On the Third Day: Seeing Resurrection from Beginning to End

Waking from sleep. Seeds sprouting through the earth. New life emerging in Spring. Children entering the world through the breaking of water.

These and other images are used in the Bible to described the glorious reality of resurrection and related doctrines. For instance, Jesus says in John 12:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Similarly, Paul speaks of the mortal body as a seed that is buried in dishonor and raised in glory (1 Cor. 15:42–49). Or, consider how waking from sleep is compared to the resurrection when Paul says in Ephesians 5:14: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

This light-giving testimony emerges from a host of Old Testament texts (e.g., Isa. 51:17; 52:1; 60:1; Mal. 4:2), as the theme of waking from sleep becomes a wonderful euphemism for the believers’ death in the New Testament (see Matt. 27:52; John 11:11; 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. 4:13–15, etc.). But it is not only waking from sleep, or seeds sprouting to life that captures the wonder of resurrection; there are a host of other creational images that pair with resurrection, too. For instance, Jesus is called the firstborn from the dead in Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 1:5. And equally, Jesus calls himself the true vine (John 15:1), from which his branches will sprout forth and bear fruit.

Long story short, imagery surrounding the resurrection of Christ and his people is not lacking in the New Testament. And as we have considered throughout this month at Christ Over All, evidence for resurrection is not lacking in the Old Testament either. For as Paul outlines his gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:3–5, he says that Christ “was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

As Stephen Dempster and Nicholas Lunn have shown in their masterful essays on the third day in the Old Testament, there emerges in the storyline of Scripture an anticipation that redemption, hope, and life are found on the third day.^[1] For instance, Isaac is received back from the dead on the third day (Gen. 22:4). The Lord met with his people on Sinai (Exod. 19:11). Jonah is returned to the land on the third day (Jonah 1:17). These and more than twenty other third day “resurrections” can be found in the Old Testament, and they set a trajectory toward the third day resurrection of Christ.^[2]

Yet, in what follows I will argue that this pattern of third life is grounded in creation itself, and not a later feature of redemptive history. While Christ’s resurrection is regularly observed to be the dawning of the new creation, it less often observed that creation itself, especially Genesis 1:9–13, points to the resurrection. But it does, and in what follows, I will make a connection between the third day in creation and the new creation that comes in Christ’s resurrection. But before making the argument, let me offer three observations on the structure Genesis 1:9–13, and these three textual features will guide our steps between creation and Christ.

Three Structural Observations on Genesis 1:9–13

In Genesis 1:9–13, Moses reports the work of God on the third day of creation. And by comparison to the other days of the creation week (especially Days 1 and 2), we can observe at least three unique features.^[3]

3. The rest of this essay is developed from a sermon I preached on Genesis 1:9–13, in a series entitled “Creation and Covenant.” In that series, I argued that each day of the creation week has significance for Christology and Soteriology, not to mention Creation and New Creation.

First, Day 3 has two sections.

In Day 3, the first section consists of the division of dry land from the sea (Gen. 1:9–10). The second section describes the planting of grains and fruit trees (Gen. 1:11–12). This double act of creation on Day 3 stands out in comparison with Days 1 and 2, where each day only had one speech-act ordering creation.^[4]

4. Structurally, only Days 3 and 6 have a two sections, with Day 3 consisting of two divine speech-acts (Gen. 1:9, 11) and Day 6 consisting of four (Gen 1:24, 26, 28, 29). In all, the seven days have ten divine speech-acts.

Second, Day 3 repeats “and God saw that it was good” in verse 10 and verse 12.

This double statement makes us look back of Day 2, where we find that there was no mention of goodness on the Second Day. Easily missed with only a quick reading, this pattern of Good (Day 1), Silence (Day 2), and Double Good (Day 3) is the first key that unlocks this section, and we will revisit it momentarily.

Third, Day 3 is the first day to fill the earth.

