The God Of The Second Chance Series

In fact Jesus said in Matt 12:34 that Jonah was a SIGN to the people of Nineveh. Other men who have survived similar experiences in history had such mottled skin from the digestive juices that they would stand out in any crowd. I think he was rather spectacular to see. A man who has spent three days and three nights in a fish simply cannot come out looking like he did when he went in!

Dr Harry Rimmer told of a man in 1926 who was swallowed by a fish and spend two days inside the fish and lived to tell the story. He was displayed in London as “the Jonah of the twentieth century.” When Dr. Rimmer interviewed him two years after it had happened, this man didn’t have a hair on his body, and his skin was a yellowish-brown color. You see, the gastric juices of the fish had reacted upon the individual as the fish had tried to digest him.

Those chemicals were bound to have an effect upon him, and this is apparently what happened to Jonah also. You can imagine the color of Jonah’s skin, and you can imagine how he must have looked. When he stopped at a corner and the crowd gathered, they would say, “Brother, where have you been?” [J. Vernon McGee. Thru the Bible Commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson - electronic ed. 1997, c1981.)]

Because Jonah surrendered to go and because Jonah surrendered to speak God used even the terrible experience of his time in the belly of the fish for His glory. And God will do the same thing with our pain. He takes the bad in our life and uses it to His advantage. That is what I believe that Paul means when he says in Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

I don’t know about you but I listen to people who have been through great difficulties when they say that God will help us to endure tough times. Because of Jonah’s obedience God’s power moved a whole city to repentance.

Conclusion

Three Things Jonah found out about God…

1. Jonah Found out God Gives Second

2. Jonah Found Out God Still Had A Plan For His Life

3. Jonah Found Out How Much God Can Do With One Person.