And he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Luke 24:46-47
When I served as a local Messianic congregational leader, I used to get lots of phone calls with questions during the Passover-Easter season. One of the most popular went like this: How can people claim that Jesus was crucified on a Friday and rose on Sunday morning when he said he'd be in the grave for three days and three nights? The caller was thinking of Yeshua's saying about the sign of Jonah: "An evil and adulterous generation ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:39-40). This scenario seemed to mean that Yeshua was crucified and buried on Thursday, and spent Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night in the grave. But since that would actually only add up to three night and two days–Friday and Saturday–there was another theory that Yeshua died and was buried late on Wednesday, and spent Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night, and all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, in the tomb, rising just after dark on Saturday night. Read More