We are going to turn to the prophet Yonah again today, Jonah chapter 1 and verse 17. And I'm reading, Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Yonah. And Yonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 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 Sheol 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 towards 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 bottom 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. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee in thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.

I will pay that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. This is the end of Yonah chapter 2 in the reading today and I would like first of all just before I'm going to continue in the ministry of the passage that we have read that you will remember that we're reading concerning the prophet Jonah in Hebrew we call him Yonah and the event that we are reading about right now followed what we have already looked into in chapter 1, where we saw how the Lord told Yonah. In chapter 1, he said to him, in verse 2, Go to Nineveh, that great city, cry against it, for the wickedness of it came up before me.

And Yonah, which was a prophet in Israel, instead of submissiveness to the command of his God, the God of Israel he have violated his word and instead of going eastward he went westward he went to the city of yafo found a ship that going to the place called tarshish went into the ship went down to the bottom part of the ship and he was heading towards a place that is called tarshish now on the way as he was in that ship God as we read in chapter one already brothers and sisters you remember it says in verse 4 of chapter 1 the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty storm in the sea so the ship was like to be broken and if you remember the sailors began to cry each one to his own God and they were praying and hoping that there will be something will end this storm because the ship is going to be ready to be.

Broken well the ship master went down to the bottom part of the ship and he saw yonah sleeping and he said to him get up why are you sleeping all sleeper arise call upon thy God verse 6 of chapter 1 if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not and then they ask yonah about his background. Where did he come from? What is his occupation? And what is his country? And from which people he came from? Those five famous questions. And Yonah told them, I am a Hebrew and I feel Jehovah. And when he told them that, and he told them that it was because of his own disobedience that a storm came upon that ship in the middle of the sea, that now they understood that it was his wrongdoing that brought about that storm in their life as they were on their journey to Tarshish.

And so what did they do? They were trying to save themselves and to save the boat, to save the ship. They began to throw everything outside. And then they asked, you know. What should we do in order that it will stop? He says, you know what? You just cast me into the sea and the storm will cease. Well, they didn't want to do that. They didn't want to just throw this rebellious prophet into the sea. So they try even harder and they begin to pray. If you remember, they prayed in verse 14, they cried unto Jehovah, unto the Lord, and said, we beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life.

Apparently, the event there drove them to become believers in the God of Israel in the God of Jonah and they beseech him that they will not be disciplined by him because of this man's life because now they are going to cast him into the sea and so brothers and sisters eventually as we have read in our last session together notice verse 15 of chapter 1 they took up Jonah and they cast him forth into the sea the Hebrew word vayatilu they threw him they till him it cast him into the sea and then the sea ceased from hell roaring and we can see by Jonah telling them that he was the disobedient servant and it is because of him that the Lord sent this wind and because he told them you just cast me into the sea and the sea will cease from its raging you can see that he understood that God brought that storm upon his life and that they understood and somehow God had worked in his life that they understood.

That it was Jehovah the God of the Hebrews the God of Jonah that brought about the coming on the sea on their way to Tarshish and if you remember we made a reference to Luke chapter 8 and how Yeshua our Messiah could calm the lake the sea of Galilee with the word of his mouth he can calm the sea because he has control over the creation he is the creator God who can calm the sea who can calm the storm who can speak a word and it will come to pass and so the end of verse 16 these sailors became believers in the God of Israel because they feared the Lord they offered him sacrifices and they made many vows nadru nedarim as we have here at the end of verse 16 now actually brothers and sisters verse 16 is the end of chapter 1 in the Masoretic text the Hebrew Masoretic text, verse 17 is actually verse 1 of chapter 2.

I do not know why that whoever gave us the English text put verse 17 together with chapter 1, but actually in. Accordance with the Masoretic text, the Tanakh, the Old Testament, verse 1 of chapter 2 is actually chapter 1 verse 17. So chapter 2 in the Hebrew text have actually 11 verses. Verse 1 it is verse 17 of chapter 1 and verse 11 will be verse 10 of chapter 2. And what we have here in the second chapter we have the prayer of Jonah the prophet that he had prayed when he actually was cast into the sea and that when he was swallowed up by that fish that God had specifically had prepared to carry Jonah for that time that he was going to hold him there and really there is a sandwich here between verse 17 of chapter 1 and verse 10 of chapter 2.

