Jesus tells them that it is 'an evil and adulterous generation' that seeks a sign of vindication, instead of believing the prophets. However, Jesus accommodates them with one sign, and ONLY ONE SIGN- the sign of Jonah the prophet.
What was the sign of Jonah? Jesus gives us the meaning of the sign - Just as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of man, Jesus, would be three days and nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus tells them that after his death, he would stay in the 'heart of the earth', or the grave (She'ol), for three days and three nights. After that period, he would come out ALIVE. He is telling them precisely when he will be resurrected from the dead.
It is obvious that these men understood Jesus to mean a literal three days and nights. After the death of Jesus, members of the great council went to Pilate, saying,
Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. [Matt. 27:63-64]
Why such a specific time? Because that is what Jesus said, and that is how they understood him.
How would Pilate understand this request? Would he understand the third day to mean three days from the crucifixion, or would he be so versed in Jewish views of time interpretation, that he would automatically understand this request to mean anytime within those first three days? Would he take this request literally or figuratively?
The conventional wisdom relies quite heavily upon a rather obscure Jewish footnote to their calculating of time. The first century rabbi Akiba is quoted, "A day and a night are an Onah (a Jewish measure of time), and part of an Onah is counted as the whole of it". This has been the major crutch for explaining away the prophetic utterance of Jesus. Friday afternoon to Friday sunset counts as DAY ONE. Friday sunset to Saturday sunset counts as DAY TWO. Saturday sunset to Sunday sunrise is DAY THREE.
There we have it. That is how the conventional wisdom treats the saying of Jesus. An obscure Jewish calculation of time is applied CARTE BLANC, and POOF! the import and validity of Jesus vanishes. We should call this COPPERFIELD THEOLOGY. A sleight of hand trick, prophecies disappear and the masses are duped. By using this trickery, we make Him out to be a liar and a fraud. Aren’t there enough people around who are trying to do that, without any help from those who profess to believe in him?
The traditional view takes a position somewhere in between the literal and symbolic. And to be honest, 'the third day' does have some symbolic connotations. Beasley-Murray shows that the phrase had a particular understanding in Jewish tradition. It meant a short period of time, when God is looked to for deliverance from a present distress.
The Midrash on Gen. 42:17 is given as an example, "The Holy One, blessed be He, never leaves the righteous in distress more than three days." He also quotes Lehman, who says, "The third day brings the turning of something new and better. God's mercy and righteousness creates a new 'time' of salvation, of life, of victory."
However, the fact that 'the third day' may have a symbolic meaning, does not take away from its application in the literal. Matthew 28:62-66 shows that the Jewish leaders understood its' meaning as literal, when they requested the placement of guards at the tomb.
It is the height of absurdity to believe that Pilate would understand this request in any other way except literally. Could the Jewish leaders be asking Pilate to secure the sepulchre until 'God's mercy and righteousness creates a new time of salvation, life and victory'? Do you hear how ridiculous this sounds?
Seeing how this sign was given to those who did not believe, it is imperative that it be fulfilled exactly. If not, then he would be the liar and fraud they accused him of being. The Scriptures demand it, when it says,
And if thou shalt say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Why would the Lord lay down such a guideline for determining a false prophet and then speak a prophetic word, and not fulfill it? It is impossible! Edersheim states concerning this sign of Jonah,
And yet to all time this is the sign, and the only sign, which the Christ has given, which he still gives to every 'evil and adulterous generation’ . . .This is the 'sign', the evidence, the only 'sign', which the Christ gives his enemies . . ."
It could almost be understood as a challenge to his opponents, saying, I shall be raised up after three days and three nights, stop me if you can. And it is true that God's mercy and righteousness, in this 'third day', created a new time of salvation and of life and victory!!!
The sign given by Jesus to his opponents must not be devalued. It is of paramount importance. If the literal three days and nights are not fulfilled, just as he said, then by his own words is he condemned as a liar and false prophet. It is the sign to every generation of unbelievers, that he is exactly who he claimed to be, the Messiah of God, Son of the Living God. By removing the exactness of this prophecy, we are guilty of making him a liar and the blood of sinners is on our hands, not his.
Get Your Copy of The Only Sign Given Now!
