The
Sign of Jonah: Three Days and Three Nights
“What did Yahshua Do the Three Days his Body was
in the Grave?”
PART ONE
Matthew
12: 38. Then some of the scribes and
Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39.
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a
sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the
prophet Jonah. 40. For as Jonah was three days and three nights
in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth.
Jonah
1: 17. And Yahweh appointed a great fish
to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days
and three nights.
Three days and three nights
is the only sign given the evil generation – 72 hours in the heart of the
earth. Yet misinterpretation has made
the sign of Jonah into approximately 36 hours.
We have Yahshua impaled on Friday PM and arising at dawn on Sunday. Does this fulfill the only sign Yahshua gave
to the adulterous (idolatrous) generation?
No. In the first part of this
study, let’s reaffirm the sign from the Scripture.
2. Let’s understand Yahweh’s Sabbaths.
Deuteronomy
5:12. “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy, as Yahweh Elohim commanded you.
13. Six days you shall labor, and
do all your work; 14. but the seventh day
is a Sabbath to the Yahweh Elohim; in it you shall not do any work”
There were around 50 of these Sabbaths every year, the seventh day of every week, sundown to sundown. Sabbath today still begins Friday sundown and ends Saturday sundown.
3. Now, the Day of Preparation. Since no food could be prepared on the Sabbath, all food to be eaten that day was prepared the day before – on Friday while the sun was shining. Friday sunlight is “the day of preparation” for the weekly Sabbath, which begins at sundown Friday night.
4. Let’s understand the first of Yahweh’s High Days. There are seven high days in each year. The first high day is the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
Leviticus
23:6. And on the fifteenth day of the
same month (Abib) is the Festival of unleavened bread
to Yahweh; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7. On
the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no
laborious work.
The Festival of Unleavened Bread is seven days long, and the first day is a High Day, called a Sabbath or High Sabbath.
5. High Sabbath Days don’t necessarily fall on the seventh day. For instance, Festival of Unleavened Bread 2007 began Tuesday Evening, April 3rd, Abib (or Nissan) 15 on the Hebrew calendar. When the Festival of Unleavened Bread falls depends on when the new moon is seen. Fifteen days after the new moon is the Festival. The first day of the Festival is a High Sabbath Day.
6. Each High Sabbath Day requires a day of preparation as well, for no work can be done on these High Days. The preparation day for the High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread has a special name – Pesach or Passover. Again, Passover is the Day of Preparation for the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Passover 2007 fell on April 2nd, Abib 14 on the Hebrew Calendar. The understanding of Sabbaths, High Sabbaths and Preparations Days is essential to learning the Sign of Jonah.
Passover Day = Preparation Day for the First Day of
the Festival of Unleavened Bread
The Passover Meal is eaten at the beginning of the
Preparation Day
Passover day began at 7:55 PM on Monday, April 2nd,
2007.
The First Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread
began at 7:55 PM on Tuesday April 3rd.
Back to the Bible:
7. Tuesday - In the year that Yahshua ate his last Passover supper, Passover started on a Tuesday Evening.
Matthew 26:31. Then Yahshua said to them, “You will all fall
away because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
32. But after
I am raised up, I will go before you to
Again, this is Tuesday evening at the beginning of the day of Passover, the Preparation day for the High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread.
8. Wednesday – The Day of Preparation for the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
Mark
15:33. And when the sixth hour had come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34.
And at the ninth hour (3
PM) Yahshua cried with a loud voice, “Elohi,
Elohi, lama sabach-thani?”
... 36. And one ran and, filling a
sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying,
“Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37.
And Yahshua uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.
John
19:30. When Yahshua had received the vinegar,
he said, “It is finished”; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31. Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to
prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that
Sabbath was a High Day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be
broken, and that they might be taken away.
It will be Preparation Day
until sunset Wednesday night. In the
course of the night, Yahshua is captured, tried – at daylight sent to Pilate –
crucified – and died all on Passover day,
the Day of Preparation, a Wednesday (by our way of understanding). He is entombed at the end of the day before
dusk.
Mark
15:42. And when (Wednesday) evening had
come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the
Sabbath
(the Sabbath being
the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, not Saturday),
Mark 15:43.
Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the
council, who was also himself looking for the
Luke 23:54. It was the day of Preparation, and the
(High) Sabbath was beginning. 55. The women who had come with him from
Mark
15:46b. and he rolled a stone against the door of the
tomb.
