Explain how Jesus was in the tomb 3 days & 3 nights.

[RDKirk]

The7thColporteur--Nobody's reading all that. Seriously.

 

[mark kennedy]

I always wondered this too. When Jesus was crucified on Friday evening and buried on Friday night and raised from the dead Sunday morning wasn't he only dead for a day and a bit? Which is why some people claim he was crucified on Wednesday and not Friday. Yet we celebrate good Friday and Easter as days celebrating his death and resurrection. I'm clearly missing something here.

Actually, that is really starting to bother me, I'm aware it's a lunar calendar so there should be a way to determine exactly what day of the week Jesus was crucified because it would have been Passover day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread followed the next day which is the Sabbath mentioned in John's Gospel.

 

[mark kennedy]

The7thColporteur--Nobody's reading all that. Seriously.

I read it, I just have no idea what it has to do with the topic.

 

[The7thColporteur]

I read it, I just have no idea what it has to do with the topic.

It reveals that the OP's apriori about the phrase "in the heart of the earth" is incorrect, and then goes through the details of the three days and three nights, in relation to the typological events of Jonah.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Sorry.
One of your links/ statements states incorrectly:
... " ....The only chronology that can be reconciled with scripture on all points ..."...
and clearly (in context of the link) is false.

.

 

[mark kennedy]

Which is why according to the text, never says they prepared spices on sabbath.

Without resorting to various theories as held by others, what does the text plainly give to us?

We read that on the very same day that Jesus was Crucified, being the Passover, the 14th of Aviv/Nisan, the sixth day of the week,

[1] Jesus died “about the ninth hour” [approximately 3 PM], according to the Scripture [Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:33-34; Luke 23:44], in fulfillment of Prophecy and Typology, He being the “Lamb of God”, even the “Passover” Lamb, prepared for the “evening sacrifice” (and as an additional note, see also the importance of the "morning" sacrifice, and when Jesus was Hung upon the Cross and for how long He was therefore).

[2] Joseph of Arimathaea had time on that same day after Jesus' death to approach and ask of Pilate for the Body of Jesus [Matthew 27:57-58; Mark 15:42-43; Luke 23:50-52; John 19:38].

[3] Pontius Pilate had time on that same day after Jesus' death to summon the guard, and inquire about Jesus' death [Mark 15:44-45].

[4] Joseph of Arimathaea on that same day had time to come back from asking Pilate, and the inquisition made by Pilate to the Soldier, to the Cross, and take down the body of Jesus to be carried away [John 19:38].

[5] Joseph of Arimathaea had time on that same day, after Jesus' death and after asking Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus, and the inquisition made of Pilate to the guard, and taking Jesus down and way, to then purchase afterward [“And bought”] “fine linen” to wrap Jesus' body in [Mark 15:46].

[6] Nicodemus had time on that same day to bring [“brought”] “a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound [weight]” [John 19:39] along with Joseph of Arimathaea to then “wound it in linen clothes with the spices” and embalm the body of Jesus with [Matthew 27:59; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53; John 19:40].

[7] According to the texts, there was still time before the Sabbath, according to the commandment [Luke 23:56] had come, as the Scriptures reveal that it was still “the preparation day”, though the “sabbath drew on” [or was nearing] [Luke 23:54].

[8] They all had time on that same day, even after all these events to go to the tomb with Jesus and lay Him in the tomb, and seal it [Matthew 27:60-61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55; John 19:41-42].

[9] Even after the women saw how Jesus was laid in the tomb, and the tomb then sealed, they still had sufficient time before the sabbath was upon them to “return” from the tomb to their homes.

[10] Once the women had “returned” to their homes [some Jerusalem, others possibly Olivet] they still had enough time, because the Scriptures recorded that they then “prepared spices and ointments” [Luke 23:56] before the Sabbath, in which they then when it had come, finally, “rested according to the commandment.” [Luke 23:56] and later came after the sabbath was past, even early in the morning of the first day of the week, even "bringing the spices which they had prepared" (Luke 24:1) the day of Christ's Crucifixion, wherein then it is obvious that they "had bought" them that day, the sixth day of the week, before the 7th Day the Sabbath of the LORD thy God, according to the Commandment actually commenced, which was about 3 hours.​

Let us now, come back to the main text at issue:

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. Mark 16:1​

Much is made of the “had bought”, and the timing thereof in this text, only because it is isolated from the other texts of the four Gospels.

