Somedays you eat the fish and other days the fish eats you. Last week we began looking at the prophet Jonah and you will remember that I mentioned how he was an historical figure as far as the Old Testament is concerned. We are told that he prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II in 2 Kings 14. We also see that he was described as a historical individual in the New Testament as well. In three separate passages Jesus we find referring to Jonah. In Matthew 12:40 He said, "For as Jonah 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." And then in Matthew 16:4 He said, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah." And then in Luke 11:30 He said, "For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation."
So, not once but three times Jesus mentions Jonah and all three times He uses Jonah’s experience in the belly of the fish to symbolize His own impending death, burial and resurrection.
The first year I attended London Baptist Bible College we had a chapel speaker by the name of Leander Roblin. He was one of the founding fathers of the Fellowship and he spoke about its origin. McMaster University was school all Baptist preachers in the general convention had studied at and they began drifting more and more to the left. It got to the point where some of the professors were openly mocking the students who held to the inerrancy of scripture. The students referred to themselves as fundamentalists because they believed in the fundamentals of the faith but the professors called them funny mentalists. At one point Mr. Roblin and a few other students were brought before the academic board to give an account of themselves for openly disagreeing with their professors.
The issue at hand was whether or not the Bible was the word of God. Those of the professors who held to what was referred to as the higher critical view started by saying, "Surely, you don’t expect us to believe that a man was swallowed by a whale and lived to tell about it?" In response Mr. Roblin asked them how much of the Bible they felt was inspired and they agreed only on the words of Jesus. He then read the passages where Jesus referred to Jonah and they all got mad at him and the meeting was over. So the reliability of Jonah’s story is as credible as the reliability of the words of Jesus.
The fact is, either a miracle took place or it didn’t. We believe God created the universe. He made something out of nothing. Is that rational? Of course not. It contradicts the first law of thermodynamics which says, "Matter can neither be created nor destroyed." Creation itself violates natural law. Hebrews 11:3 says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." If God was able to create a life-sustaining universe then why couldn’t He create a fish that would swallow and then sustain the life of a man within that fish for three days? The fact is, we have to accept this by faith just as we accept the account of creation.
What about the miracles of Jesus. Take a simple one like the feeding of the five thousand. He creates bread and fish. By doing this He is suspending the very laws of nature. To make bread one would have to prepare the soil, plant the seed, wait a few months for it to grow, harvest the seed and make flour, mix it with the other ingredients and bake it for a while. How does Jesus make bread? He just says, "Bread." And the same thing happens with the fish.
Personally from a rational perspective I would think people would wrestle more with the whole issue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here we have a man who has died and then He was buried for the greater part of three days. His heart, brain, liver, kidneys and the entire circulatory system have not only been stopped but have been deteriorating for three days. The body has been laying in a cool, damp cave wrapped in a hundred pounds of spices. And then in a split second the power of God came upon Him and He rose up from the dead. In order to do that God would have to rearrange the molecular structure of every cell in His body. The fact is, either God performs miracles or He doesn’t. And the fact that Jonah was a real person was testified in both Old and the New Testaments.
You will also remember that I pointed out how Jonah was sent by God to preach a message warning the Assyrians about what God was going to do if they didn’t repent. He was actually told to "cry against it" which is not the same as proclaiming a message of out and out judgement but crying against the city was an act of mercy on God’s part. If His intention was simply to wipe out the Assyrians for their sin then He wouldn’t have sent a prophet He would have simply sent fire and brimstone like He did to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. In response to God’s message which Jonah interpreted as an act of mercy he fled. He left his role as prophet and took a ship that was bound for Tarsus.
And that’s where we pick it up today. Jonah’s is running away from God, which in itself is a strange thing. Here we have a prophet who has spent who knows how long telling people about the God he was running away from. Think of the very basic things he would tell people about God. He would tell them God is omniscient, that He knows everything. There’s nothing we can hide from God. He would tell them that God was omnipotent. He is all powerful. There is nothing we can do to resist His will. And then he would tell them about God’s omniscience. God is personally present everywhere. He knows everything. He can do anything and He is everywhere. And now Jonah thinks he can run away from God.
