Resurrections: Lesson 1- Jonah

Overview

Jonah: A Resurrection That Points to Christ

The story of Jonah is more than a tale of a reluctant prophet swallowed by a great fish. It is a resurrection account—and like every resurrection in Scripture, it points us toward the gospel of Jesus Christ. God's call to Jonah to preach in pagan Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, underscores a truth that runs throughout the Bible: God's grace is meant for all people. Even a city marked by violence, idolatry, and exploitation was not beyond the reach of divine mercy. As 1 Timothy 1:15 and 2 Peter 3:9 remind us, the Lord is patient, "not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance."

Jonah's flight to Tarshish is almost comic in its futility. As Psalm 139:7–10 declares, there is nowhere we can flee from God's presence. Luther observed that Jonah's failure was looking at the magnitude of the work rather than the Word of the One who sent him. Yet even the storm God sent was not punishment but pursuit—God had plans for Jonah and would not let him go. Cast into the sea and swallowed by the great fish, Jonah prays from the belly of death itself, and remarkably, he speaks in the past tense: "I called…and he answered me." This is the prophetic past—language so confident in God's deliverance that the rescue is spoken of as already done. We see the same speech in Isaiah 53:4–6, where the Messiah's saving work is described centuries before the cross. Believers are freed to live this same way: trusting that the God who is sovereign over every circumstance has already secured the outcome, even when we cannot yet see how.

Inside the fish, Jonah laments, "I am driven away from your sight." He feels the terror of separation from God—a foretaste of the eternal separation Scripture warns of in 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10. This is the predicament of every human being. From Psalm 51:5 we learn that we are sinners from the moment of conception, and Ephesians 2:1 declares us "dead through trespasses and sins." Jonah's confession captures the whole of orthodox Christian theology in a single line: "Deliverance belongs to the Lord." We are responsible for the predicament we are in; salvation comes wholly from God.

Jesus Himself takes up Jonah's story as a sign of His own death and resurrection. In Matthew 12:39–40, He declares that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah's deliverance from the deep prefigures Christ's victory over the grave—and our own. The same God who used life-threatening waters to bring Jonah to new life now leads us to the waters of Holy Baptism, where our sin is drowned and we are raised with Christ. As Luther wrote, "Life and righteousness come because of God's mercy in sending His Son to suffer, die, be buried, and rise again…so that all the sinful, dead Jonahs of this world would have new life." That includes you. The tomb is empty, the sacrifice is accepted, and the victory is yours.

Transcript

Well, good morning. 2s

Let's pray together, please. 4s

O God, for our redemption, you have given your only begotten Son to the death of the cross. 8s

And by His glorious resurrection, you have delivered us from the power of our enemy. 15s

Therefore grant that all are sinned, may be drowned, through daily repentance, and that 21s

day by day a new person may arise to live before you in righteousness and purity forever. 27s

Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy 35s

Spirit, one God, now and forever. 40s

Oh, man. 44s

Well, welcome to this class. 45s

I've simply entitled Resurrection, and for the next several weeks we're going to take 47s

a look at various Resurrection in Holy Scripture. 52s

And how the Resurrection's point to the message of salvation. 56s

And so in the weeks ahead, we're going to study about Lazarus. 62s

We're going to study about the widow's son at Nain. 67s

We're going to take a look at Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. 70s

But today we're going to take a look at Jonah. 74s

At Jonah. 78s

So let's open up our Bibles, please. 79s

To the book of Jonah. 82s

And if you're unfamiliar of how to get there, a good way to get to Jonah is to go to the 83s

last book of the Old Testament, which is Malachi, and slowly work your way to the left. 88s

When you hit Micah, as you're moving left here, you're getting close. 95s

And so the book of Jonah, the first chapter. 101s

Could I have a volunteer, someone to shut that back door, please. 106s

Thank you. 110s

Thank you. 110s

Jonah is a fascinating character in Holy Scripture. 113s

He was called to minister to the pagan city of Nineveh. 118s

Nineveh. 124s

And it could be considered unusual that God called the prophet to minister here outside of 125s

the immediate needs of the people of Israel. 134s

Because certainly God's people needed that type of witness. 137s

But it helps to underscore that God wants all people to be saved, that God's grace 144s

is meant for all people. 152s

So one of the themes, as you look at the book of Jonah, is to understand that indeed, 154s

this helps to underscore the theme of God's grace for all people. 159s

Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. 166s

And Nahum in Scripture tells us that Nineveh's sins included plotting evil against the Lord, 170s

cruelty and plundering in war, prostitution and witchcraft, and commercial exploitation. 179s

