Do you find it hard to trust God's word for your life?
I wrote a series on the book of Jonah last year and have since uploaded it as a reading plan on the YouVersion Bible App. A lot of our readers have loved the series and the plan, and if you missed it, I recommend you give it a go.
But one thing I didn’t cover in that series is that the story of Jonah also foreshadows Jesus. So, that’s what I’d love to explore with you today.
In Matthew 12, we read how the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign. He answers that they will be given the sign of Jonah:
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. – Matthew 12:40
It always amazes me how effective Jonah’s ministry in Nineveh was. Based on Jonah’s one line of prophecy, an entire city, including the king, immediately believed God and repented (Jonah 3:5-6).
Perhaps it wasn’t what was said, but who delivered the message.
Jonah is an image of Jesus: He’s been killed (at least that’s what the sailors believed), he was cast to the depths of the sea for three days, and forsaken by God. And yet, Jonah comes back to life, bearing testimony of a God who saves (Jonah 1:11-15). The Ninevites believed: this man must be a prophet of God. And if God could bring a man back from death at sea, perhaps He could show mercy to a city as sinful as Nineveh.
Jesus’s death and resurrection are even more powerful than Jonah’s story. It testifies to a God who is in control, even over death. On the third day, Jesus rose again. This is undeniable evidence of who He is: the Son of God.
Who can be more powerful, reliable and credible than Jesus–the God who became man and defeated death? No one! His message is true and powerful.
