Incredible, Shocking New Truth!--

 

 

How Long Was Jesus

Really in the Grave?

 

                        Was Jesus Christ crucified on Good Friday and resurrected early

                        Sunday morning, as tradition teaches?   Was He crucified on a

                        Wednesday and resurrected exactly 3 days and 3 nights later –

                        toward the end of the weekly Sabbath, as others have claimed?

                        How long was Christ in the grave?  What does the Bible mean by                                                          “three days and three nights”?  New evidence from astronomy

                        sheds much new light on this controversy over the death and                                                      resurrection of Jesus Christ!  On what day of the week was the

                        Messiah  really crucified?  And in what year?  It’s time we took a

                        NEW look at this pivotal subject, and answered the objections

                        of the critics once and for all!   

                                                                                                                                                                        William F. Dankenbring 

 

            One of the major arguments among Christians, today, is over how much time Jesus Christ actually spent in the grave.  In the book of Matthew, we read the very words of Jesus Christ concerning His death and resurrection.  He declared in plain and unequivocal words:

 

                        "Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would

                                see a sign from thee.  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 Jonah:  For as Jonah 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" (Matthew 12:40).

 

            This seems like plain language, in English.  How long is “three days and three nights”?

 

Three Days and Three Nights

 

            Tradition maintains that Jesus was in the grave three days – or portions thereof – from “Good Friday” until “Easter Sunday,” at sunrise.  Scholars and students of the Scriptures point out that “three days” does not necessarily mean exactly three days.  It can mean portions of three days.  The expression is an idiomatic one.  We have the same principle in English.  If I say I am going fishing in “three days,” and today is Wednesday, then “three days” from today could be understood as either Friday (inclusive counting – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday), or Saturday (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), depending on whether you began the counting of the days with today (inclusive counting) or tomorrow (exclusive counting).

 

            On the other hand, some scholars maintain that three days and three nights would constitute 72 hours, since there are 24 hours in a whole day.  They claim that since both days and nights are mentioned, the idiom of “three days” including partial days does not apply in this case.  Jesus Himself said elsewhere, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world" (John 11:9).  Since the Messiah Himself defines a day as equaling twelve hours, then the night would also equal twelve hours, and the two added together would be 24 hours.  That is simple arithmetic.  Three days and three nights, then, would be 3 x 12 = 36 hours of day, and 3 x 12 = 36 hours of night, and 36 + 36 = 72 hours.  As Sherlock Holmes would say, "Elementary, my dear Watson!"

 

            However, there is no way in heaven or earth you can squeeze 72 hours between sunset Friday and sunrise Sunday morning!  In the gospel of Mark we read, “Now it was the third hour [9:00 am] and they crucified Him . . . Now when the sixth hour [12:00 noon] was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour [3:00 pm].  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice . . . And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last” (Mark 15:25-l37, NKJV).

 

            Luke’s gospel tells us that Joseph of Armathea went to Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus, and then took it and “wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before.  That day was the Preparation and the Sabbath drew near” (Luke 23:50-54).  John’s gospel corroborates this account (John 19:38-42).

 

            If Jesus Christ were buried just before sunset on Friday, and arose at sunrise on Sunday, and if these two events coincided with approximately 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM, to keep it simple, then the total length of time Christ would have been buried in the tomb would have been Friday night (12 hours), Saturday day (12 hours), and Saturday night (12 hours) -- or a total of 36 hours -- just one half of three full days and nights!  Or, to put it another way – if we count a portion of Friday (day), Friday night, Saturday (day), and Saturday night, and Jesus then arose – we have counted for only two days and two nights!  NOT three days and three nights!

 

            Some might argue that Jesus arose at the rising of the sun, so we must include Sunday in our count, even if it is only a few minutes.  Well, that would still only include parts of three days and still only TWO nights!  Yet the gospel of Matthew PLAINLY declares He would be in the “heart of the earth” – that is, the tomb – three days AND three nights!  But to suggest that we should include Sunday morning itself also fails to fit the facts, because we read in John’s gospel:  “Now on 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” (John 20:1).  Since it was still dark, and Jesus had already arisen, then this occurred BEFORE SUNRISE!  Therefore the problem with the Friday crucifixion-Sunday resurrection still remains!  It does not allow enough time to fulfill the stated length of time Messiah would be in the grave! 

