Month: March 2014

The Third Day Series: Part 2 – Jonah

We are attempting to understand how Jesus and Paul could say that the Old Testament prophesied a third day resurrection, when in fact there is not one direct statement in the Old Testament that says something like “the Messiah will die and rise on the third day.” Thankfully, we have the words of Jesus to shed light on the mystery.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12: 38 – 40

A very interesting thing happened in this encounter with the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus took the book of Jonah, which had nothing to do with messianic prophecy, and He made it messianic. How could Jesus do such a thing? Isn’t that an incorrect way to interpret the Bible, to take Scripture out of context to prove a point?

The reason Jesus could say what He said is because He was speaking of “signs.” To use another word, Jesus was speaking of “patterns.” The scribes and Pharisees would certainly agree that Jonah was a prophet of God. And they would agree that Jonah was put into the sea monster for three days and three nights by the will of God, for that is what Jonah’s book clearly states.

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1: 17
Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land. Jonah 2: 10

So Jesus compared Himself to Jonah. Just as Jonah was God’s prophet, Jesus was too. Just as Jonah was appointed by God to be in the fish, so too will God appoint Jesus to be in the earth. And just as Jonah came out of the fish on the third day, so too will Jesus come out of the earth on the third day. Jesus used Jonah as a pattern to support the credibility of His own ministry. God established a pattern in Jonah, and God will culminate or fulfill the pattern in Jesus. This is what Jesus was communicating to the Pharisees and scribes, and it is what is being communicated to us by Matthew as we read what he recorded about Christ.

If we can understand how Jesus applied Jonah to Himself, then we are well on our way to understanding how other Old Testament passages can be applied to Christ and His third day resurrection.

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The Third Day Series: Part 1 – Introduction

Jesus was crucified and died on Passover. On the third day after His death, He rose from the dead by His own power. In doing so, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that He gave prior to His crucifixion, which is recorded in the gospel of Matthew:

…Jesus said to them,“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” (Matthew 17: 22)

So “the third day” in Christianity refers to Resurrection Sunday (which is commonly known as Easter). But why did Jesus rise on the third day? Why didn’t Jesus predict He would be raised on the second or fourth day? Surely anyone rising from the dead by their own power would be an amazing thing, why does it matter what day it happened?

The words of Jesus and Paul tell us that the third day is not arbitrary, and that Jesus could have not risen from the dead on the second day or on the fourth day. Why not? Because of Old Testament prophecy written hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

…and He (Jesus) said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day…” (Luke 24: 46)
For I (Paul) delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…(1 Corinthians 15: 3 – 4)

In the New Testament quotes above, both Jesus and Paul indicate that the Old Testament speaks of a third day resurrection by the Messiah. In other words, before the foundation of the world, God determined that Jesus would rise from the dead three days after His death, and God ensured the event was prophesied in the Old Testament writings. But one of the great mysteries is this – there is no literal predictive prophecy that links the third day to the Messiah. There is nothing in the Old Testament that essentially says “the coming Messiah will die and rise on the third day.” So what were Jesus and Paul talking about, and in what way does the Old Testament foreshadow Jesus’ third day resurrection?

To shed light on this mystery is the hope of this new blog series.