Sandwiched in between the word of the Lord who is speaking to that fish, we have the prayer of Jonah. Jonah the prophet is praying. Now you notice, let me read first of all verse 17 of chapter 1. Now the Lord had prepared. The great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now go to chapter 2 and verse 10, and notice what we read there. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry ground. Here we see the Lord who is in full control, who is totally in control of the animal kingdom, of the fish of the sea.

He is in full control. He speaks a word. The animal kingdom, the fish will listen to him. All the elements in this world listen to him. In between of this sandwich, we have the prayer of this servant of the Lord, that we find it from verse 1 to verse 9 of chapter 2. But let's for a moment speak about verse 17. You know, a lot of people, when you tell them the story of Jonah, they just don't believe it. They say, how is it possible that we read in the Bible that Jehovah had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Most people who listen to this statement, this verse 17 of chapter 1, they often say it is not possible. How can anybody live in a fish for three days and three nights. Well, that is the unbelieving world. Those who do not recognize the word of God, do not recognize the Bible, and do not believe that God is the creator of heaven and earth, he is the sustainer, he is the upholder, and he is in charge over this universe. You know, if we don't believe this, then we should not believe that Enoch, in Genesis chapter 5, was translated into heaven. Because the Bible says that Enoch walked with God, and Enoch was no more because he was taken up to heaven.

If we don't believe that the story of Jonah is real, we also then should not believe that Enoch was taken up to heaven in a supernatural way. And we can say this as well, about Elijah, Eliyahu, Hanavi. If we don't believe that God is able to make miracles and to do something that is unique, that he had a purpose for that, we also then should not believe that Lot's wife have become a pillar of salt. Genesis chapter 19. You remember the story there? And the Bible teaches very clearly that she looked back at the city of Sodom, or Sodom as we say in English, Sodom in Hebrew, and by looking back she had turned and become a pillar of salt.

We have to accept this as well. If we don't believe that God is able to make miracles and that the prophet Jonah was three days and three nights in a fish's belly, We also then should not believe that when Moshe, Moses, had gone to Mount Sinai and he saw a bush burning and a fire in the midst of the bush, but the bush was not consumed. How is it possible? You put fire to a dry bush, it will be consumed. But the Bible teaches us those specific miracles that happen in the history of our nation Israel. And our people. And we can go on. If you remember, there was a man by the name of Bilam, who was a false prophet.

And you remember what the Bible teaches us, that when Bilam was riding a donkey, and that the donkey began to talk to Bilam. And Bilam was angry with him, and the donkey talked back to him. He said to him, Why are you doing this to me? Why do you hurt me? You use me. You ride on me, and why do you kick me? Why do you hurt me? Now, if we don't believe that Jonah was inefficient, Belias might as well don't believe the story of Bilaam in the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 22. In fact, we can just go on and go on. When Israel, our own people, came out of Egypt, the Bible teaches us that the Red Sea was open to them.

And they walked through the Red Sea, chapter 14 of the book of Exodus, dry shod. All the way to the other side. Well, if the Bible tells us that Jonah was in a fish's belly three days and three nights and we don't believe it, also then you should not believe that story as well. And what about the Jordan River? When our people went in the book of Joshua and they enter into the promised land, If we don't believe that Jonah was in the fish's belly for three days and three nights, also we should not believe that the Jordan River stood still. And Israel, with the Ark of the Covenant, crossed over the Jordan River to the land of Israel on the other side.

