The Depths of Mercy

Jonah 1:17-2:10

I thought this passage was incredibly straightforward. I confess I have become, despite how long it took me, a Hebrew nerd and this passage is incredibly fun to translate. This is clearly a psalm, in when we pick this apart it is a patchwork of several psalms and other Biblical poetry stitched together. It is interesting that at Jonah’s lowest moment, he chooses to pray through song. But fittingly, the more that I studied, the deeper and deeper this passage gets.

I think we get to this part and traditionally we make this about the miracle of Jonah surviving three days. So many people focus on this and want to make it into an apologetics sermon. But I think if we do that we’ve missed the forest of grace for the whale shaped tree. Rather, my aim this morning is for us to see that despite our sin, God has poured out His mercy on those who call out to Him.

First, we need to realize that Jonah’s condition is hopeless. Jonah was thrown in to the sea, and considered as good as dead. You’ll remember last time we saw his trajectory from his home to Joppa, then into the boat has been downward and this seems to be the end for him. The seaweed is wrapping around his head, he’s having to hold his breath. He is not able to swim up and get to the surface, he’s too far down. This to me is terrifying. I can think of very few worse ways to die than to drown. Jonah is clearly in dire straights.

This seems like an obvious statement, but we need to properly understand the Hebrew view of the earth and the sea. we typically view the sea as the just a large body of water that separates the land. It is just a geographical feature to us, a natural occurence. But the Hebrews at the time would’ve seen a spiritual aspect to the sea. The flood waters, the sea, the waves, are seen as the great primordial waters that God tamed in his work of creation. Therefore, they are a place of chaos, evil, darkness, and death. The sea is also the way to Sheol, the place of the dead. It is the land where there is only darkness and once there, you could not escape. Jonah sings about the bars of the land of Sheol closing on him. One commentator notes, “Sheol is at the opposite theological extreme to Yahweh, and the dominant feature for its inhabitants is their separation from him.”

So then we see that Jonah’s condition is totally hopeless both physically and in this almost cosmic sort of sense. We can almost hear the desperation in his words. He is in the belly of the land of the dead. He is doomed. But not only is his condition hopeless, he’s also under the divine judgement or discipline of God. In v.3 he rightly acknowledges that the Lord has put him here. He sees that while yes the sailors have played a part, God threw the storm, God made the lot fall. Jonah can run, he can leave Israel. He can get on a boat, the Lord is running after him. Not only that, but he calls the waves and flood waters God’s. And this is a fairly common use of imagery that we see, especially when it comes to Biblical poetry. Water is used a sign of divine judgement.

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.”

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

Psalm 69:1-2 “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.”

Exodus 15:4-5 ““Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.”

This clarifies the picture of the psalm for us. Jonah understands that his hopeless condition is something God has brought onto Him because of his sin. It is the Lord’s discipline. And this is the irony of Jonah. He is dying physically. He is slowly fading into the land of darkness. He will not escape. And this is Lord’s holy and just discipline. His condition is hopeless. This is why he can summarize it by saying “I am driven away from from your sight.” I am alone. I am cut off.

This is what a proper look at ourselves does to us. Jonah, as we’ve seen already through the book, runs because he doesn’t believe that the Assyrians deserve God’s mercy. He knows that if he goes and preaches to them, it is likely they will repent and God will not destroy them. But i think at some level it is because Jonah believes that he is righteous and they aren’t. But this is the irony that we see. Jonah has been the one most rebellious against God. He is the one that has run from the God and the pagans have been the ones making vows and honoring God, calling out to him. And this should cause us to pause and if we have a proper view of our sin. It is so tempting, especially for us as believers, even more so if you’re like me and grew up in the church. It’s so tempting to think that we’re the good and faithful ones who have through our lives merited the favor of God by our actions and our obedience. But that’s not the reality. No we are the broken, we too are the rebellious. When we properly understand our sin we find that we too face judgement.

But God does not leave Jonah, nor does He leave us drowning in the sorrow of our sin. This isn’t a dirge. Jonah isn’t singing the blues here. This isn’t a protest song. This is a song of thanksgiving. When Jonah is about to die and has gotten to is lowest point he remembers God. He remembers that God is his God and he cries out to Him, in his distress, in his desperation, in the pit of the land of the dead, Jonah says “I called out to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried out in the belly of Sheol and He heard me.” That this means for Jonah, and by extension you, though we were drowning in the water of God’s judgement, we are also in the depths of an ocean of mercy. God does not leave Jonah to die and descend any further into the pit, but appointed a great fish to come and rescue him. God pours out his mercy and in His sovereign grace rescued Jonah and delivered him, even when he didn’t deserve it.

Perhaps this morning you’re dealing with your sin. There’s that one sin that you just can’t shake. You have tried and tried to kill it but it just keeps coming back. It can be anything: pride, jealousy, lust, anger, greed, fill in the blank where the Spirit digs. It’s that one sin that you hate. You find yourself so often drawn to it, giving in to it, finding it delightful, and then feeling wrecked by guilt. And so often you find yourself committing it and then disgusted at yourself for winding right back to the same place you swore you wouldn’t get to again. But here you are, another week and you’re still drowning. And it claws at you. It hangs over you, it tells you, there is no hope. This is your lot. you are too far away from God. You are driven away from Him. And you are desperate, gasping for air, and the situation seems hopeless.

The good news of the Gospel for you this morning is that Christ has come. God has sent Christ, the greater prophet, the perfect Son. He has, like Jonah descended to the place of death in your place. He has taken the judgement waters of God for you, so that by faith in Him you are forgiven. Christ has come to preach and bring salvation to His people who know they don’t deserve it but find it anyway.

I’ve struggled for weeks wrestling with this passage because I know where we’re going. I know that in the next few chapters Jonah still doesn’t extend grace to Nineveh. I’ve been wrestling with does Jonah actually repent here. Commentators are all over the place and it’s incredibly frustrating. I thought I landed. Up until last night, I’ve read this passage and notice that Jonah never actually say, “I’ve sinned forgive me.” And especially when we read v.8-9 it can be read as if Jonah is still leaning on this idea that he was good. They worship idols but I, no I will pay what I vowed.” And where I think I’ve landed is this- Salvation belongs to the Lord. I’ve sat for a week like Jonah, upset that somehow his repentance isn’t good enough for my standard, when at the end of the day neither is mine.

No, God saves, even when our repentance isn’t flowery enough. God brings salvation to everyone who calls out to Him. Which means you are now free to be desperate. You are free to come to him not with your merits. Not with your credentials, but with distress and desperation in your failures, in your sin, you can call out to Him, and he hears you. You are free to look to Jesus and his steadfast love and find mercy and find peace. You are free to have nothing to bring Him except your sins, and find forgiveness.