“a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Col. 2:17, NKJV)
In the previous teaching we explained that the prophetic figure of Jonah not only points to Jesus, but especially also to Christ, and that in the prophetic book of Jonah all three dispensations of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles are beautifully manifested. Clearly the whale is a symbol of the Body of Christ, in which the Spirit of God manifests the flesh of the Christ. In this teaching we want to spend some time discussing the vehicle here at stake, the Body, presented as the “great fish”.
Readers of these teachings will remember that this entire Jonah excursion is part of a larger conversation about the true communion, and how we started exploring it within the context of John 6’s explanation of signs and wonders, with reference to the manna and the pieces of bread of life in which Jesus as Bread of Life is constituted.
In John 6, in the second part of the four parts in which the chapter is divided, we find the story of the storm at sea (which strongly reminds one of Jonah’s storm at sea), and a reference to Capernaum. There are three references to Capernaum in John 6:
- Verses 16-17 – “Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.”
- Verse 24 – “ … when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.”
- Verse 59 – “These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.”
What’s clear from the first two references to Capernaum is that there is often reference to people who are drawn to Jesus in that particular place, and that they went looking for Him there. In the third reference the people assemble around him, but here it is also very important to note that He then teaches them about the living bread which descends from heaven: “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:57-58).
He is thus speaking about rhema-words.
Capernaum is thus clearly a symbolic pointer to that which Jesus had spelled out in John 12:32: “if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” Once He had arisen and defeated death, and ascended to heaven, this resurrection power draws all people to Him, and of this Capernaum becomes a symbol. Capernaum means “the covering of the Comforter”! We know that the “Comforter” is the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; 26; 15:26). In John 16:7 Jesus explains the importance of the Comforter: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” In John 14:26 Jesus makes it clear: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
BUT the Holy Spirt requires a vehicle. Jesus notes that He had to leave earth in his fleshly form so that the Holy Spirit could come. Yet He noted that He would not be rendering us orphans in the process (John 14:18). One of the greatest problems in Christendom is misunderstanding John 16:16-18 in which Jesus explains the matter at hand:
- “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”
- “Then some of His disciples said among themselves, ‘What is this that He says to us, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me”; and, “because I go to the Father?”’”
- “They said therefore, ‘What is this that He says, “A little while”? We do not know what He is saying.’”
It is repeated five times in the course of three sentences! Jesus did everything in his ability to foreground when He is returning – a little while. What exactly counts as a little while? 2000+ years? That’s madness! Aligned with the order of God’s feasts, it is the fifty days between Passover (during which the Passover lamb was slaughtered – 1 Cor. 5:7) and the feast of Pentecost (40 days from resurrection to Acts. 1:3 plus 10 days of prayer and fasting – Acts 2:1, when the Holy Spirit was poured out). What does Jesus say about the identity of this Comforter? He makes it clear in 2 Cor. 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Jesus-in-the-flesh has left; Jesus-in-the-spirit is here. And for that He needs a new Vehicle, a new Body. Therefore Jesus prays: “a body You have prepared for Me” (Heb. 10:5)! Jesus will manifest Himself on earth through the Body in which the Spirit of God is now active, the Spirit which is ALSO the Lord Jesus.
In the example of Jonah, the Body is symbolised by the fish. Interestingly enough the name Nineveh also means “City of Fish”, especially because they worshipped the god of fish (look at the website http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net/teachings/books/the-laws-of-the-second-coming/chapter-12-the-sign-of-jonah/).
As typological parallel the figure of Joshua can serve as the person that lead Israel to the promised land, or typologically then, to the third dimension – Deut. 31:23. In Hebrew his name means the same as that of Jesus, Yashua, and in Deut. 1:38 he is referred to as “Joshua the son of Nun”. “Nun” also means “fish”!
For the transition from second to third dimension the vehicle of the typological fish is needed. By now we already know that the 153 fishes that were caught are in John 21:11, which according to the Hebrew gematria points to the ‘sons of God’: בני האלהים = = 153.
Within this light one can then understand why Jesus chose His disciples in the following way: “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” (Matt. 4:18-20).
The typology of the Jonah-fish as vehicle of the Body beautifully culminates when we find out that Bezalel, the creative one who had received wisdom and knowledge from God for crafting the tabernacle (Ex. 36:1-2), carries a name of which the gematria is also 153! His name means “the shadow of God”! The “sons of God” are/ministers to the shadow of Jesus, the heavenly tabernacle (Heb. 8:5). Selah – “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Col. 2:17).
- Selah: Try to come to an understanding of John 1:14 and Rev. 21:3 within the light of this
- Read: 1-3; 1 Pet. 1-5.
- Memorise: 2:11.
