A lot of people struggle with this part of Jonah’s story. How could a man live in the belly of a “huge fish” (v. 17) for “three days and three nights” (2:1)? Preposterous! But when I hear that, I shrug my shoulders and say, “Jesus is God in the flesh, and He lived a sinless life, died for my sins, and was raised to life on the third day!” Now that is preposterous! The God-man dying for the likes of you and me? The perfect Son of God willingly giving His life so we might once again draw near to the Lord? That’s wild—and it’s absolutely true!

In 1:17–2:1 we read that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, and there he prayed to the Lord. We’ll read his actual prayer over the next few days, but first let’s focus on an exchange Jesus had with the Pharisees (read Matthew 12:38–42). The Pharisees demanded to see a miraculous sign from Jesus, something that would definitively prove that He was who He said He was—the Messiah and Son of God (v. 38). Jesus responded that the only sign they would get was “the sign of the prophet Jonah” (v. 39). Jesus continued, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (v. 40). Then Jesus told the Pharisees that the Ninevites would condemn the Pharisees because “they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here” (v. 41). Jesus, of course, was talking about Himself! Jesus is greater than the reluctant Jonah, and if the Ninevites believed Jonah, then surely the Pharisees (and we today!) should believe Jesus’ message of repentance and trust in God.

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