Jesus Christ
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36. What’s the sign of the prophet Jonah, of which Jesus spoke to the
Pharisees and Sadducees when He said to them: “A wicked and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the
sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 16:4 – NKJV)? |
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It is the
fact that Jesus was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth
(where He preached the Gospel to the spirits in prison who formerly were
disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah). For
on another occasion, in which Jesus was asked to show a sign, He said: “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 – NKJV). |
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Obviously,
that sign was fulfilled when Jesus was killed by the Jews. However, as after
three days and three nights God commanded the fish (which had swallowed
Jonah) to vomit Jonah onto dry land, so after three days and three nights God
raised Jesus from the dead, having loosed the pains of death. |