Proof
My whole life, people have asked me, "Do you really think a whale could have swallowed Jonah? How could he have lived inside a fish for three days?" In 2021, a humpback whale "swallowed" Michael Packard (he was in its mouth for about thirty seconds). Then the whale spit him out. Now his friends call him "Jonah." It's a remarkable story, but it has no relationship to the book of Jonah. None. All the cartoons aside, we don't know that it was a whale, just a great fish. If we said "purposefully unidentified sea creature," we'd have a better understanding. Also, if it were customary for whales to swallow people, then we wouldn't think of this event was God's supernatural work.
In the book of Jonah, God appoints a fish, a plant, a worm, and a wind. They're ordinary parts of the world, aligned with God's goals. It starts with God overpowering him with a great fish and ends with God exposing his total dependence with a little worm. Jonah didn't get lucky because a hungry whale scooped him up and deposited him where he needed to be. God chose Jonah to be his prophet and he ran away. God chose the fish to swallow Jonah, and it complied. God saves us in unusual ways. Jonah is saved by being inside a creature from the sea for three days and three nights. It's a kind of symbolic death. Moses brings God's people through the Red Sea on dry land. In both cases, God ensures that his people pass through water safely. But they're completely different methods. I've often prayed, "God, if you will do this, then I will be fine." But God didn't do what I asked, and yet he still drew me closer to him. Jonah must be frustrated. He paid for a boat to take him to Tarshish. God appointed a fish to take him in the other direction. Jonah slept in the lowest part of the ship. God sent a pagan sailor to wake him up. Jonah got the sailors to throw him into a supernatural storm. God used that decision to reroute him toward Nineveh. Jonah cannot escape God's assignment. If we don't want what God wants, it seems cruel, like God is a puppet master. But if we think God wants good for us, it's mercy. Sometimes I think Jonah is a story that's too good to be true. A whale, really? But in Jesus' ministry, the religious leaders had seen him heal people and concluded he was using Satan's power. So when they asked Jesus to prove that he was who he said he was, he pointed to Jonah. Jesus said, "For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Matthew 12:40). The parallel is that miracles point to God's intervention and God's affirmation. If God had let Jonah drown, we wouldn't have the book of Jonah. But because God repeatedly saved Jonah, we can be confident that this stubborn man was God's prophet. If Jesus had stayed in the grave, we wouldn't have the New Testament. But because God raised him from the dead, we're confident this perfect man can save us from death. Who else can defeat certain death but God?
What does it tell us about God that he didn't let his rebellious prophet die?
If you wanted proof that God is alive, what would count for you?
What's one way you've tried to tell God how to save you?
Text a friend the hardest question you have about God or the Bible. Then ask them what their hardest question is. It's okay if you can't answer them.