Why three days and three nights
Category: Obedience to God’s Will
Key Passage: Luke 24:6
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
Turning your Bibles, if you would, to Luke chapter 24, Luke chapter 24 in God’s Word. The main truth we will start off with can be found in a lot of different places in the Bible. We are just going to look at it here, but then we will try to draw some truths out of it tonight. We are in Luke chapter 24 of God’s Word. Once you find that, would you say, “Hallelujah”? Good deal. You are already there. That’s great. Let’s stand if you would, please. And we will get going in Luke chapter 24, verse number six, verse number six of Luke 24.
God’s Word said, “He is not here, but is risen.” Praise the Lord for that right there. I serve a risen Savior, and praise the Lord. The devil may be having a little bit of a field day now, but his day is short for him. We serve a risen Savior. He defeated him and gave him a head wound on the cross of Calvary. Satan may have bruised his heel, but he bruised his head. So we are on the winning team, praise the Lord for that.
“He is not here, but has risen.” Remember how he spoke to you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again.”
Notice that: be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. Just for a little while tonight, I want us to contemplate just a short while: Why three days and three nights? Why three days and three nights? Would you ask the Lord just to encourage us and speak to our hearts on that? Why that third day? They would count even a part of a day, but why three days and three nights?
Would you pray, please, as I pray this saying, that God would encourage your hearts tonight? Father, Lord, just a thought from Your Word. I pray You to take the thought, the truth, and encourage. Lord, give us stamina and strength through this truth, Lord, please. We will thank You, Lord, for what You do. Thank You for just wonderful people in Your house. Thank You for a house to come to and Your Word to preach. Thank You, Father. We are serving the winning One. Lord, thank You. We know the end of the story. Lord, let these three days encourage us, Father, please. Thank You and praise of Bradley for what You do. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
You may be seated. Montana, I am going to have to ask you to be quiet tonight, all right? Can’t be making noises in service when people are seeing anything. I appreciate that. That would be so helpful.
Why three days and three nights? Why is that? Well, just a couple of things right off of that: because it was prophesied in the Old Testament. We know that. Like Jonah, it was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale that the Lord would be. It was prophesied. Psalms tells us about it and so on. So he had to fulfill prophecy. Jesus fulfilled all prophecy, and praise the Lord for that.
Then, three is a number of manifestation. He was manifesting that he was the complete sacrifice and he satisfied the Father. Three is a wonderful number in the Bible.
I think during that time Jesus, of course, went down to paradise in the heart of the earth. Those Old Testament saints were in layover, if you will. Jesus paid the price. It was paid in full. It is finished. So he led captivity captive. He took them with him, and he had some work. He preached to them, and he had some work to do, if you will, during that time. Maybe that is part of the reason.
Also, to prove he was dead. There is what is sometimes called the swoon theory, where he was in a coma, if you will; he really was not dead, and he just passed out—that type of fault. But Jesus proved he was dead. He was in the grave for three days and three nights, proving he truly was dead. He was dead and rose again. All those are true. I think all those have a part in it. But I like to make it a little bit more personal to you and me, if you would. Why he was tortured by these sinful people—and, of course, our sin put him on the cross—but why three days and three nights? Let me just give you a couple of more personal thoughts on that.
First of all, because the Christian life for the most part is not an instant life. Very rarely do I pray and instantly get my prayer answered. Typically, there are the three days and three nights. I think of the verse in Galatians 6:9, you know it: “Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” There are the three days and three nights. You see, Jesus is our perfect example in every area.
I think of Psalm 1, you probably know it also: “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” You see, it is not always your season. There are the three days and the three nights, and Jesus did not bypass the three days and three nights when his body lay in the tomb. He is our example. Jesus went through that.
I think about Joseph, who was sold into slavery. For 13 years, I wonder if Joseph thought about it: Why am I here? Why was I sold by my brothers? Why Potiphar’s house? Why Potiphar’s wife lying about me? And why imprisoned? It was his three days and three nights. The Christian life often has the three days and the three nights. Jesus did not bypass that.
For three days, someone said, you are not going to understand it all. When you do not understand it all, those three days and three nights—you cannot trace God; you trust God. You might not understand the reason until you get to heaven, but can I encourage you to stay faithful during those three days and three nights?
Witnessing, I mentioned it here recently, but it comes in cycles. It really does. It is amazing how you have that dry spell—nothing. But then, boom, you stay faithful at it. God bless Brother Patterson; it was such an encouragement to hear about that. That is so typical, if you will. I do not know how many tracts he has passed out, and he has been doing it for a long time, and praise the Lord for that. But those three days and three nights—the Christian life is not instant.
