The Story of Jonah
God commanded Jonah to bring the message of repentance to the wicked Gentile city of Ninevah. But Jonah didn’t want to, and the disobedient prophet set sail in the opposite direction! So God sent a storm upon the sea. In order for God to calm the storm, the sailors threw Jonah overboard, where he was swallowed by a great fish. Jonah then famously spent three days and nights in the belly of the fish, before it spat him up safely on dry ground. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus tells us that what happened to Jonah anticipated his own death and resurrection. He says, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” But that’s only the beginning! Learn how the story of God’s reluctant prophet anticipated the far greater ministry of Jesus, a Savior who offers the gospel of repentance freely to the Gentiles!