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HEN Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, 2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. 7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. (Jonah 2:1-7)
In His teaching of the disciples, the language of our Lord was quite graphic and to the point, but these men could not grasp the spiritual depth of His teaching until later when the truth was as glaring as the sun at noonday: 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. (Matt 12:39-41) We hear the very Word preached today, but how many are sufficiently inclined to discover its full meaning to us? Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. (Psalm 42:7) Is our study sufficiently deep to consider the whole Word of God and not simply passages taken out of context.
I am amazed at the intricate shadows and patterns of Christ to be found in the Old Testament often written more than one thousand years previous to His birth. Consider the 22nd Psalm – a Messianic Psalm! The first 21 verses depict the sufferings of Christ on the cross. In fact, the first verse opens with the very words our Lord uttered on the Cross: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Psalm 22:1) see also, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt 27:46)
The last 10 verses of this Psalm represent the joy of the resurrected Christ. It is a full account of the last days of His ministry – crucifixion and resurrection.
We see, as well, a comparison of the glorious Christ to the reluctant prophet, Jonah. How were these two alike? Both were sent to a rebellious and sinful nation. Both were as good as dead for three days and three nights – Jonah in the belly of the whale, and Jesus in the heart of the earth. Both returned to the land of the living. In a sense, Jonah had his cross which was the storm and the whale. Jonah’s cross was deserved because of his disobedience; however, the cross of Jesus was not deserved for He was righteous. This is a great difference in the two. Jonah even mourned the fact the wicked people of Nineveh repented and were saved.
Jonah sat on a hill overlooking Nineveh hoping God would destroy them, but God did not. Jonah was perishing in the heat of the sun, so, the Lord caused a gourd to spring up and provide shade for Jonah. Jonah was glad for the gourd, but despised the repenting Ninevites. He loved the gourd more than he cared for the men, women and animals of Nineveh. Not very Christlike, is it?
I am the Way, the Truth and the LIFE says our Lord. Life is the thing that is most valued. This worldly life is so highly coveted, yet, what of eternal life. It is this eternal life that the Lord came to purchase for us at Calvary. Christ died in redemption of all who believe and are conformed to His image – and that life granted thereby is eternal life. How precious! If this mundane life is so valued, how much more than eternal life Christ has purchased for His elect? Christ died in the very place of Barabbas who gained a few more years perhaps in this life. We do not know if Barabbas was later driven to come to the Throne of Grace made possible by Christ; but we do know that Christ died also in our own place on that cruel cross for For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) But for the grace of God, we would all be disposed to Hell. Thank God for His grace for those who are drawn to the Throne of Mercy are saved: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. (Romans 3:24-25) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
