The Sign of Jonah

Read and Pray

Jonah was a substitute and a sign.

Jonah was a substitute.

Jonah 1:1–2 NASB95

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

The Prophets of Israel represented God to the people and the people to God. They often acted as mediators, telling God’s people what He wanted them to do and asking God for what His people needed.

Look at verse 11…

Jonah 1:11–14 NASB95

So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.”

When the storm was raging, Jonah gave his life as a substitute for the sailors so they would be saved from God’s judgment.

We also see that…

Jonah was a sign.

Jonah 1:15–16 NASB95

So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

When the storm ceased, the sailors knew that Jonah’s God was the real deal, so they worshipped YHWH and committed themselves to Him.

Jonah wasn’t just a sign to the sailors. God ultimately sends him to the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh…

Jonah 2:10–3:5 NASB95

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

Part of the job God gave the prophets was to tell His enemies what He had to say. In the story of Jonah, God wanted the Assyrians in Nineveh to know that He was planning to destroy their nation if they did not stop sinning against Him.

God didn’t have to warn the Assyrians of His judgement, and He didn’t have to give them a sign to believe Jonah’s message, but He did.

The people of Nineveh worshipped the fish goddess Nanshe and the fish god Dagon, and fishing and sea travel were important parts of their culture.

Now imagine a man walking in from the water, claiming that he was transported across the sea in a big fish with a message from YHWH. He certainly had the peoples’ attention! He was also a sign that YHWH, the God of Israel, was greater than Dagon, the fish god. The people turned from Dagon to the one true God because the sign was greater.

Jesus is a GREATER sign and a GREATER substitute.

In the old movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, four children get Golden Tickets to tour Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. One by one, the children get into trouble:

Augustus falls into the chocolate river.

Violet turns into a blueberry.

Veruca falls down a garbage chute.

Mike is shrunk into the size of a chocolate bar.

In the end, Charlie chooses to give his Everlasting Gobstopper back to Willy Wonka instead of the evil Slugworth. Willy Wonka declares Charlie the winner of his contest to find someone to take over his business, because Charlie had character.

The possibility of owning the business and enjoying all of the candy was open to all of the children at the beginning, but they didn’t recognize it and were disqualified for accepting something less.

I mention this example because in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told the Pharisees that they were missing God’s greatest miracle by asking for smaller ones instead…

Matthew 12:38–41 NASB95

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something GREATER than Jonah is here.

Jesus is a GREATER sign than Jonah.

Jesus calls the Pharisees out for asking for Him to do miracles instead of listening to His preaching, when the pagans of Nineveh listened to Jonah’s preaching and repented without Jonah doing a miracle.

God saved Nineveh to make His people jealous, and He still saves the most unlikely people to make the religious jealous today.

In Jewish culture, it was understood that God alone was the giver of life. The Pharisees believed that one day there would be a resurrection of God’s people, and that this resurrection power would prove that there is only one true God. Jesus tells them that His resurrection will be a sign to them that He really is the Messiah, but that the pagans will judge the Jews because they believed God when His own people didn’t.

Jesus is a GREATER substitute than Jonah.

2 Corinthians 5:14–21 NASB95

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jonah went into the darkness of the fish for three days so that the lives of the sailors were spared and the people of Nineveh could turn to God, but Jesus went into the darkness of the earth for three days so that the lives of everyone who believes would be spared and all kinds of people could turn to God.

Who do you relate to in our story today?

As Christians, we all need to be reminded to not be like the Pharisees who were looking for truth when it was right in front of them. We can know God through His Word, the Bible, and not miracles, coincidences, and feelings.

Perhaps you are like the sailor who sees God working in your life today and you are ready to commit to Him.

Maybe, like the people of Nineveh, you realize that God is going to judge everyone eventually and that you want to be right with Him when that day comes.