Three days and Three Nights

KJV Matthew 12:40 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.

What is meant by three days and three nights? One way the interpretation is found is in previous usage, or where it has been used before. Bibles are like dictionaries. They are, because if you come across a word or a grouping of words and you don’t understand what that word or words means, you can look at the first use of that word. You can look up the word where it was used before, and get a real good understanding of what that word means. The first use of a word is very important and it expresses an idea, an explanation. The explanation is usually complete enough to carry throughout the entire Bible. To show you this, I want to go to Genesis chapter 1 verse 5 to see how the word ‘day’ is used the first time.

Genesis 1:5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

“And God called the light day and the darkness he called night”. Now we know what the light is called. God calls it the day. Now we also know what the darkness is called. God calls it night. Now, throughout the entire Bible, this will be true unless God changes it. Look at the rest of that verse. “The evening and the morning were the first day.” In the Bible reckoning of time they start their day at sunset. We will need to recognize this in God’s Word. This becomes very important in the records of the crucifying of Jesus Christ. They needed to get him buried before the sun went down, because then it will start the next day. He needed to be buried before the high Sabbath which started at sunset in biblical reckoning of time. A usage of a word and its meaning remains true throughout the entire Bible, and it will not change unless God changes it. This is true of all the truths in God’s Word. That’s why a Bible is like a dictionary at times. The first time a word is used will usually give you the meaning of the word. If God ever changes the usage of a word or an expression, he always explains it.

The Bible, not my opinion states that Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. That means three complete days, Three 24 hour periods or 72 hours. When the bible say three days and three nights it means three complete 24 hour periods. If the Bible said three days than that could have meant any part of three days, but the Bible clearly says three days and three nights.

We also know from Scripture that Jesus died about 3:00 p.m. our time.

KJV Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour (about 3:00 p.m.) Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
KJV Matthew 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. (died)

We know that they buried him sometime after He died and sunset. So counting three days and three nights forward He would be raised sometime between 3 in the afternoon and sunset three days later or 72 hours later.

Jesus Christ was our Passover and all the other Passover lambs were being killed in the afternoon just before the Passover meal and feast that began at sunset. So the next day starting at sunset was the High day and special Sabbath, which was Thursday of that year. On the High Day, the special Sabbath, the next day after the burial, the next day after the day of preparation (which is the day they killed the Passover lambs) the chief priests and Pharisees ask Pilate one more request.

KJV Matthew 27:62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

This is all that is recorded about that day. The next day after the special Sabbath or high day; Thursday, would be Friday the fifteenth we can read.

KJV Mark 16:1 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.

The women could not have bought spices on the fifteenth (Thursday) or on the seventeenth (Saturday) because they were both Sabbath days. One the High Day, special Sabbath day of the Passover which can happen on any day of the week like our Christmas can fall on any day of the week and that year was on Thursday and the weekly Sabbath that happens every Saturday. So the Sabbath that past was the Special Sabbath of the Passover. The women bought the spices on Friday but could not anoint Jesus on that Friday because of the guards and the tomb being sealed with a stone.

KJV Luke 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

This would be the weekly Sabbath day according to the commandment. But the first chance they got very early Sunday morning we can read from all four Gospels that Jesus was all ready raised by very early Sunday morning. Not rose but all ready rose. From Biblical records I can show you each and every day.

They are clearly seen in the Bible and I show them to students who have sat in the class and though who will lesson to the class. The Syllabus is over 50 pages long and you could download the syllabus if you would like. The Class is 8 sessions long. It takes time to go through this verse by verse, line by line.

The complete Teaching is on my web site on the Live Recorded Teachings Page. I am doing a series on the “The Days Just before the Last Supper”. For the complete teaching you can download the teaching from the web site. www.howtoreadthebible.net

On the web site there is also available the Audio Teaching and Syllabus on the Class I did on.

“The Last Supper through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ”

This is a Biblical research study in chronological order of the records from all four Gospels of this is a most Momentous time in history. ‘The Last supper Through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ’.

The syllabus is designed for you follow along with as we read the Scriptures that deal with this most momentous time in all of history. This syllabus has all the Scriptures written out for you so that you can fellow along as we rapidly change from one Gospel to another. We will be reading all the records about each event from all four Gospels in chronological order. I know no other section in the Scriptures that has as much written about them as is in this time from the last supper through the burial of Jesus Christ. With the Audio class you can stop and rewind as you need to. The Syllabus is designed to guide you through the Class and gives you an easy way to follow along and to keep your place.

My desire for this class is that it would help you to get to know all that happened in this crucial time in history. That when we hear that “Jesus died for our sins”, you could start to understand what he went through. I thank God for His plan and for all that Jesus Christ did for us all. God has always wanted you to have His very best every day and all the time. He had His Word written so that you and I could know how to live and how to live abundantly and victoriously. By understanding the Scriptures, the Bible, you can live the life you always wanted to live.

Table of Segments

The Introduction
The Last Supper
Review of the Last Supper
The Mount of Olives
The Garden of Gethsemane
The Night Trial
The Morning Trial
The Crucifixion Day