Welcome to Prophecy Q & A with Jimmy DeYoung!
Jonah 2:3-4 says, “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 toward thy holy temple.” Jonah believed he was going to die in the billows of the sea and all of the waters surrounded him. He believed in the resurrection and was able to look again to the temple.
Jonah 2:5-6 says, “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 bottoms of the mountains; The earth with her bars was about me for ever: Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.” The body is not in corruption until death.
Jonah 2:7-10 says, “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: And my prayer came in unto thee, into 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 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.” If you compare this with Psalm 42, 31, and 69 and his experience, it describes death. A body doesn’t go into corruption until death.
Jesus is comparing Himself with Jonah as to what will happen to Him. He makes the statement in Matthew 12:40 that, indeed, as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, so shall I be in the belly of the Earth for three days and three nights. When Jesus went into the belly of the Earth, He didn’t just go there and have the Earth preserve Him. He was dead and buried after death and would be resurrected after three days and three nights.
The resurrection of Jonah is the greatest miracle. Someone might say that it was a greater miracle that a great fish was sent along to swallow Jonah and preserve his life. A greater miracle is for that fish to swallow him up and for Jonah to die, and the Lord Jesus to resurrect him from the dead. That is what happened.
The text, Jonah 2:3-10, indicates that Jonah died and was resurrected from the dead.
Jimmy DeYoung was a prophecy teacher and journalist who travelled the country and the world educating the Body of Christ of the future events foretold in God’s prophetic Word. His goal was to equip Christians with the knowledge and understanding of what God’s Word says will happen someday soon, so that they can make better decisions today. Dr. DeYoung went home to be with his Savior on August 15, 2021.
