Time Study (Continued...)

When Did Jesus Rise?
One of the key questions in the debate is, "When did Jesus rise?" 
Mark 16:9 appears to be the only direct reference to when Jesus rose.

“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week,…”

Although this is the only scripture reference that gives the day of the week, nowhere in scripture does it say that Jesus rose on any other day of the week.  Other scriptures imply the first day of the week as being the third day, but this one clearly states it.

A Study in Time…
Let us go back now and determine what the Bible says about the events that took place.  This may further help explain the “third day.”  The assumption appears to be that the “three days and three nights,” “after three days,” and “third day” counting starts when Jesus is entombed to when He rises again.  That is the basis for the Wednesday/Thursday scenarios (48-72 hours) and the difficulty for the Friday scenario (24-36 hours).
What is the biblical basis for that?  Does scripture perhaps present a different picture?
Let’s start in Luke 24, paying special attention to v21…

7  …The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

20  And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21  But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
 
“…to day is the third day since these things were done.”  “To day” would be the first day of the week.  In fact, it is late in the day not early in the morning.  It is the “third day.” What are “these things?”  Note the passage does not say, “since He was buried.”  These things include being delivered, condemned, and crucified.  Vs7 and vs46 also support that.  In fact, all the verses dealing with the three-day time frame deal with all these events, and that is what Jesus taught His disciples.

Mt 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Mr 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mr 9:31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

Luke 18:31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.  32  For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33  And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.

 
Also see Matt 17:22-23; Mt 20:19; Mr 10:34; Lu 9:22.

For those of you who are keeping track, you know that Mt 12:40 is missing.

Mt 12:40 "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."

What does “in the heart of the earth” mean?  Unfortunately, perhaps, that phrase is only used once in the bible.  Is a tomb on the surface of the earth, the same as the heart of the earth?  Could “in the heart of the earth” mean separated from the Father and fully engulfed by what is in/on the earth?  When Eve took a bite of the fruit, she didn’t physically die, she spiritually died (separated from God).  Jesus took on the sins of the world and needed to be separate from God the Father.  That would fit what happened to Jonah.  He was separated from normal human living conditions, and was totally engulfed by the whale.  It seems from Jesus’ teaching that everything from being betrayed to being put to death and buried is encompassed by the phrase “in the heart of the earth.”  Scripture does not contradict itself.  This explanation seems plausible.