Jonah Reflects in Prayer

Welcome

We have been working our way through a sermon series called “Jonah & The Mercy of God” in which we are walking through the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament.

If you’ve been here, you’ll remember that God called Jonah to travel to Nineveh to preach against them because they were evil. Instead of obeying God’s will, Jonah ran the opposite direction and boarded a boat for a faraway place. On the journey, the Lord sent a great wind to bring a storm and the pagans who were onboard prayed to God and finally decided to toss Jonah overboard.

One of the things that we will notice today is that God provided for Jonah in an unusual way. We saw last week that God hurled the wind at the boat like a spear. Our passage this week picks up with another provision of God that some would not see as a blessing, but perhaps a curse...

We’ll pick up this week in the last verse of the first chapter...

Jonah 1:17 CSB

17 The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

…and chapter two begins with Jonah’s prayer...

Jonah 2 CSB

1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish: 2 I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice. 3 When you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, and the current overcame me. All your breakers and your billows swept over me. 4 And I said, “I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple. 5 The water engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth’s gates shut behind me forever! Then you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God! 7 As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. 8 Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love, 9 but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord. 10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

[pray]

I. In the Belly of the Great Fish

Jonah 1:17 CSB

17 The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

While many have speculated about the possibility of a great fish or a whale swallowing Jonah, this is actually a pretty small part of the account, though I will agree that it is fantastic and worthy of a few moments of thought.

Many who come to the book of Jonah get stuck on this verse. While they will not hesitate to accept the other miracles that happen when God hurls the storm at the boat and calms the storm after Jonah is tossed overboard, they refuse to believe that God could provide a fish to swallow Jonah and transport him across the sea to Nineveh so that he might complete his assigned task.

One of the great arguments is whether this was a fish or a whale that swallowed Jonah. This is a futile argument. The King James translation of whale is unfortunate and has created quite a bit of discussion that is simply a waste of time. The Hebrew text uses the phrase: גָּדוֹל gadol דָּג dag - “big fish” and in the Greek, Jesus refers to the fish as κῆτος kētos - “sea monster” This is biblical ambiguity at its best. The Bible hardly ever attempts to give a full explanation of all the details that will appease the questions that we try to bring to the text.

Let’s not get bogged down in trying to describe what kind of big fish it might have been or delve into the science of what sorts of fish might have existed in the Mediterranean Sea at the time and what was the possibility of the fish’s biology that might have been able to swallow a man and provide for his life support over the course of three days and three nights.

I would encourage you not to get caught up in this. A miracle is a miracle:

Miracle: An act or event that occurs outside the bounds of the normal or natural order.

A miracle is something that is outside the bounds of the normal, we will never be able to find an explanation for it that will satisfy the scientific mind. This is God being God. He is a mystery and cannot be explained away by the wisdom of man.

Other than these references, there is only minimal outside confirmation in history that there was evidence that this event took place.

However, the thing that stands out most to me in verse 17 is this...

Jonah 1:17 CSB

17 The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

The text says that God “appointed” or “prepared” a great fish to swallow Jonah.

This seems to indicate that, just as when God hurled the wind at the boat, that God acted directly in this to provide for Jonah.

The fish seems to have no say in the matter—and indeed, neither did Jonah—but they both seem to be wholly at the bidding of the Lord to do as they is told.

I told you last week that “Jonah lost the word of the Lord and began to experience the works of the Lord as God took corrective action against him.“

I know that some of you are thinking, God, please don’t provide for me like that. Lord, I don’t need a fish to teach me how to follow your word.

But the real question for us today is this: What does it take for God to get our attention?

As we ponder this, we must understand that when God has calls us to accomplish a task it will be accomplished...

Romans 11:29 CSB

29 since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.

And you can believe that he will use whatever means is within his power to draw you back to the calling that he has given to you.

Jonah deserved death, but he got deliverance instead.

While we might not want deliverance in the form of a great fish, Jonah could have had death instead of the fish.Likewise, God uses us even in our rebellion and failure. When we callously sin, he is still sovereign. When we fail in spite of good intentions, he is still in control. When we misrepresent him, he is the unchanging God who can work through every situation for his purpose and glory

[Wendy Widder, Jonah, ed. Douglas Mangum and Elizabeth Vince, Lexham Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).]

II. Jonah Prayed

What is the first thing that we do when we discover that we are in trouble? [We pray!]

Jonah 2:1 CSB

1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish:

Jonah’s prayer is written in the form of Hebrew poetry, such that we might see in the psalms and in other prophetic writings. Admittedly, this prayer is most likely the product of years of reflection on Jonah’s part. Not many of us are this eloquent when we pray in the midst of trouble.

The form of this psalm is that of thanksgiving. This type of psalm typically recounts a danger that the psalmist goes through and then it thanks God for deliverance. In this case, the psalm seems to be pointing to the fact that the belly of the great fish was the safest place for Jonah to be. Actually it was in the midst of God’s discipline that provided a refuge for Jonah.

Jonah 2:2 CSB

2 I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice.

Jonah wrote here that he cried out for help “from deep inside Sheol.” The New International Version uses the phrase “the realm of the dead.” The King James says “Out of the belly of hell.” To further confuse this issue, Jesus, when he was comparing himself to Jonah said in Matthew 12:40 “the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”

What a confusing mess!

What is Sheol?

Sheol: is an ancient Hebrew term referring to the realm of the dead. It is often connected to the idea of an underworld that was considered to be beneath the earth and also considered a place of punishment for the dead.

Some references in Jewish texts seem to divide Sheol into a place for those who are good and those who are evil.

Hades: That which is out of sight, a Greek word used to denote the state or place of the dead. All the dead alike go into this place. To be buried, to go down to the grave, to descend into hades, are equivalent expressions.

