Whereas prophets such as Ezekiel and Hosea were called upon to live out their prophecies, in Jonah we have one whose very life is the sign itself (Matt. 12:39). The message that Jonah was to carry was simple enough: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). Nineveh, however, was the capital of Assyria, Israel’s enemy, and before that message was preached, Jonah had to pass through the very depths of the ocean. There he acknowledges, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).
Ours is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness (Jonah 4:2), a God that takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11). God observed the unfeigned repentance of that great city (Jonah 3:10) and spared it from destruction (Jonah 4:11).
Though Jonah fulfilled his mission to preach to Nineveh, his pride could not accept God’s mercy to the Gentile. Jonah’s reputation was at stake; the thing he feared had come about—the judgment he had preached of had not transpired (Jonah 4:2, 3). Likewise, man in his great pride rejects the grace of God; he would have His justice (especially when it concerns another—though it condemns him also) but not His grace. We see this with the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:30).
God in mercy prepares a gourd to protect Jonah from the terrible heat (Jonah 4:6); but the gourd must be removed. Jonah must learn the ways of God’s action in grace—so it will be with Israel, and so it must be with each one of us. The very existence of this book and its unflattering account of the author are proof to us of the lesson learned.
The life of Jonah is a prophetic picture of Israel. It is the history of the unfaithful witness and God’s governmental dealings with them. Israel proved unfaithful to the testimony of God toward this world and has been temporarily set aside.
It was through Jonah’s unfaithfulness that the name of Jehovah was made known and worshipped amongst the Gentiles (Jonah 1:16), and it is through Israel’s fall that salvation is come to us (Rom. 11:11-15). In a coming day, Israel will be raised up to witness to the nations (Matt. 24:14).
Jonah is also a type of the Lord Jesus—His rejection, death, and resurrection. He is the Faithful Witness, the One who spent three days and three nights in the grave, the firstborn from the dead (Matt. 12:40; Rev. 1:5)