How can we harmonize the prophecy of three days and three nights in Mat. 12:40?

Sabbath means holy day. There is one every Saturday in Israel commencing at sundown on the Friday, but there are also several during the year that are date specific. That means they are always observed on a specific calendar date, regardless of the day. They’re like Christmas - it always comes on the 25th of December no matter what day of the week that happens to be.

The special Sabbath John referred to is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it’s a date specific holy day; always observed on the 15th of the month called Nisan, which corresponds to March/April on our calendar. So the first thing we learn is that the special Sabbath mentioned in John 19:31 wasn’t a Saturday. In fact there are three special Sabbaths (or Holy Days, if you prefer) in the month of Nisan alone; Passover on the 14th, the Feast of Unleavened Bread which begins on the 15th and runs through the 22nd, and the Feast of First Fruits on the Sunday morning following Passover. Of the three, only Unleavened Bread prohibits work like the weekly Sabbath, but all have both a historical and prophetic purpose and like all days in the Jewish calendar they begin at sundown, following the pattern of Genesis 1.

Some years before the birth of Jesus the Passover celebration had been changed and in the Lord’s time called for a brief ritual meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs to begin the 14th followed by a great and leisurely festival meal on the 15th, when the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins. This tradition is still followed today. The 14th became known as Preparation Day (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:31), because on it they made ready for the great feast day beginning at sundown, after which no work was permitted. Matthew identifies the day after the Crucifixion as the day after Preparation Day (27:62) so all four Gospels agree. Jesus died on Preparation day, the 14th of their month Nisan, which is Passover. He ate the ritual meal with His disciples in the Upper Room, and then was arrested, tried, convicted, and put to death; all on Passover. He had to be, in order to fulfil the prophecies of the Passover Lamb.

So just like the Lord had commanded in Exodus 12, He was selected on the 10th (His triumphal entry into Jerusalem where he was hailed as King), inspected on the 11th, 12th, and 13th, and executed on the 14th of Nisan. Jesus had to die on Passover to fulfil the prophecy. Early that Thursday morning the Jewish leadership received permission to crucify Him. (Matt. 27:1-26) His fate was sealed and He was hanging on the cross by 9 AM. His actual time of death was about 3 PM and His body was laid in the tomb sometime later, since the officials wanted it off the cross before sundown brought the Feast of Unleavened Bread, after which no work was permitted. By then Jesus had been in Sheol for several hours. Thursday was day one.

Because in Jewish reckoning the night precedes the day, at sundown it became Friday the 15th, night one, and the special \Sabbath John mentioned began (John 19:31). At sunrise it was Friday day, day two. The next sundown brought Saturday night the 16th, night two, and the regular Sabbath began. As of sunrise it was Saturday, day three. At sundown on Saturday it became Sunday night the 17th, night three, and sometime before sunrise Jesus rose from the tomb - three days and three nights. When the women arrived at sunrise on the first day of the Jewish week (our Sunday) to anoint His body, He was already gone.

In the week Jesus died, two Sabbaths that permitted no work were observed back to back: The Feast of Unleavened Bread on Friday the 15th, and the regular weekly Sabbath on Saturday the 16th. In Matthew 28:1 we read that at dawn on the first day of the week (Sunday the 17th) the women who were close to Jesus went to the tomb. Luke 24:1 tells us they were going to anoint His body for burial. The two Sabbaths had prevented them from doing so earlier. But He wasn’t there. He had risen. Being the Sunday after Passover, at the Jewish Temple it was Feast of First Fruits. At the Empty Tomb it was Resurrection Morning.

Others argue that this view doesn’t permit three full days and three full nights in the tomb but that’s not what the Scripture says. It simply says three days and three nights. If you move his death up to Wednesday like some teach to get three full days you violate the Passover Lamb prophecies. So the Thursday date is the only one that will accommodate both the Passover Lamb and the three day three night prophecies.

The blind leading the blind. Please learn how to crawl before you attempt to walk.

1. Jesus ate Passover with the 12, the night before he was crucified.

2. The Passover Jesus ate with the 12 was the feast of the unleavened bread which began Wednesday night, at sundown. The feast of the unleavened bread is a 2 day event, Wednesday and Thursday.

3. Thursday is the Day of Preparation for the High Sabbath, the High Sabbath is a 7 day celebration in which no cooking is allowed during the 7 days.

4. Jesus was arrested about 1:00 o'clock Thursday morning.

5. Jesus was nailed to the cross about 9 am Thursday morning and he was dead by 3:00 pm Thursday morning.

6. The physical Churches of this world were all built by the children of Satan and they called the Day Jesus was killed "Good Friday". They have been DECEIVING you from the very beginning.

------------------------

61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Matt 27:61-62 (KJV)

---

42 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. Mark 15:42-43 (KJV)

---

52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. Luke 23:52-54 (KJV)

---

14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. John 19:14-15 (KJV)

---

30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, 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.

