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Jonah (Part 3)
Jonah (Part 3)
For the past 2 weeks I have been teaching from the book of Jonah. Basically Jonah was a good man, a servant of our Lord, a prophet and preacher of God’s word, primarily serving in Israel. This book is not a record of his life’s work but rather it is more of a snapshot of a particular episode in his life. God assigned him the task of preaching repentance to the Assyrian empire capitol city of Nineveh.
They people there in Nineveh were a violent, evil, blood thirsty, power hungry people who were considered the enemy of the Jews and I believe that Jonah would rather have seen them all burn like Sodom and Gomorrah than repent and experience God’s mercy. So in rebellion to God’s command to go to Nineveh, Jonah boarded a ship and headed in the opposite direction trying to flee from God and his responsibility to Him.
Last week we saw that he did not get too far before a violent storm and wild seas interrupted his journey. He admitted to the captain and crew he alone was responsible for their pending doom and suggested that if they wanted to save themselves they should just throw him overboard. After unsuccessfully trying to row back to shore, and then pleading with God not to hold them accountable for killing Jonah’s, they eventually threw him overboard. And as he went down, so too did the waves until the sea was almost perfectly calm.
I believe in Jonah’s mind he would rather have died than preach to the Ninevites or see those innocent sailor lose their life because of him. So down he went.
But then in the last verse of chapter 1 we see an amazing thing happen; it says, “17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Before we go any farther here I want you to understand what I believe this book is all about. More than anything else I believe that this book is about God’s desire to change hearts. Last week we saw how the sailor hearts on that ship changed. In the story we left those men praying to God, fearing and honoring Him, offering up sacrifices to Him and even making vows to Him.
In this story we also see that our main character Jonah also needed a change of heart. Even though he was a man of God and probably someone who had faithfully served Him well, we see part of his heart was very hard and needed to be softened or changed before he could really serve God properly.
God also wanted to change the hearts of those Ninevites I believe not wanting to destroy every man, woman and child if could be helped.
We need to remember that God is not in the business of being just plain mean to us because we sin, rather he wants to bring us back from sin and He does that by changing our heart. Unfortunately it usually takes a crisis, disaster, or pending doom before we wake up and turn back to Him. And some of us like Jonah are more stubborn and hard hearted than others.
Verse 17 said, “Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Now some of you may doubt that this could ever actually happen. Maybe you wonder if it is an allegory or parable. I believe he was actually swallowed by something. The Hebrew and Greek word that is used here merely mean “a great aquatic animal.” Some species of whales and some species of sharks are quite capable of swallowing a man whole. Among these are the sperm whale, the white shark, and the whale shark, all of which have been found with whole animals as large, or larger than a man in their stomachs.
I found this Newspaper article from July 30, 2013 from the Rock City Times, it goes as follows: “Chicago, IL – An Arkansas man is alive after being swallowed by a whale on Saturday while visiting the Shedd Aquarium. Jonah Anderson, 24, is being treated for mild dehydration at Chicago’s Mercy Medical Center after being regurgitated early this morning.
The incident happened while viewing the Beluga Whale exhibit. Witnesses say the whale, Puiji, came out of the pool, grabbed Anderson, and proceeded to swallow him whole. Anderson remained unharmed inside the whale until this morning when he was spit back onto the viewing platform.
“This is the first time any of our whales have exhibited aggressive behavior,” Shedd’s vice president of communications Andrea Smalec tells us. “We frequently allow special guest to interact with the whales, our staff even occasionally swim with the whales. This is completely unexpected.” Animal trainers tried unsuccessfully to extract Anderson from the whale during the three days. Anderson was able to communicate with outsiders through text message during the stay. Friends and family tell us that Anderson remained positive and relaxed during the time.
“He seemed really upbeat,” Jonah’s girlfriend Mary, who was with him on the trip, tells us. “Of course this is not the first time something like this has happened. We were on a boat tour outside San Francisco last year when a whale snatched him from the side. That one scared him a bit, this time it all seemed routine. Not sure why this keeps happening.”
So the literal possibility of Jonah being swallowed is not that farfetched. But I am sure it would not be a very pleasant experience. I read that the temperature would have been between 108 and 115 degrees inside the whale. A person would have had very limited movement. It is possible that you would have contact with the fishes gastric intestinal juices, possible bleaching your skin. And I’m sure what air you had to breath would smell horrendous.
Now what amazes me is the fact that it actually took 3 days and 3 nights for Jonah to have a change of heart before he would actually humble himself before the Lord and talk to Him.
In Chapter 2 we have what took place next. Read Chapter 2. ” 1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.
7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
So God actually saved Jonah’s life by using a fish rather than providing a piece of wood that he could cling to. I believe that fish also helped save him on a spiritual level as well humbling him rather than killing him. We’ll also see that God used that great fish as a mode of transportation, moving Jonah closer to Nineveh instead of farther away.