In Days 1 and 2, we find the separation of light and darkness, followed by the separation of heaven and earth. Or more exactly, Day 2 presents the separation of the waters above the firmament from the waters below it. In Day 3, we have another separation of Land and Sea, but we also have the creation of plants and fruit-bearing trees. This means that Days 1–3 are not simply dedicated to forming the earth, for Day 3 begins to fill the earth, even as Days 4–6 will do the same.

So, as we press into the connections between the third day of creation and Christ’s third day resurrection, these are three observations we need to keep in mind as we read Genesis 1:9–13.

[§ 1] ⁹ And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. [1] And God saw that it was good.

[§ 2] ¹¹ And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ¹² The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. [2] And God saw that it was good.

¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

From these five verses emerge a number of textual features that point forward to Christ’s resurrection. Yet, before considering those them, let me offer a brief introduction to how I am reading this passage. In other words, there are, in my estimation, admissible and inadmissible ways to “find” Christ’s resurrection in Genesis 1:9–13. And so, before making a constructive argument from the text, let me share a few methodological commitments.

Reading Genesis 1

As we begin to look at Genesis 1, it is worth asking: How should we read this passage? Is Genesis 1 history? Or symbolism? Or something of both?

I have already revealed my hand by saying that the third day in creation is connected to the theme of resurrection on the third day. But it is worth asking: Is this what the author intended? Or is this my own imaginative reading?

If you believe Genesis 1 is history—as I do—this does not eliminate the possibility or potentiality that embedded in creation are types, patterns, and shadows that prefigure later events in history. Indeed, the Bible is filled with real history and a real creation, which in turn creates real symbols and prophetic signs that point forward to future glories. So, in answer to the question—How should we read Genesis 1:9–13?—I have two commitments.

[1] Genesis 1 is not written as purely symbolical, nor should we interpret it allegorically.

[2] Genesis 1 contains historical events, persons, and things that were created by God to institute patterns (types) for the rest of creation, Scripture, and redemptive history.

Let me explain.

[1] Genesis 1 is not written as purely symbolical, nor should we interpret it allegorically.

Allegory is the practice of saying this thing (in the Bible) means that thing (outside of the Bible). For instance, Origen once said that the dry land of Day 3 was good deeds done in the body, and the waters under heaven were the sins and vices we must separate ourselves from.^[5] That is certainly clever, and it may even cohere with Christian doctrine or ethics, but that allegorical reading ignores the main point of Genesis 1—namely, how God made the world. And accordingly, such a reading of Genesis 1 minimizes the historical fact of creation and invites readers to look for symbols under every rock.

5. Andrew Louth and Marco Conti, eds., Genesis 1–11, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 13. ↑

Yet, Origen is not alone. Matthew Henry does something similar. In his popular commentary, Henry allegorizes Genesis 1:9–13 when he says, “Many of God’s gifts are received in vain, because they are buried… [and one must] make them to appear, [so that] they become serviceable.”^[6] That too sounds profound, but I have no idea what it means, because Henry doesn’t say how to make buried gifts emerge from the ground. Nor, does he explain how the Genesis account offers such a moral compass.

6. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), 5. ↑

To repeat: Genesis 1 reveals what God did in the beginning, and while men made in his image are to imitate him, God alone is the creator. And that means that he alone can make the dry land appear, and there is nothing here for humans to imitate in any material way. Rather, this passage reveals something about God, what God did, and perhaps what God can and will do again—if there is a new creation.

[2] Genesis 1 contains historical events, persons, and things that were created by God to institute patterns (types) for the rest of creation, Scripture, and redemptive history.

For those who are familiar with biblical typology, this second commitment should be familiar.^[7] But let me illustrate it with respect to resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest. Until that final day of resurrection, the body of believers is like a seed planted in the ground—a seed that is buried perishable but raised imperishable. Paul is using imagery from creation to speak of the new creation reality of resurrection.