How is it possible that the river will just stand still as a heap and the water do not come down? Those are miracles, beloved brothers and sisters, that God has wrought in the history of our nation, Israel, whether it is in the Tanakh, in the biblical time of the Old Testament, or even a time that Yeshua, the Messiah, was here on earth among his own nation, Israel. If we don't believe that Jonah was in Ephesians, barely three days and three nights, also then we should take the whole Bible and set it aside, because it is filled with miracles it's real but it was God's ordain it was not human saying it was divine design it was ordained by God for a reason for a purpose and it happened in the history of our people so now brothers and sisters look at this in verse 17 we see how God had specifically prepared a fish to swallow up Jonah it is amazing the ways of God actually the Hebrew word for the word prepared is the word yaman vayaman and he prepared that means that he appointed a fish that he has assigned the fish that he numbered that fish yaman is also come from the word number he said this one will go that way in order to swallow up Jonah it was totally the plan and the purpose of God for this servant who had rebelled against him and look at this brothers and sisters.

The Bible says that Jonah was in the fish's belly three days and three nights now again i would like to say that many times people do not acknowledge that and don't accept it but the truth is brothers and sisters that the Bible does say that Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish's belly now the word here in Hebrew is dag dag is not a whale dag is a fish i know in many translations it's talking about a big whale because a whale is a big fish but the Scripture talked about a fish simply dug gadol a large fish and God specifically had prepared that large fish for the purpose of dealing with his servant Jonah and that using Jonah in the fish's belly for a reason that Jonah's experience would become a picture and a type of what happened to our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah i would like you for a moment to put your finger here and turn with me to Matthew chapter 12 for a moment Matthew chapter 12 and Matthew chapter 16 both of them.

Are dealing with Yeshua's speaking to our own nation in the land of Israel in chapter 12 we read in verse 38 and 39 when the certain scribes in verse 38 and Pharisees they came to him and they said to him Master we would see a sign from thee but Yeshua answered to them and he said to them an evil and adulterous generation seek us after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. Here is the validity of the truth concerning this event that occurred years ago in the history of Israel, that Jonah was in a fish's belly three days and three nights, and here Yeshua the Messiah, none else, but the Lord himself said in verse 40 now, For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish's belly, So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

In other words, what happened to Jonah, Jonah the prophet became a picture of what happened to Yeshua, the Messiah, when he came down to this world. When the Pharisees and the scribes came to him and they said to Yeshua in chapter 12, So we want to have a sign. Show us a sign. And he didn't give them any other sign except one sign concerning his death, burial, and resurrection. And he said to them, As Jonah was in the fish's belly three days and three nights, so must the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. If you turn a little bit further to chapter 16, Again, he was challenged with respect to his death and resurrection.

And this time again, it is the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees have been added to that. And in chapter 16, verse 1, we read, And the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and they, tempting him, desired that he would show them a sign from heaven. And look what Yeshua is doing again, brothers and sisters. He answered and He said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, if it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering, O ye hypocrites! Ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the sign of the times?

And then He said in verse 4, A wicked and adulterous generation seek us after a sign and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah again brothers and sisters he drawing his message to the leaders of Israel out of the experience that Jonah the prophet of experience and so we can be assured that when God have prepared a fish to bear Jonah for all three days and three nights we can be assured that it truly have happened historically that it is truly indeed the word of God and so we find out that the fish swallowed Jonah and Jonah was in the fish's belly as a type of the Messiah for three days and three night in the fish's belly to become a picture a type of what was going to happen in a future day to Yeshua the Messiah and here let's move on into the second chapter right now and in verses 1 to verse 9 we have the prayer of Jonah here we find now Jonah that he is now praying to the Lord.

After he was cast into the sea. But it is very interesting that Bible teachers differ on what happened here to Jonah the prophet. Some believe that the miracle that is going to happen here in those verses, that Jonah was alive for three days and three nights, and the miracle is that God had preserved him alive in the sea, in the fish. Now, I remember when I was a little boy and we looked at the various Bible stories that we have in Israel, is that you see Yonah sitting somewhere in a dark place and there's a candlelight right there and he's reading his Bible. This is some of the things that we used to read in stories that we have in books.

And you probably as well watched various stories and read various books. And what you see is as if Yonah is sitting there in a fish's belly. He's nice, cozy there and warm and he has the candles and he's reading and he's looking very old with long beard and so on. And I would like to suggest, brothers and sisters, that what we learn here from chapter 2, that Yonah actually did not live in the fish's belly, but he literally have died. The picture here must be understood that here we have the experience of the soul of Jonah the prophet who became a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua our Mashiach, our Messiah.

