Prophecies about Jesus: His resurrection

Jesus did many miracles. He healed many people, including the demon possessed. He used a boy’s lunch to feed a crowd that included 5,000 men. He calmed a storm. And He raised Jarius’s daughter back to life.

But then some Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus to show them another miraculous sign to prove that He was the promised Messiah! They disregarded all His other miracles. They were skeptical. The request was an excuse for their unbelief. They probably wanted a spectacular “sign from heaven” (Mt. 16:1; Lk. 11:16). But they weren’t looking for proof from Jesus, they were looking for proof against Him, so they could get Him killed. It was a test, not just a request (Mt. 16:1; Mk. 8:11; Lk, 11:16).

How did Jesus respond? Firstly, He said that they were wicked and unfaithful to their God. Then He said that the only sign He would give them was “the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Mt. 12:38-42; 16:4; Lk.  11:29-32).

To understand this, you need to know about the Old Testament prophet Jonah from the northern kingdom of Israel who lived in the 8th century BC. God told Jonah to go to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh to announce that they will be punished for their wickedness. This was about one month’s journey from Israel. Jonah disobeyed God and sailed away from Ninevah. But God intercepted him at sea. Jonah was thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. In the belly of the fish, Jonah repented, and the fish spate him back on dry ground. When Jonah delivered the message in Nineveh, the Assyrians repented, and God did not bring judgment upon them.

The “sign of Jonah” is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead – Jesus said, “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man [Jesus] be in the heart of the earth [the grave] for three days and three nights” (Mt. 12:40NLT). What happened to Jonah was like the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Jonah appeared as if he had died and been raised up in order to save Israel from future destruction by the Assyrians.

You might know that Jesus was probably not in the grave for 72 hours (24×3). It was probably no more than 38 hours (assuming burial at 3pm on Friday and resurrection at 5am on Sunday). This is explained by the fact that “Three days and three nights” was a common Jewish saying for any part of three days. We do the same thing – there is a 2-day church leadership retreat in May, but it doesn’t go for 48 hours!

So, this part of the story of Jonah was a pattern prophecy that was only apparent when it was explained by Jesus. But the people didn’t understand or remember this explanation (see Appendix). This kind of prophecy is usually only evident in hindsight.

Instead of a miraculous sign in the sky, the Jews received a miracle in history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the main proof and evidence, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ (Rom. 1:4). It was the ultimate sign (or miracle) – no other signs or miracles are needed. God planned the death and resurrection of Jesus for the salvation of people like us. In this way, Jesus took the death penalty that we deserve.

Prayer

Father God, we thank you for the many patterns in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled. As Jonah was sent to warn the Ninevites of God’s judgment, Jesus was sent to warn us of the need to accept the salvation available through His death and resurrection.

We recognise the importance of the resurrection as the final and ultimate miracle in the Lord’s earthly ministry. This confirmed that His death was difference to all other deaths. And we thank you for the promise of our future resurrection to be with Him forever.

We thank you for His sacrificial death that enabled our sin to be forgiven. And we thank you for His resurrection back to life which was a great victory over death, sin and Satan. As those who have trusted in this good news about Jesus, we offer thanks and praise for all that you have done through Jesus. Amen.

Appendix: Was the resurrection of Jesus expected?

Jesus had predicted His death and resurrection many times during His ministry (Mk. 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34; Mt. 16:21; 17:22-23; Lk. 9:22). However, the Gospels state that the disciples did not understand these predictions or grasp their meaning:

• “But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it” (Mark 9:32NIV).
• “The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about.” (Luke 18:34NIV).

This lack of comprehension is reinforced by their reactions after the crucifixion:

• The disciples were in hiding, fearful and disheartened (Jn. 20:19).
• When women reported the empty tomb, the initial response was disbelief or dismissal as nonsense (Lk. 24:11).
• Mary Magdalene mistook the risen Jesus for a gardener (Jn. 20:15), assuming the body had been taken.
• The women who went to the tomb were not expecting a resurrection. They were going to anoint His body with burial spices as part of their normal burial customs. Their concern about who will roll away the stone shows they anticipated a sealed tomb with a corpse inside. And they were afraid and astonished when they found the tomb empty.
• On the road to Emmaus, two followers expressed dashed hopes without any hint of resurrection expectation (Lk. 24:17-21).
• Even when Jesus appeared, some disciples initially thought He was a ghost or doubted (Lk. 24:37-41; Mt. 28:17).
• Even after his friends told him they had seen Jesus, Thomas demanded physical proof (Jn. 20:25).

First-century Jews generally expected a general resurrection of the dead at the end of time (Dan. 12:2), not an individual resurrection of one person (especially a crucified messiah) in the middle of history. No Jewish texts from the period describe an anticipated isolated resurrection like this, making the disciples’ post-crucifixion belief surprising and unlikely to have been invented based on prior expectations. Their Messianic hopes focused on a figure who would restore Israel politically or spiritually by overthrowing the Romans and restoring the kingdom of Israel; a suffering, crucified, and then individually resurrected Messiah was not expected.

The rapid shift from despair to bold proclamation of the resurrection (despite persecution) is often cited as evidence that something transformative occurred—typically explained by the disciples’ experiences of seeing the risen Jesus. Even skeptical historians like Bart Ehrman acknowledge that the followers genuinely came to believe Jesus had been raised soon after His execution.

So, the disciples were not expecting the resurrection at all—until they encountered evidence that convinced them otherwise. The disciples’ apparent lack of expectation strengthens the claim that something unexpected happened, because they were not primed to invent a resurrection story they were already waiting for.

Acknowledgement

Large Language Models were used to compile the Appendix.

Written, March 2026

Also see: The greatest miracles of all.