God’s method of deliverance here therefore reveals both His great power and His gracious heart. Campbell Morgan once said, “Men have been looking so hard at the great fish that they have failed to see the great God.”
Dr. Constable writes this in his commentary “The three-day time was also significant because Jonah’s deliverance became a precursor of an even greater salvation that took three days and nights to accomplish (Matt. 12:40). God restored Jonah to life so he would be God’s instrument in providing salvation to a large Gentile (and indirectly Jewish) population under God’s judgment for their sins. He raised Jesus to life so He would be God’s instrument in providing salvation for an even larger population of Gentiles and Jews under God’s judgment for their sins.”
This is the first mention of Jonah praying. Until now Jonah had been fleeing and hiding from God. Now in his great distress he finally sought the Lord. Being willing to die quick by drowning was one thing, but death by gradual digestion was something Jonah had not anticipated.
The prayer is mainly thanksgiving for deliverance from drowning. It is not thanksgiving for deliverance from the fish or a prayer of confession as one might expect. Jonah prayed it while he was in the fish. Evidently he concluded after some time in the fish’s stomach that he would not die from drowning.
Drowning was a particularly distasteful form of death for an ancient Near Easterner who regarded the sea as a great enemy. Jonah’s ability to thank God in the midst of his black torture chamber, which must have pitched him uncontrollably in every direction, shows that he had experienced a change in attitude.
Jonah could have composed the core of this psalm, which contains his prayer, while he was inside the great fish. He may have composed or polished the whole psalm sometime after he was safely back on dry land. It bears many similarities to other psalms. Clearly Jonah knew the psalms well, and he could have spent much time reflecting on them during his three days in the fish.
So the prophet repented and returned to the Lord in his heart. Having experienced the precious gift of God’s salvation in his own life, Jonah was now more willing to preach salvation to the Ninevites. Maybe he came to appreciate the Ninevites condition and how they too were drowning in sin.
The Hebrew word for salvation is yeshua, used here in its intensive form. The Hebrew name Joshua means “Yahweh is salvation.” The Greek name “Jesus” is the translation of Hebrew name, Joshua. Thus we can see a close connection between what Jonah declared (“salvation is of the Lord”) and what all Scripture declares, namely, that “salvation is through Jesus Christ.”
Here in the midst of praying for deliverance we come to verse 8 where he talks about idolatry. Was he talking about heathens who worship idols or is he referring to himself in some way? Interestingly, some scholars feel that Jonah is talking about himself, since after all, he is the one praying for deliverance.
There is something really important I want you to see here. Many believe that Jonah applied the sin of idolatry to all people, even himself; idolatry being the source of his own sin. He chose to disobey God and hold on to things that he thought were right or more important to him (his racial hatred, his prejudice towards the Ninevites, his own life and identity as a Jew). Those things were more important to Him than honoring God and doing what he commanded. In other words he saw his own selfish desire as a form of idolatry.
Think about this: Is it possible that all sin ultimately begins or has its root in a form of idolatry? No we may not have an image carved out of stone, gold or silver to worship, but an idol is something one values, or pay more homage to than God Himself. Is there something you focus on or depend on more than God; maybe a job, your bank account, your things, maybe your own knowledge and wisdom, selfish wants, or a particular habit? Those things can become an idol if we are not careful… because of how we idolize them.
Jonah realized that he was an idol or ideal worshipper and it was a sin that he realized he had to repent of; and it took being swallowed by a fish to wake him up to that fact.
And it is at that point Jonah knew and believed that even though he was in the digestive tract of a big fish in the depths of the sea, the Lord had saved him.
He hadn’t been returned to the shore yet, but salvation is more than physical deliverance, it’s more of a change of heart. That what God wants to accomplish that in each of us. If we are not obeying Him He wants to change our heart for our own good and to benefit others.
It amazes me what people can live through when they know that they are right with the Lord; physical pain, sickness, imprisonment, torture, martyrdom, even living inside the belly of a whale.
When we know we are right with the Lord we find that peace that passes all understanding which the Bible writers talk about.
Jonah experienced that spiritual salvation first, then the Lord delivered him from the belly of the fish and the sea itself to walk again on dry land and breath fresh air.
A closing question I have for you today is this. Is there an attitude, a feeling, or some thing, or even someone you are putting before God? Maybe like Jonah, you’ve turn your back on God just a bit so you don’t have to face Him and do what He really wants you to do., or give up what He wants you to give up. Maybe you may have to go through a storm, and you may find He will allow you sink real low. He’ll allow that to happen to you, not because He’s mean, rather He may be trying to save you,
Like the Hebrew writer wrote in Heb. 12, “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son….. God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Be careful not to let what you want, think or feel, or even a attitude or practice become an idol for you. Always put God and His will first in your life and you to will find salvation and peace.
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