How many have an Instant Pot at their house? How many ladies? You have one of those Instant Pots? You know, Miss Tammy has one. And the kids—I do not know—Mother’s Day or something we got it for the kids a while back, and it is a Wi-Fi one. I think we got it when the choir was going on or something, and she could leave the choir—and I am telling on her now—and she would start the Instant Pot from her phone here at church, you know. And Sunday morning, it would be ready when we got home.
We live in a generation of society of instant things. You go through the drive-thru; if you do not get it in 30 seconds, you know—well, they used to do that. They do not do that with a shortage of workers nowadays, you know. But you get it. But the Christian life is not instant. Jesus was showing us; he went the three days and the three nights. Just because every person you witness to does not get saved does not mean it does not work. There will be times you are toiling and rowing and you are not having a whole lot of results during that time.
I think about raising kids. Praise the Lord for the Farfans and having their daughter sing for us tonight, and raising Joel for the Lord, and their daughter and son-in-law were here a week or so ago. But praise the Lord for families. Can I say this? While you are raising children for the Lord, there are always three days and three nights. There are times this thing is not working, and there are going to be times of trials, and there are going to be times you get tired of fighting against the world and the pressure of the world. Can I just say, hey, there are going to be three days and three nights when you are raising children—part of it. I encourage you to stay faithful during those three days and three nights.
There were two men who went to hear a speaker who was against God. It was not church, and he was a pretty good speaker. They left, and one man said, “Boy, that guy, man, didn’t he just nail it? He was a good speaker against God and so on.” He was bragging on him. But the one man had a godly mother who had been faithful over the long haul just to be a good testimony. Sometimes just your testimony, parents, means so much. The one guy was bragging on the speaker, and the other guy finally spoke up and said, “Well, he was a good speaker, but he never explained away my mom’s life, her Christian life, her testimony.” All the speaking that guy could make never explained away the godly testimony of that mom. Sometimes, moms and dads, even your children are grown, and you are praying for them to get right. There are the three days. Can I just encourage you to stay faithful? Don’t give up. Maybe just one day has passed; don’t give up. Don’t stop praying. God very rarely instantly answers my prayer, but those are the ones we praise the Lord about—those are the rare ones. Typically, in your prayer life, it is that three days and three nights. You just continue praying, seeking, and asking the Lord. Do not give up on those.
I think about the lady who was praying for her husband to get saved. She got very ill, and everybody thought, “Well, he is going to get saved while she is sick.” He did not, and she passed. Everybody thought, “Well, at the funeral, he will get saved.” He did not get saved at the funeral. Yet, that night, she had been faithful during those three days and three nights. That night, the kids came and said, “Hey, Dad, Mom always prayed with us. Would you pray with us?” He did not know how to pray. God used that to break that man; that man got saved that night. I am saying, you just stay faithful during those three days and those three nights. Jesus did not bypass that. Three days and three nights. The Christian life is not instant.
Let me say this, just briefly tonight: Leave the timetable to the Lord. I have tried so many times to get God to work on my timetable, probably a million times. He has not worked on my timetable one time, not once. I am learning—I am not there, but I am learning. It is God’s timetable, not mine. Just leave the timetable to God.
I think about Abraham. God had said, “Hey, I am going to multiply your seed, and you are going to be a great nation, and you are going to have a son and so on.” If you study it out, it may be longer than the 25 years most of us say, but Abraham had to wait for that promise to be fulfilled—at least 25 years. Wow. This church is not even 25 years old.
Here is a problem in the middle of that: His wife came and said, “Hey, just give it up. Won’t you go to your handmaid Hagar?” Abraham said, “I am tired of waiting; it is not happening on my timetable.” Abraham had already tried a little before that. He said, “Hey, Lord, how about my senior servant, Eliezer?” And God said, “No, no, no.” This time, though, he said, “All right, I will have Hagar.” You know the story: Abraham and his handmaid Hagar, and they have that child, Ishmael. All those wars, all these years in the Middle East—you can pretty much trace them all back to Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael. How many have been killed over that? The hate and the murder. It all goes back to a man who just did not say, “I will let God have the timetable.”
I do not know how long three days and three nights is for your situation. Jesus did not bypass that. But you just say, “Hey, Lord, the timetable is up to You.”
