Three evenings and three mornings (three nights and three days / three days and three nights) and Christ rising again on the third day:
Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the
evening and the morning were the
First Day.
This is important, because according to God in the Bible, it is the evening first and then follows the morning, which is what makes "a day". (Therefore, the date also should be counted like that to be correct, changing over to the next day/date at sunset, instead of at midnight like the convention of today).
When done in this way, then it works out perfectly:
Wednesday, 21 st of April in 34 AD - The crucifixion (forty years after the birth of Jesus in 7 BC).
http://jahtruth.net/passnot.htm#Wednesday
(Now, if you start counting the days, from the exact time they put the body of The Lord in the tomb; and remember, that they had to hurry, because the "high"/holy day (special Sabbath - which fell on the Thursday of 34 AD - hence Sabbath
s, in Matthew) drew on, and get His body placed into the tomb, and the tomb sealed up, which they had to complete
before the "high" Sabbath day began: )
Day 1 (first
24 hours, + the time from His burial on the previous day, until the sun had set)
From the exact time that The Lord's body was laid in the tomb and the tomb was closed up (which was still
before sunset occurred, after the crucifixion on the Wednesday) until sunset, and then until the next day began at the next sunset. So, the three days and three nights began while it was still Wednesday (therefore, the
+), and then add to that time, the time of Thursday evening and of Thursday morning: 24 hours).
i.e. 1 evening , 1 morning =
24 hours+ (+, because it is + the time from the moment of His burial, which was still before sunset on the previous day, until the sun set, which is when the "high" Sabbath [on Thursday in 34 AD] began).
Day 2 (48 hours+)
From sunset (after Thursday was over) until the next sunset.
Friday evening 12 hrs + Friday morning 12hrs,
+.
(2 evenings and 2 mornings+ =
48 hours+)
Day 3 (
72 hours - three days and three nights).
From sunset (after Friday was over) until He rose again on The Sabbath -
the third day.
Saturday/Sabbath evening 12 hrs + Saturday/Sabbath morning, until He rose again
on the third day - adding up to
72 hours.
(3 evenings and 3 mornings -
72 hours - after which Christ rose again
on the 3rd day / on the (weekly) Sabbath Day).
Which then gives the full 3 days and three nights (72 hours) and after which Christ rose again,
while it was still on the third day (as He said He would).
So, He rose again
on the third day, after having been in the tomb, for
three days AND three nights (just like He said He was going to be).
So, there is no contradiction and both of Jesus statements are proven correct. Jesus did not use "an idiom", but told us
EXACTLY what would happen, and it happened
EXACTLY as He and God said that it would. It happened,
EXACTLY as it says.
-------
The conventional explanation given by the churches falls apart completely, even when trying to work it out with conventional thinking, it doesn't even get to 36 hours, because, the Bible says that when the women arrived at the tomb in the wee hours of Sunday morning, they found it empty because by then, He was
already gone from the tomb (Risen - not there).
That means: If (by conventional thinking) He was crucified on Friday (which He was not), and was then buried just before sunset, and was already gone in the wee (small) hours of Sunday... it doesn't even come to
2 days, never mind 3 days, or three days and three nights! Count it. This is what you get:
Just before sunset on Friday, till sunset on Saturday (24 hours+)
Sunset on saturday, till the
wee hours on Sunday morning (12 more hours? - did we even make it all the way to 36? and that's being generous).
That's
not even 2 full days (48 hours) never mind
three days, never mind three days AND three nights as Christ said.
To believe it was on Friday is not just a little bit off, it's completely absurd (and living in la la land).
Jesus said several times He would rise on the third day... and He was right.
Yes He was right. Just like He was also right when He said that He would be in the tomb for three days AND three nights.
All the data fit a Friday crucifixion... except a saying found only once... three days and three nights.
All the data fits a Wednesday crucifixion, period.