The Greek mythological term Hades is often associated with Sheol and is sometimes translated in this way in the Greek.

Gehenna: the Greek word for “hell” in the New Testament. Jesus uses this term often to refer to a place of physical and spiritual torment and destruction.

The underworld is what modern thinkers often think of as “hell.” And sometimes in the King James, these words have been translated as “hell,” which causes some of our confusion.

However, there is one other place that we call “hell.”

Hell is the place where those who lack faith in Christ are consigned to suffer for eternity. Hell is an end-times location where unbelievers are sent after judgment.

While it does not appear that Jonah actually experienced death while in the belly of the fish, it may have seemed to him that he descended in to the darkest depths of, what he thought to be, Sheol or death.

Certainly Jonah was close to death simply judged by the accounting of time that he spent in the belly of the fish. It is most likely that this phrase “from deep inside Sheol” is used as an expression to indicate that “Jonah had a close brush with death,” as we might say today.

And similarly when Jesus said that he would “be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights,” he was referring to death rather than hell as a place of torment. Jesus was not tormented for our sins, which is an unbiblical view, he was at Abrahams side in the blessed side of Sheol or Hades.

Let’s get back to Jonah’s prayer. which seems to indicate both Jonah’s repentance and God’s deliverance...

Jonah 2:3–7 CSB

3 When you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, and the current overcame me. All your breakers and your billows swept over me. 4 And I said, “I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple. 5 The water engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth’s gates shut behind me forever! Then you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God! 7 As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.

It seems that Jonah finally turned to God at the last moment before his death and was delivered by God’s hand. In fact, we can see here that Jonah cried out to God because he was afraid of death, but so far there is no indication that he has changed his mind about fulfilling God’s call to preach to the people of Nineveh.

Here we can see that Jonah is experiencing God’s discipline, but do we see any indication that he has returned to God’s call?

The Apostle James wrote about discipline to the scattered Jewish believers from Jerusalem...

Hebrews 12:5–7 CSB

5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, 6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

James quoted from the Hebrew wisdom literature, Psalms, Proverbs, and Job.

I remind you, brothers and sisters, that discipline is part of the Christian life. If we are to follow Christ, then we are to follow him in discipline. We can do this in one of several ways:

we can despise God’s discipline

we can be discouraged by God’s discipline and faint (or give up)

we can resist God’s discipline and invite a stronger form of discipline (even up to death)

James tells us that discipline is part of our training and to be expected as part of the Christian life. Those who have no discipline are not at all children of God. He continues in verse 8...

Hebrews 12:8–10 CSB

8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness.

OR we can submit to the Father and grow in our faith

Hebrews 12:11 CSB

11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Principle: Discipline is to the believer and follower of Christ what physical training is to the athlete.

This is why James also wrote to us about finding joy in the trial...

James 1:2–4 CSB

2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

The trial is discipline that shapes us and forms our faith in god.

Jonah continues in verse 8...

Jonah 2:8–9 CSB

8 Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love, 9 but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

The key phrase here is when Jonah says, “I will fulfill what I have vowed.”

Jonah follows that by saying “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” which is one of the central declarations of the book. We can see here in Jonah’s description that there is no way that he could have saved himself. He was beyond hope if it were not for the hand of the Lord that reach down and plucked him from a desperate situation.

And in much the same way, the Ninevites had no hope for salvation if it were not for God’s provision. By saving Jonah, God also provided for the salvation of Nineveh.

The real question that we have to ask ourselves when we are going through the trial: Who is it God is providing for through my discipline?

III. Jonah Was Saved

Jonah 2:10 CSB

10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

We don’t know where it was that Jonah landed, but the nearest port on the Medterranean Sea was very far from Nineveh. Even so, we have the impression that Jonah made an impact when he arrived in Nineveh to preach the word of the Lord.

We’ll look more at this part of the account next week.

There is an account written by a Babylonian historian named Berosus that wrote of a mythical man-fish named Oannes that emerged from the sea to give divine wisdom to men. The name Oannes is very close etymologically speaking to the name Jonah. While this is not enough to be considered as proof, it is a rather interesting connection to the Hebrew account of Jonah.

There is also the connection of God’s use of a fish to deliver his prophet to a people, who counted among their deities, Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, who appeared as the upper body of a man with the lower body of a fish, something like our mythological mermaid.

It is quite possible that God used Jonah’s experience to impress a superstitious people and to provide them with signs and miracles that Jonah would use to point them to the one true God of Israel.

Jonah’s Fickle Attitude

Jonah seemed to waver back and forth between calling out for God and almost rejecting him. This serves to remind us that we can also be fickle in our service to God, because we also have some of the same attitudes of Jonah within us.

We find ourselves much to busy to accept God’s calling when it comes into our own lives. Have we found ourselves so dedicated to things of little eternal importance that we will reject God at every opportunity to serve him?

Yet, when we turn to God we count on his faithfulness knowing that he will be there when we reach out to him.

2 Timothy 2:13 CSB

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

God loved us enough to commit fully before we were ever saved—while we were still in sin...

Romans 5:8 CSB

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Prior to our salvation the love was a one-way love coming from God...

1 John 4:10 CSB

10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

In spite of God’s unchanging nature and his incomparable love for us, we continue to be fickle. In spite of Jonah’s fickleness, God still saved him. And we can expect God to do the same for us. This psalm—interrupting the story of Jonah—serves to remind us that we can also be like Jonah in our fickle and waffling attitude towards God.

Conclusion

Our God is faithful and true. We can trust him in times of great need. Even when the bottom seems to have fallen out of the world, we still hold out a hope in God, that he is in control of our situation.

As I reflect on my own life, I can look at the times in my life where God proved to me over and over again that he is faithful and true.

Have you seen the same thing in your life?