THREE DAYS         AND        THREE NIGHTS

"Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from Thee.  But He [Yahushua-Jesus] answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks   after a sign:  and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas [Jonah]:  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man [Yahushua] be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12: 38-40).  

Even though throughout His ministry Yahushua had done many things no man without Elohim could have done, yet the Jews asked for another sign that He was Who He said He was.  Unbelief will always find an excuse for not believing no matter how much evidence is given in support of the truth.  Here Yahushua tells the scribes and the Pharisees the only sign that will be given to them is that He will be in the tomb for three days and three nights, and then He will be resurrected.

After Yahushua was put into the tomb, the scribes and Pharisees remembered what Yahushua had told them and went to Pilate and received a band of soldiers to guard the tomb.  “The chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.  Command therefore that the sepulcher 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.  Pilate said unto them, You have a watch:  go your way, make it as sure as you can.  So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch” (Matt. 27:62-66, emphasis added).

This is in contrast to the disciples who were mourning over their loss and did not remember the words of Yahushua.  When the women who had gone to the tomb and were perplexed not to find Yahushua still in the tomb met the “two men stood by them in shining garments: and they [the women] were so afraid, and bowed their faces to the earth, they [the angels] said unto them, Why seek you the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen:  remember how He spoke unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.  And [then] they remembered His words” (Luke 24:5-8, emphasis added).

And when those women “returned from the sepulcher, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest . . . and their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not” (Luke 24:9, 11, emphasis added).

It was not only Thomas who had a hard time believing without seeing, but all the disciples did not remember what Yahushua had told them about being crucified and being in the tomb for three days and three nights.  And today do we have a hard time understanding this great truth also?  One of the main reasons we have such a difficult time with this is we have received the wrong information pertaining to His death.  Most of us have been taught that Yahushua was crucified on a Friday and was resurrected on a Sunday morning.  We need to examine the Scriptures closely to see what they really do say about this.  Many have solved the dilemma by just stating Yahushua never said He would be in the tomb for three days and three nights.  But the Biblical evidence is there showing this is what He meant.

The first thing we need to examine is on what day was Yahushua crucified.  Let us start with John 13:1.  “Now BEFORE the feast of the Passover, when Yahushua knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (emphasis added).  The language used in this verse cannot be misunderstood.  It was “before the feast of the Passover."  Not on the feast of the Passover or after the feast of the Passover, but very clearly "before the feast of the Passover."

The entire scenario in John chapters thirteen through nineteen takes place “before the feast of the Passover” which includes the “last supper" and the crucifixion.  Most people have assumed the last supper took place on the feast of the Passover, but as John 13:1 tells us, it is before the Passover.  In most cases where we find ourselves in error, it is because certain things have been assumed to be correct that we have been taught and have not been closely examined to see if it is what the Scriptures are actually telling us.

In John 19:14 we read:  “And it was the preparation [day] of the Passover, and about the sixth hour:  and He said unto the Jews, Behold your King!" (emphasis added).  It was “the preparation [day] of the Passover."  It was not the preparation day for the seventh-day Sabbath. 

On what day is the Passover?  “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even [sunset] is Yahuwah’s Passover” (Lev. 23:5). The names of the weekdays of the Gregorian calendar are not mentioned in the Bible because they were not in existence at the time of Yahushua. The Biblical Lunar-solar calendar used only numbers to denote the days of the month and the Bible does not mention any names for the days of the week or the months as used in the Gregorian calendar which did not come into existence until centuries later.

The Passover is the Feast Day that commemorated when the Angel of Yahuwah passed over the homes of the Israelites on the night before they left Egypt.  It was the only feast that was to be observed during the night hours.  “At even is Yahuwah’s Passover."  “It is a night to be much observed unto Yahuwah for bringing them out from the land of Egypt:  this is that night of Yahuwah to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.  And Yahuwah said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover" (Ex. 12:42-43, emphasis added). 

It was to be observed during the nighttime hours after sunset of the thirteenth day of the first month.  A Biblical day begins at sunset and ends at the following sunset.  The fourteenth day of the Biblical month begins at sunset of the thirteenth day of the first Biblical month and ends at sunset of the fourteenth day of the first Biblical month.  The night precedes the light and together they compose a Biblical day.

The Passover lamb was to be eaten during those night hours.  We are told in Exodus 12:6, “And you shall keep it [the Passover lamb] up until the fourteenth day of the same month:  and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (emphasis added).  Do you think they killed it after the sunset or before the sunset?  They would not only have to kill it, but they would have to drain the blood, skin it, clean it, cut it up, and then roast it.  This was all done prior to the sunset of the thirteenth day "in the evening" as the sun was beginning to set. 

