Jay Leno frequently does a "man-on-the-street" interview, and one night he collared some young people to ask them questions about the Bible. "Can you name one of the Ten Commandments?" he asked two college-age women. One replied, "Freedom of speech?" Mr. Leno said to the other, "Complete this sentence: Let he who is without sin . . ." Her response was, "have a good time?" Mr. Leno then turned to a young man and asked, "Who, according to the Bible, was eaten by a whale?" The confident answer was, "Pinocchio."
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were very large mammals, their throat was very small. The little girl stated that a whale swallowed Jonah. The teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to Heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to Hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."
In February 1891, the Star of the East was whale hunting off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. While pursuing a large sperm whale, one of the two boats was capsized by the leviathan. The hunters went on to kill the whale but feared two of their men had drowned. James Bartley was one of the missing fishermen. The crew mourned their loss but also had a tremendous task of preparing this giant sea monster. They worked until midnight removing blubber from the eighty-foot long, eighty-ton fish. The next morning they hoisted the whale's stomach on deck. To their surprise, they saw faint movement. M. de Parville, science editor of the Journal des Debats, investigated the incident. He verified that James Bartley was indeed the reason for the movement. When the stomach was cut open, Bartley was found unconscious. He was bathed in seawater and placed in the captain's quarters for two weeks. He was confused and mentally disturbed. Yet, in four weeks he had fully recovered and was able to recount his experience. For the rest of his life he carried the scars of a bleached white face, neck and hands from the whale's gastric acid.
* Parables, etc., Oct. 1993, p. 5
But perhaps the biggest fish story of all time is the one that we see every day on our cars, mailbox flags, stickers and flags. What most people often refer to as the "fish symbol". Many people know that this stands for being a Christian but what is not well known is its true origin.
The fish symbol is one of the earliest of the first Christian church dating within 10-20 years of our Lord's death, burial and resurrection. Perhaps it came from our Lord's often association with fish:
The Prophet Jonah - Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 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.
Fishermen - Mark 1:16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
(Jesus, like all fishermen, first catches us then he cleans us.)
Great Catch of Fish - Luke 5:1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: 10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
Feeding the Five Thousand - Matthew 14:15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. 16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. 17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
Feeding the Four Thousand - Matthew 15:29 And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. 30 And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: 31 Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. 32 Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. 33 And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? 34 And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. 35 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 37 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. 38 And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. 39 And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.
The Tax Money and the Fish - Matthew 17:24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? 25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
Beyond those associations with our Lord, the early church used the fish symbol as both a means of communication and a reminder of their doctrine.
COMMUNICATION
In those days it would often mean life or death to be a Christian, not only from the Romans but also from the Jews. Christians began using the fish symbol as a call sign to seek out other Christians. A person meeting another would strike up a conversation and during the discussion one would draw half of the fish in the sand or on a rock and if the other was a Christian they would complete the other half of the fish to show it was safe to speak freely.
DOCTRINE The Greek word for fish was "icthus" using the Greek letters iota, kappa, theta, upsilon and sigma. Like any alphabet and language acronyms were used or made up from simple words. In the word fish lay the foundation of Chrisianity.
The iota, the first letter in the word fish, stood for Ieasus or where we get the name Jesus which means Jehovah is Salvation or Jehovah Saves. Mary - Luke 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Joseph - Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Mt 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
2 Timothy 2:19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
The second letter is the letter Chi or what looks like an X. This letter stands for Christos, the Greek form of the title we use for Jesus of Christ. Christos was the Greet translation of the Hebrew word Messiah which meant Annointed One.
Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Mt 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
The theta letter of the Greek alphabet used as the thrid letter in fish stands for Theos or the Greek name for God.
Jehovah, often translated Lord, is God's most common name in the Bible. It occurs 6,823 times and basically means the self-existent One, the God of the covenant (Gen. 2:4). Other names in the Bible for God are:
The Greek letter upsilon stands for the word uios or son. Jesus claimed to be both Son of Man (a reference to the Messiah in Daniel 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.) But it was Jesus' testimony that he was the Son of God that caused the Jewish High Priest to seek to have Him crucified (Luke 22:70 Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. 71 And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.)
Demons Acknowledged - Mt 8:29 "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"
Disciples Asserted - Mt 14:33 Jesus calmed the seas "Of a truth thou art the Son of God"
Sanhedrin Asked - Mt 26:63 I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. 64Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 65Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
Centurion Affirmed - Mt 27:54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
The last letter of the Greek word for fish is sigma or close to our letter S. The sigma in the acronym stands for the Greek word soter or Savior.
Angels - Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Samaritans - John 4:41 And many more believed because of his own word; 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Peter - Acts 5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Paul - 2 Timothy 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
John - 1 John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
CONCLUSION
So what does all this mean. Taken together the early Christians, who had no Bible but the Old Testament, used the symbol of the fish to remind them that Jesus was the Christ or Messiah; He was God's Son and their Savior. The entire gospel message wrapped up in a little fish.