Now the Lord prepared a
great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three
days and three nights. Jonah 1:17
But he answered and
said to them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there
shall be no sign given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as long as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the son of
man be three nights in the heart of the earth. Mt 12:39-40
When queried about a
sign to prove his persona, Jesus told the religious leaders of His day that the
sign of Jonah was going to be the sign of His death and resurrection which they
didn’t understand anyway. Christ compared Jonah’s experience to His own coming
death and resurrection, pointing to the miraculous nature of both. Though, many
folks argue its truism because of the ‘fish’ swallow’, one cannot deny the
factuality of Jonah’s experience.
Symbolic
incidents in the book of Jonah are revealed in the New Testament as Jesus
explicitly referred to “the sign of Jonah” and then fulfilled its
typological allusions. Most prominent is the image of Jonah’s three days and
three nights “in the whale’s belly” being a sign of Jesus’s three days and
three nights “in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40). There are a few
parallel points of connection between these two figures.
It wasn’t Just a
miracle, it was much more, a message.
The
Belly of the Fish and Hell
Jonah compared the
belly of the fish to hell, similarly was Jesus’ case as he testified of His
descent to the heart of the earth, obviously a place of discomfort.
Hell
was prepared not for man but for errant angels Mt 25:41, however, it will be the abode of
errant men, people who disobey the voice and call of the Lord. Just as the fish
wasn’t originally intended for man’s conveyance but had to house a disobedient
man at the Lord’s call.
The
Lord Jesus resurrected and could not be held down by the power of the grave, just
as the fish was called to release Jonah after he had been purged from his self-serving
pride.
The
Darkness
Jonah
suffered a Gethsemane-like affliction in unfathomable darkness
Jesus
used Jonah’s story as a representation of his own coming three days and three
nights in darkness and that he would rise again, just as Jonah had come forth
from the darkness of the great fish. He also used the story to tell certain
people that their failure to repent placed them in condemnation
It was
in Gethsemane that Jesus began his descent into “the heart of the earth,” this
was when the sins of humankind were swallowed up. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.1 Corr 15:55.
Glory to God.
Another event in the old testament describing what must happen to The Lord Jesus Christ.
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You are right sir. Amen
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