Something Greater than Jonah is Here

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Scripture
  • Study:
    Christ in the Old Testament
    By:
    Paul Goebel
    Date:
    Scripture:
    Jonah 1:17-3:10; Matthew 12:38-41
    Handout/Questions

  • Jonah 1:17–3:10

    A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

    17 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

    Jonah’s Prayer

    2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

      “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,
        and he answered me;
      out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
        and you heard my voice.
    3   For you cast me into the deep,
        into the heart of the seas,
        and the flood surrounded me;
      all your waves and your billows
        passed over me.
    4   Then I said, ‘I am driven away
        from your sight;
      yet I shall again look
        upon your holy temple.’
    5   The waters closed in over me to take my life;
        the deep surrounded me;
      weeds were wrapped about my head
    6     at the roots of the mountains.
      I went down to the land
        whose bars closed upon me forever;
      yet you brought up my life from the pit,
        O LORD my God.
    7   When my life was fainting away,
        I remembered the LORD,
      and my prayer came to you,
        into your holy temple.
    8   Those who pay regard to vain idols
        forsake their hope of steadfast love.
    9   But I with the voice of thanksgiving
        will sacrifice to you;
      what I have vowed I will pay.
        Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

    10 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

    Jonah Goes to Nineveh

    3:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

    The People of Nineveh Repent

    6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

    10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

    Matthew 12:38–41

    The Sign of Jonah

    38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.