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. Matthew 12:40.
No one would doubt that the crucifixion narrative was a fast moving event: that is the events leading up to it, and those immediately prior to His burial. He died ("gave up the ghost") at the "ninth hour", and if we assume it took three hours (more likely; a while longer) for Joseph of Arimathea to dialogue with Pilate, and have His body taken down from the cross, and "wrapped in a clean linen cloth", then finally securing the "sepulchre" with a "great stone" (all these actions being doubtless reverently performed), then this would put His entombment "in the heart of the earth" well past the twelfth hour, that is on Thursday morning, and His resurrection (at the crack of dawn) on Sunday morning.
But, "the heart of the earth" signifies something altogether different than a tomb above the ground.
There has been much debate as to whether man is a bipartite or tripartite being; many theories being postulated for both views. To paraphrase A.W. Pink, "it is not easy to discern the spirit from the soul." Are they both the same? The principal Scripture for advancing the tripartite view is 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This verse appears to make a clear distinction between the "spirit and soul", and indeed Hebrews 4:12 teaches that the 'two' entities are so close that they are to be compared with the proximity "of the joints and marrow"! These latter two joined so close together that you would need a surgeon's scalpel to "divide them asunder"! Little wonder the last quoted Scripture drives home the fact that God's Word "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Ecclesiastes 3:21, and 12:7 only speak of "the spirit of man", and "the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
I say this to illustrate the 'difference' between the spirit, soul, and body in regard to our Lord's sojourn "in the heart of the earth." The phrase "in the heart of the earth" suggests a place far down deep below; far lower down than what Jonas experienced "in the whale's belly", for the Earth's ocean floors are high above "the heart of the earth". Jonas only went as low as "the bottom of the mountains." Jonah 2:6.
The body of the Lord Jesus was entombed above the earth in a "sepulchre" Matthew 27:60, so it is evident that His body did not go down to "the heart of the earth", but His Spirit/Soul did, as confirmed by 1 Peter 3:19, Ephesians 4:8-9: At what point in time did the Lord's Spirit/Soul depart down to "the heart of the earth"? Surely, it must have been at the precise moment He "gave up the ghost." Mark 15:37? that is instantaneously. In contradistinction, His body obviously tarried a considerable time afterward before being interred in the sepulchre through the efforts of Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57-60). Therefore, when we try to determine the precise time the Lord Jesus spent "in the heart of the earth", we can only do so with regard to His Spirit/Soul, not His body. The moment when His Spirit/Soul was reunited with His body was again an instantaneous event, as was their departure. But at this instantaneous moment He was still entombed, awaiting an angel to roll away the stone. How we can determine that period of time is impossible! But doubtless it wasn't very long.
"Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it." Matthew 28:2; an event which no believer would deny happened in a "twinkling of an eye" as it were! unlike the process that led to the interring of His dead body.
Having established that the crucifixion took place late on Wednesday evening (ninth hour) then the first night of the "three nights" that His Spirit/Soul went down to Hades/Sheol was obviously Wednesday, but this wasn't the case for His body.
His bodily resurrection (being released from the tomb) happened at the very dawning of the new day (Sunday) as recorded in Mark 16:9. Regarding the so-called "long ending" in Mark's Gospel, I cannot for one second believe that God in Christ would have allowed any spurious text to remain in the Received Text down through the centuries if it were not inspired by His Holy Spirit (Psalm 119:89). Also, let us not forget that when "the day of Pentecost was fully come" Acts 2:1 was on Sunday, the first day of the week when the Gospel would be sent forth to the nations. This was now the Christian sabbath, or rather the "Lord's Day", that is His resurrection day, the eighth day. On this day His disciples would now meet to "break bread" on the first day of the week, the old order had now passed away, the New Testament (a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." Hebrews 8:6) has now replaced the old, including the observation of the now defunct Jewish sabbath (observed only by unbelieving Jews!) which the modern day Judaizers would have us observe, and be under bondage to! Read the third chapter of Galatians. Furthermore, Acts 20:7 very clearly says in no uncertain terms that "upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread..." This means there was now a new sabbath! The new sabbath or rather "Lord's day" has long been observed in our land, continued through the balmy days of the puritans/Reformed Christianity. Sunday is now being questioned by some through the efforts of the Judaizers (who it would seem hate anything to do with the glorious Reformation). Again, the apostle clearly confirms the Pentecostal directive in 1 Corinthians 16:2, where the context teaches that the New Testament saints now observed the eighth day; that is the Lord's Day (Sunday), so-called because He was resurrected "upon the first day of the week."
Having previously established that the crucifixion took place late on Wednesday evening (ninth hour), the question is; to what evening do we accredit the first night of our Lord's sojourn "in the heart of the earth"? We have established that "the heart of the earth" cannot be the sepulchre which is above the earth, and that the precise moment He "gave up the ghost" (Ninth hour) was quite some time before His body was interred: so we must be very careful when trying to calculate the exact period our Lord sojourned down below; therefore how do we determine His "three days and three nights" sojourn? between His bodily death on the cross and bodily resurrection from the tomb? or between His physical bodily burial and resurrection? Most assume the Lord's internment in "the heart of the earth" only to refer to the period His body spent in the sepulchre, but clearly that is not the case, for if it were true, the Sunday resurrection would be plain and easy to prove, if we allow at least three hours from the cross to the grave.
Regarding the Lord's Spirit/Soul, the "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" must necessarily be calculated from the "ninth hour", that is three hours before the new day-our Thursday. The biblical Jewish day was divided into four parts, and the Lord said "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" John 11:9, meaning daylight hours: For at the Passover season, daylight and nighttime hours are approximately twelve hours apiece. So, in my estimation 72 hours from when our Lord "gave up the ghost" on the ninth hour on the Wednesday crucifixion would take us precisely to the ninth hour on our Saturday evening (the Jewish sabbath) the precise time of His Spiritual/Soul resurrection, but His physical body didn't rise until precisely three hours later, early on the first of the first day, that is our Sunday, when the angel "rolled away the stone". Does this mean that He rose on the fourth day? No, but nevertheless, the Lord said "after three days I will rise again." Matthew 27:63, Mark 8:31 (my emphasis). There is absolutely no mention in the Gospels anywhere of a fourth day in regards to His resurrection. Matthew 28:1 definitely posits "an angel of the Lord" coming at the very dawning of the new day to open the sepulchre. But, why? Obviously this was the way God ordained it! I ask "why" because surely the Lord had the power in Himself to roll the stone away from the door without any angelic assistance? The contiguity of the sabbath expiration and the Sunday resurrection is as close as "the joints and marrow". Previously I wrote that the "three days and three nights" (or the literal 72 hours) in the tomb should be calculated from the moment "He gave up the ghost" whilst still on the cross, but then His physical body rose from the grave after the sabbath, for Matthew 28:1 clearly states that the two Mary's were approaching the sepulchre "as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week".
The conclusion of the matter is that the Lord did indeed spend three full nights, and therefore three full days in the heart of the earth, as He said He would, according to Matthew 12:40. However, it is noteworthy that it is only Mark that says "after three days" the Lord will "rise again." Mark 8:31, 10:34 RV (emphasis mine). The other synoptic Gospel writers all say that He will "be raised again the third day." Matthew 16:21,17:23,20:19, Luke 9:22,18:33,24:7. The unbelieving tongue, however, quoted Mark's words; "after three days I will rise again." Matthew 27:63. The non synoptic Gospel writer, John 2:19 recorded His resurrection in relation to the true Temple (His body), yet the unbelieving Jews castigated Him for speaking the Truth!
