I wish everyone a happy good Friday. You may think me how I can wish a happy good Friday. If it is not wrong on calling this a "Good" Friday, there is nothing wrong in rejoicing in a good day. Indeed this is the day to rejoice and to praise God more than any day else and rejoicing on this day shows the maturity of a Christian. In fact, Bible says so and you may wonder where. Psalm 118 v 24 says "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." You may wonder how this verse corresponds to the day of crucifixion. Yes, it is true we need to consider every day is made by God and we should rejoice in every day. But, God had a specific day in mind too and the clue that it points to the day of crucifixion is the previous two verses, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." Psalm 118:22,23. and this is one of the greatest prophecies which Jesus too referred to Jews when they refused to accept Him as Messiah and it is true He became the cornerstone.
Praise God, He made Jesus cornerstone, He made Jews to reject Him so that He can be the Savior of the World and God can be God of all those who believe in His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's come to today's topic about three days and three nights prophecy and see when Jesus exactly got crucified. What is three days and nights prophecy? When the scribes and pharisees asked a sign from Jesus, He didn't give them an explicit miracle, but He gave them prophecy of Jonas. Let's see the verse. "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." Matthew 12:39,40. This is also mentioned in Luke 11:29,30 but here three days and nights are not explicitly quoted but Jesus told He himself would be a sign to that generation. "For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation." Luke 11:30.
I had a question from my childhood on the third day. How it would make third day if Jesus would've crucified on Friday? For that, my grandfather answered that we have to count the crucifixion day of Friday as the first day and then Sunday marks the third day. I was satisfied with the answer until few years back this question came to me again after I was reminded the sign of Jonas. How it could be three days and three nights Jesus would have been in the heart of the earth and I never got the answer for a long time. There were many theories based on the gospels that said Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and few others said on Thursday but I was not convinced. But, last year the Holy Spirit prompted me and told me to look into the Passover night to get the answer. Hence, I studied the Passover and found the amazing truth of how God provided information throughout the Bible to answer many questions like this. The information is scattered throughout the Bible and you need the Holy Spirit and spend time in the Word so that He will assist to connect the dots as per Isaiah 34:16,17. "Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein."
Let's see the actual Passover incident in Egypt. The clue is the day when the lamb is to be selected and the day on which lamb has to be killed. God told Israelites in Exodus 12:2,3, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months and In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb". The Holy Spirit told me the selection day is the day when the lamb has to be examined and to be chosen. In direct reference to crucifixion of Jesus, this connects to the Palm Sunday where Jesus shown Himself as a King (Read I Kings 1:33 where Solomon who was David's son too and rode over donkey before being anointed as king of Israel. Jesus too son of David rode on Donkey in streets of Jerusalem) as well as Passover lamb. Then, the lamb has to be killed on 14th day evening. Its a well known fact that the actual weekly Sabbath day was observed on Saturdays during old testament and during the time of Jesus and Sunday is the first day of the week. So, the 10th day is the Palm Sunday which is the first day of the week. So, if we count 4 days, we reach Thursday and that is the actual crucifixion day because by Sun down on that day Jesus was buried which exactly concurs the killing of the lamb on 14th day evening.
Let's see how this connection matches sign of Jonas. To understand this we need to know, how a day is calculated by Israelite on those days. Every day ends at 5:59 PM and the new day starts at 6 PM in the evening. This is the tradition because in Genesis 1, we could see "And evening and morning became first day, second day.. etc". So, God placed evening before morning so in Jewish tradition the new day starts with the night. In the time of Jesus, the zeroth hour is equivalent to 6 AM, first hour is 7, third is 9, sixth is 12, ninth is 3 PM, 11th is 5 PM and 12th is 6 PM which is again the next day start. This one you could understand from the parable of vineyard and laborers in Matthew 20:1-16. Please go through and see the times given there if you want to understand further. So, the time Jesus was crucified was 9 AM because Mark says "And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him." Mark 15:25 and again from verse 33 of same chapter, we see from sixth to ninth hour there was darkness over the whole land. So, between 12 PM and 3 PM, it was dark and Jesus gave up His spirit around 3 PM which is around 9th hour. Understood from Matthew 27:46,50. So, Jesus was hanging on the cross for 6 hours.
