The Significance of the Sign

Three Days and Three Nights

Matthew 12:38 shows some of the scribes and Pharisees asking Yehoshua for a sign to prove He was the Messiah. Yehoshua told them that the only sign He would give was that of the prophet Jonah: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40).

But can we fit "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" between a Friday-afternoon crucifixion and a Sunday-morning resurrection? The traditional view of the crucifixion and resurrection only allows for Yehoshua to have been entombed for a day and a half.

Some try to reconcile Messiah's words with their belief in a Friday crucifixion and Sunday resurrection by rationalizing that Messiah's "three days and three nights" statement does not require a literal span of 72 hours. They reason that a part of a day can be reckoned as a whole day. Hence, since Yehoshua died in the afternoon—around "the ninth hour" after daybreak, or about 3 p.m. (Matthew 27:46-50)—they think the remainder of Friday constituted the first day, Saturday the second and part of Sunday the third.

However, they fail to take into consideration that only two nights—Friday night and Saturday night—are accounted for in this explanation. After all, the Bible is clear that Yehoshua had already risen before the daylight portion of Sunday (John 20:1). Something is obviously incorrect in this common conclusion regarding when Messiah was in the tomb.

Jonah 1:17, to which Messiah referred, states specifically that "Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." We have no reason to think these days and nights were fractional. Nor is there any basis for thinking that Yehoshua meant only two nights and one day, plus parts of two days, when He foretold the length of time He would be in the grave. Such rationalization undermines the integrity of Yehoshua' words.

The reason that Friday is the day most think of as the day of Messiah's crucifixion is that Mark 15:42 states that it was the preparation day (the day before the Sabbath). In the normal weekly Sabbath cycle, Friday is indeed the preparation day. But in this case, there were two Sabbaths during that week. The Sabbath referred to in Mark 15:42 was an annual Holy Day—the First Day of Unleavened Bread. John 19:31 confirms this by specifically stating that it was a high day, or annual Holy Day. Then two days later was the weekly Sabbath, which is the one referred to in Luke 23:56.

When did Yehoshua die and when was He resurrected?

Here's the timeline: Yehoshua was laid in the tomb in a hurry, as sunset (the beginning of the Holy Day) was approaching (Mark 15:42). Joseph of Arimathea, wanting to properly bury Yehoshua before the beginning of the high Holy Day, took down Yehoshua' body and wrapped it in linen. He then placed the body in the tomb (Luke 23:53; Mark 15:43). Luke's account then says Yehoshua' female disciples observed that He was buried as the Sabbath drew near (Luke 23:54-55).

After seeing Messiah's body being laid in the tomb just before sunset, the women then "returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils [for the final preparation of the body]. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56). How could they have prepared these spices and oils in the very short time before sunset?

The wording of Mark 16:1-2 adds to the confusion some experience because it seems to suggest that the spices were purchased after the weekly Sabbath rather than before it on Friday? How is that possible?

By comparing details in both Gospels—where Mark tells us the women bought spices after the Sabbath and Luke relates that they prepared the spices before resting on the Sabbath—we can see that two different Sabbaths are mentioned. The first, as John 19:31 tells us, was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The second was the weekly seventh-day Sabbath. Mark did not mention this weekly Sabbath rest in his account, but Luke, who wrote his account of these events later, did.

Thus, the women returned after seeing the burial Wednesday afternoon. They rested on the high-day Sabbath Wednesday night and Thursday. They bought the spices either Thursday night or Friday morning. They prepared them on Friday prior to sunset and then rested on the weekly Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

Then, early on Sunday, before dawn, "while it was still dark" (John 20:1), they went to the tomb to apply the embalming mixture. They discovered that Messiah had already been resurrected (Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:2-6; Luke 24:1-3). The only plausible timeline for the events of the crucifixion week is that Messiah was in the grave three full days and three full nights, from late on a Wednesday until late on a Saturday.

Now, consider Messiah's promise that He would be in the grave for the same length of time that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish in conjunction with this historical record. What is the correct way to understand "three days and three nights" in both Matthew 12:40 and Jonah 1:17? It means three literal days and three literal nights—72 full hours....

DID Messiah DIE ON A FRIDAY AND RISE ON A SUNDAY?

