The Sign of Jonah

Preview: Biblical passages to reveal the timeframe of the Passover and resurrection events.


Pre-reading: Leviticus 23:1-44 & Matthew 17:12-23.

Scripture Reading: Jonah 1:1-17.

Memory Verse: Matthew 16:4.

1. What likeness is depicted between Jonah and Jesus in the foregoing Scriptures?
2. How did Jesus explain this likeness? Matthew 12:40.
Note: The story of Jonah and the statement of Jesus makes it very clear that Jesus would be in the grave three days and three nights; a total of seventy-two hours.
3. What was the only sign given that proved that Jesus is the Messiah? Matthew 12:38-39 & Luke 11:29-30.
4. Did Jesus know that this sign would be rejected? Matthew 12:41-42.
Note: The men of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba believed God’s messengers, and they were saved, but today, the religious world teaches that Jesus died on Friday afternoon and rose early Sunday morning (less than 36 hours in the tomb); thus denying the only sign given that Jesus is the Messiah.
5. What is so confusing about the sign? Mark 15:42-45, Luke 23:46 & Luke 23:50-56.
6. What kind of Sabbath was the next day? John 19:14 & John 19:31-33.
Note: Sabbath means to rest from your normal labor. In addition to the weekly seventh day Sabbath, which was part of God’s Creation and is to be kept forever, there were three other annual feast days. These were determined by the moon and they lasted for several days. At the beginning and the end was a Sabbath or rest day. Jesus was crucified on the preparation of the Passover Feast. It was called a High Sabbath and was not the weekly Sabbath.
7. Where do we find these feast days recorded? Numbers 28:16-18, Numbers 28:25, Numbers 29:1, Numbers 29:7, Numbers 29:12 & Numbers 29:35.
8. What and when was the feast of the first fruits? Exodus 23:16-19, Leviticus 23:9-12, Leviticus 23:20-21, & Joshua 5:10-12.
Note: God told Moses that the people were to offer a sacrifice of first fruits before eating the new crop. We find they kept the Passover (killed the lambs) on the fourteenth day of the month, they kept the feast of unleavened bread on the fifteenth, and on the sixteenth the manna ceased. On the seventeenth they ate the first fruits of the new land. There were three days and three nights from the killing of the lambs to the feast of the first fruits.
9. How does Jesus fit into this pattern? John 12:23-24 & I Corinthians 15:20.
10. Was all of this done according to the Scriptures? I Corinthians 15:3-8.
Note: It is fitting that Jesus, who was the first fruits of the resurrection, should be resurrected on the seventeenth day of Nisan, which was the feast of the first fruits, according to the Scriptures written by Moses and the prophets.