Jonah and the Whale

I thought of how often I hear people speak about Jonah and the whale as a myth.  The reason?  They claim a man cannot fit down the throat of a whale and still live.

Well, I'd like to provide a bit of REALITY about Jonah LITERALLY being taken down into the belly of the whale.

Those who speak of Jonah and the whale as a myth have NOT understood what actually happened, nor have they understood what Christ said in reference to Jonah.

Christ literally said He would be in the belly of the earth just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale.  Not only did He speak of His death, but He compared His resurrection to that of Jonah.

Why would Christ speak of his death and resurrection and then compare it to a myth?  Would not some people argue that His resurrection is also a myth?

FACT - Jesus Christ did not compare His death and resurrection to a "myth."

Most people think of Jonah being swallowed by a whale and somehow he stays alive by waiting for the whale to surface to replenish the air so he could breath.  Some people, in a more childish way, picture Jonah like they do Pinocchio sitting around in the belly of the whale with a candle to read by while he was waiting to be expelled on the ocean's shore.

FACT - Scripture tells us that Jonah was LITERALLY calling out as he was taken down into the belly of the whale.  But then, and this is what most people miss, Jonah cried out from the BELLY OF SHEOL.  SHEOL is the PLACE OF THE DEAD.

Jonah is calling out BEFORE HE DIES, he's screaming, but then JONAH IS CHOMPED TO DEATH, and he goes down into the BELLY of the whale.  HE IS DEAD.  He LITERALLY DIED. He underwent the jaws of death just as Christ LITERALLY died as HE underwent the jaws of death.  Jonah went to the place of the DEAD (SHEOL) just like Christ went to the place of the DEAD (SHEOL) to preach the Good News to the dead as stated in the Apostles Creed.

In Jonah 2:2 we read:

2: "And he said, "I called out of my distress to the Lord, and he answered me.  I cried for help from THE BELLY OF SHEOL.  You heard my voice."

The reason why so many people fail to see the context of what REALLY happened is because they see the word "BELLY" and think that is the whole story. They do not understand that Jonah was dead, and that he called out from SHEOL

After you see that Jonah was dead in the belly of the whale, and that his soul had departed from his body and went to the place of the dead, the whale went up and vomited Jonah onto the beach.  Then, a LITERAL resurrection of Jonah took place.

Jonah was dead as a doornail.

Roger LeBlanc.