Thursday, February 02, 2006

The Meaning of 'Three' Days

Sultan Knish asks the pertinent question of "why 3 days?"[ Exodus 3:18, 5:3, & 8:27]

As a Jew, he sees the central issue here as being "the worship of God over tyranny" and points to the "three times a year that God tells the Jews to appear before him. Pesach, Shavuot and Succot" as the answer to the significance of the three days.

But there is a better explanation.

As Christians we have the following from Jesus (Yeshua) the Messiah Himself :

"Did not the Christ [Messiah] have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (Matthew 24:26-27)

The connection of Jesus with book of Exodus is made explicit in the following passages as well :

"Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are.
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." ( 1 Corinthians 5:7)

(Mat 12:40 ASV) for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

(Mar 9:31 ASV) For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again.

And so we understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of all Scripture and all Scripture points to Him - including the book of Exodus.

If we only had the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) then the best explanation one can come up is the one the Sultan Knish blog gives us. However, that interpretation is a bit of a stretch since the 3 days in Exodus are CONSECUTIVE and not three separate "occasions" (which in themselves actually would add up to more than 3 days) in the Hebrew calendar.

Just as releasing the children of Israel for three days was the proof that YHWH not Pharaoh is God and that Pharaoh's tyranny is ended so JESUS by rising from the dead after three days was the proof that He is God and that the tyranny of SIN is also ended. Hallelujah !

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

pardon me I'm not trying to be rude but I would very much appreciate it if you removed my post from your page

my post quoted here and snipped makes it appear that I am promoting Jesus and Christianity when that is not at all my aim nor is it what I was saying

I am sure you would not appreciate it if one of your posts about Jesus was copied and made to appear that it was promoting Allah and Mohammed or Buddha, please understand then how I feel about the matter

Celal Birader said...

i understand . i have now amended my post so that there is no danger of anyone understanding Sultan Knish as "promoting Jesus and Christianity".

Anonymous said...

thank you, I'd point out that the request of three days involved the jews in the desert but I have little interest in religious debates

Celal Birader said...

"where" is beside the point.
the issue (as highlighted by your own post)is :"why 3 days?" [followed by permanent liberation].

Celal Birader said...

which perfectly typifies what Jesus has done for us. HALLELUJAH!