that there is. A few years ago there was a project that Ministerial Services had done to help the ministers they'd encouraged just years ago to cover all of the fundamental beliefs in church congregations from time to time. And there was a binder put together and on this one on three days and three nights this chart came from that binder from United Church of God years ago. And now that you have a handout, I've lost your attention but we'll get to it a little bit later. But we do need to go to the end of Luke 23. Luke 23. And let's, well actually let's notice 1st verse 44. Now it was about the sixth hour. There was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, which again is Jewish reckoning, the Jewish practice of reckoning hours of the day. This is essentially noon till three o'clock in the afternoon. Sun was darkened, veil of the temple torn in two. You can go to Matthew's account. It adds even more earthquake and some of the saints came out of the graves. We have in verse 46, Jesus had cried out with a loud voice. So past tense, a bit earlier. We don't know how far, but basically a little after three o'clock in the afternoon or right around there. He said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last.

So here is the end of Christ's life, and this would commence three days and three nights of being dead, but it's still going to take a little bit of time before we commence the three days and three nights of being in the heart of the earth, the belly of the earth in a tomb. And I'll mention this a little bit later that in part you've got to look at two separate 72-hour periods of time to reconcile all of this. Okay, we have Christ's death. We have the centurion statement. Let's go down to verse 50 because here's this Joseph. There was a man named Joseph. This is Joseph of Arimathea, a council member. So he was one of the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin Council, and a lot of this had been coming before the council. A good and just man, he had not consented to their decision and deed. So the disciples all forsook him and fled, and Peter denied him even by swearing. But it's interesting that this man from within the Sanhedrin Council at least somehow had made it known, I don't agree with this. We are doing something wrong. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God.

This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it on a tomb that was hewn out of the rock where no one had ever lain before. Verse 54, that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. Now, we're familiar with the concept of the preparation day for the Sabbath. As we have covered, the weekly Sabbath starts with Friday at sunset. The day leading up to that, from Thursday sunset through Friday day portion, that is the preparation day, or that is, as it calls here, just the preparation. It was the time in ancient Israel where they made what preparation they could, and we in principle followed that today. A lot of times you'll cook things in advance. As far as the Sabbath and the annual Sabbath, it says you don't do your regular customary work except that which every man should eat. So there is that allowance. There's a certain effort that goes into just getting the food out, preparing it, putting it away. But the preparation we try to do in advance, and then a lot of times we'll just leave there. There will be certain cleanup. We may just let the dirty dishes pile up in the sink. I mean, what's wrong with that? I mean, you guys know that's perfectly fine, don't you? The preparation. So it speaks here of the day that all of this had happened.

Christ being betrayed the night before and the so-called trial, crucifixion around 9, noon to 3, darkness over the earth, his last breath, and then Joseph going and getting permission to take the bodily remains. All of that took place on the preparation or the preparation day, which is probably where if you don't understand a thing about the annual Sabbath, that's probably why the world looks at this and says, ah, it had to be Friday. Had to be Friday. Late Friday. He's died. He's now being placed in the grave, the tomb. The Sabbath drew near. However, as we go through this, we're going to see that there were women who rested on the Sabbath and then they bought spices. And then it'll say that day was a preparation. And so there's no way to reconcile it unless we again remember there had to have been two Sabbaths. And we recall there are annual Sabbaths and there are weekly Sabbaths.

And most refer to verse 54 and believe that that is a weekly Sabbath coming up.

However, that's not the case. We know that because we can go to the parallel account in John 19. And we find in John 19, this was not just your average weekly Sabbath that comes around 52 times a year. This one was called, quote, a high Sabbath. Some might call it a great day, a high day or a great day. So in John 19, and let's notice, verse 30, we see after the sour wine, he said it is finished and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Verse 31 though, therefore, because it was the preparation day, so this would correspond with what we just read in Luke 23, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. Notice in parentheses, for that Sabbath was a high day. Now, there's nowhere in the Bible that it refers to a weekly Sabbath as being a high day or a high Sabbath. They are, but we're talking specifically here about the annual Sabbath. The Jews asked Pilate that the legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. So the Jews wanted to hurry it up. Those who were crucified to be able to breathe, they had to endure the excruciating pain and kind of lift themselves up so that they could breathe.

And then through fatigue, drop back down and then lift themselves back up to breathe. And so the Romans would come and they would just, they'd break the femur, the thigh bones, so that they could not do that and they would asphyxiate. However, they, let's see, verse 33, when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, which was important because there's a prophecy that not a bone would be broken. And also, his blood was to be shed. And of course, this is skipping over the part where the soldier came and ran the sword up into his midsection and out came the blood and water, as it says. So, a high day. This term is not used biblically for a weekly Sabbath. Now, I went, I checked Robertson's word pictures on this verse, verse 31, and it says, quote, a great day since the Sabbath day following synchronized with the first day of unleavened bread, which was a great day.

