What Was The Sign Of Jonah
By Ahmed Deedat
“CHRIST” NOT A NAME”
Over a thousand million Christians today blindly accept that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. They produce “a thousand and one” prophecies from the Jewish Bible (the Old Testament) to prove their claim that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jewish. Let us hold the “thousand” prophecies in abeyance for a moment and examine the only unequivocal claim made by Jesus in the Gospel and examine whether he fulfilled his promise to the Jews.
We must admit that the word Christ is not a name. It is a title. It is a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning “anointed.” The Greek word for “anointed” is Christos from which we get the word Christ. Priests and Kings were “anointed” when being consecrated to their office. The Holy Bible confers this title even on a heathen king Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1)
We are reminded in the Gospel of St. Luke that “WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE CIRCUMCISING OF THE CHILD, HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS, WHICH WAS SO NAME OF THE ANGEL BEFORE HE WAS CONCEIVED IN THE WOMB.” (Luke 2:21). The name that was given to Mary for her yet unborn son was Jesusand Not Christ. It was only after his Baptism that he, Jesus, claimed to be the Christ. The Jews were not the ones to accept his claim on its face value. They wanted proof!
“MIRACLE AS PROOF”
Matthew records that the learned men among the Jews – The Scribes and the Pharisees – came to Jesus and ask, “MASTER, WE WOULD SEE A SIGN FROM THEE.” (Matthew12:38). What they really wanted was some “magic trick,” some “sleight of hand” like producing a rabbit out of the hat or walking on the water or flying in the air or trodding on a burning coal. This is the type of “sign” or Miracle they were looking for. The Jews mistook him for a sorcerer, a wizard, a charlatan.
“NO “SIGN” BUT ONE”
With righteous indignation Jesus replies: “AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION SEEKETH AFTER A SIGN; AND THERE SHALL NO SIGN (no miracle) BE GIVEN TO IT, BUT THE SIGN (miracle) OF THE PROPHET JONAS: 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.” (Matthew 12:39-40). Jesus says, “NO SIGN.” He does not refer the Jews to blind Bartimeus whose sight he had restored. He does not speak about the “woman with issues” who was healed by merely touching him; or about the 2,000 pigs he had destroyed to heal “a man possessed;” or the 5,000 and the 3,000 people he had fed and satiated with a few pieces of fish and a few pieces of bread. “No Sign,” says Jesus, But One! – “THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS!” He is putting all his “eggs” in one basket. His claim to being the Messiah (Christ) stands or falls by the ONLY “sign” he was prepared to give. Did Jesus fulfill the only sign he gave??? Christendom answers with a unanimous Y-E-S! without heeding the Biblical advice – ‘not to take things for granted.’ – but “PROVE ALL THINGS!” (1Thessalonians 5:21)
“JONAH FLEES HIS CALL”
What was the “sign” (miracle) of Jonah??? We have to go to the “BOOK of JONAH” in the Old Testament to find out. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the Ninevites to repent from their “evil ways, and from the violence that is in their hands.” (Jonah 3:8) But Jonah was loath to go as a warner unto the Ninevites, so he goes to Joppa instead of Ninevah, and takes a boat to run away from the Lord’s command. While at sea, there was a terrible tempest. According to the superstition of the mariners, a person fleeing from his Master’s command creates such a turmoil at sea. They began to enquire among themselves and said, “COME, AND LET US CAST LOTS, (like the tossing of a coin, “head” or “tail”) THAT WE MAY KNOW FOR WHOSE CAUSE THIS EVILS UPON LOT FELL UPON JONAH.” (Jonah 1:7) Though there was a temporary lapse on the part of Jonah in fulfilling his mission, he manfully and most courageously volunteer: “AND HE SAID UNTO THEM TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME FORTH INTO THE SEA; SO SHALL THE SEA BE CALM UNTO YOU: FOR I KNOW THAT FOR MY SAKE THIS GREAT TEMPEST IS UPON YOU.” (Jonah 1:12)
“DEAD OR ALIVE???”
Since Jonah was selflessly offering himself as a “vicarious” sacrifice there was no need for strangling him before throwing him into the sea, no need to spear him or break his arm or limb. In his own words: “CAST ME FORTHTAKE ME UP AND.” The question now arises, that when the shipmaster and the crew threw him overboard, was Jonah Deador Alive? Any Christian child who has attended Sunday School will give an immediate reply; “ALIVE!” The storm subsides. Was this perhaps a coincidence? A fish swallows Jonah. Was he dead or alive whenswallowed? The answer again is “ALIVE” Was he dead or alive when “JONAH PRAYED UNTO THE LORD HIS GOD OUT OF THE FISH’S BELLY?” (Jonah 2:1). Surely dead men don’t cry and don’t pray! The answer again is “ALIVE!” For three days and three nights the fish takes him around the ocean: dead or alive? “ALIVE!” is the answer. On the third day it vomits him on the seashore: dead or alive? A-L-I-V-E, of course! What had Jesus prophesied about himself? He said “AS JONAH WAS ….. SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE” “soos Jonah” – “njenga jonah” – LIKE JONAH. And how was Jonah? Was he Dead or Alive for three days and three nights? Alive! Alive! Alive! is the unanimous answer from the Jews, the and the Muslim!
