Jesus: Greater than Jonah
The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment
with this generation and condemn it,
because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
Jonah was one of the greatest preachers. His preaching called the entire city of Nineveh to repentance. Nineveh contained “more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons” (Jonah 4:11). Jonah was also great because of the depth of the city's response: “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them” (Jonah 3:5). The king believed and published a command—“Let every one turn from his evil way" (Jonah 3:8)—and then asked, "Who can tell if God will turn…so that we may not perish?” (Jonah 3:9). Jonah began one of the greatest revivals in the Old Testament, yet Jesus is Greater than Jonah because the revival of Jesus broke out at Pentecost and went on to influence the whole world.
Lord Jesus, I know You are a great preacher because of the influence of Your message on others. But, Your greatest preaching changed my life.
At first, Jonah didn’t want to preach to Gentiles, so he sailed the opposite way. That’s when God turned him around, through a storm and great fish. Jonah instigated a great revival among Gentiles—an act unthinkable to the Jewish people of his day. Jesus is like Jonah because Jesus’ message has reached beyond the Jewish world to that of the Gentiles. But, Jesus is Greater than Jonah because He loves the entire world and died for it.
Lord Jesus, thank You that the Gospel was big enough for the Jews—God’s chosen people—and for Gentiles. Amen.
Go Deeper: Jonah 1 and Jonah 3
Jesus is Greater than Jonah because He died for the entire world.
