The Deliverance of God

Jonah 2:1-10

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. Jonah’s Demise (2:1-6)

b. Jonah’s Deliverance (2:7-10)

a. Jonah’s Demise (2:1-6)

i. Jonah opens up chapter 2 by praying from the stomach of the fish. Up to this point, Jonah was not willing to do what God had asked of him. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, to preach and instead he went the opposite direction. Even through the storm, God spoke to Jonah through others and was told to pray, and still, Jonah refrained from praying.

ii. Finally, here in Chapter 2, after Jonah realizes the dire situation he was in, Jonah prays to God. This is the significance of these verses. It shows a turn in Jonah. Jonah is now praying to God on his own volition.

iii. Verse 2 opens with Jonah acknowledging answered prayer. Jonah says that he called out in his distress to the Lord and He answered him. Then says that he cried for help and God heard his voice.

iv. Then Jonah continues in verse 3 by stating that God cast him into the see and the storm almost engulfed him. The focal point here is Jonah acknowledged God’s sovereignty in how, although God had cast a storm so that Jonah would be swallowed, the waves consumed him and the sea was a tool that God used on Jonah. Notice that Jonah doesn’t say that the waves and billows passed over me. But rather, your waves and billows. Jonah had felt in his conscience that the waves and billows was the means in which God was punishing him.

v. Then in verse 4, Jonah acknowledged that he had done too much evil that God had turned from him. The term expelled here is referred to a woman whose husband has divorced her. But even though I am wicked, his focus is on Your holy temple. Jonah knew that he had sinned greatly before God. But He also knew that God is merciful. Jonah’s confidence was no longer on his own actions but now looking towards God’s faithfulness and mercy.

vi. Jonah continues in verses 5-6 to tell us how the water almost overcame him and he was at the point of death. He was sinking in the sea when he was tossed into the sea (1:12-15). He descended to the height of the mountains, to the deepest part of the ocean and was surrounded by the earth and felt as if the earth was preventing him from rising.

vii. In this situation of being at the point of death, even then, you brought him up from the pit. You truly are Yahweh, the faithful God. Here Jonah was praising God for His sovereign power. Jonah was stating that there is nothing too great for God. When He was dying, the great fish came and swallowed him. It preserved him from drowning. Jonah had been retrieved by God from a hopeless situation. The God from whom Jonah thought he was banished had reached down and pulled him out of death and despair, showing that he was still “Yahweh my God.”

viii. These passages show us such a close intimate picture of Jonah’s life and God’s grace. Jonah was addressing how he had fallen. Jonah explains in great detail to speak of his demise, to the point of death and despair. And even when Jonah was at the lowest point of his life, God preserved him.

ix. One of the highlights for me here in verse 2-6 is the reality of Jonah’s experience. This is what makes the Christian life practical. I think we have the tendency to think that the Christian life is just words. We read the Bible and we believe in the words, and yet, many times we are dry and cold. Truth can be cold and many times, our lives don’t translate to the truth of God’s word well. This is why we have to understand that truth must always be reinforced by experience. Experience should never override or be supreme over truth. But we should never neglect experience.

x. I think we are wary of experience because how so many people think that experience is the most important aspect of the Christian life. This is why we don’t like to talk about experience. But what Jonah tells us is, experience is a part of the Christian life. Look at his prayer. He says I called out to the Lord when I was distressed. When I was barren in the desert, I cried out to God and He answered me. Jonah didn’t merely cry out to God theologically, but God showed Himself to Jonah.

xi. Jonah explains further by saying that I cried out to God, when I hit rock bottom, and He heard my voice. True conversion proclaims the truth of God, but it’s always supported by experience. Truth doesn’t happen apart from the word of God. Clearly, from Jonah’s experience so far, he had been disobedient to God. He had been like Israel. But even through his disobedience, God kept His promise to preserve Jonah. This goes to show the faithfulness of God.

xii. We must recognize that faithfulness can only be understood if faithfulness is displayed and there is a recipient. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 13. When we talk about love, love is always relational. Love is never apart from relationships. Jonah is reminding us that God is faithful in His promises. Even when He is disobedient, God still answered him and heard his voice.

b. Jonah’s Deliverance (2:7-10)

i. Jonah explains again from verses 4-6. The repetition we can’t turn away from is the reality that as Jonah was fading in facing death, he remembered the Lord. Jonah is stating that in his distress, he knew that he could turn to God. It didn’t mean that God should listen to his prayer. The focus is the fact that Jonah knew that he could turn to God. Even if God were not to save him, Jonah had realized already as stated in verse 4, I have been expelled, divorced from God’s grace. I’ve done too much wrong already that God wouldn’t accept me anyways. But I will still call out to Him.

ii. This remembrance of God really helps us as believers. There are times in our lives, I remember times in my own life where I used to think that God wouldn’t forgive a sinner like me. I remember hearing from people, that they couldn’t come to church. When I would ask them why, they would say things like, God wouldn’t forgive a sinner like me.

iii. This is the very same thing that Jonah was dealing with. He didn’t think that he deserved God’s favor. This is exactly true of the Gospel. The reality is, nobody deserves God’s favor. The prayer here speaks of a person who is trusting not on his merit or his actions but trusting that God would receive it. This is why it says that his prayer came to you. It doesn’t state that Jonah sent the prayer to Him. No, rather it states, that Jonah had thought of God and offered a prayer. But even when he thought God would reject him, God received that prayer into His holy temple.

iv. Then verse 8, Jonah speaks of the uselessness of idolatry. Jonah was comparing Yahweh’s power to save in comparison to the other gods. Jonah states that those who serve idols are, forsaking, turning away from God. This is the beginning of Jonah’s worship of Yahweh.

v. Verse 9, Jonah states the contrast. Those who trust in vain idols have abandoned their loyalty to Yahweh. But here in verse 9, Jonah states the opposite. Jonah states what Joshua states in Joshua 24:15. The context of Joshua 24 is Joshua telling the people of Israel how God had delivered them. Then in 24:15, Joshua says that they would worship God even if nobody else worshipped Him. This is what Jonah decides to do.

vi. He says but I will sacrifice to you. Jonah was expressing the thanksgiving of God listening to his prayer. Even when he didn’t deserve God’s mercy, Jonah had received it and verse 9 was Jonah’s response. There’s much to learn from this verse.

vii. Notice that Jonah states that he would sacrifice to God with a voice of thanksgiving. Jonah is acknowledging that he had received grace. Jonah tells us exactly what that response should look like. First, it is to respond to grace. Jonah states with I will sacrifice to you. I will give you all that I am. I will do what you tell me to do. Up to now, Jonah chose to not listen to God. But now, Jonah realizes that he must respond to God. Secondly, we learn that all our actions must be done with a voice of thanksgiving. It is with the heart of thanksgiving.

viii. The next phrase is of great importance. Jonah writes that he vows that he will pay back to God. This is an echo of 1:16 where the men feared the Lord and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. From this, we can understand this practice was understood by people in ancient Israel. It wasn’t simply a Jewish response, but most people would sacrifice and pay an offering to their god. So this response here isn’t significant up to this point, but the next phrase is what separates the other deities from Yahweh.

ix. When we look at verse 8-9, what we see Jonah stating here is the difference between idols and Yahweh. Idols represent not only ineffectiveness, but worshiping them involves a rejection of Yahweh. His statements here show his own failure. He acknowledges that he must have total trust in God yet, he was the one who ran away from God. Jonah was learning in his own mind that he had failed the very thing that he said he believed in. God was showing him how his belief and his actions were different.

x. That is why he speaks with thanksgiving and makes a promise that he will keep. Lastly, he acknowledges that salvation is from the Lord. Jonah is acknowledging that God is the savior. No one else can provide such a way in saving a sinner like himself, even though God had chosen him to be his prophet. Although Jonah had rejected the call of God, God displays His sovereignty to winning Jonah despite the fact that Jonah wanted to flee from God’s presence.

xi. Jonah’s statement was clearly the same proclamation all Christians in all of history have proclaimed. Despite the fact that they deserved death, God delivered them by an act of mercy by a gracious God.

xii. But what I love about this chapter is how Jonah says in verse 9 that he will sacrifice to God and that he will keep his promise. 2:9 is the changing point of the book. 2:9 helps us understand how the Christian must respond to God’s grace. We are not simply to acknowledge things we know about God. No, we must respond to this grace. Jonah teaches us, even though he comes short, what responding to this grace means.

xiii. With this in mind, God responds and brings to reality the phrase “salvation is from the Lord.” The Lord commands, tells the fish to let Jonah go. What do we learn from this? God’s hope is not just a make-believe hope. When we trust in God, it becomes reality. Our hope in God is not something to make us feel better. No, our hope in God is real. We experience His hope every day.

xiv. The Christian experience is not simply knowing things about God. It is not simply knowing who God is, but here, we experience the saving grace of God. My prayer is that we would not simply know the truth of Scripture, but as Jonah did, we would experience the blessed hope we have in Christ.

3. CONCLUSION