When did 3 Days & 3 Nights Start?
This video is a supplemental update to my Ultimate Guide to the Prophetic Calendar where I provide a more complete answer to the question of Jonah and 3 days and 3 nights.
In my prior video I counted the 3 days as follows:
Many people would argue that I only have 3 days and 2 nights in this timeline if you count Passover Day/Night, Unleavened Bread Day/Night, and First Fruits Day. I think this is a matter when you start counting days and nights.
When does the count start?
The following verses all start the sequence of events with Yashua suffering manny things at the hands of chief priests.
Saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised .” — Luke 9:22
The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. — Luke 24:13–35
And we can easily attribute this to occurring at night time,
And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.
And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. — Mark 14:65–68
So before sunrise he was already stricken and received blows from the guards.
“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” — Mark 9:31
So if you count from the the time he was handed over to the chief priests, there are 3 days and 3 nights.
Jonah was not dead when he was in the Belly of the Whale, as he was able to pray. Therefore, one could surmise that Yashua need not be dead to be considered in the Belly of the Whale.
Understanding the Whale
In my past video on the 3rd Revelation 12 signs where Satan is thrown down into the Sea at the Abomination’s Desolation, the sign in the stars is Cetus the Sea Dragon who represents Satan.
It wouldn’t be a giant leap for the “great fish” that swallowed up Jonah to be a symbol of this very sea dragon. Therefore, the belly of the great fish means swallowed up by Satan and in his control. Since the phrase “heart of the earth” is only defined by Matthew 12:40 by comparison to belly of a huge fish, we have little else to go on.
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. — Matthew 12:40
But we can go further. In video on the Ultimate Guide I outlined many parallels to the story of Jonah.
For example, the story contains details that parallel Yashua saying “why have you forsaken me” and the “crown of thorns”.
I revisited Jonah looking to see if the parallels went back any further and they do!
So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he (Judas) immediately went out. And it was night. — John 13:30
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof
The parallels start Jonah fleeing and then paying the fair of his betrayal of YHUH’s command, Just like Judas flees and is paid for his betrayal.
It is very interesting that John noted that it was at Night, a detail that is particularly useful for this study.
So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise. call upon thy God that we perish not.
Compare that to the Gethsemane:
And he cometh unto the disciples, and finds them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41Watch and pray, that ye enter not into adversity/affliction/trial — Matthew 26:40
whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? — Jonah 1:8
Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” — Luke 23:3
But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people..” — Luke 23:5
What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea (people) wrought, and was tempestuous (stired up). And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea (people); so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. — Jonah 1:11
Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; 15no, neither did Herod, for [d]I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. 16 I will therefore chastise Him and release Him”
Pilate tried to release him safely to land, away from the sea (masses) just like the ship master tried not to throw Yashua to the sea (masses)
Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea (people) wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him.
But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. — Luke 23:23
When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
So just like the shipmaster washed his hands to not be blamed for Jonah’s death, so too does Pilate.
Conclusion
The parallel to the story of Jonah starts when Judas betrays at night and ends at the resurrection. Technically it ends with warning Nineveh that they had 40 days until judgment, just like Jerusalem got 40 years until Judgment. The Belly of the Whale is symbolic of in the hands of Satan’s people. Notice that Judas leaves after Satan enters into him.
Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. — John 13:27
Therefore, if you count all days and nights that have a parallel to Jonah then you get 3 days and 3 nights.
With this extended understanding of Jonah, all other theories counting only from the cross have to add an extra night into their counts! And some of these theories don’t currently count the day of the cross.
That said, the dead sea scroll folks claim that Yashua ate the true passover at the Last Supper and that he was killed on the true Unleavened Bread. In other words, they already admit the possibility that there were two conflicting calendars about the feast days: dark vs sliver. This theory breaks down when you consider the timeline Parallel for receiving the 10 commandments.
The Last Supper mirrors the verbal giving of the Law after the people washed their clothes. The altar Moses built the next day mirrors the cross. The 70 elders eating and seeing YHUH match Unleavened Bread and First Fruits matches Moses going up the Mount on the true Shavuot on the 1st day of the week.
With this extended parallel structure we can know with high degree of confidence that the Last Supper is not Passover, but the Marriage proposal before the covenant is cut the next day. By making that claim, they are saying that Yashua is not our Passover Lamb.
