How Jonah’s experience foreshadows Christ, the Two Witnesses, and the Second Woe.

The Sign of Jonas at the End of the Second Woe

The Sign Prefigures the Resurrection of Christ and the Two Witnesses

Jonah (Greek Jonas) was the Old Testament prophet best known for his experience in the belly of a great fish for three days and nights.

“And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Jonah 1:17

His experience prefigured the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whose body was in the belly of the earth for three days. When the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven, He replied: “There shall no sign be given … but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” (Matthew 16:4)

Because the Jews were unbelieving in the face of so many other signs, the sign of Jonas:

“Would be ‘not unto salvation’ but to their condemnation.”

— Kent Jackson, Studies in Scriptures, Vol. 5, pp. 258–259

That will also be true of the signs during the 3½-year ministry of the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem (Revelation 11:3–6). Their death and resurrection after three days will again be a sign of condemnation to the wicked who reject their testimony of Jesus Christ.

The Reality of Jonah and the Great Fish

Some scholars question the reality of Jonah’s story. However, Jesus Himself accepted its truth when He compared His resurrection to Jonah’s experience.

“I believe … the story of Jonah. My chief reason for so believing is not in the fact that it is recorded in the Bible, or that the incident has been duplicated in our day, but in the fact that Jesus Christ, our Lord, believed it.”

— Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 2, p. 314

Joseph Fielding McConkie likewise compared Jonah and Jesus:

“It might be observed that Jonah's experience was considerably less of a miracle than the resurrection which it represents. If one believes in the resurrection, it is a small matter to accept as true the experiences of Jonah.”

— Joseph Fielding McConkie, Gospel Symbols, p. 168–169

The Two Parts to the Sign of Jonas

The sign of Jonas has two symbolic parts.

First, it prefigures the resurrection of Christ:

“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.”
Matthew 12:40

Second, it symbolizes the preaching of repentance:

“As Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation…. The men of Nineva … shall condemn this generation: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
Luke 11:30, 32

As Jonah raised his warning voice in Nineveh, the Two Witnesses will raise their warning voice in Jerusalem. The Jews and Gentiles who ignore their message will be destroyed at the Second Coming.

The Sign of Jonas Ends the Second Woe

The sign of Jonas will culminate at the end of the Second Woe, accompanied by a great earthquake:

“And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand.”
Revelation 11:13

This judgment will destroy a large portion of the wicked, represented by the tenth part of the city and 7000 men. It will be an extensive but partial judgment, foreshadowing the final plagues of the Third Woe (Revelation 11:14).

Learn More

For a deeper dive into the future sign of Jonas and the great earthquake at the end of the Second Woe, listen to my podcasts from:

🎧 August 24, 2025 - → Click here to listen

🎧 August 26, 2025 – Click here to listen

(Also available wherever you get your podcasts 🎧)(Also available wherever you get your podcasts)

John Cassinat
Unveiling Jesus Christ