It’s one of the most famous events in the Bible, even among the first ones taught to little children: The story of Jonah, the man who ran away from God, only to be swallowed by a large fish in the sea.
And once he was yanked out of the body of the beast, this ancient prophet was able to convince the entire population of a large city to repent of its wickedness and be saved.
But when the dots of the story are connected with the rest of Scripture, the account is broadcasting beautiful messages and inspiring prophecies for the future that go far beyond the actual historical event, according to the author of a best-selling new book.
Joe Kovacs, author of “Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything,” probed the depths of the watery mystery on the popular Bible program “Shabbat Night Live,” with host Scott Laird filling in for Michael Rood.
Regarding Jonah, “He’s a man running away from God when God told him specifically to do something,” Kovacs began. “So right away, we know he represents all of us ’cause we’re, at some point in our lives, running away from God when He wants us to do the other thing.”
“But he also … most famously, is dwelling in the body of a beast – a big beast as a matter of fact. A big fish. Why is that? It’s because, as we said before, mankind is dwelling in the body of a beast. We are all in the image of God, but currently we’re like the animals [made of mortal flesh]. And we read many Scriptures before that mankind ‘is like the beasts that perish.’ (Psalm 49:12, 20 NKJV). We are all a person with a mind, dwelling in the body of a beast.”
The Old Testament itself states: “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 1:17 KJV).
“It mentions three days and three nights there,” Kovacs said, “and that points back to Hebrews 13:8 – yesterday, today and tomorrow. ‘Yesterday, today and forever,’ Jesus Christ is the same [in the past, present and future].” But if we are rebelling against God, going away from Him, running in the other direction, we’re going to stay in the body of the beast.”
“It’s just brilliant how Jesus brought His only sign of authenticity back to Jonah, and if we read some of the thoughts going through Jonah’s mind while he’s in the body of the beast, it’s going to be quite revealing to you, because we all have these thoughts.”
The author presented three verses describing Jonah’s thoughts and actions from inside the beast:
- “I called to the LORD in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol” (Jonah 2:2 CSB).
- “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head” (Jonah 2:5 NKJV).
- “I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!” (Jonah 2:6 NLT).
Kovacs then explained: “Well, based on what we already talked about, what these symbols mean, we’re all inside Sheol right now. This is the land of the walking dead. Sheol is the pit, the place of the dead, and we’re all crying to God for help from deep inside this spiritual pit.”
Laird asked: “So the fish is … our human existence?”
“Correct, our existence here,” Kovacs noted. “The big fish is the body of the beast if you want to think of it that way.”
The author continued: “‘The deep closed around me and WEEDS were wrapped around my head.’ Well what do weeds represent in the Bible? The Bible actually gives us the answer. In the New Testament, as a matter of fact, Jesus tells us what the weeds are: ‘Weeds are the children of the evil one’” (Matthew 13:38 CSB).
“So when he (Jonah) says ‘weeds were wrapped around my head,’ it’s talking about evil people who are wrapping around your mind all the time, all through childhood and puberty and adulthood. Some people are never able to shake the weeds out of their mind – they’re just growing in there – and they can never come to God because the weeds (evil people) are wrapping around your head.”
Kovacs then analyzed verse 6, which states: “I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever.”
“What is the EARTH? We keep talking about this. This is the earth,” Kovacs said, motioning toward his own physical body.
“Our bodies are the earth because we’re made of ‘the dust of the earth.’ (1 Corinthians 15:47 NLT)
“We’re locked in. We’re like in prison now. We can’t travel to the other side of the universe – the seen or unseen universe. God can do that, ’cause He’s a Spirit Being. He’s not shackled in this physical, fleshly prison that we’re in. So the gates being locked shut, being imprisoned in the earth, that again refers to the human body.”
Verse 6 concludes: “But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!”
“This is a picture of resurrection,” Kovacs explained.
“And again, as we know in the story of Jonah, he’s taken out of the body of the beast, and is then able to preach to other people who finally come around! That city of Nineveh is like the only mass repentance place in the Bible mentioned. You have individual repentance among people, but the whole city of Nineveh, who were unbelievers, they repented when they saw somebody who was raised from death, raised from the body of the beast, who was no longer shackled in the body of the beast, giving them God’s message, and that’s when the mass repentance comes. It’s the Second Resurrection. … It’s just a fascinating picture when you connect all the dots.”
In his book, Kovacs explains: “At God speed, it’s a veiled prophecy of the future, when the obedient followers of God exit their dead physical bodies and convince ‘the rest of the dead,’ (Revelation 20:5) all the wicked folks who didn’t get with the program in the first round, to repent so that they, too, can leave their body of flesh and inherit eternal life.”
He says it’s forecasting the future time when saved believers will be coaching and judging angels and the citizens of the world (1 Corinthians 6:2-3 CSB).
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Laird then expressed an intriguing point about the conclusion of Jonah’s story:
“After that happens in Nineveh … because all the people believed, he pouts about it! All of a sudden he’s jealous about it or something. … And that’s kind of the end of the story. We’re left with this where Jonah’s all miffed and yet the people in Nineveh have been saved. What are we to make of this? I never know what to make of the end of the story.”
Kovacs responded: “I think it’s a message that we shouldn’t be miffed about it. Because if you know that God’s gonna eventually save [virtually] everybody, there might be the point coming through your mind of, ‘Well, why am I bothering doing this? God is gonna save most people in the end anyway.'”
