Each year around Easter I hear people ask the same question:
How was Jesus dead for three days? After all, Friday night to Sunday morning
hardly constitutes three days. This has led to some confusion, causing some to
speculate that Jesus either died earlier in the week, or that Scripture got the
event wrong.
First of all, we need to stress that the Bible teaches the
Resurrection would occur on the third
day, not in three days. Who decided that Jesus needed to be in the tomb for
a minimum of 72 hours in order for Scripture to be accurate?
Consider Matthew 16:21, which predicted Jesus would, “be
killed and be raised the third day.” Also consider that Matthew 17:23, 20:19,
27:64, Mark 9:31, 10:34, Luke 9:22, 18:33, 24:7, 24:21, 24:46, Acts 10:40, and
1 Corinthians 15:4 all teach the Resurrection on the third day.
This is easy to reconcile. Jesus died and was buried on
Friday before sundown, marking the first day—not 24 hours, but the first day.
Saturday was the second day, and Sunday morning, although early, was the third
day.
Jesus could not have died earlier in the week because
Scripture teaches that He died on Passover and rose on First Fruits. These days
were marked in Leviticus as being a Saturday and Sunday, and since no work was
to be done on the Sabbath, the Passover lamb was killed on Friday before
sundown. Jesus, as the Lamb of God, was killed on Friday at the exact time the
priest was killing the Passover Lamb, and He rose early Sunday morning at the
time the priest would present the First Fruits offering.
The meal that Jesus ate in the Upper Room was the Passover
Seder. Had He died earlier in the week He would not have been able to eat this
meal. Jesus and the disciples ate “the Last Supper” on Thursday, which was the
traditional time to eat the meal. This is why many observe Maundy Thursday
prior to Easter.
It is dangerous to over-Westernize our understanding of
Scripture. 1st Century Jews were not bound by our Gregorian calendar
or our observance of midnight-midnight to mark days. The culture in which Jesus
lived observed days as being loosely defined as sundown to sundown. Sundown on
Thursday began a new day (Friday), and this is when Jesus ate the Seder (it was
very late when He went into the Garden to pray). Through the night and into the
morning Jesus was tried, beaten, and condemned; He was crucified on Friday, and
gave up the Ghost before sundown. Therefore, Jesus died and was in the tomb on
Friday. Sundown Friday to sundown Saturday was the second day, and Saturday
night actually began the third day. Therefore, the Resurrection on Sunday
morning was well into the third day.
Matthew 12:40 adds a wrinkle by
stating Jesus would be “three days and three
nights” in the heart of the earth when He only spent two nights in the
tomb. Again, we need to keep in mind that Jewish culture frequently associated
a part of the day as a whole, and commonly referred to a portion of a day as a
day and night. The Jerusalem Talmud teaches, “A day and a night make an Onah
[day], and a part of an Onah is as a whole.”
The most important thing to remember is that it is not the
number of days Jesus was in the tomb, but the fact that He escaped the tomb,
defeating death and hell, to make our salvation possible. Praise God for the
empty tomb!
Comments