[301]. A Message From A Poem - There Was An Obedient Fish

[301]. A MESSAGE FROM A POEM - THERE WAS AN OBEDIENT FISH

Disobedience was the first sin in all of human history. Adam and Eve disobeyed, and through that disobedience gained a sin nature. Disobedience has remained at the forefront of sin and this can also be applied to Christians.

Jonah was a great prophet who did not like the Assyrians but God sent him to Assyria’s capital, Nineveh, to preach a message of judgement unless repentance took place. I wonder if Jonah might have secretly hoped that the Assyrians would not repent so they would be destroyed.

Well Jonah was disobedient and ran away. I have a short book called “Jonah – The Reluctant Prophet.” He just did not want to obey this – {{Jonah 1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me,”}}. What do you think is the operative word in this following verse – {{Jonah 1:3 “but Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”}}. Well it is the word “FLEE” and as Adam and Eve hid, then Jonah fled!

But no one can flee from God. He knows our every thought and position. In fact God goes before and will pull His disobedient servant (any one of us) back into the right path, the path of righteousness. His ROD and staff, they comfort me.

God had His own plan for Jonah. He sent a storm! It was a great storm and all on board knew it came from God. Eventually Jonah was thrown overboard and then we read this wonderful verse – {{Jonah 1:17 “and THE LORD APPOINTED A GREAT FISH to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.”}}

The book of Jonah has a prophetic theme connected with the Lord Jesus Christ and His death and burial and resurrection. I won’t go into that as it is too big but will give this verse – {{Jonah 2:2 “and he said, “I called out of my distress to the LORD, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol. You heard my voice”}}. This matches the following Messianic verse – {{Psalm 69:15 “May the flood of water not overflow me and may the deep not swallow me up and may the pit not shut its mouth on me.”}}

This poem is meant to make a contrast between a disobedient prophet and an obedient fish. The fish did the Lord’s bidding. The inside of the fish was a place of reflection and repentance for Jonah. Just as hell/grave and death gave up the Lord in resurrection, so Jonah’s hell/grave gave him up to ? {{Jonah 2:10 “Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.”}}

In the poem I take the line that the fish was directed by the LORD to do what was asked unlike Jonah and the fish was obedient all the way.

Assyria was nasty to Israel but God gave them the opportunity of repentance and they took it. However, just like revivals we can point to, in 3 generations they departed from the Lord, and in Assyria’s case they were swallowed up by Babylon.

Assyria is an interesting study. When the Lord/Messiah returns and sets up His kingdom reign at the Second Coming, God’s grace again is extended to Assyria - {{Isaiah 19:23-25 “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and ASSYRIA, A BLESSING IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and ASSYRIA THE WORK OF MY HANDS, and Israel My inheritance.”}}

The fish was a fish NOT a whale.

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THERE WAS AN OBEDIENT FISH

How big was the fish that swallowed Jonah?

We sure don’t know, but it was a loner,

For it was prepared for the task at hand,

So it had to be specific and grand.

A belly it had of Euclid design

That would accommodate Jonah, just fine.

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Jonah was a prophet the Lord would use,

Sent with a message of disastrous news;

Sent to Nineveh, a violent city,

On which the Lord would display His pity.

Assyria was Israel's enemy,

Evil, cruel and vicious in infamy.

“Why would God want to spare those wicked ones

Who raped and pillaged, murdered Israel's sons?”

Jonah could not accept that that was fair;

To pardon them was more than he could bear.

He would not carry that message to them;

Would not assist their punishment, to stem.

“They deserve all they get, and more beside.

Why is God protecting them? Let them slide

Into judgement, with no chance to repent.

Give them no kindness; God must not relent.”

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Right then, it was all too much for Jonah.

He ticketed a ship through the owner

To go to Spain, where he would hide away,

And hoped Nineveh would perish one day.

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The special fish God had prepared, meanwhile

Was progressing along, mile after mile,

In the Mediterranean swimming,

To a location point it was winning.

The faithfulness of this fish in its call,

Contrasted with Jonah, with his brick wall.

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The voyage progressed well until in the sky,

Day became night, and thick clouds passed on by.

The storm was intense and the waves were giants.

The sailors battled with great defiance.

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“Who is the one who so terribly sinned?”

That stark dishonour on Jonah was pinned.

The lots had determined the guilty one –

He, responsible for the damage done.

The decent sailors battled to be free.

Finally, Jonah was cast in the sea.

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The fish had arrived at its location,

To rendezvous with its allocation:

That was Jonah, and the fish gobbled him.

Now all the prophet’s prospects were quite dim.

In the prepared belly, rank, dark, and wet,

Slimy and reedy, foul-smelling, and yet

Jonah survived, and was spared, then spat out;

Expelled like smoke as a gush from a spout.

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The fish was willing to do the Lord’s will,

But Jonah was not, until the Lord’s chill,

Of a fish’s belly, was his hotel.

It seemed to him like the depths of a hell.

The fish went its way with its task complete,

But Jonah's reluctance, it helped to defeat.

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Some will think this is a whale of a tale,

Because all the truths of God they assail.

God is supreme but man is vanity;

Only in Christ, can he gain sanity.

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The fish knew it was a fish, not a whale.

Don’t oppose the Lord God or you will fail.

It is essential, the Lord you obey.

Follow Him closely and don't turn away.

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20 September 2021 R E Ferguson Metre – 10 throughout AABB etc.