Jonah 1:4-17 - Times of Turbulence

Introduction:

The word turbulence means the violent or unsteady moving of something.

We see turbulence in flights when there is a shift in air movement that makes for a rough plane ride.

We see turbulence in water when waves make for a rough ship ride.

But we also see that sometimes life can get turbulent! Sometimes the turbulence of life is not due to a consequence of your sin directly. Sometimes life is just difficult and despite you making righteous decisions, things just don’t go as planned.

But today we are going to see a more common situation of why life gets turbulent. Life often gets turbulent because of the sins of people. We are going to see that there is a consequence for the sin of Jonah’s fleeing from the Lord. God isn’t just going to sit back and allow Jonah to deliberately disobey the Word of the Lord.

My friends, disobedience has consequences from our sovereign God. God sees everything that is done under the sun. And all sin will be accounted for.

As theologian Leslie Allen stated:

“Yahweh will not be brushed aside and ignored.”

Leslie C. Allen

Today we are going to see God acting sovereignly throughout this entire narrative of Jonah’s disobedience. I pray that our faith is increased in God as we see Him miraculously work in this turbulent situation and as we see His undeserved mercy give a surprising ending to this first chapter!

Let us pray.

Prayer

Today we are going to discuss three ways that God sovereignly acts and rules in regards to Jonah’s disobedience. The first is:

I. God is Sovereign In… The Response to Disobedience (4-10)

Jonah 1:4–5 ESV

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.

The transition phrase “but the Lord” is one that can go either way. We see in the New Testament a positive use of this idea as we discussed last week in Ephesians 2:4-5- but God being rich in mercy…made us alive in Him…by grace we have been saved. This good news comes through faith and not through disobedience though. In this case we have Jonah who has fled the Lord. And now we have this same phrase - “but the Lord.” And this phrase is followed by a terrifying Hebrew word.

But the Lord ‘hurled.’ This word hurled here is the same word that we see mentioned when King Saul tries to kill David by hurling a spear at him in 1 Samuel 18:11. The Lord literally hurled a great wind upon the sea. And the author wants you to know this was quite a wind because he goes on to let us know there was a mighty tempest on the sea. This word tempest means a heavy gale or a violent storm with dangerous waves and wind.

Moving forward we are given a unique look at the ship that Jonah and the pagan crew boarded on. This ship threatened to break up. First we see that God sovereignly brings the storm. And now we see the ship conspiring with God against Jonah. This word threatened personifies the ship as if it is out to get Jonah as well.

As we continue on, we need to compare the reaction of the pagan crew to the storm and the reaction of Jonah. Here we see the pagan crew is afraid. They are terrified. They are crying out to their gods and throwing cargo off of the ship to lighten the load and make it easier to manage this great vessel. They want to do everything they can to keep the ship from breaking up into pieces.

Obviously these men were experienced sailors to set out on such a long trip to Tarshish. These guys had seen some bad storms in the past. But they had never seen a supernaturally sent storm from Yahweh! This one was different than anything they had seen before. And you can see by their reaction that they think their life is all but over.

But what about Jonah? Verse 5 shows it well. He had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. How can anyone remain asleep during a storm like this? Many commentators have sought to explain how Jonah was still asleep. Some think that he was just so exhausted from fleeing from the Lord that he was completely worn out. The word for fast asleep here is a unique word choice though. It is the same Hebrew word that we see given in Genesis 2:21 that was a sleep that was placed by God in order to do surgery on Adam to remove his rib (Genesis 2:21). This word is also used during sleeps that fell among people that recieved a dream or vision from the Lord such as Abraham and Daniel.

I think that we can be sure that this wasn’t a peaceful sleep given by God, however. Yet it was one that was very deep. This type of sleep was one that was stupefying.

A. R. Fausset puts it the best here:

“Sleep is not necessary proof of innocence; it may be the fruit of carnal security and a seared conscience.”

- A.R. Fausset

Sin makes us completely ignorant and unobservant of what is actually going an around us. That is why we see the world respond so illogically in debates on things like sexuality, abortion, godly living, etc. Their sin has them in a deep spiritual sleep that makes them unable to respond with wisdom and discernment.

Matthew Henry asserted that sin brings storms and tempests into the soul, into the family, into churches, and nations.

My friends, know that your sin does have consequences. And as we see here. These consequences are not just going to affect you. They are going to affect others around you as well.

If you get drunk or are sexually immoral or gamble or are lazy or any other sinful act… not only will you suffer but so will your marriage, your spouse, your family, your workplace, your church, and even your nation will all directly or indirectly suffer from the consequences from your sin. There are consequences to our sins.

Praise God we have forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ our Lord through the cross. Yet there still will be some form of earthly consequence that we will face here. Sometimes those consequences are smaller by comparison such as a haunting memory of something that you said or didn’t say and sometimes they are much bigger like destroyed relationships. Even the smaller consequences can cause lasting hardships and heartaches. But we can face them knowing that God will mercifully carry us through them if we are repentant and turn to Him.