So, here it is very interesting that there are other Bible teachers that I've also listened to, and they do clearly understand from this passage that Yonah Hanavi, John and the prophet, did indeed die and was resurrected. And that the prayer that we see here is really divided into three sections. And I want you to notice this as we are going to go over there. And actually, in verse 1 to 9, he's praying, we have one prayer, which Jonah is including other two previous prayers that he had prayed before. In other words, the whole chapter is Jonah's prayer, but it's not in only one prayer, it is including two other prayers that occurred earlier.

In fact, notice that it says in verse one, then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. Now here, it's the Hebrew word Vayit, and he prayed. This is a present tense. It is right now. It is a present day action. The question is, when did he pray this whole prayer? Actually, all this prayer in its totality, verses 1 to 9, it's really including other two previous prayers, but in its totality is a prayer that he prayed after he rose from the dead. And i'll show you this in a moment he prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly the word for fish's belly is the word abdomen really the word here in Hebrew is me'am is the abdomen is the insides of the fish and he was praying out of the fish's belly and here you notice brothers and sisters that in verses two and then verses three to seven he is really talking about previous prayers that he have already prayed before notice now the difference between verse one and verse two look what it says while in verse one he says Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly but notice what it says in verse 2 and he said i cried this is past tense by reason of my affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell out of the belly of hell i cried and thou heard my voice now the word here for hell is the Hebrew.

Word sheol in Hebrew sheol is the place of the departed spirits of all those who have gone who have passed out of this world all those who died you can never pray out of hell out of sheol unless you have died you cannot just say i've cried i've prayed unto the Lord out of the belly of hell of Sheol and you have heard my prayer apparently what happened here is that while Jonah was finally praying after his resurrection we're going to talk about it in a moment he's looking back in verse 2 and he's showing to us that he's actually prayed out of the belly belly mi beten sheol out of the heart of sheol out of hades as we have it in the Greek in Hebrew it's sheol now we have to be careful here because if you remember when the prophet was speaking about Yeshua the Messiah in his death burial and resurrection you remember what Yeshua prophetically said in Psalm 16 he said to him thou shall not leave my soul in sheol neither will thou suffer.

Thy holy one to see corruption here we see that the prophet prophetically speaking about Yeshua's death burial and resurrection his soul was in sheol and his body was in the grave and so we learned from these dear brothers and sisters that Jonah actually literally died and his soul went to sheol and his body remained in the fish's belly now just some thought about it from Scripture you know in the Bible we have various names for the unseen world for example the word Gehenna or Gehenom as we say it in Hebrew. Gehenom it's a place where the Messiah himself spoke about in Matthew chapter 5 about those that will die and will be ushered to Gehenom.

Gehenom is the place where they will experience suffering. It's one of the Hebrew name Geh Ben-Hinom is a place that is outside of the city of Jerusalem. There is a big or deep valley where they used to bury and burned the carcasses of the animals and it became a picture of the suffering of those that will. Die without following God. Gehenom. There's also a place of the departed angels that have disobeyed the Lord. It's called Patras. And there were all the angels. We read of them in the book of Peter, in the book of Jude. The angels that failed, that kept not the first estate, they will also be kept in a place of judgment but then we also have the word for Hades and the word for hell Sheol in Hebrew Sheol is a place where the people who left this world will be kept temporarily before they are going to either going to go to eternal separation from God or those believers going to be eternally with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah now I would like you for a moment to turn with me to Luke chapter 16 so we will not lose the thought here when Jonah was saying you heard me out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard me look what we read in Luke chapter 16 Sheol being the place of the departed spirits Luke chapter 16 from verse 19 Yeshua is telling us.