Jonah’s actions tell us that in spite of what he knew about God he didn’t understand the heart of God. God loved the Assyrians who hated God’s people the jews. If God would be so merciful to the cruel Assyrians would He just turn His back on someone who had spent His life serving the people He loved? Of course not. God loved Jonah too much to just let him walk away.
Well, Jonah found a ship going where he wanted to go and he paid the full fare. We know this because he didn’t have to work on board ship. He could go down to his room and catch up on his sleep. Up to this point everything seems to be going his way. And that makes me wonder what’s happening here. Do circumstances or provision always indicate the blessing of God? We can’t always justify our actions on the basis of circumstances coming together. Jonah had the money for the ship, the ship was leaving when he wanted to go and it would take him where he wanted to be.
I think there are times when we know what the will of God is and then we ask Him for a sign so we can justify our doing the very thing that we know He doesn’t want us to do. I believe we allow ourselves to play right into the devil’s hands when we knowingly disobey God and then ask for spiritual direction. I mean, if God isn’t going to answer us then who do we expect to hear from.
Sometimes God sends a prophet with a message but here we see how He sends a message to the prophet. And as He often does in our own lives God uses the difficult circumstances of life to get Jonah’s attention.
I God sent a storm.
a) "The LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken." And by the reaction of the sailors its easy to conclude that this was no ordinary storm. It says that the wind was in the sea. This describes not a natural storm but what we might call a whirlpool effect. The sea was appeared to be angry at the sailors. This was something unusual for them and we can tell this by their reaction.
The fact that they start praying to their gods shows they were desperate. They were willing to do whatever it was they had to do to stay alive. After they prayed and the storm didn’t let up it says they threw everything overboard. It could have been that they were trying to lighten the ship or even that they were superstitious and they thought there was something in the cargo that was offensive to the gods. This was a rather radical thing to do from the standpoint that they were throwing out all the things they were being paid to transport. Even though they might have to pay back the people they were working for they knew that no amount of baggage was worth their lives. It also demonstrates how a crisis can affect our lives.
Its interesting to see a parallel in the New Testament account of the night Jesus came to His disciples walking on the water. It too was a great storm. A storm that had been sent by God and it terrified the disciples who were men like the sailors in Jonah’s ship who had spent their lives on the sea. Mark 6 tells us the reason the storm had come was because the disciples had hard hearts. They helped Jesus feed the people and then they told Him to get rid of them. They were tired of the crowds. It didn’t matter to them that these people were lost and on their way to hell. All they could think about was their own comfort. And they were insensitive to the moving of the Spirit of God.
God was doing great things in their midst and they didn’t care. They were only concerned with their little program. They only had their eyes on themselves and their situation. The storm made them realize that their own lives which they were so concerned about could be taken from them in a moments time. They also saw that they couldn’t spend their whole lives just relying on themselves and the energy of the flesh but they but had to look to the One who could rise above their circumstances and come to them walking on the water. Its the storms that cause us to look where we know we ought to have looked in the first place.
b) While the sailors were doing everything they could to stay alive the scripture says Jonah was asleep. Same circumstances but a totally different reaction. They can’t sit down and rest and he can’t seem to keep his eyes open. Some people can sleep through anything. I remember reading Thomas Edison’s biography. His factory burnt down and he ran home to get his family. He said, "You had better hurry up or you’re going to miss the biggest fire of your life." After the fire was over he rolled up his coat, laid down on a bench and went to sleep.
