And
the Lord appointed a great fish to
swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days
and three nights.
Then
Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
“I
called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
And
the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry
land.
Read
also Psalm 139
Jonah
the rebel prophet was hurled into the sea and left for dead!
Certainly death was what Jonah had hoped for but it was not to be the
case. It seems to me that all of Jonah's hopes and dreams in this
were futile because God had a much higher purpose for him and for his
ministry. God by His good grace and mercy was about the work of
re-commissioning His prophet. That is a point worth noting, Jonah and
his ministry belonged to God therefore he should have been more
concerned for His God and His ministry than he was. This is also true
of all who belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ. His
reputation ought to be of greater importance to you than anything
else!
As
we can see from chapter 1 Jonah had absolutely no intention of
repenting. The later chapters of the book reveal that Jonah knew the
full implications of preaching to Nineveh and as such he had
absolutely no desire to go there! Jonah preferred to die than to obey
and so he not only rebelled against God's instruction but he also
argued with God. If I read correctly between the lines of scripture
Jonah was hoping that the greater the offence the greater the
judgement from God. How could God ever use such a man? Or so he hoped
would be the case. We can imagine him saying to God “send somebody
else because I will not go!” Such rationale only goes to show that
even the tried and tested prophet of God was guilty of a lack of
understanding of the character of God Almighty. Our God in heaven is
much bigger than Jonah's theology and He is certainly more faithful
to His promises than Jonah would ever be. God had told Jonah to go to
Nineveh and that includes giving him the ability to go, safety whilst
he was there and also success of the prophetic or preached word!
God's plans and purposes will never be thwarted by the antics for a
rebellious, racist and sulking prophet. This is yet another lesson
that we must learn: God is working His purposes out through those
whom He has chosen and He will do it despite our protestations and
even our rebelliousness. That having been said, Jonah had a very
painful experience which eventually brought him to repentance. We
will not experience God's anger as did Jonah if we act according to
God's will and purpose.
The
big lesson to learn from all of this is that God is sovereign.
Backsliding or rebellious Christian we would do well to take a keen
interest in this passage before us. It is recorded for our benefit
and to warn us to not go there. It is for this reason that I think
that Jonah did actually write this account; who else would know his
secret thoughts and prayers before God and who better to warn us from
backsliding than Jonah?
Despite
all of this Jonah would rather die as a rebel prophet rather than go
to Nineveh in obedience to God's calling. To some this is thought to
be a battle of wills but is that true? God's position is
non-negotiable and Jonah's is totally unreasonable. During the 70's
and 80's the UK was blighted by industrial tensions that all too
often resulted in strike action. The problem was that there was a
total stand off between employers and employees where both believed
that they were right and the other was wrong. It usually took many
days of negotiation with mediators in order to bring about
compromises to resolve the issue. This stand off between Jonah and
God is nothing like that, God is always right. If that were not the
case then God is no longer God! Jonah was not only wrong, he knew
full well that he was. He simply did not want what God had planned
for Nineveh and so he refused to go. The way that God chooses to
bring Jonah to obedience is quite remarkable; a giant fish is
provided just for this purpose. It is too much to believe for some;
science and critics alike love to tell of the impossibilities of this
account. Coming from a scientific background and also my being a
pragmatist I can honestly tell you that I agree entirely with them.
It is actually impossible for a fish to sustain human life in it's
stomach. Hydrochloric acid at ph1 is perfect for digestion but it is
disastrous on the complexion. Naturally Jonah would not last many
minutes inside a fish's stomach.
BUT
Does
science or pragmatism have all of the answers? Of course they do not!
It is equally impossible for a man to stand up in a boat and still
the storm but yet Jesus did. It is impossible to walk on water but
Jesus did and He also encouraged Peter to do the same. It is
impossible to make water into wine but Jesus did it! It is impossible
to raise the dead but Jesus did it. God who created the heavens and
the earth supersedes the laws of nature therefore He can at any time
perform any miracle that He chooses for the sake of His purposes and
glory. This is an occasion that He did just that. He prepared a fish
big enough for the job and He kept Jonah alive despite the normal and
natural workings of the stomach. Equally he directed the fish to the
shore at exactly the place of His choosing and at exactly the right
time (3 days and 3 nights!) Then He gave the fish a large dose of
spiritual emetic and Jonah was thrown up or vomited out upon dry
land; safe and secure.
There
is so much imagery in this that we do not have time to consider but
can you not see the signposts here that are pointing to Jesus?
Again
as is consistent with God's character revealed in scripture, God is
displaying His sovereignty in the life and through the experiences of
Jonah. Today's big lesson is that God is sovereign over Jonah's
repentance.
It
was God who brought Jonah to:
Recognition:
Seeing the need of repentance.
Repentance:The
place of repentance.
Restoration:
Re-commissioning.
Recognition:
As
we have previously seen Jonah's great desire in all of this was that
he die and get out of his responsibility. He is taking a rather
extreme position because to most of us life is precious. But when
things get on top of a person then even the value of life becomes at
risk. Elijah was another prophet who wanted to die because he no
longer had the fight in him. We would say that Elijah was burned out
which resulted in his depression which was evidenced by his desire to
die. I see no reason to believe that Jonah was burned out, he was
simply rebelling against God's command on his life and rather than
come to God in repentance he rebelled which caused him to be
depressed and had to lose the will to live.
