The name Jonah in Hebrew means Dove,¹ and the Greek equivalent is Jonas.² He was a prophet in Israel from approximately 800-780 BC.³ He prophesied that Israel's ancient boundaries would be restored during a very low point in Israel's history.⁴ He did so when there was no apparent possibility that his prophecies against Syria would be fulfilled.⁵ These conditions during the ministry of Jonah reflect similar conditions that will be present during the future ministry of the Two Witnesses at Jerusalem.

Most people who believe in the Bible are familiar with the account of Jonah's entombment and miraculous restoration from the belly of a great fish⁶ after three days and nights.⁷ This event prefigured three miracles: (1) Israel's swift victory over Syria anciently and the restoration of Israel to her promised lands as Jonah predicted,⁸ (2) Christ's victory over death and the literal resurrection of his body that was three days in the belly of the earth,⁹ and (3) the literal resurrection of the Two Witnesses after 3½ days.¹⁰

Some scholars question the reality of Jonah's story and doubt that he was literally swallowed by a great fish and survived.¹¹ However, Jesus implicitly accepted the literal truth of the account when he said that his own resurrection would be in the likeness of Jonah's experience.¹² Jesus acknowledged this when faithless Jews¹³ demanded a sign from heaven to prove that Christ was the son of God.¹⁴ Those that doubt the reality of Jonah's story today have no more faith than unbelieving sign-seekers from the past.¹⁵

The sign of Jonah has at least three foreshadows, but it also has two symbolic meanings.¹⁶ Matthew 12:40 explains the first part of the sign, saying: "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."¹⁷ The Two Witnesses will also fulfill that sign when they die and then resurrect after 3½ days as noted above.¹⁸

Luke 11:30 describes the second part of the sign,¹⁹ saying, "as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation."²⁰ The Ninevites were Gentiles²¹ (non-Israelites)²² that lived in the Assyrian capital²³ of Nineveh.²⁴ Jonah preached to them with great reluctance²⁵ because the Gentile people in Ninevah were enemies of Israel.²⁶ Nevertheless, Jonah raised his warning voice in Ninevah, saying: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."²⁷ The Ninevites repented and the city was spared.²⁸ Similarly, the Two Witnesses will raise their warning voice in Jerusalem for 3½ years.²⁹ When both Jews and Gentiles ignore this warning and fail to repent,³⁰ destruction will follow at the Second Coming.³¹ When they see the Two Witnesses resurrect in the likeness of the sign of Jonah it will be too late for them to repent.³²

The account of Jonah may provide valuable insights about the Two Witnesses because Jonah is their type or foreshadow, just as Jonah was a foreshadow for Christ,³³ and also Saul (Paul) and Alma the Younger. Saul³⁴ and Alma the Younger³⁵ were both proud and headstrong people like Jonah, but they too were cleansed by their three-day Jonah-like experiences. Jonah was imperfect,³⁶ as other prophets have been.³⁷

Some scholars have suggested that Jonah was weak³⁸ or was afraid to preach³⁹ in the dangerous city of Nineveh.⁴⁰ However, the scriptures state that his fierce loyalty to Israel⁴¹ led him to hide from his prophetic call.⁴² He was a devoted and fierce patriot of Israel who was willing to die,⁴³ rather than bless a heathen nation that was Israel's enemy.⁴⁴ Nevertheless, he stood against the enemies of Israel as the Two Witnesses will stand against the Gentiles in a future day with power to put their tens of thousands to flight.⁴⁵ The Two Witnesses will be numbered among the weak things of the earth,⁴⁶ but they will have power to thrash the nations.⁴⁷

The prophet Hosea ministered in Israel soon after Jonah.⁴⁸ He alludes to the sign of Jonah in Hosea 6:1-2, saying: "Come, and let us return unto the Lord.... After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight."⁴⁹ Many scholars interpret this as a prophesy of Christ's resurrection at the time of his first coming.⁵⁰ However, this verse applies to the sign of Jonah that will be given at the Second Coming⁵¹ when the Two Witnesses rise from the dead on the third day. When that happens, the downtrodden Jews⁵² will be revived⁵³ as the covenant people of God⁵⁴ and all of Israel will live in the Lord's sight during the millennium.⁵⁵ After the resurrection of Christ in the meridian of time, the Jews did not live in his sight.

Hosea 6:3 also prophesies of Christ's Second Coming by the following allusions or references to what can only be described as millennial conditions:⁵⁶ (1) Hosea refers to the knowledge of the Lord that will fill the earth,⁵⁷ (2) he refers to Christ's coming as the morning light,⁵⁸ and (3) he refers to the life-giving rain⁵⁹ that will come after 3½ years of drought caused by the Two Witnesses during the Great Tribulation.⁶⁰