7. For a full definition of typology, see Sam Emadi and David Schrock, “Typology,” in Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale, D. A. Carson, Benjamin L. Gladd, and Andrew David Naselli (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023), 852–60. ↑

And where does he get this imagery? Multiple places, but it begins with the creation week. If the resurrection is a new creation reality, then it is fitting that the creation week informs the resurrection—and that includes resurrection on the third day, when fruit of the ground springs forth into life, just like the fruit-bearing trees on Day 3.

In other words, what God did in creation and what Moses wrote in Genesis 1 provides a pattern of resurrection life that we find throughout the rest of the Bible. When man fell into sin, God did not look around at his creation to see what he could do. God is not like a cosmic MacGyver, a quick-fix inventor who makes a plan of salvation with whatever random circumstance he finds on the ground.^[8] No, far better: God filled his world with land and sea, trees and seeds, so that he could give us categories to explain to us the meaning of resurrection—a reality planned by God before the creation of the world (cf. 1 Pet. 1:20).

8. MacGyver was a 1980s television character who could create exactly the contraption he needed from the random spare parts he had at hand in order to save the day. His ability to improvise with a tooth pick and a spare battery was unsurpassed.

Putting the pieces together, then, this reading of Genesis 1 is not allegory, but typology. And in the creation of the world, God separated land and sea and planted seed-bearing trees, just as Genesis 1:9–13 says. Yet, hidden in plain sight is a pattern of resurrection life that would be revealed in the fulness of time, such that looking back to creation from Easter Sunday, we can now see how God’s words in Genesis 1:9–13 were charged with resurrection life. And this is true in general, but also with great detail, as we will now see from the next three evidences of resurrection.

Dry Land ‘Appeared’

In Genesis 1:9–10, Moses speaks of how the waters are pushed back and dry land emerges. Interestingly, the language for dry land is used throughout the Old Testament to speak of the land that God created in events like Israel passing through the Red Sea or crossing the Jordan River.

For instance, Exodus 15:19 reads, “For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.” Or consider Joshua 4. When Israel walked through the flooded waters of the Jordan, verse 22 says, “then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’”^[9]

9. Additionally, these two water-crossing events, like so many others (see Appendix), occurred on the third day (Exodus 12:6, 29, 14:20, 27; Josh. 1:11; 3:2). ↑

In later periods of redemption, God re-enacted the creation event of Day 3. When the Red Sea stood before Israel, God created the dry land as a bridge of salvation. Likewise, when the flood waters of the Jordan River blocked Israel’s path to the promised land, God made dry land in the middle of the river.

In short, God alone is able to make dry land, just as Psalm 24 says of the earth: “For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” Or as Psalm 33:7 says of the seas: “He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap.” Indeed, God is the one who controls all things, including the emergence of dry land coming through the waters, which also prefigures resurrection in at least two ways.

First, the dry land coming up out of the water anticipates the creation of humanity. As Genesis 2:7 indicates, God formed the man from the dust of the earth. This dust comes from the dry land, which appears on Day 3. So, reading Genesis 1 and 2 together, it is not out of bounds to see how this emergence of dry land points us towards the creation of mankind, or how the resurrection of Christ can be spoken of with respect to the formation of man (“firstborn from the dead”). Certainly, this formation of the dry land is not sufficient for making a connection with the resurrection, but it is necessary, because there can be no human life without the dry land coming up from the waters.^[10]

10. If we think more about it, we realize that every child who is formed in the womb (Ps. 139:13–16), must also pass through the waters when they are born. And this natural birth is repeated in the new birth given by the Spirit (John 3:3–8). ↑

Even more stunning, however, is the fact that the water events in the Bible—which are often called “baptisms”—use imagery that matches Genesis 1:9–10. When Noah passed through the waters of judgment in the Flood, Peter likened it to baptism (1 Pet. 3:21). Likewise, Paul says that Israel was “baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea” (1 Cor. 10:2). Equally, baptism into Christ, according to Romans 6:3–4, is a death and resurrection. All told, the life that comes on the other side of God’s judgment-waters is a pattern that runs through the Bible, but this resurrection life seen first in Genesis 1:9–10.

