Creator, Father, King #155

I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?

“NOW THE LORD HAD ARRANGED FOR a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.”

These are the well-known words of Jonah 1:17. Many people, though, refuse to take these words literally.

“How,” they ask, “can a man live inside the belly of a great fish for three days? It’s not humanly possible.”

Because of the incredible nature of the story, they dismiss it as a fable. They use it as Exhibit A in a larger argument for why the Bible can’t be trusted and Christianity is a bunch of hooey. Others tiptoe around the issue by saying, “Well, Jonah is simply an allegorical tale. He didn’t literally get swallowed by a great fish.”

But really, the debate is much bigger than one Old Testament story. Because once you start questioning validity or literalness of Jonah, you have to question other miracles, too. You quickly get a patchwork Bible devoid of power, fashioned by man’s fallen imagination rather than God’s holy inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

So did Jonah exist? Did he really get swallowed by a great fish and live to prophesy in Nineveh?

Today’s verse is a great place to find the answer.

What’s It Mean?

Nothing is too hard for God. He is the Creator of the universe, including men like Jonah and big fish. If that’s the case, why can’t he also miraculously keep a man alive inside a fish for three days?

Why can’t he flood the earth?

Why can’t he part the sea?

Why can’t he stop the sun?

Why can’t he raise the dead?

He can do all these things and so much more. He can also awaken spiritually dead hearts and justify sinners like us through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.

Attacks against biblical miracles like the one in Jonah are attacks against God. These kind of criticisms put more stock in human reasoning than in faith. But God clearly calls us to live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38 and 11:6).

So we come back to the argument: How can a man live inside the belly of a great fish for three days? It’s not humanly possible.

No, it’s not. But as Jesus said in Luke 18:27, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”

Do you believe?

Now What?

Pray for God’s help whenever your faith wavers (Mark 9:24).

Did You Know?

Jesus (Matthew 12:41) and 2 Kings 14:23-25 treat Jonah as a real historical figure.