Jesus In India — Page 17
17 Chapter One Christians believe that Jesus was arrested and crucified, owing to his betrayal by Judas Iscariot, was later resurrected, and raised to heaven. A detailed study of the Gospel, however, disproves this notion altogether. It is written in Matthew chapter 12 verse 40: For as Jonah 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. Now it is obvious that Jonah did not die in the belly of the whale; all that happened was that he went into a swoon or a coma. The holy books of God bear witness that Jonah, by the grace of God, remained in the belly of the whale alive, came out alive, and his people ultimately accepted him. If then Jesus had died in the belly of the whale, 6 what resemblance could there be between the dead and the living, and vice versa? The truth is, that Jesus was a true prophet and he knew that God, who loved him, would save him from an accursed death. Therefore, on the basis of divine revelation, he prophesied in the form of a parable, and positively intimated that he would not die on the cross, nor would he give up his ghost on the accursed wood; on the contrary, like the prophet Jonah, he would only be in a state of swoon. In the parable, he had also hinted that he 6 This is a misprint in the first edition, the word ‘whale’ should be read ‘earth’. [Translator]