How many of you currently follow a television
series? Preaching through the rich
narrative portions of the Old Testament often feels like watching a current hit
television series. Every week is another
chapter in the saga, where we remind ourselves of what happened “previously on
Jonah” and then watch the story develop even further. You could say that today we are in Jonah,
season one, episode two.
What we saw last week in Jonah was how a faithful
prophet became a fugitive prophet after God told him to go and deliver a word
of judgment to the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. Jonah ran from his God and his calling and
wound up in an epic storm at sea that God, in His sovereignty, had brought
about in pursuit of Jonah. Our story
ended with Jonah being cast overboard and left for dead. We pick up today with that story in Jonah 1:17:
[1:17]
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.
[2:1] Then
Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, [2] 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. [3] 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. [4] Then I said, ‘I am driven away from
your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
[5] The
waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were
wrapped about my head [6] at the roots of the mountains. I went down to
the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the
pit, O LORD my God. [7] When my life was fainting away, I remembered the
LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. [8] Those who pay
regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. [9] But I with
the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation
belongs to the LORD!”
[10] And
the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jonah
1:17-2:10 ESV)
The big idea in this passage is pretty simple. In Jonah
1:17-2:10, we see Jonah’s praise
of Yahweh for His great salvation. I want
to take the time today to walk through
this passage and then step back to
see how we too, as God’s people, should never cease to praise God for His great
salvation that He has provided in Jesus Christ.
We have intentionally saved some of our worship music for after this
sermon, because my prayer is that our hearts would also erupt in praise as we meditate upon God’s great salvation.
I.
WALKING THROUGH:
This passage of Scripture contains Jonah’s thanksgiving psalm. It looks and sounds a lot like other
thanksgiving psalms in the Bible and is wrapped by two displays of God’s sovereignty in the great fish swallowing and then vomiting Jonah. Notice that
in this passage, the “great fish” is
not seen as punishment, but as God’s divine means of deliverance from the waters and from Jonah’s own rebellion. Jonah views the fish as God’s salvation: in
the fish, he has been saved from certain death in the sea.
a.
God’s Sovereignty Seen in the Fish Swallowing
Jonah (1:17)
We now learn why the sailors were unable to return
Jonah to the shore in Jonah 1:13,
because God has “appointed a great fish
to swallow up Jonah” (17). This is a
clear demonstration of God’s sovereign power over all of His creation, which is
a major theme in the book of Jonah (1:4,17,4:6-8). Another demonstration of God’s power that is
often overlooked is God’s preservation of Jonah “in the belly of the fish three days and
three nights.” Jesus referred to
this event as “the sign of Jonah,”
which was a sign, or miracle, that showed the people of Nineveh that Jonah’s message
was from God, just as Jesus’ resurrection would (Matthew 12:38-41, Matthew 16:4, Luke 11:29-32).
This demonstration is often overlooked because most people at this point begin trying to
explain how a man could actually survive in the belly of a fish for three
days. While such efforts may have their
merit, I think the scientific possibility of a man surviving in the belly of a
fish for three days completely misses the point! Rather than ask what kind of fish a man could survive in for three days, we are
supposed to ask what kind of God
could preserve a man in the belly of any fish for three days! We’re supposed to see it as a miracle. We don’t need to logically explain it any
more than we do the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is meant to be a
demonstration of God’s power. Piper has
a great word here: “If you ask how a man
can survive in the belly of a fish three days, the answer is, he probably can’t
– anymore than a person can stay three days in the grave and live again.”[1] We
are meant to marvel at the God who sends the storm and calms the sea, who
commands the creatures who live in it, and who can preserve a man’s life in the
belly of a fish for three days. We’re
meant to learn that nothing is impossible for Yahweh!
i. Introduction
& Summary of Jonah’s Psalm (2:1-2)
Now let’s think about Jonah’s song for a
second. Jonah’s psalm is a prayer while in the fish in which he recounts his
prayer while in the sea, in which he
praises God for his deliverance. As we
hinted at earlier, it contains very similar language as other thanksgiving
psalms do in the book of Psalms, which celebrate God’s deliverance (Psalm 3:4; 30:2-3; 118:5; 120:1). For example, drowning is a common metaphor for a person’s desperate plight in
the Psalms (Psalm 42:7; 69:1-3,14-15; 88:3-7). Also, “Sheol,” “the land whose bars closed upon me forever,” and “the pit,” which all refer to the realm of
the dead, are commonly used to communicate that someone was as good as dead when Yahweh delivered
them. What is remarkable here is that in
Jonah’s distress, he proves to be a man who has so meditated upon God’s Word that his prayers and praises ooze with
the language of the Psalms. In addition
to the fact that now Jonah is praying, this is one of several indicators that
Jonah has now turned back to God in faith.
When he did, God answered and delivered Him.
1.
Recounting of Distress & Divine Rescue (2:3-4)
Here we have round one of how God heard and answered Jonah’s prayers. Notice that Jonah recognizes that it was
Yahweh who ultimately “cast” him into
the sea (3): they are his wave and his billows that are consuming him. Also, notice another indicator that Jonah turned to God in faith while in the
waters: “I am driven away from your
sight; YET I SHALL AGAIN LOOK UPON YOUR HOLY TEMPLE” (4). Jonah is no longer fleeing from God’s presence (1:3,10),
but is now longing for God’s presence
(Psalm 84:1ff) and trusting in God’s deliverance before he has made it back to dry land. This same Hebrew word, nabat, that is translated “look
upon” is used in Numbers 21:9,
where the Israelites had to “look upon”
the bronze serpent in order to live!
