The main problem with this scenario is that if true, Jesus wasn't the messiah.
Mat 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah:
Mat 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The only sign that Jesus gave was how long he would be in the grave. He would be in the grave the same amount of time that Jonah was in the fish. Three days and three nights. Jesus going into the grave on Friday afternoon and coming out of the grave before sunrise on Sunday does in no way, shape or form come close to 3 days AND 3 nights.
>> The only sign that Jesus gave was how long he would be in the grave. He would be in the grave the same amount of time that Jonah was in the fish. Three days and three nights. Jesus going into the grave on Friday afternoon and coming out of the grave before sunrise on Sunday does in no way, shape or form come close to 3 days AND 3 nights. <<
We can try to guess what “in the Heart of the Earth” means. “In the tomb” would certainly be a wonderful guess... were it not contradicted twenty-something times.
Would you care to explain how your theory is reconciled with the twenty-something time Jesus says that he will be put to death, and raised on the third day? Because your theory demands that he be raised on the FOURTH day. Here’s your problem: If Christ is killed at 3:00 on day 1, the Jews would certainly say that was one day he spent dead. We don’t count that way. We might, instead say, that he was dead, oh, 0.1 days, and we’d probably round that down to zero. But nobody would call that the 0th day.
If he were put to death on Friday, SUNDAY would be the third day. The only problem is that’s three days and two nights. I acknowledge that’s a problem. Can you acknowledge, though, that it’s a problem that you have him rising on the fourth day?
I can acknowledge the problem, and suggest a possible solution: that for some reason, Thursday evening was counted as the first night, even though he wasn’t actually dead. But now I have to explain why. Turns out he offered his life as a sacrifice on Thursday. Now, if he actually said, he’d be in the grave three days, I’d say that wasn’t a good enough explanation. But he was offered as a sacrifice, and imprisoned in the earth (that’s what they did back then).
Am I satisfied with that explanation? Not really. If that were the only measure of how long Jesus would be dead, I’d have to say the simplest explanation is the best, and agree with you. But when 24 other places in the bible (not counting about a dozen prophetic foreshadows) say he rose on the third day, that simplest explanation isn’t the simplest. And then there’s that part where the bible plainly has him being killed on the day before the Sabbath, and risen on the day after the Sabbath.