So, they make the connection because you have to be a student of the Old Testament to know the basic order of the Holy Days. All of this happened to fulfill the Passover on the 14th of a bib or Nicene. And the next day, the biblicus 12, excuse me, the x's 12, the biblicus 23, and other places, the next day, as we know, the 15th day of the first month was an annual Sabbath day, and then the seventh day of unleavened bread as well. But they recognize and connected the dots. The next day was the first day of unleavened bread and annual Sabbath. Now, James and Fawson Brown commentary also on this verse 31, quote, great day, the first day of unleavened bread, end quote. So, there are two references where they make the connection, but then you read other things that they write in commentaries and you realize they don't know what they just said. But the connection is clear here. This great day, this high day, this high Sabbath, is the annual first day of unleavened bread. Now, we in the Church of God have looked at the year 31 A.D. as being the year when all of this can fall into place. It's not a topic for today. It would take a lot of time, but you have you have the 70 weeks prophecy back in Daniel chapter 9. It talks about the number of weeks from the commandment to restore or to rebuild back in the days of the Reconstruction Temple. And then you have so many weeks, you go 69 weeks of years forward. And it brings us, when you cross over from B.C. into A.D., you have to add the year because there was no year zero. It didn't go from 1 B.C. to 0, from 0 to 1 A.D., and it went from 1 B.C., and then the next year was 1 A.D., and you're looking lost, so we better keep moving. So we have to add that in, essentially, when we're just trying to do it by math. And so, 457 B.C. with the decree of our deserxes, you come forward 483 years. If you would, by math, you'd come to 26 A.D. Add another year, 27 A.D., when he would start to confirm the covenant. 3 1⁄2 years later, you come to the spring of 31. And lo and behold, 31 A.D. is one of the years when you have a Wednesday Passover, Thursday, first day of Unleavened Bread. Now, as it happens the year before, 30 A.D., that can work too. There are some, you know, most in the greater body of the Church of God, most have always looked to 31 A.D., but I know some have looked to 30. And, you know, one of these days, we'll know. It's, you know, chronology, as I've told you before, write dates in your Bible in pencil. You might be erasing it later and changing it, but however, that 70 weeks prophecy also says when Messiah comes and He confirms the covenant for that 70th week of seven years, He'll be cut off in the midst of that.

So when Christ was here, He had a three and a half year ministry and He was cut off. But we've also taken that literally looking at the weekly, you look at a weekly calendar and the center day is Wednesday, the fourth day. And so that doesn't prove anything, but it just kind of adds to why we've looked for years where you have a Wednesday Passover, where you die that afternoon, the next day is a weekly Sabbath, then you have Friday, the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath, excuse me, you have the high holy day, preparation day, and then the weekly Sabbath. And then when they got to the tomb early, while it was still dark Sunday morning, He's gone. It had already happened. Okay, we have a handout. We have a handout, three days and three nights.

And let's just look at the chart part of it only. Up above, it mentions the sign of three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And so we have already seen in Luke that when Jesus died, Joseph hurried to bury His remains in the tomb because the Sabbath was drawing near.

We have understood that, and I believe we're right on. We've understood that as late, maybe mid to late Wednesday afternoon, Christ dies. And the next day is an annual Sabbath.

John added, and we just saw in chapter 19, verse 31, John added the fact that that Sabbath, that they were preparing for, was a high day, which is never used in the Bible to refer to the weekly Sabbath. We've seen common commentaries here have identified that with the first day of Unleavened Bread. Now, we also read... No, we didn't. Let's go back over to Luke 23. Luke 23.

And we read down through verse 54. Let's read the last two verses. Verse 55, And the women who had come with Him from Galilee. So we'll see these names like Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother James, also Christ's mother Mary. These are all from Galilee, who are, of course, down there for the festival season. Who had come with Him from Galilee, followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. So here we're getting close to the Sabbath, the high day. It was a preparation day, and they see Joseph take possession of the remains, rapid and linen, and he placed it in the tomb, and the women saw that. Then, verse 56, Then it returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils, and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now, we have a challenge there, because if they are very in Christ, looking right at the coming of the high day Sabbath, they will not be going. And another place is going to say they bought spices and oil, because it was an anointing as well. So there's oil involved, and it says they bought those. They would not have done that on that Sabbath. They would have rested, but this says they bought, or rather they returned, they prepared spices and fragrant oils and rested on the Sabbath. Now, I'm going to suggest to you, think of Friday.

They kept the high Sabbath Thursday, and then came back Friday, which was also a preparation day, but then they had another Sabbath that they're going to be resting for. Well, we'll leave that for right now. They would not have done the buying and preparing of spices and the oil on any Sabbath.

