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Special Notes

INTRODUCTION

Introducing the issue of the three days and three nights of Jesus entombment. Discussing the problems with the traditional view and the goals to be attained by this writing.

THE DEMAND FOR A SIGN

Dealing with the literalness of the sign, the circumstances in which it was given, and to whom it was spoken.

PASSOVER RECKONING

The meal that Jesus and his disciples took on the night of his betrayal and arrest was the traditional Passover Seder, observed on the 14th day of the first Jewish month, Nisan. Also that John reports the same meal on the same night, but in a different manner.

TWO SABBATHS

Stating the fact that during the week of Passover, there were two Sabbaths. This is a key element to a proper understanding of the chronology of events.

FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK

The first day of the week must be understood from a Jewish background, and not Roman.

CHRONOLOGY

A time-frame based upon the evidence given, and taking into account the full three days and nights of Jesus entombment.

Introduction

Has it ever bothered you? The question that is. It did me. Like the proverbial 'splinter in my mind', it just never made sense. No matter how I tried, it never set right with me. How could Jesus be in the tomb from late Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, and it count as three days and three nights?

I know all the arguments and explanations, but they have more holes in them than my wife's colander. The most common and relied upon explanation is, the Jews of the first century counted any part of the day as the whole of the day. How convenient! Wouldn't it be nice if your boss was a first century Jew. You could show up to work for five or ten minutes, then go home,and get paid for the whole day. Oh well, back to the real world.

The first century rabbi, Akiba, is quoted, "A day and a night are an Onah, a part of an Onah is counted as the whole of it". This is the major crutch for explaining away the prophetic utterance of Jesus by almost every commentator. Friday afternoon to Friday sunset counts as DAY ONE. Friday sunset to Saturday sunset counts as DAY TWO. Saturday sunset to Sunday sunrise is DAY THREE. There we have it. That is how the conventional wisdom treats the saying of Jesus. An obscure Jewish calculation of time is applied CARTE BLANCHE, and POOF!, the import and validity of Jesus vanishes. We should call this COPPERFIELD THEOLOGY. A sleight of hand trick, the masses are duped and prophecies disappear. By using this trickery, we make Him out to be a liar and a fraud. There are enough people around who are trying to do that, without any help from those who profess to believe in him. This leads us to the next section, where we will discuss. . .

THE PROBLEMS

There are so many, where do we start? Many overlap one another, so we are going to deal the main and most basic problems facing the traditional view. The Conventional Wisdom,

1. Does not accept the sayings of Jesus as literal, in particular, his prophetic statement in Matthew 12:40. When this passage, along with others is carefully studied, we can only come to the conclusion that Jesus meant his statement to be taken literally, and those to whom he spoke it, understood him to be literal.

2. Assumes. . .

• that when the Scriptures speak of 'Sabbath', that it is referring to the weekly Sabbath, and that of course, means Saturday.
• that the mention of 'the first day of the week' is our Sunday.
• if A and B are accepted as true, then the Preparation must be Friday.
• that Jesus was raised from the dead on the morning of the Sun's Day.

The traditional view has failed to understand one very important concept. The Scriptures were written from a Hebraic background, not a Roman one. The New Covenant writings were written to Jews, or at least those familiar with Jewish culture, who lived in a world ruled by Romans, influenced by Greeks. The gospel writers never use such words as Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Of course, you may say. Then why do we read into Jewish phrases our Western/Roman meanings? This is nothing but error and leads us down a path away from the Truth. And of course, this is where we need to be, on the path of Truth. This is the goal.

THE GOALS

Our goals here are simple, although not simply attained. Just as Nehemiah had to remove the trash and debris of generations from the original stones of the wall of Jerusalem, before they could be set back in their rightful place. We also must remove heaps of theological debris . We will endeavor to show,

1. that all four gospel writers, do not contradict each other, as many have claimed.
2. that during the week of Passover, there were two Sabbaths.
3. that the sayings of Jesus concerning his three days and nights, are to be taken literally, not symbolically.
4. that Jesus was raised from the dead, not on Sunday morning, but at the end of the weekly Sabbath.
5. that the tradition of a Sunday resurrection, comes from the attempts of the early Western/Roman church (a.k.a., Roman Catholic Church), to obliterate all signs of Jewishness from the Church at large, both in practice and in belief.