Subject: Re: Three Days and Three Nights!
Date:    Thu, 23 Apr 1998 23:30:28 +0000
To:      "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

 

>
>From:          Cheryl Wilson
>To:            <<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
>Subject:       Re: Time Line of Yahshua's Crucifixion, Burial &
>                      Resurrection 
>
> I agree that Yahshua was crucified on Wednesday, but we must read
> the scripture carefully to determine when he arose.  Remember, He 
> said he would be in the "heart of the earth" three days and three nights, not
>"dead" three days and three nights.  Therefore, since his body was
>buried in the evening, (Mark 15:42-46), He arose in the evening three
>days and three nights later.
>

To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From:          Lori Eldridge <lorel@on-ramp.ior.com>
Subject:       Re: Three Days and Three Nights!

Hi Cheryl and All,

 The answer, "3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth" was in
response to a question from the Pharisees and teachers of the law when
they asked for a sign in Mt. 27:63. According to John 2:18 Jesus also
told the Jews demanding a sign that "Destroy this temple, and I will
raise it again in three days." Notice that this response was not so
precise yet both of these were indicated as a SIGN to the Jews.


Jesus told his disciples about this time period in a similar manner as
the last comment:


(1) "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They
will kill him, and AFTER THREE DAYS HE WILL RISE." (Mk 9:31)


(2) "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, " and the Son of Man will
be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will
condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will
mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. THRE DAYS LATER HE
WILL RISE ." (Mk 10:33,34)


(3) "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by
the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed
over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog
him and kill him. ON THE THIRD DAY HE WILL RISE AGAIN." (Lk 18:31-33)


The day after Jesus was buried the Pharisees told Pilate "We remember
that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I
will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure
UNTIL THE THIRD DAY." (Mt 27:63) Notice that they did not say until
"after" the third day, i.e., 3 days would be enough.

Because Jesus told the Pharisees two different things and also his
disciples I think that focusing on just one verse (72 hours)  is not
wise. Also, when the disciples claimed that Jesus had risen from the
dead on the third day (Acts 10:40) no one disputed it. If Jesus was
deliberatly vague in his collective statements and the disciples were
vague in their response then I don't think we should be insisting that
a 72 hour period is indicated. 

There is another way we can count days and nights. I believe the
earthquake just before dawn was an indicator of when Jesus rose because
there was one when he died and there will be another one when he
returns. 

Keeping all I have said above in mind, count backwards 3 days from dawn
on the first day of the week (Sunday) and see where you land. 

To make it easier let me try and draw a diagram. Open the following in
a monospaced font like Courier. The first row of vertical lines
indicate sunset of each day (the beginning of the Jewish "day")
N=night, D=day, *=dawn :


|                        |                       |                     
  |                        |                     |

|                        |                       |                     
  |                        |                     |

|_N_*____D_|_N_*____D_|_N_*____D_|_N_*____D_|_N_*_____|


    Wed       Thurs      Fri        Sat        Sun

     |          |         |          |          |

     |          |         |          |          |

Days=-----4---------3----------2---------1-------  




Please notice that if you count backwards from Sunday
(before dawn) to Wednesday (before sunset) you get 4 nights and 4 days.
If you count backwards to Friday you only get 2 nights and 2 days.
Thursday is the only combination that produces 3 days and 3 nights. 

This is also the only combination that eliminates problems with the
Sabbaths:

 (1)  With a Wednesday crucifixion the triumphal entry occurs on a
Sabbath and therefore you have Jesus and his diciples breaking the
Sabbath by walking too far, the donkey breaking it by carrying Jesus,
and the people breaking it by cutting palm branches. If Jesus arose on
a Saturday you also have him telling the women to tell his disciples to
go to Galilee (Mt 28:10) and that very day "two of the disciples were
on their way to Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem" (Lk 24:13). 
Therefore we have Jesus instructing his disciples to break the Sabbath
on both occurances if he was crucified on a Wednesday.

(2)  With a Friday crucifixion Jesus would have walked over 15 miles
with his diciples from before Jericho to Bethany on the Sabbath before
he ever came to Jerusalem, and Passover would have occured on the
regular Sabbath and Scripture indicates there were two sabbaths that
week.

