What happened when Jonah finally went to the Gentiles?
After the fish pitched him back on shore, a type of resurrection, Jonah went to the Gentiles. When he arrived, Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes. Only after experiencing death, burial, and resurrection could he at last be a fit servant.
Les explains that Jonah was not a fit servant until he had fulfilled the type. After the three days and three nights, the fish pitched him back on shore, brought him back to life for all practical purposes, a resurrection in type. Then Jonah could go to the Gentiles. When he went, Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes. This pictures that until Jesus experienced death, burial, and resurrection, He could not be the object of faith for the mass of the Gentile world. But He has. This connects to Ephesians 2, where Gentiles who were sometime far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, not by the Law or covenants. When Israel refused and rejected it, God set them aside temporarily and turns to the Gentile in grace.