Today we continue a four part series entitled Jonah: The Stubborn Evangelist. Many of you know the story of Jonah, a man on the run from God. Many of us know this as an amusing story about a prophet and a “whale.” Yet, Jonah is also a man on the run from his responsibility – to share the message of God’s mercy to others. And this is what Jonah is really about – first experiencing God’s mercy and then extending God’s mercy. And it’s just this reason why Jonah shows his stubbornness. For he hates his enemies and does not want to show God’s mercy to them.
God had commanded Jonah to speak His message to Nineveh, a city that is on the edge of Mosul, Iraq today. At the very mention of the city of Nineveh, Jonah revolts from God and runs from God. Jonah’s association with this area remains well-known as there is an old Muslim mosque and cemetery on the site called the Tomb of Jonah. And all throughout this short story is one where Jonah is in flight; it’s also one where God is in pursuit. And in the end, it’s God’s pursuit that eventually extinguishes Jonah’s rebellion.
Jonah’s life is really one of a boomerang for he ends up in the very place that ran from in the beginning. For four chapters we witness Jonah’s futile flight as well as God’s persistent pursuit. Today we see the story from the bottom of the Mediterranean Ocean where Jonah has been swallowed by a fish. And it is from the vantage point of a seabed that God captures both Jonah and his attention.
Today’s Scripture
Let’s listen to his prayer together:
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. 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).
Jonah is a book of “shocking surprises and sensational elements.” Of all the places to pray, perhaps the most unusual place is to pray from inside the intestines of a big fish. A pagan ship captain had exhorted him to pray while he was asleep at the bottom of the ship where he refused (Jonah 1:6). It was not until he was literally in the belly of a giant fish at the bottom of the ocean that he finally prayed.
The Story of Jonah: Catching Up with Last Week
The story begins by the word of the Lord coming to Jonah where God says, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). Most of you remember the general outline of what happened. Jonah did not go east to Nineveh on the Tigris River. He got on a boat in Joppa bound for Tarshish (probably in Spain) – the opposite direction. God hurls a storm against the ship. When the prayers of the crew prove useless, they awaken Jonah and tell him to pray. Then they cast lots to see whose guilt brought the storm, and the lot fell to Jonah. When they asked who he was, he said, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” (Jonah 1:9). When the crew asked what might still the storm, Jonah said, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you…” (Jonah 1:12). The crew threw him overboard, and the storm ceased. And Jonah sinks in the water to be swallowed by a big fish. God sends a big fish not to punish Jonah but to turn him around.
Did a Big Fish Swallow Jonah Really?
There are at least three reasons why I believe the story of Jonah is real and not simply a parable.
1. Jonah was a Historical Figure
On Screen: “He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher” (2 Kings 14:25). The Bible purports Jonah to be a real person of history. It even tells us the name of his hometown, “Gath-hepher.” As funny as this name sounds, we discover that it is only five miles northeast of Nazareth.
Jonah preached God’s Word to the King of Israel in the late 700s before Christ. He predicts that the borders of Israel will extend back to their furthest points in Israel’s history as they did when Solomon was king. Jonah’s prophecy comes true as we discover in 2 Kings 14:24-27. If the book of Jonah were to tell a parable, why use a real person of history to do so? There are too many details in this story as it is set in the backdrop of real cities and real people to be a myth.
2. I Believe in Miracles
I do not believe in a closed universe where everything must happen only by means of a naturalistic causation. Instead, I think miracles are possible. So many people prejudge this book by thinking miracles are not possible. If you think miracles are not possible, then you’ll not find the story Jonah plausible.
3. Jesus Believed Jonah
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). For those of us who trust Jesus, His opinion on the truthfulness of Jonah matters. Since he believed a fish swallowed Jonah, this leads me to give the story even more credibility. Yet, so many people focus on the fish to exclusion of God. The fish’s purpose is nothing more than a vehicle to return Jonah to the place of his responsibility. The fish is the vehicle to position Jonah exactly where God wants him in order to first experience God’s mercy and then extending God’s mercy.
