We're Going to Need a Bigger Boat

Introduction

Commonly told story

New Christian on campus, sharing faith

Atheist professor asks, “You’re a Christian?”

You believe what the bible says? Yes

You believe all the miracles? Yes

You believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale? Well, a fish, but yes

Stuck for 3 days? Yes

And didn’t die? Yes

And how did God pull that off?

I don’t know, maybe when I get to heaven I’ll ask Jonah

What if Jonah went to hell?

Then I guess YOU can ask him!

YouVersion: We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat

We’re in Jonah 2

In the movie JAWS, a giant shark is eating people on Amity Island

Famously, when Roy Scheider sees the shark the first time he says “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”

In the movie, it suddenly because clear how serious the shark problem was!

Today, Jonah is going to see just how serious his disobedience problem was!

But I want to set the stage back in Jonah 1:17

Remember Jonah was given a job (prophesy to Nineveh)

He didn’t want to so he ran the other way

God intervened with a storm

Jonah didn’t want to obey, so he asked to be thrown overboard

Then the storm stopped

Not because God was satisfied...

But because the target of the storm wasn’t above the surface

Jonah 1:17 ESV

17 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.

We know many Bible stories by certain titles

David and Goliath

Daniel in the Lions Den

Samson and Delilah

And of course Jonah and the Whale

But I don’t think that’s the most appropriate title

Some of you are ahead of me… Not a whale - a fish!

Remember, Jonah is the one who recounted this story

He was an Israelite from about 750 BC

He didn’t know about modern distinctions between sea mammals and fish!

He just said, it was a giant fish! I don’t know! COULD have been a whale...

Either way, that’s not why it’s not a good title...

Jonah and the whale isn’t a good title because the fish (or whale) is only mentioned in 3 verses!

Out of 48 verses, only 3 mention the fish!

Tells us the story of Jonah ISN’T about the fish!

It’s about something else… it’s about repentance, obedience and the power of God

But let’s take a minute to look at the fish anyway

Jonah is swallowed, held for 3 nights/days, and vomited on dry land

3 explanations for Jonah’s survival

1. Natural survival

Lot’s of stories about whales swallowing people

James Bartley in 1891 was whaling on STAR OF THE EAST

Sperm whale hit the boat and knocked sailors in the water

James was missing

Next day they killed the whale

Cut him apart and found James unconscious in stomach

Skin was bleached, he’s blind with no memory

Problem? Story isn’t true!

Found a letter and published in newspapers

STAR OF THE EAST was not a whaling vessel

No James Bartley was listed as crew

Captains wife was onboard during 3 years it “happened”

Never lost or found a man with a whale

Some sailors made it up!

In 2019 a photographer named Rainer Schrempf was sucked into a Bryde’s whale’s mouth near Port Elizabeth

The whale spit him out almost instantly

He just wanted shrimp, not Shrempf!

Other than that, there’s no record it’s been done

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but very unlikely

Here’s why:

Sperm whales quickly grab and swallow giant squid with large teeth

But they often whole so maybe...

There’d be hardly any oxygen - mostly methane

Stowaways have been found to survive in airplane wheel wells

Virtually no oxygen for 10 hours so maybe

Whales have four stomachs and use hydrochloric acid to break down their food

But they don’t use acid in their first stomach so maybe

But there’ a really big problem though

Bible says 3 days (at least 24 hours and 2 seconds…)

But it only takes 15-18 hours to fully digest

Jonah would be whale poop by the second day!

As far as naturally impossible goes, this is it!

No one is surviving in a natural way

BUT, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen...

There’s another possibility often spoken of

Lets go to our text:

Jonah 2:1–2 ESV

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.

First, Jonah may have naturally survived, our second possibility is this:

2. Resurrection

Two reasons:

First, he says, “the belly of Sheol”

Sheol is the Hebrew word for “the grave”

This could mean that Jonah actually died...

The second reason comes from Jesus

Matthew 12:40 ESV

40 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.

There’s a connection between Jonah and what Jesus did

Perhaps resurrection IS that connection!

If Jesus’ death and resurrection were literal, maybe Jonah’s was too!

However, Scripture doesn’t say he died...

And Jonah is delivering a every poetic prayer here...

And for thousands of years it was taught that he was alive inside the fish

And verse 1 says he was praying from the belly of the fish

So maybe Jonah died in the fish and was then resurrected, but I think this happened:

3. Miraculous survival

I think he survived inside the fish and it was a flat-out miracle!

God already sent a storm and ended it on the spot

Why can’t He send a fish too?

That’s the thing we sometimes miss about miracles

Miracles are God’s way of proving who He is

Proving what He can do

If He only did naturally explainable things, there’d be no reason to believe in His power

That’s why Jesus dis His miracles as well!

Stephen Lennox: “The Old Testament is the best commentary on the New Testament ever written. There we learn why Jesus had to come, why He taught what He did, and why He worked miracles.”

No one here has probably seen something that outrageous...

But there’s a ton of evidence that people in history have seen it!