These two instances powerfully illustrate the power of turning to God in
faith. No matter how far we have run
from God, when we, like Jonah and the rebellious Israelites, turn to God in
faith, He is right there (James 4:8)!
2.
Recounting of Distress & Divine Rescue (2:5-7)
Now comes round two of how God heard and answered Jonah’s prayers. Notice how he seems to repeat what he said in
verse 3: The “waters
closed in” over him, “the deep
surrounded” him, “weeds were wrapped
about” his head at the “roots of the mountains,”
and he “went down to the land whose bars
closed upon” (the underworld) him “forever”
(5-6a). All this was in effort “to take his life.” However,
Yahweh his God “brought up his life from
the pit” (6b). Jonah’s being “brought up” also marks a significant
turn of events in his story. This “change in direction…brings an end to a
series of descending steps which may be traced back to the beginning of chapter
1. From his initial flight in 1:3
Jonah’s progress has always been downwards (1:3,5,15; 2:2) and each stage
symbolizes a further movement away from God.” [2] Not anymore.
In Jonah’s dying moments, he “remembered
the LORD” (7) and his prayer came to Yahweh in Yahweh’s “holy temple.”
ii. Conclusion
& Resolution of Jonah’s Psalm (2:8-9)
Jonah has learned an important lesson in this
experience. It’s a great example of how
we learn by experience those things we had previously only known in
theory. Jonah concludes that those who “pay
regard to idols FORSAKE THEIR HOPE OF STEADFAST LOVE” (8). I think this means that those who worship
idols forsake the steadfast love of Yahweh.
This was the story of the Old Testament: God’s people forsook the hope
of Yahweh’s steadfast love by worshipping idols (Jeremiah 2:5,13). What does
this have to do with Jonah being in the fish?
I think God’s rescue is a reminder that only Yahweh can save because only Yahweh is God. Like the sailors from chapter 1, those who
worship idols will find in their times of trouble that they are no help at
all. Idols are not “gods” at all; they
are impotent imitations, which cannot save. Salvation belongs to Yahweh alone! Jonah
then resolves that unlike those who pay regard to vain idols, He will, “with the voice of thanksgiving,” sacrifice to Yahweh and pay what
he has vowed (9). It is interesting that
both chapter one and two end on this note of sacrificing to Yahweh and keeping
vows (1:16).
b.
God’s Sovereignty Seen in the Fish Vomiting Jonah
(2:10)
Once again we see a demonstration of God’s sovereign power. God simply speaks to the fish and it obeys
without question and vomits Jonah up upon the dry land. But this is not only a demonstration of God’s
sovereign power; it is also a
demonstration of God’s sovereign grace.
“The fish stands for the amazing grace of
Yahweh, which came down to where he was and lifted him to new life…Contrary to
all expectation Jonah does not die. He
is spared the due reward of his sins.”[3] This demonstration of God’s amazing grace
should remind you of another story, one we call the gospel!
II.
STEPPING BACK
We’re not stretching things by applying this train
of thought to the gospel, because the saints in the book of Revelation do. In Revelation
7:10; 19:1, the saints in heaven quote Jonah
2:10, praising of God for His great salvation brought about by the blood of
the Lamb. Consider for a second how
Jonah story is our story, and why we to have reason to praise God for His great
salvation for all eternity.
a.
Because We, like Jonah, were Hopelessly Doomed by
Our Own Rebellion
In the gospel story, we were not merely as good as
dead, but were literally dead in our trespasses and sins and hopelessly doomed
to the wrath of God for our rebellion.
We were drowning in a sea of our own rebellion and headed for hell. [2:1] And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—[3] among
whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires
of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest
of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)
b.
Because We, like Jonah, have Encountered the
Amazing Grace of the Sovereign God of All
The good news, however, in the gospel story is
that in spite of our rebellion, we, like Jonah have been raised out of the
grave our rebellion had dug by God’s amazing grace! [4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with
which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us
up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
[7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of
his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have
been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
[9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)
We also need to point out here that sometimes God
uses some pretty drastic circumstances to
bring us to Himself or to further conform us into His image. I’m not just talking about the fish
either. Before the fish came the
distress of nearly drowning in the water.
Again, that is one reason that I think God did not allow the sailors to
return Jonah to shore. Jonah needed to
almost drown at the bottom of the Mediterranean to turn to God. Friend, God knows what it will take to get
you to turn to Him, and sometimes that can be painful, as it was with Jacob (Genesis 32:22-32). God knows how to break us and save us from
our rebellious self-will and self-sufficiency and He is faithful to do so even
when the mess that it will take is the mess that we have made.
Maybe God is speaking to you this morning: that
you are lost and need to turn to God in faith for the first time. Rather than a painful experience, God has
spoken a gracious word to you this morning and invited you to turn to Him. God has provided for you something infinitely
better than a great fish; He has provided you a glorious Savior! Or perhaps you are a believer and like Jonah,
you’ve made quite a mess of your life.
Either way, the need is the same: run to the cross in repentance and
faith and to preach the gospel to yourself. We are to turn to God the same way that Jonah
did: through faith and repentance. Will you do so? We should do so because someone greater than
Jonah has come and provided a much greater salvation. Know that if you do not turn to Him today, you
are taking one more step towards forsaking the steadfast love of Yahweh.
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