I shortened it up in the hope that whoever wants to understand what Jesus taught about His work of atonement. To fully understand what the 3 days and nights involve I have posted all the NT Scriptures and Isaiah 53 that prophesies about His atoning work. If you read all the Scriptures you will see that Jesus never taught that He would be in the Tomb for 3 days and nights.
People make the assumtion that Matthew 12:40 “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.” is teaching that Jesus would be in the Tomb for that amount of time. I used to believe that He was crucified on Wednesday to account for Him being in the Tomb for the 3 days and nights, but as I studied more I realized that Jesus was not teaching that. I searched the Scriptures in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, in all those searchs of the Scriptures I could not find anything that taught that Jesus would be in the Tomb for the 3 days and nights. They speak of what He would suffer at the hands of the chief priest, elders, Gentiles and He would be put to death and this is what Jesus taught, with Isaiah 52;13-53:12 being the main prophesy that paints a picture of the full atoning work of Christ.
It speaks of Him suffering many things at the hands of evil men, Him being mocked, whipped if you read this prophesy you will see that in the atonement there was more then His death involved, like verse 5,“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” He was wounded, bruised, chastised, and whipped for our transgressions, our iniquities, our peace and we are healed. He suffered these things for our atonement with God, they are part of what He needed to suffer for our atonement with God and that is what Jesus taught.
Matthew 16:21 "From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Matthew 17:22-23 “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.”
Matthew 20:18-19, Luke 9:22, Luke 18:31-33, Mark 8:31,Mark 9:31 and Mark 10:33-34. All but Mark 8:31 and 9:31 do not say "on the third day" but "after three days" here is Mark 8:31 “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”
No where does Jesus teach that He would be in the Tomb for 3 days and nights, He taught that He would suffer many thing just like the Holy Spirit moved Isaiah to prophesy. Here is the reaction of the disciples on that first day of the week when Jesus resurrected. Luke 24:19-21, 25-26
“And He said to them, “What things?”
So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.”
“25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
Notice the disciples and Jesus say not one thing about the Tomb or being died for the 3 days and nights, they only speak of the things that the Christ must suffer. Also let's look at what Jeus said when He was arrested. Matthew 26:55-56
“In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.56 But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
Jesus is saying that His arrest is part of the prophesy about His suffering and being rejected by the chief priests, elders, teachers of the law and the Gentiles as part of His atoning work for our sins. The disciples and Jesus when talking did not mention that He needed to be in the Tomb or died for the 3 days and nights.
I have asked more then once for Scripture(s) that teach that Jesus would be in the Tomb or died for 3 days and nights, but no one has posted any Scripture to that end, why? Because they do not exsist. As I mentioned I believed that Jesus was cruxified on a Wednesday so He could be in the Tomb the 3 days and nights, but the more I studied the more I realized that something was not adding up, because I kept coming across the Scriptures that said as the Scriptures say or as was prophesied about Him and I never could find any Scriptures in the Law, Prophets or the Psalms where Jesus would be in the Tomb for 3 days and nights, only Scripture about His suffering with Isaiah 52:13-53:12 being the main prophesy about His atoning work all I kept finding were Scriptures about His suffering, why? Because that is what it is about. It is a combination of Him being rejected, mocked, whipped, spit on, being put to death, all the things in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is a full picture of His atoning work for our sins. Isaiah says that we are healed or made right with God by His strips which is a clear sign that those strips are part of the atoning work of Christ.
If anyone would read these Scriptures for what they say and forget about what others have said about one verse in Matthew 12:30, they will clearly see that Jesus never taught that He would be in the Tomb for 3 days and nights. Almost all people just assume that "heart of the earth" means the grave or the Tomb, but if you read Isaiah 53:9a
“And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death,”
Isn't the grave His Tomb and when was He in the grave with the wicked? Grave can not mean the Tomb or a grave as we understand it, what can it mean? We have to understand what this means, because we know that it is not the Tomb. Looking at all that happened and with the mention of Jesus being handed over to evil men, it seems as though the "grave" here must be talking about how Jesus was rejected, mocked, spit on, whipped and crucified, because it cannot mean what we would naturally think of as the grave.