Jonah's Worthy Sign

 Published in 2024, Jonah's Worthy Sign reveals some interesting insight into the story of Jonah and the big fish. Join the characters of Lottie & Friends as they explore the Biblical story of Jonah with creative and imaginative eyes. 

The Foreword to the book is included in order to provide insight into the storyline.

FOREWORD

The story of Jonah has multiple facets of interpretation and many lessons to glean. There are undeniable facts about Jonah. First, Jonah is a real historical character. Second, there are fish capable of swallowing a man. Third, Jonah’s death and resurrection point to Jesus’ future victory. One can find information regarding how the story of Jonah points to Jesus who, himself, calls it a sign. Two of His parables are stories with similar lessons as in Jonah. There are details regarding the character of God. He is gracious, merciful, patient, and kind. At a deeper spiritual level, the book of Jonah teaches the concepts of Kenosis, self-emptying, and Sinat Chinam, baseless hatred. 

Jonah is introduced in the Biblical book of Second Kings.  “23In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years… 25He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.”¹ This documentation in the Old Testament refers to persons and places that can be proven historically. To this add the Biblical authority of Jesus who mentions Jonah in Luke 11:30 and Matthew 12:39-41. The conclusion is clear. Jonah was a real man who told his real story.

Science records at least two fishes that are capable of swallowing Jonah whole. According to J. Vernon McGee, “There are at least two known monsters of the deep who could easily have swallowed Jonah. They are the Balaenoptera Musculus or sulfur-bottom whale, and the Rhinodon Typicus, or whale shark… A sulphur-bottom whale, one hundred feet long, was captured off Cape Cod in 1933. His mouth was ten or twelve feet wide – so big he could easily have swallowed a horse.” McGee goes on in Through the Bible Commentary: The Prophets (Jonah/Micah) to describe the condition of a man who had been within a shark for forty-eight hours. “In 1926,” he writes, “Dr. Rimmer met this man, and writes that his physical appearance was odd; his body was devoid of hair and patches of yellowish-brown color covered his entire skin.”²

“As for finding the Christ connection in this book,” states Adam Carrigan, “Jesus makes part of that easy for us since he makes a clear, typological connection between himself and the prophet Jonah.”³ Herbert Lockyer agrees when he writes, “Christ affirms that this is the only sign now set before men.”⁴ Likewise, 

A.R. Fausset describes Jonah’s role in pointing to Jesus, “But God prepared a great fish to be his living sepulcher, to pre-figure the three days’ burial and resurrection of the savior.”⁵ The importance of Jonah is that it teaches the resurrection of Jesus. According to J. Vernon McGee, “The Resurrection is one of the two pillars of our salvation upon which the ark of the church rests – the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ… and this book illustrates His resurrection.”⁶

Jesus declared that Jonah would be a sign, meaning that, like Jesus, “(1) both Jonah and Jesus spent three days inside something (fish, earth), (2) Nineveh repented but Jesus’ generation will not, and (3) Jesus is the greater Jonah.”⁷ In addition to the sign that similar incidents happened to the two, there is the physical sign on Jonah’s body that something happened to him. As stated earlier, his skin could be read, for it told its own tale. The very uniqueness of Jonah’s account made his sign worthy of hearing. Magee says, “The gastric juices of the fish had reacted upon the individual as the fish had tried to digest him… When he stopped at a corner and a crowd gathered, they would say, ‘Brother, where have you been?’ Jonah told them, ‘I am a man from the dead. A fish swallowed me because God had sent me to Nineveh but I tried to run away to Tarshish.’ People didn’t ridicule Jonah’s story. They listened to him.”⁸ 

Thus, Jonah’s signs were both worthy of consideration. They merited recognition because outwardly the signs spoke of a miracle. They were noteworthy because of the authority of Jesus who called them so. A.R. Fausset summarizes the case well when he writes, “Thus God, who brings good from evil, made Jonah, in his fall, punishment, and restoration, ‘a sign’ (an embodied lesson or living symbol) through which the Ninevites were roused to hear and repent, as they would not have been likely to do had he gone on the first commission, before his living entombment and resurrection.”⁹ In a statement that adds an exclamation point to the subject of Jonah being a sign, Fausset retorts, “His history preached more powerfully than even his awfully monotonous dirge-like cry.”¹⁰

Not only was Jonah’s story a sign spoken of directly by Jesus, but it was a sign within two of Jesus’ parables. Tim Keller with Worldpress.com defends the premise that “the whole story is basically a perfect parallel to the parable Jesus would later tell that we know as ‘the prodigal son.’”¹¹ He explains that the parable is flipped with Jonah being the elder not the younger brother, concluding, “To me, the biggest takeaway is that the reason these are similar stories is because they are both about the gospel, and who the gospel is for.”¹²

The second parable of Jesus that can be applied to Jonah is the parable of the two sons from Matthew 21: 28-31. Ron Ward with University Bible Fellowship has written an educational account of this parable. “Throughout history, God has used rebellious people who repent,” Ward writes. Like the son who said, “I won’t,” Jonah later repented and went. Ward encourages those who find themselves saying “I won’t” to pray, “Please change my heart and help me obey your calling so that I may be blessed.”¹³

