Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 143
143 sign of the Prophet Jonas; for Jonas 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. " Here St. . Matthews has stated only this much: "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here" (Matthew, Ch. 12:141). St. Luke, however, stresses the point that "as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall the son of man be to this generation. " In other words, he says in respect of this sign that the way Jonas was a sign for the inhabitants of Nineveh, so shall the Messiah be for the generation of the period. . It is clearly evident from these references that the real sign that was to be given to the age of the Messiah was that of the Prophet Jonas. In this behalf the Messiah himself says. "For as Jonas 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. ' "". SIMILARITY IN FEATURES. Here the Messiah (peace be on him) has explained what the sign of the Prophet Jonas stands for. He says as Jonas stayed three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so shall the son of man stay for three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth. Resemblance does not mean similarity in all the details. It means only a similarity in basic features. It is on the basis of this sort of similarity that the Messiah says that as Jonas stayed for three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall he stay in the tomb. The significance of this sign was that the Messiah should stay in the tomb three days and three nights like the Prophet Jonas under the protection of God. Certainly the entry of someone in