As we come to the end of Passion Week, we are reminded of the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross. So solemn was the occasion that the Father allowed all of Creation to experience darkness for three hours.
Mat 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. (KJV)
It seems fitting that the Creation should not be allowed to look at the Creator as He bore the sins of the entire world during that time. We know that He was there in our place, experiencing the wrath of God for sins He had never committed (2 Cor 5:21). Over time, this day has been commemorated as “Good Friday” by many. Others maintain that it was impossible for Christ to die on Friday and rise on Sunday. This logic stems from one of Jesus Christ’s statements regarding his death, burial, and resurrection.
Mat 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (NKJV)
To be fair, a wooden/literal interpretation of this verse seems to indicate 72 full hours in the tomb for Christ. However, there are many scriptures that are clear that Christ arose on the third day (not the fourth!). For the sake of brevity (and consistency), let’s limit them to the Gospel of Matthew. We shall list a few of them below:
Mat 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. (NKJV)
Mat 17:23 and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up. And they were exceedingly sorrowful. (NKJV)
Mat 20:19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again. (NKJV)
It is clear that the Lord Jesus predicted that He would rise on the third day. Even His enemies interpreted His words in a similar fashion. Let’s look at what they had to say:
Mat 27:62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate,
Mat 27:63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’
Mat 27:64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So, the last deception will be worse than the first.” (NKJV)
It is noteworthy that neither Jesus nor His enemies anticipated a resurrection from the dead on the fourth day, which a 72-hour period of entombment would require. So, how do we reconcile the seemingly contradictory statement regarding Jonah and the great fish? To those that hold to a wooden literal interpretation of Matthew 12:40, they are forced to move the crucifixion to either Wednesday or Thursday. We just discussed the problem with a Wednesday crucifixion. That puts the resurrection on the fourth day. Others are dogmatic that Thursday is the day of the crucifixion. Many among those, view “Good Friday” as nothing more than another extra-biblical tradition included by the Catholic church.
The church fathers held to a Friday crucifixion and all four gospels agree on Sunday as Resurrection Day. The idea of a Thursday crucifixion is a relatively modern concept. Here is a quote from the late John MacArthur regarding the passage in question (Matt 12:40):
“Three days and three nights” meant “three days” emphatically, and by Jewish reckoning would express aptly a period of time that included three days—in whole or part. Thus, if Christ was crucified on a Friday and if His resurrection occurred on the first day of the week (Sunday), by Hebrew reckoning this period corresponds to “three days and three nights.”
All sorts of elaborate schemes have been devised to suggest that Christ might have died on a Wednesday or Thursday, just to accommodate a modern, extremely literal understanding of these words. But the original meaning does not require this wooden interpretation.”
It is inconceivable that Matthew would have given contradictory information within his own account of the Gospel. This is especially the case when you consider his primary audience was Jewish. Matthew’s goal is to demonstrate to his people (the Jews) that Jesus is indeed the King they had long been looking for. With that in mind, we should consider the possibility that the phrase “three days and three nights” might have a shade of meaning other than the wooden literal interpretation. Let’s look at a passage in the book of Esther.
The evil ruler Haman had forced the King Ahasuerus to make a decree that all of the Jews in the Persian empire should be annihilated. This decree was made known unto Esther. Upon learning of all this, she gave specific instructions to Mordecai.
Est 4:16 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 so, I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” (NKJV)
Esther’s plea was that fasting was to be done for essentially “three days and three nights.” In the next chapter we read:
Est 5:1 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. (NKJV)
This understanding is consistent with the quote earlier by Dr. MacArthur. The expression does not demand a twenty-four-hour period. It is also helpful to understand the Jewish reckoning of days and nights. Have you ever noticed the peculiar expression in the early Genesis Creation account that reads, “the evening and the morning were the (first/second/third/etc.) day”? “Good Friday” as it is called, actually began at sundown on Thursday. The Lord died on Friday, but technically the previous night is included. That would be day and night one. Sundown Friday began day two, which includes Friday night and Saturday during the day. Day three starts at sundown on Saturday and goes into Sunday. Understanding this information resolves potential conflicts.
(Answers in Genesis has a helpful article and chart here: https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/resurrection/three-days-and-nights/ )
This article is not intended to produce controversy and strife. The Bible warns against judgmental and divisive attitudes about the observance of holy days and festivals. Let’s look at a few of the reminders from the New Testament:
Rom 14:5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
Rom 14:6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. (NKJV)
Col 2:16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.
Col 2:17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. (NLT)
So, whether we choose to observe “Good Friday” or not, we should all be mindful of our Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection. The Cross was not the end of the story…Sunday’s coming!
(If you would like to explore this topic more in depth, I would highly recommend Dr. Harold Hoehner’s masterpiece, “Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ” https://a.co/d/04j2P1JL . He concludes that Jesus Christ died on Friday April 3, A.D. 33)
Tags: bible, christianity, easter, faith, god, good-friday, jesus, jonah, resurrection, three-days-and-three-nights
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