“Father, I challenge you to clarify this, if Christ was buried on Friday and rose on early hours of Sunday, does it give a complete 3 days and 3 nights as Christ said, that as Jonah was in the belly of fish for 3 days and 3 nights so shall he be in the grave, and also clarify what makes up a day to give a complete day.” ~ Maduakor Oluoma
Challenge accepted!
The first part of the question is on "3 days and 3 nights in the grave."
This is the passage that is causing your confusion. It
is Matthew 12:40:
"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth."
Following that passage literally, Jesus was supposed to spend 72 hours in the grave before rising to make it a complete three days and three nights’ experience.
To this, if we say he died on Friday by 3 pm and he rose on Sunday before dawn, then it is just on Saturday alone that he experienced a complete day and night in the grave.
So, with the above, many people of our generation have concluded that Jesus couldn’t have died on Friday. Some have suggested that he died on Wednesday. . .so he can have a full Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the grave, and rise on Sunday.
And that is exactly where the problem is. . .
To spend three days and three nights in the grave is a way of saying that Christ rose on the fourth day. If you are in a grave for three days and three nights, then you rise on the fourth day. It is simple mathematics.
If Jesus died on Wednesday as many are postulating, then he spent a complete Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the grave which is three days. Then he rose on Sunday, which is the fourth day.
But, there is a very big but. . .
According to 1 Cor 15:4. Jesus did not rise on the fourth day, he rose on the third day.
"...and that he was buried, and that he was raised ON THE THIRD DAY in accordance with the scriptures."
Even the same Matthew noted elsewhere that Jesus rose on the third day:
Matthew 16: 21 says: “From then onwards, Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at
the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be put to death and be raised up ON THE THIRD DAY.”
There is no mathematical formula that will enable someone to spend three days and three nights in a grave and rise from the dead on the third day. I don’t know of any.
So, it is obvious that the use of “three days and three nights” as noted in Mathew 12:40 is a figurative expression and not literally. This is so true because “Three days and three nights” is a special phrase used in the ancient world with the meaning “long enough to be definitely dead.”
When Christ used it, it is a way of him saying that he would REALLY die, and not that he would be literally dead for exactly seventy-two hours.
So, how can we conclude, following the bible, that Jesus spent three days in the tomb and rose on the third day?
Next post will clarify that.
Source>
https://www.facebook.com/100047214812954/posts/510386783878478/?app=fbl
Second part: Did Jesus spend three days in the
tomb?
The four gospels are so clear in these three
chronologies of events: Friday, Jesus died and was
buried – Saturday, he was still in the tomb – Sunday,
the tomb was found empty.
Let us explain. . .
1. The first is that Jesus died on “the day of
preparation” and was buried the same day. The
question is, which day is the day of preparation?
In ancient times, they do not have names for days of
the week as we do today. This is why, people of this
modern era may not be typically familiar with the
phrase “the day of preparation,” but it was a way of
referring to the day before the Sabbath.
It was called that because devout Jews had to make
preparations to rest on the Sabbath. For example,
they needed to prepare all the food that they would
eat on Saturday.
I wrote about this in my previous posts. I told you
that Jews do not even cook on Sabbath. So, they use
a day before Sabbath to make all the necessary
arrangements. You can read Exodus 16 to
understand:
“This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow
is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord;
bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil,
and all that is left over lay by to be kept till the
morning’” (Exodus 16:23).
So, from the above, we can rightly conclude that the
day of preparation is Friday. This means that Jesus
died and was buried on Friday.
2. The second chronology of events is the Sabbath
day which followed the day of preparation.
Luke’s gospel records that as soon as Jesus was
buried, the women “returned and prepared spices and
perfumed oils. Then they rested on the Sabbath
according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56).
If we read from verse 54, we will see why the women
returned quickly from the burial to prepare spices: “It
was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was
about to begin” (Luke 23:54).
So, in summary, Jesus’ burial was done in haste so
that Sabbath day will not meet them. Then the
women rushed home and prepared spices since they
are not supposed to do anything once it is Sabbath
day. The Sabbath day for the Jew is what we refer to
as Saturday.
Before I go to the third chronology, I want you to
note that for the Jews, the day begins in the evening.
Friday evening is the beginning of the Sabbath. This
is different from how we calculate time in this era.
For us, our day begins in the morning. If you read
Genesis on the account of creation, you will hear the
narrative saying, “Evening came and morning came,
the first day. . .” Whereas, for us, it would have been
“Morning came and evening came, the first day.”
3. The third chronology of events is what is known
as “The First Day of the Week”.
On this, the gospels are clear that the tomb where
Jesus was buried on the day of preparation (Friday),
was found empty on the first day of the week. You
can read from the four gospels saying the same
thing: Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1, John
20:1.
This first day of the week is what we refer to as
Sunday.
So, how can we conclude, following the bible, that
Jesus spent three days in the tomb and rose on the
third day?
The reason it is difficult for most of us to understand
this is that the way we understand time and the way
we calculate our day is different from the way ancient
people do.
For us, if you are born in the month of April 2022, to
complete a one-year birthday, it will be April 2023.
For ancient people, if you are born in April 2022 and
the year ends in December, at the end of the year in
December, it will be counted for you as one year.
They won’t wait until April the following year.
The same is applicable to days. If you are born by 3
pm on Friday, and since the new day usually begins
in the evening around 6 PM, even though you were
born three hours before the beginning of a new day
(3 pm to 6 pm), once it gets to 6 PM of the new
day, you are considered a day old.
The trick to understanding this is that the ancient
people counted parts as the whole.
We see this also in the parable Jesus told
concerning the landowner that went out early in the
morning and hires men, agreeing to pay them the
daily rate. He hires them at various times throughout
the day– 9 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, and 5 pm. In the end,
he paid all of them the same rate because the
agreement was that he will pay them what they pay
per day. In this case, even one hour before the day's
end, is one complete day. (Matthew 20:1-16).
Back to Jesus’ resurrection.
Jesus died at around 3 p.m. (cf. Luke 23:44-46),
which means the first day of his death was the
remainder of the day of preparation, between 3 p.m.
and sunset.
The second day then began at sunset and lasted
through the entire Sabbath (i.e., it was Friday night
and Saturday daytime).
The third day then began at sundown on the Sabbath
and lasted until sunset on the first day of the week
(i.e., it was Saturday night and Sunday daytime).
This is why, on the road to Emmaus, on that Sunday
of his resurrection, the disciples were discussing and
Jesus came to be with them and as they were
narrating the story, they told Jesus that “it is now the
third day” since the Crucifixion (Luke 24:21).
Their calculation is clear. Their understanding is
clear. Na we dey carry our own 2022 understanding
of time go join how people of over 2000 years ago
understand time and days.
Source>
https://www.facebook.com/100047214812954/posts/510409683876188/?app=fbl
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