Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 119
Chapter Nine—Paganism and Paul 119 sepulchre one day and two nights, and not three days and three nights as the prophet Jonas was in the belly of the whale. Neither was the first part of the prophecy fulfilled as to the very words, except that we may say that the semblance of death on the cross, as seen by John the Divine, that he saw him [i. e. , the Lamb] ‘as it had been slain’ 1 is a symbolical reference to death, or that the terrible torture which he was going to suffer on the cross followed by a swoon is figuratively meant as death. On the other hand, there are many prophecies, some of which I have mentioned in the first chapter, which show that God would save him from death on the cross. It is undeniable, therefore, that when everyone had despaired of his life, God saved him from death and thus was fulfilled what he had foretold. He remained in the sepulchre alive just as Jonah remained alive in the belly of the whale. 1. Rev. 5:6