Now, let's go to Mark 16. Mark 16, and just read verse 1.

Now, when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Silome, bought spices that they might come and anoint him. So here it says the Sabbath was passed. Then they got the spices and oil, so that they could go anoint him. But Luke's account just said they got the spices and then they rested another Sabbath. Well, I put the word another in there, but what other conclusion can there be? Now, let's go to the chart. Again, just the boxed area.

Far left column, Wednesday. Nice enter, I bet, 14. Christ is crucified around nine o'clock. Okay, it has the reference there. We didn't go to, but we have the reference there in Mark 15, and about the third hour of the day he's crucified. Lots of things happened between that point and noon. We had dialogue with the two thieves. You had a number of events took place, but then you have the three hours of darkness from noon to 3 p.m. We just read that, but not in Mark's account. There's a reference here to Mark 15 verse 33. Christ dies at 3 o'clock. Again, that's as close as we can get, and it has a scripture here in Mark 1534. I'm right here. It says, At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And just a few verses. In verse 37, He cried out with a loud voice and breathed His last.

Then it says, Christ is buried before sunset. So again, Joseph of Arimathea went and Pilate approved, and he got possession of the bodies, wrapped him in linen, which I think is interesting. They wrapped him in linen. Their practice was to get spices in the oil and come back and actually bind those as they further wrapped the bodily remains. But he was wrapped in linen and put in the tomb, and the women saw that happen, and then a Sabbath came. They would not have gone and bought and prepared on the Sabbath. So this Wednesday sunset comes. We go to the next column, Wednesday night. The Jewish Passover meal is eaten. Now notice it says the Jewish Passover meal, because by this time you had different practices. Obviously, we do what Jesus did, and that's at the beginning of the 14th. Beginning of the 14th, we have the Passover service. Paul, 25 years later, writes Corinth, and he says, What I am giving you I receive from the Lord in the night the Lord was betrayed. He took bread. He took wine. We follow that pattern, and there are those who want to argue about the chronology. Is that the same as the chronology back in the Old Testament? I think the evidence says yes, but it's not worth arguing about. But the Jews had begun the practice late on the 14th, killing the lamb, and then they roasted it, and so they're actually eating it into the 15th. The eating of the Passover on the 15th. But if you go back to the Old Testament, every place where it identifies the Passover with a date on a year, it always says the 14th of the first month, every single time. And so our contention has always been that from the killing of the lamb, the roasting, the gathering, the eating of it, and the whole nine yards had to be done on the 14th. And by the way, they were doing it. They killed them on the 14th, but they were eating and having the bulk of the meal in the 15th when you and I keep the night to be much observed. So the Jews were eating their Passover. Then that same call on Wednesday night, beginning of the days of the 11 bread. This is the 15th of the first month. And so if we want to start checking off three days and three nights, this is Christ's first night in the tomb, in the belly of the earth. So here we have night number one. Okay, then we come to the daylight portion of Thursday. This is the high day. This is the first day of the 11 bread. We read that scripture in John 19.21. We should go back to Matthew 27 and notice the guard being placed at the tomb. Matthew 27 verse 64.

Previous verses we had Joseph getting the remains. We have verse 62 speaks of the preparation day. Verse 64, therefore, command that the tomb be made secure until the third day lest the disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people he has risen from the dead. And so the last deception will be worse than the worst. And so Pilate said, you have a guard, go your way, make it as secure as you know how. And so they went, made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. So these are, verse 62 tells us, the chief priests and Pharisees who went to Pilate. They're supposed to be eating the Passover that night and they're going off seeing Pilate because they by all means did not want this fellow to come out of the grave three days and three nights later. So that's what we're referred to here. Then bottom of that column of Thursday daylight portion, we have Christ's first day in the tomb in the belly of the earth. So if we want to check off three days, there's the first one. So we've got one night, one day so far. Then we come to the second day, and again the day is from evening to evening, and so Thursday night we have Christ with His second night in the tomb, the belly of the earth. We go to Friday daytime, the women prepare spices we just read, Luke 23 56, and we have Christ's second day in the tomb. So we've got two nights, two days now. Then we come to Friday. See, they rest. One version told us they got spices after they rested on the Sabbath. The other one says they were hurrying, preparing for the Sabbath, and then it was after that second Sabbath, as I think we correctly understand, that they were going to actually go and put the spices and the anointing on the remains and found He was already arisen. So second day in the tomb. All right, Friday night women rest according to the commandment for the Sabbath, and that was that last verse of Luke 23 verse 56. And so here essentially Friday night we have Christ's third night in the tomb, in the belly of the earth, as He said. Then we come to Sabbath, Saturday, Sabbath, weekly Sabbath, daylight portion. And here we have Christ's third day. So through this daylight portion we have had three nights checked off. We now have three days checked off. They, of course, were commanded to rest that day. And then Christ is, bottom that column, Christ is resurrected at the end of the Sabbath day, exactly three days and three nights after being placed in the tomb. Now, I'm going to comment a little further on that, and that's where I suggested a while ago. It's good that we keep in mind two different 72-hour periods of time, because one, if you just talk about the amount of time He was dead, and if we're right, and I think we are around three o'clock Wednesday afternoon He dies, you go to that same time Thursday, Friday, Sabbath. Sabbath about three o'clock He would have come back to life.