So, my opinion was the timeline of night started at 3 PM itself when Jesus gave His spirit and the calculation should be from 3 PM. So, if we calculate from 3 PM, then 3 PM Thursday to 3 AM Friday becomes the night 1 and then 3 AM Friday to 3 PM Friday marks day 1. Same way, Friday 3 PM to Saturday 3 AM becomes 2nd night and Saturday 3 AM to 3 PM becomes 2nd night and Saturday 3 PM to Sunday morning becomes 3rd night and I believe Jesus would have resurrected on the early hours of Sunday morning around 3:30 AM to 5:00 AM which we doesn't know exactly because John 20:1 says when Mary Magdalene went to sepulcher, Jesus was not there. So, we still miss 1 day but we have very good reasoning for that. If it is 3 days and 3 nights, then Jesus should have resurrected on the 4th day. But, it was not the fact. The resurrection indeed happened on the third day which followed the third night.
Let's see why. The third day has an important connotation from the Old testament. Paul says, "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." I Cor 15:4. Where this is mentioned? A prophecy from Hosea says, "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Hosea 6:2. So, it was important for Jesus to rose up on the third day. But, at the same time, the three nights and three days of Jonas's sign should also be fulfilled. The understanding here is if it crosses the three nights and even if a small time is spent on third day it is considered as three days full. This is my theory. But, we see couple of OT shadows for this. First, Joseph kept his brothers on prison for three days but on the third day he spoke to them. Gen 42:17,18. Same way Esther asked the people of Judah to fast for three days and three nights, Esther 4:16 but she didn't wait for the 4th day but she went to the King on the third day itself Esther 5:1. So, we could see how the Jonas prophecy could have been fulfilled. Jesus would have rose up some time after 3 AM on Easter Sunday to fulfill all the prophecies and it is considered as the third day as well as three days and three nights.
Hope this makes sense. The last few paragraphs of this article might be assumptions but what was true was that Jesus was crucified on 14th of that month which should have been 4 days after the Palm Sunday where he shown himself as the King of Peace. But, as everyone celebrates this on Friday, its fine to go with that but it is good to know the Biblical truths. Once again, this year is very much significant because the Good Friday as such falls on 14th of the month. Be watchful and keep yourself up in prayers. Rejoice our Lord is near. I wanted to make this one shorter but it has grown very large as I had to cover lot of content.
All glory, honor and praise to the Lord God who created heavens and earth but humbly took a human form in the name of Jesus and bore all our sins and death and won over everything. He is Victorious everywhere in heavens, earth and in Hades. We too will be victorious through Him in ever thing. Amen.
Praise God, He made Jesus cornerstone, He made Jews to reject Him so that He can be the Savior of the World and God can be God of all those who believe in His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's come to today's topic about three days and three nights prophecy and see when Jesus exactly got crucified. What is three days and nights prophecy? When the scribes and pharisees asked a sign from Jesus, He didn't give them an explicit miracle, but He gave them prophecy of Jonas. Let's see the verse. "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." Matthew 12:39,40. This is also mentioned in Luke 11:29,30 but here three days and nights are not explicitly quoted but Jesus told He himself would be a sign to that generation. "For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation." Luke 11:30.
I had a question from my childhood on the third day. How it would make third day if Jesus would've crucified on Friday? For that, my grandfather answered that we have to count the crucifixion day of Friday as the first day and then Sunday marks the third day. I was satisfied with the answer until few years back this question came to me again after I was reminded the sign of Jonas. How it could be three days and three nights Jesus would have been in the heart of the earth and I never got the answer for a long time. There were many theories based on the gospels that said Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and few others said on Thursday but I was not convinced. But, last year the Holy Spirit prompted me and told me to look into the Passover night to get the answer. Hence, I studied the Passover and found the amazing truth of how God provided information throughout the Bible to answer many questions like this. The information is scattered throughout the Bible and you need the Holy Spirit and spend time in the Word so that He will assist to connect the dots as per Isaiah 34:16,17. "Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein."
