Chp.107 - Jonah Prefigures Christ

“And that He would rise again on the third day after the crucifixion, it is written (Matt.12:38) in the memoirs that some of your nation, questioning Him, said, ‘Show us a sign;’ and He replied to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and no sign shall be given them, save the sign of Jonah.’ And since He spoke this obscurely, it was to be understood by the audience that after His crucifixion He should rise again on the third day.

Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 252). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

Justin reminds Trypho that his nation has been warned concerning the sign of Jonah. The preaching of Jonah speaks to Israel’s pride, for Jonah was a man bound up in the foolishness of pride and the sovereign exclusivity of his own nation. Because Israel was ‘a sign,’ and still is that ‘sign,’ in many ways, it has led them to be self-exalted in the pride of their country. But there was a generation of this nation which has born the fruit of unbelief in the subsequent generations because they have rejected the ministry of their own Jesus of Nazareth.

Matthew 12:38–45 (NKJV)

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For 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 in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Because Jonah had literally been three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man will have spiritually been three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (MAST)

In Lk.13:32 Christ is spiritually applying all his earthly works to these so-called three days and nights. He cannot be making a “literal” case there, because he was doing miracles even up to the day, this very day, that these Pharisees warned of Herod’s threat, and because the entirety of his earthly work wasn’t finished on the third day consecutive of this order. He has to have something greater in mind in his intent to rebuke the scribes and Pharisees. He is summarizing all his earthly work in the one sign of Jonah’s sufferings (Lk.11:30). The point here, then, is that Christ is the spiritual sign of Jonah “to perfect” or justify all those created “in the repentance” of his resurrection image. The third day is the “literal” sign of his perfection to rise from death in the justification of those sinners marked with this sign of repentance.

Now the grammar to support this is found in two distinct conjunctions. Matthew uses the adverbial comparative, ὥσπερ, [spiritually] to describe how he is comparing the phrases. But he also uses the logical explanatory conjunction, γάρ, [because] to describe why there is a distinction in the comparison. The Greek conjunction, γάρ, [because] denotes the historical purpose of fact for which Jesus is “carrying” this sign of Jonah. But the Greek conjunction, ὥσπερ, [literally/spiritually] denotes the sign which makes the comparison, but is not to be applied in the literal sense but the metaphorical sense. In other words, the Son of Man is like Jonah in the experience of his sufferings and purpose in “preaching,” carrying a similar work, but is greater than him in the glory of “the sign.” The following verse (Matt.12:41) answers the coordinating conjunction, γάρ, [because] as to the adverbial comparison, ὥσπερ, [spiritually] that the Son of Man is “greater” than Jonah as the literal culmination of the “spiritual” work that was working in these two distinct instruments of God. In summary, they are similar but one is greater in connection to the sign.

Christ is making it clear that he is not the literal Jonah reincarnated, but is of one and the same substance, essence of the Spirit which moved Jonah to preach to the Ninevites. So “the comparison” is not to be taken in the literal (i.e., to the letter) form of the history of Jonah but in the metaphorical sense that “the Son of Man” first descended into Hades (which is the heart of the earth) in the spiritual depravity of its fallen condition, yet remained unstained and unpolluted by the world in the inner man.

Philippians 2:5–7 (NKJV)

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

Romans 8:3 (NKJV)

3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

Hebrews 7:26 (NKJV)

26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

Justin desires, then, for Trypho and his countrymen to consider that Jesus is the greater Jonah as the fulfillment of all of Israel’s signs. They all culminate in this one Man who is God’s offering for the sins of ‘every’ nation. In other words, Jesus preaching Jonah as the lesser Christ is a rebuke to Israel’s unwillingness to understand how all the prophets from Abel to Zachariah point to this Jesus of Nazareth as the King of the Jews and the Savoir for all men. But more specifically, Justin is showing how a belief in the resurrection and repentance to life [in God] is necessary for anyone’s salvation. The only way Nineveh, the Queen of Sheba (the South) and Solomon shall arise positively in the judgment is if the resurrection of Christ is fulfilled. So the sign that Jesus has given, in the spiritual sense of Jonah, is the literal resurrection of his own bodily life from the dead, being spit out of the heart of the earth in the satisfaction of Justice for the death of Death in these Gentile sinners and unclean works of Israel’s greatest and wisest earthly king, because they each have repented with “resurrection” life from these dead, unclean works in the promise of the greater works of the wisdom of Christ’s cross. They were looking forward in faith to the gladness of His day in which He will save His people from their sins.

“And since He spoke this obscurely, it was to be understood by the audience that after His crucifixion He should rise again on the third day. And He showed that your generation was more wicked and more adulterous than the city of Nineveh; for the latter, when Jonah preached to them, after he had been cast up on the third day from the belly of the great fish, . . .”

But before this resurrection sign should occur this Christ must suffer in the same manner as did Jonah in the belly of the great fish. But to us Christ has first descended from the glorious image of the eternal life of Heaven’s throne to bear the likeness of the sinful image into the death of Death (1Cor.15:54). Jesus referred to this as “the heart of the earth.” Now this doesn’t mean, as the context reveals, that the Christ will descend into the damnation of sin and death (Hell-fire) but that He “has” (in context) entered the spiritual realm of Hades which awaits the judgment of Death (1Pet.3:18-19). These, then, are spiritual terms to describe and define the literal emptiness and lifeless condition of the soul of man in his relationship to God. Christ enters Death (Sheol) to carry its prisoners back into peace with God. And so Matthew records (in context) the dry and weary condition of the uncleanness of the dark abyss [a.k.a. the bottomless pit] of which the evil spirits abide in the abode of the heart of the earth together with (the soul of the unclean man).