In fact, the resurrection becomes more visible on Day 3 when we consider the word “appear” in verse 9 and how Paul uses that word in 1 Corinthians 15. As Paul describes the resurrection of Christ in verses 4–6, he uses the word “appear” twice. “Christ was raised from the dead on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive.”

Now, Paul could simply be using the word “appear” in a general sense. But two things stand out. (1) He could have used a number of other words to speak of Christ showing himself after his resurrection, but he doesn’t. He uses the word horaō, which is the same word used in Genesis 1:9–10 (LXX). (2) We know that Paul was explaining the resurrection of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15 by connecting it to Genesis 1. How do we know? Because, creation themes run through the whole of the chapter. As Nicholas Lunn summarizes it.

In [1 Corinthians 15:]39–41 he [Paul] lists the various elements created on Days 4–6 (Gen. 1:14–27) in exact reverse order (men, animals, birds, fish, heavenly bodies). Since Paul definitely had these other days of creation in mind, it is extremely plausible that he was also contemplating Day 3 in the context.^[11]

11. Nicholas P. Lunn, “Raised on the Third Day according to the Scriptures”: Resurrection Typology in the Genesis Creation Narrative,” JETS 57/3 (2014), 533. ↑

If this reading holds, then what we have in the inspired words of Paul is an explanation of the resurrection of Christ as a new creation and one that is intended to mirror the first creation. For in that first creation, the appearance of dry land is not only historical and real; it is typological in the way that it prepares us for seeing the later and greater reality of God’s power to raise the dead. So, this is one lexical connection that stands between Genesis 1:9–13 and 1 Corinthians 15, but it is not the last or even the best.

The Day of First Fruits

Growing in our confidence that Day 3 in Genesis anticipates the resurrection, we come to the second section of the day, the sprouting of seeds from the earth (Gen. 1:11–12). As noted above, these verses record the second divine speech for the third day, and this time God’s words describe the emergence of vegetative life from the land.

Without getting sidetracked with an important discussion about the ways in which plants can exist before the sun was formed (Day 4), I want to draw attention to the way that these seed-bearing plants and fruit-bearing trees are created by God. In other words, if we let the inspired Word of God lead us, there is little trouble imagining God—as the light of the world—calling into existence these fruit-bearing trees and seed-producing grains.

• Day 1: he produces the light of heaven that shines upon the earth.
• Day 2: he separates the heavens above from the earth below.
• Day 3: he calls into existence the trees and grains that will fill the earth and feed his creatures.

Critically, it is not plants that will feed his people; it is God himself who will feed his people with plants (cf. Ps. 104:14–15). That is a small but significant difference: food comes not from the ground, but food comes from God, who makes the ground a place to grow grains and fruit.^[12]

12. Confirming this point, manna in the wilderness is a food God provides for his people without any sowing, reaping, tilling, or harvesting. In a word, God feeds his people and fruit-bearing trees are the earthly means to that heavenly gift. ↑

Keeping God at the center of this day, therefore, we are ready to consider how God created life on earth. That is to say, our Creator did not produce life by natural processes alone. Instead, the world has life because God is the source of life, and he upholds the universe with his Word (Heb. 1:2).

In context, then, when Genesis 1:11 says, “God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation . . . and it was so,” he was bringing life from the land. To say it differently, God is the ultimate cause and these seed-bearing plants are the proximate cause. And as Moses records these events from the third day, it is vital to see how the pattern of creation in Day 3 generates a pattern of life from the earth that generates resurrection expectations across time and text.