If Moses could part the Red Sea

If Jesus could rise from the dead

If God could create a universe from nothing

Then allowing a man to live in a fish is easy...

And so we need to realize something…

We’re not supposed to sit back and come up with natural explanations for how and why God does something

We’re supposed to read this story, be in awe of who He is, and listen to His instruction

Trust me, this is in here because He loves us!

Come back to verses

Jonah responds to all this with prayer

Lessons from the belly of a fish

Jonah 2:1–2 ESV

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.

1. God can hear you in your worst situations

Billy Graham: “The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'”

Jonah was thrown into the sea and was sinking - ready to die

God could have saved him any way He wanted… He chose a fish

He chose it because He knew how it would affect Jonah

Jonah was going to die, but now he’s alive in a fish for 3 days

Talk about boring! All you can do is think...

Because Jonah knows this is God, he thinks about his position with God

He begins with gratitude that God has heard him in v.2

I mentioned last week Jonah’s not a great guy...

BUT he does have faith in God

He thanks God before he gets out

Then he explains what he’s thankful for

Jonah 2:3 ESV

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.

2. God is in control

He says “You cast me...”

It was not the sailors who cast Jonah, but God Himself

The whole time Jonah’s been running, God is in control

Isaac Bashevis Singer: “Life is God’s novel. Let Him write it.”

Life isn’t meant to only be your story and how you want it to go

Honestly, many of us try to write really boring stories!

How would your life go if you were in charge?

I was born in a wealthy household, good looking, never sick, always overpaid, not trials ever...

BORING!

No one lives that way, and ones who live the closest to that are often the ones that are missing HOLINESS

Something far more valuable that the comfortable, convenient lives we seek

So when you’re struggling, remember it is God writing your story and it’s for a reason

Jonah 2:4 ESV

4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’

3. Separation from God is the worst result

Again, he recognizes where he is now

He’s in a fish, He’s run from God, as far as he can go

Theodore Stylianopoulos: "Hell is a spiritual state of separation from God and inability to experience the love of God, while being conscious of the ultimate deprivation of it as punishment."

That’s why in the midst of a death on the cross, Jesus’ worst pain is that His father has forsaken Him

That separation is what Jonah became aware of

Yet he already knows God has been merciful to him

He will see God’s temple again

The only way that’s going to happen is if he goes back

Jonah 2:5–7 ESV

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.

4. We learn when we see truth

There’s an interesting picture being painted here.

Jonah was sinking

He’s surrounded with kelp, hits the sea floor

He thinks this is it

Jonah had challenged the sailors to kill him last week

He so stubborn he would rather die

But sometimes you get what you ask for

As Jonah faced death, he regretted disobeying God

Johannes Tauler: “To discern what weaknesses and faults separate you from God, you must enter into your own inward ground and then confront yourself.”

Don’t get me wrong, he STILL doesn’t want to go to Nineveh

There is nothing apologetic in his prayer...

But he does wish he would have just listened

And then the fish comes and swallows him up

He KNOWS this is God rescuing him

And that sparks a change in Jonah

Not exactly the one God is pursuing, but it’s a start

Jonah 2:8–9 ESV

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!”

5. Repentance may take some time

There are two big issues with Jonah

One is obedience

The other is holiness

God is dealing with them one at a time...

God could have struck Jonah down and been done with him!

But that’s not how God rolls...

Psalm 145:8 ESV

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Jonah is thankful for what God has done

His thankful response is to obey God’s orders

HOWEVER, he still doesn’t agree with them

We’ll see in the next two weeks, Jonah will only do the bare minimum

And then, although he does what God says, he makes it clear he doesn’t like it

God’s work is to fight BOTH battles

First to show His authority, second to show his righteousness

For now, God is going to let Jonah “Fake it until he makes it”

But He’s not going to let it stay that way for long

Because God begins the next step in Jonah’s journey here:

Jonah 2:10 ESV

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

This is why we know the story of Jonah is about a miracle

God commanded the fish to swallow Jonah

God preserved Jonah in the fish

God commanded the fish to puke him up

Sounds like a gross experience!

6. We don’t get to choose how we’re delivered

For some it’s on your 727th Sunday at church

For some it’s lying in a gutter overdosed on heroin

For some it’s sitting in a prison cell

For some it’s laying on your death bed after a life of nothing but sin

However God chooses to do it, it is ALWAYS worth it!

For Jonah, it was actually used to foreshadow all of our deliverances:

Matthew 12:40 ESV

40 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.

God can do a lot of amazing stuff in 3 nights

He can also do amazing things in 5 seconds

And He can do them in 75 years...

Some of us are in the belly of the fish right now

You’re not doing what God has instructed you to do

You’re in a situation that feels unsurvivable

You feel like things just keep getting worse

From a boat to the sea to a fish… things just never seem to get better

Think about what Jonah does right

He’s thankful, he’s aware of God, he surrenders to God

If you want hope, He’s the only place you’re every going to find it

Communion

Yes, life is hard - but God values the hard things

God uses sacrifice, and there’s no bigger way that has ever been displayed than the cross...