As we begin looking toward our mission conference in a couple of months, I want to share some thoughts with you from the book of Jonah – a prophet who ran from God to avoid carrying a divine warning to the people of Nineveh.
Jonah undoubtedly feared the bloodthirsty Ninevites, but in Jonah 4:2 he plainly tells God that he didn’t want to go because he didn’t want them to repent and find mercy – he wanted God to zap them and eliminate Israel’s enemies.
So he boarded a ship and fled in the opposite direction. But he didn’t get far before God sent a storm to intercept him.
We left off last week with Jonah sleeping through the storm when the shipmaster found him, woke him up, and called on him to pray for God to rescue them. It’s a sad thing when a servant of God is rebuked by pagans. Jonah should have been the one calling on them to pray, not the other way around.
So Jonah joins the Ecumenical prayer meeting up on deck. And you know, the first right thing that any disobedient person ever does is pray. Now let’s pick up the story today in verses 7-17.
7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
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.
11 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.
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.
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
14 Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased
from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Heavenly Father, we know that all of Your children are called to be pictures of Your Son, seen and read by a watching world. And, like Jonah, we’re too often “underexposed” images of Him.
But the heart’s desire of us all is that the world may see Him in us – and come to know Him through us. We pray that today you will use Your word to give us a perfect vision of Christ – even through the imperfect witness of a backslidden prophet.
And we ask You to work through us, despite our imperfections, to be reflections of Your perfect glory – in Jesus’ name, Amen!
After Jonah joins the prayer meeting, the mariners appear to sense there’s something “freaky” about this storm. They’re spooked by it – how sudden it was – how fierce – how obviously targeted at them. Something seems supernatural about it – like a judgment from God upon someone among them. So, in verse 7 they try to figure out who has hexed their journey:
And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
Do you think Jonah was surprised when the lot revealed that he was the culprit? I think he’d have been surprised if it hadn’t!
To cast lots, each man puts some personal token into a clay jar. It could be anything – a coin, a cheap jewel or even a stone with the man’s mark on it. Then the jar would be shaken until a token fell out, and whoever it belonged to was “it”.
Throughout the Old Testament, the practice of casting lots was used for such things as identifying the sinner Achan or the transgressor Jonathan.
In Leviticus 16:8, God Himself instructed Aaron to cast lots to determine which scapegoat to release into the wilderness.
Joshua cast lots before the LORD to assign the portions of the Promised Land to their respective tribes, and so forth.
Casting lots was a common Old Testament way of finding God’s will. Prov. 16:33 says, The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof if of the Lord.
Which raises a question – why don’t Christians cast lots to find His will today?
Well, the answer is pretty simple, really. The last time that lots were cast in the Bible was in Acts chapter one when the disciples cast lots to select Matthias as the replacement for Judas among the apostles.
Do you remember what happened in the very next chapter, Acts 2? The Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost and began indwelling every believer from that day until this. Now that God’s people have His Spirit living inside them, we get our direction from Him rather than from casting lots.
But back in Jonah 1:7, God disposes the lots so that His wayward prophet is revealed as the culprit behind their troubles.
8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
Now that the lot has singled him out, the sailors address him as he for whose cause this evil is upon us – in the same way that Achan was ever afterward known as the troubler of Israel. And then they begin peppering him with questions in their desperation to discover what their lives are all in danger about.
What is thine occupation? They may be wondering if he’s involved in some sort of illicit trade, some immoral business that would explain why God would be threatening to destroy them all. But no, he’s actually a prophet of God, and strangely, that may have disturbed them even more!
Whence comest thou? Specifically, where were you and what were you doing before you got on this boat? What were the circumstances that led up to everything that’s happening right now? In a moment we’ll see that he tells them he’s fleeing from his God, and this question is most likely the one that pulled that answer out of him.
What is thy country? And of what people art thou? And now verse 9 shows us his answers to these questions:
And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
Now everybody in that ancient world knew about the God of Israel. They had all heard the stories about the exodus and the conquest of Canaan. No doubt, they got plenty of the details as wrong as Hollywood does whenever it tries to tell a Bible story, but the basic gist of what Israel’s God had done was frightening enough. And here was this prophet of the God of heaven who had also made the sea and the land trying to run from Him – no wonder verse 10 says:
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.