 

            And, Jesus Himself declared, “The Scripture CANNOT be broken” (John 10:35).  He asseverated, “Thy Word is TRUTH” (John 17:17).  Paul wrote:  “ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Tim.3:16).  Therefore the words of Matthew dare not be disregarded!  The sum total of the evidence DISPROVES the Friday crucifixion-Sunday resurrection theory!

 

            Some will protest, saying that the day of the crucifixion was called the “Preparation day,” meaning the preparation of the weekly Sabbath, and therefore the crucifixion had to occur on a Friday.  Indeed, the day of the crucifixion was a “Preparation day” – the apostle John says of  the day Jesus was crucified, “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on  the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:31).  The Sabbath in question here was the annual Sabbath of the Passover – a “high day” – not the weekly Sabbath day!

 

            Clearly, all the Biblical evidence disproves the Friday crucifixion theory!  But does this necessarily mean that the proposed alternate theory – that of a Wednesday crucifixion – is automatically correct?  Or could this theory also be proven to be in error?

 

                                                The Wednesday Crucifixion Theory

 

            Sometimes people think they are in an “either-or” situation, that “either this” must be true, “or that” must be the case – when neither theory will fit all the facts!

 

            What are the basic underlying problems with the Wednesday crucifixion theory?

 

            Problem #1 – Many have attempted to “prove” the crucifixion occurred on a Wednesday, “in the midst of the week,” by pointing to a prophecy found in Daniel 9:27, where we read:  “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”  It is claimed by some Christian apologists that this refers to Christ, and proves He died in the “MIDDLE of the week” – that is, Wednesday.

 

            However, this is a prime case of reading into a text one’s own preconceived opinions.  If we simply allow the text to speak for itself, in context, we discover it is talking about a “prince” or world leader who is prophesied to come and to destroy God’s temple – “the city and the sanctuary” (Dan.9:26).  This occurred in 70 A.D., when the Romans fought the Jews, conquered them, and destroyed the Temple.  The next verse then goes on to say, “Then he [the prince] shall confirm a covenant [treaty] . . .  But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering” (v.27).  Verse 27 follows verse 26 in time sequence.  Therefore, the WAR had to occur first.  Yet Jesus was crucified 40 years BEFORE the Jewish-Roman war!  This passage therefore could not refer to His death at all and certainly cannot be used as “proof” He died in the middle of the week!  Whenever He died, sacrifice and offerings did not stop then – they were performed daily for the next 40 years, until the Romans burned down the Temple in 70 A.D.!

 

            Problem #2 – I have always been struck by the strange account given in the gospel of Luke regarding the two disciples who were traveling to Emmaus that Sunday, the first day of the week, following the resurrection, where Jesus joined up with them, incognito, His identity hidden, as He conversed with them.  Notice the account:

 

                        Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called

                                Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together

                                of all these things which had happened.  So it was, while they conversed and

                                reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes

                                were restrained, so that they did not know Him.  And He said to them, ‘What

                                kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and

                                are sad?’  Then the one who was Cleopas answered and said to Him, ‘Are

                                You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which

                                Happened there in these days?’  And He said to them, ‘What things?’  So they

                                said to Him, ‘The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet

                                mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief

                                priests and rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified

                                Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.

                                Indeed, besides all this, today is the THIRD DAY since all these things

                                happened” (Luke 24:13-21).

 

                Notice!  It was Sunday, and these two disciples said it was “THE THIRD DAY since all these things happened”!  Now if we count from Wednesday, when Jesus was crucified on the stake, we have – Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – FOUR DAYS it would have been “since these things were done”!  The Englishman’s Greek Interlinear has this verse, “But then with all these things THIRD THIS DAY brings today, SINCE these things came to pass.” The Interlinear Bible has it:  “But with all these things THIRD this day comes today SINCE these things occurred!”  Obviously, something is amiss, here!  Sunday is NOT “three days” from Wednesday!

