The Resurrection Day
II. THE RESURRECTION DAY:
Matthew 12:40.
The Lord Jesus had to spend 72 hours in the grave to fulfill Scripture.
"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." (Jonah 1:17).
John 11:9.
The Lord, Himself, determines how many hours in a day, "...are there not twelve hours in a day...? If there are twelve hours in a day, there are twelve hours in a night. Thus, three days and three nights equal 72 hours.
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to DAWN toward the first [day] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." The "end of the Sabbath" is the last few hours before the Sabbath ends and the first day of the week, Sunday, begins. Dawn is the Greek word "epiphosko" and means to "draw on." It was “drawing on” or approaching the first day of the week. This first day of the week is Sunday, which actually began on Saturday at 6:00 P.M. (Luke 23:54) .
Remember, the first arrivals were there before 6:00 P.M. on Saturday, the Sabbath, and the tomb was already empty. "He is not here, for He is risen as He said." (Matthew 28:6 ).