This text (Mark 16:1) does not indicate that a seasonal feast sabbath had come, and then a normal day existed inbetween for them to make purchase, which was then followed by the 7th Day Sabbath, as many incorrectly subscribe to, for it has been shown Prophetically and Typologically (Jonah, Manna, and more still to come in the Levitical Calender, etc) that that would be impossible (and will be yet further still, in total). Let us then look at the words:

"had bought" [already having had purchased, sometime in the past] -

Tense: Aorist
Voice: Active
Mood: Indicative
Person: third
Number: Plural

“The Aorist tense conveys the truth that ... (indicative mood is mood of reality) has occurred at a point in the past without specifying when this event occurred. … One writer adds "strictly speaking, the aorist denotes past time only in the indicative ... (Learning the Basics of New Testament Greek. AMG Publishers)" - Greek Quick Reference Guide

This is s a past tense action, and the Greek aorist [tense] indicative [mood] reveals that it was an event [the purchasing] already past and done, some time before these events, without the text determining the exact moment of purchase in the past, but we can know by the other texts, and the women's own faithfulness that it had to be sometime before the Sabbath mentioned in this text and others. When we combine all of those previous points [1-10], we can know that the women had plenty of time to make the purchase of those spices several hours before Sabbath had come, while the men [Joseph and Nicodemus] were doing the things recorded, even purchasing “linen”, etc. We can know that the women already had the spices before Jesus was laid in the tomb, and thus we can conclusively determine that they “had bought” those spices sometime before then.​

I will also recommend upon this issue, a webpage with several helpful charts -

A helpful breakdown, Was Jesus crucified on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday? - Was Jesus crucified on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday?

Helpful Chart - http://biblelight.net/Passover chart.htm

The Scriptures do not specifically declare anywhere exactly when those spices were purchased [unless anyone would like to suggest a text where we might consider further, wherein it gives those specifics?] as it only mentions that they were purchased, some time in the past, before the day of the resurrection and also before the day before, being the 7th Day Sabbath of the LORD thy God (according to the Commandment), for we find them preparing those spices upon the same day Jesus was crucified (Luke 23:56), and the coming with them “prepared” on Resurrection morning (Luke 24:1).

We could come to various conclusions to an exact time, but they would be speculation, even if good speculation, since the scriptures simply do not declare this specific information to us (that I am personally aware of, might be in typology somewhere, let me know if any one finds it), though it does give a general timeframe to work with, being somewhere between 3 PM and Sundown/Evening of the Nisan 14th the day of “the preparation”, being the 6th day of the week, the preparation, the day before the 7th Day Sabbath of the LORD thy God, according to the Commandment.

It is known that a lot of people place a lot of emphasis on this passage and this item of spices, to uphold their various crucifixion/resurrection time-tables, but these same are missing the greater elements, namely Jesus. Yes, truth matters, and as far as the study of the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy go, we have all the truth that we may obtain about these 'spices' and approximately when they were purchased and it does not support any other time-table, than that of the 6th Day, followed by the 7th Day Sabbath of the LORD thy God, and followed by the first day.

This will be shown more thoroughly yet from OT and NT.

I'm not sure what your getting at here, you think they went out and bought all these spices the same day Jesus died? They certainly wouldn't have got them together the day of the trial, and I'm wondering if them getting all this together while Nicodemus was scrambling to get Jesus to the tomb before sundown is kind of stretch. Not unreasonable, it just seems unlikely.

 

[The7thColporteur]

I'm not sure what your getting at here, you think they went out and bought all these spices the same day Jesus died? ...

Yes, as shown from the contexts.

