[Greetings friends and listeners!]

What was the sign of Christ’s Messiahship?  How can we know that Jesus Christ’s of the Bible was indeed the true Messiah?  Some will say that the miracles He performed are proofs.  Yes, that’s one.  But we also have to remember that there are places where He did not perform such miracles because of their unbelief.  And in fact it says here that there were places where He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. 

Actually, this was a challenge to Him from His top critics during His day.  How did they hope to determine whether He was fake or genuine?  Well, as many would likewise expect, they demanded that He perform a miracle.  But He did not give in to their request.  Instead He gave them a sign, a very unique sign which obviously no impostor could follow.  Do you know what that sign is? 

Many people don’t know what the true sign of His Messiah-ship was.  But let us read the account leading to this encounter with His chief critics mentioned in Matthew 12.  Matthew 12 in the New King James Version starting in verse 38, it says, “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

One more translation that I’d like to read to you, the New Living Translation.  It augments a little bit more.  It says, still reading Matthew 12, starting in verse 38 and I’d like you to follow in your own Bibles the things that I’m reading.  This broadcast is very important and please note down the scriptures and the passages that I’ll be mentioning and please follow it up in your own Bibles.  Starting in verse 38 of Matthew 12 in the New Living Translation, it says, “One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, ‘Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove [that you are from God] your authority.’”  (39) But Jesus replied, ‘Only an evil, faithless generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. (40) For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so I the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.’”
Let’s notice—if Jesus Christ was not able to exactly fulfil the three days and three nights, then there is no God existing in heaven above and powerful enough to raise Him up from the grave on time.  Or it is possible that He was not recognized by God, the God of heaven and earth and therefore He is not the anointed of God, the Messiah.  If Jesus is not the son of God, He might just be another impostor.  There’s a second significance to this which it would be well for us to really take note.  If Jesus was not able to accomplished or fulfil this statement, if He was short by just even an hour or perhaps a day, or if He did not really mean what He said, then he was a plain liar.  And if He was a liar, He has therefore sinned.  And if He has sinned, He deserves to die the death, His own death.  And if He died for His own sins, then we have no Savior.  It’s as basic as that.  That is how critical that statement He made was.  And that is why the gospel accounts used these three terms to really zero-in on the length of days or the length of time he would be in the grave, it says, “in three days.”  At the same time, many passages said “after three days,” and the third passage says, “on the third day.”
Now, all of these taken together shows that the timing of His stay in the grave should be very precise.  I have mentioned that many times but that is something that you have never heard expounded.  In fact, you heard differently.  Some reinterpret these things and say, “well, He did not really mean that, three days and three nights, maybe it’s a combination of day and night.”  But let us ask the question:  How long is a day and how long is a night according to Jesus Christ Himself?  We should let Him answer the question.  I’d like you to open with me to John 11:9, where Jesus Himself answered the question.  He said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. (10) But if one walks in the night, he stumbles…”  In other words Jesus Christ gave the distinction between night and day.  Day is when it’s bright and it’s twelve hours.  Night is when it’s dark and he stumbles if he walks and it’s also twelve hours.  Therefore, we know that twelve hours of daylight plus twelve hours of darkness or night time equals 24 hours which is the way we reckoned our days.  And He said here that He will be in the grave for three days and three nights which means 24 hours times three and that brings us to 72 hours.  And that is what Jesus Christ said.  And Jesus Christ does not waste words on these things. 
But what have you been told?  You have been told that Christ was crucified on Friday afternoon and was buried in the evening and that He rose early Sunday morning.  Now, let us compare what you have been told, with what the Bible says.  When you count the time between Friday sunset to Sunday morning, you will only come out to two nights and one day.  But that is not what Jesus Christ said.  He did not say two nights and one day.  He said three days and three nights.  Somebody obviously is not telling the truth.  And there are only two possible choices.  Either Christ did not tell the truth or your religion or your teachers did not tell the truth.  Whom do you think is the one not telling the truth?  We know for one that God cannot lie and will not lie.  And Jesus Christ being God also, being perfect will not lie.  That leaves then that the teachings of men is suspect for not telling the truth.  We ask the question, is it possible that the whole world, even the whole world of Christianity is deceived and deceived in this very thing? 