The book of Jonah does not only provide insight into history, miracles, and typology, but it also provides valuable documentation of the nature of God. In Jonah’s own words he testifies that God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. God subdues with His sovereign love as Charles Spurgeon explains, quoting John 6:37. “He does, not by any violation of the free agency of man, but by the power of His grace,” Spurgeon details.14 Jonah’s dislike of the Ninevites is put under a spotlight when Herbert Lockyer reveals, “Within the book, the selfish unbelief and vindictiveness of man is contrasted with the gracious patience and benevolence of God.”¹⁵ God’s aim is an open attitude toward the pagan world. As J. Alberto Soggin aptly puts it, “God does not want any human being to perish without having had at least the opportunity of being converted.”¹⁶

But our God is patient and slow to anger. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”¹⁷ J. Vernon McGee describes what happened in Nineveh as “perhaps the greatest revival in the history of the world… There were several hundred thousand in the city of Nineveh who turned to God.”¹⁸ When the Ninevites repented, God forgave them. McGee explains, “The city had two options. If they had not accepted His Word, they would have been destroyed… God didn’t change; He will always save people when they turn to Him.”¹⁹

Two spiritual level concepts are highlighted in Jonah. First, as the tale of the friends unfolds in this book, Mimetes felt an emptiness inside. He experienced a weight come over him after playing the role of Jonah. Unable to identify the source of this sudden extreme emotion, Monkey sought help from the others. Once he realized that what he had experienced was the presence of God, he asked, “Is it possible that the emptiness I feel is me feeling completely enveloped in God’s grace?” He continued, “Am I experiencing humbleness? Am I vile? Should I abhor myself?” What the furry friend felt was awe from the presence of God.

Together, the group learned that Jesus willingly emptied himself. The term is ‘Kenosis,’ a self-emptying. Jesus took on the form of a servant as He submitted Himself to the will of His Father. Jesus emptied Himself of outward glory while keeping His divine nature and not giving up His Godship.

Finally, is the concept of “Sinat Chinam” which means baseless hatred, or literally “hatred of grace.” When anyone rejects God’s grace, when they reject His compassion for other peoples, tribes, and nations, they are practicing Sinat Chinam. Jesus understood this hatred when He said, “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”²⁰ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in Covenant and Conversation: Genesis warns of the results of baseless hatred saying, “When people lack the ability to forgive, they are unable to resolve conflict. The result is division, factionalism, and the fragmentation of a nation into competing groups and sects… Those who seek freedom must learn to forgive.”21 It was in God’s plan that the Ninevites repent. When they did repent, it pleased God. He forgave them. The story of Jonah is certainly about drawing near to God, repentance, cleansing, and emptying of self. 

Now, let’s immerse ourselves in this imaginative play exercise where Lottie and Friends study the book of Jonah in the tale, “Jonah’s Worthy Sign.” It is my sincere desire that you and those reading with you will have an understanding of the goodness, grace, and mercy of our God.

Miss Marion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Holy Bible: 2 Kings 14:23, 25.

2. J Vernon McGee, Jonah and Micah (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1991.

3. Adam Carrigan, The Christ Connection in Jonah, 

https://preachingsource.com/blog/the-christ-connection-in-jonah/ (August 2024).

4. Herbert Lockyer, All the Books and Chapters of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), 1966.

5. A. R. Fausset, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Jeremiah–Malachi, vol. IV (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 2018. Pages 579 & 581.

6. J Vernon McGee, Jonah and Micah (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1991.

7. Adam Carrigan, The Christ Connection in Jonah, 

https://preachingsource.com/blog/the-christ-connection-in-jonah/ (August 2024).

8. J Vernon McGee, Jonah and Micah (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1991.

9. A. R. Fausset, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Jeremiah–Malachi, vol. IV (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 2018. Pages 579 & 581.

10. Ibid.

11. Tim Keller, How the Book of Jonah is the Prodigal Son Story,

https://onlyhitlergoestohell.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/how-the-book-of-jonah-is-the-prodigal-son-story/. (August 2024).

12. Ibid

13. Ron Ward, The Parable of the two sons,

https://ubf.org/resources/show/12538. (August 2024).

14. Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening (Peabody, Massachusets: Hendrickson Publishers), 1991.

15. Herbert Lockyer, All the Books and Chapters of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), 1966.

16. J Alberto Soggin, Introduction to the Old Testament (John Bowden Trans.). (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Westminister Press), 1980.

17. Holy Bible: 2 Peter 3:9.

18. J Vernon McGee, Jonah and Micah (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1991.

19. Ibid. 

20. Holy Bible: John 15:25.

21. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Genesis, page 327, quoted in “Baseless Hatred” and Forgiveness,

https://www.figtreeteaching.com/uploads/1/1/9/7/119763168/baseless_hatred_lesson_plan.pdf. (August  2024).