With a Thursday crucifixion Jesus arrives from his 15+ mile trip at
Lazarus's house just before the Sabbath, rests for that day, and the
Triumpah entry occurs on the next day (Sunday), and there are two
back-to-back Sabbaths as Scripture indicates. Therefore I believe
Thursday is the only day that eliminates the Sabbath problems and also
adds up to 3 days and 3 nights.

BTW, I am in the process of starting up a mailing list called Last Days
Prophecy for the purpose of discussing how endtimes prophecy relates to
current events. It is a Christian based list where believers should
feel comfortable discussing these matters without interference from
hecklers and trouble makers. I have had experience in running mailing
lists for 3 years now and I run a tight ship. If you're interested
contact me at:

lorel@on-ramp.ior.com  

or check out PropheZine and subscribe through there in a few days at:

http://www.prophezine.com 

Lori

*******************************************************************

>
>To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
>From:          Robert W. Meyers
>Subject:       Re: the Wed. Crucifixion theory
>
>Thirteen times we are told by God that the Lord was raised on the
> third day.
>Five times we are told by God that that day was Sunday.
>Sunday = the third day; Saturday = the second day; Friday = the first
> day. It's very simple.
>In other words, God emphatically repeats again and again and again
>and
> again and again that the Lord was crucified on Friday,
>

To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From:          Lori Eldridge <lorel@on-ramp.ior.com>
Subject:       Re: Three Days and Three Nights! - Part II

Hi Robert, 

I disagree that God emphatically states that the crucifixion was on a
Friday because you will not find the word "Friday" in the Greek text
because they numbered their days instead of naming them. We can only
discern the day through comparing one text with the other as compared
to the first day of the week--Sunday.

When we in America are calculating the passage of days we do not count
the day of the event especially when it is on the "edge" of the day.
When we say we have a dentist appointment in 3 days we don't count the
day we are currently occupying--we add 3 more days. Christ died just
before sunset--just before the start of a new "day". Therefore it is
more logical to assume that that day should not be included when
counting.  If he died on the edge of Friday and we add 3 days he would
have been resurrected on Monday. We know he was resurrected on Sunday
some time before dawn and counting backwards 3 days (not counting
Sunday) brings us to Thursday, and even if you count 24 hr periods it
still brings us to Thursday, and even if you count three days and 3
nights it still brings us to Thursday.

However, let me also mention that the Jews of the time of Jesus
considered part of a day as a whole day and this can be substantiated
by examples from scripture but I really doubt that 2 hours left in a
24 hour period would have been considered as a whole day. Does anyone
know how strict this tradition was?

You also said:

>>In the Book of Daniel, God had told the Israelites who went under
>Nehemiah the exact day when Christ would enter Jerusalem as her
>Messiah: 69 "Weeks" after the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus.  That
>is, Israel from that time was told that on Monday, Nisan 10, March
>30, AD 33, Messiah the Prince would arrive in Jerusalem, riding on a
>colt, the foal of an ass (Zech. 9:9). >>

Again, you are claiming that the date was given when it was not. It
can only be derived by carefully calculating the events in question.
The verse in Zech 9:9 is a prophecy giving more details of the
fulfillment of that prophecy in Daniel.

Gabriel told Daniel, "Know and understand this: from the issuing of
the decree TO RESTORE AND REBUILD JERUSALEM until the Anointed One,
the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens' and sixty-two
'sevens.'. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times
of trouble." (Dan 9:25)

There were other decrees to rebuild the Temple however there was only
one decree to rebuild Jerusalem and this was given by Artaxerxes
Longimanus as you said, however if you calculate the decree from
Nehemiah 2:5-18 it calculates out to 173,880 days which comes out to
Nisan 10, April 6, 32 AD not 33 AD.  There is no year zero and you
have to calculate for leap year.

Mar 14 445 BC- Mar 14 32 ad is 476 years x 365 days per year = 173,740
days.

Add for leap years =116 days (leap years do not occur in century years
unless divisible by 400)

March 14-April 6 (Nisan 10) = 24 days.

Total 173,880 days from the decree to build Jerusalem to the Triumphal
Entry.

These calculations come from "The Unexpected King, (A precise
Mathematical Prediction). by Chuck Missler. He got his figures from
Sir Robert Anderson's "The Comin Prince".

I have both the article and the book. If you want more details let me
know.

Lori Eldridge

********************************************************************



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