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**Note**
The statements I am making to you on this thread are not to be taken personally, nor are they intended to be made in an insulting fashion (though I reserve the right to "throw hands" with you again in the future). I know you to be very capable of analytical thought, as I have enjoyed such conversations in the past. While this conversation may be rather... frank... at times, it is meant to be straightforward (perhaps at the expense of decorum) in order to eat the meat of the thing. Please do not be offended.

One would then have to assume that the earthquake and the miraculous removal of the stone from the tomb did not herald the moment of the resurection.

Yes, one would.

It seems a much less forced interpretation for the reader to conclude that, just as an earthquake and the miraculous rending of the temple veil and the darkening of the skies accompanied the moment of Christ's death, this second earthquake and the opening of the tomb and the light of dawn accompany the moment of Christ's rising.

Yet it is only an assumption (which leads to your conclusion). It is implied, not declared. One must remember that, and that is all that there is - the implication - as glorious and beautiful as it seems.

While I am operating in a similar fashion (my conclusions are derived from implied or inferred actions/events as well), mine do not stand alone:

Since it is declared by YHWH that the sacrificial system, which is the Temple Mount, does not have efficacy, what is it's purpose? It is also declared that the Holy Days of YHWH (and by inference, every action, rite, and symbol) are "shadows of things to come." Since the Temple system did not have effect, and it's only other purpose supports those Holy Days, I must conclude the whole Temple structure and all it's scenarios, in all their ways and means, to be prophetic in nature,and Christ's coming was fulfilling that prophecy, just as He fulfilled the more general written words of the prophets. The Temple rites and rituals which encompass the Holy Days may be (in my mind, are) a microcosm of salvific events in exacting detail, and with exquisite timing.

Your inferences, while matching the majority opinion, are made of whole cloth - tangentially recognizing the Holy Days (again, the Jewish sense is "rehearsals")... and your church has created rites and rituals in remembrance after the fact, in support of their similar conclusion.

My inferences take into account the rites and rituals established before the fact, not only in remembrance of past events, but also as portents of good things to come, as established directly by YHWH the Father, or in compliance with that establishment. IOW, THAT is what the Holy Days are FOR. My inferences stand upon those Holy Days, rites, and rituals and thereby take strength by them.

The time in question, the earthquake Sunday morning, coincides with the cutting of the sheaves at the Temple. What can we draw from that?

And which opinion stands in compliance with the "Jonah" statement? No matter how you might calculate, there is no way to get three days and three nights out of your scenario. If one simply accepts that bare fact, one will be lead in paths never even dreamed of.