 

            This has always been a perplexing Scripture to advocates of a Wednesday crucifixion.  To get around this seemingly obvious contradiction, some have previously claimed that the “things” which had happened included the posting of a guard at the tomb by the Pharisees, which was done a day or two AFTER the crucifixion.  We read, “On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate” (Matthew 27:62).  The account continues showing that Pilate gave them permission to post a guard at the tomb to prevent Jesus’ disciples from stealing His body and claiming He arose from the dead.

 

            This rationale provided a flimsy excuse for explaining why the disciples referred to Sunday as “the third day” since “these things” happened!  If we include this posting of a guard, on Thursday (the day after the “Preparation,”) then counting exclusively, Sunday does become the “third day” since these things occurred. 

 

            But in all reality – is this what the two disciples were discussing that day?  If we just go by the evidence of what they themselves said, then they were discussing the CRUCIFIXION ITSELF – that is what energized their conversation – not the posting of the guard by the Pharisees.  They were talking about the crucifixion, and the fact that early that very morning certain woman and others went to the tomb and found it empty and saw a vision of angels who said Jesus was alive! (Luke 24:22-24).  In the course of such events, who would have given a moment’s thought to the stationing of a guard by the Pharisees at the tomb!  It was wholly irrelevant!

 

            Problem #3 – For years I have been mystified by the question implied by the Wednesday crucifixion-Saturday evening resurrection theory.  If Jesus Christ arose Saturday evening, just before sunset, on the weekly Sabbath – then what was He doing for the next 12 hours or so before the stone was rolled away from the tomb early Sunday morning?  It could be called, “The Case of the Missing Twelve Hours.”  Surely no Sherlock Holmes mystery could be more fascinating or inscrutable!  What did Jesus do for those 12 hours?  Nobody has ever come up with a good answer. 

 

            But of course, if He arose shortly before sunrise, or daybreak, early Sunday morning, just before the women came to the tomb, then it all makes perfect sense.  There is no “missing gap” of 12 hours to dispose of!  Everything happened in proper order, in perfect time sequence!

 

                                                            A NEW SOLUTION

 

            Clearly, there are serious problems with both the Friday crucifixion theory, as well as the Wednesday crucifixion theory.  The Friday theory does not provide enough time for Christ to be dead and in the grave three days and three nights.

 

            The Wednesday theory, on the other hand, has no proof to back it up, and seems to contradict the timetable implied by Sunday having been “the third day” since the crucifixion, and results in a mysterious and unexplainable “twelve hours” between the supposed resurrection Saturday night, and the rolling away of the stone Sunday morning, and the appearance of the women before the tomb. 

 

            So  -- what is the answer to the enigma?  What is the solution to the puzzle, which has mystified and perplexed Bible scholars and students as well, for centuries?

 

            If Jesus was in the grave only 36 hours, only two days and two nights, as the Friday crucifixion theory proposes, then He failed to fulfill the ONLY SIGN which He said would be given to that generation, proving that He was the Christ -- the Messiah -- the Saviour of the world!  That “sign” was that He would be in the grave THREE days and THREE nights!

 

                                       A New Look at “Three Days and Three Nights”

 

            Let’s take a closer look at the expression “three days and three nights.”  Many have pointed out that this is an idiom and can mean parts of three days and nights.  In other words, idiomatically speaking, all we really need to fulfill this expression is a sequential, consecutive period of time including at least parts of three days and three nights. 

 

            Notice the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Critical Experimental Commentary:

 

                        For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly (Jon.1:17), so

                                shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  This

                                was the second public pronouncement of His resurrection three days after His death. . .