So Nineveh was a tough call here for Jonah. 187s

And Jonah was not thrilled about being called to Nineveh and to preach to it. 194s

So let's start in chapter 1 verse 1. 202s

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amatai, saying, 208s

God wants to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me. 211s

But Jonah set out to flee to Tarsish from the presence of the Lord. 222s

He went down to Japa and found a ship going to Tarsish. 228s

So he paid his fare, went on board to go with them to Tarsish, 232s

away from the presence of the Lord. 237s

There is quite a bit of comedy here, isn't there? 242s

That he thinks he can pay his fare, hop on the boat, and just sail away away from the presence of the Lord. 246s

Take a look, you keep your finger here, please. 255s

And let's go over into Psalm 139. 257s

Psalm 139 verse 7. 261s

And here we are reminded picking up in 139 verse 7. 269s

Where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? 274s

If I ascend to heaven, you are there. 279s

If I make my bed and sheal, you are there. 281s

If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 284s

even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. 289s

Feudal to run from the presence of God. 297s

Luther said this regarding Jonah, quote, 302s

He looked not to the Word of God by whom he was being sent, 306s

but to the work itself to which he was being sent, 312s

and to the difficulty and magnitude of that work. 317s

So he didn't look to the Word, he looked to the work, and became quite terrified. 324s

Chapter 1 verse 4. 334s

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, 338s

and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. 342s

Then the mariners were afraid and each cried to his God. 347s

They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. 352s

Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hole of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 357s

The captain came and said to him, 365s

What are you doing? Sound asleep? 367s

Get up, call on your God. 369s

Perhaps the God will spare us a thought so that we do not perish. 372s

The soldiers said to one another, 378s

Let us cast lots so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us. 380s

So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 388s

Then they said to him, 391s

Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. 393s

What is your occupation? Where do you come from? 396s

What is your country? And of what people are you? 399s

I am a Hebrew, he replied. 403s

I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 406s

Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, 411s

What is this that you have done for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord 415s

because he had told them so. 422s

Which, just a little aside, that's quite the witness, isn't it? 427s

God did not send the storm because of Jonah's sin, 435s

but he sent the storm to stop Jonah from fleeing because God had plans for Jonah, 440s

picking up in verse 12. 449s

He said to them, 452s

Pick me up and throw me into the sea. 454s

Then the sea will quiet down for you. 457s

For I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you. 460s

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring the ship back to land, 466s

but they could not for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. 471s

Then they cried out to the Lord, 478s

Please, O Lord, we pray. 480s

Do not let us perish on account of this man's life. 482s

Do not make us guilty of innocent blood for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. 486s

So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. 494s

Then the men feared the Lord even more and they offered to sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 502s

But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, 509s

and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 514s

Chapter 2, then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish, saying, 523s

I called to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me, 530s

out of the belly of sheol I cried and you heard my voice. 537s

You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood dissurrounded me, 541s

all your waves, all your waves, and your billows passed over me. 548s

Jonah was still inside of the fish and he speaks in the past tense, 556s

that the Lord had answered him, that the Lord had listened to him. 566s

This is what is called the prophetic past and you'll see that pop up in Scripture every now and then. 573s

Where the person speaks in the past tense about an event that has yet to occur, 582s

is he still in the fish? Isn't he? He's still in the whale, but he speaks in terms of the prophetic past tense. 590s

He is so certain of the fact that God will rescue him, that he can speak as if it is already accomplished. 599s

Another example of the prophetic past tense is over in Isaiah chapter 53. 610s

Let's go there, a good way to find Isaiah, used to go to the middle of Scripture and then the land you in the Psalms, 617s

then move right, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and then Isaiah. 623s

Isaiah 53 verses 4 to 6. 632s

Surely, this is the prophetic word with regard to Messiah, 648s

surely he has born our infirmities and carried our diseases. 652s

Yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 657s

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, 663s

upon him and his family. 669s

And he was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 669s

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have all turned to our own way, 676s

but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 682s

So here is the servant, the prophet, Isaiah, giving the prophetic word with regard to the Messiah, 688s

and notice you speaking in past tense, as if the Lord Jesus has already come, 694s

the great sacrifice has already occurred on the cross. 700s

That's another example of the prophetic past tense. 703s

So confident is Isaiah that God will do exactly as God has said that He will do, 707s

