GOD
… Reconciling the world unto God …
The Scripture used throughout this study is quoted from the King James Version. Any explanatory insertions by the author within a Scripture verse are enclosed in brackets [ ]. |
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| Three Days and Three Nights |
| Biblical Time Reckoning |
| Jesus Christ Our Passover |
| The Day Jesus Christ Died |
Three Days and Three Nights
Matthew 12:40:
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.
Jesus Christ boldly declared the prophecy concerning his own death and subsequent three days and three nights in the grave. As his statement stands in God's Word, it is very clear, simple, and easy to understand. However, when this verse is compared with the teachings of our day and time, it poses a conflict in our thinking regarding the day that Jesus Christ died. Traditionally, Christians widely accept that Jesus Christ died on the afternoon of that which is called "Good Friday," and that his resurrection occurred early on Sunday morning. How could Jesus Christ have died on Friday afternoon, been buried for three days and three nights, and have risen early on Sunday? This study will provide clarity of understanding to those hungering to know the truth regarding this subject.
Jesus Christ stated: "thy [God’s] word is truth" (John 17:17). The Scriptures did not come from the will of men (II Peter 1:21), but rather all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (II Timothy 3:16). God's work is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4); His way is perfect (II Samuel 22:31); and His Word is perfect (Psalms 19:7). Being a perfect Word, it cannot contain any error. We must come to the Scriptures with the greatest reverence and concern.
II Timothy 2:15:
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
To be approved before God, we are told to study. The basic meaning of the word "study" in this verse is to put forth a diligent effort. This verse further says we are to be workmen who need not be ashamed when we rightly divide the Word of truth.
Matthew 15:1-3:
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
Traditions of men are not to supersede the commandments of God. The tradition discussed here in Matthew was to wash hands before eating bread. Though not an evil thing in itself, the tradition had been elevated to greater importance than the commandment of God. Therefore, Jesus Christ took issue.
Likewise today in Christianity, we have numerous traditions of men. These customs are not necessarily evil nor good, but are simply traditional. Many times these traditions enhance our lives and bring us into remembrance of that which God has done for us. However, in order to come to a knowledge of the truth, we must be willing to set aside tradition, if necessary.
Nowhere in the Bible does the term "Good Friday" or "Easter Sunday" ever appear.1 These terms come from the traditions of men. Having said that, I also would like to point out that the purpose of this study is not to ridicule tradition; nor is its purpose to rally towards changing traditions. It is presented simply to help bring understanding to the Scriptures.
Besides conflicting with tradition, the three days and three nights of Matthew 12:40 present another difficulty in comparison with certain other Scriptures.
Mark 9:31:
For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.Luke 18:33:
And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.I Corinthians 15:4:
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
These verses clearly state that Jesus Christ would rise "the third day." Matthew 12:40 says that he would be in "the heart of the earth," or buried, for three days and three nights. How could one be buried for three full days and nights and still rise on the third day? This apparent contradiction lies in our understanding. When the Scriptural evidence is approached logically and Biblical time reckoning is considered, these verses harmonize with astounding accuracy. A brief study of the Judean Passover will help pinpoint details and provide insight as to the exact days Jesus Christ died and rose.
Biblical Time Reckoning
Whenever reading the Bible, keep in mind that it was written in a different time and culture than that of the Western world today. There were some significant differences in how the people of the Bible measured hours, days, weeks, months, and years.
Today we use a solar calendar consisting of 12 months and 365 days. Every four years we add one day to the calendar in order to keep the yearly cycle consistent. The Hebrews used a lunar calendar which followed the movement of the moon to measure months. The usual number of months in a year was also 12. However, since 12 lunar months equal only 354½ days, in order to keep to the true year, another month was added every three years or so. Thus the Christian celebration of Easter never falls on the same day two years in a row. Unlike our celebration of Christmas which occurs every December 25th, Easter Sunday comes at different times during the months of March and April. This is because Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the Jewish Passover. The Jewish celebration of Passover is not set by a solar calendar year but a lunar one.
