A life that points to Christ
Jonah
From Jonah we learn that we cannot outrun God's call, that His mercy extends even to people we would rather see judged, and that God patiently works on the hearts of His reluctant servants. His life teaches surrender and the width of God's grace, and it points to the sign of Christ's death and resurrection.
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”Jonah 1:3
“But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”Jonah 2:9
“And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”Jonah 4:2
“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.”Matthew 12:40
Their story, honestly
Jonah was a prophet told to preach to Nineveh, the capital of a cruel enemy empire, and instead he fled the opposite way by ship. A great storm arose, and Jonah, admitting the storm was because of him, was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a great fish, where he prayed and was delivered onto dry land. He went to Nineveh at last, preached, and the whole city repented, and God spared them. But rather than rejoice, Jonah was angry that God had shown mercy to his enemies, and God gently questioned him, asking whether Jonah should not care for a city of people who did not know their right hand from their left.
What their life teaches us
First, Jonah teaches that running from God is futile and costly, and that God will pursue His servants. Second, he teaches the offensive width of God's mercy; the lesson of the book is aimed less at Nineveh's sin than at Jonah's hard heart, exposing how we too can resent grace given to those we dislike. Third, God's patient dealing with an angry, sulking prophet teaches how tenderly He works on us; He reasons with Jonah rather than discarding him. The book ends with a question, inviting every reader to examine whether our hearts are as narrow as Jonah's or as wide as God's.
How their life points to Christ
Jesus pointed to Jonah as a sign of Himself: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of man would be three days in the heart of the earth. Jonah went into the deep and came back to bring a word of salvation, a shadow of Christ who went into death and rose again to bring salvation to the world, including the Ninevehs we would write off. And where Jonah resented mercy to enemies, Jesus prayed for His enemies from the cross, embodying the very grace Jonah could not stomach.
Questions people ask
What is the real lesson of Jonah?
It is as much about Jonah's hard heart as about Nineveh's sin. Jonah obeyed but resented God's mercy toward his enemies. The book confronts our reluctance to see grace given to people we dislike, and ends with a question that invites us to share God's wide compassion rather than our own narrowness.
How is Jonah a sign of Jesus?
Jesus said that just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, He would be three days in the heart of the earth before rising. Jonah went into the deep and returned to bring salvation, foreshadowing Christ's death and resurrection, which brings salvation to the whole world.