Winston Churchill once said, “People often stumble over the Truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry on as if nothing had happened.” How true! 

People are creatures of habit. Once set in a belief or habit—once our belief system is comfortably in place—we do not want to change. In fact, by nature, we tend to fight and argue to defend our previously held beliefs even when confronted with facts to the contrary. 

Have you ever wondered why you believe the things you believe and do the things you do? Perhaps you have never stopped to ask yourself that question. Because of the “sheep instinct” in man—the tendency to go along with what everyone around them believes—most people believe many things that are not true. For example, most professing Christians are shocked when someone points out that there is no biblical command to celebrate the resurrection of Yeshua Messiah, but on the contrary, we are solemnly commanded to commemorate His death (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)! Further, because of muddled tradition, most are biblically mistaken about when Yeshua really died and when He was resurrected. 

Elohim’s Challenge

Elohim’s inspired Word, the Bible, invites us, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith Yehovah” (Isaiah 1:18). Let us “prove all things” by the Bible, not the contradictory, unsubstantiated, or pagan traditions of men (1 Thessalonians 5:21). It is time to set aside the shackles of tradition and look into your own Bible. Messiah said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Free? Free from what? Free from error, free from false doctrine, and free from the manacles of manmade tradition. Truth is what is, not what we would have it be.

A Satanic Conspiracy 

Your Bible says Satan the devil is deceiving the whole world (Revelation 12:9). This includes the churches of this world. Unfortunately, most people today are biblical illiterates. The Bible, it seems, is the book everyone wants to read but few do—the book nearly everyone has an opinion about based upon what others have said about it. It is high time to blow the dust off your Bible and read it for yourself! Unsuspecting, trusting, innocent people all over the world have been deceived into thinking that pagan customs, superstitions, and counterfeit doctrines come right from their Bibles, and yet nothing could be further from the truth. Your Bible reveals that Satan himself appears as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [yes, Satan has ministers!] also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness” (verse 15). Messiah warned repeatedly, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Messiah; and shall deceive many.” That is, many would come saying truthfully that Yeshua is the Chris, yet, by wresting scriptures, adding false doctrines and customs, making false prophecies, and even performing great signs and wonders “in His name,” would deceive many (Matthew 24:4-5,11,24). 

Satan has provoked scholars, teachers, and “free thinkers” to ridicule and deny the only sign Messiah gave that He was indeed the Messiah. Jeremiah told of the same thing: “Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart” (Jeremiah 14:14). “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied” (Jeremiah 23:2 1). 

Side-stepping such false prophecies, signs, and wonders, Messiah said the only sign He would give that He was indeed the Messiah was that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39-40). Read it in your own Bible. Do you believe this sign? Yet theologians and would-be scholars claim Messiah was in the grave only one full day and two nights, only half as long as He said He would be. What most of Christendom fails to realize is that wresting the Scriptures to fit this scenario actually nullifies the only sign Yeshua gave as proof that He was the Messiah. To dismiss this most important sign that Messiah gave is actually rejecting what the Scriptures plainly say! Rather than celebrating His resurrection from the dead, we are commanded to commemorate His death through the Passover (see Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, etc.). The fulfillment of this sign was a testimony not only to that generation, but also to all future generations that He was indeed the Messiah! With this in mind, can you think of any reason Satan would not want to confuse and deny the only sign Messiah gave that He was the Messiah? Certainly not! Satan is anti-Messiah, the master deceiver, Scripture-wrester, and enemy of mankind. He is in the process of deceiving the whole world (Revelation 12:9). We cannot trust the word of deceived men. There is only one dependable and historical record on this, the Bible itself, and any tradition that conflicts with Elohim’s Word must be summarily dismissed...

Three Days and Three Night...Let Elohim Be True, though everyman a liar!

For most professing Christians, Easter is a yearly festive occasion celebrated with meals and family gatherings. Since the pagan roots of Easter are either not known, denied, or dismissed as irrelevant, these same “Christians” make believe Easter Sunday is a Messiah-centered holiday that celebrates His resurrection.

