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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" (12: 39, 40).
Later on, the Lord referred again to Jonah as being the only sign that would be given
to that unbelieving generation (16: 4). Apart from the fact that the Saviour set His seal
upon the truth of Jonah being swallowed by the great fish, it is evident that there was
more in this incident than appears on the surface. Too often it is understood to mean that
Jonah was miraculously preserved alive inside the fish and afterwards vomited upon the
dry land. In which case one might well ask how the prophet could be a true picture of the
death of the Lord Jesus and His entombment for three days and three nights? Jonah does
not hesitate to describe the belly of the sea monster as "sheol" the grave (2: 2 translated
"hell" cp. Psa. 16: 10) and "shachath" corruption (2: 6). This word is rendered the
"grave" in Job 33: 22. The belly of the fish was the grave to Jonah. Moreover the
"as" and the "so" of Matt. 12: 40 would lead one to believe that Jonah, after uttering the
prayer recorded in chapter two of the prophecy, actually died and was brought to life
again when given up by the great fish, so becoming a perfect type of the Lord's death and
resurrection*. This occasion in the Lord's ministry was not the only time that He
stressed His resurrection as a sign to those who would not believe.
[* - We are aware that some Christian expositors would not go as far as this,
but ask the reader to test what is written in the true Berean spirit.]
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up . . . . . but He spake of
the temple of His body" (John 2: 19-21).
Not only was the truth of His death and resurrection a stone of stumbling to His
enemies, but His own disciples failed to grasp the significance of these great truths.
"And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no
man what things they had seen, till the Son of Man were risen from the dead. And they
kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the
dead should mean" (Mark 9: 9, 10).
But the most majestic reference to the truth of His resurrection during His earthly life
was given by the Lord Jesus to a sorrowing woman, distraught with grief at the loss of a
loved one. "Thy brother shall rise again" (John 11: 23) was the greatest comfort that He
could give to Martha on the death of her brother Lazarus. Then followed: "I am the
Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live" (25). To the believer who is instructed in the Word, this has always been the only
ground of his hope for time and for eternity. "Because I live, ye shall live also"
(John 14: 19). After the glorious statement of John 11: 25 which proclaims Him to be
the I AM--Jehovah of the Old Testament--Who has the keys of death and the grave we
come to the opposite extreme in verse thirty-five which is the shortest verse in the Bible.
"Jesus wept." Here we have the sublime mystery of godliness--God manifest in the
flesh. He Who was truly God was also truly human and only as such could He be the
Redeemer of sinners.