In Jonah He is “the
Sign of the Prophet Jonah.”
Jonah is the only prophet whom Jesus likened to
Himself.
He answered,
"A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a
miraculous sign! 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. 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. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment
with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the Earth to
listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now One greater than Solomon is here.
Matt 12:39-41 NIV
Jonah’s experience typically points to the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ; Who rose from the dead as “the Firstfruits
of those who have fallen asleep” (read 1 Corinthians 15:20).
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord,
and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas;
and the floods compassed me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over
me.
Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again
toward Thy holy temple.
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth
closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
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.
When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer
came in unto thee, into Thine holy temple.
Jonah 2:1-7 KJV
And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon
the dry land.
Jonah 2:10 KJV
“The Sign of the Prophet Jonah” was made manifest in
the "One greater than Jonah."