Charles W. Holt
Your comments are appreciated
cholt@gt.rr.com
Community of Grace
Vinton, LA 3-2-08
INSIDE THE WHALE’S BELLY
Jonah 1:3,17
Let me define what I mean when I use the phrase Inside the Whale’s Belly. If you immediately think of the prophet Jonah, whose story is found in the Old Testament book of Jonah, you will be correct.
The story itself is simple to follow and readily lends itself to storytellers who easily adapt its many moral illustrations to real-life circumstances and situations. I want to use Jonah’s Inside the Whale’s Belly event as a modern day parable to explain some of our struggles which the apostle Peter calls, “fiery trials;” that he says acts as “though some strange thing has happened to you” (1 Peter 4:12).
First, however, I want to take just a few moments to defend the accuracy of the Bible’s account of Jonah. Let me begin with this little story (Note: this is one of many versions that have circulated on the Internet. The author is unknown.)
Little Sally was transferred from Christian school to public school. On her first day in the class the teacher introduced herself as "Mrs. Crump" and then said, "Today we’re going to study in Zoology and the first subject in Zoology we’re going to study will be whales. Does anyone know anything about whales?" At first no one raised their hand. Then Sally raised her hand. Mrs. Crump said, "What do you know about whales Sally?" Sally said, "Jonah was swallowed by a whale!" Mrs. Crump said, "That’s nonsense! The throat of the whale is too narrow to swallow a man! Where did you get that foolish belief?" Sally said, "That’s what my Bible says!" Mrs. Crump said, "Your Bible is wrong!
As I said, a whale’s throat is too narrow to swallow a man. What do you think now?" Sally thought for a minute and then said, "I guess I’ll have to wait until I get to heaven and ask Jonah himself what happened." Mrs. Crump thought she’d be smart and asked Sally, "What happens if Jonah isn’t there to ask?" Again Sally thought for a minute and then said, "Then I guess YOU will have to ask him."
Jonah was a very real Old Testament prophet. He is first mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25-27 as performing his ministry during the reign of Jeroboam II. He probably lived at the same time as the prophets Hosea and Amos. It would be interesting to know if these three knew each other, lived close to each other.
It is a true story. Jesus validated and endorsed its genuineness when he said of Himself, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (KJV). It is a reference to His death and resurrection.
On another occasion Jesus used the experience of Jonah—which was undoubtedly well known to His audience—to warn against their sign-seeking obsession saying, “there shall no sign by given it (an evil generation), but the sign of Jonas the prophet” (Luke 11:29-32 and see Mt. 16:4 KJV).
Finally, let me make a statement about the use of the word “whale.” Everyone says a whale swallowed Jonah. As you know that statement is open to criticism from all sides. In the original Jonah story the scripture says, “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah (and he) was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights“ (Jonah 1:17 KJV).
The New Testament verses already quoted use the word, “whale.” Is that a correct rendering? I don’t think so. In the original Hebrew and Greek the word translates “sea-serpent or “sea-monster.” Without a doubt the 56 godly men who worked to compile and compose the original King James Version of the Bible chose the word “whale” because it would more readily be understood and accepted. This was one of their intended goals for preparing this Bible.
There is one more thing to consider. No whales have ever been found in the Mediterranean Sea where the Jonah incident takes place. I am satisfied to take the word of Jonah 1:17 that it was a “great” i.e., huge fish.
But wait! Don’t get lost in all these trivial details. One thing is important. Whatever kind of fish you wish to swallow the prophet write the word MIRACLE over it. What happened to Jonah was a miracle. We serve a God of miracles. And He often works a miracle when we find ourselves in our own Inside the Whale’s Belly experience.
Now you can see what I am about to do with this story. I am going to switch from the “literal” to the “figurative” or what is sometimes called the “spiritual.” Actually I will use the entire story as a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another. Jesus used this in much of his preaching. They are called “parables.” A parable is a simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson. Jesus referred to flowers, trees, fields, etc., and gave them a spiritual or moral twist to make His point.
Thus the great fish—and I am going to use the word whale because it is the more familiar term—the whale becomes the focal point of our story and I am using it to represent the place in our life of a severe test, a great trial of our faith. It is a place of testing our commitment to the Word of God. It is a place of testing our resolve to serve the Lord despite hardships, disappointments, and adversities.
Inside the whale’s belly is the place that tests our testimony and confession that God is really good; that God really does love us; that He really cares about us; that He will not put more upon us than we can bear. Inside the Whale’s belly tests all that.
It’s the boat ride from hell that introduces the story. It’s the sudden appearance of a mighty storm out of a clear blue sky that does that. It’s the waves crashing over your boat, crashing over your hopes and dreams, crashing so loud and so long that you know all is about lost. It’s the “throw me overboard into the raging, snarling, and gaping mouth of an angry sea with no hope of rescue in sight” that does that.
Welcome to the inside of the Whale’s belly.
The most honest thing you can say when you land inside the belly of the whale is, “It stinks!” Life stinks. What has happened to me stinks. What people did to me to make this happen stinks. The situation I am now in stinks. And to add insult to injury no one takes me seriously when I try to tell them how I feel. No one feels sorry for me. No one sympathizes with me. No one cares. It stinks!
