Jonah had tried to run away from the Lord. He didn’t want to listen to God’s command and so ran to a ship hoping to hide from the Lord. But the Lord sees everything and so caused a great storm at sea and made the soldiers throw Jonah overboard, into the raging waters.

Then, just as the Lord had sent the storm, so he also sent a large fish to come and swallow Jonah whole. This verse says very clearly that it was the Lord who sent the fish. God was at work saving Jonah. Jonah did not deserve this. He really should have died, but God saved him out of grace and love! God rescued him!

In the New Testament, Jesus also talked about the sign of Jonah. The Lord’s saving Jonah through the fish, and Jonah’s being in the belly of the fish for three days and nights was a type, or model, of how God would bring salvation to us through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

While the Pharisees asked for a sign from heaven, they were given the sign of Jonah. Jesus didn’t call down fire from heaven as a sign but pointed them to Jonah. Just like Jonah was saved from death by being in the belly of a fish for three days, so Jesus died and was buried in the earth for three days to save all of us, his children.

The Lord provided salvation to Jonah through a fish. He provides salvation to us also, not through a fish, but through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is much greater than Jonah. Jesus came, not to save us from death in the water, but from eternal death. He came to save us from hell. And he is the only way to be saved. By believing in Jesus who died, and who was in the belly of the earth for three days and then raised…by believing in him and trusting in him, we are saved from eternal death. We may look forward to living eternally with God!

Reflection with your child:

How does Jonah point to Christ?

Source: Sermon by Rev. S. ’t Hart