Let's see the actual Passover incident in Egypt. The clue is the day when the lamb is to be selected and the day on which lamb has to be killed. God told Israelites in Exodus 12:2,3, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months and In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb". The Holy Spirit told me the selection day is the day when the lamb has to be examined and to be chosen. In direct reference to crucifixion of Jesus, this connects to the Palm Sunday where Jesus shown Himself as a King (Read I Kings 1:33 where Solomon who was David's son too and rode over donkey before being anointed as king of Israel. Jesus too son of David rode on Donkey in streets of Jerusalem) as well as Passover lamb. Then, the lamb has to be killed on 14th day evening. Its a well known fact that the actual weekly Sabbath day was observed on Saturdays during old testament and during the time of Jesus and Sunday is the first day of the week. So, the 10th day is the Palm Sunday which is the first day of the week. So, if we count 4 days, we reach Thursday and that is the actual crucifixion day because by Sun down on that day Jesus was buried which exactly concurs the killing of the lamb on 14th day evening.
Let's see how this connection matches sign of Jonas. To understand this we need to know, how a day is calculated by Israelite on those days. Every day ends at 5:59 PM and the new day starts at 6 PM in the evening. This is the tradition because in Genesis 1, we could see "And evening and morning became first day, second day.. etc". So, God placed evening before morning so in Jewish tradition the new day starts with the night. In the time of Jesus, the zeroth hour is equivalent to 6 AM, first hour is 7, third is 9, sixth is 12, ninth is 3 PM, 11th is 5 PM and 12th is 6 PM which is again the next day start. This one you could understand from the parable of vineyard and laborers in Matthew 20:1-16. Please go through and see the times given there if you want to understand further. So, the time Jesus was crucified was 9 AM because Mark says "And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him." Mark 15:25 and again from verse 33 of same chapter, we see from sixth to ninth hour there was darkness over the whole land. So, between 12 PM and 3 PM, it was dark and Jesus gave up His spirit around 3 PM which is around 9th hour. Understood from Matthew 27:46,50. So, Jesus was hanging on the cross for 6 hours.
So, my opinion was the timeline of night started at 3 PM itself when Jesus gave His spirit and the calculation should be from 3 PM. So, if we calculate from 3 PM, then 3 PM Thursday to 3 AM Friday becomes the night 1 and then 3 AM Friday to 3 PM Friday marks day 1. Same way, Friday 3 PM to Saturday 3 AM becomes 2nd night and Saturday 3 AM to 3 PM becomes 2nd night and Saturday 3 PM to Sunday morning becomes 3rd night and I believe Jesus would have resurrected on the early hours of Sunday morning around 3:30 AM to 5:00 AM which we doesn't know exactly because John 20:1 says when Mary Magdalene went to sepulcher, Jesus was not there. So, we still miss 1 day but we have very good reasoning for that. If it is 3 days and 3 nights, then Jesus should have resurrected on the 4th day. But, it was not the fact. The resurrection indeed happened on the third day which followed the third night.
Let's see why. The third day has an important connotation from the Old testament. Paul says, "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." I Cor 15:4. Where this is mentioned? A prophecy from Hosea says, "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Hosea 6:2. So, it was important for Jesus to rose up on the third day. But, at the same time, the three nights and three days of Jonas's sign should also be fulfilled. The understanding here is if it crosses the three nights and even if a small time is spent on third day it is considered as three days full. This is my theory. But, we see couple of OT shadows for this. First, Joseph kept his brothers on prison for three days but on the third day he spoke to them. Gen 42:17,18. Same way Esther asked the people of Judah to fast for three days and three nights, Esther 4:16 but she didn't wait for the 4th day but she went to the King on the third day itself Esther 5:1. So, we could see how the Jonas prophecy could have been fulfilled. Jesus would have rose up some time after 3 AM on Easter Sunday to fulfill all the prophecies and it is considered as the third day as well as three days and three nights.
Hope this makes sense. The last few paragraphs of this article might be assumptions but what was true was that Jesus was crucified on 14th of that month which should have been 4 days after the Palm Sunday where he shown himself as the King of Peace. But, as everyone celebrates this on Friday, its fine to go with that but it is good to know the Biblical truths. Once again, this year is very much significant because the Good Friday as such falls on 14th of the month. Be watchful and keep yourself up in prayers. Rejoice our Lord is near. I wanted to make this one shorter but it has grown very large as I had to cover lot of content.
All glory, honor and praise to the Lord God who created heavens and earth but humbly took a human form in the name of Jesus and bore all our sins and death and won over everything. He is Victorious everywhere in heavens, earth and in Hades. We too will be victorious through Him in ever thing. Amen.
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