I think you are more likely correct.
In that era days went from sundown to sundown. Three “days” from Friday afternoon would have been: Friday night to Sat night, day 1. Saturday night to Sunday night, day 2. Sunday night to Monday night, Day 3.
If we expect the language in the gospels to be exact, using Friday at 3 pm as the TOD, he would rise on the third day. That would be Monday. At best. And I think it would be Monday after sundown.
I don’t think God treats his “days” the same way a Cruise line would.
It is vital we understand that Christ rose “on the third day”, and not that he rose “after 3 full days”.
A day is 24 hours long. To rise on the third day could mean as little as 25 hours, not necessarily 36 hours.
So assume as conventionally taught that Christ died on Friday at 3 pm and rose on the third day.
So at 3 PM, Christ dies at the close of the first day, Friday. At sundown on Friday, be that 4 PM or whenever, that begins the second day, which ends at Sundown on Saturday. The third day begins Saturday at sundown, and ends Sunday at sundown. So Christ could have arisen anytime from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, and he would have arisen “on the third day.
Friday is not day zero, it is day one. Christ did not rise “three days later”, he arose “on the third day, “which is as little as 2 days and one second later.”
What am I missing here?
To say Christ died on a Wednesday is to say that he had to have let three full days pass before he arose. And that is not what the bible says. It says “on the third day” not “after three days.
Dying on day 1 Friday at 3 PM, being in a dead state all day 2 from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, and then rising “on the third day”, any time between Saturday sundown and Sunday sundown.
What am I missing here? I’m not seeing it.