That He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures' (1

Cor. 15:3,4).

Paralambano, the Greek word translated 'received', is used by Paul when

he spoke of the way in which the gospel was received at the first:

'But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me

is not after man.  For I neither received it of man, neither was I

taught it, but (I received it) by the revelation of Jesus Christ' (Gal.

or, as he has already employed the word in this epistle to the Corinthians:

'For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you

... ' (1 Cor. 11:23).

Here he says 'I have received ... also I delivered', in 1 Corinthians 15, he

says, 'I delivered ... I also received'.

There is no difficulty in discovering many passages of the Old

Testament Scriptures which justify the apostle's statement, that Christ died

for our sins, 'according to the Scriptures', but no such passage can be found

in the Old Testament that specifically declares that Christ should rise again

'the third day', yet basis for such a declaration there must be.  Earlier in

this epistle Paul declares without any attempt to prove the validity of the

type, that 'Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us' (1 Cor. 5:7), and in

chapter 10, the passage through the Red Sea and the Rock that provided water

in the wilderness are unhesitatingly referred to as of Christ, and in chapter

15 itself the 'firstfruits' are brought in without any apparent need of

explanation.  It is, therefore, most likely that the way in which 'the third

day' or 'three days' are introduced into the record of the Old Testament

provide all we need to show that 'He rose again the third day' was foreknown

and foreshadowed.  It was on the third day of the Creation week that the dry

land, which had been buried for an unrecorded time under the waters of the

great deep, 'appeared' (Gen. 1:9-13), and if we demur at this use of the

record, let us remember how the same apostle, writing to the same

Corinthians, sees a type of Christ in Genesis 1:2,3 (2 Cor. 4:6).  In Exodus

3:18 we read that Moses not only demanded that Israel should be released, but

that they should also be permitted to go 'three days' journey into the

wilderness.  Again, in Joshua 1:2 and 11 we read:

'Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan ...

within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan'.

In Hosea 6:2 we read the somewhat cryptic prophecy:

'After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us

While these passages have a bearing upon the subject before us, we are

obliged to admit that there is no positive sanction for their application in

any New Testament reference.  The same, however, cannot be said of the next

passage we cite, namely, that which is written of the prophet Jonah.

'And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights'

(Jonah 1:17).

This passage is endorsed by no less a witness than the Saviour Himself: