Three Days and Three Nights "Three Days and Three Nights" on amazingfacts.org (an SDA resource site) says being in the heart of the earth doesn't mean being dead in the grave, but rather being controlled by the world, so the three days and three nights began when the Son of Man was betrayed into the hands of sinners.
The Heart of the Earth
So the phrase “in the heart of the earth” can easily be translated as “in the midst of the world”--or in the grip of this lost planet—-that Jesus came to save!
In other words, in Matthew 12:40, the Lord is telling His disciples that just as Jonah was in the belly of a great fish, so the Son of Man would be in the central clutches of the world.
The Hour of Truth
There are five Bible verses in which Jesus refers to Thursday evening as “the hour,” meaning a pivotal transition time in His ministry:
- “Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Matthew 26:45).
- “Then He came the third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners’” (Mark 14:41 NKJV).
- “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him” (Luke 22:14).
- “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone” (John 16:32).
- “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John 17:1).
