7.
Few, if any, have a problem accepting the fact that Jonah spent a full three days and nights in the belly of the great fish. As we have noted, Jesus said that He would spend the same period of time in death. Mt. 12:40 He used the incident with Jonah as an example of the time that He would experience in the grave. In no way can a time expressed as being three days and three nights be misconstrued into being a portion of three days. Jonah was a full three days and three nights in the fish. Jesus was a full three days and three nights in the tomb. That amounts to a hourly measurement of seventy two hours.
Jesus is our Passover. 1 Cor. 5:7b Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation for that was the day on which Joseph of Arimathea requested and received the body of Jesus for burial. Mark 15:42-45 This day is called the day before the Sabbath. However it was not the weekly Sabbath but the special Sabbath noted as being “an high day. John 19:31 In the week of His crucifixion there were two Sabbaths, this special Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath. The fourteenth day, at even was the beginning of the feast of Passover, the fifteenth day was the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread and was the day called the Sabbath. Lev. 23:5-8 Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and was resurrected some time after sundown on Saturday, after the weekly Sabbath. He is not a man that He should lie. Num. 23:19 The linking of His time in death to Jonah was to be the only sign given. There are other ways of expressing partial days and nights. The statement of Jesus is positive and definite, a complete three days and three nights. That cannot be accomplished with a Friday crucifixion, no matter how the days are twisted into being three days and three nights.
( THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS )WEDNESDAY – (THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY) – SUNDAY
Crucified night-day 1 night-day 2 night-day 3 He is risen
Special Weekly
Sabbath Sabbath
Because the Jews of that day reckoned the night first and then the day we have followed that in the simple chart above. Jonah, the dove was a type of the Lord Jesus, the gentle one, in His death, burial and resurrection. We dare not dismiss the afore going fact of three days and three nights less we misguide the body of Christ into the traditions of men and not the pure doctrine of the Lord Jesus.