Matthew 12:40 tells us jesus spent 3 days and 3 NIGHTS in the belly of the earth. Did he resurrect on Monday?

Question

Matthew 12:40 says..."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."

So not being a mathematician by any means, but able to count to three, if jesus died on a Friday and he spent 3 nights in the tomb, that would put him as resurrecting on a Monday.

Catholics, can you help me out here? I put this question out earlier and did not receive any good answers. St. Francis of Assisi tried, but he lost count at 2.

Andrew...your version gives me 4 nights. Matthew 12:40 tells me 3 nights.

Exodus, did I make the question too difficult for you?

Vot, the scripture is very clear here. It doesn't say parts of days. It says three days and three nights.

Preachy...two nights.

Matthew tells me three nights.

If you tell me that this scripture is wrong, then I can assume more scripture is wrong as well?

Pastor Art, I respect your position and your honest answer. This question is directed at those who need help to open their minds.

Answer 1

Some 8 years ago, I was on my desk trying to figure out this same problem. My calculator gave up and I thought I’d be then needing a Chinese abacus. You just reminded me of my very first “spiritual mathematics” test. But thanks to this problem, believe me - - this started my long serious research in the bible. Would you believe – it took me three months then to solve this?

Christ couldn’t have been crucified on a Friday – neither was resurrected on a Sunday morning. Matthew 12:38-40 is very precise – 3days & 3nights – no more, no less.

When I was still a frequent traveler, my airline would always remind me “to re-confirm my next flight at least 72 HOURS”. This airline rule came to mind when I was trying to figure out this particular verse in Matthew. 72 HOURS would exactly mean 3days&3nights. So Matthew 12:38-40 would also mean 72 HOURS. And this is not to include the time that Christ was still on the cross – dead. 72 HOURS would start only on the hour Christ was put in the tomb.

Now, here’s the key – counting of days in Judaism time is “sunset to sunset” (which they still practice today). Say, 6pm of Friday (in our way of counting) is already counting as the beginning of Saturday – until 6pm the next day (which is the beginning of Sunday). The story of creation tells it all – “And the evening and the morning the first day…” (Genesis chapter 1 KJV) Follow?

Following the “mathematics” of the Catholic church, Friday night (when he was buried) would be the first night…the whole day of Saturday becomes the first day…Saturday night becomes the 2nd night…so, that would only sum up – I day & 2 nights. Even if we counted Friday as the 1st day, and Friday night as the 1st night…Saturday as the 2nd day and Saturday night as the 2nd night…and let us also count Sunday as the 3rd day – we’d still come up short – a total of 3days & 2nights. With this computation – we’ll fail mathematics.

I’ll give you my basic countdown…
1.Christ was crucified 3pm on a Wednesday…
2. Buried just a little before 6pm (which is already a special Sabbath that week)
3. Next day-Thursday was a special Sabbath (Feast of the Unleavened Bread) – people are forbid to work.
4. Friday – a common workday (the women bought spices and prepared when they reached home)
5. Saturday (a weekly Sabbath where work is forbidden) – Christ rose a little past 6pm (start of Sunday)

Conclusion: 6pm of Wednesday to 6pm of Saturday would easily sum up exactly 72 hours – a clear 3days&3nights.
Bonus: The Feast of the Passover (known in the Catholic church as the Last Supper) was celebrated by Jesus & company on the eve of Tuesday. That night after the dinner, Jesus went out to pray and was arrested. Also that night about dawn, Peter denied him 3x. Morning of Wednesday – he was convicted before Pilate and was made to carry the Roman cross to Golgotta. There, he was mocked and crucified…and at 3pm – he died.

Another bonus: Good Friday is being celebrated by millions of Catholics all over the world – unaware of the “mystery” behind this day. Friday is the feast day of a Roman goddess ( I’ll keep the details) who’s pagan symbol was “fish” During the pagan’s celebration of this day – they feast on “fish” and avoid “meat of animals”.

(Upon solving this – I became so curious of solving the month of Jesus’ birth…Thanks God I did)

E-mail me…you guys out there if you want to know the TRUTH about this season of LENT.