For instance, in Leviticus 23:9–14, the feast of firstfruits takes place on the third day. And this not accidental. As Passover happens on the sixth day of the week, and the Sabbath occurs on the day after (the seventh day, which is the second day after Passover), the feast of firsts begins on the first day of the week, which is the third day. And just as importantly, the priest on that day waves (or lifts up) the grain offering towards heaven. As Mark Rooker and others have rightly observed, this offering, which celebrates the firstfruits of the harvest, prefigures the resurrection.^[13] But critical for our study, the feast of firstfruits comes on the third day. Just as God brought forth life-giving plants on the third day, so too the Sabbatical calendar of Israel follows suit.

13. Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), 291–292. ↑

The third-day festival in Israel not only points forward to Christ, who is the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest (1 Cor. 15:20–24), but this third day feast also points back to the third day of creation, when God raised up the first fruits of the earth. In this way, there is a natural connection in God’s world from the beginning to the end, and in Scripture there is a textual connection that begins in creation, continues in Israel, and is carried to Christ, as he fulfills all the days of the week, including the day on which fruits were first given—the third day!

The Doubly Good Day

Everything God makes is good (James 1:17), yet as we observed earlier, Day 2 is the only day when God does not offer a statement: “And it was good.” Instead, when God separates the heavens from the earth, there is a noticeable silence. And the thoughtful reader should ask, “Why?”

If we can learn anything from the other days, it might come from Day 6, when God says it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Notably, that day, which begins “not good,” finishes with the superlative, “it is very good” (Gen. 1:31). By comparing Genesis 1 to Genesis 2, we find that Genesis 2:4–25 is an expansion on Day 6 (Gen. 1:24–31). And this means that the superlative goodness of Day 6 (Gen. 1:31) follows the solution to the problem that it was not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). Similarly, the double statement of goodness in Day 3 provides a solution to a problem of Day 2—the absence of any stated goodness that comes from the separation between Heaven and Earth.

That is to say, that the formation of the heavens on Day 2 creates an expanse between heaven and earth, which anticipates a distance between God and man. This distance, before the fall, is not due to sin, but it is representative of man’s original position before God. God would make mankind in his image on Day 6, and as Genesis 2:15–17 indicates, God made Adam to have communion with God as he served before him as a royal priest. Additionally, as Genesis 2:4 introduces the first toledoth in Genesis (“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth . . .”), it is possible (likely?) that the union of man and woman in Genesis 2:18–25 explains (as a mystery) how God’s image-bearers will unite heaven and earth.^[14]

14. While this feature of the text is best seen by a comparison to Ephesians 5:31–32, it is undeniable that in the fulness of time heaven and earth are united by means of Christ and his bride (see Revelation 21). Credit to Doug Ponder for helping me see this connection.

So, even as man was made wholly upright and good in his original nature, his ultimate end—Sabbath rest in the presence of the Lord (Gen. 2:1–3)—would only come by way of keeping the covenant offered to him in Eden (what is often called the covenant of works). Thus, mankind’s glorification would require covenantal obedience. Or, to put differently, the only way for man to ascend he hill of the Lord, so that heaven and earth could be joined, was for man to obey God on earth, so that the God of heaven could enjoy everlasting communion with those who were made in his image.

As we know all too well, this is where Adam failed. But it is also where the Last Adam succeeded. When Christ fulfilled every aspect of the Law, he merited every blessing promised by the law. But instead of receiving that blessing immediately, he volunteered himself to die for the curses of his people (Gal. 3:13), so that in his resurrection he might enjoy those blessings with all those for whom he died.

Still, there is another element of Christ’s death and resurrection that comes by looking again at Days 2 and 3. Or to say it another way, by comparing the creation to Christ, we learn something vital. Namely, if heaven and earth are separated in Day 2, then the lack of benediction (“And God saw that is was good”), is missing. And by comparison to the rest of the creation week, the silence is deafening. Equally, when Day 3 has two statements of goodness, we can take note of the pattern—good, not good, doubly good!

