Jonah was alive in the belly of the whale.....so how comes you say Jesus was dead in the grave?
Is there a solution out of this one also?
Omya, there is a solution to this one too.
Jonah was alive in the belly of the whale, and yes, Jesus was dead in the grave, but God wasn't. God the Son, God come in the flesh was dead, He had to die in order to bring life to us, but God never died. He could not be dead if He was God. This is why an awareness of the doctine that Christians believe that God is one God, expressed in three persons.. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is so essential to this understanding.
In speaking of His approaching death and resurrection, Jesus affirmed that "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Two important lessons are learned from Jesus using Jonah as a picture of His own experience to come
1. The experience of Jonah was an anology of the period between His death on the cross and His resurrection. Some have said that Jonah's story is fiction, but Jesus stated it as a fact of history.
2. Why use Jonah? Because of the reason Jonah was in the belly of the fish in the first place. "The men of Ninevah will stand up at the judgement of this generation (the ones that Jesus was speaking to) and will condemn it: For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and one one greater than Jonah is here. (namely Jesus Himself). Jesus was implying that the inhabitants of Ninevah actually did respond to Jonah's stern warning and denunciation with self-abasing humility and fear as recorded in Jonah 3. Jesus declares that these raw untaught pagans were less guilty before God, than the Christ-rejecting Jews of His own generation.
So, yes, Jesus was dead in the grave for three days, but this was Jesus who was/is the totally Man. As God, He couldn't die, but as man He had to die to accomplish his plan of salvation.
However, in using this as an example, in context, Jesus wasn't using the example as a means of confirming his death and resurrection, but as a warning to his listeners.
They were after a "side show event", "we want to see a miraculous sign from you". Jesus answer was that the only miracle they would get, was that the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish." He then describes the reaction of the Ninevites who Johan preached to following this experience, and in effect, told those listening to him - the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law " you have God, the Messiah in your midst, you have seen him in person, yet you refuse to do as the Ninevites did, who only had Jonah... you refuse to repent. He warns them, that on judgement day, failure to repent will lead them to be under condemnation from those same Ninevites.
Notice, immediately following this story, Jesus reminds them of The Queen of Sheba who came to see King Solomon after she heard the stories of what God was doing with Solomon, and one greater than Solomon was now amongst them. The warning is clear.. you have heard, you have seen, you have touched.. repent or you will be condemned all the more for you refusal to see what was even more obvious to you, than was obvious to those in Jonah's generation who repented.
As always, scriptures must always be read in context and a verse not just used to address an issue. The contradictions disappear when this essential rule is followed.
Does this answer your question Omya?