The Book of Jonah

Have you ever been in danger of drowning? — I have. I don't know how to swim, and I have been rescued from the bottom of a lake twice. I will tell you about the prophet Jonah, who was thrown from the deck of a ship into the sea. We do not know if Jonah knew how to swim, but God saved him in a miraculous way. This is told in the Bible in the Book of Jonah.

Jonah lived during the time of Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom of Israel in the 700s BC. In addition to the Book of Jonah, he is mentioned in the Second Book of Kings (2 Kings 14:25) as well as in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The Book of Jonah is found in the Old Testament among the minor prophets, between the books of Obadiah and Micah. The Book of Jonah differs from other prophetic books; it is narrative in nature. The book has four short chapters.

In the Storm. In the first chapter, God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, a great Assyrian city, to proclaim God's judgment. Nineveh was located to the east, near the modern city of Mosul in Iraq. The task given to Jonah was not easy, as Nineveh was far away—a month's walk—and the Assyrians worshiped idols. The Assyrians were also known for their brutality. We have read and heard about the atrocities of ISIS in those same regions in recent years.

Have you ever been asked to do something, but you didn't dare, didn't know how, didn't have the strength, didn't care, or couldn't be bothered? Jonah acted in this way. He decided to flee. He set out by ship west toward Spain, in the completely opposite direction.

Once the ship reached the open sea, God raised a violent storm. The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. The sailors cast lots to find out who was responsible for the danger that had befallen them. The lot fell on Jonah. Jonah confessed that he was fleeing from God and asked the sailors to throw him overboard so that the storm would calm down. This was done, and the storm grew calm. Through these events, faith in God was awakened in the sailors. They prayed, offered a sacrifice, and made vows.

Many events in the lives of Old Testament figures have parallels with the life of Jesus. These people can thus be viewed as types of Jesus. Jonah is such a type. Jonah did not jump into the stormy sea himself; he was thrown. In the same way, Jesus voluntarily agreed to be killed for our sake. When Jonah was thrown into the sea, the storm calmed. This illustrates that the storm of God's wrath, raised by our sins, is calmed through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Jonah being thrown into the sea to save the sailors is a prefiguration of Holy Communion. The bread of Communion, which is the body of Christ, is given for us. Jonah being thrown into the sea is also a prefiguration of baptism. In baptism, through water, we are united with the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jonah's rescue from the water depicts the resurrection.

Jonah is not the only person in the Bible who was thrown into water. "Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15). One can think that just as Jonah was thrown into the sea to save the sailors, Jesus was "thrown into the lake of fire" to save us.

In the Belly of the Fish. When Jonah was in the sea, a huge fish swallowed him. There are still whales in the Mediterranean today, but we do not know if this was a fish, a whale, or some unknown species. Some Bibles use the word "sea monster" (Matt. 12:40, NASB).

Jonah prayed using the words of the Psalms inside the fish. Therefore, the second chapter is called Jonah's Psalm. I will take three examples:

• 2:2: "In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me." — Ps. 120:1
• 2:4: "I have been banished from your sight." — Ps. 31:22
• 2:6: "But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit." — Ps. 30:3

In the same way, Jesus repeated Psalms while hanging on the cross. In fact, the entire Psalm of Jonah could be placed in the mouth of Jesus.

Jonah accepted his suffering from the hand of God (2:3): "You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me."

On the third day, the fish vomited Jonah alive onto the shore. Jonah's survival has fascinated people's minds throughout the ages. In the light of science, it is impossible to survive inside the belly of currently known fish or whales, but with God all things are possible.

Jonah is a type of Jesus, to whom Jesus directly referred (Matt. 12:40): "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Jesus thus identified his burial and resurrection with Jonah's experiences inside the fish.

What is the benefit of reflecting on types of Jesus? I will highlight three things:

• They confirm that Jesus' life was planned in advance.
• They make reading the Old Testament more interesting. The Old Testament is like a detective story where clues to the solution are hidden.
• Types act as a mirror to Jesus' life and work of atonement.

I will give an example of this third point. In verse 2:4, Jonah prayed: "I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple." For the Jews, the Temple in Jerusalem was the most important place on earth. Jews prayed facing the temple. Jonah's words fit the mouth of Jesus on the cross. The temple was a tall building opposite Cavalry, where Jesus was crucified. It is quite possible that there was a line of sight from the cross to the temple. I will read verse 2:4 again: "I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple."

The words "I will look again toward your holy temple" also have another meaning. Jesus identified himself with the temple. We may fix our eyes on Jesus and pray facing Him.

Jonah's prayer ends with the words "Salvation comes from the Lord." This phrase in Hebrew contains the name of Jesus: The Lord saves. According to tradition, Jonah was the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah raised from the dead. If this is true, Jonah had a special reason to believe in God's help.

In Nineveh. In the third chapter, God again commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh. This time Jonah obeyed. He proclaimed in the streets of Nineveh: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." A proper revival sermon contains Law and Gospel. Here, the destruction of Nineveh represents the Law, and the 40-day period of grace represents the Gospel.

The people of Nineveh took Jonah's message seriously. They believed God, fasted, and repented. When God saw that the Ninevites turned from their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not allow the destruction to befall the city. The revival of Nineveh is a great miracle. The Assyrians had no particular reason to take a representative of a foreign religion seriously. Two factors may have contributed to this:

• Assyrian clay tablets mention a total solar eclipse that occurred in 763 BC, which may have happened just before Jonah's visit.
• Jonah's appearance might have changed due to the gastric acids of the fish. In this, we can see a connection to the different nature of the resurrection body.

Jesus used the revival of Nineveh as a point of comparison for the Jews' lack of repentance: "The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here" (Matt. 12:41).

What does the revival of Nineveh have to say to us? A great revival can happen in our time too, if God so wills, regardless of how unlikely it may seem.

Depressed. In the final chapter, Jonah went outside the city to wait for Nineveh's destruction. Jonah became resentful and depressed when the destruction he proclaimed did not take place. God provided a leafy plant (castor oil plant) to shade his prophet sitting in the scorching sun, and Jonah was happy about the plant. Do you know what the castor oil plant is called in many languages? It is the "Palm of Christ." We too can rejoice in Jesus in moments of depression.

Jonah's story continues. A worm chewed the plant and it died, which increased Jonah's depression. However, God lovingly spoke to his depressed and grumbling prophet. The worm brings to mind the serpent from the story of the Fall. In Gen. 3:15, God says to the serpent: "you will strike his heel," which refers to the crucifixion of Jesus. In Jonah's story, the worm biting the plant plays the role of the serpent. The innocent "Palm of Christ" was the only thing that destruction touched in Nineveh.

Conclusion. What can we learn from the Book of Jonah? I will highlight three things:

• In the belly of the fish, Jonah repeated verses from the Psalms. Perhaps you too could collect a set of Bible verses for a bad day.
• Sometimes I wonder if I am obeying God. Jonah's story confirms the perspective that God has his own ways of fulfilling a special plan in your life and mine.
• God uses sinful people. Jonah was disobedient and grumbling, and yet he was allowed to lead the sailors and the Ninevites onto the path of faith.

I present a challenge to you. A special quality of the Bible is that God meets every reader in a personal way through his word. Read the Book of Jonah in your Bible tonight, asking what God wants to say specifically to you. There are 48 verses in the Book of Jonah. It takes less than 9 minutes to read.