Similarly, when Christ rises from the dead on the third day, the silence of Holy Saturday is followed by the good news that “he is not here, for he is risen” (Matt. 28:6) And going further, we can also observe how the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) is also on a Sunday, which puts it on the day of Christ’s resurrection, too. Likewise, because the Spirit is the one who will bear fruit in the ones who have been born again by the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3), he is also the one who unites heaven and earth as the Lord is able to walk among his people on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 2–3) and his Spirit-indwelt people are invited to approach the throne of grace when they gather for worship on the first day of the week (cf. Heb. 12:22–24)—which celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

Long story short, by comparison to the events of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, we can begin to see how the first three days of creation in Genesis prefigure Christ. In other words, as Jesus says in John 8:12 and John 9:5, he is the light of the world (Day 1). Similarly, when he is lifted up on the cross, he is suspended between heaven and earth (Day 2). And when he rises again from the dead (Day 3), he brings into the world a new creation that will raise his people from the dead. Indeed, Paul calls Jesus the firstfruits of the eternal harvest (1 Cor. 15:20–24), and as we have seen from Genesis 1 and Leviticus 23, this imagery is not accidental. It is tied into the plans of God that were revealed from the beginning.

Equally, when we look to Christ’s Holy Weekend, we see how Jesus’s death on the cross inaugurated a new covenant between Christ and his bride (Heb. 9:15), just like the sixth day introduced a marital covenant between Adam and Eve (Mal. 2:14), by means of his own “death and resurrection.” Similarly, on the seventh day of the week, when Christ was laid in the tomb, he was judged by God to be righteous, so that on the first day of the week (the third day after his death), the Son of God would rise from the earth, as the seed that was buried is now brought back to life.^[15]

15. On the seventh day being a day of divine judgment, see my “The First Day of the Lord (Genesis 3): Seven Reasons the Fall Occurred on the Seventh Day,” Via Emmaus.

I realize I am mixing metaphors and bringing in other days too, but that is exactly what the Apostles do, too.^[16] And with the light of their insights, we can have confidence that the creation account of Genesis not only reveals to us how God made the world. But it also tells us that the way God made the world in the beginning is how he is doing so again. Just like the first creation, the new creation has come in the resurrection of Christ—only this creation is better!

16. For instance, Paul employs the first day of creation to describe the new birth in 2 Corinthians 4:6. Just as God said “let there be light” when he created the world, so he says “let light shine out of darkness” in the soul of man, when God brings him or her out of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved son (Col. 1:13)—a kingdom of light and life. ↑

Seeing the Resurrection from Beginning to End

When we let the light of Christ’s resurrection inform our reading of Genesis 1, we see how the typology of Genesis 1:9–13 leads to Christ’s resurrection and informs our own lives too. For consider, just as the second day of creation was not good in itself, so the day before the resurrection was not good by itself either. What was good was the appearance of land on Day 3, when God separated the land and sea. And hence, he says of earth and the seas that God saw that it was good. God evaluated the formation of the dry land, and he judged it good. Equally, when dry land sprouted vegetation, it was also good, because the earth came to life.

Truly, light is good, and God says so on Day 1. And life on the land is good, so God calls it good on Day 3. But in between, on Day 2, the separation of heaven and earth is not good—at least, not yet. In fact, we might go so far as to say that the day before the third day is never good. And if the third day is a pattern of resurrection, redemption, and renewal in Scripture, then the day before the third day is always the worst, the darkest, and the most hopeless.

This was certainly the case with the disciples on the day between Christ’s death and resurrection. On Holy Saturday—the day before the resurrection of Christ—the disciples huddled in Jerusalem with no certainty of the future and no knowledge of tomorrow. From the New Testament, we can now say that Christ descended to Sheol to proclaim his victory (1 Pet. 3:18) and he brought with him the saints who waited for his deliverance (Ps. 16:10), but until the third day came, the distance between heaven and earth was undeniably vast and all hope for the future was buried in the ground. Yet, when the third day dawns and Christ emerged from the grave, it made sense of the others days and offered hope for every day to come. And biblically, this is what we need to see as we look at Genesis 1:9–13.

