Christ uses Jonah as a Similitude

Jonah as a Similitude of Christ

You can learn to find and see these similitudes or imageries of Prophet’s ministry and the acts of Jesus Christ. (Hosea 12:10)  I will try and show you how I look for similitudes.

1.    Jesus is the one who shows that there is a connection between Jonah and himself.  See Matthew 12:39-41 and also it is mentioned in Luke 11:29-32.  When the Pharisees said, ”we would see a sign from thee”  Jesus replied, “…and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Jonah).  Then Christ tells some similitude, “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”.

2.   Let’s now go to the book of Jonah and try and find things that both Jonah and Christ did.  I don’t look at the negative things for they would not be like Christ.

3.   In Jonah 1:3 Jonah went down into a boat. Did Christ ever go down into a boat?  If you say yes then you can see the similarities.

4.   Chapter 1:4  There was a great tempest that arose while he was in the boat.  Sound like Christ?  (See  Matt. 8:23-27 to see what happened to Christ.)

5.   1:5 Jonah was inside the ship and was fast asleep, just like Christ.

6.   When the storm was strong those in the boat awoke Jonah (Christ) and asked for his help.  Jesus stood up and rebuked and calmed the storm.  In Jonah 1:11-12 they asked Jonah what shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? And he told them to cast him into the sea for the storm was because of him.  So in v15 they threw Jonah into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging.

7.   One other imagery that I think is important was when Jonah was thrown into the waters but was swallowed by a fish.  It is like when Jesus got ready to complete His atonement that he allowed himself to be turned over to the wicked (remember water imagery) and when he died on the cross and was in the tomb, the storm the wicked had started was calmed.  They felt that Jesus was no longer a threat to them.

Now Chapter 2 of Jonah is the great jewel of this imagery.  I will put in all 10 verses of chapter two.  You read them one at a time and see if you can see if what happened to Jonah happened to Christ.  I will record what I found, but you try first before you read ahead.

1.   Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,

1b. Christ praying in His hour of distress (see Matt 26:37–45

2.   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.

2b. Hell is translated from the Hebrew word לּרּאּשּ (she’ộwl – Strong’s #7585), which means “world of the dead” (or spirit world).  Where Christ went, when body  in tomb.

3.    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.

3b.  Turned over to the wicked (Rev 17:15, water).  He was in a wicked world where He was tempted in all things.  He also suffered for all sin, sorrow, pain, sickness, ect.

4.    Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

4b. “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me” (Matt 27:46).

5.    The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.  See footnote

5b. Wicked took Him to the point of death (footnote 5a); placed Him in a tomb, and a crown of thorns placed on His head (see Matt 27:29, 57–60).

6.    I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

6b. Jesus “descended below all things” (D&C 88:6; see also 122:8); the bars of the earth (death) were about Him.  But His body did not see corruption (or decay–see Acts 2:31) before He was brought up, or resurrected.

7.   When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

7b.  Prayer in both Gethsemane and on the cross (See #1 & 4 above).  Heaven is a holy temple (See Revelation 21:22).

8.   They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. (Many consider this the most important verse in the book of Jonah. )

8a. People who rely on their own arm of flesh will not receive of His mercy (See 2 Nephi 4:34; Moroni 6:4).

9.   But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay [that] that I have vowed. Salvation [is] of the LORD.

9a. “For this cause came I into the world” (John 18:37); “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42); Salvation comes only from Christ (see Acts 4:12).

10.And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

10a. Resurrection where Christ from this point only shows himself on dry ground (where the righteous live) and not in the water (where Satan has power over the people)–see John 21:1, 4 .   What a great account of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.