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The Belly of the Great FishBy John Plunkett
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Today is the fifteenth day of God's first month, called Abib or Nissan. And today, of course, is the First Day of Unleavened Bread. This is the anniversary of the first full day of Jesus Christ's 72 hours in the grave, in the heart of the earth, as He called it.
The First Day of Unleavened Bread is a hugely important and very, very significant day in the life of a true Christian.
This day is a day of great rejoicing, because it symbolizes us, God's people being freed by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, from our former slavery to Satan, sin and death.
But, it is also a somewhat solemn day because on this day, at this time, our Savior was lying in His tomb, dead! For the first and only time in the whole of eternity, the Eternal One was out of the picture. He was voluntarily out of the picture. He was unconscious. Can you imagine the Son of God being unconscious? Dead. The Eternal Creator of human life, gave His life, and was dead!
On the Passover Day, on Abib 14, He voluntarily allowed Himself to be ridiculed, tortured and murdered.
As the sun set on that Passover Day, His friends laid His body, not in a 6 foot x 6 foot x 2 foot slot of earth as most modern graves in North America are, but in a comparatively large rock tomb, a kind of a cave.
During His short human sojourn Jesus spoke of His death and entombment quite frequently, and He spoke without fear or worry about His death and being put in the tomb.
Here is one very special mention of that event:
Matthew 12:38-40 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you. But He answered and said unto them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
As God's church has taught for many years, and as Richard mentioned in a recent sermon, it is totally impossible to squeeze a Friday afternoon crucifixion and a Sunday morning resurrection into three days and three nights. It just does not work.
But this afternoon I would like to look a little deeper into Matthew 12:40, and specifically at the word "belly."
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
My sermon this afternoon will be in more of a Bible study format.
I would like to concentrate on the word "belly" and its symbolism to Jesus' tomb.
What started me thinking about this topic of "bellies," was a recent conversation with a member, not in the Victoria church, but somewhere else. This man mentioned to me that he thought that the word "belly" was only used once—either in the Bible or the New Testament—I cannot remember which.
I looked it up and it appears that the word "belly" or its plural, "bellies," actually appears forty-eight times in the King James Version of the Bible, and eleven times in the King James Version of the New Testament.
Personally, I have always thought that the English word "belly" has a very unpleasant sound to it. I have always preferred to use the term "stomach," which sounds a little less course to my dainty ears. When I think of bellies, for some reason I always tend to think of full round bellies, especially after lunch on a Holy Day, and especially on the day after the Night To Be Much Observed. Maybe my sensitivity to the word "belly"stems from a guilty conscience!
But perhaps the idea of full round "bellies" is for good reason, too.
The modern English word "belly" stems from "boelig" or "bylig" which are old English words for a leather bag; also from "balgiz" an Old Teutonic word meaning "to swell out."
The Greek word "koilia" (Strong's 2836) as used in the verse in question (Matthew 12:40) and it appears twenty three times in the New Testament, and is frequently translated into another well-known English word, and that is womb.
This is what it says in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament:
Koilia = koy-lee'-ah. From koilos ("hollow"), noun fem. And is translated as
Belly—11 times, Womb—12 times. It can mean:
1) The whole belly, the entire cavity
1a) The upper belly [i.e. stomach]
2) The lower belly, the lower region, the receptacle of the excrement
3) The gullet
3a) to be given up to the pleasures of the palate, to gluttony
4) The womb, the place where the fetus is conceived and nourished until birth
4a) of the uterus
5) The innermost part of a man, the soul, heart as the seat of thought, feeling, choice
It is interesting that this word "koilia" can mean "womb" as well as "belly".
In fact it is translated in the New Testament as "womb" slightly more frequently than it is translated as "belly".
So what was Jesus getting at? What was He referring to? What was the point that He was trying to make. Was His analogy referring to a belly, or a womb, or perhaps both? I would like to look today into both possibilities.
If I may digress for a moment. Another error of professing Christianity, is the erroneous idea that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. I know that is says that in the Matthew, but we can be absolutely sure that this is wrong. Jonah was swallowed by a huge, specially created fish, not by a whale.
The Greek word translated as "whale" in Matthew 12:40 is "ketos," which can mean a "sea monster, or "huge fish." It says that is it probably derived from the base word "chasma", and that is significant and I want to come back to that later.
The New King James Version correctly translates it as "great fish."
Matthew 12:40 (NKJV) For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The New King James Version translation agrees with the original Jonah account to which Jesus' prophecy was referring:
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish [Strong's 1709] to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish [Strong's 1709] three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's [Strong's 1710] belly,
Jonah 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish [Strong's 1709], and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
There were two slightly different Hebrew words for "fish" used here. I am not sure why; probably for some grammatical reason.
In Jonah 1:17 and 2:10, the word "dag" (Strong's 1709) is used.
In Jonah 2:1, the word "dagah" (Strong's 1710) is used.