The burial of Yahshua was all
completed before sunset so they could observe the High Sabbath then. So Yahshua was in the Tomb on the High Sabbath – the
First Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
Yahshua is ‘in there’ Wednesday night at the start of the first day of Unleavened Bread (A High Day).
Yahshua is ‘in there’ Thursday night at the start of the second day of Unleavened Bread (24 hours completed).
Yahshua is ‘in there’ Friday night at the start of the third day of Unleavened Bread (and also the weekly Sabbath – 48 hours completed).
Yahshua is in there all day Saturday the weekly Sabbath until twilight Saturday evening (72 hours completed – three full days and nights).
9. He is Risen – Saturday, between 6 to 8 pm, seventy-two hours after he is put in the tomb.
Matthew
28:1. Now after the Sabbath,
toward the dawn (the drawing on, epiqwskoush) of the first (day) of the week (Saturday sunset),
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher. 2. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for
an angel of Yahweh descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone,
and sat upon it. 3. His appearance was like lightning, and his
raiment white as snow. 4. And for fear of him the guards trembled and
became like dead men. 5. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be
afraid; for I know that you seek Yahshua who was crucified. 6. He
is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see
the place where he lay.”
It’s
night! And the light comes from “the
Angel of Yahweh.”
10. Mary Approaches the Tomb Saturday after Dark.
John
20:1. NOW ON the first day of the
week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark,
and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
Early would be considered
sometime around eight or nine PM Saturday night, while it was dark. This was the beginning of the first day of
the week, when they could go forth after
the Sabbath. Would Mary Magdalene have waited until sunrise service? No way.
She would have gotten over there the minute Sabbath was ended – Saturday
night.
John 20:14. Saying this, she turned round and saw Yahshua
standing, but she did not know that it was Yahshua. (Quiz – why didn’t she
recognize him right away?) 15. Yahshua said to her, “Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him,
“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will
take him away.” 16. Yahshua said to her, “Mary.” She turned and
said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which
means Teacher, not husband).
11. But lookee here!
Mark
16:2. And very early on the first day of
the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3. And
they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the
door of the tomb?”
When they all may have learned of his resurrection has little to do with when he actually arose.
12. So, the Sign of Jonah was fulfilled – Yahshua’s body was entombed in the bowels of the earth 72 hours – Wednesday just before sundown to Saturday just before sundown, and he rose at the end of the Sabbath (Saturday) evening – not Sunday morning at dawn. The women discovered him either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. By the time they discovered him, he had already arisen.
Jonah 2:10. And Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited
out Jonah upon the dry land.
PART TWO
During the three days of the Sign of Jonah, Yahshua’s remains rested in the tomb. His body was dead.
1. Yahshua was born a man but he wasn’t a man only.
John 1:1. [In
the] beginning was the Word (Logos / Dabar)
John 2:1b,3. all things came to
be through him ....
Colossians 2:9 For in [Messiah] the whole fullness of
deity dwells bodily ...
Revelation 2:9 ... the first
and the last, who died and came to life.
Revelation 3:1 ... him who
has the seven spirits of Yahweh and the seven stars.
Revelation 3:14 ... the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of Yahweh’s creation.
In fact, these verses imply that Spirit Yahshua couldn’t be killed at all. The great miracle was the taking back of his crucified body after three days and before it corrupted.
2. Here are some of Yahshua’s titles from the Bible and elsewhere: the Word, the Firstborn of Creation, the Angel of Yahweh, the Son, the Son of Man, the Son of Righteousness, the Metatron, the Only Begotten, the Right Arm seated at the Right Hand, seated in heavenly places, King of Kings etc. As such, Yahshua, the Dabar, the Angel of Yahweh (Isaiah 9:1-4), could not die and may not have even been subject to destruction in the lake of fire.
3. Next we go to the realm of perception. Modern scientists have proven that the reality we sense is only an illusion. Stimulus received through the senses is processed by the brain – what we know is a chemical creation, interpreted very subjectively. Yahweh designed us this way so we could effectively deal with the very small amount of information we receive through our senses and “make sense of it.”
