Jonah and the Great Commission Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Jonah and the Great Commission, Part 2: Salvation Belongs to the Lord
God responds to repentance Repentance Restores Restored = Revival
As we saw last week, Jonah, after being called to preach to the people of Nineveh, tried to avoid the job and instead went in the other direction. Jonah didn't want to bring the message of God because he did not want the people he was called to preach to repent and be forgiven by God. This is clear in chapter 4, and we will get there in the coming weeks. The Assyrians, whose capital was Nineveh, were an enemy and very brutal people.
So Jonah avoided his call to bring the message, and we looked at how we have something in common with Jonah: We are given the Great Commission, a charge to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, the need for repentance and the forgiveness that follows, and like Jonah, we often would rather not bring the message to people we don’t feel moved to share with.
We also saw that God was not accepting Jonah’s resignation. As with many of the reluctant men and women God has used for his purposes, Jonah declined the offer, so to speak. In this case, though, God wasn't giving him a choice in the matter. He used miraculous means to get Jonah’s attention.
We ended last week by seeing the pagan men who threw Jonah overboard greatly affected by this event, and their acknowledgement of the power of the God of the Hebrews.
Today, we see what happens after Jonah is thrown from the boat. Chapter one ends on the boat, and chapter 2 begins in the water. Now as I have studied this passage, I have found that what I have always understood about Jonah’s time in the fish is not universally accepted as the truth. Certainly, one of the first things that agnostics or atheists will go after when attacking Christians for what they call superstitious beliefs is the story of Jonah.
Impossible! they say. It could not have happened that way. Everyone knows that a man cannot be alive in a fish for three days. The Christian answers, I believe in a God that is all-powerful, and He causes miracles to happen. Or, they will dig up some stories of men who have supposedly been swallowed alive, and the fish or whale caught later with the man alive inside. There are some stories like this, but is that the best explanation of what happened?
In the cases like this, the men were unconscious. I remember seeing a picture of Jonah in the whale. There he sits at a table, writing by candlelight. A bed is close by. It seems like a rather comfortable place to be. It is probably images like this that cause the skeptics who don’t believe in the supernatural to laugh. Other images show Jonah next to a roaring fire in the whales belly. And then there’s veggietales, and other cartoon depictions of a very unrealistic scenario.
We tend to focus on that which we don’t understand, and this whole story has factors that are difficult to explain. Even in the stories out there that claim a man survived inside of a fish or whale, it was not for three days, and the men were unconscious. If they weren’t, their fear and struggle would possibly cause them to suffocate. Being unconscious, they wouldn't struggle and perhaps that kept them alive.
So was Jonah conscious or unconscious? There is another option. J. Vernon McGee wrote a book on this other option, and he was absolutely convinced that this was the truth. You see, J. Vernon McGee, and others as well, believe that Jonah was not conscious, but that he was dead. The miracle then, was not simply that the fish was provided to keep Jonah alive for the three days, but rather that the fish simply carried around Jonah’s dead body until The real miracle, Jonah’s resurrection, was to happen.
The more I have looked into this position, the more plausible seemed, but this is not the majority position, many scholars believe he was alive in the fish. Either way, the message remains the same: God is sovereign. God will see His purposes come about. God is gracious. Even when we are not following His will, he gives us opportunity. He gives us grace.
We know that Jesus believed in Jonah. It is recorded that He mentioned him three times. One of those times, Jesus was being asked for a sign to prove himself. Jesus knows that giving a sign to these particular people will not cause them to believe, and he says: Matthew 12:39–40
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
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.
Those who believe that Jonah was alive in the fish say that Jesus is only comparing the length of time that Jonah was in the whale to the length of time that Jesus was in the tomb. Those who believe that Jonah died and was resurrected say that Jesus is making a literal comparison here. The question is whether Jesus, in this particular situation, is speaking in metaphor, or whether he is being more literal. Obviously, some metaphor exists. A fish and a tomb are not the same thing. It is a comparison.
But other than location, what is the comparison here? Did Jesus mean “Jonah, alive for three days in the fish, came back out, but I will be dead for three days, and then come alive” or was he saying “Jonah, who was dead and his body in the fish, was raised from the dead and released from the fish, and I will be dead three days and then will be alive again and released from the tomb.”