They have their children in Sunday School coloring pictures of Yeshua exiting the tomb on Sunday morning with the stone rolled out of the way and the sun rising in the background. Flowers are blooming and a bunny is hopping by. Everything is a springy pastel dreamland. Meanwhile, they’re busy worshipping a god who failed Pre-K math and singing praises to an “all powerful” god who has to rationalize his inconsistencies with idioms and semantic convulsions.

It is total darkness. The Easter story is a diabolical narrative that presumes to commemorate Yeshua Messiah’s victory over death in the name of the pagan goddess Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, who’s name, according to Jeremiah the prophet, should not even be uttered. And if that wasn’t blasphemous enough, the classic Easter story told by almost every “Christian” organization out there makes Yeshua Messiah out to be a liar and a fraud.

Let’s compare the traditional Easter narrative to the Biblical Narrative with the following passage in mind:

“But He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And there shall be no sign given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39-40 MKJV).

The traditional Easter Narrative claims Yeshua was crucified on Friday afternoon, buried Friday evening before 6:00pm, and remained in the grave until He resurrected on Sunday morning.

It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that this is barely, if at all, 36 hours. It’s most certainly not three days and three nights!

You can’t even include Friday afternoon as one of the three days in the Easter timeline because Yeshua wasn’t in the grave until moments before Friday was over, and His prophecy said, “the Son of Man will be in the belly of the earth…” not “will be dead for….” But, disregarding the Word of Elohim, most theologians, bound in their confusion, argue that since He was technically in the ground for a portion, however momentary, of three different days, that Yeshua still technically kept His word. They insist that the phrase – “three days and three nights” – is just an idiom or figure of speech.

This is nonsense. Yehovah expects and allows us to take Him at His Word. The Truth is simple and clear. It is logical and consistent. It’s all there in the Scriptures.

Consider that the Jewish understanding of a day is sundown until sundown, as described in Genesis 1:5, “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” This wording is used repetitively in Gen 1:8, 13, 19, 23, and 31 to establish Yehovah’s definition of a day. A day consists of an evening and a morning, a night and a day.

“The Biblical definition of day is confirmed throughout the Scriptures. If Yeshua wasn’t in the grave for three days and three nights, then how long were Abraham and Isaac journeying to Mount Moriah? A day and a half? It says in the Scriptures in the story of Jonah that Nineveh was such a large city that it took three days for a man to traverse it? Is that an idiom as well? Was that three days starting Monday at sundown and arriving Wednesday morning (with travel during the day and not at night – “Yeshua answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world” – John 11:9 MKJV)? If so, then Nineveh couldn’t have been that big.

I’ve never heard of anyone doubting that Jonah was in the whale for three days and three nights or doubting that Abraham travelled for a full three days with Isaac, and yet it seems very few are willing to take Yeshua Messiah at His word, even though the events with Abraham and Jonah were foreshadowings of His death and resurrection.

Another perfect demonstration of the Biblical definition of a “day” and the Master’s will concerning His death and resurrection is found in the story of Lazarus.

We read that Martha expresses concern over Lazarus’ state of decay after three days.

“Yeshua said, Lift the stone. Martha, the sister of the one that had died, said to Him, Lord, he already smells, for it is the fourth day.” (John 11:39).

Lazarus wasn’t in the grave for two full days and a portion of two others, otherwise Martha wouldn’t have been concerned about him stinking. Decay takes time.

Lazarus had been in the grave for three days and three nights. There was no room for misunderstanding. He was dead. He wasn’t in a coma nor was he asleep. There are even records of some Talmudic Jews periodically observing the dead during the first three days so that they could be sure it was not a case of “pseudo-death.” That’s why Yeshua intentionally delayed His arrival in Bethany, so it was very clear that Lazarus was dead.

Yeshua had already raised two people who were dead for a short while but He was about to prove He could raise a man who had been undeniably dead for some time. Yeshua raised Lazarus from the dead even after he had been dead for a full three days and three nights.

It’s written that Elohim carefully planned the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead so “that the Son of Elohim be glorified by it” (John 11:4). Yeshua made it clear that an important aspect of Lazarus’ resurrection glorifying Him was the timeline. Lazarus had to be undeniably dead, and being in the grave for three days and three nights was an assurance of that....

Did Yeshua Die On "Good Friday" or Wednesday?