Jonah 1:17 through all of chapter 2 tell us the story about Jonah's spiritual and physical death. So far, the entire book of Jonah has taken us on a downward journey to Hell itself. There has been no little debate about whether or not Jonah was actually in the belly of a fish for three days. It would be hard to remain dogmatic about certain interpretations. The focus of these verses is that Jonah, the disobedient prophet, from the time Yahweh spoke to him up unto this point, continued to spiral downward until the point of death. The message here is that Jonah was a dead man in need of rescue. God, in his patience and love, appoints a great fish to rescue his disobedient servant. Jonah, suffering a horrible ordeal, is transformed. Many teachers have taught that the great fish was God's way of punishing Jonah. We focus on the smell, or the pain and suffering. But the fish is meant to show us salvation through the death of ourselves. When we come to the end of ourselves, there is either darkness or there is light. There is either eternal hell, or there is everlasting salvation. In the belly of the fish, Jonah was confronted with his sin and misery, and he responded with repentance. We have to come to the end of ourselves and rest in the work of Christ alone for salvation. Jonah suffered for his sin, but Jesus suffered for our sin. Jonah was in the belly of a sea beast for a time. Jesus died and was buried in the earth for a time. Jonah repented, but Jesus bestows repentance as a gift to us.

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