Just as Jospeh had done:

[5] Joseph of Arimathaea had time on that same day, after Jesus' death and after asking Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus, and the inquisition made of Pilate to the guard, and taking Jesus down and way, to then purchase afterward [“And bought”] “fine linen” to wrap Jesus' body in [Mark 15:46].​

 

[HypnoToad]

It says he will be 3 nights inside earth. Now if you include Thursday night then he must be inside Thursday night. I don't understand what logic are you applying. It specifically speaking about Jesus bring inside earth for 3 nights. My question is not how 2 nights is equal to 3 nights

It's simply astounding how this keeps going over your head.

What part is not getting through? Read carefully now... for them, part of a day counts as a whole day. A whole day is night time + day time. Therefore, part of a single day will, for them, count as one day and one night.

Jesus was executed & buried Friday during the day time. For them, Friday started at sunset Thursday evening. So, being dead & buried for part of the day Friday counts as one whole day... which is seen by them as "one day and one night".

So, then, by Friday night, Jesus is in the grave. Friday at sunset is their beginning of Saturday. So that's Friday night and all Saturday during the day - there's the second day and night.

Saturday sundown is the start of their Sunday, Jesus is still in the tomb, there's the third night.

Jesus arises at dawn Sunday. It's a partial day that He's dead, which for them counts as a full day - the third day.

That's how Jews see it as "three days and three nights".

 

[mark kennedy]

It reveals that the OP's apriori about the phrase "in the heart of the earth" is incorrect, and then goes through the details of the three days and three nights, in relation to the typological events of Jonah.

I think the OP makes a great point, I just don't know which explanation is more likely. Any part of a day is a day, or maybe we have the day of the week Jesus died (Friday), is wrong. It seems to me there has to be some definitive way of determining exactly what day Passover fell on that year.

 

[The7thColporteur]

I think the OP makes a great point, I just don't know which explanation is more likely. Any part of a day is a day, or maybe we have the day of the week Jesus died (Friday), is wrong. It seems to me there has to be some definitive way of determining exactly what day Passover fell on that year.

We can know, and I gave that evidence, in the thread itself, with dated materials. It was indeed the 6th day of the week, as not only history shows, but the bible prophecy and typology require, as also demonstrated in the previous materials.

 

[mark kennedy]

It's simply astounding how this keeps going over your head.

What part is not getting through? Read carefully now... for them, part of a day counts as a whole day. A whole day is night time + day time. Therefore, part of a single day will, for them, count as one day and one night.

Jesus was executed & buried Friday during the day time. For them, Friday started at sunset Thursday evening. So, being dead & buried for part of the day Friday counts as one whole day... which is seen by them as "one day and one night".

So, then, by Friday night, Jesus is in the grave. Friday at sunset is their beginning of Saturday. So that's Friday night and all Saturday during the day - there's the second day and night.

Saturday sundown is the start of their Sunday, Jesus is still in the tomb, there's the third night.

Jesus arises at dawn Sunday. It's a partial day that He's dead, which for them counts as a full day - the third day.

That's how Jews see it as "three days and three nights".

I totally agree, that is a solid explanation, I'm just willing to explore the possibility that the crucifixion was earlier then Friday, maybe Thursday or Wednesday. I'm far from certain but I think it's an interesting and viable alternative reading of the text.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Round and round and round it goes, and doesn't stop as nobody knows....

hint: don't lean on all you have done or learned or hope is true.

We can know, and I gave that evidence, in the thread itself, with dated materials. It was indeed the 6th day of the week, as not only history shows, but the bible prophecy and typology require, as also demonstrated in the previous materials.

 

[The7thColporteur]

Round and round and round it goes...

In that far you are right, and this is where it stops for me. Steps off ...

 

[mark kennedy]

We can know, and I gave that evidence, in the thread itself, with dated materials. It was indeed the 6th day of the week, as not only history shows, but the bible prophecy and typology require, as also demonstrated in the previous materials.