Moving forward we come to verses 6-8:

Jonah 1:6–8 ESV

So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

Jonah awakes to a nightmare. Not only is the captain likely flipping out because of the horrible storm but the captain gives him an eerily familiar command. Arise! Call out to your god! Which sounds very similar to the Arise and Go command we saw in verse 2 from Yahweh!

Jonah is learning that you can run but you cannot hide! Note that at this point the captain sees Jonah’s God as a little ‘g’ god. He sees Jonah as perhaps one more person who can cry out to one of the many gods they believe are out there. Note also, however, that there is no mention that Jonah prays here. Even when confronted with a horrible and supernaturally sent storm, Jonah still doesn’t pray and repent.

Instead, the crew casts lots to find out whose fault that this storm is. They recognize that this must be a supernatural storm. Someone must have sinned and caused this horrendous storm. And wouldn’t you know it - the lot fell on Jonah. We see God sovereignly working again in this:

Proverbs 16:33 ESV

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

Jonah is given 5 commands/questions here in rapid fire succession. The lot has fallen upon him and he is the problem. Now they interrogate him suspiciously and want to know what exactly is going on. Jonah answers back in 9-10:

Jonah 1:9–10 ESV

And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Note that Jonah almost answers casually here. His answer is somewhat hypocritical. Because he doesn’t really fear God in the truest sense. If he did, he would be obeying! But he answers them calling God the God of heaven and maker of the sea and dry land. This statement was one that rocked these pagans lives. Because if this God created the sea and earth and was the God of heaven - then that meant He was the supreme Deity and above any other god. This God was one not to be messed with!

And the men were exceedingly afraid - meaning they were horrified and they respond with moral outrage asking him what has he done!

Throughout this account so far we have seen God sovereignly responding to the disobedience of Jonah. God sovereignly responds to our disobedience as well. If there is an area in your life that you need to quit fleeing from the Lord in, I pray that you repent and turn to our wonderful God who is merciful. There will be consequences to your disobedience. It is how our God works. He loves us too much now to either give or allow consequences to discipline and call us to repentence.

Moving forward, we see that....

Scripture References: Ephesians 2:4-5, 1 Samuel 18:11, Genesis 2:21, Jonah 1:2

II. God is Sovereign In… The Result of Disobedience (11-16)

Jonah 1:11–13 ESV

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

Now this account gets even more interesting. The men have interrogated Jonah and found out more about him running away from the Lord. And now they ask him how to appease Yahweh. How can they get the sea to quiet down.

Note that the author gives another indication that time is short. The sea has grown more and more tempestuous. The storm and sea is raging. The boat has already been said to be threatening to break into pieces. And now they are seeking a way out of this ordeal.

Jonah gives them an answer out of left field for them. I’m sure they expected him to say that they needed to recite a prayer, make a sacrifice, repent, etc. But instead Jonah tells them that they need to hurl him into the sea. There is that word ‘hurl’ again. God has hurled the wind and storm (Jonah 1:4). The men of the ship have hurled the cargo (Jonah 1:5). And now Jonah tells the men that they must hurl him into the sea (Jonah 1:12).

This is quite a shift for Jonah. Jonah realizes the penalty of sin is death. He has sinned against Yahweh by fleeing from the presence of the Lord. He does not wish that the crew suffer for his rebellion because it would be unjust to do so. At first glance this seems sacrificial of Jonah. Yet, we will see in chapter 4 that Jonah did not have much sympathy for the pagan.

Smith and Page in their commentary on Jonah say the following:

“As chap. 4 makes clear, at this point Jonah did not have deep compassion for the pagan. Glaze is right that ‘it was the voice of his conscience, not compassion, that spoke.’”

Smith and Page (Commentary on Jonah)

Yet in verse 13 we see the men try their best to not follow through with what Jonah asked. They rowed hard to get back to dry land. This term for rowed hard actually means to dig into the water. Yet all of their effort against the sovereign hand of God proves useless as the sea responds by becoming even more tempestuous against them.

We can learn a lot from this my friends. No matter how hard you fight against God, it is useless. He is bigger and stronger than anything you can throw at Him. Instead of fighting, we should willingly repent and submit to His will. His will can seem extremely intimidating at times as we see here. Yet, we know that Romans 8:28 is true:

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

We know that even the hard things will work together for our good. We can trust God.

C.S. Lewis said it right in his book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

C.S. Lewis (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)

We must understand that God is more concerned about your sanctification than your safety. He is more concerned about your growth in holiness than your happiness. And when you are disobedient, He will discipline those He loves. And that discipline is not always the most pleasant as we see in Hebrews.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Moving forward to verses 14-16...

Jonah 1:14–16 ESV

Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

You can’t help but begin to respect this pagan crew who has sought the Lord while Jonah remains stubbornly obstinate. They cry out to Yahweh asking for His mercy on them for doing what Jonah asked. Here is this fourth and final incidence of the word ‘hurl’ in this chapter. They hurl Jonah into the sea after lamenting to the Lord.

And what happened next?

