© 09 Colin Melbourne
Three Days and Three Nights
Q: In Mtt. 12:40 Christ clearly says He will be in the heart of the Earth for three days and three nights, but since He was crucified on Friday, and resurrected on Sunday morning how can that be three days and three nights?
A: The Bible tells us that Christ died on the afternoon of Friday and arose early Sunday morning.
So that spans part of Friday, two whole nights, one whole day, and part of Sunday, not three full days and three full nights.
Sinners often leap on this to accuse Him of a failed prophecy, but of course they are wrong.
When He spoke of “three days and three nights” He was using a normal Jewish idiom typical of the time.
To a Jew in Bible times any part of a day was reckoned, or spoken of, as the whole day and the following night.
Similarly, the whole day and night was idiomatically spoken of as equal to part of the day or night.
It is still much the same in the rural Asian cultures I visit.
Devoid of electricity and timepieces, agricultural people don’t clock-watch, they rise with the sun and flake-out soon after sunset.
They often still speak of a day and its night as the same as a fraction of that day. Just like people in Bible days.
Enjoy these Anointed Christian films to use in your evangelism, Bible studies, and Sunday schools.
Christ was certainly not prophesying He would be in the tomb for 72 hours, because He also said in many scriptures that He’d be raised on the third day. (Mtt. 16:21, 17:23, Lk. 9:22)
He was simply using the common expression of the time that everybody understood.
Was Jesus Mistaken?
If it had been a failed prophecy, an error, or a slip of the tongue, the hypercritical Pharisees would surely have pounced on it to denounce Him, but they didn’t; because both they, and all who heard Him, understood perfectly what He said and meant.
If they’d tried to accuse Him on this basis they’d have been laughed at as imbeciles.
In the same way, Christ spoke of His resurrection (Mtt. 27:63, Mk. 8:31) that it would be after three days, which to a modern ear means He’d be raised on the fourth day. But to a Jew of that time, after three days, and on the third day were synonymous: They mean the same thing.
There’s no error or contradiction, and perfect fulfilment of prophecy.
Cultivating Bible Faith for Healing
Q: I was reading Mark 4:26 about the blade, and then the stalk, and then the full corn in the ear. I was wondering if that applies to healing. Do I meditate on the word of healing, and then as the word takes root, it will produce a manifestation slowly? Mike
A: Yes, but it doesn’t have to be slow.
Miracles are instant, healings are gradual.
The determining factor is your faith in what God says.
If it takes a person ten years to believe Christ has healed them, they will wait ten years.
If they believe his word today, they will act on it, and see the Bible results today.
The key is acting on what you believe in your heart. Many nullify what they say by what they do. Others only believe in their heads, not where it counts, in their hearts.
Your LORD wants you to discover how thrilling it is to believe His word enough to put your faith in His word into action. When you do, there’s no such thing as walking in failure, only walking in victory.
Enjoy Christ the Healer and let T.L. Osborn’s mentor, F.F. Bosworth, show you what Bible faith for healing really is.
© 09 Colin Melbourne