A.11 THE STORY OF JONAH: NEED I BELIEVE IT?

THE STORY OF JONAH: NEED I BELIEVE IT?
The question is more serious than appears at first sight, for it involves everything of a miraculous character that is recorded in the Old and New Testaments. If one miracle may be discredited we cannot upon any reasonable principle accept any, especially as all come to us upon exactly the same authority. What then becomes of Christianity, which is founded upon miracles of the profoundest character? What greater marvels can be conceived than the Virgin-birth of our Lord, and His glorious resurrection? If these may be safely believed, we need have no difficulty about lesser wonders; but if the momentous facts just named are indeed no facts at all, then woe unto us, for salvation becomes impossible. There is nothing before us but eternal ruin.
Now in regard to Jonah and his sojourn in the fish's belly, we ask, "From whom have we received the story? Who is the author of it?" In reality, everything turns upon this. I could believe the most extraordinary story if it were related to me by one in whom I had full confidence; while I might be dubious concerning the simplest narrative if brought to me by a person upon whose word I could not rely. Who, then, is the author of the story, of Jonah? The answer is really very simple — the Holy Spirit of God is the author of it (whoever the penman), as of all else in Scripture. This statement may evoke a smile on the part of some in these days of widespread unbelief, but it is true, nevertheless. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16). "Men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). These statements, while perfectly true of the whole canon of Scripture, have special reference to the Old Testament (and, let us remember, Jonah is an Old Testament book). The 39 books which begin with Genesis and end with Malachi were in the hands of the Jewish people in their complete form long before the Son of God entered the world. They never confounded the Apocrypha nor any other writings with the sacred books. The Lord Jesus frequently endorsed the Jewish canon in its threefold division, " the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 24:44), and has thus made Himself personally responsible for it before all the world.
Further, He most emphatically endorsed the story of Jonah. He spoke of the three days and three nights in the fish's belly as prophetic of His own impending descent into death and the grave; He spoke also of the prophet's preaching, and of the humble repentance of the Ninevites, contrasting the latter sadly with the obduracy of His own hearers (Matthew 12:39-41). Clearly to the Lord Jesus these things were not allegories, but facts. Historical facts may on occasion be used allegorically, as the apostle used the story of Hagar and Ishmael in Galatians 4:21-31, but they are nevertheless facts still.
It is sometimes asked: "But does it really matter whether we believe the story of Jonah or not? Is there anything spiritual involved in it?" It is not too much to say that the whole of Christianity is involved, in the truth or otherwise of that story. The same voice which said when on earth, "Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly," also said, "God so loved the world that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). If I may not trust the first of these utterances, how may I trust the second? I would go even further. If His word may not be taken about a simple matter of fact, how can I rely upon it when eternal issues are in the balance? He who doubted the word of his neighbour about a comparatively small matter, and yet trusted it in a matter of vital importance would be accounted a fool.
Let us not deceive ourselves. The real question is not as to Jonah, but as to Christ, and this the arch deceiver knows right well. He who rejects the Jonah story will, unless grace intervene, ultimately reject everything else that is contained within the covers of his Bible. The infidel sneers now to be heard on every hand concerning Jonah are an insult both to the Holy Spirit who indited the story, and to the Son of God who publicly endorsed it. If these are not sins to be confessed in dust and ashes then I know not any.