From a physical viewpoint Jesus died on a Friday, Saturday was the Sabbath (the rest day for the Jews) making Sunday, the third day, the earliest day his resurrection could be witnessed.
From a spiritual viewpoint, a prophecy was being fulfilled as well as formed. Jesus was born about 2000 years ago. If one were to apply Biblical time to those 2000 years they would be 2 days (a thousand years being a day). This would roughly make the year 2001 the beginning of the third millenium since his birth or the beginning of the third day.
If this is correct we are today in the early part of that third day where similar to the day of Jesus' physical resurrection it is still dark. Jesus was resurrected early on the third day.
1997 _________________ YHWH is my God and Jesus is my Lord
This is one of those questions that are not directly answered in the Bible, except that there was to be a sign of three days in which Jesus was to be "in the heart of the earth" for three days and three nights. (Matthew 12:40) While I believe that these three days and three nights began many hours before Jesus died, the time period of his death is included in these three days and three nights. Jesus would have to be dead for a period long enough that his being raised would actually be a sign, else it may have been claimed that he was never dead to begin with. However, the only part of this that was a "sign" to the unbelievers was that of the empty tomb, since Jesus did not appear to unbelievers after his being raised. Nevertheless, for the vast majority of the unbelievers, it was not a "sign" that would lead to their belief, but rather it was a "sign" that would confirm their disbelief even in when faced with such a sign.
There may be also a symbolic significance to the number three, but, at present, I do not know of any place that the scriptures reveal such a significance in this case. Although I believe Bullinger is a little off in his summation of the symbolic meaning of the number three (there is nothing in the Bible about three persons in one God), and although he does not discuss the three days that Jesus was in the heart of the earth, you might read his study on the number three:
I personally believe that the number three does signify divine perfection, and as such the three days and three nights could signify the fact that Jesus' perfect human being (having retained the divine nature -- the godlike qualities -- as a human) had indeed been sacrificed; this, however, allows for the meaning of divine nature is different from the meaning that most Bible Students, by tradition, attribute to that term.
Christian love,
Ronald _________________ YHWH is my God and Jesus is my Lord
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