Why Jesus Rose on the Third Day

The Bible teaches that after the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for the sins of the world, he rose from the dead on the third day. “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen - by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:39-43.

We know that one of the intricate qualities of God is that He is a God of details; it would have just been sufficient for the Bible to inform us that God raised Jesus from the dead. From God’s perspective, why is it important for us to know that the resurrection took place on the third day? From a natural standpoint, what difference does it make if Jesus was resurrected on the first, second, third or fourth day? Does the timing really matter to God and humanity? The truth is that it strictly matters to God and for that reason, it also matters to humanity. In God’s creative library, there is a time for everything; nothing just happens. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

We just learned that God raised His son from the dead; but the Bible also teaches that Jesus Christ raised himself from the dead. “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’” John 2:19. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:14-18.

When you look at the two teachings regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you may be tempted to believe that the Bible is contradicting itself because on one hand it teaches that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day; on the other hand, it also teaches that Jesus raised himself from the dead on the third day. Some Biblical scholars have concluded that God raising His son from the dead and Jesus raising himself from the dead are one and the same. The truth is that these two teachings are not the same; they mean two different things. Another part of the truth is that the Bible cannot contradict itself because it is the irrefutable word of God and God’s nature is completely flawless. God raising His son from the dead and Jesus raising himself from the dead, are two completely different events within the resurrection of Jesus Christ from God’s creative library. These two events are naturally separate from each other but supernaturally inseparable.

The truth is that both the Father and Jesus Christ played significant roles in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Recall that when the Father asked Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of the world, he (Jesus) had the choice to back out of the mission; however, Jesus made the decision to faithfully accept and execute the mission. “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Luke 22:39-44.

When Jesus accepted the mission from the Father, there were specific aspects of the mission that Jesus must personally fulfill even though God was completely by his side in every step of the way. Jesus made it very clear that everything he did on earth was nothing but a fulfillment of a direct command from the Father. “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” John 12:47-50. If you’ve read “Face to Face Meetings with Jesus Christ” and you are familiar with the Language of Heaven then you will recall that when Jesus accepted the mission from the Father to die on the cross, God assigned two divine numbers to His son to use for the mission.

Jesus Christ was assigned natural divine number 2 and supernatural divine number 3. It is true that God was in complete control of the mission but on the other hand, Jesus was also responsible for any part he had to play in the mission; his input was a very important part of the mission in God’s divine plan for humanity. From a supernatural standpoint, humanity doesn’t have what it takes to subdue God’s son but while on the cross when God spoke the word, the supernatural shield that surrounds His son was lifted for the sins of the world to successfully make its way into Jesus Christ. That explains why Jesus cried out on the cross. “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” Matthew 27:45-46.

After the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, God also spoke the word on the third day to restore the lifted supernatural shield on His son. This restoration marked the beginning process of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To understand how the Father and Jesus Christ coordinated the resurrection process, we have to go back to the beginning of God’s word which is the Bible itself. The most important group of living things that God made is certainly humans but surprisingly, we are not the first living things that God made. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning - the second day. And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the third day. And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so. God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the fourth day.” Genesis 1:1-19.

We can clearly see here that the first thing God made that contains life was “Vegetation” and it was made on the third day out of the ground. God made vegetation by speaking His word to the ground. God’s word was injected into the ground to produce the first life on earth in the image of vegetation. “Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so.” Genesis 1:11. Remember that when God sacrificed His son on the cross for our sins, His main focus was to take humanity back to the beginning when man was sinless in the Garden of Eden. If this is the Biblical truth, then for Jesus to rise from the dead as a crucial part of this mission, the principles of the beginning of God’s word (before the birth of sin), must be strictly applied. This explains why after Jesus was buried, God waited for the third day to once again speak the word to the ground where His son was buried just like He did to create vegetation on the third day. When vegetation responded to God’s word, it rose from the ground.

After God made vegetation, when the time came for God to make the most important living thing on earth which is man, the Bible teaches that God meticulously used the life He once injected into the ground to eventually make man. “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:4-7. Notice that for God to create the most important living thing on earth, all He did was add His breath to the existing life He originally spoke to the dust of the ground.

After God made man, to further demonstrate the existence of life that He injected to the ground through His word, the Bible teaches that God planted a garden in Eden. “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:8-9. Notice that the two trees in the middle of the garden grew out of the ground. God also gave these two trees unique powers from His creative library. While the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was given the power of everlasting death, on the other hand the Tree of Life was given the ultimate power of everlasting life.

The Bible also teaches that out of the ground, God formed all the wild animals and all the birds of the air. “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.” Genesis 2:19-20. The woman (Eve) and the creatures of the sea are the only living things that God did not directly form out of the ground; however, the origin of the woman is somehow related to the ground because she is a by-product of Adam. “But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” Genesis 2:20-22. The ground is the platform for most living things on earth; everything that was formed from the ground lives on this platform. The creatures of the sea don’t share this platform with us because they were not formed from the ground.

As far as life is concerned, Jesus Christ in one of his teachings described himself as a part of the vegetation God created. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-4. After Jesus died on the cross and was buried, on the third day God spoke the word; Jesus responded to God’s word by exercising his supernatural divine number 3. With these two forces (God’s word and Jesus’ supernatural response) in play, Jesus effectively rose from the dead on the third day.

From Fig. SP-7 excluding the creatures of the sea, we can see that a woman is the only living thing that God did not directly form out of the ground. However, if Adam was made out of the dust of the ground and a woman was made out of Adam, then a woman was also certainly made out of the dust of the ground. The creatures of the sea are the only living things that God did not make from the ground. The Bible is therefore correct when it teaches that God raised His son from the dead on the third day; the Bible is also correct when it teaches that Jesus Christ raised himself from the dead on the third day. When the Bible teaches that God raised His son from the dead on the third day, it is referring to the word that God spoke to inject life to the ground where His son was buried; this marks the first phase of the resurrection. When the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ raised himself from the dead on the third day, it is referring to Jesus Christ exercising his supernatural divine number 3 in response to God’s word to rise from the grave; this marks the second and last phase of the resurrection from God’s creative library.

Jesus Loves You! #JesusRoseOnTheThirdDay #JesusRose #Resurrection