The important thing here, is that both of these Hebrew words, "dag" and "dagah," all thirty five cases of it throughout the Old Testament, always mean "fish" never "whale".
There is a Hebrew word for a whale, but it is a totally different word , "Tanniyn" or "Tannym," and which appears three times in the Old Testament, and it never refers to a fish.
It is interesting that both Old Testament Hebrew words, for Jonah's huge fish, are derived from a Hebrew verb also "dagah" which means "to grow" or "to multiply" or "to increase." It agrees with the idea of rapid growth that takes place in the womb. I would like you to keep that in the back of your mind.
Another interesting point is the origin of the Hebrew word for "great", as in the "great fish" (Jonah 1:17) that swallowed Jonah. It comes from the word "gadowl," which is poetically and etymologically similar—in a mirror image kind of way—to the word "dagah" (fish) which it is describing. "Gadowl dagah," means great fish.
But the word "gadowl" is something of a superlative, and it does not just mean "great" but, greater, greatest, high and mighty.
So this fish that God prepared especially for Jonah, must have been absolutely huge!
The superlative nature of this huge creature may be symbolic of the huge importance of the thing that it was created to symbolize—the tomb of Jesus Christ.
The point of all this proof of whether Jonah was swallowed by a fish or a whale is that both fish and whales have digestive type bellies; but fish are egg-bearers and do not have wombs as mammal whales do.
It is interesting to note that our English word "dolphin" which is a member of the whale family comes from the word "delphis" which means "fish with a womb."
For now let us accept the fact that Jesus' primary symbol, in Matthew 12:40, was that the "belly" and the "koilia" was of the digestive kind of "belly."
Jesus' comparison between the belly of Jonah's huge fish and His own tomb was an excellent one—in more than one way.
And why should it not have been?
It was Jesus Christ, as the LORD/YHVH of the Old Testament—who, along with His wonderful Father, prepared this amazing symbolism more than 800 years in advance.
The fish's belly would have been a very real tomb for Jonah, if God would not have commanded the fish to vomit him up onto the beach after exactly 72 hours:
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah knew that he was as good as dead without God's intervention:
Jonah 2:1-2 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish's belly. And said, "I cried by reason of my affliction unto the LORD, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell [Hebrew "sheol" = the grave] cried I, and you heard my voice."
It was amazing that he stayed alive in that awful place for so long.
Earlier we saw that that the Greek "ketos" was the word Jesus used in Matthew 12:40 for "great fish."
Greek scholars tell us that "ketos" was probably derived from a base noun "casma" or "chasma" which in turn comes from a form of a primary verb "chao" which means to "gape" or "yawn" as some fish tend to do.
This noun "chasma" means a gaping opening, a chasm or a gulf.
This word, "chasma," is only used once in the New Testament, in Luke 16:26, where Jesus tells us that there is a huge, fixed, untraversable gulf or chasm between the dead and the living. This is very important too, because Jesus Christ was very dead. He was totally 100% dead. He was not in some semi-dead, semi-live state. He was not in some intermediate never-world, preaching to imprisoned demons, as some believe from an inaccurate idea from I Peter 3:19. Jesus Christ was dead. Our Creator, our Savior was dead, and He died for us.
Before we leave the symbolism of the "digestive belly," let us first look at a few more relevant verses:
John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly [Greek: koilia] shall flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, which those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Here we move from the spring holy days all the way out to the fall holy days, from the Feast of Unleavened Bread all the way out to the Last Great Day.
In John 6, Jesus had been expounding at length on our need for something that goes into our digestive bellies, in other words physical food, specifically bread. This symbolizes our need for spiritual food, specifically spiritual bread. Our need for the Bread of Life, our need for Jesus Christ, Himself.
At God's Passover on Friday evening, we read those verses from John 6, and we partook of the unleavened bread which symbolized that spiritual bread, that perfect, sinless Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.
Here in chapter 7, Jesus briefly mentions our need for something else, for spiritual drink, the living water, His Holy Spirit. He promises to give it to us to quench our spiritual thirst, and which will, in turn, flow out of our spiritual bellies in order to benefit others, perhaps to water the spiritual fruit which might be borne through us.
Let us now consider the other English translation of the Greek word "koilia," which Jesus used in Matthew 12:40. The word "womb".
We have shown that Jonah's tomb was the belly of a huge fish and not that of a mammalian whale.
And of course, Jonah was taken into the fish's belly, probably, almost definitely, through its mouth. The alternatives are very unpleasant to contemplate!
The second meaning of the word "koilia" may possibly refer to Jesus being:
Jesus being the firstborn Son of God. Jesus being the firstborn from the dead.
The fish's belly symbolizing Jesus' tomb, which we know that it certainly did.
Jesus' tomb symbolizing a womb. It may refer to being born again. It may refer to the human body, Jesus' and ours, like a humble seed needing to die to become something better.
1. Jesus was the Firstborn Son of God:
Look up "firstborn" in your Strong's concordance and see how many times it appears in reference to this Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is amazing!