Remember they did not have the modern conveniences which we have.  When it was nighttime it was dark except for the dim light of torches.   And most importantly the Passover was a High Sabbath on which no work was to be done just as no work was to be done during the weekly Sabbath.  It seems to me that killing it, skinning it, cleaning it, cutting it up, and roasting it would be a great violation of how the Sabbaths including the High Sabbaths (John 19:31) were to be kept.

"But at the place which Yahuwah thy Elohim shall choose to place His name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt" (Deut. 16:6, emphasis added).  "At even, AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN." The sun had not set when the Passover lamb was to be slain.  Yahushua having died at the ninth hour, I would not doubt that it was at the ninth hour the Passover lamb was slain in preparation for the Passover and would give the people three hours to kill and prepare the Passover lamb before the Passover began at sunset.

In John 19:14 where it reads “it was the preparation [day] of the Passover," the Lamb of Elohim was nailed to the cross and died “the ninth hour” (Matt. 27:45-46). Yahushua, the Passover Lamb of Elohim, was killed before the Passover which would begin at sunset.

The Jewish authorities were determined that Yahushua was not going to be slain on the Passover. "Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Yahushua by subtilty, and kill Him.  But they said, Not on the feast day [Passover], lest there be an uproar among the people" (Matt. 26:3-5, emphasis added).

“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation ['preparation (day) of the Passover' (John 19:14)], that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:31).  Remember from what we read in John 19:14:  “it was the preparation [day] of the Passover."  Every annual feast day was also referred to as a Sabbath day and also “an high day."  “It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest” (Lev. 23:32).  The Jews did not want the body of Yahushua remaining on the cross during the hours of the Passover which were to begin in just a few short hours.

In John 18:28, we read:  “Then led they Yahushua from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover” (emphasis added).  They had not eaten the Passover yet because it was not the Passover yet.  This took place after they had captured Yahushua in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Just pause and think about what I am going to say here.  If Yahushua was killed on the Passover as most contend He was, can you imagine the priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees out there hunting down Yahushua during the time they were to be eating the Passover?  “It was early" in the morning when they did this.  They would not go into “the judgment hall, lest they be defiled."  If they had been defiled they “might not eat the Passover."  The Passover had not taken place yet.  It was to be observed that night at sunset and had not yet occurred.  It was the “preparation [day] of the Passover” which would have made it the thirteenth day of the Biblical month because the Passover took place “at even” at sunset when “the fourteenth day of the first month” began (Lev. 23:5). 

For those of you reading this that go by the Gregorian calendar it would have been on a Thursday and not on a Friday.  The Gregorian calendar had not come into existence at that time.  The predecessor to the Gregorian calendar was the eight-day Julian calendar which went into effect around 45 BC.  There is no evidence that would have been a Thursday, but in order for you to see the proper sequence Gregorian calendar names are being used.

The day after the Passover was the fifteenth, and we are told in Leviticus 23:6:  “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto Yahuwah: seven days you must eat unleavened bread."  For those of you reading this and are familiar with the Biblical Lunar-solar calendar, you will realize that this is also the second Sabbath of the first lunation (month).

Going down to Leviticus 23:11 we read:  “And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahuwah, to be accepted for you:  on the morrow after the Sabbath [the sixteenth day of the first month – the second Sabbath of each month is always on the fifteenth] the priest shall wave it."

Again for those of you using the Gregorian calendar “the morrow after the Sabbath” would be a Sunday, but we have no evidence that it was a Sunday because the Biblical Lunar-solar calendar and the Gregorian calendar do not match up.  For those of you using the Biblical Lunar-solar calendar, it is the sixteenth day of the first lunation.  

“The first day of the week [In Biblical times it was not necessarily a Sunday.  The names of the days of the week of the Gregorian calendar did not come into existence until centuries later.] came Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark [before sunrise], unto the sepulcher, and sees the stone taken away from the sepulcher” (John 20:1, emphasis added).

It was still dark, before sunrise when Mary arrived at the sepulcher, and it was "the first day of the week” because the Biblical day starts at sunset of the preceding day.

“Then the same day at evening [before sunset], being [still] the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Yahushua and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:19, emphasis added).  You will notice that when Yahushua appeared unto the disciples it was still “the first day of the week” “at evening” before sunset.

It was the first day of the week when Mary came to the tomb before sunrise, and it was still the first day of the week when Yahushua appeared to the disciples “at evening” before sunset.  It was “at evening” before the sun had set.  This means a Biblical day of the week was considered from sunset to sunset.  There has been much confusion brought to this subject, and it should be seen from this scenario given in John 20:1, 19 that a Biblical day is from sunset to sunset along with four other passages of Scripture that support that understanding.

