A careful analysis of the four accounts of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection enables us to know the days on which these events occurred, and to see that indeed, Jesus was in the tomb for the "...three days and three nights..." (Matthew 12:40) as He had foretold. Upon looking at the texts, we can clearly see a succession of five consecutive days, the first of these being Nisan 12 of the Jewish calender, and the lasting being the "...first day of the week...", or as is more commonly called today, Sunday. The charts below have been put together to help in our analysis of the crucifixion chronology.

Note, the Jewish day is calculated from sunset to sunset. Conversely, the Roman day is calculated from midnight to midnight.

When Jesus said he would be in the tomb, what did He mean? Was it to be a literal 72 hours? Was it to be parts of three days and three nights? Consider some parallel terms used of the time the Lord spent in the tomb:

Notice how various phrases can be used to describe the same passage of time, but that a firm literal interpretation of these is not appropriate. Varying terms of time are used interchangeably, requiring that some flexibility be given by the reader.

Now, let us look at the 5 consecutive days when the Scriptures show to us, beginning at Nisan 12, and ending with the first day of the week. We will use Mark's gospel as our base text, but notice how the other gospels supply substantial support to this chronology.

The details above are summarized in the diagram below. Did Jesus have to be in the tomb a literal 72 hours to fulfill the "...three days and three nights..."? As noted, part of a day can be counted for the whole. If Jesus was in the tomb for part of three days, then the Scripture is fulfilled. Note, whether we are talking about Jewish days (sunset to sunset) or Roman days (midnight to midnight), our Lord was in the tomb "...until the third day."

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Did Abraham know God's name? Genesis 22:14 indicates yes, while Exodus 6:3 says no. Is there a contradiction?