Think of what was happening though. The ship must have been tossing around like a cork in a bathtub and yet he was sound asleep. I wonder why he was asleep. It could have been that he was tired. Maybe the decision to quit doing the very thing he was called by God to do was so emotionally exhausting he was physically drained. Or maybe it was simply the fact that all the burden of ministry was off his shoulders and he was relaxed enough to sleep. I mean, don’t forget that Jonah had been a prophet in the court of a wicked king. He never knew how his message would be received. The king could either say, "Hey, that really blessed my heart or I’ve heard enough of that trash take off his head." So, as he was on board ship and he didn’t need to worry about the king or the ministry.
He was sound asleep and you almost have to wonder what he was dreaming about. Everyone has dreams whether they remember them or not. Sometimes we dream about the past or parts of our past are incorporated into them and at other times our dreams are about the future or the way we wish things were. Maybe he was dreaming about the way he felt things should have been. How people should have responded to his preaching and his ministry and how he should have had the kind of respect Moses enjoyed. Two million people followed Moses and when they whined or rebelled too much God killed them. If that’s the way things were he would still be in Israel.
Or maybe he was dreaming about life in Tarshish and how things were going to be. He might open a little shop or maybe he was use his skills as a public speaker to get a job as a teacher. He wouldn’t have to worry serving God or setting a good example for the people. He would just be on his own and now he was going to have the kind of life he wanted to have.
Many people have the same dream in the sense that they think there will come a time when all the pressures of life will subside and they’ll be able to relax and take life easy. No stress, no pressure and no responsibility. There is a place like that. Its called the Sackville Cemetery. As long as we are alive there will be stress and pressure of some kind or another. As Job said, "Man is born unto trouble, just as sure as the sparks fly upward." Just as its natural for sparks or hot air to rise trouble is part and parcel of life. We are sinners living in a sinful world and that’s the way it will be until the day the Lord takes us to where there will be no more tears, no more death, no sorrow, no crying and no pain.
I really think he was asleep because he chose to be. He just intentionally blocked everything that bothered him including the noise of the storm and the motion of the ship as well as to the needs of those around him. He was asleep in more ways than one.
I remember when I was in the food business I worked with a man from Holland and he told me all about what it was like to live there during the war. He said he lived a few miles away from one of the concentration camps where as he said the jews were supposedly burned. He said that in spite of visiting the crematorium and hearing all the stories he felt the whole thing was a hoax put forth by the Zionist movement to arouse international sympathy for the jews. And there was no way you could convince him otherwise.
Not long ago Lorne and I were having coffee with the man who tunes our pipe organ. He was also in Holland during the war. He said they could tell by the number of gunshots they heard how many jews were killed each night. He said the smoke and smell of the crematorium was so obvious that only those who didn’t want to believe what was happening could deny the things that were taking place.
Why do we have two different opinions of the same event. Something happened but the interpretations vary. The fact is, many people see what they want to see or what they don’t want to see as the case may be. A holocaust was taking place next door and one man chose to sleep through it and deny that it ever happened when it was over.
Jonah was totally oblivious to the needs of those around him. A lot of people think that those with a guilty conscience don’t sleep well at night. Jonah shows us that this just isn’t true. He was guilty but he could sleep even when no one else could. But he was about to learn the hard way running away from God is not an easy thing to do.
II The shipmaster came to him with a question.
Verse 6 says, "So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not."
a) The shipmaster was puzzled by Jonah’s ability to sleep when everyone else was afraid they were going to die. What he’s saying is, wake up, we’re facing death and we’re doing everything we can just to keep this ship afloat and you’re sleeping. Are we missing something here? Why aren’t you praying to your God? Why aren’t you concerned about the situation? Do you know something we don’t know? And from the text it seems as though he doesn’t answer him at the time. Then we are told that the sailors decide to try and find out why this storm is happening to them.
