Even before the coming of Christ, a “third day” refrain runs through Scripture.
If you were asked to summarize the gospel in one sentence, which passage might you choose? My guess is any shortlist of candidates would have to include 1 Corinthians 15:3–5.
The gospel, Paul says in those iconic verses, is “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.” Fundamentally, the gospel is the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in fulfillment of Scripture. It is more than that, of course, but not less.
Famously, however, there is a problem. It is relatively easy to identify passages pointing to the suffering and death of Christ for sins. The four Gospels invoke plenty of them, as do Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and Zechariah 12:10–14. But what does Paul have in mind when he says that Jesus “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”? Is there a verse hidden somewhere in the Hebrew Bible that predicts as much?
Even my study Bible is perplexed. Usually overflowing with cross references, the only Old Testament text it suggests here is Hosea 6:2 (“on the third day he will restore us”), which appears to be talking about Israel as a whole. There are clear proof texts for the Crucifixion, like Isaiah 53, but no equivalent for the Resurrection, let alone resurrection on the third day.
Yet this is not because the idea of rising to new life on the third day is nowhere in Scripture. In fact, it’s everywhere in Scripture. Seeing how and why this is can teach us how to read the Bible more attentively—which, more often than not, means listening for refrains and echoes …