But the day He died, it took a while, get permission, get the body, wrap it in linen, put it in the tomb. And so just before dark, He's being put in the tomb. So if you start there, and you go to, you know, from right at the last thing Wednesday to Thursday to Friday to Sabbath, right around, or right before sundown, the tomb's going to be opened. Let's look here.

We read, keep your place in Matthew, we're going to come right back, if that's where you still are. Let's go to John 20. Read again verse 1. You see, by comparing four different gospel accounts, the women saw Jesus buried, then they rested on a Sabbath. Then they bought and prepared spices and oil, which they wouldn't do on a Sabbath. Then they rested for another Sabbath. And then they went to anoint the body on the first day of the week, and He was already arisen. And again, two Sabbaths was the only way to make any sense out of this 32- or this, not 32, 72-hour period of time. John 20, verse 1, Now the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the sown had been taken away from the tomb.

Now let's go back to Matthew 28 and read verse 1. Matthew 28 verse 1, Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, the first day of the week, we don't need three guesses on that, it's a new week has begun, and the daylight portion is about to come, although Mary got there, as the other account told us, while it was still dark. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Now it's easy to totally miss it, but as we read verse 1, Now after the Sabbath, you have your basic Greek word translated Sabbath, and then you have the one that's here, and it's Sabaton, as a b-b-a-t-o-n, Sabaton. And Sabaton is a plural form of the word Sabbath. Now it's curious in the way it's used, sometimes it is to denote a plurality, and sometimes it's used for singularity, and you can only tell from the context. But the only thing that makes sense as we follow through on this chart, that they saw him buried, they rested for a Sabbath, then they bought spices and got the oil, and made preparation, but it doesn't say they went and anointed the body. Then it was a preparation for another Sabbath, and they rested again.

And then they're going out, and lo and behold, you see it's amazing when we look back at it from 2000 years hindsight, how many things, these are people who do not have God's Spirit yet, how many things just went right over their head. We would think you should have started counting the dots from Wednesday afternoon at 3, and kind of figure out, okay, he won't even be there, but they're going Sunday morning expecting to go and prepare the body, and he's gone. And it's not until he appears, two are walking down the road, he's walking with them, he appears through the 11, he appears to about 500. So then it begins to dawn, and yet it really wasn't until the Spirit of God was given on Pentecost that everything really clicked. So we look here after the Sabaton. The only thing that makes sense is the plural meaning, after the Sabbath, plural, after the Thursday high day, and after the weekly Sabbath. And then, as it's coming to the first day of the week, we have the events that take place that he goes on to define. So we've looked at our handout. We followed that through. He's resurrected, Sabbath, weekly Sabbath, 3 o'clock-ish that afternoon. Tomb is opened probably just before sundown that same day. Two different 72-hour periods we need to keep in mind. What's important was that he said he'd be dead three days and three nights. But he also said he'd be in the belly there three days and three nights. I didn't write down the scripture, but there's one place where they go and they find the burial garments, the one the linen was rolled up, folded, and lying there where his head had been, which might imply that he was resurrected and remained in the tomb for a little window of time, and took the time like we men always do first thing the morning you get up and you make the bed, right? Well, maybe not. But we should. But this timeline accommodates three full nights. Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night. And this also accommodates three full days. Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The Jews asked, show us a miracle, show us a sign to show. And he gave one sign. He said, I'll give you one sign. It's a sign of the prophet Jonah. And as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. And as Bulger points out, in Hebrew usage, there was, I mean, when you say three days and three nights, it meant literally three days and three nights. And so in like manner, Jesus was going to literally be three days and three nights. And those who try to force it into a day and a half probably do so because they don't understand the Holy Days. And we would probably miss the chronology as well. Or we would just think, oh, well, I don't understand that and go on and just out of sight, out of mind. But we do understand the Holy Days. We do understand what the Jews of that day and what the early church continued doing and what the church of this day does. But careful fulfillment of the only sign Jesus gave serves as a testimony to those of that day and to the people of God through the ages that Jesus was and is the Messiah, the Lamb who gave Himself for the sins of the world. And so, once again, that first part of our belief statement on three days and three nights says, we believe that the Father raised the Jesus Christ from the dead after His body lay three days and three nights in the grave, thus making immortality possible. Have a wonderful Sabbath day, everyone!