The Nugget:
Hos 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
My Comment:
Mr. Roy M. Allen, author of the book Three Days in the Grave, makes reference to Hosea 6:2 in his chronological chart for the Passion Week. He associates the “two days” with the time Christ’s body was in the grave before His resurrection on the third day. The point is that Christ died while on the cross some hours before He was buried in the tomb. The time He experienced physical death such that His soul was “in the heart of the earth” was a longer time than His physical body remained in the grave, for obviously He experienced death before He was placed in the grave. This circumstance resolves the issue brought up by reference to what Jesus said in Matthew 12:40. Jesus said He would give no special sign to the wicked religious leaders of that day except the sign of the prophet Jonah:
Mat 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.
Notice the expression, “in the heart of the earth.” This expression is not used merely of the grave, but of the place where the soul or spirit goes upon death. Jesus spoke, in Luke 16:22, of a place called “Abraham’s bosom.” This is the place where souls of the righteous or saved rested in peace until the time of Christ’s resurrection, a place that might be called the good part of hades, perhaps also to be identified with paradise. When Jesus ascended to heaven, Scripture tells us (Ephesians 4:8, 9), He brought all the saved individuals with Him to heaven.
Jesus, when He was “buried,” was not placed in a hole in the ground, but in a burial chamber above ground. Mr. Roy Allan points out that the reference in Matthew 12:40 must refer to the disposition of Christ’s spirit, not the length of time His body remained in the grave or tomb.
On Friday, the 15th of Nisan, was the Passover Sabbath. It was also the Preparation of the Sabbath that followed the next day as the regular seventh day Sabbath. Notice, therefore, that at this time there were two Sabbaths in a row, the second Sabbath following immediately after the first. The first Sabbath, which occurred on the 14th of Nisan (the Passover), on Thursday, the fifth day of the week, is referred to in the Bible as “an high sabbath” or “high day” (John 19:31),
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
This Friday is the Second Day.
This Friday of the Passion Week is also “The First Day Since” (Luke 24:21).
These things being so, this proves that Christ was crucified on Thursday, not Friday, as traditionally held.
In Luke 24:21, we read that the two disciples (walking home from Jerusalem on the First Day of the week) on the road to Emmaus said, “and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.” This thing that was done, therefore, must have happened on Thursday, so that Friday would be the first day since, Saturday would be the second day since, and Sunday would be the third day since Christ was crucified on the Cross.