Easter (Part #4)

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Easter (Part #1)
Easter (Part #2)
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When the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign that he was the messiah,

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40)

Three days and three nights. Couldn't be any clearer could it?

Eventually Jesus was crucified and it was about three-o-clock on Friday afternoon when he cried out,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)

Somebody gave him a drink of vinegar and then the crowd sat around and waited to see what might happen next:

Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him. (Matthew 27:49)

At some later time (after three-o-clock on Friday afternoon) Jesus cried out again, and then he died.

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. (Matthew 27:50)

With Jesus still hanging on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea went back into town to ask Pilate for Jesus' body:

Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. (Luke 23:52)

With permission granted, Joseph of Arimathea went back to the cross, took the body down and carried it off to a tomb that had been cut into the rock:

Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. (Luke 23:53)

And by the time he had finished doing that,

The Sabbath was about to begin (Luke 23:54)

So Jesus is in the tomb at about 6pm on Friday night, just as "the Sabbath was about to begin," and now we can count off the three days and three nights:

• Friday night
• Saturday
• Saturday night
• Sunday
• Sunday night
• Monday

So the resurrection (according to the prophecy made by Jesus himself) was set to occur sometime on Monday, right? Probably in the late afternoon. It couldn't be much earlier than that because Jesus had promised that he would spend a full three days and three nights in the grave. That was the sign - the ONLY sign - that he was prepared to give.

But then we turn to the gospel of John and find the women at the tomb,

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark (John 20:1)

And Jesus was gone!

They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him. (John 20:2)

So Jesus was in the tomb for less than one day and two nights. He was gone before the sun rose on Sunday morning. 

The ONLY prophecy he made regarding his messiah-ship and he got it wrong! What a silly old messiah.