Jonah 2:1-10 - Darkness and Distance
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Introduction:
Have you ever had a near death experience? Many people have. I had one last year. On September 27, 2021, I was rear-ended by a 20,000+ pound truck that was going around 60 mph while I was stopped behind a group of cars that had come to a halt because of a coal truck turning off of the road. At that moment, life slowed down. Everything was in slow motion. I saw the truck barreling toward me and my life flashed before my eyes. I was actually listening to a podcast at the time by a Christian radio host - Todd Friel - and had a good morning worshiping the Lord. I remember having the thought that at least I was going home at an opportune time when it came to serving the Lord!
The feeling of this being it seemed close at hand. As the truck hit me and the rear glass shattered and my would be totaled car spun out of control, I felt a lot like Jonah explained in his psalm of prayer in this chapter. Death was here for me. For me, however, it had been a good run so far. I wasn’t ready to leave my wife and kids behind, but I felt confident that I would be welcomed in by my Savior - not because of how great I was - but because of how great He was in saving my wretched soul.
Praise the Lord, He sovereignly protected me that early morning and the impact of the truck spun me out of the way so that I didn’t take the full brunt of the force. God graciously offered me an earthly form of salvation. Yet through it all, I was blessed with peace from God.
Jonah, however didn’t have that same peace as we start this second chapter. He was in rebellion to God at the time. He was not only in the darkness as he plunged to the depths of the sea - but he felt distance from his Creator because of his rebellion.
Today we are going to be in Jonah chapter 2. We are going to see that as he is plunging down into the sea and on the verge of death he finally turns to the Lord. Just when everything seems all but lost, the Lord responds in the depths of the sea with a surprising form of salvation.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Today we are going to discuss how God hears our prayers when we cry out to Him in humility. The first is:
I. The Lord Hears Your Prayers of Distress (1-2)
I. The Lord Hears Your Prayers of Distress (1-2)
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 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.
We mentioned last week that Jonah had yet to pray to the Lord throughout the entire ordeal on the ship. Despite the wind and storm being hurled by God at him… despite the ship threatening to break into pieces… despite the pleas from the ship crew… and even despite his imminent death - he had yet to pray. And so we finally see after he narrowly escapes death because of the mercy of God sending this great fish, Jonah prays to the Lord.
This word, ‘prayed,’ that we see in verse 1 is the usual formal Hebrew word for prayer. Other than here in verse 1 and in Jonah 4:2, the word used for speaking to God or the gods is call out throughout this book. This word is used to show the earnestness of Jonah truly praying to Yahweh. His stubborn will has finally been broken. It has taken him to the point of death to get to a point where he is ready to obey. Frankly, it has taken him to the point of death until he would even finally speak to God again!
And Jonah is praying from the belly of the fish. We can only imagine the mixed emotions he has when he starts this prayer. But he is going to reflect on what he went through after being thrown from the ship and plunged to the depths of the sea in this prayer psalm.
The author replaces the belly of the fish with the belly of Sheol in verse two. Jonah sees this great fish as the depths of death. As Price and Nida put it, Jonah had “one foot in the grave.” Sheol was a place of the death in Hebrew thinking. The idea of the afterlife was debated by early Hebrew scholars. There were many opinions on this and to go into great detail on this study would be impossible due to time constraints. However, Sheol was known as a place where the dead went. It was usually used in a negative light and had more of an idea of being eternally separated from God (although occasionally it was used as a reference just for death and the grave). Obviously Jesus clarified heaven and Hell in the New Testament. This was clarified because the Savior had come.
It was at this dark time - in the belly of the great fish or almost in the belly of Sheol that Jonah finally prayed.
It is amazing how rebellious people will finally call out when they are in despair or distress. It is sad that it takes such extreme trials to get some people to acknowledge and cry out to God. Jonah was one of these people. It took extreme measures to get him to cry out to God in prayer.
Many who suffer distress in life ask the question - Why does God allow suffering?
It is because of the suffering of man, the groaning of our earth that is subjected to sin (which is seen through tornadoes, flooding, hurricanes etc), and spiritual warfare that goes on around us that we sense that something isn’t right. We can only recognize that we are missing something (namely Christ) and that something isn’t right because of the suffering that we see around us.
So the short answer to why does God allow suffering is this:
If God removed all suffering, we would not see our need for a Savior.
Jonah is a great example of this fact. Jonah didn’t reach out until he experienced suffering. And sadly, many people do not reach out until they experience suffering as well.
Getting back to the end of verse two we this:
Jonah 2:2 (ESV)
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.
The beauty of this verse is seen in the last few words. And you heard my voice. Our God does hear us when we call out in humility to Him. And He responds with grace and mercy.
So we have seen that the Lord hears your prayers of distress… and He also...