God bless…
GH

Answer 2

Matthew 12 40

Answer 3

Matt 12 40

Answer 4

Jesus died on Passover day, Nisan 14, on the day now known as Friday. And by early morning of the day now termed Sunday he had already been raised from the dead. Mark’s account reads: “Very early on the first day of the week [Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome] came to the memorial tomb, when the sun had risen. . . . When they entered into the memorial tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a white robe, and they were stunned. He said to them: ‘Stop being stunned. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was impaled. He was raised up, he is not here.’”—Mark 16:2-6; John 20:1.
If Matthew 12:40 means three complete twenty-four-hour days, when would Jesus have been buried? Counting back seventy-two hours from early Sunday morning, we would come to early Thursday morning. But since Jesus died about 3:00 p.m., he would have had to be laid in the tomb on Wednesday afternoon. (Matt. 27:46, 50) The Bible account regarding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, however, in no way suggests that the period involved extended all the way from Wednesday to Sunday. Let us, then, examine the evidence.
The reason the women went to the tomb was to grease Jesus’ body with spices. They bought some of these spices immediately after the sabbath. (Mark 16:1; compare Luke 23:56.) Which sabbath could this have been? If Nisan 14 had extended through Wednesday afternoon, this would make Thursday, Nisan 15, the first day of the Festival of Unfermented Cakes and hence also a sabbath day. (Lev. 23:5-7) The next sabbath would have been the weekly sabbath, starting on Friday evening and running to Saturday evening, since the Jewish days began at sundown.
In view of these factors favoring a period of less than three full days between Jesus’ burial and resurrection, the question arises: Why could Jesus say that the “Son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights”? (Matt. 12:40) This is because the expression “three days and three nights” can refer to parts of three days, as is clearly shown at 1 Samuel 30:12, 13. Under the heading “Day,” The Jewish Encyclopedia says: “In Jewish communal life part of a day is at times reckoned as one day; e.g., the day of the funeral, even when the latter takes place late in the afternoon, is counted as the first of the seven days of mourning; a short time in the morning of the seventh day is counted as the seventh day; circumcision takes place on the eighth day, even though of the first day only a few minutes remained after the birth of the child, these being counted as one day.” Accordingly, as Bible commentator Lightfoot observes, three days and three nights “included any part of the first day; the whole of the following night; the next day and its night; and any part of the succeeding or third day.”

Answer 5

It has to do with the way the Jews reckoned days. We must be careful not to press our own way of looking at the world into the biblical passage. Jesus was a Jew, and he was speaking to Jews. He was in the grave on Friday night, all of Saturday, and into Sunday until the time he rose. To the Jewish mind at that time it was enough to call it three days.

Edit: No it isn't wrong. As I already explained, it is a completely different way of looking at things and we cannot force our own understanding onto the biblical passage. The people that were Jesus' contemporaries would have understood this in precisely the way I have laid it out. So this is really not a problem unless you want it to be, which you apparently do. Given that, there is really nothing I can do for you. It was nice chatting with you.

Answer 6

He was buried before sundown Thurs. Nissan 14. The 15th of Nissan is a high day or Sabbath. This is where the confusion comes in as both Fri, Nissan 15 and Sat, Nissan 16 would have been Sabbaths. The 14th is the preparation day or the day the Passover lamb is killed.

Answer 7

Your questions seem to have a pattern--and that is to discredit how some believe. I was drawn to your postings because of an answer you gave to a poster that was being crude. I like your humor, but your method of attacking certain groups for their beliefs is negative. I too however find myself challenging some theories. Have you ever honestly read the entire Bible? Have you ever taken a course that highlights the culture, symbolic representation of scriptures, history, and writing styles of the Bible? I am just curious what makes you feel you know more than others.

Answer 8

I liked the answer with the "thursday" in it. Makes sense, too bad it is not true: Jesus did not resurect or anything and we know that because after his death, friday evening, his body was taken off the cross, right? the other bastards were alive so they were allowed to chill over the sabath. Now...who got Jesus'body? Santa Claus? Wasn't a "rich man" who went in and asked for the body from the governor? Wasn't Jesus bitching about the rich guys all day long and saying that hell no they are not going to heaven? And...since when is a governor listening to someone's wishes? Go ask yours today see how fast he grants it hahahha. Back then it was the same-only the well-connected could get the job done and the religious leaders were very connected thank you, so they sent the rich guy get the body because they really wanted Jesus in their basements when he raised form dead, if he did. And he didn't because there's never any mentions about the last guy to believe in Jesus before he died-the crook Jesus told that they'll be together in heaven that day. no proof of that...no proof of Jesus...so stop counting the days-count the lies. Start with Sunday morning at your local church or synagogue or mosque

Answer 9

If you read the event carefully you will find that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday. Thursday a man named Joseph went to Pontius Pilot to beg for Jesus' body because they had to get him in the tomb before the day of "preparation of the passover" which was Friday. Then there was Saturday (the Sabbath and Passover) and Jesus rose on Sunday

Answer 10

Jesus died on Good Wednesday.

I've been preaching this for over 30 years.

I've read books written in the 1930's which advocate that position.

Good Friday is a piece of bad theology left over from the bankrupt Roman Catholic Church.

We need to check all of our beliefs directly with the Bible.

Pastor Art