Concerning the place of the departed spirits and i'm not going to read everything there but just verse 19 there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and he fared greatly every day and there was a certain beggar by the name of lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell upon the rich man's table moreover the dogs came and licked his sores and it came to pass that a beggar died and he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom here is this Abraham's bosom and the rich man also died and he was buried and verse 23 says that in hell in Hades in Greek he lifted up his eyes and being tormented and he sees Abraham's far off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried and he says Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in his flame but Abraham said son.

Remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things and like was Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and you are tormented and beside all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so the day which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence you see Yeshua the Messiah was speaking about the unseen world he was speaking about Hades he was speaking about Sheol in Sheol there is more than one compartment there is the portion where the believers were and there is the portion where the unbelievers were there is the portion where the rich men who rejected God's way have been but there is also a portion where Abraham have been And in Abraham's bosom, Lazarus had been.

And there is a great gulf that is fixed between the two. And so this is the word for Sheol here in Jonah chapter 2 and verse 2, that he was in the unseen world, in a place where the departed spirit and souls go. And he cried from there unto the Lord. And apparently, like the story we read in Luke 16, There was a knowledge in that sense that there is the other side. But no one could move to the other side. Not the unbelievers to come to the one side, nor the believers to go to the other side. And here we find out, beloved brothers and sisters, that Jonah cried out, as it says here, from the belly of Sheol, of Bebeten Sheol.

And he cried, and God had heard him. And so now that we have learned that that was actually, in verse 2, it was actually the second prayer, because he's praying now from Sheol, now he's telling us in verses 3 all the way to verse 7, what actually happened as he went down to the fish's belly. And he expressed himself that he was also praying to the Lord on the way that he was going down to the sea. Now notice that, brothers and sisters, I know it's not easy to grasp, but I want you to notice those things. First of all, notice in verse 3, Jonah now began to tell us how he was cast into the sea.

Notice it says in verse 3, for you have cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas. Now remember, up to now, he told to the sailors, you take me and you cast me into the sea. And they did carry him and they cast him into the sea. We read it in chapter 1 and verse 15. They took Jonah up and they cast him into the sea. But Jonah, understanding that really the reason that he was cast into the sea, it was really not the mariners, the sailors, it was God himself. And that's why he said, you have cast me into the sea, into the midst of the deep, into the midst of the seas.

It was actually God who cast him into the sea. And then he began now to develop here this beautiful expression of how he went down, down, down and ultimately he was captured by the fish and end up entering into the fish's belly in verse 3 he was cast into the sea but then notice brothers and sisters he says there at the end of the verse he says and all thy billows and all thy waves have passed over me imagine here he is cast into the water and the waves and the billows of the wind and the sea as he was cast into the water and he is speaking there and he says all thy billows and all thy ways have come and passed over me he was in much grieveness he was grieving he was fearful He was really expressing what he had experienced as he was cast into the sea.

But also, brothers and sisters, this verse is actually a type of what the Messiah, Yeshua, had experienced when the billows and the waves of God's righteous indignation against sin had fell upon the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. He himself in Psalm 42 and verse 7 speaking about the bellows of God's wrath and judgment that fell upon the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. You remember in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 12 he says I have a baptism to be baptized and oh how I am straightened myself and getting ready for that. Because he was going to bear the sin of this world. And here in Jonah we see also a type and a picture of the sufferings of the Messiah who would suffer for the sin of this world.

Now Jonah was a disobedient servant. Yeshua was an obedient servant. Jonah violated the word of God and he deserved the judgment of God. But Yeshua did not deserve the judgment of God, but he took upon himself the judgment that you and I deserve to receive. So this expression, all thy billows and all thy waves have passed over me. And here you can just imagine as Jonah was cast into the sea, the waves came over him. The billows and the waves covered him and he began to sink. And here we find him now in verse 4. At this point we find Jonah is now praying. And actually in verse 4 it is the first time that he prayed while he was still in the water.

Look what he says in verse 4. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again towards thy holy temple. This is where he was praying while he was just getting into the water and the billows and the waves were covering him and he was calling on the Lord and he said i was cast out of thy sight oh Lord and he was praying to the Lord and he was crying to God and actually brothers and sisters i hope i'm clear that the first time he prayed he was cast into the water the second time he prayed he prayed from the belly in Sheol, as we read in verse 2.