Consider if we had to deal with simple things like radio waves, cosmic radiation, sound waves beyond our hearing range, etc. We are limited to seeing in the realm we call “the natural.” We are limited primarily to the first heaven. We neither see the supernatural nor usually sense it, though some have a sixth sense for it.
4. Next to time, space, energy and matter: Our sense of all four of these things is mere perception interpreted by the brain and other organs. Godly scientists like Albert Einstein, who’s intention it was to learn the nature of Elohim, proved that both matter and energy are concentrated forms of space and time. We call this “the time / space continuum.” Such is the realm of the physicist and mathematician.
Suffice it to say that Yahweh has revealed to man that spiritual matters do not run in accordance with our limited perception. There are many hints of this disparity in the Bible, but none clearer than
Psalm 90:4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
2 Peter 3:8.
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with Yahweh one day is as
a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Time, space, matter and energy are perceived radically differently by spiritual or multi-dimensional beings like the Metatron; who, in Hebrew lore,
is Prince of the Divine Face, Angel of the Covenant, King of Angels, Lesser YHWH. Metatron is charged with the sustenance of the world. In the Talmud and Targum, Metatron is the direct link between Yahweh and humanity.
We know the Metatron as Yahshua, son of Yahweh.
5. Next to spiritual dimensions: The Bible and biblical literature refer to “dimensions of space / time” as “the heavens” / shamayim / ouranoi / ouranoi.
Psalms 50:6.
The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge!
Selah!
Matthew 3:16.
And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and
behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of Yahweh descending ...
2 Corinthians 12:2. I know a man who fourteen years
ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the
body I do not know, Elohim knows.
Much of the Hebrew literature refers to seven “heavens” or dimensions. Others refer to ten. Most of this literature has been purposely omitted from the Bible, but there’s a lot of it, both from Old Testament times and New. You may acquire the literature from a Christian book dealer or free on the internet. Books include 1 – 4 Enoch, Baruch, Apocalypse of Abraham, Moses, Peter, Paul many more. 4 Enoch speaks specifically of Metatron and 2 Enoch of the Son of Man journeying through these dimensions (“heavens”). Primarily, we read about these:
First
shamaymah (heaven): earth, sky, stars – that which we
can perceive as humans;
Second
shamaymah: a prison “abyss” in the earth inhabited by
the spirits of the giants;
Third
shamaymah: Sheol in the earth and
Fourth
shamaymah: Stratosphere – sun, moon, stars and
myriads of angels that run them;
Fifth
shamaymah: Tartarus in the
earth – an prison “abyss” of disobedient spirits;
Sixth
shamaymah: High angelic managers, cherubim, seraphim;
Seventh
shamaymah: Yahweh, Yahshua, Metatron,
certain archangels.
If Paul was caught up into the third heaven, then he might either have viewed a paradise or a hell, or both.
Apocalypse of Paul
(excerpt) Then the Holy Spirit who
was speaking with Paul caught him up on high to the third heaven, and he
passed beyond to the fourth heaven. The Holy Spirit spoke to him, saying,
“Look and see your likeness upon the earth.” And he looked down and saw those
who were upon the earth. Then he gazed down and saw the twelve apostles at his
right and at his left in the creation; and the Spirit was going before them.
Generally, those in the higher heavens may manifest themselves in the lower ones. Only by special dispensation may those in the lower experience higher plains. Angels may make themselves plain to us if they will. Demons often make themselves plain.
6. Next, spiritual beings hierarchies: From the Bible we know of several classes of spiritual beings: “the angel of Yahweh,” seraphim (“flamers”), cherubim (“wise ones” or “guards”), malachim (“messengers” – “angels”), ophanim and irim (“watchers”); and the names of some – Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Azazel, Satanel, Beliar, Belial, Beelzebul, Beelzebub, Ashera, Asmodeus, Asclepius, Mithras, Tammuz and many, many more in banned literature. Paul speaks of a hierarchy of enemy spirits:
Ephesians
6:12. For we are not
contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the
powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The hymnal has a great, ancient song about the hierarchy of angels:
Ye
watchers and ye holy ones, bright seraphs, cherubim, and thrones,
Raise
the glad strain: “Alleluia!”
Cry
out, dominions, princedoms, powers,
Archangels,
virtues, angel choirs:
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
O higher
than the cherubim, more glorious than the seraphim,
Lead
their praises; “Alleluia!”
