God Of Salvation

Today we’re continuing our series in Jonah.

My first talk was titled ‘God of compassion’. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was wicked. God described it as wicked and historians tell us that Assyria was wicked. It wasn’t just a little bit wicked. One historian of the Middle East wrote that ‘Assyrian national history … is as gory and bloodcurdling a history as we know.’ God was aware of Nineveh’s wickedness. He would not allow it to continue. But God wished to give Nineveh a chance. It certainly didn’t deserve a chance. The fact that God was willing to offer Nineveh a chance – in spite of how wicked it was – shows us how compassionate God is.

My second talk was titled ‘God of mission.’ God wanted to show compassion to Nineveh but there had to be a basis for it. The people of Nineveh had to repent, genuinely and sincerely. God sent Jonah there. But that was just a part of God’s strategy to communicate to the Ninevites. Jesus said that Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites. The sign was the fact that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and survived. God took the initiative and he had the strategy to convince the Ninevites.

So, we’ve seen that God is a god of compassion and God is a god of mission.

My talk today is titled ‘God of salvation.’ Who does God save? God wants to save the people of Nineveh. They’re in danger of God’s judgement. But before the people of Nineveh can be saved, Jonah himself needs to be saved! This week we’re going to focus on how God saves Jonah. Next week we’ll go on to how God saves Nineveh.

You no doubt remember what happened. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to go. He boarded a ship going in the opposite direction. A storm came along, the sailors threw Jonah into the sea and a great fish swallowed Jonah.

Chapter 2 verse 1 says ‘From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.’ The next nine verses are Jonah’s prayer. Finally, verse 10, the last verse in the chapter tells us, ‘And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.’ Jonah was saved!

What does this show us about how God saves?

I’d like to make four points.

First, God has awesome power to save!

Second, God saved Jonah from his immediate problem. Salvation doesn’t only mean eternal salvation.

Third, Jonah’s crisis caused him to sort out his relationship with God.

Fourth, God deliberately created the crisis!

So let’s get started!

First point: God has awesome power to save! Jonah is as doomed as it’s possible to be. The Mission Impossible team would shake their heads and say ‘this is beyond us.’ But God issues a command and the next moment, Jonah is on dry land! There’s no drama, no fuss. Problem solved. God has awesome power to save. There’s a practical application. Sometimes we think to ourselves: ‘This problem that I’m facing is way beyond me.’ Congratulations! That’s a great first step! Now take the next step and remember that it isn’t beyond God.

Second point: God saves Jonah from his immediate problem. In church settings today, when people talk about salvation they’re almost always thinking of our eternal salvation. But God saved Jonah from a great fish! This wasn’t about eternal life! Jonah wanted to survive the next 24 hours! God rescued Jonah from his immediate problem. God does that all through scripture and he does that today.

We can easily think of examples of God in the Bible of God saving people from their immediate problems. What comes to mind? How about God saving Joseph when his brothers threw him into a pit. (And as a result, saving his family from famine?) Or rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt? Or delivering David from King Saul when Saul was trying to kill him? There are plenty more examples! Over and over again we see that God delivers his people from problems they’re in. Often, they got into the problems themselves.

Common sense tells us that God does this. Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God as father. What is a good father like? A good father constantly helps his children. “I can’t find my pen.” “Can you help me with my homework?” “I’m hungry!” A good father helps his children even when they’ve got into trouble themselves. God is a very good father. He does the same. He’s willing to help and he’s able to help – much more so than any human mum or dad in fact. I can certainly say that’s been true in my life.

Scripture tells us that God is the person to turn to when we need help. ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.’ ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.’ ‘The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.’ Those are all from Psalms.