Truth Seeker - Jesus Christ -2

Sign of Jonah

The following two paragraphs are the same as found on the Christ’s Presence page One:

According to our calendar system, Christ died around 3PM on April 1, 33CE, a Friday. This claim may be verified by those that love math here: Calculation of Nisan 14, 33CE

If I read this right, Mary Magdalene arrived together with the apostle James' mother Mary while it still was quite dark, at dawn on Sunday the 3rd of April 33CE to find that Jesus Christ had already been resurrected!

Jesus was dead less than approximately 9 + 24 + 6 hours = 39 hours. If I am wrong tell me where. (John 20:1, Matt 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1) Because I must admit ignorance as to what time it dawns on April 1 around Jerusalem my calculation may be a little off. For this reason, one might not be all that wrong by saying that Christ was dead about 40 hours — a number occurring repeatedly in the scriptures!

What is the sign of Jonah?

Matthew 12:40, For as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-creature three days and three nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. (ACV)
Matthew 16:21, From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. (ASV)

The sign of Jonah is defined thus: The belly of the whale or fish symbolizes Sheol or the heart of the earth. Was Jonah dead while in the belly of the whale, in this Sheol that only God could rescue him from? No, he was not. Please remember that if you want to understand how the sign of Jonah is to be understood.

The second scripture included in this paragraph demonstrates how the timing of the sign of Jonah was not to be a full 72 hours, or 24 hour days by three. Nonetheless, the discussion and more is provided below.

Jesus did complete this requirement!

The book of Jonah is seen to say that Jonah would have been dead if God had not brought him out of the belly, therefore the scripture uses Sheol since Jonah was dead in everyone's eyes, his own, God's, and the sailors that threw him overboard.

Jonah 2:2 . . . Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou heard my voice. (ACV)

(2009.02 - two following paragraphs)
From what moment may we say that Jesus was in the belly of the whale, Sheol? Not dead, remember! While the exact time remains obscure, the Bible in Matt 26:2 tells us that on Nisan the twelfth, Jesus says there are two days left. Thereafter, Judas' arrangement for betraying Jesus is mentioned, giving us the impression that it is on the 12th Judas arranged the betrayal with the chief priests, but this could also have occurred on the 13th . The 12th seems the likelier since the incident with the expensive perfumed oil caused him to make the arrangement for betrayal with the chief priests. (Mark 14:5-11, DRC) Whatever the case, it was one or two days prior to his arrest.

We can honestly say that since his betrayal had been arranged with the legal Jewish authorities this early, monies exchanged for his delivery to certain death - that God would be justified in viewing Jesus as being in the belly of the whale, Sheol, from the moment price money for his delivery had been paid. For the diehards who demand that the three days and nights be fulfilled to their satisfaction, this should be a clear way of seeing that indeed, the sign of Jonah, the belly of the whale sign, was fulfilled on Jesus. Remember what the sign of Jonah is!

It is true that if one counts the hours of the duration of Jesus' death strictly, the above totals about 40 hours, not a full three days and three nights. Jesus was in Sheol for parts of three days. Since God controlled the timing of events as Jesus was dead and had no more say over anything, it is obvious that God felt that the conditions for the sign of Jonah had been adequately fulfilled. Any dissension with that view would have to be taken up with God himself.

The thing to remember is what the sign was! This sign was fulfilled to the letter since the belly equalled the heart-of-the-earth, Sheol. From the moment the price money had been paid, Jesus certainly was in the belly of the whale – his death a surefire thing.

Timing fulfilled after all?

In the following, proof will be presented that demonstrates how God may view people who are alive as being dead. This together with Jonah 2:2 is the basis for including the time after Jesus' arrest as being part of the three nights he was in the "hearth of the earth."

The Bible tells Christians that God considers sinners to be dead; so, while they are alive to humans, they are dead to God. Thus before a person became Christian he is told that 'he was dead in his trespasses.'

Ephesians 2:1, Even you, who were dead in trespasses and sins (ACV)

For that reason, Christians are told to go preaching to the dead – dead in their trespassses, in view of God.

1 Peter 4:6 For good-news was preached even to the dead for this,

This together with Jonah 2:2 makes it possible to understand why three days and three nights have been stated. This does not mean that it has to be 72 hours to the second; rather, it is parts of three days and nights. Nowhere did it say that this had to be done by stopwatch to the end of 72 hours.

Jonah 2:2, And he said, I called because of my affliction to LORD, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou heard my voice.

Repeating from above: Here Jonah already considered himself dead. He knew that only by Jehovah's will and power would he exit this marine animal to live again. God also considered this so. So while Jonah was physically alive, he was as good as dead, and God considered it so - as did Jonah himself. When the scriptures about ordinary people show that these also are considered dead in God's eyes while in their unrepentant state, the answer to the time problem of Jesus becomes possible to answer.

Christ's Death

The events of the evening of Jesus' Arrest

On April 1, 33CE, a Friday, Jesus' execution began perhaps about 9AM. He died about 3PM on that Friday afternoon with signs in heaven and earth accompanying his death – after maybe six excruciating hours of suffering he finally expires – after perhaps as much as fifteen hours of never ending mental and physical humiliation and torture the end came.

The signs that took place in heaven and on earth announced to the world this all important event. The curtain dividing the Holy and Most Holy was rendered in two; Christ had opened the way into the Most Holy of the heavens.

Mark 15:25 . . .And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. . . (Darby)

Matthew 27:45-46, Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole earth, until the ninth hour. 46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (ACV)

Matthew 27:50-52, And Jesus again crying with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent. 52And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose, (DRC)

Preceding Events: Matt chapter 26

March 30, 33CE
If I read this right, on March 30, 33, sometime during this Wednesday, Judas Iscariot found time to arrange his treason with the chief priest. (Matt 26:2, 14,15)

March 31

It was time for the Passover celebration once evening came. Any time after 6 PM would be appropriate. Six in the evening was when the people then started a new day. For us it would be considered Thursday, six PM; for the Israelites, it was now Nisan 14; time for the Passover.

1. Together Jesus and the disciples eat the Passover lamb. Since this day also was the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread or unfermented cakes, the bread Jesus broke with his disciples was that kind of bread; regular leavened bread was not permitted this evening. They also enjoyed red wine as the account shows.

2. Jesus instituted the new covenant and the covenant for a kingdom with the disciples still present – Judas having now left to conduct his nefarious business.

3. At the end of their activities, they concluded by singing praises

4. Finally , they went out to a place called Getsemane on the Mount of Olives (Mark 14:26). This is where Judas and his armed men find Jesus and the disciples. This is where Jesus is arrested.

April 1 - Mark chapter 14

5. At dawn on April 1, 33CE, or Nisan 14, Jesus was handed over to Pontius Pilate.

6. After judgment he is led out to the place of impalement, crucification, Gol'gotha, this translates as Skull Place.

7. His impalement, crucification, happened at the third hour or as we know it, at 9AM.