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THE FUGITIVE (1 OF 4)

by James Merritt

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-17
This content is part of a series.


The Fugitive (1 of 4)
Series: See Jonah Run
James Merritt
Jonah 1

Introduction

1. We are starting today a study of what may be the single most ridiculed book in the entire bible. Scholars of the highest degree make fun of the story of Jonah. They put the story of Jonah and the big fish on the same level as "goldilocks and the three bears." It is a reason given by more than a few. Why? They don't believe the bible as a whole.

2. I will agree that if there is any story in the bible that shows that truth sometimes really is stranger than fiction, this story fits into that category. When a man catches a fish that is not really big news, but when a fish catches a man that is big news. Even though it sounds hard to believe, I do believe it. My default position is I believe it, because it is in the bible, and I believe the bible.

3. I really have two primary reasons that I believe it and both of them relate to Jesus Christ. The first reason I believe the story about Jonah is because I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Think about it. If you have no trouble with believing that Jesus was bodily raised from the dead three days after he died, then why would you have trouble believing that a man could survive in the belly of a fish for three days and be spit out on dry land?

4. The other reason I believe the story is because Jesus believed it. Jesus said in matthew 12:40-41 -
"for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here."
(matthew 12:40-41, NIV)

5. You may be a complete skeptic and you don't believe the bible or Jesus. There was a godly young lady, who went off to college, and she took a class on religious literature. One day they were discussing the bible and the ...

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