Jonah: Chapter 2

Introduction

Quick Review: Jonah given a command, Runs from God’s presence, Storm—difference between how Jonah & Pagan Sailors respond, Jonah thrown overboard.

Key point from last week: Jesus was caught in a similar situation, a storm, and responded very differently—with power and authority. We should turn to Jesus in our storms instead of running from them as Jonah did.

Now, Jonah has been thrown overboard…and verse 17 tells us what happens next...

Jonah Swallowed by the Great Fish

Jonah 1:17 ESV

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.

God intercedes for Jonah…doesn’t let him off the hook to die without doing what he was commands.

And Jonah is in this great fish for 3 days and 3 nights (sounds familiar? Coming back to that in a minute…)

Important to understand that Jonah has no idea where he is…or even how long he was there or how long he WILL be there…just knows he’s in a dark, dank, disgusting place.

Jonah is out of options…and chapter 2 tells us what Jonah does next (and this is what we’re going to unpack today)...

Jonah Finally Prays to God

Jonah 2:1 (ESV)

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

FINALLY Jonah prays to God!

This is the FIRST time in this entire story that Jonah prays to God...

He didn’t pray after God gave him his command to go to Nineveh

He didn’t pray before getting on the boat to Tarshish, fleeing from God’s presence

He didn’t pray during or after the storm (even when the pagan sailors ask him to)

He didn’t pray before being thrown into the sea.

He didn’t even pray immediately after the great fish swallows him…it’s not until the THIRD DAY that Jonah prays!!

It seems it took a lot for Jonah to hit rock bottom…to come to the end of himself before turning to God...

But we probably shouldn’t be too hard on Jonah here…man of us do the same thing.

First, easy lesson from Jonah…don’t wait until you have no other options before turning to God...

Oswald Chambers: “We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.”

So we can learn this lesson (and it’s one we already know even if we don’t always do it)…but this morning we want to take a look at Jonah’s prayer…what did Jonah SAY when he reached the end of his proverbial rope…?

But first, we need to understand another shift that’s happening in this chapter...

The Shift from Prophetic Prose to Poetic Prayer

The first way to see this is by looking at the change in format in your Bible…in most Bibles the text shifts from being ALIGNED to being INDENTED.

When you see this in a modern Bible—take note, it means a shift has happened in the literary style.

In this case, aligned means standard text…the story being told, the PROPHETIC PROSE.

And the INDENTED portion is POETRY…we see this most commonly in the PSALMS.

In fact, some Bibles call this JONAH’S PRAYER or JONAH’s PSALM…either way, it’s POETIC FORM, which means things are about to change!

This is no longer a story…it’s poetry which means there’s about to be some flowery, metaphorical language coming.

I know…deep sigh…big UGH! We HATE poetry! WHY? Because it’s harder to understand…just say what it means, don’t make me figure it out!!

And we’re a little hypocritical when it comes to poetry because we think of Robert Frost, Emily Dickenson, TS Eliot, and the like.

But we have a modern version of poetry as well…MUSIC!

In fact, for us…MUSIC can be either PROSE or POETRY

PROSE: Songs that tell a story (one of the reasons Country Music is so popular). Can’t play it for copyright, but let me read it to you...

Carrie Underwood, “Before He Cheats”

“Right now, he's probably slow dancin' With a bleached-blond tramp and she's probably gettin' frisky Right now, he's probably buyin' her some fruity little drink 'Cause she can't shoot whiskey Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick Showin' her how to shoot a combo And he don't know

I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive Carved my name into his leather seats I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights I slashed a hole in all four tires Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats”

Certainly paints a picture!!

POETRY: Songs that use metaphor, and language we sometimes don’t understand…but we sing the songs anyway!

Even songs by arguably the most popular and influential band of all time, The Beatles, “Lucy in the Sky with DIamonds”

“Picture yourself in a boat on a river With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green Towering over your head Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes And she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds Lucy in the sky with diamonds Lucy in the sky with diamonds”

What in the world does that mean?? (some say it’s about LSD, but it’s really about a girl Julian Lennon liked in preschool, Lucy O’Donnell, and he drew a picture of her floating in the sky surrounded by stars that he called diamonds—it’s a song about a child’s drawing).

You had no idea, but we can still sing it!!

And Jonah’s prayer…all prayers and psalms…are just like that, they require a little more work to piece them together, but we can do it!!!

Jonah’s Reason for Crying Out to God

Jonah 2:2–4 (ESV)

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

There is clear imagery here, but it’s not hard to understand and much of it is actually either a direct quote of the Psalms or a close paraphrasing...

In my distress — Psalm 3:4 “I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah”

Out of the belly of Sheol (death) — Psalm 18:5 “the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.”

Cast into the deep, into the heart of the seas — Psalm 88:6-7 “You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah” This is not true…the sailors cast him into the deep at Jonah’s direction!

Surrounded by floodwaters, waves, and billows — Psalm 42:7 “Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.”

