The story of Jonah is one of the most fascinating stories in the entire Bible. Many question the truth of the book, especially the fish story. Jesus, himself, removed all doubt as to whether it was true or not when He said “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 (Matt. 12:40).” Again in Luke 11:29-30, Jesus again refers to “the sign of Jonah” as being a fact.

Mark chapter 7:13 warns against the tradition of men that makes the “Word of God” of no effect”. The question is: Have we just accepted a tradition that has been passed down through the ages without any question concerning “Good Friday”?

To accept the tradition is to question the Lord Jesus when He said “three days and three nights”.  The Bible clearly defines the meaning of the word day and night. Whenever the word day is used to express a day of the week or month, it is always a period of nighttime and a period of daytime.  Genesis 1 says: “And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from darkness and God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning was the first day.”

So as we understand this, why would man try to make the word of our Lord, when He said “three days and three nights”, to mean something else. If the “Friday Crucifixion” is true, this is what we have done. Remember the days were from sundown to sundown, the evening and morning was a day (Genesis 1). Jesus was on the cross by about 12 noon our time; died about 3pm; and was in the tomb by sundown (approximately 6 p.m.). Knowing this to be true, how could one possibly get three days and three nights until the end of the next day? They could not.

The problem comes when one does not understand the Sabbath day. The Sabbath here is not referring to the weekly Sabbath; but to the Passover Sabbath, the most holy of all Jewish days.  Leviticus 25 records the Sabbath and days. The Passover is the 14th day of the first month. The Unleavened Bread Sabbath is the 15th day of the first month and this week the third Sabbath was the weekly Sabbath. Matthew 28:11, the weekly Sabbath is Sabbaton, which is pleural.

If one studies all the scripture about the events of the death of our Lord (Mark 15:42, 16:2; and Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42), one would surely see that the Good Friday tradition is of man, not of God. It was, as history tells us, started by the Roman Church around the 6th or 7th century. You might ask: What difference does it make? The answer is: If He said three days and three nights and did not mean it, what else did He say that He did not mean? 

I do believe that we ought to remember the Lord’s death everyday; not just when we do the Lord’s Supper. Remember, He died so that we might live!