As I was teaching the "minor prophets" last fall, I made mention of the fact that even Islam accepted Jonah as a true prophet. I also stated that the Moslems have a shrine dedicated to Jonah across from the ancient city of Nineveh. This shrine displays a whale bone to remind the worshipper of Jonas’ sea adventure. (The place is called Nabi Yunis, [Prophet Jonah] and it is on the Tigris River near the present city of Mosul).

About two weeks after I taught this course, I found myself sitting in a seafood restaurant on the west coast of Mexico. There, hanging from the ceiling was a whale bone. I might add that I have never seen a whale bone before, but it reminded me of the message that Jonas’ story conveys.

The New Testament mentions Jonas by name at least nine times. He is lauded as a great preacher, but more than a preacher, his life was a sign to the forthcoming generations:

"But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here" (Mat. 12:39-41).

Jonas experienced (in a figure) the horrors of hell – the suffocation, the utter darkness and the burning enzymes of the whale’s belly. For three days and nights he is in the depth of the sea. He describes his experience as being in the belly of hell (Jon. 2:2). Jonas then experienced a resurrection (as it was), life from the dead.

That was not the end of the sign; Jonas is then re-commissioned to go to the gentiles. In fact, he is sent to the very citadel of evil. (Nineveh was the most powerful city on earth at that time). Jonas’ preaching in Nineveh was extraordinaire; it sent shock waves right to the throne. This was unprecedented; never had an Israelite ever gone to a gentile city to preach the gospel. The resurrection of Jonas was not only a sign of the resurrection of Christ, but it was a demonstration of the after effects of that resurrection. After three days and nights in hell, Christ came forth in awesome resurrection power. The apostle Paul describes the exceeding greatness of this power, when Christ arose to sit at the right hand of the Father far above every power that is named (Eph. 1:19-21). It was after the resurrection of Christ that the Gospel was preached to the gentiles.

Today we can look around the world and we see many cities like Nineveh. To all outward appearance they are impossible strongholds of evil, and to frustrate things even more, the church seems powerless to do anything about it. Yet, we can take hope from the sign of Jonas because it was through his death experience that Jonas was able to taste (symbolically) the resurrection power of Christ. Jonas preaching shook the most Godless city on the face of the earth and they repented.

The resurrection power of Christ is symbolized in the Holy of Holies by the rod that budded (the rod was in the ark). Jesus showed us the way into this power through His crucifixion. It is the crucified church that will manifest the resurrection power of Christ. We live in a time when the church has seemingly lost its power and yet the sign of Jonas still speaks to our generation. It is the church that identifies with the cross of Christ that shall see the greater works of the "Greater than Jonas"… they shall see the greater commission fulfilled through the power of His resurrection.