How does faith in the gospel's three days in the tomb separate us from our old life of sin?
Faith in the gospel—that Christ died, was in the grave three days and three nights, and rose—separates us from the old life of sin and bondage. Those three days in the tomb are the basic gospel premise; without them there is no gospel and no setting free from sin’s shackles.
Les explains that Matthew 12:38-40 records the scribes and Pharisees asking for a sign, and Jesus points to Jonah: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Les ties this back to Exodus, where God pictures that Israel could not be set free from Egypt unless three days separated them from their place of captivity. In the same way, salvation rests on the basic gospel premise: Christ died, was in the grave three days and three nights, and rose from the dead. If we ignore that premise, Les says, we have no gospel. But when we put our faith in that gospel, the three days and three nights in the tomb separate us from the old life of sin and bondage.
For as Jonas 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.