Finding oneself inside the belly of the whale raises lots of questions. You start with, “Wow! Where did this come from?” I didn’t do anything wrong and I get clobbered. Then, once you sorta get focused you think, “How do I get out of here?”
And the really good news is: there is a way out! This is one of the major themes of the story. As bad as the situation for Jonah was; as great as the fear it produced; (I’m surprised he didn’t have a heart attack); as horrible as it was to feel himself slipping and sliding down into a slimy, inky, darkness with all sorts of creatures and other unknown elements sloshing around and over him; as absolutely hopeless as the situation was compounded by enormous dread and fear Jonah was exactly where the Lord wanted him to be at that particular time.
Why do I say that? Because the Bible says, “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah” (1:17 KJV). Jonah’s slimy grave experience; his truly near death experience; his “never would I want to do it again in ten lifetimes experience” was prepared by the Lord.
Don’t lose sight of that: it was prepared. It was prepared by an all-wise, all-loving, all-caring God. Now get this. That which devoured Jonah was transformed into Jonah’s preserver.
In chapter 2:2 Jonah described himself as in the “belly of hell.” How dark, how despairing, how distressed that feeling must be. But a writer of Psalm 139:8 said, “If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.” God is where you are right now. He is in your situation. He is in your circumstance. He is in your "bed in hell."
You may feel that the Lord is a billion miles away and all that has piled up against you has isolated—separated--you from the Lord. Now is the time to let your ear of faith hear and your eye of faith see God’s promises that say:
+“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” -- Romans 8:35,37
You may feel there is no rhyme, reason or justification for what has happened but by faith say with the Apostle Paul:
+ “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” – Romans 8:28
You may feel forsaken but by faith hear the Lord say:
+ “I will never forsake thee” – Heb. 13:5
You man feel all alone but by faith hear the Lord say:
+ “I will never leave thee” – Heb. 13:5
You may feel that everything is falling apart but by faith say with King David:
+ (The Lord) “is on my right hand, that I should not be moved” – Acts 2:25
You may feel there is little or no hope but by faith hear King David again say:
+ “My flesh also shall rest in hope” – Acts 2:26
You may feel overwhelmed by guilt and condemnation but by faith say with Job:
+ “I will say unto God, Do not condemn me” – Job 10:2
+ Confess Paul’s words: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” – Romans. 8:1
You may feel you have no strength to face your problems but by faith say with Paul:
+ “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” – Phil. 4:13
You may feel that you would like to die but by faith say with the Psalmist:
+ “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD” – Ps. 118:17
There is only a little left that I want to say in this message. However, from the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes 4:12 we read these words: “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” (KJV)
As I close this message I want to throw you a three-braided cord that “is not easily broken” (New Living Bible); “a three-stranded rope that isn’t easily snapped” (The Message).
I am going to call this three-stranded rope the “rope of hope.” This three-stranded rope of hope is created from the truth of the absolute, undisputed, undeniable and unquestionable fact that the Sovereign and Almighty God was in complete control of all the circumstances that surrounded Jonah in the days of his greatest anguish. From beginning to ending, the Sovereign Lord whose name is Jehovah-Jireh, i.e., “the Lord who provides,” was micro-managing every detail in this event.
1. The first strand in this three-stranded rope is the fact that “the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah” (1:17). He knew beforehand what was going to happen to Jonah and He made advance preparations for Jonah’s way of escape. As I said earlier: That which devoured Jonah was transformed into Jonah’s preserver. It is supported by the truth of 1 Corinthians 10:13 which declares: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (KJV).
2. The second strand is the fact that the Lord had a set time in mind for this event to unfold—there was a time for it to begin and there was time for it to end. He set the boundary, the parameters. It was “three days and three nights” (1:17 KJV)
Remember how He set the limits on the Patriarch Job’s test. Scripture encourages: “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5 KJV).
There are as many as 120 verses in the Bible that contain the phrase, “it shall come to pass.” Troubles, trials, heartaches, disappointments and tears “come to pass.” They come . . . to pass. They “may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
3. The third strand is found in the fact that as He was the author of these circumstances; the manager of these circumstances; so now He is the finisher. When the time came for the ordeal to end, He ended it. The Lord provided the fish and when its service was over “the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (2:10 KJV).
There is a question or two that begs an answer;
1. Can you see yourself in any part of this story? If so, what is your response going to be to any meaningful part?
2. If you can see that God has a plan and a purpose in allowing you to have an “Inside the Whale’s Belly” experience do you plan to rethink your previous responses?
3. How are you going to apply what you have heard? How do you plan to act and think differently about what has happened and what is happening?
4. Most importantly how will you express your faith in a more positive way; believing that God is in control; believing that He cares; believing that He will help you be a better person as a result of your trials and tests?
Psalm 42:3-11 (New Living Translation)
Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”
My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration!
Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you—even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar.
I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.
“O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?”
Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, You are the God of our hard places; the God Who supplies all our needs; the God of all Comfort, the supplier of strength to our weary hearts, minds, and bodies. Give us Your abundant grace today to prevail and to change where change is necessary; faith that rests in Your calm assurance and hope of a better today and a brighter tomorrow.
We pray in Jesus name.
Amen
