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Over the years I have written several "book" or "booklets" and many, many, many newsletter and bulletin articles. Because the book market seeks writings to meet specific needs at specific times, my material has never been accepted. I have a tendency to write what is on my mind and so I am left with self publishing. So, with the encouragement from my wife and others, I am beginning this blog in order to put my "ramblings" "out there"! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer

Please note that while my intentions are to use good grammar, because of the way in which some of the material presented here is presented (orally) the grammar and syntax might not always be the best English. Also note that good theology is not always presented in the best English so there may be times when the proper grammar rules are purposely broken.

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Three (How we count the three days in the tomb) - Good Friday - April 22, 2011 - Text: Matthew 27:57-66

If Jesus died on Friday and was buried on Friday afternoon and then rose early Sunday morning, that would amount to only about 48 hours. If this is true that Jesus was buried for only 48 hours, how can we say He rose on the third day? And why would this even be important? First, the only reason this is important is because the Bible tells us that He rose on the third day and thus, this rising on the third day is important because God’s Word is true and faithful and we can believe it. My contention will remain that if we have a problem in understanding the Bible and what God says it is not because God has said something wrong, but that we have misunderstood and so we need to go back and listen and read again until we get it right, because God already has it right.

After Jesus hung on the cross from morning until about three in the afternoon, after He died, and because the next day was the Sabbath day and the day of rest, Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross. Matthew tells us that when it was evening, in other words, after the afternoon and before sundown which would be the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came and asked for the body of Jesus. So, keep in mind, this is still Friday, because at sundown it would be Saturday and the day of rest.

Matthew also tells us specifically that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there. They were watching as Jesus died. They continued watching as His body was taken down from the cross. They were watching as His body was laid in the unused tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

Matthew continues by reminding us that the next day, the day after the day of preparation, meaning this was the Sabbath, or the day of rest which at this time was celebrated on Saturday, the last day of the week in commemoration of God resting after His six days of creation. On Saturday, early in the morning the Pharisees came and asked for a guard to be posted at the tomb. They explained that Jesus had prophesied that He would rise again and they were concerned that His disciples might steal His body and say He rose from the dead. They wanted to make sure that the tomb was secure, at least for the three days in which Jesus said He would rise. Again, the counting of the days is such that the day ended and began at sunset, so that the sunset of Friday was the beginning of Saturday. Thus, Jesus died on Friday and was buried on Friday, probably between three when He died and four, but before sunset. And its was early in the morning that the Pharisees came before Pontius Pilate and asked for a guard. They did this early on Saturday morning.

It is interesting that when they asked Pilate for a guard, Pilate’s response was “you have a guard.” Perhaps this statement is an indication that it was temple guards, not a squad of Roman guards that were assigned to and guarded the tomb. This explanation makes sense because if it were a squad of Roman guards they would be executed if the body were stolen, since that was the law that the punishment that was meant for the one being guarded would be inflicted on those guarding them, but we are told later that the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law said they would cover for the guards.

Continuing to count days, Jesus was placed in the grave on Friday. He was in the grave all day on Saturday which we count as day two. Saturday came to an end at sunset. At sunset on Saturday, the Sabbath day, it was no longer Saturday, but was now Sunday morning, and the first day of the week.

Therefore on the third day since Jesus was placed in the tomb, on Sunday morning, in fulfillment of the promise of God and according to Jesus’ own words, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. Matthew describes the scene as likened to an earthquake. He says that an angel rolled the stone away and his appearance was as white as snow.

Matthew further describes the scene saying that the guards ran at the resurrection. The guards were frightened at the sight and so run to save themselves. A little later we are told that when the guards told the chief priests what had happened they were told to say that the body had been stolen and that they would take care of the rest. Again, I believe this gives us an indication that these were temple guards, not Roman soldiers.

So, what does this mean? Sometimes, along with listening to what is said, we must listen to what is not said as well. As we follow along in Matthew’s Gospel as well as in all four Gospels, we know that we can trust that the prophesies concerning the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the prophesies concerning Jesus were true and they were fulfilled, completely, all of them, in Jesus.

We can trust that Jesus was in the tomb for three days as we counted the days, Friday, Saturday and finally rising on Sunday and Jesus showing Himself to be alive. Especially as we heard the testimony of those who believed the resurrection, that they indeed saw Jesus alive, but we can also believe in those who deny the resurrection, those that say He did not rise, because, even though they do not believe He rose and even thought they do not admit to seeing Him alive, they do admit that the tomb was empty, as they would tell the story that the body was stolen, or missing, as in what we would believe, and the only reason it was empty was because He rose.

Thus, we know that God’s Word is trustworthy and true. We know that Jesus is trustworthy and true and we know that, just as He said, we can believe that He indeed rose from the dead, for us.

Good Friday is indeed a good Friday. Certainly we do not celebrate Jesus’ suffering nor His death. Rather, we lament our part in these events. We lament our sins and we repent of our sins. What we celebrate is God’s love for us. What we celebrate is God’s keeping His promise to us and to all people, of all places, of all times. We celebrate that Jesus paid the price for our sins, in full so that no other sacrifice, no other offering needs to be made. We do not need to make any form of satisfaction for our sins since they have all been paid for and forgiven. Today is Good Friday. Tomorrow we wait and prepare ourselves, because on Sunday we once again, celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and the fact that we worship a living God. To Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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