Tag Archives: resurrection

The Sign of Jonah

04 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by in Apologetics, Easter

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What does the historicity of the Old Testament book of Jonah have to do with Easter? Quite a bit, actually. In Matthew 12:39-41, Jesus said, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh in that he came back from the dead in a sense—not literally, but after having spent three days under the ocean, in the stomach of a fish. In the context of this quotation from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is arguing that His resurrection would prove the unbelief of the Pharisees. The people of Nineveh repented at the sign of Jonah, but the Pharisees would not repent at the greater sign of the Son of man’s resurrection from the dead. But if there never was a Jonah who spent three days and three nights in the belly of a fish, and if he never did preach in Nineveh and lead the city to repentance, the comparison would be imaginary and would prove nothing about the Pharisees. And if Jonah wasn’t literally in the belly of a fish for three days, then maybe Jesus wasn’t literally in the grave for three days, either. Jesus’ assertion that “a greater One than Jonah is here” would also be an empty claim if Jonah never actually preached at Nineveh.

There are, however, strong reasons to believe in the historicity of both the prophet Jonah and the events in the biblical book which bears his name. The strongest reason is, of course, the fact that the book of Jonah is a part of inspired Scripture, as acknowledged by both the ancient Jews and the Lord Jesus Christ. The man Jonah is mentioned in another part of the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 14:25. The historical context in which Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 corresponds to a period of weakness and disorder in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, during which Jonah’s warning that Nineveh would be overthrown in forty days would have been particularly believable. During this period, there was a time in which the administrative control of the Assyrian king was reduced to “greater Nineveh,” which explains why Nineveh is the main focus of Jonah’s prophecies (rather than “Assyria”). There are good reasons to believe that when Nineveh is described as a journey of three days in breadth (Jonah 3:3), with 120,000 young children (Jonah 4:11), it is the district of Nineveh that is referenced, and not just that part of Nineveh enclosed by the city wall.

Many critics have also asserted that it is impossible for a man to survive for three days and three nights in the belly of a fish. While this fish is said to have been specially prepared by God (Jonah 1:17), it still was a real fish, and it really did swallow Jonah alive. The common idea that this fish was a whale is nowhere stated in Scripture; in fact, whales are very rare in the Mediterranean, and this was more likely a great white shark, which has a much slower metabolism than a whale. It is also important to realize that the term “three days and three nights” does not necessarily refer to a full 72-hour period, but only to parts of three days. “Day and night” is a Hebrew idiom for what we would call a “day.” Among other references to “day and night” in the Bible, Jesus said that His body would be buried for three days and three nights (Matt 12:40), yet He was buried late in the day on Friday and raised at early dawn on Sunday, a period of about 36 hours.

For more detailed argumentation regarding the historicity of the book of Jonah, see my new Kindle book, The Historicity of the Book of Jonah, and Why It Still Matters.

Where is Harry Houdini?

28 Saturday Mar 2015

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Harry Houdini was the world’s greatest escape artist. He routinely escaped from handcuffs, locked jail cells, straitjackets, nailed coffins, and all sorts of other restraints that were supposed to be secure. One of his most famous acts was escaping from an airtight, locked glass-and-steel cabinet that was filled with water. No one could create a system of locks and chains that was so secure that Houdini could not free himself from them.

Harry Houdini born on March 24, 1874 as Ehrich Weiss, the son of a Jewish rabbi, in Budapest, Hungary. Though a Jew, Houdini was not very religious. He spent much time in his later years trying to debunk mediums and spiritists. He was unsure about life after death, however. Before he died on October 31 (Halloween Day), 1926, he agreed with his wife that if it was possible to communicate from the other side of the grave he would send her a message. He also made his wife promise on his deathbed that she would try to communicate with him on the anniversary of his death, making contact with him wherever he might be. His wife held séances for him every year on October 31, for ten years, with no success. Magicians around the world have continued to hold yearly séances for Houdini, but they have never received a message from him. Harry Houdini’s body was buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York, and his body remains in the ground. Harry Houdini was unable to come back from the other side of the grave, whether as a spirit or in the body, and he has not even been able to send a message. The fact that Houdini has not sent a message is itself a clear message: Houdini can’t send any message back to the earth, and he can’t escape from the place where he now is.

Luke 16:19-31 tells the story of another man who, like Harry Houdini, wanted to send a message to his family from the other side of the grave. Like Houdini, this man was a Jew, but was not very religious. He was wealthy, however, and enjoyed a “good life.” Yet when he died, he went to a place of great torment, called Hades. While in the torments of Hades, he saw, far off in another realm, a beggar named Lazarus who had once sat under his table, eating crumbs. Lazarus was in Paradise, taking comfort in the arms of Abraham. Somewhat surprisingly, the rich man found that he was able to communicate with Abraham. He first asked Abraham to send Lazarus to put a drop of water on the tip of his tongue to cool it, but was told that not only would it be impossible for Lazarus to travel to Hades, it would also be unjust for the rich man not to suffer the torment he deserves. The rich man then asked Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth in order to warn his brothers about the place of torment. Abraham refused once again, telling the rich man that it would do no good—if his brothers would not listen to the witness of the Scriptures, they would not listen to the witness of a man who came back from the dead, either.

Jesus did something that neither Harry Houdini nor the rich man of Luke 16 could do—He escaped from death! Jesus came back from the dead in His own body, and He proved it by repeated appearances to hundreds of different people who were extremely skeptical. Many of these people were later killed for their belief in the claims Jesus made for Himself, which shows that they were convinced beyond all doubt of Jesus’ resurrection. While many people in the world had, and still have, great respect for Harry Houdini and his views on life and death, there is only one man whom we can trust when it comes to matters of life, death, and eternity, and that is the Man who rose from the dead.

Postscript: for a more detailed discussion of the Bible’s teaching concerning the underworld and life after death, see my Kindle book The Bible’s Teaching on Endless Punishment, and Objections to It.