“But we still have to do what God tells us (John 2:5). We shouldn’t be miffed. God says at the end of that story, there’s a lot of people in that town and ‘much cattle‘ (Jonah 4:11 KJV). He even points out ‘cattle,’ because, again, cattle are people [metaphorically]. The beasts are the people at God speed.
“Because we want everyone to be saved. ‘Love your enemy,’ (Matthew 5:44 NET), not just your friends. We want all those people who treat you like dirt and persecute you and want to cancel you off the internet or whatever, we want those people to have life too. So don’t be miffed about it. Yes, it’s hard and it’s tough and we must suffer many things ‘to enter the kingdom of God,’ the New Testament says (Acts 14:22 CSB).
“So we have to put up with all these sufferings and go through this. And sometimes … God tells us to do something and we don’t want to do it. Sometimes He’s gonna make you do it. And He’s gonna make you suffer a lot of things.”
“Here you have a man being digested in the body of a beast. If you think of it this way, we’re actually being digested [right now]! We’re withering away, as you know, into nothingness, into a grave. And the Bible has the example of the watery grave there for Jonah and he cries to God from the depths of the pit. We’re in the deep right now. The abyss. The pit. Sheol. However you want to phrase it. We’re in the low place. God is in the high place, called heaven. We’re in the low place, but we’re meant to get out of the low place and join God in the heavens.”
In “Reaching God Speed,” Kovacs writes: “We are all in distress here in our current hellish place of death, the human body, from which we cry out to God for help. The waters surrounding us are other people who live in the deep beside us, and the weeds wrapping around our head represent evil individuals wrapping themselves around us, trying to choke any life out of our minds. We are all imprisoned by the earth, our very flesh, and we cannot get out of this prison body unless God personally intervenes and yanks us out of the beast, out of this place of death.”
Endorsed by Chuck Norris and other Christian champions, “Reaching God Speed” is nothing short of a breakthrough work, as it probes God’s hidden messages embedded in popular movies, hit songs from (Adele and the Beatles to Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin), the stories we tell our children, everyday phrases we all say, historic news events, famous commercial campaigns, nature itself, and typical life activities such as such as inhaling every breath you take, sleeping, waking up and many more.
It features a myriad of stunning biblical revelations, as the book:
- Solves with clarity three of the greatest mysteries in Scripture, unveiling the surprisingly simple meaning of “the beast,” “the number of the beast” and “the mark of the beast”
- Easily explains how God embeds hidden messages forecasting the future in the physical, historical events recorded in Scripture
- Examines the miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding, revealing why this famous event took place “on the third day,” why water was poured into six large containers, and why its instant transformation into the most perfect wine has a sublime meaning that goes far beyond what anyone has ever discussed
- Unwraps the secret messages concerning the human birth of God, including the spirit significance of Jesus in a manger, the real reason the shepherds “returned,” and the never-trumpeted, majestic picture the entire story depicts for your own glorious future
- Unmasks the miracle of the blind man healed by washing mud off his eyes. Clue: There’s something intriguing about the mud that becomes obvious when we connect the dots in Scripture
- Reveals the incredible reason the Bible constantly mentions “three days” in both the Old and New Testaments. It goes far beyond the time Jesus spent in the heart of the earth.
- Unveils the sublime, additional meanings emanating from “Let there be light” and “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” There’s much more to the beginning than you’ve ever imagined.
- Illuminates the reason the darkness of night will ultimately be eliminated, and only never-ending light will exist
- Broadcasts the never-before-trumpeted meaning of the Exodus out of Egypt. The ancient event in the days of Moses is actually a picture of something tremendous and glorious that’s still to come in your future
- Explains the incredible meaning behind serpents crawling on their bellies
- Dishes the astounding secret behind the Second Passover, and the fantastic future it holds for billions of people
- Investigates the double meaning concerning “Doubting Thomas,” and the stunning good news it contains for everyone who’s ever doubted God or any Bible story
- Announces the unheard, spirit meaning regarding raising children
- Shines the light on why ancient Egyptians were paralyzed with three straight days of darkness, while God’s people in Goshen had light in their dwellings
- Illuminates the surprising and inspiring meaning of a “darkness that can be felt” (Hint: it’s something you can do right this second)
- Explains what Jesus specifically meant by “outer darkness”
- Clearly reveals why the Bible repeatedly mentions pagan peoples such as Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Girgashites, Jebusites and Hivites. It goes far beyond these ancient tribes with tough-to-pronounce names, as it actually refers to certain people alive today with whom you deal every day
- Tells why Scripture so often talks about thorns and thistles. They’re far more than just sharp prickers growing in your garden
- Explores the untold meaning of the conflict between David and Goliath: it has gigantic significance that Sunday-school teachers seem to have missed
- Fishes out astonishing secret messages God has embedded in the famous story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish. The scales will finally fall off your eyes when you finally see what you’ve been missing. Plus hundreds more …
The book rocketed to the #1 position in several Amazon categories both before and since its official release.
(Note: ‘Reaching God Speed’ is now an audiobook, plus Amazon has hardcover editions of this book back in stock! Hardcovers may also be available through other booksellers, including Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and ConservativeReaders.)
Those wishing to contact or interview Joe Kovacs can email him here.
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