Scripture References: Jonah 4:2; Genesis 3:22,24
II. The Lord Hears Your Prayers in the Depths (3-6)
II. The Lord Hears Your Prayers in the Depths (3-6)
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.’ 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; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
We have all heard of the phrase ‘rock bottom’ I am sure. We mention people that have to hit ‘rock bottom’ - meaning they have to experience horrible consequences of their sin in order to repent and turn to God.
Jonah was one such man as we see here. And he recognizes the sovereign hand of God who was the one who sovereignly sent this. He doesn’t say the ship crew threw him into the deep. He knows they were used by God so He says God threw him into the heart of the sea.
Jonah gives us a vivid detail of his experience in the depths of the ocean. Let’s break down a few of these:
The flood surrounded me
Your waves and billows pressed over me
The waters closed in over me to take my life
The deep surrounded me
Weeds were wrapped about my head
He was at the roots of the mountains.
He went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever
We see these 7 details about what he experienced. The flood surrounded him. If you have ever seen a flash flood then you know the water moves extremely quickly and takes everything in its path with it. It is devastating. We have just seen this in McDowell County, WV as they have experienced the devastating effects of flash flooding. Keep them in your prayers as we and other churches seek to help support them.
Then we see the waves and billows pressing over him. He is struggling to stay afloat. He cannot fight the raging waters that would calm within moments.
Soon after, the waters closed in over him and the deep surrounded him.
We will see some of the many parallels to Jonah’s prayer here and the book of Psalms as we study this section of Scripture. I will mention a few of them in passing but there are so many more if you would wish to study this on your own. Here we see a similar statement mentioned in Psalm 69:1 (the waters have come up to my neck). He was underwater at this point. He was plunging to his doom.
Finally we see weeds wrap around his head - meaning that he had reached toward the bottom of the sea at this point. This is similar language to Psalm 18:4 which states that cords of death encompassed me. He gives us the idea that the seaweed is threatening to choke him to death and finish him off.
The Mediterranean Sea is extremely deep at some points. We are not sure which part he was at when he sunk to the bottom. If he was closer to the coast (which is most likely) he could have been a few hundred feet down while further out to sea he could have been a few thousand feet down. The later would mean that he likely had ceased breathing and needed revived by the Lord. This would all be speculative but either way it shows the amazing power of God to save this man, Jonah, as we move forward.
We then see him mention being at the roots of the mountains. This may confuse many people, but if you look at this picture you might understand what he meant:
There are many mountains near the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. And their ‘root’ or their continuation, goes hundreds if not thousands of feet down into the depths of the sea.
And finally, he says that he went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. He is mentioning Sheol again. He was as good as dead. The bars symbolize the point of no return. Once you are in Sheol, there is no coming back.
But again, there is hope. Look at the end of verse 6:
Jonah 2:6 (ESV)
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.
God’s mercy shines again. Jonah’s life is brought up from the pit. As we saw already - God used this great fish to swallow up and save Jonah. Just when all hope was lost. Just when Jonah had resolved that Sheol had a hold of him - God shows up.
Our God is a faithful and merciful God. He always shows up with salvation to those who humbly call out to Him. No, that doesn’t mean you are always going to be healed or have your physical life saved when you cry out. But God does promise eternal life and salvation to those who call on Him. When you cry out to Him in the depths of sin and repent and believe and turn to Him - when you respond to His drawing and reproof - He will answer.
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
As God draws you through reproof, or afflictions, or by conviction - He promises to never cast you out.
Jesus goes even further to say the following in Matthew 12:20:
a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;
He will respond with grace and mercy to those who humble themselves before Him in times of need. He will respond with kindness to those who humbly come before Him in prayer.
How great is our God, my friends. He reaches down into the depths and pulls us out of the clutches of sin and death. If only we repent of our sins and turn toward Him in faith.
Next we see that...
Scripture References: Psalm 69:1, 18:4; John 6:37; Matthew 12:20
III. The Lord Hears Your Prayers of Despair (7-8)
III. The Lord Hears Your Prayers of Despair (7-8)
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
When his life was fainting away. Or as the NKJV puts it - when my soul was fainting away. Then He remembered the Lord and prayed. We see parallels with Psalms yet again here. Psalm 142:3 and Psalm 143:4 both have similar statements about one’s spirit or soul fainting away.
Again we see Jonah admit that it took desperate times for him to pray to God. And he understands that although God is everywhere, he views Him in His holy temple. This shows Jonah’s acknowledgement that God is the sovereign King who reigns over all.
Sadly, it took despair for Jonah to turn to the Lord. As we have been mentioning throughout this sermon, he had to hit rock bottom before turning to the Lord.
Despair is a difficult concept and thing for us to go through. It is the complete loss and absence of hope. Sometimes we reach this when we forget the Lord. When our life seems to be a mess and everything is going poorly.
