The Third Day

Since last Sunday was Easter, let’s examine the NT phrase three days and three nights. Jesus himself proclaimed that “the Son of Man will be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:7) and “for just as Jonah was . . . so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40). Also, Paul says in 1 Cor 15:3, “Christ was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Many against and within Christianity have challenged the validity of traditional the third day proclamation (Friday afternoon to Sunday morning), saying that this view does not allow for Jesus to be in the tomb long enough. I personally believe that the traditional view is correct, and I’ll give you three reasons why I think this.

1) Attested by scholars, history, and the Bible itself, the phrase three days and three nights is an idiom. It does not mean a literal 72-hour period. For Israelites, an event that occurs on any part of a day could be considered as one full day and night. 2) It is almost certain that many of the events happening in Scripture on the Friday of Jesus’s crucifixion are happening concurrently or sequentially (e.g., Joseph of Arimathea purchases a linen cloth, and Nicodemus brings spices, myrrh, aloe [John 19:38–40]). 3) Differences existed between the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other sects in the first century regarding how to measure time. It seems there was both a Galilean method of time (sunrise to sunrise) and Judean method of time (sunset to sunset) used in Jesus’s day depending on who you were or who you followed. This consideration reconciles what seems like differences between John’s gospel and the other gospels perfectly.

How great is our Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us, defeated death and was raised on the third day. Then preserving His word for us so we might believe and be saved!

Keanan Fischer