This is a short book, four chapters in all that probably contain more wisdom and insight than we can possibly hope to learn in the lessons we will cover. Clearly the book of Jonah is more than a story about the man who survived in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights. Like every other book of the Bible, it carries a message from God for his chosen people. And the message almost always has something to do with God’s comprehensive plan for world salvation. And God’s message almost always seems to relate to his chosen people the urgency in fulfilling it. Generations later, our Lord Jesus himself brought the message of Jonah to light when he said these words to the people of his own generation: “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!” Jesus said! “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.” Jesus then continued saying: “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.
If a people would only humble themselves and repent, and put their faith in the Son of God, regardless of who they are, regardless of what they had done, or how wicked their sins may be, God would forgive them and avert his judgment from them. That is the message. God’s judgment is inevitable. (John 3:16-18) But his compassion is also immeasurable, and he longs to rescue those who would otherwise perish in their sins.