"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."
Matthew 12:40
Part 1
As Jesus taught the people, it was not unusual to have scribes and Pharisees in the crowd listening to Him. Their only reason to be there was to find fault so that they could condemn Him. While He taught that day, the scribes and Pharisees asked Him to show them a sign. Jesus gave them a stern condemnation, “an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas (Jonah)” (Matthew 12:39). He called them out as a bunch of evil adulterers! After all this time of His public teaching and public miracles, how could they not know who He was? Rather than embracing the truth about Him, they asked for a sign. Their goal was to destroy Him!
The only sign Jesus said He would give them was that of the prophet Jonah. He was a “sign” in two ways. 1) Jonah was a type of the resurrection. “2) Jonah was a preacher of righteousness to a people who needed repentance as Jesus’ generation needs it.”[1]
“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s[2] belly.”
Jesus used a sign that the Pharisees could understand. They believed the miracle[3] of Jonah and knew of his preaching to Nineveh. Jesus knew his audience well.
“Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17).
“For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation” (Luke 11:30).
Jesus was a “preacher of righteousness” and His generation was in dire need of repentance. After Jesus’ resurrection, no doubt, these men remembered Jesus’ words.
Believers, isn’t it interesting that even though Jesus was going into the realm of death, that even there He set the limits? It would only be for as long as He said, three days. Death would not keep control over Jesus, for His Father would raise him from the grave.
“All hail the power of Jesus name,
Let angels prostrate fall!”
Come back tomorrow as we see an implication for our personal ministries from the rest of this verse.
[1] Cambridge Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] The Greek word Jesus used here means “sea monster.”
[3] The Sadducees would not believe in Jonah because they did not believe in miracles.