Jude 6 (NKJV)

6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

Matthew 25:41 (NKJV)

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

Revelation 12:9 (NKJV)

9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 20:1–3 (NKJV)

1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

Revelation 20:7–10 (NKJV)

7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:13–15 (NKJV)

13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now all of this is in the fixed and eternal mind of God on the appointed day of His choosing in the secret will of His sovereign Providence. But what is clear and made known is that man must use his time (God’s mercy) to seek out repentance to life in His Name. Because Christ has secured His Word we are without excuse. But notice the chronology of these literal, historical events. Christ descended into the heart of the earth “to preach” to the souls in prison held captive to do the devil’s will by deception. This is Hades which is under the condemnation of Death (i.e., Death and Hades). This is the abode that now exists, but the bottomless pit/the abyss is referring to the unseen places of the depravity of man and the powers that exist in the so-called heavenly realms of darkness (in the soul marked out by possession) of the fallen angels.

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Colossians 1:13 (NKJV)

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

Colossians 1:16 (NKJV)

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Colossians 2:15 (NKJV)

15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

2 Thessalonians 2:9 (NKJV)

9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

Hebrews 2:14 (NKJV)

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

So when the devil, the literal serpent of old, is bound, he will no longer be able to rise up in “the form” of the flesh until released by the sovereignty of God. And this is because of the earthly reign of Christ in the bodily (visible) form ruling over each and every nation that exists or will exist. Because Satan is not cast out of the abyss (the bottomless pit) sin will continue to exist but not in the heavenly (the higher realms) of authority, for he is chained to the lower regions of the spiritual life of the earth. We are certainly not marked by these days, and therefore there remains a Sabbath for the people of God in the heavenly places when Christ comes.

But when Jonah was grieved that on the (fortieth) [third day], as he proclaimed, the city was not overthrown, by the dispensation of a gourd9 springing up from the earth for him, under which he sat and was shaded from the heat (now the gourd had sprung up suddenly, and Jonah had neither planted nor watered it, but it had come up all at once to afford him shade), and by the other dispensation of its withering away, for which Jonah grieved, [God] convicted him of being unjustly displeased because the city of Nineveh had not been overthrown, and said, ‘Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night. And shall I not spare Nineveh, the great city, wherein dwell more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?’1

Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, pp. 252–253). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

The point Justin is making, not only for the Jews, but for each of us, is that there is no superior “race,” in terms of the earthly form “of knowledge,” that abides in the human genome that is the life of the flesh in the “one” blood of mankind. Our problems are spiritual in the abyss of our depravity and sin. We are “together” (Rom.3:12) corrupted to the core of our spiritual existence and without the life and understanding the Holy Spirit in God. So, neither Jonah nor Trypho has the authority of God to judge the soul based on the knowledge that accords to the nature of the flesh. This judgment must be based on the form of their worship (i.e., their spiritual understanding); and if a people repent towards life in Christ then God has shown them mercy and grace in His divine image and likeness (Acts 17:29; 2Pet.1:2-4).

The sacrifice of bulls and lambs are not sufficient to discern between the righteous and wicked, good and evil. God in his dialogue with Jonah had called Nineveh a “great city” because there was some form of knowledge present in them that was to continue and be encouraged, but it must first be attributed to the knowledge of God, not the self-righteousness of sacrificial beasts in the vain glory and image of a man. So there was a liberty practiced there that was held up by God (sustained) to be protected. But Jonah was the agent through which this liberty must established in the Name of the LORD, because it is He alone who sanctifies the offerings of knowledge and wisdom. Whatever they contributed it was by the power and grace of God in the glory of the Son and it was to abide in "the shade" of His Name.

But so was the Devil and Satan called “the great” dragon, and therefore greatness is not a sign of God’s favor; but in the manner that Jonah is rebuked it shows that Nineveh had found some favor in God. We are not told what it was, but this greatness which God saw in them was to be declared righteous and good. But it must not be attributed to the worship of “the great dragon.” This would be theft and robbery of the LORD’s good and holy Name. So Jonah preached “knowledge” to them in the only form of worship that pleased the glory of the Triune Persons of God. And I believe that’s the point of what God is bringing out to Jonah in the illustration of the gourd plant which shaded him. Nineveh was a means to provide Jonah’s people with trade resources, a form of good knowledge that benefits all peoples, but this work was to be performed to the glory of the Almighty Creator, not a lesser glory such as a beast. Therefore the rebuke closes with an unanswered question:

Jonah 4:11 (NKJV)

11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?

Why is it an unanswered question? Because it’s intended to be a rhetorical question designed to answer itself. But Jonah had a knowledge within him to be able to understand the point the LORD was making. Jonah having a thorough knowledge of the whole counsel of God knows how God viewed the people who did not possess the Word of God. In their depravity they are mute like the beasts that search for food by the will of their own appetite, and are unable to discern between good and evil because they don’t have the understanding of the Word of God to discern it for them. The Hebrew/Aramaic, bhemah, is derived from an unused root proposed to mean “to be mute.” This is most likely to be the intent, because the Ninevites were mute concerning the glory of God. In the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles they began to speak “the glories of God” (Acts 2:11). If you consider yourself to be a free-thinker, you are no more free to discern good from evil than a beast with mad-cow disease. You are still blindly led around like cattle to worship and serve “the great dragon” no matter what animal-like nature he has clothed himself with. You are “mute” like a muzzled ox to the worship of the Triune Persons of God.