The sea ceased from its raging. We aren’t told how long that it took from the time Jonah hit the water for the sea to stop raging, but I would argue that it was pretty close to instantaneous because of the crews’ response. They clearly understood that their action appeased Yahweh. And they responded in a beautiful way. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Compare that to the response of Jonah throughout this storm. Jonah does not pray even once in this chapter (although we will see that change next week). He never says a word to Yahweh. He stays mute and silent toward the Lord. The only time he mentions God’s name is when he is interrogated.

How ironic is it that the prophet of the Lord is shown up, spiritually speaking, by a pagan ship crew? This crew fears the Lord. They pray to the Lord. They sacrifice to the Lord. They make vows to the Lord.

And Jonah says nothing to the Lord.

Jonah is in the throws of disobedience. He is experiencing the result of disobedience. God is sovereignly dealing with Jonah directly, albeit as we will see in the next verse, surprisingly mercifully.

Which brings us to an important teaching in verse 17...

Scripture References: Romans 8:28, Jonah 1:14-16

III. God is Sovereign In… The Rescue in Disobedience (17)

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.

I find it interesting that the most unbelievable miracle in this book is mentioned almost passively. This great fish is only mentioned in three verses of Jonah (Jonah 1:17, Jonah 2:1, Jonah 2:10).

As a side note - the great fish could be a whale or any other great fish - possibly even one that is now extinct - as this phrase simply refers to a large sea creature. We are not sure what it was. We just know it was large enough to swallow a man whole!

It is clear that the although many people think of Jonah and the great fish when they think of this book, the great fish isn’t the main focal point of the author. This lends to even more credibility of this book. It isn’t written as a fairy tale or fable or legend. If it was then there would be a lot of emphasis on this supernaturally sent great fish and Jonah’s survival in it. There would be paragraph after paragraph explaining the details of this part of the life of Jonah. Yet, the focal point is God working sovereignly despite man’s disobedience. The focus of this book isn’t the great fish. The focus is on the Lord.

Because it is the Lord who appointed this great fish to swallow up Jonah. Just when Jonah should have been left for dead because of his disobedience to the Lord, God brings about salvation in a unique way by appointing this great fish. This fish stands to represent the incredible mercy shown by Yahweh.

God Sovereignly Working in Jonah Chapter 1:

God has shown His control over the wind and the waves

His power over the ship

His power over the casting of the lot

His ability to make the pagan fear and respond to Him

And now He shows His sovereignty over His created sea creature

I think it is important for us to understand this first chapter in light of Jesus Christ. You might wonder why I would seem to pivot so quickly to the Savior. We have mentioned that Christ is the new and better Adam. Adam’s sin led to darkness and death in our world. Christ’s death has lead to eternal life for those who trust in Him.

Christ is also the new and better Jonah. See below:

Discuss this table in detail.

As we can see - Jonah needed a rescuer and Jesus is The Great Rescuer. And we need a rescuer as well. And Jesus is just that for us today.

My friends, God is still sovereignly rescuing lost souls today. Just as Jonah needed salvation in the sea that day - people need salvation today. There are a myriad of reasons that one should accept the salvation freely offered by grace through faith today. But here are just a few that parallel our reading today:

1. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

He is the Calmer of Storms. He is the peace in the midst of hurting. He can take your brokenness and make you a new creation.

2. Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).

He is the image of the invisible God. The shipmates of Jonah were crying out to gods that were not real - gods that they could not see or touch or understand. We have a physical God - God-made flesh as Jesus Christ who is tangible and we are given all about Him in His Word so that we may know Him intimately.

3. Jesus Christ is our solid rock (Matthew 7:24-27).

Our lives may be feel like we are a ship at sea with storms raging. Yet we have a Savior who is the solid rock that we can stand upon. He is immovable and dependable. He never breaks and never fails.

I could go on and on regarding the beauty and glory of our blessed Savior.

But I pray that you have put your faith and hope in our Sovereign Rescuer. The One who rescues us even in our disobedience. Even while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Repent - turn away from your sins - and turn toward our wonderful and merciful Savior. He is good.

Scripture References: Isaiah 9:6, Colossians 1:15, Matthew 7:24-27 Romans 5:8

Conclusion:

As we come to a close, I pray that you have a higher view of God’s sovereignty. God is intimately involved in this world. He didn’t just wind it up and let it lose. There was no big bang followed by random chance called evolution. God has, is, and will always be active in His creation.

I pray that each of you have been born again and rescued by Jesus Christ the Savior. The very word Savior means that there is something to be saved from. That something is an eternity in Hell separated from our Heavenly Father. Fall into the arms of the Savior of the World. Repent and turn toward Him.

If you have been saved, be sure you are walking in obedience to His will. Be quick to repent when you do fail to obey and fall into His arms of mercy. He is gracious and compassionate and will always be ready and willing to forgive repentant sinners.

Let us pray.

Prayer

If you would like to learn more about salvation through Jesus Christ or want to obey Jesus by obeying the first commandment of a believer in going through the waters of baptism - please let me know.

Have a blessed week.