                                Jonah’s case was analogous to this, as being a signal judgment of God; reversed in

                                three days;  and followed by a glorious mission to the Gentiles.  The expression ‘in

                                the heart of the earth’ suggested by the expression of Jonah with respect to the sea                                                            (2:3 in LXX), means simply the grave, but this considered as the most emphatic                                                                            expression of real and total entombment.  The period during which He was to lie in                                                      the grave is here expressed in round numbers, according to the Jewish way of

                                speaking, which was to regard ANY PART OF A DAY, HOWEVER SMALL,

                                INCLUDED WITHIN A PERIOD OF DAYS, AS A FULL DAY.  (See I Sam.                                                                                30:12, 13; Esth.4:16; v.1; Matt.27:63, 64, etc.)” (vol.3, page 75).

 

                Notice how this fits in with the book of Esther, in the Old Testament.  Esther sent a message to Mordecai saying, “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for THREE DAYS, NIGHT OR DAY.  My maids and I will fast likewise.  And I will go to the king . . .” (Esther 4:16).  “Now it happened on the THIRD DAY that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court . . .” (Esther 5:1).

 

            It seems clear that the expression three days and three nights can include partial days or nights.  In this case, during the “third day” of the fast, Esther appeared before the king.  The fast probably began in the evening, and so included three evenings, two days, and a part of the third day, when she appeared before the king.

 

            In another case, we read of a case where a young man was found in a field and brought to king David.  He was famished and very weak.  The account says that “he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights” (I Sam.30:11-12).  When David questioned him, he told him, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick” (v.13). 

 

            Three days could mean portions of three days, and the same reasoning applies to “three nights.”  I see no reason why we must conclude that precisely “three days and three nights,” or an entire 72 hours, is required in this passage. 

 

            In other words, Hebrew is much like English in this regard.  Three days is a general term and can mean parts of three consecutive days.  Even so, three nights can mean parts of three consecutive nights – as “three nights from now.”  If a person wants to say a precise length of time, they would say “exactly” three days or nights – or, “precisely.” 

 

            Even so, the expression “three days and three nights” can mean parts of three days and parts of three nights, so long as they are in succession.    

 

Bullinger’s Comments Analyzed

 

                However, E. W. Bullinger in The Companion Bible asserts:

 

                        “The fact that ‘three days’ is used by Hebrew idiom for any part of three days

                                and three nights is not disputed; because it 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. 

 

                                “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.”

 

                But is this necessarily true?  Bullinger is entitled to his opinion, but he certainly has not “proved” his case.  Merely making a strong assertion proves nothing.  As they say in modern speech, “The proof is in the pudding.”  Where’s the proof?  He presents none.  But he admits that the expression “three days” is a Hebrew idiom which can stand for “any part of three days.”  Simply because both three days and three nights are mentioned does not automatically change the expression into an ironclad term meaning “EXACTLY” three days and three nights!  In this case, Bullinger oversteps common sense and draws a sweeping conclusion based on his own speculation.  Of course, the opposite is true, too – although we are not forced to expand three days and three nights to exactly 72 hours, or three 24-hour days, on the other hand, there is no way we can squeeze three days and nights into the timeframe from Friday, just before sunset, to Sunday, just before sunrise, or even through sunrise!

 

            Bullinger continues:

 

                                “Moreover, as the Hebrew day began at sunset the day was reckoned from one

                                sunset to another, the ‘twelve hours in the day’ (John 11:9) being reckoned from

                                sunrise, and the twelve hours of night from sunset.  An evening-morning was thus

                                used for a whole day of twenty-four hours, as in the first chapter of Genesis.  Hence

                                the expression ‘a night and a day’ in II Corinthians 11:25 denotes a complete day.”

 

                Of course a full “day” – as Yeshua declared – equals 12 hours.  That is not in dispute.  But what about II Corinthians 11:25?  Does that necessarily mean a “complete day” of 24  hours?  Let’s notice this verse.  Paul writes, “Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep.”   Are we supposed to believe in this instance Paul meant to say precisely 24 hours he was in the water?  Of course not!  When he says “a night and a day,” he was most likely meaning a night or a part thereof, and the following day or a part thereof.  There is no reason to assume he meant exactly 24 hours, not one minute less, when he says this.  He just means approximately a night and a day, without being precise.  Again, if he wanted to be precise, he could have said “exactly,” or “to the very hour,” or added some similar qualifying expression. 

