Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 12:40

"for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." — Matthew 12:40 (ASV)

The great sign of our Lord’s mission is His resurrection and His preparation of the Gospel of salvation for the Gentiles. His life-story is well symbolized by that of Jonah.

They cast our Lord overboard, just as the sailors did the man of God. The sacrifice of Jonah calmed the sea for the mariners. Our Lord’s death made peace for us.

Our Lord was for a time in the heart of the earth, as Jonah was in the depth of the sea, but He rose again, and His ministry was full of the power of His resurrection. Just as Jonah’s ministry was certified by his restoration from the sea, so also is our Lord’s ministry attested by His rising from the dead.

The man who had come back from death and burial in the sea commanded the attention of all Nineveh, and so too, the risen Savior demands and deserves the obedient faith of all to whom His message comes.

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.

The great sign of our Lord's mission is his resurrection, and his preparing a gospel of salvation for the Gentiles. His life-story is well symbolized by that of Jonah.

They cast our Lord overboard, even as the sailors did the man of God. The sacrifice of Jonah calmed the sea for the mariners; our Lord's death made peace for us. Our Lord was a while in the heart of the earth as Jonah was in the depth of the sea, but he rose again, and his ministry was full of the power of his resurrection.

As Jonah's ministry was certified by his restoration from the sea, so is our Lord's ministry attested by his rising from the dead. The man who had come back from death and burial in the sea commanded the attention of all Nineveh, and so does the risen Saviour demand and deserve the obedient faith of all to whom his message comes.