3 Bible Tips: The Sign of the Prophet Jonah
1. Jonah was miraculously saved after spending three days and three nights in the belly of a fish.
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17).
2. When the scribes and Pharisees demanded a sign from Jesus, He said the only one He would give is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
"But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth'" (Matthew 12:39-40).
3. Jesus died and was buried just before sundown, so to fulfill His promised sign, He was raised from the dead just before sundown three days and three nights later.
"Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed" (Matthew 27:57-60).
For more about the important sign of Jonah and its implications for Good Friday/Easter Sunday celebrations, see "When Was Jesus Christ Crucified and Resurrected?"