"The Book of Jonah"
There is no Hebrew prophet whose life does not foreshadow or typify the Messiah who would come after them, to bring in the Redemption which they prophesied.
Download or email this sermon Let's Look at Jonah as a Type of Jesus
Turn with me please to 2 Kings 14:25. That's the first place we read about Jonah in the Bible.
He [Jeroboam] restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.
Notice that Jonah was sent to his own people the Jews first. Only after this was he sent to the Gentiles. In Matthew 15:24 we read the following:
But Jesus said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "
Jesus was first sent only to His own people, then only at a later point was He sent to the non-Jews. We are told that Jonah was from this particular area Gath-hepher. Gathhepher is in walking distance from Nazareth. Now there was something unique about Jonah in this.
Turn with me to John 7:52 – something here that the Sanhedrin overlooked!
They answered and said to him, "You are not also from Galilee are you? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee." (or as they say in the same chapter, verse 41) "The Messiah is not going to come from Galilee, is he?"
No prophet comes from Galilee? They were wrong. Jonah came from Galilee! He's the only one except for Jesus who was from Galilee.
Jonah 1:4-6, a terrible storm comes, and the word for “wind” in Greek in the New Testament is “pnuema” and in the Hebrew it is, of course,” ruach”, but in both it is also the word for “Spirit”. In this storm sent by God, during the storm Jonah sleeps in the boat and the other people are frantic about this, "How can you be sleeping in the boat during the storm?"
[We have a tape on this, The boats of the bible on Mark chapter 4 and 6, where we explain the typology of the boats in greater depth]
But let's look very briefly at Mark chapter 4:37-38.
And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
What happens to Jonah prefigures what will happen to the Lord Jesus. Jonah becomes a type of Christ.
Now let's understand this a bit more. Jonah 1:12, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea then the sea will become calm for you." Jonah, of his own choice, was willing to lay down his own life to bring salvation to others, including gentiles. John 10:17-18,
For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I might take it again, no one is taking it -from me but that I lay it down of my own initiative.
Jonah was willing to lay his life down to bring salvation and deliverance to others, so the Messiah, who Jonah prefigures, was willing to lay His life down so salvation would come to others.
Turn with me now please to Luke 11:30…
For just as Jonah became a sign to the Israelites, so shall the son of man be to this generation.
We know from Kings that Jonah was the son of Arytittai. He prophesied during the reigns of Jeroboam, both of them a very bad man and king. There were two Jeroboams: one was as bad as the other. At the preaching of Jonah the Gentiles repented when the Jews would not; at the message of Jesus the Gentiles accepted what He said at a time most Jews did not. Not all Jews rejected him – not all Jews rejected Jonahm, but basically it was the Gentiles not the Jews who repented in the days of Jonah and it was the Gentiles not the Jews who repented in the days of Jesus.
Jonah 1: 17 tells us this: The Lord appointed a great fish.
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Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.