In our study of Jonah chapter two, we look at Jonah's time inside the big fish, his prayer, and the picture it gives us of Jesus' resurrection. If you were to ask most people if Jonah was alive or dead inside the big fish, most of them would say that he was alive for three days and nights but are they right?
We will examine this question before we jump into the scriptures. First of all, we must understand that it is not a matter of whether God could keep him alive in there but the question we must ask ourselves is what is/was the purpose of this story. There are documented stories of men being eaten by large fish and still living so it would not be any large miracle for God to do the same thing. But, as in everything in the Old Testament, the story points to Jesus and in this case it specifically points to His coming resurrection. As Jesus himself said , in Matthew 12:40, that was the sign of Jesus being in the grave three days and then rising. To properly illustrate the coming resurrection, Jonah would have had to die and, through the examination of his prayer, we will see this also.
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From the belly of the fish Yonah prayed to ADONAI his God;
This opening verse does not tell us when he prayed only that he prayed when he was inside the fish. It is possible that he prayed before he died or after he was brought back to life but it would be impossible to pray this while you were dead.
he said, "Out of my distress I called to ADONAI, and he answered me; from the belly of Sh'ol I cried, and you heard my voice.
Now, we get into Jonah's actual prayer and we immediately see that when the chips were down Jonah knew who to call on. That can be comforting to us in that, when we stray away from obedience to the Lord, He will listen to us when we cry out to Him. Jonah tells us that he called "From the depths of the grave" and that has often been minimized as just spiritual death (separation from God's will) but as we will see it was physical.
For you threw me into the deep, into the heart of the seas; and the flood enveloped me; all your surging waves passed over me. I thought, 'I have been banished from your sight.' But I will again look at your holy temple.
Jonah recalls how he was in the sea covered by the waves (another example of baptism) and called out to God. He says that he was "banished from your sight" this is a common way of describing death.
The water surrounded me, threatened my life; the deep closed over me, seaweed twined around my head. I was going down to the bottoms of the mountains, to a land whose bars would close me in forever; but you brought me up alive from the pit, ADONAI, my God!
This passage paints a grim picture as we can imagine Jonah sinking to the bottom of the sea and then being swallowed by a big fish. He even describes the seaweed which the fish had probably eaten. "the earth barred me in forever" is a description of the grave as at the time that was how it was described. Once again the prayer points to his death but then he says he was lifted up and praised God for doing so. It is such a beautiful picture of Jesus' resurrection and it is also comforting to remember that we too will be resurrected to live with God unless Jesus comes back while we are still alive.
As my life was ebbing away, I remembered ADONAI; and my prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
Now, we can see when Jonah prayed as he says it was "When my life was ebbing away". That tells us that he was dying and he knew it but he also knew where to send his appeal for mercy (God's holy temple). This can remind us that there is hope to the very end. When we have friends and relatives that reject Jesus Christ, we can take comfort in the fact that God is waiting and listening for their plea for mercy. We are to tell them that God is there waiting and trust Him to do the rest.
"Those who worship vain idols give up their source of mercy; but I, speaking my thanks aloud, will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation comes from ADONAI!"
Grace (God giving us what we do not deserve) is evident throughout Jonah chapter two. God gave Jonah a second chance and, as we see in this passage, Jonah had settled in his heart that he would listen to God. He must have made a vow as he was dying something like: If you let me live, I will go to Nineveh as you have said. Jonah did not deserve any second chance but God granted it to him and he promised to listen and do what God had told him. When we come to Christ for salvation, we also vow to turn control of our lives over to Him (make Him Lord as well). Like Jonah, when we make a vow to God we should not do so lightly but we should count the cost and be prepared to keep the promise.
Then ADONAI spoke to the fish, and it vomited Yonah out onto dry land.
What a picture we have here of the resurrected Christ. Jonah, who was dead, is brought back to physically walk the earth. Many years later, Jesus would be resurrected and physically walk the earth for a time teaching his disciples. It is also comforting to know that God can use anything even a big fish to accomplish His purposes. If he can use a big fish, he can certainly use you and I.
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