A Friday Crucifixion and a Sunday morning Resurrection is not Biblical

In a previous post by New Jerusalem Russ, he claimed that Christ was crucified on Friday and was resurrected on Sunday morning. I know that some other Christians agree with him regarding this issue; however, this claim would be in direct conflict with the sign that Christ promised to give the world as proof of his Messiahship. According to the Bible, Christ promised that he would be in the grave for three days:

Matthew 12:39, 40:

“But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Matthew 27: 62-64:

“Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.”

Mark 8:31:

“ And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

John 2:19-21:

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body."

Now from daytime Friday to Sunday morning is not three days. If I tell you on Friday morning that I am leaving and will come back in three days, you would expect to see me again sometime Monday, but certainly not Sunday morning. I am fully aware of the “trick” that some Christians use to try to show that Christ was in the grave for three days. They purport that the Jews counted any part of a day as a complete day and each day began at sundown. Using this method, Christians say that Friday morning was actually part of the day which began the previous evening, and thus is counted as a full day. Friday evening and Saturday morning constitute the full second day, and Saturday evening and part of Sunday morning constitutes the third day.

This explanation is very weak since one would expect Christ to fulfill his promise in such a way as to leave no doubt. Since his three days in the tomb was to be the only sign given as proof of his divinity, He should have been in the tomb for three complete days, not just one complete day and part of two others.

At any rate this crude attempt to resolve the conflict of a Friday crucifixion and a Sunday morning with Christ's promise to rise after three days fails due to the following words in Matthew 12:40: "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (highlights my own).

While other verses simply say that Christ would be in the tomb for three days, the above verse specifies He would be in the ground for three days and three nights. Now every one knows that a day and a night are not the same thing. A day is the period of time between sunrise and sunset and a night is the period of time between sunset and sunrise. Even counting a part of a day or night as a full day or night, it is impossible to get three days and three nights from daytime Friday to Sunday prior to sunrise (the Bible says that Mary Magdalene and others went to visit the tomb “as it began to dawn on the first day of the week" and Christ had already risen).

From daylight Friday to Sunday morning prior to sunrise, there are only two days and two nights (actually only one complete day and night and a part of another day and night). Even if one assumes that there was the slightest flicker of sunlight when Christ arose on Sunday morning and that split second or so is counted as a full third day, there are still only two nights that Christ was in the grave. It is mathematically and linguistically impossible to place Christ in the grave for any part of three separate nights. In fact, if Christ did on Friday and arose on Sunday morning prior to sunrise, He would have been in the grave for only one full night and part of another.

Many Christians reject the notion that Christ was crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday before sunrise. These Christians know it is impossible for Christ to be in the grave for three days and three nights (as stated in Matthew) if He died on Friday and arose on Sunday morning.