The "high day" and the "three-days-three-nights"

"Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?

 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.

 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man." (Prov. 8:1-4).

I've been confused by all the information that this subject has required for its resolution. I sure would like to see it resolved in my mind. While it's an old argument, is it solved? Do we disgard it because Ellen White wrote that Jesus rested in the tomb over the weekly, seventh day Sabbath? Does proving a three-days-three-nights rest before His resurrection destroy His testimony, which is the Spirit of Prophecy given to Sr. White? We have stood staunchly, not stubbornly, behind Ellen White's stance on many doctrines that clashed with the other denominations, even standing against the atheistic Evolution and allopathic-Pharmaceutical medical communities. And scientific discovery has vindicated us. Will the testimony of Jesus come through for us again on our Friday sacrifice-seventh day rest-Sunday sunrise conflict?

Is this an all important issue that might draw us away from the more important issues of the heart and of redemption? Is it so important that it can overshadow the investigative judgment that prepares us for the sealing and the Latter Rain? Could it supplant the message of God's love, which alone meets the needs of the soul? Or rather, can this issue add much needed credence to scriptures' hedge of protection against the incursion of pagan errors that so often have co-opted truth ultimately for the scriptures' demise?

Is there hiding behind the Good Friday burial really a secret holy war between Catholic and anti-Catholic human traditions? Might the truth be a third thing? 

Historically, it does seem that Truth and error meet at a juncture where error is divided between two livid enemies, and Truth cooly comes out of nowhere, and, in His divine self-control, wins the day. "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." (Rev. 22:20).

Wikipedia states:

"The Gospel of John says of the day beginning following Christ's death, 'that sabbath day was a high day' (19:31–42). That night was Nisan 15, just after the first day of Passover week (Unleavened Bread) and an annual miqra ['called assembly'] and rest day, in most chronologies. (In other systems, it was Nisan 13 or 14, i.e., weekly but not annual Sabbath.) The King James Version may thus be the origin of naming the annual rest days 'High Sabbaths' in English.

As coincidental with weekly Sabbaths

High Sabbaths are considered by Seventh-day Adventists and other seventh-day Sabbath keepers to be a subset of the feast sabbaths. In their view, only those feast sabbaths that coincide with the weekly Sabbath are regarded as High Sabbaths." 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Sabbaths#Biblical_rest_days

I believe that Wikipedia is saying that only Sabbath-keeping churches hold that the "high day" of John 19:31 was high when the weekly Sabbath aligned with an annual Sabbath. But it can also infer that the seven annual feasts, five of which are shabbaton (sabbaths), are the real "high days" referred to by John.

If that were the case, then that could lend itself to a Thursday first day of the feast of unleavened bread sabbath and two days later the weekly Sabbath.

But, Adventist Pioneer Library makes a strong case for a Friday sacrifice from the perspectives of the "third day" and "the heart of the earth" elements. I am including the article's makeshift timeline, hoping that it comes through for the reader, but knowing from personal experience that it will be severely challenging for audiences using a cellphone like I am.

             FRIDAY                  SATURDAY                       SUNDAY         

  1st of the 3 days.             2nd of the 3 days.               3rd of the 3 days.  

==========         =========              ========== 

 NIGHT.           DAY.       NIGHT.           DAY.       NIGHT.              DAY. 

==========                      =========                    ==========   

1|—2----------|—3------|-4-|---------------5---------------------------|6        

                                                                

| 6th Day of Week.                | 7th Day of Week.           | 1st Day of Week.          |   

|______________________|____________________|___________________| 

EXPLANATION. - First, The figure “1” marks the betrayal, near the beginning of the sixth day of the week. Second, The figure “2” marks the trial, to the third hour of the daylight part of the same day. Third, The figure “3” marks the crucifixion, from the third to the ninth hour of the sixth day. Fourth, The figure “4” marks the burial, between the ninth hour and the close of the day. Fifth, The figure “5” marks the rest in the tomb during the night and day of the seventh day, and the night of the first day. Sixth, The figure “6” marks the resurrection, early the first day of the week. Mark 16:9.