 

            If I said, “I’m going to Aunt Martha’s house, and it’ll take me a night and a day to get there,” would I mean precisely that?  Or isn’t that just a manner of speech, meaning “about” a night and a day?

 

            Bullinger concludes:

 

                                ‘When Esther says (Est.4:16) ‘fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days,’

                                she defines her meaning as being three complete days, because she adds (being a

                                Jewess) ‘night or day.’  And when it is written that the fast ended on ‘the third day’

                                (5:1), ‘the third day’ must have succeeded and included the third night. . . .” (The

                                Companion Bible, appendix 144, page 170).

 

                As we have seen already, Esther’s comments provide more support for the term “three days, night or day,” as meaning about three days and nights – again, this is not intended to be a minute, microscopic, precise measurement – but a general statement.  These terms are not “slide rule” religion.   The expression “three days and three nights” was never intended to imply that we must interpret it to mean precisely 72 hours, without any deviation there from! 

 

                But Jesus said He would be in the grave three days and three nights, as the prophet Jonah was in the belly of the great fish.  What about the usage in this case?

 

            In the book of Jonah we read:  “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.  And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17).  Bullinger says of this example:

 

                        “Hence when it says that ‘Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three                                                                                 nights’ (Jonah 1:17) it means exactly what it says, and this can be the only meaning                                                           of the expression in Matthew 12:40; 16:4; Luke 11:30 . . .”

 

                When Jesus said “three days and three nights,” He meant what He said.  But He did not say precisely 72 hours!  Although E. W. Bullinger apparently believes this is what He meant, the term Yeshua used does not necessarily mean precisely 72 hours – rather, His words could also be fulfilled so long as portions of three days AND three nights are fulfilled!

 

            Thus when Jesus Christ said He would be in the grave for three days and three nights, He meant exactly what He said.  But what He said isn’t necessarily what some people think!  So many of us have had this idea that three days and three nights has to mean 72 hours, that it is as if we have been “brainwashed”!  It has been “drilled” into us, so that we have a hard time shaking ourselves of this idea.  As one man declared, “It is ten times harder to unlearn an error than to simply prove the truth!”

 

            Of course, this truth flies right in the face of the commonly believed Good Friday-Easter Sunday tradition of the churches of this world!  The Catholic Church and the Protestant churches all claim that Jesus was crucified Friday evening and resurrected early Sunday morning.  There is NO WAY that this could be true!  There is no way that you can count three days and three nights between Friday sunset and Sunday daybreak!  Even if you include part of Friday afternoon, and part of Sunday morning, you would still come up short!  Notice:

 

                                                Friday afternoon           (day)

                                                Friday night                  (night)

                                                Saturday daylight          (day)

                                                Saturday night               (night)

                                                Sunday morning            (day)

 

                But consider this fact:

 

            If Jesus failed to fulfill the ONLY SIGN He gave, then 1) He was a liar, and as such He surely could not be the Christ, the Son of the living God, and 2) as a “liar,” He could not have been “Immanuel,” or “God in the flesh” and our Saviour because “God cannot lie” (Titus 1:2).

 

            Yet Jesus said, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).  He also declared, “Thy word is TRUTH” (John 17:17).  The words Jesus spoke in the gospel account of Matthew are Scripture -- and therefore must be true.  We must put more confidence in Scripture than in the “traditions of men,” such as the “Good Friday-Easter Sunday” tradition!  As the apostle Paul wrote, “ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God [is “God-breathed”], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (II Tim.3:16-17).

 

            Which will we believe -- God's word?  or the traditions of men?  Be careful which you select, for Jesus Christ also warned those who profess to follow Him, “Howbeit in VAIN do they WORSHIP ME, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.  For laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold the tradition of men . . . And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:7-9).  Jesus warned of the danger of “making the word of God of none effect through your tradition” (verse 13).  As the New International Version puts this passage, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

 

            Thus far we have seen TWO “traditions of men” – one is the widely believed “Good-Friday-Easter Sunday tradition.  It does not add up.  We have also seen the Wednesday crucifixion theory --  with a late Sabbath afternoon resurrection.  Does it all up any better than the other theory?  As we have seen, it, too, has loopholes – weaknesses.  So what is the truth? 