It says that when they heard Jonah’s answer, they were exceedingly afraid.
Now they had already been in terror for their lives because of the overwhelming storm, so one may wonder how much more afraid could a person get? What could be greater than fear for one’s own life? The answer – fear for one’s afterlife!
Those who know God through Christ have no fear of what lies beyond the grave, but these mariners are worshippers of idols that can give no confidence for a life beyond. Jonah has just told them that he’s running from the God of earth and air and sea, and when their thoughts turn toward the almighty Creator, their dread of the storm is nothing compared to their dread of the One Who sent the storm. They’ve moved from fear of the creation to fear of the Creator – and that is always a first step toward repentance leading to salvation. Proverbs 9:10 says the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and these idolaters are beginning to wise up.
You know, if a prophet like Jonah could give a mere confession of his disobedience and get a response like this from such sinners, imagine what kind of response he could get if he went in obedience and delivered God’s message of doom to the people of Nineveh! It kind of looks like God’s beginning to show him something, doesn’t it?
They said, Why hast thou done this? For they knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD. They were appalled that, knowing God and even receiving revelations from Him, a servant of His would try to flee from Him – and flee to their very boat, putting them all in danger of the backslider’s curse.
You know, any time the world sees a follower of God doing wrong, they’re always quick to say something like, Why hast thou done this? The world is really good about holding believers to a higher standard. And you know what? They should be!
In fact, we tacitly invite them to when we say that Christ has made a difference in our lives. That’s an invitation for them to inspect our lives and see for themselves if there’s not a difference in us after all. Our lives are supposed to be a testimony of the difference Christ can make in anyone’s life, and when our lives aren’t, the world is quick to catch it.
All Christians are pictures of Christ – that’s why we’re called Christians. The only question is what kind of picture will we be – a stubborn or a submissive one?
One Christian can do more damage to the cause of Christ than many sinners!
11 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.
The mariners seem willing to work with Jonah – it is not their idea to toss him overboard. Instead, they defer to his advice. After all, he is the prophet of this God Who threatens them – who better than Jonah himself to tell them how to appease Him? The last thing they wanted to do was make a mistake now!
Especially since the sea wrought and was tempestuous – the phrase means that the tempest was constantly growing. Like a living thing with malice focused wholly on their little vessel – even though Jonah had confessed his sin, there was clearly something more this offended God of his demanded. And so they look to the one who put them into this danger to tell them how to get out.
In verse 12, the fugitive prophet finally says out loud what they’re all probably thinking, but none want to actually do:
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.
Some rabbinic commentators have accused Jonah of preferring to die rather than preach to the city of Nineveh. But that would suggest no real repentance on his part – mere sorrow for having been caught. Everything he says in this verse smacks of repentance. And notice a key phrase in this verse: for I know. As a repentant prophet, he has divine knowledge of what God wants done here – otherwise he could not have foretold in his own wisdom that the sea would be calm unto them.
True repentance is always willing to do whatever it can to right the wrong regardless of the cost to self. Repentance doesn’t make excuses, and you’ll notice that Jonah nowhere tries to defend himself before these men he has endangered. Instead, he focuses on trying to remedy the harm he’s caused – do this, and the sea will be calm.
True repentance tries to make amends: cast me forth into the sea. It is willing to pay whatever debt it can. It is more grieved by its sin than by its suffering.
If any will sue thee at the law and take away thy cloak, let him have thy coat also. Jonah is willing to sacrifice his very life to rescue these mariners.
True repentance takes responsibility for wrong. Jonah doesn’t try to shift the blame, but says very plainly, I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
He also shows regret – true repentance always feels sorrow for harming others.
In Matthew 12:39-40, we learn that what Jonah does here is actually a sign, or a picture, of what Jesus will one day do. Right here is where he begins acting out his great prophecy of the resurrection. 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. We’ll have more to say about that later on, but right here you can already see in Jonah’s willingness to offer himself for the deliverance of others a parallel with how Christ gave Himself to save the world.
Notice one other thing – Jonah does not commit suicide by leaping overboard himself, even when the mariners show reluctance in the next verse to execute him. Instead, he offers himself as a sacrifice which they must give.
