If you ever noticed the ‘Good Friday’ account of the crucifixion and resurrection pre-dawn Sunday morning doesn’t give us 3 days and 3 nights (Mt.12:40). When you try to consider this matter, you will run into a whole host of explanations from the crucifixion being on Friday and 3 days and nights was not literal, to how days are counted in the bible either from sunrise to sunrise or midnight to midnight or evening to evening. Then you add the timing of the feast of Passover and unleavened bread, there is debate on whether this is an 8 day feast or a 7 day feast and along with it’s sabbaths on the first and last day running into the weekly sabbath on Saturday, there are a lot of ideas on when Jesus actually died; Wednesday, Thursday or Friday? Perhaps this is just a technicality, but if it is in scripture it is significant at some level. It is important however to believe “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Cor.15:1-4, Ac.13:37) Perhaps God demonstrated a series of prophecies being fulfilled on the same days he encoded then into feasts during their calendar some 1500 years earlier; making these three days sort of significant.
We see days seemingly counted sometimes from sunrise to sunrise- Gen.19:33-5, 1 Sam.19:11, Jon.4:7, Lv.6:20, 7:15, Ac.20:7, 2 Ki.7:9, Ps.110:3, Isa.28:19, Num.11:32
We also see counting a prophetic or ceremonial day from ‘even to even’ (2 evenings, sunset to sunset)- Lv.23:32 -Lv.22:6-7, 11:24-8 etc.,Ex.12:18, Dt.16:6, 23:11, 24:15, Num.19:7-22, Josh. 5:10, 8:29, Neh.13:19, Mk.1:32, Jn.20:1, 19, Jdg.19:14,16. From the gospel accounts a day began before sunrise- Mk.16:2,9, Mt.28:1, Lk.24:1,22, Jn.20:1.
Sunset in April in Jerusalem is around seven pm.
Jesus declared he would be in the “heart of the earth” 3 days and 3 nights (Mt.12:40); this was to be understood as his spirit leaving his body (Lk.23:43,46, Act.2:27, Eph.4:9, 1 Pt.3:19) and not his body in the tomb. If we start with 3 days and 3 nights (Mt.12:40, Jon.1:17) from the resurrection early before sunrise Sunday morning or the 1st day of the week (Mt.28:1, Mk.16:2,9, Lk.24:1,22, Jn.20:1) and count backwards we see this roughly below. Now adding to this is the fact that this was the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. Looking at Leviticus 23:5-8 we can see something like this:
Additional refining shows us that the 14th would be the Day of Preparation then the Passover lamb would be slain the 2nd evening of the 14th (Ex.12:6) and the 15th, the High Sabbath (not the weekly Sabbath) would immediately follow that night (holy convocation of the 15th day Lv.23:6-8, Num.28:17-8). See these passages- Mt.26:17-19,27:62, Mk.14:12-6,15:42 Lk.22:1,7-15, 23:54 Jn.18:28,39, 19:14,31,42,13:1, Ex.12:6-11, 15. These verses also indicate that Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples after the 1st evening of the 14th at night (Jn.13:2,28-30) when the rest of Israel ate it the 2nd evening towards the 15th. Jesus was crucified the same day the passover lamb was killed, without a bone of his being broken (Ex.12:46, Num.19:12, Ps.34:20, Jn.19:36).
We see from accounts in Ex.12 (v6-8, 15-19 and also chapter 13:6-7, 34:18, Num.9:3-5, 28:16-18, Dt.16:1-8) that the feasting was 7 days while there were 8 days listed from the 14th through the 21st (Lv.23:4-8). This makes sense if they killed and cooked and prepared the Passover on the 14th in the evening towards the night of the 15th, and ate the meal the night of the 15th; the 15th being a high Sabbath as is the 21st (Ex.12:16, Lv.23:7-8). This matched the Passover night in Exodus 12 where God told them to kill it the evening of the 14th and eat it that night immediately following and be ready to leave in haste the next day (departing on the 15th- Num.33:3). Their loins were to be girded and their feet shod (Ex.12:11) for when the LORD executed his punishment upon the Egyptians at midnight (12:29-30) they were compelled to leave immediately; which they did, going in the strength of that meat for their journey. The “Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night” (Dt.16:1) on the 15th (Num.33:3).
Since Friday or the 6th day fell on the 15th and was a holy convocation, and Saturday or the 7th day was the weekly sabbath we see two consecutive sabbaths; the first day of unleavened bread on the 15th and the weekly sabbath on the 16th. We also know that Christ was crucified about the 3rd hour of the day or 9 am (Mk.15:25- a little while after 6 hours of Passover preparation- Jn.19:14; for hours counted see Mt.20:1-8) until he gave up the ghost about the 9th hour or 3 pm (Mt.27:46, Mk.15:33-7, Lk.23:44-46) and went into the heart of the earth (Mt.12:40, Lk.23:43). Now it’s starting to look like this:
Someone may object that this would not be three twelve-hour days and three twelve-hour nights. And this is true although Christ did not stipulate that detail; but so far this would be the only objection; yet Christ was in the heart of the earth on the 14th, 15th and 16th days and nights (not on 4 days and 3 nights).
Interestingly three days and nights would land Christ as the first of the firstfruits on the first day of the week.
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