Greater than Jonah – Book of Jonah Overview – (Mat 12:38-42)

Jesus Himself identifies Jonah and aspects of the prophet's experience as typological or symbolic of the Christ. Matthew 12 in fact provides divine hermeneutical insight into the record of scripture as Jesus Himself points out a unique aspect of divine revelation, namely, that the record of God's dealings with His people through His prophets, foretells the coming Messiah. Jesus declares to the obstinate hearers of His day (Mt 12:40) “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.” In the genius of God, even the spectacular means of chastisement chosen for His recalcitrant prophet becomes a foreshadowing of the death and resurrection of the true prophet, priest, & king to come! While Jonah's account speaks of the coming one, the contrast between type and anti-type remains dramatically distinct as Jonah's story discloses honestly and with candor, the frailty and selfish sins of this prophet of old. History yet cries in Jonah's day for a sinless Son of Man, a substitute/mediator who could effectively and finally bear the sins of the people. Why would we invest our hope in any lesser claim, scheme, or agent? Salvation belongs to the Lord! Jonah himself proclaims as much.