And similarly, Jesus offered Himself for the sins of the world, but not as a suicide. Throughout the Old Testament, anyone offering a sacrifice to God would always place his hands on the substitute dying in his place – transferring his sins, as it were, onto the innocent one. Likewise, God orchestrated events so that both Jews and Gentiles would have a hand in the Messiah’s death. Even though Pilate tried to wash his hands of the matter, God forced the Gentile cooperation, for Jesus would not die for the Jews alone, but for the sins of all mankind. And as all had a hand in His death, all may have a hand in His resurrection. Your sins and mine put Jesus on the cross as much as did Pilate’s and Caiaphas’. He died for ours as much as theirs.
But theirs were hands of rejection, of hatred and murder, of smiting and thorns, of whipping and nails. You can reach out with the hands of faith, lay them upon the sacrificial Lamb of God, and, like the woman who touched the hem of His garment, be made immediately whole and holy within.
But the terrified mariners are still reluctant to kill a prophet of God, even for their own lives. 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.
As Pilate who made every effort to spare Jesus, so these Gentiles spare no effort to save Jonah. But the storm of emotions from a bloodthirsty mob forced Pilate to sacrifice the Christ to deliver mankind, and the raging sea once again wrought and was tempestuous, forcing the sailors to offer Jonah for their deliverance.
The words rowed hard literally mean (and are translated elsewhere as) “dug hard”. Like men with shovels digging into the earth, these sailors were shoveling water with their oars as furiously as they could, but to no avail. Exhausted at last, they had to concede, and verse 14 says:
Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
Thou, O LORD, hast done as it hath pleased thee – God was clearly in the miraculous gale that blocked their every attempt to avoid what’s now inevitable. He was clearly in the casting of the lot that revealed the man who admitted being responsible. And now it seems He’s also in the prophet’s word to cast him overboard.
And so, for the first time in their lives, they pray to the only God Who could ever save anyone. And as they commit Jonah to the deep, they appeal for mercy avowing that it was not their will to do this, but they are only acting upon what providence and prophecy have demonstrated to be the will of God.
Back in verse 5, they cried every man unto his own god. By verse 10, they learned to fear the one true God, and now they’re crying out to Him in prayer.
God first gained their attention by His wrath displayed in creation – the primary witness of God to the Gentiles. Romans 1:18 says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and these sailors are certainly seeing it revealed against Jonah!
And then Romans 1:20 says, the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead, so that they are without excuse. And these men are now trembling in terror at the power of such a God.
But though His wrath is revealed through creation, His righteousness is only revealed to a fallen world through His word. So Romans 1:16-17 says it’s through the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed... as it is written, The just shall live by faith. And now these sailors move forward, putting their faith in the word of the LORD that Jonah gave them in verse 12 – and they acknowledge, thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. These men are not far from the kingdom of God!
Throughout this book we’ll see an ironic contrast between the willingness of the heathen to heed God’s word and the unwillingness of His own people to obey Him.
They plead with God, we beseech thee... we beseech thee, as though repeatedly begging for their lives, to let us not perish for this man’s life. All men everywhere intuitively understand the law of retaliation – it’s written in their consciences.
They say, lay not upon us innocent blood – another parallel between Jonah and Christ. But this parallel is a contrast. First, because the Jews infamously said, His blood be on us and on our children! And second – back in verse 10 when Jonah told these mariners what he had done, they had cried, Why hast thou done this? They were well aware that this prophet was not innocent, that he was running from the will of God, and that the danger they all now faced was entirely his doing.
But though he had cost them the wares they cast out of the ship in verse 5 and has put all their lives in danger, he had never intentionally done to any of them what they must now do to him.
Now, as they see the determined wrath of God against a single misdeed of one of His own prophets, they consider the rebellion that has characterized their entire lives. They certainly aren’t holy prophets of God! They certainly aren’t a part of His Chosen People, Israel! If this is a display of his wrath against Jonah, what must His judgment looming against them be like, in comparison of whom the prophet is innocent blood.
They feel the reality of what the apostle would one day describe in I Peter 4:17-18, judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
They took up Jonah, lifted him up to deliver him to death. And Jesus said in John 12:32, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. And no sooner do these men pre-enact that drama than the very next verse shows them fully drawn to Jonah’s God.