When Christ said to the chief priests and captains of the temple, who had come out to take him, “This is your hour and the power of Darkness” (Luke 22:52, 53), he set apart a peculiar period in his experience during which he was in the hands of men. This was the time when he was “in the heart of the earth.” It began with his betrayal, at the beginning of the sixth day, and ended with the resurrection on the morning of the first day of the week. Thus it will be seen that all was in strict accordance with the Jewish manner of reckoning time, as in Genesis 42:17, 18; 2 Chronicles 10:5, 12; Esther 4:16; 5:1; and with the manner in which both Christ and Paul reckoned the third day (Luke 13:31, 32; Acts 27:18, 19); and with Christ’s repeated declarations that on the third day after his betrayal into the hands of men, followed by his suffering and death, he would rise again."

https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1294.29#55

https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1294.78#81

Already being familiar with the definitions of "third day" argument, the perspective I found most satisfying was "in the heart of the earth". Although their illustrations could have been stronger, the context and other scriptures do bear out that the heart of the earth didn't mean what seems might be the common reading. It is true that Jesus, while in the tomb, was literally in the heart, or bosom, of the earth. In the Jonah account, "heart" is a possible translation of the Hebrew word for "belly" (Jon. 1:17) from Strong's H4578 mêʻeh, as also can "womb". And the "heart" and "belly" of the Matthew 12:40 and Jonah 1:17 prepositional phrases indicate literally, spacially inside.

But, when seen in the context, Jesus was doing His normal speaking via parable. Directly after His "belly of the whale-heart of the earth" declaration, He shows the similitude representing Jonah successfully preaching to the Ninevites, and Himself, the greatest preacher, being among the Jews that day preaching in the heart of the earth! The context makes Matthew 12:40 completely disassociated from His burial. Nothing of the Matthew 12 context concerned His arrest and death.

And, besides the Jonah sign, the Queen of Sheba gladly came from great distance to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but greater wisdom was pouring out of Christ while He was in the heart of the earth. Yet they would not come to Him that they might hear the greatest wisdom. Both the Ninevites and Queen of Sheba examples were simply opportunities for Christ to declare that a greater than Jonah and Solomon was in the nation's midst for three years.

And, as it relates to the heart of the earth, it might also be appropriate to realize that the Hebrew concept of literal earth was not our 21st century, spherical concept of Earth. In Genesis chapter 1 a new idea is gaining acceptance among Hebrew scholars that creation week didn't describe Jesus speaking into existence our cosmic sphere, but simply its land and everything on it. "In the beginning God created [the atmosphere and heavenly bodies] and [all life on the emerged landmass]."

The ancient concept of earth originating from Genesis 1, the "heart of the earth" would mean the "midst of the land". Literally situated at the crossroads of three continents, Ezekiel 5:5 indicates that Israel was at the center of the world. And Jesus inferred the same three day message in Luke 13:32 when His enemies tried to use Herod in order to scare Him away from finishing His mission. 

"And He said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected."

The first two days of the three days in the heart of the earth was His ministry in the hearts of the people, healing their beloved diseased and demon possessed. And that work was in keeping with the typical Passover lambs. Those yearlings spent 3 1/2 days in the hearts of the families for whom they would die, just as the Messiah would work in the hearts of the Jews 3 1/2 years and then die "for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament", that "they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." (Heb. 9:15).

I would like to add one more thought to the "third day" prophecy that was actually 2 1/2 days per the Adventist Pioneer Library, when beginning at Christ's betrayal (and could it not begin earlier at the pouring out of His soul in Gethsemane?) until His resurrection from the tomb. Bible students often do not realize prophetic time periods until after their fulfillment, neither do Bible students calculate the time periods correctly before their fulfillment. 

For example, the 430 year "captivity" in Egypt did not begin at the Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph, but rather at the covenant between God and Abraham when the bad news of captivity was told to him. 215 years passed between that year and the entrance of Jacob's family to sojourn in the land of Goshen. And, after that, 215 years passed until the Exodus. This conflicts with many believing in a four century Egyptian enslavement still to our day.

"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." (Exo. 12:40,41).

Similarly, "three days", "in three days", "on the third day" may calculate differently than the plain reading may expect. But taking all inputs and facts into consideration, the truth will win in the end.

So, the rest of the six part defense by Adventist Pioneer Library (originated by Uriah Smith) should be looked at. Ellen White was right. But I will paste the link for an opposing view, which was a bit invective against Adventism, and which I confess I haven't spent much time on. But I may if time permits.

http://intercontinentalcog.org/Appendix/Passover_dates_26-34_AD.php