What did Jesus say about Jonah's time in the fish and the Son of Man?
Jesus said that just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. This pointed to His death, burial, and resurrection.
Les explains that Jesus made the same allusion: as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, so also would the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. After that period, the fish pitched Jonah back on shore, which was in type a resurrection. Only after experiencing death, burial, and resurrection could Jonah go to the Gentiles, and Nineveh repented. Jonah was not a fit servant until he had fulfilled the type. Les says this is what Jesus was saying: until He had experienced death, burial, and resurrection, He could not be the object of faith for the mass of the Gentile world. But He has. Paul then shows that Gentiles who were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.