And the third time he prayed is after he was resurrected, and he was recalling all the experience that he had gone through when he was dead, buried, and resurrected. Look what we read here now again in verse 4. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again towards thy holy temple. And he continued, and he was presenting before us how he died he's telling God now in verse 5 he describing how he was drowning slowly. But surely he was drowning look at it in verse 5 the water compassed me about even to the soul ad nefesh the depths closed me round about the weeds were wrapped about my head you know as he was drowning he might not be able to speak because he couldn't speak he's full of water but in his mind he was immediately crying to the Lord and expressing here how it happened he expressing that the waters covered him and he began to go down to sink and then the depth closed round about me he was sinking and sinking and sinking and as he was sinking the weeds began to wrap around his head and that's what he's mentioning in verse 5 be how the weeds were wrapped about his head and he was drowning and as he was drowning he was praying he may not have done it horribly because he couldn't But he was talking in his mind to the Lord as he was drowning and sinking.

Notice in verse 6, we have a description of death and a description of resurrection. Verse 6a, description of death. I went down to the bottom of the mountains, the earth with her bars were about me forever. He went down and down and down, as it says, to the bottom of the mountains, and the earth with her bars were about me forever he was sinking and he died and then in verse 6b he's speaking about resurrection immediately there you notice that in verse 6 he says yet you have brought up my life from corruption oh Lord my God that expression here in verse 6b is the very same expression that we find out concerning the person of Yeshua the Messiah in Psalm 16 and i want to read that so we will have this before us Psalm 16 and verse 10 Yeshua said prophetically through the prophet David it says for thou will not leave my soul in sheol neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption you know when the body remain in the grave and it's been corrupted it being the Hebrew word is destroyed and completely lose its shape and totally become corruption and Jonah is in verse six speaking about both he's speaking about the fact that he.

Died but also he's speaking about resurrection and brothers and sisters if we believe that Yeshua the Messiah died was buried and resurrected we must understand it in the same way here in relationship to Jonah the prophet he said yet thou has brought up my life from corruption oh Lord my God so brothers and sisters if we just look at this and see how amazing is the truth that we have here we have here the Lord is casting Jonah into the sea allowing him to drown sending a fish to swallow him keeping him in the fish's belly three days and three nights resurrecting him while he's still in the fish's belly and ultimately casting him back into shore that's what the story of resurrection because in resurrection actually what happened when a person is rising from among the dead like what happened to Yeshua he was in the belly of the earth for three days and three nights and then God raised him and he rose from among the dead he came out of the tomb and he's.

Living and resurrected and ascended to heaven what with Jonah has become a picture exactly what happened to Jonah if later on had happened to our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and so he's speaking about his death he is speaking about his resurrection but to see that there is actually a prayer that is a summary of the whole prayer in the whole verses which he looks back in two additional prayers one of them was when he first was cast into the sea the second one was when he was actually in the heart of Sheol in the good part of Sheol where all the redeemed were there in the belly of Sheol as it says here in verse 2.

Now to summarize everything look at verse 7 he says when my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee into thine holy mountain. You see what he's really saying here, that he's actually showing that he was resurrected. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer has come unto thee, and then God has raised him. Jonah was literally resurrected while he was still in the fish's belly. And then the next verse is coming and summing it up and showing to us how he ended up to be alive. Now, notice quickly verses 8 and 9. We see that Jonah is now, in those verses 8 and 9, devoting himself unto his God.

It says in verse 8, it says, They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. He is talking about those unbelievers. He says, Those that observe lying, vanities, and they forsake their own mercy. In other words, that is a description of the unbelieving world. Those that don't follow God, those that reject the message of the Word of God, they observe lying, they observe vanity, they forsake mercy, they reject God. He is describing here the unbelieving world. But then he makes commitment here in verse 9 to the Lord where he says, But, I'm going to be different. I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. He first committed himself.

