Three Days and Three Nights
In Matthew 12:40, we read, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” There is some confusion within the brotherhood on what day of the week Jesus died on the cross. We all know that Saturday was the Jewish 7th day of the week and Jesus rose on the first day of the week. Jesus died before the Roman soldiers could break His legs on the evening before the Sabbath day. So how do we get three days and three nights between the day Jesus died and the first day of the week? The Purpose of this study is to examine the history of the Passover and the associated feast and use that help establish the precise day that our Savior died on the cross.
Perhaps one of the most key verses of scripture to help pinpoint this day is found in Mathew 27:62 which reads, “The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate” This was the day after Jesus died and the text clearly says it was “after the day of preparation.” This would mean that Jesus died on the day of preparation. See also Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and John 19:31. The day of preparation was the day the Jews prepared the Passover lamb followed by the eating of the Passover lamb that same evening.
The Relevant scriptures on the Passover in the Old Testament are found in Exodus 12:1-28; 43-51, Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 9:1-14, and Deuteronomy 16:1-8.
The time of the Passover lamb sacrifice was twilight on the 14th day of the first month which was Nisan, Leviticus 23:5, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover.” The first day of Nisan coincides roughly with the first of April. This is the day of preparation where the Passover lamb is killed, prepared and eaten. Exodus 12:6 “and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.” Then the blood was put on the doorposts and lintel of the houses, Exodus 12:7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.” They then prepared and ate the Passover lamb that night, Exodus 12:8, “They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.” They were to break no bones during the preparation, (Exodus 12:46), which is a foreshadowing of Jesus who also had no bones broken.
Jesus is our Passover today, 1Corinthians 5:7, “…For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Of significance is the fact that as our Passover today, Jesus’ death coincided with the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Jesus died on the same day the Passover lamb was killed, (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and John 19:31 & 42).
The day following the sacrifice and eating of the Passover lamb, the Jews then observed the feast of unleavened bread which lasted for 7 days. The first and seventh days of the feast of unleavened bread were Sabbath days where no ordinary work was to be performed. In Num 28:16-18 we read “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover, and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.” And in Leviticus 23:5-8, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”
The day immediately following the day of preparation was called a sabbath day, even though it did not fall on the 7th day of the week. Mark 15:42-43 “And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.”
Then in John 19:31 we read, “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.” This was no ordinary Sabbath day. “That Sabbath” was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
Jesus Christ was crucified the day before the sabbath (Mark 15:42). The Jews always honored the first day of the feast of unleavened bread as a special “high” sabbath, no matter what day of the week it fell upon (Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:7; Numbers 28:16-18). John’s gospel says Jesus was crucified on the “the preparation of the Passover” (John 19:14), and that the following Sabbath day was “an high day” (John 19:31). These Scriptures plainly show that the ordinary sabbath was not meant. Christ was crucified on the day before the “high day,” or first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
Scripture is clear that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:9, Luke 24:1-6) Scripture is also clear that Jesus spent 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb. Matthew 12:40, “For just 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.”
Most scholars believe Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday and spent Saturday in the tomb and rose on Sunday. That is not three days and three nights. Since the Sabbath following the day of preparation was different than an ordinary Saturday, we can count backwards from Sunday morning. If Jesus had been crucified on Thursday, He would have spent Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night in the tomb, which is three nights.
Scripture places Jesus’ death at the ninth hour of the day in Matthew 27:46-50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:44-46. The Jewish ninth hour is about 3:00 PM on our clocks. If Jesus died at 3:00 PM-ish on Thursday, he would have been “in the heart of the earth” The rest of the day on Thursday, all day Friday and Saturday. A Thursday crucifixion works out to three days and three nights and does not contradict scripture. Moreover, it works out perfectly with the day of Preparation for the Passover lamb and the first day of the feast of unleavened bread which is a sabbath day.
It is this Bible Student’s conviction that Jesus Christ was crucified and died on Thursday, which would be the 4th day of the Jewish week, spent 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb and was resurrected on the first day of the week.
I would like to thank James Burton Coffman for His scholarship and brother Seth Turbeyfill for his research notes, assistance and his insatiable hunger for the truth on this subject which inspired me to study it in depth.