Yet, we need to see more, too. For truly, just as Christ’s death and resurrection offers a pattern of discipleship for all those who follow Christ, so too does the reality of the second day, awaiting the third. How often does God bring his people to feel the silence of the second day, the day that appears to have no good in it? How often does God lead his people into the darkest part of the night before the day dawns? Theologically, resurrection cannot come until one has died. And if Genesis 1:9–13 provides any indication, the repetition of God’s goodness on Day 3 only comes after his silence on Day 2. On Day 2 God is working, but it has cannot be seen yet. Heaven is still far removed from earth, and on the earth itself, the life-giving land and the fruit-bearing trees are still submerged by the water.

Yet, as the great preacher S. M. Lockridge once proclaimed: “Sunday is coming.” And for Christians who have learned how to read Genesis 1:9–13 in connection with Christ’s resurrection, it will do more than give them a clearer understanding of Christ, it will also help them understand their own resurrection in Christ. For as we have experienced the light of Christ shining in our hearts (Day 1), and we have been given the absolute confidence of our own bodily resurrection (Day 3), we still live in a day that stands between heaven and earth. By the finished work of Christ, we have the Spirit and the Word which bridge heaven and earth. Yet, we also live at a time when darkness persists.

Yes, the light has dawned, but it has not eradicated the darkness fully. Nonetheless, the pattern of the third day teaches us that light and life are coming, if we trust in the one who raises the land out of the sea, the one who raises the plants from the ground, the one who raises Jesus Christ from the grave, and the one who will do the same for us. This is our resurrection hope, and that hope goes all the way back the beginning, and wonderfully it will carry us all the way until the end, too.

****

Appendix A: A List of Many Third Day Sightings in the Old Testament

The Old Testament is filled with Old Testament stories, events, and institutions that terminate on the third day. Here is a wide sampling.

1. Abraham receives Isaac back alive. (Genesis 22:4)
2. Jacob makes a safe escape from Laban. (Genesis 31:22)
3. Simeon & Levi avenge the sin against their sister. (Genesis 34:25)
4. Joseph releases his brothers from prison in Egypt. (Genesis 42:18)
5. The plague of darkness in Egypt is lifted on third day. (Exodus 10:22)
6. Pharaoh’s army is destroyed and Israel is delivered at the Red Sea (Exodus 12:6, 29, 14:20, 27)
7. The Lord met with his people on Sinai. (Exodus 19:11)
8. Sacrifice completed on third day. (Leviticus 19:6–7, 7:17–18)
9. Aaron’s staff sprouts buds, blossoms, and almonds. (Numbers 17:8)
10. Part of the process for purification. (Numbers 19:19; 31:19)
11. God’s people possess the Land. (Joshua 1:11; 3:2)
12. The spies escape from enemies in Jericho. (Joshua 2:22)
13. Treaty with the Gibeonites confirmed. (Joshua 9:16)
14. Israel cleanses sin in its midst (cf. Sodom). (Judges 20:30)
15. On the third day (Heb. “three days ago”) Ruth met her “redeemer.” (Ruth 2:11)
16. David escapes Saul’s death plans. (1 Samuel 20:19)
17. David saves the life of the Amalekite slave. (1 Samuel 30:1, 11)
18. Relief from judgment of pestilence. (2 Samuel 24:13)
19. Extension of life and healing for Hezekiah. (2 Kings 20:5–6)
20. Bad news for those who serve an evil king. (2 Chronicles 10:12)
21. The temple was finished. (Ezra 6:15)
22. Esther, Israel’s advocate, is received by the King. (Esther 5:1)
23. Healing and restoration are given. (Hosea 6:2)
24. Escape from death and life for prophet Jonah. (Jonah 1:17)