Now we get to the day. Scripture uses at least four phrases to describe this time. Let me preface by saying that the gospel writers, I believe, all had a 'target audience', if I may use those words, as they wrote of and presented "the Branch".
1. Matthew wrote for and to the Jews, presenting Jesus, the Sovereign, the King of the Jews, 'the branch of David' (Isa. 11:1; Jer. 23:5; 33:11, and his 'language' is basically consistent with this.
2. Mark wrote for and to the Romans, presenting Jesus, the servant, "My servant, the branch" (Ps. 80:15; Zech. 3:8), and his language is likewise basically consistent.
3. Luke wrote to and for the Greeks, presenting Jesus as the perfect Son, 'the Son of man', and the perfection in "the man, whose name is The Branch (Ps. 80:15; Prov. 11:28; Zech. 6:12), and ditto on the language.
4. John wrote to and for all the world and the church, presenting Jesus as the Savior of the world, and the eternal Son of God, "the BRANCH of the LORD" (Isa. 4:2; ), and given his wider aim, here, 'all language' is consistent.
(Thanks to the late Dr. W. Graham Scroggie, for the genesis of this small outline.)
Matthew records the words of Jesus in Matt. 12:39-40 (All Scriptures from the NKJV unless otherwise noted. This is not a 'putdown' on any other version, but the translation I normally use, for myself, so when I look up a passage, this is where I read and copy it from.

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39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The Lord does not say 'the grave', here, where his body would be entombed, which could haver happened virtually at sundown, but the dismissal of his spirit (Luke 23:46) had happened around mid-afternoon, some four hours earlier. By whatever time we assume, we know that the Lord was resurrected by the time, "it began to dawn toward morning", as the sun started to began to lighten the day, but "early, while it was yet dark" (John 20:1), "very early, in the morning" (Lk. 24:1), at the "rising of the sun" {Mk.16:1 [seemingly an idiom to refer to this general time, (and understood by all, especially those in the Roman world) and correctly rendered as such, by the KJV, and YLT, with a couple of others, here, and incorrectly rendered by the NKJV, and ESV as well as many others]}.
It seems logical, to me, that the second earthquake, (Matt. 27:51-54, 28:2) was caused by the angel rolling away the stone, or was simultaneous with it, at least. This is not necessarily when the Lord was raised, however, for the stone was "rolled away", not to "let our Lord out" ("He is not here, for He is risen, as He said!") but to let us in.
*Three nights* before the day began on Sunday, marked the end of this time period. This is consistent with the Jewish view, of the part is as the whole, which has been postulated by others. Interestingly Firstfruits, (16 Nisan) a Sabbath, was not celebrated, with the wave sheaf offered, when it fell on the regular weekly Sabbath, but on the morrow,
after the Sabbath. See Lev. 23. That this is consistent is also seen, in Matthew 28:1 where the proper rendering is "In (or at)the end of the Sabbaths, as the first day began to dawn, ..." or as the Greek has, " 1 οψε δε σαββατων τη επιφωσκουση εις μιαν σαββατων,..." (TR 1894; WHNU). The plural tells us there was more than one. How many more we are not here told, but I obviously believe it was one more. The Lamb was taken, and publically presented, i.e. our Lord rode into Jerusalem on 10 Nisan, i.e. 'Palm Sunday', where he was indeed examined and found without spot or blemish, and slain "between the evenings", which would equal Thursday by our recknoing of time, on 14 Nisan on 'Passover' or 'Preparation', at around 3 PM. This corresponds to "the first day of day one, and he went to Sheol to preach to the spirits in prison, and get His captivity, and bring them (and Paradise) with Him to bring to the Father. His body was lain in the tomb, It was there on 15 Nisan, unleavened Bread, "an high day", Friday, (night one; day two), and "firstfruits", (night two; day three) 16 Nisan, Saturday, which was the regular weekly Sabbath, as well. When the two Sabbaths were passed, or Lord arose sometime prior to about 4 AM, still (during the night, night three) as it would be starting to be light around then. He stopped of, so to speak, assumed His resurrection body, therefore 'rising from the grave', waited and spoke to Mary, before continuing on to the Father to present the wave offering of Firstfruits, the promise of more to come. We are that "more to come". He returns later that day, speaks to the disciples, and as even nears and passes, meets the two disciples on the Emmaus road, late that Sunday afternoon. They also tell Jesus that "this is the third day since all these things." That expression, to me is the 'clincher." A Wednesday crucifixion is too early; a Friday crucifixion is too late.
Not only did this time between the offering and the resurrection have to fot the "three days and three nights', it had to also be "the third day", in three days", "after three days", and "on the third day", at least, and I'm pulling these phrases off the top of my head. And they all have to refer to and fit this Biblical phenomena. And they do, making the only possible day Thursday, by our reckoning.
One final thing. Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where He and the disciples, probably stayed with Mary, Martha, and Lazerus. Had He entered Jerusalem from bethany on a Saturday, were that being 10 Nisan, and the Passover therefore taking place on 14 Nisan, a Wednesday, had Passover been on Wednesday, he would have broken the Mosaic Law, by His entry, regarding the "Sabbath day's journey", for Bethany was about two to three times as far from Jerusalem as the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's journey, away. It's Thursday, pure and simple.
In His grace,
Ed
[ April 12, 2006, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: EdSutton ]