“Raised again the third day” is an exclusive statement. From 3 PM on the Friday, when the Savior died, to 3 PM Saturday is the first day. From 3 PM Saturday to 3 PM Sunday is the second day. From 3 PM Sunday to 3 PM Monday is the third day; and according to this statement our Lord could rise at any point of time between Sunday at 3 PM and Monday at 3 PM. It will be noted that “the third day” excludes all of Sunday except the last 3 hours, namely, 3 to 6 PM.
“And after three days rise again” is an inclusive statement. The first of these days, being inclusive, embraces all Friday – the day of our Lord’s death. The second is all Saturday; and the third is all Sunday. Each of these days is composed of 24 hours, measured like all Bible days from 6 PM to 6 PM. Therefore “after three days” means any time after 6 PM Sunday when the fourth day began. It will be noted that this statement excludes all Sunday as the day of the resurrection.
“So shall be Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”. This again is an inclusive statement. The three days are (1) 6 AM to 6 PM Friday; (2) 6 AM to 6 PM Saturday, and (3) 6 AM to 6 PM Sunday. The three nights are (1) 6 PM Friday to 6 AM Saturday; (2) 6 PM Saturday to 6 AM Sunday, and (3) 6 PM Sunday to 6 AM Monday. This statement therefore positively restricts the time of the resurrection to the twelve hours of the third “night”, namely, 6 PM Sunday to 6 AM Monday.
As we are about to show from the Scriptures, our blessed Lord did rise in the middle of the third night. Therefore, His three predictions were all literally fulfilled because the resurrection too place on “the third day” – exclusively reckoned; “after three days” – inclusively reckoned; and in the third night of the “three days and three nights” – inclusively reckoned.
It is needless to make further comment as it must be perfectly obvious to all that these three statements of our Lord Jesus Christ above quoted finally dispose of the notion that He rose from the dead at any point of time on the Sunday which followed His death at 3 PM on the previous Friday.
Excerpt from The Restored Vision by A.E. Ware pages 380 to 383.
Jesus arose on “the first day of the sabbaths”. This refers to the seven sabbaths (or weeks) between the waving of the “sheaf of the firstfruits” (Lev. 23: 9 -21) which is the pre-eminent type of our Lord in resurrection, and the waving of the two loaves of the “firstfruits” at Pentecost fifty days later. In other words, the Gospels state that our Lord rose on “the first day” of the seven weeks which elapsed between His resurrection and Pentecost. Other scripture clarify that the resurrection was at midnight Sunday.
Light from the Word 