There are many fascinating parallels between Jonah and Jesus. Both voluntarily plunged into the sea/grave in order to save others; both spent 3 days and nights in the depths of the sea/grave*; Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the whale (“From deep in the belly of Sheol I cried for help… I thought I had been banished from your presence…”) has close similarities to the experience of Jesus as described in many of the Messianic Psalms; both Jonah and Jesus experienced a “resurrection” from the sea/grave; after their “resurrection”, Jonah preached that in 40 days Nineveh would be destroyed while Jesus was with the disciples for 40 days telling them about the Kingdom of God;
Jonah “ascended” on a hill to watch Nineveh, while Jesus ascended ;to heaven and finally, in both cases there was a dramatic revival — the people of Nineveh repented and there was the powerful birth of the Christian church.
Just as important as the similarities between Jonah and Jesus, however, are the glaring distinctions and we should rejoice that our God is like Jesus, not Jonah![soundcloud id=’148694455′ height=’false’]