The
interesting thing about both of these prophets is that neither of
them could “pick
themselves up, dust themselves down and start all over again!”
They were simply sinking deeper and deeper into self pity. To both
of them it was far better to die than to continue. They were both
severely depressed but from two different causes. I am in no way
saying that all depression is a spiritual issue but I am more and
more convinced that we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater
somewhat in our efforts with depression. Modern medicine does not
make allowances for the soul and as such cannot generally accept the
need of spiritual counsel. The church has taken this mindset on board
somewhat and has lost sight of the need for wise spiritual counsel
for those who are depressed due to spiritual issues.
A
doctor friend of mine when coming across some people with mental
issues would say that on occasions a persons needs a priest rather
than medication. On the other hand some Christian groups are guilty
of seeing sin as the only cause of depression! As the church we need
to be aware of the real needs of each individual and to offer the
correct help for their condition.
For
Jonah and Elijah they both needed a priest and were ministered to in
different ways by the Great High Priest. Today we will concern
ourselves with Jonah. Notice that God was allowing Jonah to
experience something of his desire to die. Jonah was at the point of
no return, he was also in relationship far from God. But God was
clearly closer to him than he knew! Jonah was in trouble and now he
recognised it. At last he could see his dilemma and it is at this
point that he realises that life is precious; but it is too late for
him personally to do anything about it. He had descended into the
depths of the sea which he described as Sheol or to us hell.
In
his depressed state he wanted to take his own life by being thrown
into the sea, but Jonah now saw that God had not forsaken him. Even
though things were going from bad to worse and the sea was mustering
all that it could in order to take Jonah's life;
Jonah
suddenly can see the temple.
The
sight of the temple comes to him with a certainty that he will once
again look upon it personally. Hope is now coming to Jonah but he is
still in the sea facing death and hell. Only a miracle can save him
now. All that Jonah can do is to call upon the God of Grace to rescue
him.
Verse
6 is key to what God teaches in this passage, Jonah is just outside
the gates of hell but the wonderful thing for him was that they were
locked to him. He could not enter. But God lifted him back to life
from the very point of death. It was here that the work of the Great
High Priest was accomplished. God's anger which could rightly have
sent Jonah into the land of the dead (Sheol) was abated and Jonah
lived. Jonah did nothing to deserve this; it was purely an act of
grace on God's behalf. This is one of the great bible passages that
reveals God's grace being extended to an undeserving sinner.
The
wonderful thing here is the picture that this portrays for us:
remember a sign that Jesus gave to His critics was of Jonah being in
the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights. The implication of
that being that it would be the Son of Man would rescue His friends
from the gates of Sheol.
There
is one fundamental reason why Jonah did not enter into those gates;
if he had there would be no way out for him. But the power of hell
had to be conquered and so it was Jesus who did go on through those
gates. The sin that He bore was so odious to God that He was hurled
into hell by God and this was on our behalf. The cross was Jesus'
hell where he experienced the full wrath of God as He bore our sins
in His body on the tree. The darkness that came upon the land was
clear evidence that the “Light of the World” had been
extinguished. Jesus' vehicle of rescue was a grave where he stayed
for those 3 days and then He came out and is now our Conquering King.
He is our Great High Priest who always intercedes on behalf of His
people as he did with Jonah on that day.
Jonah's
lesson from God taught him the value of life and gave him the ability
to go to the next phase.
Repentance:
For
Jonah repentance was was brought about by his fear of death and of
going into hell. That is an unpopular message in our 21st
century church but it is nonetheless biblical and as such is of vital
importance. We have somewhat lost sight of the severity of hell. Do
you believe that if Jonah had once entered hell then there would be
no way out for him ever. Hell is eternal and there is no way out. I
think that it was general Booth of Salvation Army fame who once said
that if it were possible he would like to dangle gospel preachers
above the fires of hell to show them the awful suffering contained
within. The purpose being that this would make them more diligent and
passionate in their preaching of the gospel and that they be
determined to rescue as many from hell as was possible.
Jonah
saw hell at close quarters and knew there was nothing but grace that
could save him from it. He was dying (verse 7) and the only thing
left was prayer. Even at this point we see Jonah's impotence in the
situation; but God's grace was at work. The sight of hell had caused
Jonah to remember God! Sinner or Backslider how far has God got to
take you before you remember Him? God at this point had enabled Jonah
to pray and then His grace was displayed to Jonah.
From
the depths of the sea staring at the very gates of death and hell a
prayer is heard in heaven and Jonah is saved.
Jesus
who is the second and perfect Jonah fulfilled this completely He
experienced hell it's very self and to all of His followers
everything seemed to have gone hopelessly wrong. It was when darkness
was covering the earth that Jesus prayed the prayer which is
effective for our salvation. “Father forgive them” and “It is
finished” was His prayer. Sin had been dealt with, God's wrath has
been turned and salvation had been accomplished by that one act of
Amazing Grace. Just as Jonah could not save himself then neither can
we! We must call on the Great high Priest who made Himself to be the
Ultimate Sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins and He will rescue
us from the clutches of sin, death and hell.
Have
you come to Christ in repentance yet?
Apply.
Restoration:
You
will be please to hear that this is for the next time. I leave you
with a cliff hanger to ponder concerning God's providence and
sovereignty over our ministry.
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