#DailyDevotion Take Comfort In The Sign Of Jonah

Jonah 1 ¹⁷ The LORD ordered a big fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

So the LORD had other plans for Jonah. The LORD sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. We don’t know what sort of fish swallowed Jonah. It would have to be one big enough to swallow him whole. That’s probably why many say it was a whale. A sperm whale could swallow a person whole. In fact one accidentally caught a swimmer once but he spit the man out. A grouper could swallow a man whole. I guess the whole is kind of important here, not because the fish needs to be big enough to keep Jonah alive but to swallow him whole as the scripture says it did.



Now Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights. Now Jesus references Jonah twice in Matthew. First in chapter 12, “³⁹“This wicked and unfaithful generation is looking for a miraculous sign,” He answered them, “but the only sign they’ll get is the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ As Jonah was in the belly of the big fish three days, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will rise up in the Judgment with these people and condemn them, because they repented when Jonah preached; now look, One greater than Jonah is here.” Then in chapter 16, ⁴“A wicked and unfaithful generation demands a sign, and the only sign they’ll get is that of Jonah.”

Now Jesus a number of times made reference to both “after three days” and “on the third day” in the same Gospel that He would rise again. So those who try to make hay and say Jesus wasn’t crucified on Friday because He rose on Sunday and that’s not three full days seem to be ignoring Jesus’ statements that He would rise on the third day. Obviously there is some idiom going on here with three days that doesn’t translate into other languages. . .yet. Who knows, perhaps we’ll find another example in extra-biblical Hebrew/Aramaic literature from Jesus’ day. So was Jonah in the belly of the fish for three 24 hour days which included three nights? I don’t know. Perhaps like Jesus, he was in the fish on Friday and vomited up on Sunday morning. What is for certain, Jonah was swallowed by a big aquatic being and was later vomited onto shore after a couple or plus days and Jesus was crucified, dead and buried on Friday and early Sunday morning rose from the dead never to die again. Jonah of course died at some future point in time like others in the Bible who were raised from the dead at some point in their lives like the widows’ sons and Lazarus.

So we are given this sign of Jonah in the book of Jonah. Jesus fulfills His own prophecy showing He is indeed The Prophet (Deut. 18). He has conquered death. Jesus has received a glorifed body. He is the LORD who sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. Because Jesus is risen from the dead, we can know our sins are atoned for and propitiated by His innocent suffering and death. We can know the Father is reconciled to us for Jesus’ sake. We know everyone, believers and unbelievers will be raised on the Last Day, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting torment called the Lake of Fire and the Second Death. We who put our trust in Jesus who is risen from the dead will live and reign with Jesus the Christ for all eternity. We need not be terrified of God’s wrath and judgment anymore, nor be slaves to sin and the fear of death. For Christ Jesus has overcome both by the cross and the grave.

Merciful God and Father, we give You thanks and praise for sending Jesus Christ, Your Son, our LORD, to redeem us by His innocent suffering, death and resurrection. May we always find comfort in the sign of Jonah know it means eternal life for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.