Yahushua had told the scribes and Pharisees that He would be in the tomb for three days and three nights.  Let us now apply what we have just read from the Biblical scenario to the following charts.

The first chart is how it looks when we take Yahushua to be crucified on the fourteenth day of the first Biblical month, which is the Passover, or Friday, as our starting point.  

You see from using the Passover day (the fourteenth day) or Friday for when the crucifixion supposedly took place there are only two days and two nights in the tomb.  That does not agree with what Yahushua had said.  He said He would be in the tomb for three days and three nights.

The following chart is how it looks when we use “the preparation [day] for the Passover” (John 19:14), the thirteenth day of the first Biblical Lunar-solar month or Thursday, as our starting point for when the crucifixion took place.

You can see when we use this data to lay out the final scenario of the crucifixion and resurrection, we have three days and three nights in the tomb as Yahushua said there would be in Matthew 12:38-40.

The other Gospels have scenarios and timelines which seem to be contrary to what you will find in the Gospel of John.   However, when you take the words of Yahushua pertaining to the three days and three nights in “the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40), you will find John’s scenario to be accurate.  John dedicates nearly one-third of his gospel to the final events leading up to and including the crucifixion and resurrection.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we find these words spoken by the priests, scribes, and elders:  "Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Yahushua by subtilty, and kill Him.  But they said, Not on the feast day [Passover], lest there be an uproar among the people" (Matt. 26:3-5, emphasis added). 

They were not going to crucify Yahushua on the Feast of the Passover.  They killed Him on "the preparation [day] of the Passover" (John 19:14, emphasis added) and not on the preparation day for the Sabbath which would have been the daytime hours of the Passover.

In the Gospel of Mark, we find that statement confirmed.  "After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread:  and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by craft, and put Him to death.  But they said, Not on the feast day [Passover], lest there be an uproar of the people" (Mark 14:1-2, emphasis added).

The priests and scribes and elders were emphatic that Yahushua was not going to be killed on the Feast of the Passover if they had their say about it, which they did.

In the Gospel of John, we find these words:  "Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation [‘preparation [day] of the Passover’], the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again" (Matt. 27:62-66). 

Let us just for a moment suppose Yahushua was killed on the fourteenth day of the first month or on the Passover, and it was the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath.  The day following the preparation day of the Sabbath would have been the weekly Sabbath.  Do you really think the Jews would have gone to Pilate on the Sabbath to obtain a watch over the tomb?  They would have never entered a Gentile's residence on the Sabbath!

The "next day following the day of preparation" [for the Passover] as found in Matthew 27:62 was the preparation day for the Sabbath.  The daytime hours of the fourteenth day were not sacred hours, for the Passover was to be observed during the nighttime hours of the fourteenth day of the first month which preceded the daytime hours of the fourteenth. (Ex. 12:42-43; Lev. 23:5). If what Matthew was saying in 27:62 referred to the Sabbath as the "next day following," the Jews would have defiled themselves and would not be keeping the Sabbath.  That was why they would not kill Yahushua on the Passover (Matt. 26:3-5, Mark 14:1-2).  Only the nighttime hours were to be observed as the Passover.  "It is a night to be much observed unto Yahuwah for bringing them out from the land Egypt:  this is that night of Yahuwah to be observed" (Ex. 12:42, emphasis added).  The day following the day of preparation for the Passover was the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath.

As in all cases when something new is presented to you, we encourage you to study this out for yourself as we are counseled to do in the Scriptures (John 5:39; Acts 17:11; 2 Tim. 2:15).

There is one more scenario being promoted today.  It is one that says Yahushua was crucified on a Wednesday (the twelfth day by the Biblical Lunar-solar calendar) and was resurrected on a Sunday (the sixteenth day by the Biblical Lunar-solar calendar).  Their contention is He had to spend three full days and three full nights in the tomb.  The problem with that scenario is that He would have been in the tomb for a partial fourth day, and we know from the resurrection of Lazarus he had begun to decay or was corrupting because they said "Lord, by this time he stinks: for he had been dead four days" (John 11:39).  Also, the twelfth day of the first Biblical Lunar-solar month is not “the preparation [day] of the Passover” as stated in John 19:14.

Just as it was foretold that Yahushua would not have any blemish or be broken so it was foretold that He would not see corruption.  "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell [the tomb]; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption" (Ps. 16:10, emphasis added).  A Wednesday crucifixion does not meet this condition as foretold in this prophecy.  Yahushua met every specification of the prophecies that foretold His life and His death!