I don't think so, I think we have a pretty good open question here. It's all kind of swirling around in my head right now but I see no reason not to consider options here. What we do know is that a Sabbath followed the Passover, which of course it was because the day following Passover was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The real question, and I'm sorry but I find this fascinating, is whether or not it was Saturday (the weekly Sabbath) or maybe the Passover fell on Thursday or even Wednesday. I have seen nothing conclusive that Passover had to be on the sixth day and I've looked over your posts carefully.

 

[RDKirk]

There is a reference to this in Matthew 12:40. It appears Jesus was not in the tomb three nights. Most of Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon, “placed in the tomb before sundown Friday night, rested in the tomb on the Sabbath (Saturday) and was resurrected on Sunday morning before dawn.

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.
Matthew 12:40

So how does it make 3 days & 3 nights?

\


Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” -- Acts 10: 30-33

Now, go back to the earlier verses in which Luke details exactly what happened day by day, and you will see that Cornelius is counting "three days" in the same way Jesus does counting His days in the tomb.

 

[Hank77]

Now that's very interesting, I had not noticed that. The Feast of First Fruits starts 2 days after Passover, because it would have commenced the day following the Saturday Sabbath (Lev. 23:12). Interesting, not sure how connected it is to the day of the week Jesus died.

It's connected to the day He rose, His Resurrection as the first-fruits.
1Co 15:20
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Mark 16 - It's possible that they decided to buy more spices or something that they were missing after the 7th day sabbath ended. Or as the Vulgate and Oriental scriptures say they 'brought' the spices with them.

This is something to study and think about. If I remember correctly, in the OT none of the festival days were called a sabbath except Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

This is something to study and think about. If I remember correctly, in the OT none of the festival days were called a sabbath except Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.

Even in English Bibles, A "high sabbath" is sometimes noted the day following Yahshua's crucifixion.

 

[Hank77]

Even in English Bibles, A "high sabbath" is sometimes noted the day following Yahshua's crucifixion.

My KJV say "for that sabbath was a 'high day'
I take that as the first day of Unleavened Bread that fell that year on the regular 7th day sabbath.

 

[mark kennedy]

\


Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” -- Acts 10: 30-33

Now, go back to the earlier verses in which Luke details exactly what happened day by day, and you will see that Cornelius is counting "three days" in the same way Jesus does counting His days in the tomb.

I don't know, the days add up in Acts 10. If Jesus dies on Friday there is one evening, Saturday is another evening and a morning and Sunday morning makes for another morning. Math isn't my strong suite, isn't that two days? Sure, any part of a day is a day in the ancient Hebrew mindset, I'm fine with that but maybe tradition got the exact day of the week wrong. Actually, we might even have the year wrong which changes the actual day of the week by a day per year:

According to Eugene Faulstitch of the Chronology History Research Institute, Astronomical references verify that Nisan 14 was on Thursday in AD 30; consequently, Nisan 13 for that year was on Wednesday. It appears from computer-calculated astronomy from the year AD 30 that the new moon for the seventh month of Nisan – which determines the first day of the month (Nisan 1) – was on the sixth day of the week, on Friday. Therefore, Nisan 13 for that year would have been on Wednesday; and Nisan 14 would have been on Thursday. This confirms my case for the crucifixion of Jesus being on that Wednesday afternoon in AD 30. (Jesus’ Death and Resurrection – Astronomical Considerations)
​

It seems worth considering to me.

My KJV say "for that sabbath was a 'high day'
I take that as the first day of Unleavened Bread that fell that year on the regular 7th day sabbath.

Yea ok, but what if we have the year wrong?

Grace and peace,
Mark

 

[mark kennedy]

Even in English Bibles, A "high sabbath" is sometimes noted the day following Yahshua's crucifixion.

Jesus was crucified on Passover day, there were 'High Sabbaths', though. Apparently there were seven:

The seven festivals do not necessarily occur on weekly Shabbat (seventh-day Sabbath) and are called by the name miqra ("called assembly") in Hebrew (Lev. 23). (High Sabbaths. Wikipedia)
​

The day following Passover was a Sabbath no matter what day of the week it fell on.

Grace and peace,
Mark