I say this to several who are praying for their wayward children to come back to the Lord or get saved, whatever it may be: Can I encourage you, just keep after it? Just keep praying. We do not always know—Jesus knew three days and three nights, but you do not always know the timetable. Would you let God have control of the timetable? There is peace. When I am always trying to get God to work on my time, there is unrest. I tell the Lord, “You have to do it right now.” So often, God says, “Well, you have a little more growth to do there.”
It is such a peace. We walk—the Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight. If I prayed and boom, it happened right when I wanted it, there would not be much faith there. It takes a lot more faith when it is, “All right, God, in Your time, and I am going to be faithful,” just waiting on the Lord.
It is a great verse. Look over in Lamentations. I was just thinking; the verse popped into my mind. May the Lord allow me to share it with you. Lamentations, chapter number three. It is a wonderful verse about waiting on the Lord. Lamentations chapter three, if you would, very quickly here. Waiting. How many of you tonight are waiting in some way, some fashion, some situation, waiting on the Lord about something? If you raise your hand, how many are waiting on the Lord? Oh, just about all of us. This is a great verse on this thing of waiting, waiting on the Lord. Would you look at Lamentations chapter three? Would you look in verse number 25? Lamentations 3:25. When you look at verse number 25, a great verse if you are waiting, I would encourage you to memorize these verses. I memorized them a while back; I think I forgot them by now, but they are great verses on waiting.
Lamentations 3:25: “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him; to the soul that seeketh him.” That is what you do; you seek Him during that time. It is good; He tells us how to wait. “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” It is always interesting how God put that in there: quietly wait. I have waited in frustration, mad and angry about it. God said, “No, no, I want you to quietly wait.” Sometimes I thought, “Boy, I am going to twist God’s arm and make Him answer this prayer.” Of course, nobody has done that. God said, “Keep twisting, buddy, and you will keep waiting.” You quietly wait. I am not going to wait in frustration. I am not going to lose my hope, but I am going to quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
The three days and three nights—nobody knows how long it is. I think about Joseph, whom I already mentioned tonight. You remember Joseph held in slavery, then Potiphar’s house, then Potiphar’s wife lied about it, and then he ended up in prison there. Then remember Pharaoh and his butler and the baker? They were put in prison there, and by that time, God was with Joseph. By that time, he kind of rose up to the top and dealt with these high political prisoners. They told him about the dream. Remember the butler? He was going to be the one who would be restored.
Do you remember what Joseph did? He said, “Look, three days, God is going to restore you.” Joseph said, “Hey man, when you get back there to Pharaoh, don’t forget about me. I want you to bring me up to Pharaoh. I did not do anything wrong. I am here unjustly.” I do not know if that was a sin for Joseph to do that, but Joseph was still trying to make it happen, if you will. He was still just trying to connive and work. He was not patiently or quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord. I am not saying it is a sin, but it is just, “Hey, don’t forget that.”
You remember the baker? His head—he went headless for a while there. The butler was restored, but he forgot. Remember they forgot? Two more years. Thirteen years altogether. I think those last two years, maybe Joseph grew a lot to the point where he just learned to say, “Hey, the timetable is up to God. I am not going to be conniving about that; I am just going to wait on the Lord.”
Then Pharaoh has the dream. “Can anybody interpret this?” the butler asks. Whoa, that Hebrew over there in prison is Joseph. They got him out. They cleaned him up. “Come on, you have to go talk to Pharaoh.” It is interesting; when he talked to Pharaoh, he told the butler, “When you talk to Pharaoh, you better tell him I am not guilty.”
But two years later, Joseph goes before Pharaoh. Joseph never records in Scripture that he mentioned his plight. He does not bring it up. He does not say, “Hey, by the way, Pharaoh, I am not guilty. I did nothing wrong. My brother sold me.” He never brings up any of that. He even goes through telling Pharaoh what to do about the seven lean years. He said, “Get you a man, and he will take 20% of the increase of all those seven.” He never mentions himself. Never does. It almost seemed like Joseph had learned to quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. He is just seeking the Lord. That is what Lamentations tells us to do.
Joseph did not plant that record in Pharaoh’s mind, “Hey, I am the guy.” He just says, “Look out and find a guy.” Twice. When God was ready, I think it is almost like God said, “Ah, he has learned to just patiently wait on the Lord.” God put that truth of that part in Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh even told his servant, “Can we find anybody as wise as this Egyptian fellow who can interpret this dream and knows what to do about it?” It was Pharaoh who brought up Joseph being the prime minister.
