THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS

I mentioned yesterday that one of the things that humbles me is the celebration of Good Friday. Just for the sake of argument, even if it was Friday, are we sure we want to call it "good?" I know God's Word says He works ALL things for good, but I wouldn't tell you that at your mother's funeral. There is a difference between the death of Christ and that of a family member passing. When we lose a family member, we say he or she is better off being with the Lord, and for us to grieve too much is really being selfish. In the case of Jesus, we "celebrate" His death because WE are better off. Too much grieving and too much celebration both appear to be equally selfish. The death of my Savior because of my sin doesn't make me want to "party;" it make me want to weep.

The "Friday thing" has bothered me ever since I became a believer. Jesus said, "For as Jonah 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). Trying to reconcile tradition with the Word just will not work. Even with parts of days and nights being considered a possible answer, Jesus died during day one, sunset to sunset (day two), and resurrected early Sunday morning is three days and only two nights.

The only time we know for sure is that He had arisen (Praise the Lord) by early Sunday morning (Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). If one interprets "three days and three nights" as three twenty-four hour days, recognizes that He arose after sunset at the end of the weekly Sabbath, and counts backwards, Jesus would have had to be crucified on a Wednesday. He was in the tomb just prior to sunset on the day of His crucifixion. Night and day Thursday is day one. Night and day Friday is day two. Night and day Saturday (the weekly Sabbath) is day three. So Jesus arose sometime after the sunset ending the weekly Sabbath.

I believe Jesus, our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7) died on Wednesday, the fourteenth of Nisan (compare Leviticus 23:5 with John 19:31). After sunset the fourteenth, the Feast of Unleavened Bread began (the fifteenth of Nisan was a Sabbath - Leviticus 23:6-8). The sunset of the fifteenth began the weekly Sabbath (sixteenth of Nisan). Sometime after sunset on Saturday, Jesus arose the First Fruits from the grave (compare Leviticus 22:11 with 1 Corinthians 15:23). It is humbling to believe something with which few others agree. After all, who do I think I am to question what is almost universally accepted by the Church?
I am probably wrong.

What we ALL agree on however, is that the Son of God died for us, was buried, and was raised from the dead. Praise the Lord, He is risen Who willingly died on my behalf! Our God is an Awesome God!!!!