Three Days And Three Nights

The Only Sign

As believers in the risen Savior, the death burial and resurrection of Christ is a focal point of our belief system.

The following twenty one text give us the clear impression that God is trying to get us to understand that our Savior was in the tomb three days and three nights.

Mat 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.

Mat 26:61 And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.

Mat 27:63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

Mar 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mar 14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

Mar 15:29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,

Joh 2:19 -21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

Mat 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Mat 17:23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Mat 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Mat 27:64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest

Mar 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.

Mar 10:34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Luk 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

Luk 13:32-33 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.

Luk 24:7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

Luk 24:21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

Luk 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

Act 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;

1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

In fact, this was the ONLY sign He was going to give us. As believers, surely we would know and be able to prove that he fulfilled that ONE sign.  Do we believe what the Bible says, or do we believe the traditions of men? We have been so caught up in our traditions that we cannot even do simple math. Can we count to three?

If Christ died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday then he is NOT the Messiah. Christ himself said that the ONLY sign that He would give would be the sign of Jonah.

(Mat 12:39-40)  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:  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.

Therefore, Christ would have to be in the grave three days AND three nights.  Why is this important? Isn't it just semantics? Maybe?  But when Christ says he is giving us ONE SIGN that He is the son of God, The Messiah, the one that Scripture says that God was sending, then we, as believers and His representatives on this earth, aught to be able to show others, that He is the Messiah by this one sign.

If we use the traditions handed down to us, this is what it looks like:

There is absolutely no way that you can get BOTH three days AND three nights even using part of a day or night. Besides, the Scriptures states that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb on the first day of the week (Sunday) “while it was yet dark” - and another Scripture says that it was at the rising of the son. Jesus had already risen so Sunday day could really not be counted.

(Mar 16:2)  And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

(Luk 24:1-3)  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 they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

(Joh 20:1)  The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

Since Jesus said that this was the ONLY sign, we as believers need to get it right or we fail to be a good witness!  Can we correctly count to three?  So, as you can see, there has been a lot of confusion between what the Bible actually says and what men have taught over the centuries.

We have minimized the importance of God's instructions and transferred the importance to another group of people and WE as believers “make up” our own ways to worship and follow after the Creator which causes us to miss His only sign! Shame on us!

The bible teachers of old were very anti-Semitic and as such, rejected the Old Testament Scriptures and were totally focused on the New Testament. (Kind of sounds like us today- doesn't it?) As such, when it came to the crucifixion occurring on the “day of preparation”, it did not occur to them (even though the scripture clearly states it in Jn. 19:14) that the “preparation” was for the Passover and not the Seventh Day Sabbath. They just assumed that it was the preparation for the Seventh Day Sabbath (Saturday). In reality, the Seventh day Sabbath is from sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday night.

This misconception of the word “preparation for the Sabbath” was taught throughout the dark ages (where the Scriptures were taken away) and on into our modern times. It was not until this century that people once again started to not just read, but to trust and obey God’s entire Word and understand that the Bible is not two books, but one continuous message. It was then that the Holy Spirit reveal these simple Bible truths such as what the “day of preparation” was and when the crucifixion took place.

What Day Was the Crucifixion?

Joh 19:14 And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

(Lev 23:4-8)  These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S Passover.  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. (Sabbath definition)

But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Notice that the 14th Biblical day of the month was Passover and it was a preparation day where you kill and prepare the lamb for dinner that evening. That evening begins the 15th day of the month (God's days go from sundown to sundown Gen 1:5). The 15th day of the month begins the first day of Unleavened Bread which is a Sabbath day (hence the day before is the preparation of that Sabbath). Unleavened bread continues for 7 days and again on the last day of Unleavened bread it is also a Sabbath.

The first Sunday (or day after the Seventh Day Sabbath), during Unleavened bread is Firstfruits. In other words, during the week of Unleavened Bread, there will be a Sunday. It is this Sunday that is Firstfruits. This is the day that God set apart for us to worship Christ's resurrection. He initiated it thousands of years earlier and commanded us to keep it. Here are his instructions:

(Lev 23:10-11)  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

It now makes more sense why Paul states this:

(1Co 15:20)  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

(1Co 15:23)  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

That is why Christ gave the parable of the seed where he clarifies that the seed is the word of God and the harvest is at the end of the world (Matt 13, Mark4, luke 8)

He did NOT say that Christ was the “Easter” because this word has an origin that is not of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but of a different god or goddess which we discuss in depth in another teaching. Besides, what is “good” about good Friday? Where did these terms come from and what traditions are we still practicing that were attached to the worship of these gods?

Most people say “well, that is not what it means to me”! I get the fact that we do these things as traditions and it does not mean that we are worshiping another god but we cannot say that we are not “serving” the other god. To “serve” means to walk after- do the traditions and rituals like what was done to these gods. God says do not worship me that way. Besides, it may not mean that to us, but did we ever think what it may mean to God?

(Deu 12:30-32)  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

(Exo 34:14)  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

(Deu 8:19)  And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

(Deu 30:17-18)  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;I denounce unto you this day, that its, lets show the timeline on the calendar. We do not know what day Passover fell but we do know that Jesus resurrected on the first day of the week. They came to the tomb while it was yet dark as the day was breye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

Back to 3 days and three nights.

Now that we understand Gods feast of Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits, lets show the timeline on the calendar. We do not know what day Passover fell but we do know that Jesus resurrected on the first day of the week. They came to the tomb while it was yet dark.

We then have to back up and count three days and three nights and this is what we get :

Jesus died the Passover lamb on Thursday at 3pm which was the ninth hour. He was without sin (Leaven) and He rose our Firstfruits of the dead.
Notice that what we call “Palm Sunday” is the day they pick the lambs for the sacrifice and they are to keep it up until the 14th when they slaughter it for the sacrifice. This is believed to be the day that Jesus road the donkey into Jerusalem and they yelled “Hosanna”. The chief priest told him to tell his followers to be quiet (because they wanted the attention for picking the lamb) but in instead Jesus said if he did that the rocks would cry out. This was “lamb picking day” the day that the Passover lamb was picked to be the sacrifice for the nation of Israel. Of course, the rocks would have cried out as he road in, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!    Amen