The Messiah and His Miracles

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah

The sign of the prophet Jonah is the sign of death and resurrection.  When it was clear that the leaders of the nation would never accept Him, and that the great majority of the people would follow their leaders’ example, Jesus withdrew the offer of the ‘at hand’ kingdom of God. Consequently, the authenticating miracles that He performed to demonstrate that He was their true Messiah ceased.  So when He was asked for another attesting sign by the Sanhedrists,[1] He responded, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah”.[2]  By describing them and the nation they led as “evil”, He drew a straight line between them and the Evil one whom they were serving.  They had charged Him with being manipulated by the Evil one. He countered by declaring that they were the ones that were manipulated by the Evil one. This reversal of the true nature of the opposing protagonists is at the heart of the ‘light of the world’ debate.[3]  In that discussion, Jesus said to them, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”[4]  Their response was to repeat their previously formed opinion, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”[5] When He added the adjective “adulterous” He was describing them in the same way as YHWH described Israel at those times when they left the worship of the one and only true God to follow other lovers, that is other gods.  In the case of the generation that rejected Jesus as Messiah, it refers to the fact that they have left the LORD to serve another god, Mammon.  

His statement, ‘no sign will be given … except …’ declared that there would be only one more authenticating sign left for the nation, the sign of the prophet Jonah. He refused to perform any other attesting signs for the nation. There were other miracles – but they were in response to individual need or for the training of the apostles, they were not offered as authenticating signs for his Messianic credentials. Luke added some extra illuminating detail at this turning point in the ministry of the Messiah.  He recorded, “Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.”[6] The request of a sign from heaven continued the doctrine that the previous sign was from Hell/Hades, and was a continuation of the strategy of Satan, that the nation should treat Him as demon-possessed, a ‘cast down one’. This is why the Messiah told them that a sign from Hades would be the only further sign they would receive, the sign of the prophet Jonah.  Jonah, a man selected by God to warn Nineveh of impending judgement, fled to avoid obeying his divine given orders.  He died at sea when swallowed by an oceanic leviathan.  Jesus provided a description of the sign: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”[7] The sign of the prophet Jonah is resurrection from Hades/Sheol.[8]  When Jonah died, his body was in the sea creature for three days and three nights, but he himself was in Sheol. Jonah’s testimony stated as much. “I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.  You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.  Then I said, I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?  The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God.”[9]

The Messiah’s use of Jonah’s experience as a picture of the last sign was so very apt.  It worked on several levels, and He referred to it several times in His ministry.  In addition, it dovetailed very successfully with the third primary authenticating sign, blood on the ground.  The sign of the prophet Jonah will be a miracle mightier than all other miracles, for the Messiah would not only die but also rise again.

The sign of the prophet Jonah had three sections, the death of the Messiah, the burial of the Messiah, and the resurrection of the Messiah.   As Paul wrote, "Christ (Messiah) died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures".[10] To ensure that the nation’s leaders understood the significance of this last attesting sign, Jesus educated them by instruction and example.  He first related to them a true story, and then later performed an extraordinary miracle, John’s seventh significant miracle, the raising of Lazarus.

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[1] Matt.12.38; Luke 11.16

[2] Matt.12.39

[3] John 8

[4] John 8.34

[5] John 8.48

[6] Luke 11.16

[7] Matt.12.40 (NASB)

[8] These two words are different names applied to the same place, the place of the dead. In Greek it is called Hades, and in Hebrew it is called Sheol.

[9] Jonah 2.2-6 (NRSV)

[10] 1 Cor.15.3,4