Driven from the Lord’s sight — Psalm 31:22 “I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.” Again, not true as Jonah RAN from God’s Presence on his own!!

The message & meaning here is pretty obvious: Jonah has finally recognized he’s in deep trouble!! Rock bottom, end of his rope, end of himself!

Again, we can certainly relate to this, but Jonah’s not yet done.

Next, Jonah further depicts his predicament using more poetic language...

Jonah Further Describes His Predicament

Jonah 2:5–6 (ESV)

The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever...

The waters closed in over me to take my life — Psalm 69:1 “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.” (Last psalm reference for a bit)

The deep surrounded me

Weeds were wrapped around my head (seaweed)

At the root of the mountains—the bottom of the sea

Went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever…the earth swallowed him up

Again, pretty clear imagery here: Jonah feels closed in, surrounded, wrapped up, and closed in—TRAPPED! Which he is!

Have you ever felt like this? Felt like the whole world was caving in and you were trapped?

Jonah wasn’t just speaking in metaphor—there is some reality here too!

Now Jonah, finally turns his attention to God’s Response to his desperate situation...

God’s Response to Jonah’s Desperate Situation

Jonah 2:6–7 (ESV)

... yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.

Declares God brought his life up from the pit.

God rescued him as his life was fainting away...

All of this is true…just wonder why it took so long and so much to get him (and us) to this point!

Now Jonah switches his focus to what’s next and uses two approaches we’ve seen already: Comparing & Contrasting and repeating the Psasms...

Jonah’s Comparisons

Jonah 2:8–9 (ESV)

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.”

Verse 8 = Idol Worshipers, we can assume he’s referring to Ninevites here (at some level at least).

Says they’ve forsaken their hope of steadfast love (but really?)

Psalm 31:6 “I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.”

Verse 9 = Jonah (but I), decalres he will respond with thanksgiving, sacrifice (worship) and will do what he vowed (did he vow it?)

A little “revisionist history” and wishful thinking going on here!

Psalm 50:14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High.”

A Word on Salvation

You may have noticed that I left an important part of this passage off the screen…because it’s the one thing that is true regardless of Jonah’s motives or intentions…the most important sentence of Jonah’s entire prayer...

Jonah 2:9 (ESV)

“Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Psalm 3:8 “Salvation belongs to the Lord...”

More than simply salvation comes from God—but that it is his possession, it BELONGS to him! (and there are various ways we can interpret this).

For Jonah’s immediate and pressing issue, it meant physical salvation (and often does for us)—only God could rescue Jonah from his current predicament…and as we finish the chapter we see that God does exactly that...

Jonah 2:10 ESV

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

This is graphic and violent—but Jonah is saved/rescued…to land right back where he started with God in the first place (more on that next week).

And we can relate to this in our prayers of desperation…the immediacy of the need for God to intervene and the relief when he does.

But there’s a second way to interpret this of course...

Jonah 2:9 (ESV)

"Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

(Jonah) — Physical

For the Ninevites (and us too) this would refer to their spiritual salvation!

What God was aiming for from the beginning

This is harder for us to relate to—the immediacy of this need (there is always tomorrow!)

This is Where Jesus Enters the Picture

If you remember, in chapter 1 we saw a parallel between Jonah’s boat adventure and Jesus’

There is another parallel here that Jesus himself makes...

Matthew 12:40 ESV

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.

Two comparisons: 3 days and nights…in the heart of the earth

Again, one in disobedience, the other in obedience

One as a result of his sin, the other as a result of OUR sin

And as a result…Salvation belongs to JESUS and Him alone!

Acts 4:12 (ESV)

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

We can’t do anything, say anything , or take credit for our salvation…it belongs to the Lord!

Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We often to turn to God for help, for salvation, when we’re at the end of our rope and have hit rock bottom (like Jonah) but that’s not the best approach.

We should instead, recognize that our Salvation (from circumstances and eternally) belongs to God and we should seek it form the very beginning!

So what do we do with this? Let me give you two things to consider...

If You’re At Rock Bottom

Turn to Jesus for Your Salvation

(Like Jonah, but mean it!)

If You’re NOT At Rock Bottom

Turn to Jesus for Your Salvation

(Like Nineveh is about to do)

Either WAY…turn to Jesus…Fix Your Eyes on HIM

Hebrews 12:2 NIV84

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He is the AUTHOR of your faith

He is the PERFECTER of your faith

BAPTISMS

Time for Baptisms…with all this talk about water, going down and coming back up!

Baptism is a sacrament—an outward sign of what God has done for us and in us through Christ!!

So let’s welcome the SIX people this morning who have turned to Jesus for their salvation and want to share that with us all!

THIS SLIDE IS JUST FOR THE BACK WALL…TURN OFF THE MAIN PROJECTOR??

Question 1: Do you love the Lord Jesus with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength?

Question 2: Do you publically declare that Jesus is your Lord and Savior this morning before all these people?

Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.