Jonah, sign of Of what significance was Jonah? Why would Jesus
choose this rather obscure prophet as the only sign that he was
Messiah? He tells them (and us): "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" (v
Jonah was God's sign to the Ninevites of Assyria, a people who
weren't serving Him. If Jonah had not gone to Nineveh, how would
its citizens have heard God's message? By the LORD's insistence,
it was clear that this task belonged only to Jonah. We must
assume that God had a special purpose in ordering the
proclamation of Himself to one of Israel's enemies. If Nineveh,
hearing the word of God, repented through fear of the judgment
of heaven, then perhaps wayward Israel would be persuaded to
take notice and follow their example, thus saving itself also
from the wrath of God. But Jonah tried to get out of his
divinely-appointed task. He recognized that the growing might of
Assyria was a threat to be fea