ACCORDING TO JESUS, HOW MANY HOURS ARE THERE IN A DAY? IN A NIGHT?

Have you ever taken the time to wonder how the people who set important dates could have squeezed 3 days and 3 nights between sundown Friday and sunrise Sunday? Or do you just accept it as another 'Mystery" of God? According to Jesus Christ, in John 11:9 he is quoted as saying :

"Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. KJV

We all know that there are 24 hours in a complete day, so reciprocally, there must be 12 hours in a night as well. So, a day and a night = 1 complete day or 24 hours. But, just to be sure let's take a look at the context of John 11, which is the subject of "raising Lazarus from the dead." In verse 6 we read, that after Jesus found out that Lazarus was sick, he continued to stay where he was for 2 more days. This is incredible in and of itself. Most of us would scurry right over and start praying. But Jesus waited 2 days before departing. John 11:7-11 goes on to say:

Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

In the 2 days since Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he died. But Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus was "sleeping." His disciples replied with: "Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." I get such a kick out of these guys! These disciples were so tired from following the Lord around, they couldn't wait to get some sleep. When Jesus told them Lazarus was sleeping, they were probably thinking to themselves, "that lucky dog, I wish I was getting some sleep!" I can just see Jesus now, shaking his head and looking up to heaven, saying, "O Lord, O Lord, what am I going to do with these guys?" Jesus had to have a great sense of humor.

John 11:13-15
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

By the time Jesus got there, Lazarus had been dead 4 days and was all ready in a cave grave, corrupting and stinking away. 3 complete days, or 72 hours, is as long as the body can go without decaying or as the Bible puts it, corrupting. And we know that the Lord Jesus suffered no corruption:

Acts 2:3131 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

What we need to see, is that when God says something, that is what he means. To corroborate what he said, he even brought Jonah into the picture: Jonah 1:17

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

To get even greater clarification, let's go back to the beginning:

Gen 1:55 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

It can't get much clearer than this, but still Christians are willing to fight tooth and nail to hang on to Tradition. Many will say, "what difference does it make?" It has to do with the Integrity of God's Word: Can it be believed? God does not want people just to take things on "faith," that His Word is Truth. He can prove it's truth and he wants people to be able to do the same. But, when we celebrate or commemorate or venerate Christ's life and death and resurrection on days which are biblically impossible, it makes it more difficult for the unbeliever to believe.

Jesus was raised from the dead by sunset on Saturday, at which time Sunday began in accordance with eastern Biblical Times. Counting backwards 3 days and 3 nights means he was dead and buried by sunset on Wednesday. Why? Because Thursday, which began at sunset was a "High Day," not the weekly Sabbath:

John 19:3131 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.

A High Day is a particularly special Sabbath, a day of holy convocation to The Lord God, which in this case was the first day of The Feast of Unleavened Bread and fell on Thursday the 15th of Nisan, which, again, began at sunset on Wednesday the 14th.

When the Bible says 3 Days and 3 Nights, that is what it means. It does not mean 2 nights and 1 day which is what you have if Jesus was dead and buried before sunset on a Friday. There is no Good Friday in the Bible.

God Bless and Happy Resurrection Sunday