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In the Heart of the Earth

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Contents

ix......................Prefacexi......................Introduction1.......................Chapter 1 - The Context and the Method1.......................Introduction1.......................The Setting, Jonah's First Letter6.......................The Method11......................Chapter 2 - Three Days and Three Nights12......................Jonah and the Whale12......................Inclusive Reckoning13......................But Jesus Said ...15......................Is "a Day and a Night" Equivalent to "a Day"?16......................In the Heart of the Earth17......................Jesus and Jonah Compared18......................Where Was Jesus for the Three Days and Three Nights?19......................A Word Study of "Heart"21......................A Word Study of "Earth"21......................An Important Clue22......................The Start of the Three Days and Three Nights25......................The End of the Three Days and Three Nights25......................The Time Period is Not the Most Important Aspect of the Sign29......................Chapter 3 - His Resurrection on the Lord's Day29......................Question 1: When Does the Bible Say the Resurrection Occurred?29......................Question 2: How Did "Thine Holy One" Not "See Corruption"?30......................Question 3: How Was the Passover Lamb Not to be Left Until Morning?31......................The Bible Says "Sabbaton"32......................Common Usage of "Sabbaton"33......................Resurrection Texts39......................Verses Concerning Spiritual Meetings40......................A Word Study of "First Day of the Week"41......................Word Genders43......................A Verse Concerning Fasting43......................Sabbaton Means Sabbath43......................Summary45......................Chapter 4 - The Timing of the Spring Feasts45......................Passover46......................Factors in the Timing of Passover Observance48......................References to the Preparation Day51......................The Wednesday Crucifixion Theory52......................The Feast of Unleavened Bread53......................A Word Study on "Sabbath" in the Old Testament54......................The Feast of First Fruits56......................A Word Study of "After"57......................The Passover as Israel Left Egypt58......................Pentecost61......................Chapter 5 - The Chronology of Events of Jesus' Last Week61......................The Lamb Kept in the Home64......................Summary of Events During the Days of Examination65......................Timing of the Supper at Simon's House65......................Timing of the Crucifixion and Death67......................Events From Jesus' Death to Resurrection70......................How Long Did All These Events Take?70......................The Sabbath Starts; the Resurrection71......................The Guard Requested72......................Why Did the Women Come to the Tomb?72......................When Did the Women Come to the Tomb?76......................More Questions77......................Chapter 6 - The Thoughts of Many Hearts Revealed78......................The Sign They Wanted79......................The Sign Jesus Offered81......................The Heart of Man83......................The Heart of the Earth in Jesus' Parables - The Second Letter87......................"That the Thoughts of Many Hearts May be Revealed"88......................"Out of the Abundance of the Heart" - Case Studies94......................What About You? What is in Your Heart?95......................Chapter 7 - The Heart of the Matter95......................Did Jesus Die On the Wrong Day?97......................Why Would God Allow This?98......................The Character of God Further Revealed99......................Jesus' Words While on the Cross108.....................The Father Suffered Too111.....................Liar, Lunatic or Lord?112.....................Liar, Lunatic or Like Him?112.....................Satan is the Destroyer113.....................What is God's Role in Destruction?114.....................God Does Not Use Force115.....................The Heart of the Matter119.....................List of Appendices120.....................Appendix 1. Variations in Use of the Word "Even" as in Evening121.....................Appendix 2. Cases of "Kardia" Translated "Heart" as Understood in this Study122.....................Appendix 3. Some Thoughts About Inspiration123.....................Concordances123.....................How Could God Allow Translations of His Word to Contain any Errors?124.....................Does this Make the Bible Unreliable?126.....................Appendix 4. Possible Counts of the Days from the Feast of First Fruits to Pentecost128.....................Appendix 5. "The Graves of the Saints Were Opened"131.....................Appendix 6. Jesus' Anointing132.....................Appendix 7. "He Saw and Believed"132.....................Burial Customs133.....................The Shroud of Turin134.....................What Did Peter and John See?138.....................Appendix 8. Didn't Jesus Rest in the Tomb on Sabbath?139.....................Appendix 9. There Goes Sunday Sacredness139.....................He Rose on His Day140.....................How Should We Celebrate the Resurrection?141.....................Appendix 10. "Destroy this Temple"144.....................Appendix 11. Abraham and Isaac and Three Days146.....................Appendix 12. Reference Table of Original Words Investigated147.....................References149.....................Scripture Index153.....................Summary of Findings and Conclusions155.....................Additional Information

Chapter One

Introduction

Context is always important when attempting to correctly understand scripture. Context includes both the immediate setting of the passage and the larger setting of the Bible as a whole with which it must be in harmony. Therefore it is necessary and very helpful when trying to understand particular words to examine how they are used elsewhere in scripture. This is the most significant method of analysis used in this book; that of letting the Bible define its own terms and interpret itself. Words change their meaning over time and our understanding of passages can easily be affected by our understanding of the word meanings. This method of study will be described later in this chapter.