He says, I'm going to sacrifice with the thanksgiving God. He's really what he's saying. I am going to be in a state of faithfulness to you. I will worship you, I will adore you, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. And secondly, he says, I will pay that which I have vowed. This time, Jonah had vowed to submit to the Word of God. You remember before, in chapter 1, in verse 1 and 2, when God said to him, Arise, go to Nineveh, he disobeyed the Lord and fled towards Tarshish. But this time Jonah is totally devoted, says, God, listen, I'm going to sacrifice voice of thanksgiving, but I'm also going to fulfill the vows, the promises that I made for you, that I'm going to obey you, and I'm going to submit to you, and I'm going to go to do what you tell me to do.

I will pay my promises, the vows that I make. I'm going surely to pay it, to do it, to do what you have asked me to do. And at the end of verse 9, he says, salvation is of the Lord. The Hebrew word, Yeshua Atal Adonai, the salvation can only come from the Lord. The personal salvation, the salvation of a nation, the salvation from trouble. Only the Lord could provide for the needs of mankind. And Jonah concludes here in these verses, in verse 9, speaking about the fact that salvation is from the Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, why it is so important to acknowledge that here we see death, burial, and resurrection is because if Jonah didn't really die, if he only was in the fish for three days and three nights, He could really not be a picture and a type of the death-buried resurrection of the Messiah.

Because we cannot say that what the Lord said in Matthew chapter 12 and in Matthew chapter 16 is partially have been fulfilled. If Jonah was in a fish's belly, then maybe Yeshua the Messiah actually didn't die. He was alive in the heart of the earth, and he didn't die. But it is essential to understand that he must die. He must pay for the penalty of sin. And if he had to die, Yeshua the Messiah, for the sin of this world, the type also has to fit that Jonah had to literally die, be buried, and be resurrected. And so in these verses 1 to 9, we really see the prayer of Jonah that is divided into three sections.

He prayed when he was drowning. He prayed when he was in Sheol. He prayed after his resurrection, after three days and three nights. And he's summing it all up in verses 1 to verse 9. By vowing to the Lord, and he's saying, Lord, I'm going to pay what I promised to you that I'm going to do. And so after he did that, then we find out the Lord is now giving a command to the fish. And look how beautiful. In the last verse of our chapter, it says here, and the Lord spake unto the fish. Now, here is the Lord, here is Jehovah, here is the God of Israel.

He can talk to fish. He can command donkeys, he can speak a word, and everything come to pass. Now, he spake unto the fish, and the fish obeyed. He brought Jonah to shore. It says here, he vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Now, it is amazing. I know it sounds like a fishy story, but it is a story that is mentioned clearly here in Scripture that shows us how the Lord is able to work in life and how the Lord is speaking, preparing a fish, talking to the fish, sending him in one way or another, bringing him to an area where he can swallow Jonah.

Then he's after three days, three nights, telling to the fish, the time for you now to vomit Jonah unto the dry ground. And he did vomit him here on a dry ground. And Jonah now is no longer in the fish's belly. And he is in a dry ground. I want one more time, brothers and sisters, just to conclude that. If you turn with me once again, please, to the verses we have read earlier in Matthew chapter 12. And I want just to reread that so we can be sure that what we have spoken about in this ministry is truly what the Lord Yeshua had said in his conversation with the scribes and the Pharisees.

Chapter 12 of Matthew, and verse 38. Certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered and said, Master, we would see a sign from thee. And he answered and he said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeking after a sign and there shall no sign be given unto you but the sign of the prophet Yonah. Listen, for as Yonah was three days and three nights in a fish's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of this earth. He said to them i had to die i must go to the cross to pay the penalty for sin he had to die and when he died he took upon himself our sin and sins and then God had been satisfied with him and he raised him from among the dead and Jonah is only a picture of what the Messiah Yeshua have done for us and now Jonah has been vomited to the dry land and from here on in the next chapter we find now God commanding Jonah we're going to talk about it in our next ministry meeting and God sending Jonah the prophet to do his bidding and to preach the message to the people of the city of Nineveh well we will talk about it Lord willing and next time we're going to stop here with this portion in verse 10 Jonah now on a dry land ready to obey his Lord can you say Amen to that Amen