As we study this topic of three days and three nights, comprehending the start of the Judean day is vitally important. In understanding Biblical time reckoning, perhaps one of the greatest errors made concerns the beginning and ending of a day. The meaning of a "day" was first presented in Genesis.
Genesis 1:5:
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
This shows the two ways the word "day" is used in the Bible. First of all, it represented that part of a day which had light. Secondly, a day referred to a full 24 hours containing both an evening and a morning. This full 24 hour day started with the evening and ended with the morning. In other words, the new day started at sunset. This reckoning of a day is used throughout the Bible. At first, we may have difficulty grasping starting a day at sunset, but when honestly considering how we currently start a day, we see its logic. We start our day in the middle of the night at midnight.
No names were given to the days of the week as we do today (Sunday, Monday, etc.); but rather the days of the week were numbered. The first day of the week corresponds to our Sunday; the second corresponds to Monday; the third was Tuesday, and so on. The seventh day of the week corresponds to our Saturday and was called the Sabbath Day.
The daylight hours were divided into 12 equal parts. The length of these hours would vary depending on the time of year. In the winter, these hours were shorter; and in the summer, they were longer. When Jesus Christ died, which was spring, the hours would have been approximately 60 minutes each. For time reference in this study, we will place sunrise at 6 a.m., the third hour of the day at 9 a.m., the sixth hour at 12 noon, and the ninth hour at 3 p.m. We will put sunset, the start of a new day, at approximately 6 p.m. The reader should be aware that these time references are only approximate and are given simply to aid our under-standing.
The Scriptures regarding the day that Jesus Christ died refer to certain hours and help pinpoint the time of his crucifixion and death.
Mark 15:25:
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.Luke 23:44:
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.Matthew 27:46, 50:
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice....
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Not any one Gospel gives all the details surrounding the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, when we compare the narratives one with another, we are presented with a very detailed yet simple picture of that which transpired. He was crucified at the third hour, approximately nine in the morning. From about the sixth hour until the ninth hour, or from about noon until three o’clock in the afternoon, darkness was over all the earth. Then about 3 p.m. our Lord and Savior gave his life on the cross. Look how beautifully God's Word fits!
Jesus Christ Our Passover
Next we consider the significance of Jesus Christ as our Passover.
I Corinthians 5:7:
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
The perfection with which God redeemed man through the work of His son is breathtaking. The Passover is one of the great subjects to understand in the Bible. Jesus Christ fulfilled the legal requirements as the Passover lamb in every detail.
John 1:29:
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.I Peter 1:18 and 19:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
The Passover was instituted by God way back in the time of Moses. The children of Israel were living in captivity in Egypt. God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses' words. Then a series of plagues came upon Egypt. In the final plague, "the destroyer" was sent throughout the land of Egypt at midnight to kill all the firstborn in the land. God gave instructions to Moses to have the Israelites slay a lamb, eat its flesh, and put its blood on their doorposts. The destroyer would then "pass over" these homes, and the firstborn children of Israel would be protected from the plague. Details regarding the slaying of the Passover lamb and the eating of the Passover meal are given in Exodus 12. This Passover also began the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We must comprehend the timing of these events to understand details regarding the death of Jesus Christ.
Exodus 12:1-6:
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congre-gation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Thus began the first month on the Hebrew calendar. At the time of the Babylonian captivity, this month was known as Nisan (Esther 3:7). It occurred in the spring, around the time of our March and April.
Exodus 12:18:
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
The Passover lamb was to be slain on the 14th of Nisan at "even." The term "even," or literally "between the evenings" refers to any time in the afternoon from the sun's high point at noon until its decline to below the horizon at sunset. This timing becomes significant when we consider Jesus Christ’s death.
Next let us consider when the lamb was eaten.
Exodus 12:8:
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
The lamb was to be eaten that night, before midnight when the destroyer would smite the land. Since the Hebrew day started at sunset, this means that although the lamb was slain on the 14th of Nisan in the afternoon, it would not be eaten until the next day, the 15th of Nisan. The 15th of Nisan started the week long Feast of Unleavened Bread. This first day of the feast of Unleavened bread was a special Sabbath day.