To properly understand this important Bible passage in Matthew chapter 12 it is especially important to be familiar with the setting. This is described here in a narrative as it might have been written by one of Jesus' disciples whom I have named Jonah. The writing of Jonah's letter to a friend was set shortly after and concerning the events described in Matthew chapter 12. It follows, with some modifications, the text of Matthew. In Chapter Six, there is a second letter from Jonah in which he similarly relates the events of Matthew chapter 13, which further help to understand the passage. (Note that, in this letter by Jonah, pronouns referring to Jesus are not capitalized.)

The Setting, Jonah's First Letter

Greetings my dearest Julius,

If you remember, we met briefly here in Jerusalem and I promised to write to you. I'm sorry that probably three new moons have passed since then but much has happened in my life. We just had a Passover celebration here in Jerusalem, one of the saddest in my life - I'll tell you why.

You were curious about my name. I was named Jonah by my father as he had a special interest in the prophet Jonah, since both my father and I were born in Gathhepher, that prophet's birthplace. I feel kind of like that great prophet because, of course, he was called by God and ran the other way and, I fear, I am doing the same.

As we talked, you had expressed an interest in my association with the man Jesus of Nazareth but, of course, we didn't get time to talk much during our short visit. I want to write my story as best I can remember, both to share with you and to help myself better understand my own very-mixed feelings. Also, I am writing on this scroll because I have a desire to see a record of these remarkable events and I don't know that anyone else is recording them.

Everyone recalls the big stir that was caused by the one whom many say was a prophet who baptized in the wilderness. I was much saddened by news of his recent death at the command of King Herod. John had baptized many people and I was one of them. That was about two and a half years ago. The experience rekindled my faith in Yahweh and John's message got me thinking constantly about the promised Messiah that everyone seemed to be waiting for. Well, about a year ago now, I began hearing about another person that John had baptized. This was a man named Jesus, who was John's cousin, and the son of a now-deceased carpenter from Nazareth.

At that time, he had many followers who traveled occasionally with him to listen to him speak. I caught up with the group and joined them near the Lake of Galilee where Jesus was teaching. He also had a smaller, core group who spent almost all of their time with him.

Because of the often-unorthodox teachings of Jesus, the Pharisees were watching us most of the time. One advantage of the scrutiny of those fault finders was that they witnessed many miracles that Jesus performed. These were incredible, undeniable miracles, evidence of God's power and, in most cases, to heal the sick and the suffering. Of course, these miracles just brought Jesus into greater favor with the people, many of whom didn't have a very high regard for the Pharisees. I got the sense that, more than anything else, the Pharisees felt threatened by Jesus' growing popularity.

There is so much I could tell you, Julius, about this man and the things he taught but, rather than fill the many scrolls I could, I'll just relate the events of one day. It was an exceptional day to be sure, a sabbath and a day that I have been thinking about very much ever since. At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the grain fields; and we, his disciples, were hungry, so we began to pick heads of grain to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Behold, your disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath day." The first few times I was with the group when we did something like this on a sabbath I felt uneasy until I heard Jesus explain it to us. He would say things like, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath" and, as he talked on his favorite topic, the love of God, it made more sense to me. And so, we were just satisfying our hunger pangs when we fell again into the disfavor of the ever-watchful Pharisees. But he said to them "Haven't you read what David and those that were with him did, when they were hungry, how they entered the house of God, and ate the shewbread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?" I thought to myself: I knew Jesus would have an answer for them; good reasoning and, as always, from the word of God.

Then he continued, "But I say to you, that in this place is one greater than the temple." Oh, oh, I thought to myself. The Jews regard the temple as the most sacred object on earth. To claim anything or anyone was greater than the temple would not be appreciated by these Pharisees.

But Jesus had even more to say. "But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." I liked the words he said about the guiltless because, in the eyes of those men, I was counted as guilty. Jesus, however saw nothing wrong with satisfying a real human need.

I have found, Julius, that as I have traveled with Jesus and watched him interact with the people they always felt as though he was their friend and even more that he would stand up for them against injustice. I learned that Jesus was far more concerned for the good of each person, no matter how low they were in society, than he was for the letter of the law. I should correct myself somewhat - he always obeyed God's law as originally given. It was the extra laws and minute specifications the Pharisees urged on the people, laws that seemed to make life worse, not better. Those were the ones Jesus disregarded.