“UNLIKE JONAH”
If Jonah was alive for three days and three nights, then Jesus also ought to have been alive in the tomb as he himself had foretold! But Christianity hangs on the flimsy thread of the “death” of Jesus for its salvation. So it has to answer that Jesus was Dead for three days and three nights. The contradiction between his atterance and its fulfillment is obvious. Jonah ALIVE, Jesus DEAD! Very UNLIKE Jonah! Jesus had said “Like Jonah” not “Unlike Jonah.” If this is true then according to his test Jesus is not theTRUE Messiah of the Jews. If the Gospel record is genuine then how can we blame the Jews for rejecting “CHRIST”
“THREE And THREE” [= 72 hours]
The Doctor of Divinity and the Professor of Theology replies that inMatthew 12:40 under discussion, the emphasis is on the Time factor – “as Jonah was THREE, so shall the son of man be THREE days and THREE nights in the Heart of the Earth.” “Please note,” says the learned Theologian, “that the word “THREE” is repeated F-O-U-R T times in this Verse to prove that Jesus was going to fulfill the prophecy as regards the length of time he was going to remain in the tomb, and Not “As Jonah was” in relation to his being alive or dead. If it is a time Factor that Jesus was stressing then let us ask whether he fulfill that aspect of his promise to the Jews as well. The Christian dogmatist answers: “OF COURSE!”
“PUBLIC HOLIDAY”
The question arises: when was Christ crucified? The whole Christian world answers: “FRIDAY!” Is this the reason we celebrate “Good Friday” – “Gooi-Vrydag” – as a Public Holiday in the Republic of South Africa? And every Christian Nation from America to Zambia, from Abyssinia to Zairehave a Public Holiday on the “FRIDAY” at Easter. What makes “Good Friday” so good? “It is the Death of Christ on the Cross on this day to wash off sins,” says the Christians. So he was killed on the cross on a Friday, 1950 years ago? “YES” says the Christians. From the Gospel records we gather that the Jews were in a hurry to eliminate Jesus. Hence the midnight trials, and then dispatching him off to Pilate in the morning; from Pilate to Herod and then back again to Pilate. The vested interest were afraid of the general public. Jesus was their hero. He had been their benefactor. His enemies had to do away with him quickly, and succeeded in doing so. However, as much as they were in a hurry to hang him on the cross, they were in equal hurry to bring him down from the cross before sunset on Friday because of the Sabbath. The Sabbath start at about 6 p.m.on Friday and the Jews were warned in Deuteronomy 21:23 that the victim of crucifixion was an “accursed of God” and was not to be permitted to remain hanging on the Sabbath day, “That thy land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” To satisfy the religious scruples of the Scribe and the Pharisees the “secret disciples” of Jesus took down the body from the cross. They gave the body the Jewish burial bath, plastered it with “one hundred pounds weight of aaloes and myrrh” (John 19:39) then placed the shrouded body into the sepulcher before night-fall.
Why “Supposed”
There are numerous differences between the various sects and denomination of Christianity, but on the above they are unanimous. Jesus is Supposed to be in the Tomb on the night of Friday. He is still the daySupposed to be in the tomb on of Saturday. He is still Supposed to be in the tomb on the night of Saturday. Christians agree whole-heartedly with this. It will be noted that I have repeated the word ‘Supposed’ three times. The reason is that the Gospel are silent as to when exactly Jesus come out of the tomb. He could have been taken away on Friday night by his “secret disciples” to a more congenial and restful place, but I have no right to assume about what the Gospel writers are silent. I have therefore, repeated the word ‘Supposed’ three times.
In the final analysis, let us see whether Jesus was Three days and Three nights in the tomb:
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Easter Week In The Sepulchre
Days Nights
Friday -nil- One Night
Place in tomb just before
Sunset.
Saturday One Day One Night
Supposed to be in the tomb
Sunday -nil- -nil-
Missing before sunrise
Total One Day Two Nights
________________________________________________
You will no doubt note that the Grand Total is One day and Two nights, and NOT Three days and Three nights. According to the Christian Scriptures Jesus had failed a time. First he was unlike Jonah, who was Alive in the belly of the Fish, which is the exact opposite of what the Christians claim had happened to their master Jesus, who was Dead for the same period of time as Jonah was Alive. Secondly, we discover that he also failed to fulfill the TIME FACTOR as well. The greatest mathematician in Christendom will fail to obtain the desired result – THREE days and THREE nights. We must not forget that the Gospels are explicit in telling us that it was “before sunrise” on Sunday morning (the First day of the week), that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.
“Good” Wednesday”
That Armstrong family has debunked the whole Christian world. They seem to know their arithmetic! Mr. Robert Fahey of the “Plain Truth” magazine, delivered a lecture recently at the “Holiday Inn” Durban, where I was present. Mr. Fahey attempted to prove to his Christian audience that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Wednesday and not on Friday, as is Supposed by Orthodox Christianity for the past two thousand years. According to him if one counts backwards from Sunday morning deducting 3 Days and 3 Nights, one ought to get Wednesday as the answer.
I congratulated Mr. Fahey for his ingenuity. I ask him, how was it possible for the past two thousand years the whole Christian world Celebrated GOOD FRIDAY instead of GOOD WEDNESDAY. Thus the 1,200,000,000 Christians of the world today are ignorant of the correct day of the so called crucifixion! It means that even the Roman Catholic Church – which claims an unbroken chain of Popes from Peter to this day – according to Mr. Fahey are mislead.
The question arises, who deceived the millions of Christians for the past Two Thousand Years. God or the Devil? Mr. Fahey categorically answered: “THE DEVIL”
“If the Devil,” I said, “can succeed in confusing the Christians in the most elementary things of their Faith, whether to celebrate a Good Friday or Good Wednesday, then how much easier for him (the devil) to mislead Christians in other things concerning God?” Mr. Fahey blushed and walked away. If this is the belief of the trend-setters of the Christian Faith in the world today, may we not then ask: is this not the mightiest hoax in the history?
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