Exodus 12:14-16:
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.Leviticus 23:6 and 7:
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
The Passover lamb was to be slain on the 14th of Nisan in the afternoon. Then at sunset the 15th of Nisan began, and the lamb was eaten. The first day starting at sunset was a holy convocation, a special Sabbath day. Jesus Christ fulfilled every aspect of the Law as our Passover lamb. Putting this information together with that which we have already considered, we can see that the day Jesus Christ died was the 14th of Nisan, and that he died at the ninth hour, around three o’clock in the afternoon. It was the exact time when the Passover Lamb was slain. At sunset that night, a new day started — the 15th of Nisan which would have been a special Sabbath day. Having this understanding, we can now pinpoint the days of the week that Jesus Christ died and rose.
The Day Jesus Christ Died
The 15th of Nisan began the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first day was a special Sabbath day and was different from the weekly Sabbath. It could have occurred on any day of the week and would have taken precedence over the weekly Sabbath. This is not unlike that which we have in Christianity today with our celebration of Christmas. Sunday is considered by most people to be the day set aside as the Christian's "Sabbath day," so to speak. But Christmas, December 25th, is given more of a celebration than the weekly Sunday service. Christmas day can take place on any given day of the week. Understanding the precedence given a special day becomes very important when we consider an event in the Gospel of John which took place right after Jesus died.
John 19:31:
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.
Not recognizing which "Sabbath day" is being discussed in this verse has caused much misunderstanding regarding the day Jesus Christ died. Perhaps the term "Good Friday" came from thinking this was talking about the weekly Sabbath. However, the verse very clearly points out that the Sabbath day was not just any Sabbath day, but that it was "an high day." This Sabbath day could have taken place on any day of the week.
So, Jesus Christ died on the 14th of Nisan at around 3 p.m. The Judeans did not want the bodies to remain on the crosses during the special Sabbath day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which started at sunset. So they besought Pilate to have the legs broken and bodies removed from the crosses. Next, Joseph of Arimathaea, having been granted permission from Pilate, took the body of Jesus Christ. He buried him in a sepulcher before sunset that night which started the special Sabbath day.
Luke 23:52-54:
The man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
Jesus Christ was buried on the 14th of Nisan sometime between three o’clock in the afternoon and sunset. We know from Matthew 12:40 that he was to have been buried in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, a full 72 hours. That means he would have risen from the dead a full three days later also between 3 p.m. and sunset. If we can figure out the day he rose from the dead, then we can count backwards 72 hours and determine the day of the week that he died. None of the Gospels tell us exactly when he rose from the dead. However, all the records show that early on the first day of the week, our Sunday morning, when his disciples arrived at the tomb, he was already risen from the dead.
Luke 24:1, 4-6:
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.
And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
Since he was already risen from the dead early on Sunday morning, then he must have been raised from the dead on Saturday, sometime between 3 p.m. and sunset. Counting back three days and three nights, we can determine he would have had to have died on Wednesday afternoon at approximately 3 p.m. and to have been buried before sunset that night. With this understanding, we can see how he could have risen from the dead "the third day." From the time he died on Wednesday the 14th of Nisan, we can count and see how perfectly the Scriptures fit together. The first day would have been Thursday, the 15th of Nisan; the second, Friday, the 16th of Nisan; and the third, Saturday, the 17th of Nisan. And on that day, sometime between the hours of 3 p.m. and sunset, God raised him from the dead!! God's Word is truly magnificent!
The Word of God, as originally given, is truth and contains no error. When Jesus Christ said that he would be buried in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, he spoke the truth. And when he said that he would be raised from the dead the third day, he said that which he meant and meant that which he said. The Scriptures are accurate in every detail. What a joy it is to know that which God has done through the redemptive work of His son Jesus Christ and to know the power that is ours because He raised him from the dead!
Footnotes:
1 The word "Easter" appears in the King James Version in Acts 12:4. However, the Greek texts clearly show that this is incorrect and should have been translated "The Passover."
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Last changed: 01.01.1970