that Isaiah can speak in the past tense as if it has already been done. 714s

Now think of the application of that for our own lives. 720s

God frees us up to live in the prophetic past tense. 725s

Freeze us up to live in the prophetic past tense. 732s

And so when challenges and difficulties come in our lives, 735s

we can be confident that all things work together for those who love the Lord 739s

who are called according to His purpose. 744s

We can be confident that indeed God is still involved in our lives, 746s

is still sovereign and is still Lord of the situation. 753s

We can confidently express, I don't understand how all of this is going to resolve, 757s

but I know of you who resolves things. 763s

And so we can pray, thank you, Lord, for the resolution to this that you will bring about 768s

and empower me to live under your sovereignty and under your decision. 774s

That is freeing to be able to live in the prophetic past tense. 781s

God never comes to a place where He goes, wow, this caught me by surprise. 787s

What am I going to do now on this one? 796s

No. God knows all about us. 799s

He knows before a hair falls from our head, He knows all about us. 801s

And so we can live in the confidence of the prophetic past tense. 808s

That's what Jonah is doing here. 812s

And how freeing that is to live in light of the prophetic past tense. 815s

Okay, back to Jonah, chapter 2, verse 4. 822s

Then I said, I am driven away from your sight. 829s

How shall I look again upon your holy temple? 835s

The waters closed in over me, the deep surround me, weeds were wrapped around my head. 839s

At the roots of the mountains, I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. 848s

Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. 856s

Previously, Jonah had tried to get away from God. 865s

Now he laments, I am driven away from your sight. 870s

Notice the difference? 874s

Jonah felt the terror of being separated from God. 876s

He has confidence that God is going to bring about good in this situation. 883s

But he also feels the terror that comes in being separated from God. 889s

It is true that God wants all people to be saved and none to perish. 897s

Let's look at 1 Timothy, chapter 1, in the New Testament. 907s

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. 913s

Then you hit the tea books, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st Timothy, 1st Timothy, chapter 1, verse 15. 921s

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the four most. 938s

Jumping over to 2 Peter, chapter 3. 954s

Keep going toward Revelation. 957s

You're going to cross over Hebrews. 960s

You're going to quickly come to 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 9. 962s

And there, Paul writes, Lord is not slow about His promise as some think of slowness. 978s

And what's the promise that's being referred to here, but the promise being referred to here is the second coming of Christ. 984s

So the Lord is not slow about His promise as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 991s

God wants all people to be saved. He wants none to perish. 1005s

But when His mercy has been exhausted, and His mercy is exhausted at the second coming of Christ, when His mercy is exhausted, He allows people not only to leave His presence, but He sends them away from His presence. 1011s

That's why the time in which we live is called the time of God's grace. 1034s

The time of God's grace closes upon the death of a person prior to the Lord coming again. 1040s

In other words, there's no opportunity post death for conversion. 1050s

The time of grace closes for all of creation when the Lord comes again. 1055s

He comes the first time to save. He comes the second time to judge. 1063s

He comes the first time in the lowliness of the manger. 1071s

He comes the second time with the blast of the trumpet and all his glory. 1076s

And so the time of grace then is the time in which we are alive prior to death or we are alive when the Lord comes again, then that time of grace closes. 1085s

When His mercy has been exhausted, He not only allows people to leave His presence, but He sends people away from His presence. 1102s

Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1112s

So turn backwards there heading towards Matthew. 1115s

2 Thessalonians chapter 1, you cross over the Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5. 1121s

Because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. 1142s

And with full conviction, just as you know what kind of persons we prove to be among you for your sake. 1149s

Whoops, I'm in the wrong Thessalonians. No wonder that's not making sense to me. 1159s

I'm thinking to myself, and exactly why did I pick that? 1165s

2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1170s

Ah, this is a lot better for my point. 1172s

2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5. 1176s

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. 1179s

For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction, those who afflict you, and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us. 1189s

When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 1201s

These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His might. 1217s

When He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be marveled at on that day, among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 1227s

This is not what some people say of annihilation, because we are all eternal beings, and every person that has ever lived is living or will live, has an eternal destiny. 1239s

Scripture says there's only one of two options here. It's either heaven or hell. 1255s

So it's not the belief of annihilation. It's not a scriptural perspective that upon death the unbeliever simply is annihilated and goes out of existence. 1260s

No scripture says that we have an eternal destiny every person, and that the unbeliever then, the eternal destiny for the unbeliever is hell itself. 1271s

Jonah felt the terror of what it means to be separated from God in the belly of the fish, and that terror of being separated from God in the belly of the fish is nothing compared to what Scripture says hell will be like. 1286s