32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

John 19:30-33 (KJV)

------------

25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. Mark 15:25 (KJV)

------------

44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. Luke 23:44-45 (KJV)

------------

Actually, make that one day and two nights. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday. Jesus was resurrected before sunrise on Sunday morning. That makes Friday night and Saturday night plus all day Saturday. I have read a number of Christian explanations where they tried to reconcile the two, including the one where if something takes only part of the day it is still considered a full day. But the fact is, Christians go out of their way to try to justify prophecy, including trying to fit a lot of prophecy into the story of Jesus that in fact has nothing to do with Him. For example, the prophecy that starts “For unto us a child is born…” (Isaiah 9:6-7). That prophecy is actually about Baha’u’llah, not at all about Jesus. But because the typical Christian does not accept Baha’u’llah as being from God, they automatically reject the possibility that it is actually about Him instead of Jesus.

But to harmonize that prophecy with reality, consider this: Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane on Wednesday night. He was arrested on Thursday morning, at which time all of his Apostles deserted Him. When his Apostles deserted him, His ministry was in effect dead and buried. It was not until Sunday morning that His Apostles regained their faith, which means that the ministry of Jesus was resurrected. So, if my interpretation is correct, you have Thursday, Thursday night, Friday and then Friday night followed by Saturday and Saturday night. That gives you a full three days and three nights.

With few exceptions, the Jews of Jesus’ time rejected the reality of Jesus the Christ. Could it be that the Christians of today, by rejecting Baha’u’llah, have made the same mistake that the Jews made by rejecting Jesus? I have read that there are 333 prophecies in the Bible regarding the Advent of Jesus, and there is no question in my mind but what Jesus fulfilled each and every one of them. But altogether there are literally thousands of prophecies regarding the Advent of Baha’u’llah. I have looked carefully and I have been unable to unearth a single one that He did not fulfill. To put that into perspective, if you take only the relatively small handful of very specific time prophecies out of that mix of thousands of prophecies, the odds of Baha’u’llah fulfilling them by chance is less than one and the total number of protons, electrons and neutrons in 18 quadrillion universes the size of our own observable universe. If you then consider the other thousands of prophecies, the odds of them all being fulfilled become even more astronomically unlikely, yet Baha’u’llah fulfilled each and every one. Of course, even though that is true the average Christian will reject even the possibility and still claim that in some way those prophecies are about Jesus, or claim that they are not valid prophecies. How they can do that, I have no idea, save calling it blind faith.

The Promise of World Peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIhiC_2yh_A

http://info.bahai.org/article-1-7-2-1.html

http://www.bahai.com/thebahais/

http://www.bahai.org/

http://www.bahai.us/

Jesus added: “For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” (Matthew 12:38-40)

Jewish days began at sundown. Christ died on Friday afternoon, Nisan 14, 33 C.E. His body was placed in a tomb before sunset of that day. Nisan 15 began that evening and ran until sundown of Saturday, the seventh and last day of the week.

At that time Nisan 16 began and ran its course until sunset of what we call Sunday. Consequently, Jesus was dead and in the tomb for at least a period of time on Nisan 14, was entombed throughout the entire day of Nisan 15, and spent the nighttime hours of Nisan 16 in the tomb.

When certain women came to the tomb on Sunday morning, he had already been resurrected. Matthew 27:57-61; 28:1-7.

Jesus was in the tomb for parts of three days.

Matthew 27:62 says nothing of a Friday crucifixion. To understand what's going on here you have to look to the Hebrew calendar. This explains fully: http://gracethrufaith.com/selah/holidays-and-holy-...

We can start by agreeing that Jesus of Nazareth and George Washington were real historical figures.

We can recall hearing the story about G. W. and his father's cherry tree.

That story is a reminder that famous people sometimes have stories made up about them, after they have died.

It is also possible that the story of Jesus rising from the dead was made up.

After all, it has been said that Jesus is God, and also been said that, "with God, ALL things are possible".

Some people may come up with something about an extra-special Passover, where Jesus was crucified on Good Wednesday, not Good Friday.

But, if such was the case, then, seeing as the Resurrection is the most important part of the whole Jesus story, it might be expected that God would see to it that nobody ever misunderstood.

And, as to God's POWER to make sure that some (literally) "God-awful" things happen to people who do not get the exact message to the right place at the right time, I refer you to the story of Jonah.

Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh and deliver God's message.

Took a boat in the other direction..

So there was a God-awful storm, followed by the God-awful shock of getting the short straw when they gambled to see who had to be tossed overboard, then the God-awful trauma of being eaten alive by a sea monster.

So, I ask the Believers to please refrain form saying that God did not, does not, have the Power to make sure that there were no errors in translation, no errors in teaching, no misunderstandings whatever.

We can harmonize both stories as complete bullshit.