Finding Jesus through the OT theme of the 3rd day!
- Read Acts 17:2-3 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah," he said.
- Read 1st Corinthians 10:3-4 (All the Israelites) 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
- Read John 5:39 (Jesus said:) 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.
- Read 1st Corinthians 15:3-4 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
- Altogether there are 40-50 references to a 3rd day from the Old Testament.
- 40 plus events that have a 3rd day theme in them.
- It's almost like God was trying to tell us something!
- These 3rd days are always decisive days. They are days of deliverance or days of resurrection.
- Read Exodus 15:22-25 22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" 25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed (pointed) him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
- There's a piece of wood from the life of Jesus that quenches our thirst and there's a 3rd day when the tomb was empty and death was defeated.
- That 3rd day points clearly to the Messiah and to Jesus!
- Read Jonah 1:11-17 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" 12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, "Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. 17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
- Read Jonah 2:10 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
- Read Jonah 3:1-5 3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: A new birth for Mr Jonah. A new creation with the same mission, just a new heart. 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
- Can you see the picture of Jesus here in this amazing story with the 3rd day theme in it!
- Read Luke 2:41-49 41 Every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." 49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"
- Our Bible weaves an amazing tapestry all the way through and one of the themes is the 3rd day.
- Let's begin to find Jesus in the Old Testament as we readd through God's word!
- Look to the Words In RED!
