By
Shelby G. Floyd
CHRIST AND THE BOOK OF JONAH
Another book which the higher critics and modernists have made light of and passed off as a fairy tale is the book of Jonah. But Christ does not share the view of the higher critics in regards to the book of Jonah.
JONAH SWALLOWED BY A GREAT FISH
The scribes and the Pharisees were some of the worst critics of our Lord. They wouldn’t believe what he said without some miraculous sign. In answer to their request for a miraculous sign, Jesus said:
“A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For 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” (Matthew 12: 39-40, NIV).
JONAH IN THE FISH THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS
Notice in this quotation that our Lord referred to Jonah as “the prophet Jonah” (Matt. 12: 39). He also compared his death and burial in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights upon the fact that Jonas had been three days and three nights in the whale’s belly. This record is found in Jonah 1:17, but the modernists tell us that the book of Jonah is just a fairy tale, and that it is not a real historical event. Obviously, our Lord did not share their view, but he believed that Jonah was a prophet of God and that what is recorded of him actually took place as a real historical event.
JONAH WAS A GREAT SERVANT AND PROPHET
Not only did Christ refer to Jonah as a prophet, but also in the Old Testament historical books he is referred to as a servant,
“…according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher” (2 Kings 14: 25 NKJV).
A prophet is one who speaks forth the will of God and sometimes in doing this foretells future events. A prophet was one sent out from God and in whom God put his words. Therefore Jesus Christ accepted the prophet Jonah and the book which bears his name as the inspired word of God.
Copyright © 2011 2017 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved
Shelby G. Floyd
Heartland Church of Christ
1693 West Main Street
Greenwood, Indiana 46142