In 20 places indefinite expressions such “on the third day he will be raised” are given as the length of time between these events. However, if we read the 20 other places in the New Testament in which Jesus and the apostles refer to the length of time he would spend in the tomb, we would be forced to conclude that they do not teach a literal three-day stay in the tomb. Thus he was buried near sunset Wednesday evening and resurrected Saturday evening. This verse has Jesus saying: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Proponents of a Wednesday crucifixion say that this statement means Jesus was exactly three days and three nights – or 72 hours – in the grave. The question remains: On what day of the week was Jesus crucified and buried in the tomb? Those who believe Jesus was crucified on Wednesday refer to Matthew 12:40. It appears from these accounts that Jesus was raised sometime during the early hours of Sunday morning. The women came to the tomb around dawn on the “first day of the week” (or Sunday), and found it empty. ![]() The Gospels say that the women came to the tomb “at dawn on the first day of the week” (Matthew 28:1), “very early on the first day of the week” (Mark 16:2), “on the first day of the week, very early in the morning” (Luke 24:1), or “early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark” (John 20:1). The Gospels tell us that the day on which the women discovered that Jesus’ tomb was empty was Sunday morning. It is His perfect love for us and His redeeming blood that is the theme to keep in our hearts and minds.Jesus Christ: How Long Was Jesus in the Tomb? But the central point is that He offered Himself as a sacrifice for us. We might also get into discussions about the cross and the nails and so forth. This sequence leads us to believe that such statements were not literal increments of time, but rather common language approximations or shorthand speech.Īs we read about and study Christ’s divine life & mission, his atonement, death, and resurrection, we sometimes get off into the weeds in discussions like this. If they had already fasted three 72 hour periods, this would have been the fourth day. … it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house… Esther 5:1 …fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day Esther 4:16 To the Jews of Christ’s time, the “three days and three nights” phase was a common one and meant nothing different than “three days.” I have personally said at, say, 3pm, “Let’s meet three days from now at 9am.” Obviously this is not a full 72 hours. When we, today, say three days, we don’t necessarily mean 72 hours. But that is where the shorthand comes in. Well that would certainly indicate that we’re talking about six periods of 12 hours. The other linguistic obstacle is that there are a few references to “three days and three nights”.įor 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. And the evening hours from Saturday night to Sunday morning was also considered a full day when counting “three days”. So, just those few hours on Friday count as a full day. Any part of the day was considered a day.In this case, Friday was the first day until sunset, 24 hours for Saturday, then a portion of Sunday. First the counting of days went from sundown to sundown.It includes the following methods that are different from present day Western cultures. Jewish method of counting days was a little different than our 24 hour days. This involves a combination of shorthand speech added onto a cultural irregularity. The most widely accepted idea is that the counting of days was different for Jews of that era. Unfortunately, there are several schools of thought on this, and thus no clear cut answer. As you point out, Jesus was apparently not in the tomb for 72 hours. Today when we talk of a day, it means 24 hours. This is a very common question that is asked throughout Christianity. So how do they figure his body was in the tomb, and his spirit in Paradise for 3 days? That is only about 40 hours-less than two day’s time. Then sixteen hours or so later he was resurrected on Sunday morning. ![]() Twenty- four hours later brings us to Saturday evening. ![]() How do they figure Christ spent three days in the tomb? They took his body down and placed it in the tomb before sunset on Friday.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |