This week we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the
Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Jonah. Jonah, the man,
lived around 760 years before Jesus came to earth. In addition to the book of
Jonah, Jonah is also mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 and was a member of the nation
of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II. And as such, Jonah was a
prophet of the Northern Kingdom. As a prophet, Jonah was God’s spokesperson who
was used by God to see and to proclaim His message to His people.
Jonah received a message and command from God to go do his
job as a prophet, but instead of responding to God’s command with obedience, he
choose to head for Tarshish. In essence, Jonah basically said “Where is the
farthest place that I can go to get away from God”. AHA!! Tarshish, I’ll head
there.” Jonah buys his ticket for a cruise from God and heads aboard. And it is
at this point that God begins to teach Jonah a lesson about His character and
calling. If you have been around church for any length of time, you probably know
the story. Let’s look at the story
together, beginning in Jonah 1:4-16:
The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a
great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors
became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which
was in the ship into the sea to lighten it
for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down
and fallen sound asleep. So the captain approached him and said, "How is
it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us
so that we will not perish." Each man said to his mate, "Come, let us
cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us." So they cast
lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, "Tell us, now! On
whose account has this calamity
struck us? What is your
occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people
are you?" He said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of
heaven who made the sea and the dry land." Then the men became extremely
frightened and they said to him, "How could you do this?" For the men
knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told
them. So they said to him, "What should we do to you that the sea may
become calm for us?"-- for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. He
said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will
become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you." However, the
men rowed desperately to return
to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. Then they called on the LORD and
said, "We earnestly pray, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this
man's life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O LORD, have done as
You have pleased." So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and
the sea stopped its raging. Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they
offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows
The Lord responded to Jonah’s plan to run from God
by bringing a great storm that started to destroy the ship. The sailors, who
were most likely skilled Phoenician’s and had made this journey many times
before, responded by throwing all the cargo overboard in an effort to save the
ship. The fury of the storm is revealed by the fear that overtook the sailors,
who then began calling out to their God’s which were of the rain, thunder, and
sea. In total desperation, the sailors finally woke Jonah up.
Upon being questioned by the sailors, Jonah informed
them that he was a Hebrew and worshiped the God of heaven, the maker of the sea
and land. When the sailors ask Jonah what they should do, he replied “throw me
overboard”. After trying to save the ship by rowing back to land, they realize
that the storm is only getting worse.
Reluctantly, the sailors threw Jonah overboard,
which calmed the sea. As the storm miraculously disappeared, the sailors
responded to the sudden stoppage of the devastating storm by recognizing and
worshipping the Lord as the one true God. In the meantime, we see what happened
to Jonah in verse 17:
And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and
Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
It is at this point that
many question the validity of this letter. After all, is there a fish large
enough to swallow a man whole and even if there was one; could someone survive
72 hours in a fish? Unfortunately, many people view Jonah as simply
another fish story- a fable, a campfire story that is fiction and has no real
practical meaning apart from a great Sunday school story.
The question of the reality of the events of the Book of
Jonah is an important question, because if the story is fiction, then the
message of the letter can be ignored or dismissed. So, is Jonah reality or
fantasy?
Well, for people living in the time that the Bible was being
written, Jonah was viewed as objective history. The Jewish scholars of the day
viewed the story as factual. Jesus Himself spoke of the events of Jonah as
historical fact in two passages in the gospels, which we will look at a little
later. Even members of the early church who liked to view Scripture with
symbolic rather than literal meaning viewed the book of Jonah as objective
history. The fact that the events of Jonah are factual is important, because
this forces us to take the message of the book seriously.
Now to answer the second
question first, 3 days and 3 nights does not require 72 hours, but only one 24
hour day and parts of two other days. This was the common meaning of this
phrase in the Jewish culture of the day, and Jesus Himself used this phrase
when referring to His own death and resurrection.
In terms of what kind of
fish swallowed Jonah, the short answer is that we do not know. The word for
fish here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, was used
to refer to any sea creature. In addition, the word appointed, in the language
that this letter was originally written in, conveys the sense of a supernatural
provision of something. So God supernaturally provided a fish capable of
swallowing Jonah.
Now her is something to
consider: is that really so hard to believe? Is it so hard to believe that the Being
who created the universe and everything in it could not create a fish to
swallow Jonah? Now, you might be thinking “I know this story. I know what it is
about”.
If I have just described
the thoughts that are running through your mind, I have a question for you to
consider. And that question is this: is Jonah just about a fish eating a man? We
find the answer to this question in the verses that follow, beginning in Jonah
2:1-10:
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of
the fish, and he said, "I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He
answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.
"For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the
current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. "So I
said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again
toward Your holy temple.' "Water
encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were
wrapped around my head. "I descended to the roots of the mountains. The
earth with its bars was around
me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
"While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to
You, Into Your holy temple. "Those who regard vain idols Forsake their
faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That
which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD." Then the LORD
commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.
As we look
at Jonah’s prayer, do you see anything missing from it? Do you find it interesting
that at no time in his prayer does Jonah ask God for forgiveness? At no time
does he admit his disobedient selfishness and rebellion. Though he vows to keep
his promise to God and obey his call to do His will, it is only out of the fact
that God is that one holding all the cards, so to speak.
God is the one who rescued him from the sea by His
power and it is God who holds Jonah in His all-powerful hand. As Jonah agrees to
be obedient to the Lord, he is vomited
out of the fish onto dry land. That must have been pleasant. If you have ever
been on the receiving end of projectile vomit, you know of what I speak. God,
having deposited Jonah on land, repeated His command and received a different
response, as we see in chapter 3:1-4:
Now the word of the LORD
came to Jonah the second
time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and
proclaim to
it the proclamation which I am going to tell
you."
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to
the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly
great
city, a three days' walk. Then Jonah began to go
through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said,
"Yet forty days and Nineveh will
be overthrown."
Now the reason that the visit required three days
because the circumference of Ninevah and its suburbs, so to speak, was 60
miles. Most scholars believe that the population of Ninevah was approximately
600,000 people. Now imagine being a resident of the city of Ninevah. Here comes
this Jewish man who has seaweed all over him, who smells like fish, whose skin
is all jacke dup as a result of being in the stomach of a fish. And this Jewish
man then begins to proclaim “40 days and your city will be destroyed.” You are a
resident of Ninevah. How would you respond? We see how the residents of Ninevah
responded to Jonah and his message in verse 5-10:
Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they
called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When
the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his
robe from him, covered himself with
sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, "In
Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd,
or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. "But both man
and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly
that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his
hands. "Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger
so that we will not perish." When God saw their deeds, that they turned
from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had
declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
The
Ninevites, upon hearing the message of condemnation from Jonah the prophet,
recognized their wickedness and repented. But why put on sackcloth and ashes?
Sackcloth was a coarse dark cloth that was extremely uncomfortable to
wear. Wearing this material was used as a sign of sorrow and repentance. The
act of sitting in ashes was a sign of utter helplessness and despair. Now here
is a question to consider: how many of us, when confronted with our selfishness
and rebellion, our sin, would display that type of sorrow, repentance,
helplessness and despair?
When
we are told that the Ninevites repented, this word means more than simply
feeling sorry for something you did; to repent means that you feel sorry for
what you did and the sorrow that you feel drives you to change something in
your life. Now can you imagine what it looked like to see entire nation respond
in such a matter to the revelation of selfishness and rebellion in their midst.
God,
upon seeing their repentance, responded by having compassion upon them and
removed His wrath from them. Now a natural question that arises here is “well
Dave, while God removed His wrath, does that mean that we will see the
Ninevites in Heaven?” We find the answer to this question from Jesus Himself as
he talked about this group in Matthew 12:41:
"The men of Nineveh will stand up with this
generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the
preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Maybe you are struggling with whether or not God
will truly forgive you of your selfishness and rebellion. As the people of
Ninevah found out, the God of the universe meets those who repent, who turn
from selfishness and rebellion with a desire to trust and follow Him, with open
arms.
Now, as a prophet of God, you would think that
Jonah would have been totally fired up about seeing an entire nation come to
repentance. Jonah was fired up alright, but not in the same way as I mean,
which we will see on Friday…
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