 

            A little patience is required, but we CAN understand the truth, and get to the real FACTS, if we keep an open mind, and if we are willing to learn NEW truth, and examine ALL the available evidence!

 

                                                             Why “Three Days”?

 

            What, then, is the real meaning of “three days and three nights”?  How long was Jesus Christ in the grave?  Bullinger tells us:

 

                        “In the first mention of His sufferings (Matt.16:21) the Lord mentions the fact that

                                He would be ‘raised again the third day.’  In John 2:19 He had already mentioned

                                ‘three days’ as the time after which He would raise up ‘the Temple of His body.’

 

                                “The expression occurs eleven times with reference to His resurrection (Matt.16:21;

                                17:23;20:19.  Mark 9:31; 10:34.  Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 46.  Acts 10:40.  I Cor.

                                15:4).

 

                                “We have the expression ‘AFTER three days’ in Mark 8:31, used of the same event.

 

                                “This shows that the expression ‘three days and three nights’ of Matt.12:40 must

                                include ‘three days’ and the three preceding ‘nights.’   While it is true that a ‘third

                                day’ may be a part of three days, including two nights; yet ‘after three days’ and

                                ‘three nights and three days’ cannot possibly be so reckoned” (The Companion Bible,                                                      appendix 156, page 172).

 

                Bullinger is stressing that fact that the Friday crucifixion-Easter Sunday resurrection cannot be computed to result in 3 days and 3 nights.  That is his main point.  And I agree completely.  But why did Jesus use this particular time frame as the sign of His being the Messiah -- the true Saviour?  Why “three days” instead of a mere two days, or four or five days?

 

            The number three in the Scriptures denotes finality -- decision.  Peter denied Christ three times; Paul prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh might be removed; Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him.  “Three” means finality. 

 

            But there is more.  We notice that if a man contracted any type of defilement in the Old Testament times, through touching a dead body, he was to purify himself on the “third day” (Numbers 19:11-12).  Also, the flesh of the peace offering was not to be kept past the third day, but was then to be burnt (Lev.7:17-18) as unfit for food.

 

            According to a tradition of the Jews in the Talmud, quoted by John Lightfoot (1602-1675), the mourning for the dead culminated on the third day, because the spirit was not supposed to be fully departed until then.

 

            But even more important, Bullinger tells us:

 

                        “The Jews did not accept evidence as to the identification of a dead body after three

                                days.

 

                                “This period seems, therefore, to have been chosen by the Lord . . . to associate the

                                fact of resurrection with the certainty of death, so as to preclude all doubt that death

                                had actually taken place, and shut out all suggestion that it might have been a trance,

                                or a mere case of resuscitation.  The fact that Lazarus has been dead ‘four days already’

                                was urged by Martha as a proof that Lazarus was dead, for ‘by this time he stinketh’

                                (John 11:17, 39).

 

                                “We have to remember that corruption takes place very quickly in the East, so that ‘the

                                third day’ was the proverbial evidence as to the certainty that death had taken place,

                                leaving no hope” (The Companion Bible, appendix 148, page 172).

 

                Now, if Christ had only been in the grave little more than two nights and one day (Friday night, Saturday day and night), then that would not have been sufficient time to insure that He had really died!   It then could have been claimed that He had merely appeared to be dead; that He had merely been in a “trance”-like condition;  and therefore, the truth of His resurrection could have been legally DENIED AS HAVING BEEN PROVED!

 

            Therefore, it was NECESSARY that He be in the grave for at least THREE days! 

    

                                                The Burial and Resurrection of Christ

 

            Now let us go on with the story.  Luke describes the events surrounding Jesus’ burial, in the end of Nisan 14, in the evening, just before sunset, in this manner:

 

                        “And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man,

                                and a just; (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of

                                Arimathaea, a city of the Jews:  who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.  This

                                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 a stone, wherein never man before

                                was laid.  And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on” (Luke 23:50-54).

 

                The “Sabbath” that drew on, th