Thou
bearer of the eternal Word,
Most
gracious, magnify the L-rd;
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
7. Now it’s very important to realize that there was a time in the dimensions that
Job 38:7. the morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of Yahweh shouted for joy.
The ruler and creator of all these myriads of spiritualities, planets and extra terrestrial beings is known to us as Yahweh Elohim. In the state of timelessness and space, Yahweh’s high potentate over all is Yahshua, the Metatron, the Son of the Most High Elohim. We can’t measure when this arrangement was made of for how long – it’s beyond our ability to measure time.
8. However, six thousand years or so ago,
Rev. 12:7. War broke
out in heaven.
Matthew
11:12. (Yahshua:)
“And ... now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Luke
16:16. (Yahshua:)
“Since then the good news of the kingdom is preached, every one enters it
violently. 17. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass
away, than for one dot of the law to become void.
There was law in the
9. The fallen angels before and since took human form to enlist and enslave humanity through procreation, bringing forth godless human / angelic monsters, many of whose bodies were destroyed in the flood. The spirits of these monsters were imprisoned in the second heaven abyss. The fallen angels themselves were imprisoned in the fifth heaven abyss. They were separated.
Yahshua made it perfectly clear that angels were still falling and procreating and bringing forth monsters:
John
8:40. But now ye seek to kill me, a man
that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of YHWH: this did not Abraham.
41. Ye do the deeds of your father.
Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication;
we have one Father, even YHWH. 42. Jesus said unto them, If YHWH were your
Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from YHWH; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. ... 44. Ye
are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do.
Angels still come and wreak havoc on the earth. The word is “devil-filled.”
In the earthly
dimension, the first heaven, we have great buildings we call “penitentiaries”
where the disobedient go to serve their prison terms. This is the same in the heavenly
1
Peter 2:4. For if Yahweh did not spare the angels when they sinned, but
cast them into hell (tartarus, tartarwo, the fifth heaven) and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until
the judgment; 5. if he did not spare the ancient world, but
preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he
brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6. if by
turning the cities of
10. When the heavenly war escalated fully upon the earth, the Metatron Yahshua came to enlist certain obedient human beings to join in the last battle for the universe we know. That’s in our temporal future, though we continually fight in the present, often what we can’t see.
But unlike the fallen angels, he wasn’t procreated from sexual union, but through the direct intervention of Yahweh. It made him similar in make-up to the giants, for the angelic part in them couldn’t be killed, only imprisoned.
However, Yahshua, though half man, was also fully Yahweh Elohim. And though his body constrained him to human existence, being freed of that body would let the Spirit of Yahweh out, so to speak. The horror is that the devil’s crew knew this but was like wolves on a hare – they tortured him and killed him, knowing they would “let the angel out of him.” Since that time, the Spirit of Yahshua has been engaged in recruiting the ‘elect’ for the final showdown with evil.
11. So this knowledge brings us to an understanding of the answer to our initial question – “What did Yahshua Do (in Spirit) the Three Days his Body Was In the Grave?”
a. He went through all the heavens:
Ephesians
4:9. In saying, “He ascended,” what does
it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He
who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might
fill all things.
b. He fought a great battle:
Colossians
2:15. He disarmed the principalities and
powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
c. He proclaimed victory in the third and fifth heavens:
1 Peter 3:18. Being
put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; 19.
he went and preached (proclaimed) to the spirits
in prison, 20. who formerly did not obey, when
Elohim’s patience waited in the days of Noah...
d. He rent the temple curtain – no man could do that:
Matthew 27:51. And behold, the curtain of the temple was
torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
d. He resurrected the uncorrupted dead (saints):
Matthew 27:52. the tombs also were
opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53. and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went
into the holy city and appeared to many.
e. He returned to revive his dead body, and live in that body for certain days.
John 20:16. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and
said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni.” 17.
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the
Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and
your Father, to Eliy and Eloheyka.”
Undoubtedly, there were many other acts, a millennium of acts (360 books of them) that he accomplished while three days went by here. But they remain a mystery. What is pertinent is that we understand that we have been enlisted (elected) to win the battle with him, and we have a very important mission to accomplish in the meantime. Though we don’t understand its importance now, when we too are glorified, the meaning will come clear.
1 Corinthians
13:12. For now we see through a glass,
darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even
as also I am known.