Jonah: The Great Fish Controversy

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Jonah was swallowed by a “Great Fish”.  The Lord Jesus Christ called it a whale in Matthew Can a man live in the belly of a Whale for Three days? Click through to Irivington Bible Baptist Church to find out12:40.  The creation of whales is recorded in Genesis chapter one:

 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.- Genesis 1:20-21

The scientists will tell you, that Whales are not fish, but they also told you that the earth was flat until after Magellan’s voyage returned safely in AD 1522.  Even though the Bible recorded the fact that the earth is round in BC 712:

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: - Isaiah 40:22

Whales are compared to Satan in the Bible.  In the book of Ezekiel, the Bible is addressing the Pharoh of Egypt and calls him a dragon (Type of Satan) and a whale (Type of Satan).  The desire of Satan is to take people to Hell, and that is exactly what this whale did; it took Jonah to Hell (Jonah 2:2).

Man can’t live in a Whale’s belly

Countless hours have been wasted by people on both sides of this argument.  Many will say that there is not enough oxygen for a man to live inside a whale’s belly, let alone for three days and nights.  Others have burned their eyes out, pouring over documents to prove that they have and that they can.  There are some recordings of people being found inside of a whale’s belly, both alive and dead.  All of this is unnecessary though since Jonah was NOT alive in the whale’s belly, He was dead!

The only sign that Jesus said he would give

When asked for a sign to prove that he was who he said he was, Jesus said that the only sign that he would give is the sign of Jonah.  As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, the Son of Man (Jesus) would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

This necessitates the death, burial and resurrection of Jonah.  Because that is what Jesus was talking about, his death, burial and resurrection.  If Jonah did not die and had not been resurrected, then the mention of Jonah as a  sign would not make any sense.

Jonah died before he was swallowed by the whale;  the whale acted as a tomb for Jonah, after three days and nights, Jonah was resurrected:

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. - Jonah 2:6

What did Jesus do in the Tomb?

Jesus was a man in every way, that is to say, that he had a Spirit, a Soul and a Body:

 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Thesselonians 5:23

His physical body stayed in the tomb for three days:

(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.
This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. - Luke 23:51-55

His Spirit ascended to the Father when he died on the cross:

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. - Luke 23:46

His Soul went to the heart of the earth:

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) - Ephesians 4:8-10

Just as Jonah kept going down:

  • Down to Joppa
  • Down to a Ship
  • Down to the sides of the ship
  • Down to the bottoms of the mountains

The Soul of Jesus went down to the lower parts of the Earth.  While he was in the heart of the earth he spent some time in Hell.  That is where he deposited our sins.

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. - Acts 2:27

The Holy One is the Lord Jesus Christ, you can’t leave something somewhere that it has never been.  You can’t leave your keys on the counter if they were never on the counter.  This means that the Holy One (Jesus) had been in Hell.  While he was there the Bible records that he preached to the spirits that were there in prison.  Hell is a prison, it has gates and bars:

 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; - 1 Peter 3:18-19

He then took the keys to hell and death:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. - Revelation 1:18

He opened the gate and let himself out before crossing over to Abraham’s bosom:

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. - Luke 16:22-26

Where he then preached deliverance to the old testament Saints:

Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. - 1 Peter 4:5-6

He then took paradise and those Saints to the third heaven where the Throne of God is located:

It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. - 2 Corinthians 12:1-4

Order of events is important

In Jonah 2:1,  we see that the first word is “then”.  The word “then” sets the chronology of what happened and when it happened.  Some of the “new” versions of the Bible have taken out the word “then” in this verse.  That is a significant change because, without that word, you don’t have the chronology correct.

Jonah was in the belly of the fish (Dead) for three days and three nights, then the next things happened.  In other words, after Jonah was dead for three days and three nights the following things occurred:

  • Jonah prayed from hell
  • The Lord brought Jonah’s life back to him from corruption

Next week we will dive into Chapter two in more depth.