So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. (Jonah 2:10-3:10)
The last verse of the Book of Jonah chapter 2 says, "So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." In Luke's Gospel chapter 11, it says, "For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation" (verse 30). Jonah, who they thought died after having been thrown off board the ship headed for Tarshish, came to Nineveh and cried out.
With regard to the sign that Jonah showed, Jesus said, "No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39-40). In light of the verse, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," we generally think of only Jesus' death. That death, however, is clearly a limited one. It was clearly foretold that a certain change would take place. Jonah, who had spent three days in the belly of the fish, was vomited onto dry land. It was not that the fish excreted him but rather vomited him. Just as it says, "So will the Son of man" in this generation, Jesus was foretelling of His resurrection. Just as Jonah returned to dry land, Jesus rose from the grave. Therefore, it says, "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54), and it says that life has swallowed up death. How beautiful these words are! This can also be expressed through the words, "triumphing over them in it [the cross]" (Colossians 2:15).
Jesus, who resurrected in this manner, manifested Himself again in this world. The disciples did not recognize Him at first. (see Luke chapter 24) When the other disciples said that they saw Him, Thomas went so far as to say that he could not believe until he put his hand on the marks of the nails on Him. (see John chapter 20) The resurrection of Jesus was a subject of a great debate even among the disciples. Jesus appeared to them and spoke for forty days about the kingdom of God (see Acts 1:3). And Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, as the disciples watched (see Acts 1:9).
In Acts chapter 2, there is a scene where the Holy Spirit appeared to them as divided tongues, as of fire. When the Holy Spirit came to the disciples, they began to speak in tongues. The Holy Spirit came down on the Pentecost, and that was the beginning of the Church. If you read the Book of Acts from the beginning, it describes how the apostles testify of Jesus Christ, who died once and resurrected. The high priests went to Pilate on the Sabbath and asked that the tomb be strictly guarded, in order to prevent Jesus' disciples from taking the body and claiming that Jesus rose, since Jesus said, when He was living, that He would rise after three days. Then Pilate said, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how" (see Matthew 27:62-66), but Jesus resurrected. And the voice of the apostle that testified of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ adorned the Early Church years.
Therefore, the Letter to the Ephesians proclaimed, "Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (2:20). When the Letter to the Ephesians, which is in the New Testament, was written, the words of the Old Testament about the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ had been fulfilled, and the apostles were revealing the great mystery, which had been hidden in the words of the Old Testament. They are the words that have been left for this Church, which has been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
Jonah chapter 3 verse 1 says,
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time ....
Did the word of God come to Jonah two times simply because Jonah did not listen and so God spoke once again? Was it similar to how a parent might say to a child that does not listen, saying, "I will say it again, alright?"? Was it that God spoke the second time to give him another chance, since he did not listen the first time around, and God was angry and had him be thrown into the water?When we examine this passage, we have to connect it to our lives, which we live, knowing the words of the Bible, in which the mystery of the Church is revealed. "Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time." "The second time" is important here.
The New Covenant which Was Established on Better Promises
We will turn to Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6.
But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
"He" refers to the resurrected Jesus. This verse indicates that something came before better promises came. Something came before, but better promises have been established. It says that the One who kept the better covenant Himself was the Mediator. It says that this is the resurrected Jesus.
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. (Hebrews 8:7)
It says, "Why would we have needed a second, if the first could resolve everything?"
Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah ...." (Hebrews 8:8)
These words are found in the Book of Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31. There is, however, a slight difference in expression between the Old Testament and the New Testament. We will read Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31.
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah ....
It says that what will be given in the future is different from the Law of Moses. It foretells that He would give a new covenant, which is different from the covenant that God had given to Moses in the Old Testament.How did the many prophets, priests, and kings that read these words understand them? It seems natural for us to understand the meaning of these words. Jesus, who came to this world, was nailed on the cross and died for us, who could not be justified by the Law. In other words, the righteousness called the cross was established anew above all the Law. We have come to be included in it. We received the blessing of being included in it, by faith. This is a matter of course for those of us living in the Age of the Church.
The Old Testament, however, clearly speaks of the new covenant. The new covenant had been hidden to the people at the time. It was a mystery. The people of Judah, who were living at the time, could never have seen how this mystery would unfold in the world. Could there have been people that understood why Jonah had to be in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, why he was vomited onto dry land again, why God spoke to him the second time, and why he, a prophet of Judah, had to go to the gentile Nineveh and cry out to the sinners to repent?
This was about the Church, which God had planned in His heart before the creation. In the image of a woman, about whom Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23), was hidden the image of the Church. The profound meaning is hidden in many passages of the Old Testament. However, the people of Judah at the time could not see this with their eyes. It was as if a lock was opened with a key; when Jesus shed His blood on the cross, died, resurrected, and ascended, all the mystery began to unfold. This is the Church. It is the Church of God, in which our spirits belong and in which we live. How precious this is! When people build a church out of bricks, and put up a cross, that is not the Church. The Church of God is nothing short of being able to adorn the entire Old Testament, and that is what exists in this world. The Bible speaks of this quietly.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:32)
This is expressed a little differently in Hebrews.
It says, "though I was a husband to them," referring to the relationship between God and Israel, as it is manifested in the Old Testament. When we read, "husband and wife," we think of "Jesus Christ and the Church"; in the Old Testament, however, the relationship between husband and wife are "God and Israel." You must keep this in mind. The relationship of husband and wife that appears, after the New Testament times begin, is the relationship of Jesus Christ and the Church.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says that LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I
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