SEEING
JESUS IN THE BOOK OF JONAH
The obvious picture of Jesus in the book of Jonah is
pointed out by Jesus Himself:
Matthew
12:39-41 But he answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall
no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 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. The men of Nineveh shall
rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they
repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Jonah’s deliverance from the belly of the fish after three
days and nights foreshadowed Jesus resurrection from the tomb on the third day.
Note that Jesus also rebukes the Jews for their rejection of Him, someone far
greater than Jonah, when the Ninevites who were Gentiles repented when Jonah
gave them God’s message.
This leads us to another way we see Jesus in the book of
Jonah. Once Jesus was resurrected, He made it clear to His disciples that the
Gospel, the good news of salvation through His work on the cross, was for ALL
nations, not just the Jews. Jonah was sent to preach to Gentiles which was a
part of why he was reluctant to go.
We see the sovereignty of God at work in both the story of
Jonah and the story of Jesus. God chose Jonah as his messenger, gave him the
message to present, and told him to whom he was to preach. Even though Jonah
ran away, God miraculously turned him around. Satan tried to thwart God’s plan
to save us through Jesus, but the Lord miraculously delivered Him until the
appointed time for the perfect Passover Lamb to sacrifice Himself for us.
Take a look at this comparison/contrast chart of Jonah and
Jesus at:
Concise chart of the typology of Jonah and Jesus:
Article about seeing Jesus in the book of Jonah:
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