1 Corinthians 15:3-4
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
“The central theme of the gospel is given in these verses, a key text for the defense of Christianity.” (Life Application Study Bible 1932) The third most important point is:
“(3) He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Christ was raised permanently, forever; his Father raised him from the dead ‘on the third day’ as noted in the Gospels (Friday afternoon to Sunday morning—three days in Jewish reckoning of time). This also occurred ‘according to the Scriptures.’ Jesus quoted the prophet Jonah in Matthew 12:40 (see Jonah 1:17) to show the connection to ‘three days’ as prophesied in the Old Testament. Psalm 16:8-11 and Psalm 110 also foretell the resurrection of the Messiah.” (Life Application Study Bible 1932)
Matthew 12:40
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jonah 1:17
17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Psalm 16:8-11
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
my body also will rest secure,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 110
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
on your day of battle.
your young men will come to you
like dew from the morning’s womb.
and will not change his mind:
in the order of Melchizedek.”
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
and so he will lift his head high.
Work Cited
Life Application Study Bible. Zondervan, 2011. p. 1932.
