Reflecting on Jonathan’s faith and heroism, he can be held up as an example for believers to follow. However, he is first and foremost held up to us as a type of Christ. That is to say, before he becomes an example for us to follow, he is a pointer to what the Messiah would do and how God would save his people through the faith and obedience of his true King. In particular, there are two parallels between Jonathan and Jesus that we can consider.

The first concerns the apparent foolishness of Jonathan’s plan. Climbing up the side of a rocky face is hard work; it is physically exhausting and then when you get to the top you have got to swing your sword against twenty men. Sure, the outpost may not have been expecting an attack, but it would make much more sense to come at night when they are sleeping and you are well rested. It is not a very clever plan, yet it is a plan that was used and blessed by the Lord. Likewise consider the life and death of Jesus; there is an apparent foolishness to God’s plan—a King comes to die. Is that really the means by which God worked to rescue his people from sin? The disciples could not believe it when Jesus told them that that is what he came to do. They expected a conquering king, not a victim hanging on a cross.

But the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25). God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). The life and death of Jesus, a suffering servant, a humiliated king; yet the means by which he worked to reconcile us to himself, with the result that we are in Christ Jesus, who has become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Jesus is our wisdom: he is the only means to the goal of our salvation. Most people think that their works will somehow make them right with God, but we trust in Christ to be our wisdom. He is our righteousness: his death has paid the penalty for our sin to declare us not guilty in the sight of God, and his perfect life has been imputed to us as if we have always kept God’s law. He is our sanctification: he is our holiness and he makes us holy. The Spirit is at work within us to help us walk in God’s way. And finally he is our redemption: he has reconciled us to God, restored our relationship with our Creator, paved the way for adoption that we might be the children of God and not his enemies.

The apparent foolishness of Jonathan is the one parallel between him and Jesus, and his bravery is another. With the odds stacked against him, he approaches the Philistines. He approaches them not because he has a brilliant plan, but because he is confident that the Lord will act in a manner consistent with what he has promised. Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord, said Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:31, and here is Jonathan doing exactly that. Walking by faith and not by sight, he makes decisions based on promises and not circumstances. He serves the Lord with bravery.

Likewise, Jesus was a brave man who walked by faith. Determined to do God’s will, he spoke truth even though it alienated him from his family. He confronted the Pharisees even though it excluded him from their parties and put him in their cross-hairs. There were many moments on the road to Calvary where he could have turned around, could have let fear of rejection, the fear of man dictate his actions. But he was confident in the Lord. He trusted his Father’s plan even as his disciples rebuked him. He knew that death on a cross was the road marked out for him. Suffering now and glory later; the pilgrim life is a call to be brave.