Well, we will the Bible answer that question.  I’d like you to open with me to Revelation 12:9.  It says here, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”  Did you notice what we read?  He said he, Satan, that serpent of old, the Devil deceives the whole world.  Not just a little part of this world but the whole world which means including Christianity—popular Christianity. 
Now, let us look into these things very clearly, honestly.  And it would be good for us to set aside temporarily all our pre-conceived notions, all our pre-conceived ideas, and the teachings we might have received and let’s look at the word of God in a fresh manner.  This is very important because we can claim that we know Jesus Christ when we cannot even reconcile His clear words recorded in the Bible with our present beliefs.  There should be no contradiction.  Now, let us remember a few landmarks in scriptures as we analyze these things. 
First of all, let us remember that there were no eye-witness accounts to the exact time of His resurrection.  When the women went to the tomb very early in the first day of the week, which we will call Sunday, while it was yet dark, He, Jesus Christ was no longer there.  What they found was an empty tomb.  There was no Jesus Christ there.  No one saw Him resurrect from the dead.  And the Bible did not say He rose from the dead on Sunday.  When the women went there, He was no longer there.  Therefore, we know that whatever the length of time is, by Sunday morning, He was no longer in the tomb.  Therefore we need to move backwards in calculating the time when He was crucified to be able to accommodate three days and three nights. 
Now, is there any prophecy in the Bible showing when the Messiah will be killed or cut-off from among the living and die?  God did not leave us in the dark in this matter.  One of the most beloved and greatest prophets in the Bible was used by God to prophesy specifically about these.
I’d like you to open with me to Daniel 9:26-27, because we can get some clues from this prophecy.  We read, “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off [okay, now when we say cut-off, meaning He will be killed], but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” This is an overall prophecy about Jerusalem and other events surrounding the destruction of the city but it includes the death of the Messiah.  And it says, “The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.”  Now, going to verse 27, “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week [I’d like to repeat that, in the middle of the week] he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”  Why would Jesus Christ, the prophesied Messiah bring an end to sacrifices and offerings?  Because He Himself will be the ultimate offering, our Passover Lamb of God.  And when is He to be cut-off?  Prophecy says in the middle of the week. 
Now, we ask the question, what is the day in the middle of the week?  Anybody will know that it is Wednesday, the middle day of the week.  This prophecy therefore is saying and telling us that the death of the Messiah which will ring the end of sacrifices and offerings will occur in the middle of the week when He became the Passover Lamb of God.  To back this up, we check with the Hebrew or sacred calendar for the most probable year of His death, which scholars say would be about 30 or 31 A.D.  Passover fell on a Wednesday on those years and Wednesday is the middle of the week.  The following day, starting at sunset, was a Jewish High-day Sabbath known as the First day of the Unleavened Bread.  Now, the Jewish know this, and those who have studied and read about the Jewish culture and the Festivals, they know the order of events.  Passover is immediately followed starting at sunset by the first day of Unleavened Bread.  And that is considered a High-day, a Holy day, a non-working day to the Jews.  Now, since three days and three nights have to be completed, Christ needs to be resurrected at about the same time of the day in which he was placed inside the grave.  Since they were in a hurry to burry Him before sunset, because the sunset that was coming upon them was the start of the First day of Unleavened Bread, a Holy Day, Jesus Christ has to also come out to complete three days and three nights from the grave, three days and three nights later which will bring us to Saturday or Sabbath evening just before sunset also.  That is why when the women went into the tomb very early on Sunday morning, He was no longer there.  He rose from the grave before sunset on Saturday which should be three days and three nights from the sunset following Wednesday which was the day of His crucifixion. 