They sit down and cast lots. Its kind of like a raffle. You put every man’s name in the hat and pick one. Whosoever name comes out he’s the one the gods are mad at. Jonah’s name came up. Even though we have the jest of what’s happening here its obvious from verse 10 that he told them a few other things that aren’t included in the dialogue. He told them who he was and where he came from and that he feared the creator of the heavens and the earth. It may not seem like much to us but what he was telling them was that he didn’t worship some plastic gods on the dashboard of his boat but he believed in and had served the very God of Gods.
Their response is incredible considering that these men were pagans. Look again at verse 10, "Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them." When they were in the storm they were afraid. When they heard of God they were terrified. Even with their limited understanding of God they knew from what Jonah had said that there was no getting away from God and it was obvious to them that God had followed him out there. Jonah’s most embarrassing question must have been. "If your God is so great, why don’t you serve Him? Has God been unfair? Is He unworthy of your service? Who is in control, you or God? If this God loves you, why would you run away from Him?
III The question is, what do we do now?
a) "Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous." They realized that God must be appeased if they were going to survive this storm. And he said the answer to that is simple. Verse 12 "And he said unto them, take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." Here was Jonah’s answer. You throw me overboard. Help me commit suicide and everything will be alright.
The sailors weren’t buying this. If God followed the prophet out to sea and they throw him overboard what is God going to do to them? Verse 13 says, "Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them." Rather than listen to Jonah they used all their fleshly abilities but it was useless. They realized they were struggling against the power of God Himself and decided they had better do the very thing Jonah suggested. They said a prayer and threw him in. And immediately they found out they had done the very thing God wanted them to do.
Think of the message these men received from God that day. God all-powerful demands obedience. To disobey God is to invite His hand of judgement. And we are told these men were converted. It says in verse 16, "Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows." They made personal commitments to live for and serve the God of heaven.
Such a near death experience moved Jonah the sailors to repent of their sin.
I think funerals have that affect on some people. They face their mortality, it shakes them up and they soon go on their way as though nothing happened.
Over in Matthew 13 we have the parable of the dragnet. Matthew 13:47-50, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
The net is the large dragnet. And I think it represents life. Each of us is constantly faces little reminders that life is short and how we need to get things right with God. A parent dies, a friend has a heart attack, the condition of the world, the instability of our economy, aches and pains that seem to be increasing as we get older. All these things are sending us the very message that we do everything we can to block out of our minds. Life is short and we are accountable. Every time one of these things happens we are like the fish in the net. We bump the net and move away as quickly as possible. The problem is, there’s coming a time when our net gets pulled to shore and we are sorted out. Conclusion
Why did Jonah leave the presence of God? He left because his heart was cold. He had a bad attitude and he felt uncomfortable in God’s presence. Some Christians never spend time with God for the same reason. They’re living in sin and rather than receiving comfort from Him they only sense His conviction. God loves us too much to allow us to destroy our lives and our testimonies.
There are also people who stay away from the church for the same reason. They’re cold towards not just God but even the people of God. Its hard to be comfortable having fellowship with those you gossip about.
One man’s testimony certainly has an affects others. Jonah simply told them a little about the God he served and his testimony compounded with the hand of God on their lives resulted in their eternal salvation.
Let me leave you with a couple of simple lessons.
The first thing I see here is how Jonah’s disobedience brings a storm from the hand of God. This tells us that God loved him too much to allow to allow him to go his own way and do his own thing. And God feels the same about us. He created us to serve Him and we will never know contentment in life until we are doing the will of God.
The second thing I see is how the sailor’s attempted to do everything in their power to fight the storm but their efforts were useless. They had to learn like we do that nothing but complete obedience to the will of God is sufficient.
God not only deserves our obedience He demands it. He never reveals His will so we can vote on it. He reveals His will to us so we can do it.
His will is simple. First we need to be saved. Not by our own efforts but by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross. Our attempting to save ourselves is as useless as the sailors rowing against the storm.
And after we are saved we need to serve Him. As Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us, "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." We are saved to serve. Let me ask you two questions this morning. Number one: Are you saved? And number two: What are you doing about it?