Friend, I am just saying it is a good day when we learn to just say, “Hey, there is going to be three days and three nights, and I am going to patiently, quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” Wait and hope. Do not give up your hope. Keep praying. Resurrection is coming in God’s time.
So, number one, I think maybe he went through that because the Christian life is not instant. Yes, Jesus could have died in three hours or a couple minutes later, risen again, but he chose, in God’s infinite wisdom, to wait three days and three nights. It is not an instant life. Christian life typically is not an instant life. Salvation is, but typically our prayers are not. Just leave the timetable up to God. Let Him do it in His time.
Then this last thought—we are going to go home. If Jesus had to go through three days and three nights, who am I to think, “Why do I have to go through this?” If Jesus’ body lay in that tomb for three days, who am I to say, “Why do I have to wait? Why do I have to be patient?” Friend, the Christian life is not a sprint; it is a marathon. And ministry—I am not talking about necessarily as far as a preacher, I am talking about your ministry—it is not going to be measured in years, per se; it is going to be measured in decades. Those people who just stay faithful to the Lord over the long haul, and they leave the results and the timetable up to the Lord, they just say, “Hey, if Jesus went through this, who am I to say I do not have to go through the three days and three nights?”
Friends, we will all have that. The children of Israel got out of Egypt, and God led them through the Red Sea. Everything was going to be wonderful. Then they hit the waters of Marah—bitter waters. They had that time before they got over to the City of Palms. We will all have that, and you will have your bitter waters. The three days and three nights—that is part of the Christian life. Tonight, let us stay in there for the long haul. You are going to have your three days and three nights. It is going to come to you. It comes to all of us. We are all there. Many raised a hand waiting—pretty much everybody. You are all there. Do not give up. Do not lose your hope. Let us wait on the Lord.
I think about when we were young and served as youth directors at the church. Through counsel and whatnot, we felt like the Lord wanted us to leave the ministry there. We tried to leave quietly and just move away a little bit. We thought, “Whoa, we will be back in full-time Christian service in no time.” It did not happen like that. We were out of full-time Christian service for four years altogether. That was tough. That was our three days and three nights for that situation. But God taught us so much. Years later, we are so thankful God took us through those three days and three nights. All of you are going to have in your situations the three days and the three nights. It is going to be part of it. Jesus went through that. Who am I to say, “Well, I want it instantly”? Typically, when I am like that, God is going to say, “All right, you have a lot to learn there, fella.”
Sunday morning came, and they came to that tomb. They said, “Whew.” The angels were there at one point: “He is not here. He is risen as he said he would.” Resurrection comes, but you have to have the three days. You cannot have a resurrection in your situation—what you are praying for, what you are waiting for, what you are working for—you cannot have a resurrection without the three days and the three nights. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight?
Three days and three nights. He could have risen again instantly, but he chose—and God chose in His infinite wisdom—to wait. Maybe you are there tonight and you say, “Preacher, I am right in the middle of the three days and three nights, and God spoke to my heart: I will stay faithful.” Maybe you are right in the middle of three days and three nights, and you will stay faithful. God spoke to your heart. If that is you tonight, slip up your hand. “That is me.” God bless you. Oh, that is wonderful. Me too. God bless you. Amen.
Maybe you are here tonight and you say, “I am going to leave the timetable to the Lord. I have tried to make timetables about a million times, and I am just going to stop all that. I am just going to trust Him. I am not going to lose my hope, but I am going to quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, and I am just going to leave the timetable to God.” If that is you tonight, slip up your hand: “Preacher, I am going to leave the timetable up to the Lord.” God bless. We are all working on that. I am going to work at leaving the timetable up to the Lord. God bless you.
Would you please stand tonight? We are going to have a word of prayer. Let us spend some time seeking the Lord during those three days and three nights. Would you do so? Father, thank You. Jesus, thank You that You did not bypass three days and three nights. Jesus, You are a wonderful example in every single area, including this. Thank You, Jesus. We are honored to be able to follow You and bear a cross for You. Bless our people tonight. Lord, help us to remain faithful during those three days and three nights. Father, thank You and praise You for what You do. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
If you come, won’t be long. Be faithful during the three days and three nights. We will let them know that all praise the Lord when resurrection comes. The victories that come are awesome. Praise the Lord, but you cannot have resurrection without the three days and the three nights. Let us just stay faithful during that time. We will sing one more verse. When nobody comes, that will be it. Just as I have received…
Original File: Why Three Days and Three Nights - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday PM 103121