In Jonah 2:1-10, Jonah is trapped in the belly of the great fish. He prays for salvation, and in the end, after this terrible trial, he is vomited forth onto dry land.

Before a new church -- either a state of good and truth with a group of people, or a new state of good an truth in ourselves - can come into existence, a period of temptation, of struggle, must occur. During this time a remnant of good and truth from prior states, will be preserved. This happens to us. When we really don't want to do something that we know we should do, we get into a state of spiritual temptation. That's what this chapter is about.

In Arcana Coelestia 756, it says: "In Jonah, 'The waters closed around me, even to my soul, the deep surrounded me. Here... 'the waters' and 'the deep' stand for the full extent of temptation.

This chapter also prophesies, or foreshadows, the combats that Jesus Christ would have with the hells, and his most grievous temptations at the time. The “three days and nights during which Jonah was in the bowels of the fish,” signify the entire duration of the combat with the hells.

In the New Testament, in Matthew 12:39-41, there's a reference back to this story:

"No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now One greater than Jonah is here.

For us, then... what? When we've turned away from the Lord, and we're in "the belly of the fish" - in temptations, struggles, combats, and everything looks pretty hopeless - then if we really pray, and seek the Lord's help, he can help us.

Here's a link to an interesting (audio) sermon on this chapter, by Rev. Todd Beiswenger.

Here, too, is a link to Rev. McCurdy's study guide for the Book of Jonah, which is available for free as a .pdf, for your use.

635. 14:10 "He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed with pure wine in the cup of His indignation." This symbolically means that they falsify the Word's goods and truths and steep themselves in a life in accordance with their falsification of them.

This is the symbolic meaning of this declaration, because the wine of the wrath of God mixed with pure wine symbolizes the Word's truth falsified. The cup of His indignation symbolizes truth which leads to good, likewise falsified. And to drink means, symbolically, to adopt these falsified truths, or to steep oneself in a life in accordance with them.

That wine symbolizes the Word's truth may be seen in no. 316. That the wine of the wrath of God symbolizes the Word's truth adulterated and falsified may be seen in no. 632. Being mixed with pure wine clearly symbolizes its falsification. The cup also has the same symbolic meaning as the wine, because the cup is its containing vessel.

To drink means, symbolically, to steep one's life in the falsifications, because this declaration is made to people who live in accordance with the doctrine of justification by faith alone, as may be seen just above in no. 634.

Mixing wine, or wine mixed, symbolizes the falsification of truth also in the book of Psalms:

...in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and He has mixed it with wine; He has filled it with mixed wine and poured it out, and... all the impious of the earth shall drink it. (Psalms 75:8)

[2] The Word in many places mentions wrath and indignation together, and wrath there is predicated of evil, while indignation is predicated of falsity, because people caught up in evil are wrathful, while people caught up in falsity are indignant. Both characteristics, moreover, are in the Word attributed to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, but it means that someone is wrathful or indignant at the Lord (see no. 525 above).

That the Word mentions wrath and indignation together is apparent from the following passages there:

...Jehovah comes... with indignation and wrath... ...the earth will move out of her place... in the day (of the indignation) of His wrath. (Isaiah 13:5, 9, 13)

...Assyria, the rod of My wrath... I will order him... against the people of My indignation (Isaiah 10:4-7)

I... will fight against you... in wrath... and in... indignation. (Jeremiah 21:5)

Behold, I am gathering them... in My wrath and in My indignation... (Jeremiah 32:37)

...the wrath of Jehovah is against all nations, and His indignation against the whole host of them. (Isaiah 34:2)

...Jehovah... will repay in His indignation and wrath... (Isaiah 66:15)

I have trodden down the peoples in My wrath, and made them drunk in My indignation... (Isaiah 63:6)

...My wrath and My indignation will be poured out on this place... (Jeremiah 7:20)

And so on elsewhere, as in Jeremiah 33:5, Ezekiel 5:13, Deuteronomy 29:28. Also the indignation of wrath, Isaiah 13:13.

But in Isaiah:

Only in Jehovah... righteousness and strength... And all shall be ashamed who are indignant against Him. (Isaiah 45:24)