12 May 2015
Matthew 16:4
Matthew 16:4: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”
In other places Jesus explains what He means: just as Jonah was in the great fish for 3 days and 3 nights, so Jesus will be dead for 3 days and 3 nights and then raise back to life after that.
As a side-note, if Jesus was in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights, that means Jesus couldn’t have been crucified on Friday because there aren’t 3 nights between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning no matter what calendar you use or how you count the days. But that is a topic I have covered in detail elsewhere.
Notice, also, that Jesus considers Jonah to be a real person. He doesn’t say that Jonah was a myth, or a legend, or a fairy-tale, or a story that got exaggerated over time. He considers Jonah to be a real prophet who really was in the great fish for 3 days and 3 nights. He believes it is a true story – which should say something to the “scholars” out there who say it isn’t true.