Romans 8:29 For whom He [God the Father] did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He [Jesus] might be the Firstborn among many brethren.
That is an exciting concept.
Also, in being born again, Jesus is our example, and our Forerunner in being born again:
Colossians 1:12-15 Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us meet [qualified]to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated [conveyed] us into the Kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
If Jesus was, and is, the Firstborn Son of God the Father, then we must be the "second-born" sons and daughters. That is a real honor. Please remember how significant the firstborn are at the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.
2. Jesus was and is also "the Firstborn from the dead":
Colossians 1:18 And He is the Head of the Body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.
Here we ask the question again, If Christ is the Firstborn from the dead, then who are the "second-born from the dead"? We know that when Jesus Christ returns to this earth, the dead are raised. Those who are the dead in Christ will be the "second-born of the dead." So all of the Christians, all of God's people who have died throughout the ages, are the second born.
So we, like Jesus, must be born again. Poor Nicodemus misunderstood most of this concept of being "born again."
John 3:1-8 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb [Greek: koilia] and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
We have come to understand that we are not born again yet. We were "begotten again" or "conceived again" when we were baptized, had hands laid on us, and we received God's Holy Spirit.
But, Nicodemus, though was on the right track in one respect. He recognized the all-important fact that to be born, one must come out of a womb.
Jesus' brothers and sisters are growing and developing as spiritual fetuses, or spiritual embryos in the womb of the church, right now.
Even though He was already perfect, Jesus—like us also grew, developed, and was made even more perfect, in a kind of earthly womb:
Hebrews 5:7-9 Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death [God the Father], and was heard in that He feared; Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him;
Apart from Jesus' physical mother, Mary, who was His earthly spiritual mother, who was the possessor of the spiritual womb which bore Him to His birth as the Firstborn from the dead?
What was the earthly womb of Jesus Christ? I believe that there were actually three, I suppose. We all know that Mary was Jesus' physical mother, and she is the one that possessed the womb that bore Jesus. But who was Jesus' earthly spiritual mother, who was the possessor of the spiritual womb from where He emerged as more perfect? The same womb that Jesus Christ came out of is the same womb that we are going to come out of too when we are born again.
Matthew 12:46-50 While He yet talked to the people, behold, His mother and his brothers stood outside, desiring to speak with Him. Then one said unto Him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to speak with you." But He answered and said unto him that told him, "Who is my mother? And who are my brothers? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, "Behold my mother and my brothers! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."
Yes, those who do the will of God the Father, were and are Jesus' family, including His spiritual mother, the possessor of the spiritual womb from which he emerged as more perfect.
But, as symbolized by Jonah's fish's "koilia," Jesus also had another womb. What was the "womb" that Jesus came out of to be the Firstborn from dead?
That womb was Jesus' tomb.
Except for the few who will be alive and remain (I Thessalonians 4:15-17) physically, at the time of the seventh trumpet, the majority of Jesus' brothers and sisters will, and have died like He did, and have been buried in some kind of tomb like He did. We might do too, we do not know when Christ is going to return. We hope not, we would like to live through as physical human beings until Christ returns.
But, it is a possibility to die and to be buried in some kind of a tomb, like Jesus did. It should not frighten us, because it did not frighten Jesus. As Martin mentioned yesterday, the only thought that frightened Jesus was the prospect of being separated from God the Father. Oh, we could emulate Jesus in this too.
So, now, we are going to move into the good news, and this is all good news from now until the end of the sermon.
As we read on Passover night, Jesus was looking forward with great anticipation, not to the dying or to the suffering, of course. He was bridging over that to the time beyond the trial and the suffering, and for life beyond the grave. He was looking forward to His resurrection, His ascension to His Father, and He was looking forward to real life. Real life, not this inferior, temporary chemical human existence. We used to have a minister, here in Victoria, and he used to talk about that a lot. Temporary, chemical human existence, which is inferior compared with the wonderful life that Jesus and God the Father offer us in the future.
For Jesus' tomb was the gateway to His regaining the glory which He had with His Father before the world even existed. He was going back to that. He knew that He had to go in the tomb for three days and three nights, in the same way that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish . Then Jesus was going to regain that glory which He had had with His Father for eternity.
John 17:1, 4-5 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
What an incredible future! Surprisingly enough, Jesus gave us more details on this in an earlier chapter in John:
John 12:23-25 And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.' He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates [loves less] his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Jesus was not afraid to die, and He knew that the tomb was the womb between the relatively inferior physical human "body of this death" (as the apostle Paul called it in Romans 7:24) and the glory of life eternal. This is not just for Jesus Christ but for us too. He is the firstborn from the dead, and we are the second born from the dead. "His life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." What a reward to look forward to. And for us, God's people all around the world, to look forward to.
Can this be real, brethren? Is this a pipe dream? Are we going to pinch ourselves, and wake up and this is a dream? It is really true? Will we really like Jesus Christ? You bet we will.
I John 3:1-2 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
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