In some quarters the story of Jonah is believed to be a fable or myth which teaches a moral lesson only. Close examination will show us that if we do not accept Jonah as a real person, and his experience as having actually taken place, we must also disallow other vital teachings.

     I turn your attention immediately to Matthew 12;40 where our Lord makes it very clear he believes that Jonah or Jonas was a real person with a real experience. He says, 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. Notice he says, as Jonas was, so shall the Son of man be. If we discount the story of Jonah, we could just as easily say that the resurrection of Jesus was a fable also. However I do not know any true Christian who is willing to discount the resurrection. So here we plainly see that  Jesus acknowledges Jonah and his experience as real.

     Jonah in many ways is a type of a disobedient child of God. He also is a type of The Lord Jesus Christ. Lets look at the story of Jonah to see what we can learn from it.

     The name Jonah itself means “dove.” A dove symbolizes peace and of course the Holy Spirit of God. Jonah was the son of A-mit-tai. A-mit-tai means “truth”. We can see that our Lord came in Spirit and in truth. We are told that if we are to worship God that we MUST worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

     Jonah, a Hebrew, was commanded to go to Nineveh, a city full of Gentiles. For a Jew to go among the Gentiles and have dealings with them was most unusual. This could explain some of Jonahs hesitation. And besides that, Nineveh was a very wicked city. It is said that the things the Ninevites did to people made the twentieth century Nazis look like boy scouts. Also this is not your ideal preaching situation, to go into a city where you were mortally hated by all its occupants.

     Jonah was a prophet of God and no doubt knew he could not flee from God’s presence. Yet this is what the scripture tells us he attempted to do. God is everywhere present and no where absent. See Psalms 139:7-10. I think that Jonah could have rebelled just as easily by not going anywhere. He knew he could not actually flee from the presence of The Lord, so I think he was fleeing from the place where he resided which had reminders of the special presence of The Lord all around him. His brethren, and the daily ministration of the law of God which would be a sore reminder to his rebellious spirit. Now if a child of God is purposely rebelling against God, more than likely you will not see him in church. This is the last place he wants to be. It would be a stinging reminder to his conscience of his disobedience. So I think Jonah fled from the daily reminders of his religion where Gods special presence is manifest.

     So Jonah fled and went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish and paid the fare thereof. Notice two things about Jonahs fleeing. He went down. God is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity. Any direction from His presence is down. We will see that Jonah is on a continual downward spiral. Next notice he paid the fare, or a price. Anytime Gods children want to rebel and do their own thing there is a price to pay. And I might add that Jonah paid a heavy price for his disobedience.

     After the ship had launched, God sent a mighty tempest upon the sea. So Jonah went down into the ship and went down into the sides of the ship and was fast asleep. Makes you wonder if he had a conscience does it not? Unless a Christian has their conscience seared over with a hot iron, they would not be able to sleep very well at all in a situation like this. Number one, he was fleeing from the commandment of God and number two there was a great tempest and the ship was likely to break apart. But Jonah was fast asleep. The shipmaster found him and said “what meanest thou O sleeper?” A little study will show us that this indicates Jonah was in a spiritual stupor, or spiritually numb. Not a good place to be. We should expect no less if we were to rebel as Jonah did.

     Once it was determined that Jonah was the cause for the tempest, Jonah offered himself to be thrown overboard. This is a type of Christ. Jonah could have very easily jumped overboard by himself, but stated that he wanted the men to “take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so the sea shall be calm unto you.” Jesus Christ was delivered into the hands of wicked men and crucified to satisfy the demands of Gods divine justice.  See Acts 2:23.  So Jonah was cast into the sea and the tempest of Gods justice was appeased and the sea became calm.

     It is interesting to note that before Jonah was cast into the sea that the men rowed hard to bring the ship to land before they agreed to cast him into the sea. This indicates that man will work hard to try and save themselves before they yield themselves to the grace of God. Man thinks that his hard work can save him from impending doom. How wrong they are.

     There are 4 things that we see God prepared in this story. He prepared a great fish, prepared a gourd, prepared a worm and prepared a vehement east wind. (The complete message, "preparation of God" will be saved for another message.)

     People often debate whether Jonah was swallowed by a fish or a Whale.  Jesus said in Matthew 12:40 that Jonas was in the belly of a Whale. We can say at least it was whale of a fish. Folks also debate if a man could be swallowed by a whale or not. There are documented cases where humans have been found in a Whales belly, but most often they are reported as being found dead. Regardless of what may have happened in other circumstances, this was a special fish that God had prepared to take Jonah in. This fish was prepared by God to allow Jonah to survive for three days and three nights. It is thought that the acidic juices of a whale would consume a man in less than eighteen hours. But here we see Jonah survived for seventy two hours.

     This is a marvelous picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was in the grave for three days and three nights and he did not see corruption. See Psalms 16:10.  Even as Christ body did not see corruption as Lazarus did on the fourth day, neither did Jonahs body see digestion from the Whales belly after three days and three nights. This is the sign The Lord promised to that wicked and adulterous generation. Even as Jonah came out alive from the whales belly after three days and nights, so also the Son of man would arise from the dead after three days nights.

     There are many other lessons to be learned from the true life story of Jonah. His demeanor when the city repented from his preaching and was not literally destroyed. He was displeased exceedingly and very angry.  He thought he was made a fool.  Even though he could not see that the wickedness of the city was overthrown as God granted repentance to that city.  When the gourd came and went in a day and a night, he was exceedingly glad and then mad enough to want to die.  He had more pity for a dead gourd than the more than those that had repented in the city.

     No doubt, from all that happened to Jonah, from the grand results of his preaching, he was not able to take any of the glory unto himself.

    To God be all the glory.