And just as the prophet foretold, the sea ceased from her raging. Ordinarily, although the wind might suddenly cease, it would take a while for the roiling waters to settle down. But everything about this storm has been supernatural, and the sailors know there is no earthly explanation. The calm that now settles assures them that they have indeed done as it pleased the LORD.
And you know, a sinner’s life is characterized by storm. Isaiah 57:20 says, the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. And the very next verse says, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
These sailors were praying hard a couple of verses ago, and they were praying to the right God at last. But none of those prayers made the storm go away. It wasn’t until they cast the sin out of the boat that the sea became calm.
And in our lives, if there is to be peace, prayer is a fine place to start, but unless it leads to repentance from sin within, peace will remain just outside of our reach.
16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
You know, there’s a thing about God that a lot of people don’t get – God is dangerous! That may sound odd, but C. S. Lewis put it this way – “He is not a tame Lion!” Hebrews 12:29 puts it this way: Our God is a consuming fire. God, the Creator, is dangerous in the same way that the nature He created is dangerous. Fire is dangerous, gravity is dangerous at the edge of a cliff, wind and water are dangerous, electricity is dangerous – the forces of nature are generally dangerous. If you have a healthy fear of them, and interact with them on their terms, they can be a great blessing in countless ways. But if you become careless and forget the nature of what you are dealing with, they can destroy you in an instant.
Now, of course, the forces of nature do not possess a personality as God does. They cannot think and choose and feel – they cannot show mercy or give second chances. So obviously there is an infinite difference between the Creator and the creation. But we must never presume upon the mercy of God. Those who approach the infinitely holy God on His terms find unspeakable blessings, but those who try to approach Him on their own terms face eternal damnation.
These sailors have just gotten an up-close glimpse of the kind of power this God wields, and for the second time in seven verses, they are exceedingly afraid. Wisdom begins with having a respectful fear and awe of God.
And they intuitively responded to Him on the only terms they could have – they offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, an innocent substitute to bear God’s holy wrath in their place so they could live. This sacrifice had to have been whatever was handy on board – probably some livestock for the long journey to Tarshish. It probably did not fully represent the depth of devotion they felt in that moment, so they also made vows which they’d fulfill when they reached land or home. They probably also made vows about how they’d serve him with their lives in gratitude for His deliverance. That’s what people who respond to God’s mercy typically do.
The LORD here is in all caps, meaning Jehovah, the God of Israel. So Jonah’s ministry among the Gentiles has already begun bearing fruit before he ever comes near the mission field God has called him to. These relieved and worshipping sailors are his first converts. All the prophet ever had to do was repent of his self-will and rebellion, and God instantly began using him to draw sinners into the kingdom.
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
This verse has been the greatly criticized in recent generations as skeptics have pointed it out as an impossibility which must disprove the reliability of the Bible as a whole. Since this claim, that a man lived inside a fish for three days and nights, is too hard for any rational person to believe, they say, it casts a shadow of doubt over all of the claims throughout the Bible.
But I’ve often said that there’s really only one hard verse in the Bible to believe – Genesis 1:1. If you believe in a God Who created all the universe by the word of His mouth in just six short days, then what’s a ride in a fish’s belly to Him? What’s walking on water, or parting the sea, or making the sun stand still to a God with the power and wisdom to create it all? Whether we can explain how God accomplished this is irrelevant, since God knows a thousand ways to do things that men think are impossible – and He doesn’t even have to think hard about it!
You know something even harder than Jonah coming alive out of a fish’s belly after three days? Jesus coming alive out of the grave! But He did, as proven by hundreds of eyewitnesses at the time, as proven by the empty tomb and the changed lives of the biggest skeptics of all – His own followers. As proven by His continued working in the countless lives of His followers down through the centuries.
And you know what’s even more amazing than the Son of God returning from the grave? Sinners like you and me doing so! Yet that is exactly what He promises to all who repent and believe the gospel!
Have you trusted His death, burial and resurrection for your sins to raise you up?
And if you have, what kind of picture are you being of Christ to those around you?
Are you experiencing the peace that Christ offers those who walk in His ways?
Has God’s mercy motivated you to serve God with your life?
Are you letting God work through your life and lips to draw sinners to Him?
