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 Since
childhood I have watched brethren draw “evenings and mornings”
on the board, and argue about the time Christ was in the grave.
This is certainly a Bible subject, and one in which Christians
have a legitimate interest; but it hurts me to see some brethren
in senseless harangue over any subject — and especially so
when fundamental factors in the subject are scarcely recognized.
Christ
died “the day before the sabbath” (Mk. 15:42), also called
“the preparation day,” (Lu. 23:54 Matt. 27: 62). If this “sabbath”
was the seventh day, Christ died on the sixth, and no argument
can change that. If it was not the seventh, but a special Jewish
feast day called “sabbath” the contender must demonstrate
that. (It is in order to point out here that Christ apparently
partook of the Passover ahead of time (Jn. 19:14) in preparation
for his death, the real Passover. (1 Cor. 5:7).
Mark
16:9 says Christ arose on the first day of the week. Marshall’s
interlinear translates: “And rising early on the first day of
the week.” While it is true that Matt. 28:1-f., Mk. 16: 1-f.,
Lu. 23:53-24: 1-f., and Jn. 20:1-f., all speak of the time the
woman arrived at the tomb; doesn’t it seem a bit strange that
the time of their arrival would be given such attention if it
had nothing to do with the time of Christ’s resurrection? Mark
makes this an academic matter.
But
what about the “three days and three nights” of Matt. 12:40?
They must be reckoned with, but not to the ignoring of all else
said about the time in the tomb. Jesus also said he would be “raised
again the third
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day” (Matt. 16:21): “the third day
rise again,” (Lu. 24:7). Paul said “he rose again the third
day —” (1 Cor. 15:4) adding, “according to the Scriptures”
or — in keeping with what had been written concerning Him.
We
must not fail to recognize an idiom of speech by which partial
days are often counted as a whole. It is in the New Testament,
with reference to counts other than our subject. One day, about
3: p.m., a man named Cornelius had a vision. He was told to send
for Peter. For convenience, let us call that Monday. (See Acts
10:3).
On
Tuesday (v.9) his men arrived in Joppa, seeking Peter. On
Wednesday (v.23) Peter began the return journey with them; and
on Thursday (v.24) they arrived at Cornelius’ house. There,
Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this
hour...” Now draw this out on the board, and let’s see the
experts (?) stretch that into four 24-hour periods. Peter was in
Cornelius’ house “the fourth day” or “on the fourth day”
(compare “the third day” re. Christ) but certainly not four
24-hour periods following the vision.
Pushing
the crucifixion back to the 4th. day (Wednesday) means one
ignores “preparation day” passages (see above); and
resurrection on the First Day makes too much time in the
tomb. Crucifixion on Thursday solves some problems (in minds of
some) but we must still accept the idiom illustrated above..
Must brethren dissipate their energies in such contentions?
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