The Pharisees didn't react directly to what Jesus said, they just whispered among themselves. Jesus paid them no more attention and when he was departed from there, he went into their synagogue. A number of us accompanied him and, as we found a place to sit, I saw some of the same Pharisees who, just a short while before, had accused us. We listened to the rabbis' teaching and took part in the service. Jesus could have given a far more interesting teaching than what we had to listen to but he was always careful not to unnecessarily offend others. We were just about to leave when some of the Pharisees, drawing attention to a man which had his hand withered, approached Jesus and asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?" Once again, they were looking to accuse him. And he said to them, quite typically from what I had seen of his concern for anyone suffering, man or beast, "What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days." I thought to myself, if only these rigid Pharisees could understand, as I am beginning to, what God is really like.

There was a stirring among the Pharisees at Jesus' reply in anticipation of what he would do. Then he said to the man, "Stretch forth your hand." And he stretched it forth and it was restored whole like as the other. There was a great murmuring among everyone and then the Pharisees went out and, as I later learned, they held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from there and great multitudes followed him and he healed them all and charged them that they should not make him known. He wanted to avoid stirring up any more controversy than necessary. Indeed, he had not initiated the healing of the man with the withered hand but, when presented with the case by the Pharisees, his sympathy for the poor man just seemed to overwhelm him.

Jesus later explained his actions to us, again using the scriptures, saying it was "so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, who said `behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break and smoking flax shall he not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.'" I could see that this scripture was, in many ways, being fulfilled. The only problem I had was with the part about the Gentiles but I saw many things that indicated Jesus treated them quite differently than our religious leaders do.

While I was thinking this over, there was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, "This cannot be the son of David can it?" They could not fathom that such a common looking man could be the promised Messiah. Personally, I was becoming more convinced that he might indeed be the much-looked-for Messiah.

Just as the people were saying this, our "friends" showed up again and when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This fellow only casts out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." As on other occasions, it seemed to me that Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house."

I thought to myself, "Sounds like another parable." Jesus often spoke in parables especially to the Pharisees and the people. At least he would usually explain what he said more plainly to us.

He continued, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad." "Sounds like a line drawn in the sand," I thought to myself. While Jesus did not go out of his way to antagonize these men, he would not back down when they accused him. He would stand his ground.

Jesus continued again "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

I had to laugh to myself. The Pharisees were attributing deliverance from the demon - certainly a good thing, especially for the poor man himself - to the demons themselves. Jesus continued, pointing out the inconsistency of the Pharisees' reasoning and showing that if the results are good the cause must be good. He said "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit." Jesus was using the tree as a symbol of himself - a good tree producing good fruit. He went on to point out that the fruit of the Pharisees, especially as shown by their treatment of someone as unfortunate as this blind, dumb and demon-possessed man showed something about their characters. He spoke to them with pretty direct and seemingly-harsh words but, as always, his tone of voice was not condemning but full of love and concern for even these unjust men. He said to them "How can you, offspring of vipers, being evil, speak good things? For it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart speaks good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure speaks evil things. But I say to you, that every idle word that men speak, they shall give account for in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned."

Jesus was getting to something more important now. The Pharisees were always questioning Jesus' actions and words. But, of course, it was really more his character that they were targeting. While he would make references to his Father - and they knew he was not talking about Joseph the carpenter - they would try to associate him with anything else, in this case, even directly with the demons. Now he was calling into question their lineage, referring to them as offspring of vipers, not simply in a physical sense but more in terms of character. Of course, they would always claim Abraham as their Father and even John the Baptist had chided them for doing that. Jesus kept pointing to and talking of the heavenly Father, clearly claiming him as his Father. The more I saw and heard it the more I began to hope that the Father is like what I am seeing in the life of Jesus. These claims and counter claims just seemed to go back and forth without resolution but with the effect that the people seemed to take Jesus' side more of the time. It was almost, it seemed to me, from a sense of desperation that certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered saying "Master, we would see a sign from thee."

I knew what they wanted. It wasn't so much just a miracle - they had seen many miracles. I sensed that they were demanding something that would clearly show his relationship to the Father. He kept talking of the Father in ways they couldn't relate to. Their sense of the Father was that of a severe, exacting judge. If Jesus was from the Father in heaven, they wanted a miracle as proof. I think it would have taken something like fire from heaven to burn up the hated Romans, to satisfy them.

They asked Jesus for a sign but he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah 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."

This caught my attention even more as I heard the name of Jonah. I knew very well the story of Jonah and the whale. It also got me wondering what he was referring to. It wasn't until I connected some of the things he said later that day that I even began to understand what he meant.

Jesus went on in his reply, "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here." He seemed to be saying that, while the people of pagan Ninevah repented at the preaching of the prophet Jonah, the Pharisees would not repent even though someone greater than Jonah was present, referring to himself. Then he seemed to elevate himself above even wise Solomon. I knew that Jesus had incredible wisdom but this claim would not sit well with these Pharisees.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from In the Heart of the Earthby Ray Foucher Copyright © 2009 by Ray Foucher. Excerpted by permission.
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