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 (Matthew 12:40, ESV).
Jesus retold the prophecy that He would be buried for three days and nights. Jesus died on the cross at about 3 p.m. on Friday and was resurrected early in the morning on Sunday.
Critics have challenged the New Testament because of this seeming inconsistency of Jesus’s words with the actual timeline presented in the Bible. But the Jews kept time differently, considering any part of one day to be the entire day.
So, three days and nights would be any part of Friday, any part of Saturday, and any part of Sunday—or three days and nights.
Let’s look at a timeline of the last three days:
Friday
After midnight on Friday morning:
- Judas leads soldiers to Jesus.
- Jesus arrested.
- Peter cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
- Jesus heals the servant.
- The disciples scatter.
4 to 6 a.m.:
- Jesus is taken to Annas and Caiaphas.
- Peter denies Jesus.
6 to 8 a.m.:
- Jesus’s trial before Pilate.
- Barabbas is freed.
- Jesus carries His cross with help from Simon of Cyrene.
9 a.m.:
- Jesus is crucified between two criminals.
And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him (Luke 23:33, ESV).
9 a.m. to 12:00 noon:
- Soldiers gamble for Jesus’s garments.
- The inscription “King of the Jews” is affixed.
- Crowds and soldiers mock Him.
- Jesus says, “Father forgive them.” To the thief, He says, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” To His mother and to John, He says, “Woman, behold your son.”
12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.:
- Supernatural darkness covers the area.
- Jesus is silent until just before death when He speaks, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “I thirst,” “It is finished,” and, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
3:00 p.m. and after:
- Earthquake and temple curtain torn in two.
- The Centurian says, “Surely He was the Son of God.”
- Soldiers break the thieves’ legs.
- Jesus’s side pierced.
- Nicodemus asks for the body of Jesus.
- Jesus laid in the tomb.
Saturday
- Grief before hope!
Sunday
- An earthquake opens the tomb, and the soldiers flee.
- Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, and other women arrive at daybreak.
- Mary Magdalene runs to tell Peter and John.
- The other women enter the tomb and talk to an angel.
- Peter and John arrive at the tomb.
- Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene.
- Jesus appears to the other women.
- The chief priests bribe the guards.
- The women tell the disciples.
- Jesus appears to Peter.
- Jesus appears to the Emmaus disciples.
- Jesus appears to ten disciples in a locked room.
Lee Strobel writes…
“The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best-attested event in the history of the ancient world.”
He is risen. He is risen indeed!