Finding Mercy in Misery
There are three elements to Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the great fish that I want you to see.
1. Realize You’re in Danger
Jonah was a selfish man. He wants the blessing of God’s mercy and kindness but he does not want to extend this mercy and kindness to others. He wants to experience God’s mercy but not extend God’s mercy. An old African American Gospel songs about Jonah says:
Jonah was a fool And as stubborn as a mule.
Try running from God, and there’s no telling where you’ll end up. For Jonah the situation he had gotten himself into was dangerous. Jonah goes down to Joppa (Jonah 1:3), he goes down to below the deck of the ship (Jonah 1:5), and he goes down into the depths of the sea (Jonah 2:6). Jonah just keeps going down.
Now in the stomach of a giant fish, Jonah was experiencing the lowest of lows. Jonah had run from God’s presence where he thought he would find enduring peace. Yet, when God has abandoned him, he didn’t like it at all. In the water, he learned what hell was like – to be totally abandoned by God’s grace. When you read his prayer, you’ll note five times we hear the extreme anguish Jonah is in.
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress… out of the belly of Sheol I cried…” (Jonah 2:2a,c)
Sheol is the place of the dead. This gives a good sense of the danger Jonah is in. Jonah is honest with God about the danger he is in.
“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…” (Jonah 2:3-4a).
Or again just a few verses later: “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” (Jonah 2:5-6).
2. Remember God’s Deliverance
Jonah is in a bad way. And when you are sinking to the depths of sea, the answer is not to try harder.
James Cameron folded his 6 foot 2 inch frame into a 43-inch-wide capsule in order to plummet to the deepest parts of the ocean’s depths. In the Western Pacific lies the Challenger Deep, an alien world of bizarre eels and fish. At the bottom of the world’s deepest trench is where James Cameron, producer of the blockbuster Titanic, wants to go. And once there, he was nearly seven miles deep in ocean water. If Mount Everest were dropped into the Challenger Deep Trench, its peak would still be more than a mile underwater.
Jonah also knows about the ocean’s deep waters. But he didn’t go intentionally. And what he finds at the bottom of the ocean is not just for those who read National Geographic but for all of us. God has a massive mercy. Jonah thought that running from God would make him free. Instead it made him a slave.
God could have just as easily raised up someone else to extend the mercy Jonah has refused to do. It’s not like the Lord’s hands were tied after sending the storm he kept His fingers crossed, hoping his pouting prophet would at last respond. Jonah’s prayer has a rhythm to it as would the surf of the ocean. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. Jonah is in danger and God delivers. And again, Jonah is in danger and God delivers.
As he languishes in continual torment, God hears his prayer: “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” (Jonah 2:2).
When Jonah is enshrouded with seaweed and deprived of light and air, he nevertheless experiences God’s deliverance. God hears you even in the most dangerous places. Even though Jonah knew that he was guilty, even though he knew he deserved death, and yes, even though he had surrendered his life to the justice of God.
Yet in the moment when death was imminent, Jonah remembered that the God whom he had served so imperfectly was still “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2). And he cried out to the Lord for mercy. And then the Lord appointed a great fish for Jonah’s rescue. God’s has grace to people who sin against Him.
The first element of Jonah’s prayer was to Realize When You’re in Danger. The second, Remember God’s Deliverance… The third element I want you to see that is missing from Jonah’s prayer is this…
3. Repent When You’re Wrong
There is element missing from Jonah’s prayer. Not one time in all of these verses does Jonah stop and say, “Lord, I was wrong.” Nowhere does Jonah confess his sin. There is no acknowledgment of his stupidity. Jonah attempts to evade God’s demands all the while presuming on God to answer his prayers. My desire is to stir inside you a strong motivation to extend God’s mercy and kindness to others. In essence, don’t be like Jonah. Make me a captive Lord, and then I will be free. Remember what Jonah is really about – first experiencing God’s mercy and then extending God’s mercy.