Very few people know that.  And it’s important that we know what the Bible is talking about.  But we are going to back those things up with scriptures.  There are certain key points which we should remember.  Key points that are very important for us to know concerning the Messiah.  Let us always put in mind that Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb.  And as Passover, He died on the very day when the Passover lamb was killed on the 14th day of Abib or Nisan in the sacred calendar being used by the Israelites, the Hebrews or as we might call the Jews.  That day, The Passover day was also referred to in Biblical times as the Preparation Day.  Many wrongly assumed that there is only one Preparation Day.  And when the Bible mentions about Preparation Day, they immediately think it was Friday.  But the Bible does not say that Friday is the only Preparation day.  The Passover was also called the Preparation day because it was the day before the first day of Unleavened Bread.  It was called the Preparation day because Jews, the Israelites, the Hebrews were busy cleaning their homes to remove all kinds of bread crumbs, leavened products, soda or yeast so that they will be able to follow the command of God that when sunset comes, on the First day of the Days of Unleavened Bread, their homes are free of leavened or leavening products.  And they have a very busy time just before the First day of unleavened Bread.  That is why it is generally called among them the preparation day.  They had to prepare for the Days of Unleavened Bread. 
Now, do we have any scripture which backs this up? Let’s open to John 19:14, “Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover…”  So Passover is also called the Preparation Day and that is in preparation for the First day of the Days of Unleavened Bread.  Many also assumed that the following day after Christ’s death was a weekly seventh day Sabbath.  That also is a wrong assumption.  If you are familiar with the Jewish holy days, the day following the Passover is not normally the seventh day Sabbath but it is the First day of the Days of Unleavened Bread.  It is a special Sabbath called a High Day.  And any Jew will know when you talk about a High Day.  They know that it is a, one of the seven festivals of God. 
Let us see again another scripture which backs what we are saying here.  John 19, going on now to verse 31.  John, the writer the last surviving apostle gave us certain bits of information which the other gospel writers did not give to really describe many of the incidents during Christ’s life.  John 19:31 says, “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day [so that day when Christ died was a Preparation Day and in verse 14 it says it was the Preparation Day of the Passover], that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day)…”  Now this Sabbath being recognized as a High Day has been mentioned in the American Standard Version, English Standard Version, The New American Standard Version, The New Authorized Version, The Revised Standard Version, they all mention that the Sabbath was a High Day.  And the New International Version translates it as Special Sabbath.  Now, whatever it is, it was a Special Sabbath, it is a Sabbath which was called a High Day, not the seventh day Sabbath.  This is different from the seventh day Sabbath.  And continue with the verse here, “…the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”  They were in a hurry to bury those that were crucified.  But of course we know that when they came to Jesus Christ, He was dead already because previously, a Roman soldier took a spear and drove his spear into His heart and lungs, into His side, and out came blood and water. 
Now, let’s continue.  Since Passover was on Wednesday, this special Sabbath Day or High Day fell on a Thursday that year.  The scripture therefore records and shows that there were two Sabbaths during that week of His crucifixion.  Following the Passover when He died, the following day was the First day of Unleavened Bread which was a Sabbath, a High Day Sabbath.  And then at the end of the week which was the seventh day Sabbath, is the Sabbath according to the commandment. 
Do we have any passage of scripture which backs what we are saying and which shows that there were two Sabbaths within that crucifixion week?  I’d like to invite you to read your Bible and open to Luke 23:50, “Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. [Some Bible scholars consider this man as the uncle of Mary, the mother of Jesus.]  (51) He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. (52) This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. (53) Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. [I’d like you to notice verse 54] That day was [some translations put the word the, but if you check the original Greek, there’s no article ‘the.’  It simply says that Day was Preparation] the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.”  Again, the original Greek does not have the definite article the, it should read, “That day was Preparation and Sabbath drew near.”  Now, this Sabbath which drew near will be identified to us by other gospel writers like when we referred to John, John 19:31, we read that earlier, identified it as a High Day Sabbath.  Moving on to verse 55, so after that, “And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid.  (56) Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils…”  These women respected the Holy Day which happened to fall in Thursday that week.  But after that, they returned and bought spices.  And they can only do that on the Friday, it was a working day.  And then came the Sabbath which was the seventh day Sabbath.  And continue with the account here, “And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.”  There is no other Sabbath according to the commandment but the seventh day Sabbath which is contained as the fourth item in the Ten Commandments. 