What should we do in times of despair? We should, as Jonah finally did here, remember the Lord and pray to Him. We should acknowledge Him as the Sovereign God that He is and turn to Him in repentance and trust. We must see that forgetting the Lord is sin. When we despair and we lose all hope - we are in sin. Because we are, in essence, saying that God doesn’t have the power to intervene and help.
Paul gives us a great teaching on fighting against despair in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9:
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
Paul had gone through a lot in his life. He had been persecuted time and time again. He had been stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked multiple times, and beaten and flogged multiple times. Yet, he did not give in to despair. Instead he fought against it through the power of Christ.
As we see at the beginning of this second letter to the church in Corinth he understood the fight against despair and how to emerge victorious in it:
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
Paul had reached that point of despair and yet reached out and fully trusted in Christ. You can see his trust in Christ in verse 10 so clearly.
My friends, are you in despair today? Do you feel like there is no hope? Life can’t get any better than it is. Things will always be this bad. Those people will never like me. I’ll never find a wife or husband. I’ll always be left out when it comes to friends. I’ll never get the job that I want.
Maybe you, like Jonah, understand what it is like to feel distance in the darkness. You feel like you are in the depths of the sea and your soul is fainting away.
Take a step back and realize that these thoughts are nothing short than spiritual warfare from the enemy of your souls.
Anytime that you make a statement that has the word always or never in it - you really need to evaluate it for truth. The extreme nature of these words can cause us to make problems much bigger than they are. Very few times are situations that extreme. And situations are never without hope when it comes to Christ.
Our God is a God of hope:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
He uses His Holy Spirit to give us that hope and help us live an abundant life.
I encourage each of you to not give into the thoughts of despair that might creep up in life. Jesus Christ is our living hope (1 Peter 1:3). There is always hope with God.
And Jonah finishes verse 8 with a statement that idols will never bring hope in the midst of despair. Just as the ship crew so recently saw - false gods are idols that have no power. It is only God that provides hope. And it is only God who provides deliverance as we see in our next point...
Scripture References: Psalm 142:3,143:4; 2 Corinthians 4:8-9; 2 Corinthians 1:8-10; Romans 15:13; 1 Peter 1:3
IV. The Lord Hears Your Prayers in Deliverance (9-10)
IV. The Lord Hears Your Prayers in Deliverance (9-10)
But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
We reach the climax or the high point, of the Psalm here. We have been seeing the difficulty and despair that Jonah had faced in his plunging to the depths of the ocean. But salvation has come.
Jonah now gives thanks to the Lord and vows to sacrifice to the Lord. He acknowledges Yahweh as his Savior.
Smith and Page in their commentary on Jonah state:
Salvation belongs to the Lord!
‘It is correct to say that this line may serve as the key verse in the book.’
- Smith and Page (NAC Commentary on Jonah)
It is apparent that Jonah remembers Psalm 3:8 when he says this:
Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah
He has recalled the Psalms multiple times in his prayer. Knowing the Word of God helps our prayer life immensely. So far there have not been a lot of learning points from Jonah - but this certainly is one!
Getting to our final verse:
And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
This salvation has come in the extremely unconventional way of being through a great fish appointed by God to swallow Jonah and now commanded by God to vomit Jonah out. And Jonah was vomited out on dry land. Presumably, he was vomited back out on the shores of Palestine. His intense journey had brought him back to where he started. Back on the shoreline of Palestine. And close to the place where God had spoken to him once before.
Isn’t that how sin works? Rebellion against God is like running on a treadmill. You won’t get anywhere. Sure, you will have plenty of negative consequences, but you will never run far enough to get away from God. He chases down those who are His. What a blessing that is.
And He hears your prayers in deliverance.
Scripture References: Psalm 3:8; John 14:6, Matthew 11:30;
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, there are some very important takeaways for us today.
God is sovereign and can deliver a soul even in the worst of circumstances.
If God can save Jonah, God can save you. No one is too bad or too far off to be saved. You only must respond in faith and repentance and eternal life offered freely.
2. Don’t run from God.
We learn quickly from this account that running from God is useless and only brings trouble. Even as believers we can run from God at times. We can run from His callings on our lives as we have mentioned recently. May you learn from Jonah that God will not be disobeyed for long. He will reprove and discipline those who are His.
3. Turn to God alone for salvation.
Nothing and no one else offers salvation. No idols, pleasures, or possession in this world offer salvation. It is only found through Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead three days later. He is only way of salvation (John 14:6).
4. There is always hope with Jesus.
You may be on the verge of giving up. You might feel like life isn’t worth living. You might feel like just going into your shell and not leaving your home because you can’t take another hurt in your life. Know that there is always hope with Jesus. Find your contentment and joy in Him. He will never leave or forsake you. His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). As the Psalmist so beautifully asserts:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Turn to Him my friends. He never fails.
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.