Now let's go on into chapter 2, back into Jonah. Jonah chapter 2, verse 7. 1314s

As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. 1324s

Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty, but I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay deliverance belongs to the Lord. 1335s

Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. 1349s

Jonah's experience here is a foreshadowing of the events of Jesus' life. 1361s

Let's go to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12, verse 39. 1370s

But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 1393s

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the son of man will be in the heart of the earth. 1407s

Jonah's experience then foreshadows the resurrection that will come with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. 1419s

From the belly of the great fish, Jonah cries out to the Lord. 1428s

That cry is echoed in terms of all human beings, that the Lord brings to an acknowledgement of their sinfulness. 1435s

The depths of our woe, we understand our sinfulness and that we are sinners from the moment of conception onward. 1447s

Take a look at Psalm 51 with me please, Psalm 51, verse 5. 1458s

David writes, indeed I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. 1476s

So when life begins at conception, you have there in the womb of the mother, you have a sinner. 1484s

There is not a point where the child is born and then all of a sudden you see their sinfulness or they do an act that is sinful. 1494s

No, we are sinners from the moment of conception. What's the principle there? 1507s

Sinful parents don't produce sinless children, right? 1512s

We have all inherited the corruption from our first parents, Adam and Eve and it just passed along. 1517s

That we are sinners from the moment of conception onward. 1525s

Let's go to Ephesians 2, verse 1. 1530s

First and second Corinthians, Galatians and then Ephesians. 1534s

Ephesians 2, verse 1. 1540s

Their Paul writes, you were dead through the trespasses and sins. 1548s

So we are conceived and we are born in the depths of sin and death and from the moment of conception onward what we deserve is eternal death. 1556s

We deserve eternal separation from God. 1569s

Back to Jonah now, chapter 2, verse 3. 1574s

You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas. 1580s

The floods surrounded me and your waves and your billows passed over me. 1586s

The waters here threatened to take his life and yet God is merciful and brings Jonah, resurrects Jonah because he says good is dead there in the belly of the whale. 1594s

And he brings him from the pit of his sin and his death. 1613s

Jonah was in the belly of the fish for one reason, his sin, his sin. 1620s

And God resurrects him unto new life. 1629s

Chapter 2, verse 9. 1636s

Last part of verse 9. 1639s

Jonah says deliverance belongs to the Lord. 1642s

What Jonah does there is concisely state all orthodox Christian theology. 1649s

It's in just those little words that he gives. 1657s

He understands that his being dead as good as dead resulted from his own actions and that salvation from God. 1661s

Remember he's speaking in the prophetic past, the salvation from God that is going to come is totally God's work. 1672s

We are responsible for the predicament we're in and salvation totally comes from God. 1682s

And that is a summary of all orthodox Christian theology. 1690s

God uses the life-threatening water to bring Jonah to new life as he resurrects him from the belly of the fish. 1698s

And God drowns our sins as we pass through the belly of the baptismal font. 1709s

And our sins are drowned. 1721s

Luther said this. 1726s

Life and righteousness come because of God's mercy in sending his son to suffer, die, be buried, and rise again on the day of the new creation. 1730s

So that all the sinful, dead, Jonah's of this world would have new life. 1744s

And you know what crowd we fall into, right? 1755s

We're all sinful, dead, Jonah's destined for eternal separation and hell itself from God. 1759s

But God in His grace has come and sent His Savior to bear our sins on the cross that tomb is empty, 1770s

the sacrifice is acceptable, is accepted. 1779s

God wants us to know that that victory is ours and so we are led to the font. 1784s

And God in His grace so manifest that even a little baby who all they can do are the things that babies do, right? 1793s

Receives the washing and victory so the child knows that that victory is for them. 1807s

God leads us to the waters of baptism and through the waters of baptism our sin is drowned. 1816s

And He raises us to new life. 1828s

Jonah points ahead to Christ. 1832s

Jonah and his resurrection from the fish points ahead to Christ and what a comforting word of grace that is for all of us. 1839s

Jonah's, right? 1856s

Let's pray. 1859s

Oh God is the prophet Jonah spent three days in the belly of the great fish. 1862s

So your son Jesus spent three days in the heart of the earth, grant us repentance to embrace our death in him through holy baptism. 1868s

And to proclaim his victory over sins and death to all the world through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. 1880s

Oh man. 1891s

We'll continue next week and we're going to study about Lazarus. Blessings. 1892s