So we see here that there were two Sabbath mentioned in this passage in Luke 23:54.  One of the Sabbaths followed the day of Preparation, and that was the High Day Sabbath; the death of Christ occurred on a Wednesday; this High Day Sabbath occurred on a Thursday; the women went to buy spices on a Friday and prepare them and rested on the Sabbath Day according to the commandment which is Saturday to us. 

Now, let us verify whether these things are so.  I’d like you to open with me to Mark 16:1.  It says here, “Now when the Sabbath was past [now, I’d like you to notice that, ‘when the Sabbath was past,’ they waited for the Sabbath to be past, and then], Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.”  Now, I’d like you to notice this very carefully.  If there is only one Sabbath during that crucifixion week, therefore, these Marys bought spices after the Sabbath.  What is the day after Sabbath?  Naturally, Sunday.  So if they went to buy spices on the Sunday because they waited for the Sabbath to be finished, they could not have gone simultaneously at the same time very early while it was still dark on the first day of the week on Sunday to anoint the body of Christ because they were still out still looking and buying for spices.  Therefore, Mark 16:1 shows that there should be more than one Sabbath during that crucifixion week because verse 2 says, “Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week [that means Sunday] they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.”  It did not say they went to buy spices.  Now this very clearly tells us, backing up the wordings in Luke, that there was more than one Sabbath during the crucifixion week. 

There’s another thing that some people are grappling with which makes them question whether these things were really so.  Let’s go to verse 9.  Some people use this as the proof that Christ was resurrected on a Sunday.  In the King James Version it says, (Mark 16:9) “Now when Jesus was risen...” There should be comma there.  Remember that commas are a new addition to or punctuation to the versions that we used in the Bible.  The original Greek, the original Hebrew don’t have any punctuations.  Therefore, punctuations are just put by men.  If we have to put a punctuation, it should read like this, “Now when Jesus was risen (comma) early the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene (comma) out of whom he had cast seven demons.”  So with this thing here, is a problem of misplaced comma. 

Now, let’s go to Luke 24:1.  “Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.”  And in verse 21 it says here, “Besides…”  This is the conversation between the disciples who were from Emmaus and going to Emmaus, and in verse 21 it says, “…besides all this, today [that was Sunday] is the third day since these things happened.”  And so because of this verse, many think that the crucifixion should have been on a Friday so that Sunday would be the third day.  But that is reading our own interpretations in the Bible. 

Let us read Matthew 27:62-66 because there were events that happened after His crucifixion.  Matthew 27 starting in verse 62 until 66 it says, “On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation [meaning after the death of Jesus Christ], the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, (63) saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ (64) Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”  (65) Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” (66) So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.”  Now the sealing of the stone and setting a guard happened or was completed on the Thursday.  Christ was crucified on a Wednesday, they were hurrying up, there was no more time because it was already night time, the following day was the meeting with Pilate, and they did this on a Thursday.  Therefore, the statement in Luke 24:21 should be reckoned, “since these things happened.”  Meaning, everything had been completed.

Now, scripture cannot be broken.  With all that we have read, everything should synchronise, Jesus cannot lie.  He was in the grave exactly three days and three nights just as He said.  Now, this subject is very important.  We need to analyze it. 

For more information on this subject including a chart of the days involved during this crucifixion week, I’d like to encourage you to please request for a free copy of the booklet, Holidays or Holy Days.  The title of the booklet is Holidays or Holy Days.

[Until next time, in behalf of the Good News of the World Tomorrow, this is Ed Macaraeg, saying, thank you for listening!]