Well, it isn't an easy thing to answer. Very intelligent and sincere bible scholars have studied this issue. Some conclude that Jesus was directly comparing his death and resurrection to Jonah’s death and resurrection, and some conclude that Jonah was alive, and that it was a minor comparison that Jesus made, alluding only to the period of time. So there are three elements of what Jesus said:
TIME: THREE DAYS
PLACE: FISH, TOMB
STATUS: ALIVE, DEAD
The first one, time, provides no area of dispute. Pretty much everyone agrees that Jesus was being literal when he compared the length of time. The second is also without dispute. Jesus was clearly using the fish as a metaphor for the grave. His tomb was not a fish, nor was Jonah’s fish a literal tomb. So the remaining point is the one that is up for debate, so to speak. Was Jesus being literal in his comparison to Jonah, or using metaphor? This question requires one to be able to someone know the mind of Christ as he spoke these words. If Jesus were the only one who spoke on this, we would have a hard time deciding whether Jesus meant.
How could we know? Well, we could look at what Jewish rabbis believed. Remember that the book of Jonah is included in the Christian canon of scripture, or in other words, the books we believe are authoritative, because it was first authenticated by Jewish scholars. So what did they believe about Jonah?
Well, there is a wide variety of understandings of the Jonah story, some of which go far beyond what scripture tells us. There are beliefs that there were multiple fish, that Jonah was in a male fish and then a female fish, there are beliefs that this was just a legend, there are beliefs that take it very literally, and there are both the belief that Jonah was alive inside the fish and that he died and was resurrected. So Jewish tradition can not give us anything conclusive here. Sorry.
So finally, we can see what Jonah himself wrote. Most scholars believe that Jonah wrote this account himself. So after he was thrown overboard, we see chapter 2. And what you believe about whether Jonah was alive in the fish or dead, will affect how you interpret this recorded prayer of Jonah.
1. God Responds to Repentance
Jonah 2:1–10 (ESV)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,
Here in verse one is already a point to debate. “He prayed from the belly of the fish!” you say, “This shows he was alive”. Yes, but when did he pray this prayer? Was it on the third day, the first moment, when did he pray? Did he sit at his little table and write out the prayer?
Well, those who believe that Jonah died in the fish would say that he prayed this prayer of thanksgiving after being resurrected. There is a prayer within a prayer here. Jonah’s prayer of thanksgiving here is in part because of an answered prayer that he is recalling. So it could be that the prayer within the prayer was prayed as he was drowning and being swallowed, and that after coming back to life, he records this prayer. Or it could be that the prayer was after his body had died, and his soul was separated. I’ll read, you decide:
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.
Sheol is the grave. Jonah is clearly saying he cried out from the grave. Here again we have to decide whether the language is metaphor or literal. If it is literal, then we can conclude that Jonah was indeed dead at this point, and that he was calling out to God. If we insist he was alive, then we must say he is speaking metaphorically, which would mean he is comparing his situation to being in the grave.
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.
This is probably literal, this would describe what happens when a man is drowning. However, Hebrew language does sometimes use these type of descriptors for death as well.
Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
Here we see a statement of faith. Jonah believes that God is gracious, and though he is driven from God’s sight now, he will worship again in the temple. Jonah would be well aware that nowhere can one be out of God’s sight, but this may indicate that he realizes that what is happening is a disciplinary action to bring about his obedience.
The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head
Again, we see that death was coming. Jonah seems to be describing his last moments, whether his last moments before death or before the fish swallows him.
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.
This is clearly the language of death. The root of the mountains means underground, in the grave. Some believe that the roots of the mountains refers to the bottom of the sea, where Jonah was quickly heading. He went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. This is clearly language indicating that Jonah is saying he was dead. Some say this only refers to spiritual death, but I don’t believe this can be the case, because Jonah shows enough signs of repentance to cause me to believe he is not spiritually dead.
Point 2: Repentance Restores
You brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. Clearly, Jonah feels he has been brought from death to life. Whether this is metaphorical or literal is not conclusive.
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
Again, he refers to a prayer as he was dying. How many times, when we are facing death or very difficult circumstances, do we call out to God? Even agnostic people revert to calling to God when their life is threatened. Not only is Jonah recalling the prayer, he is stating a belief that he was heard. No matter where we are or what our circumstance, God hears sincere prayers.
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. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
Certainly, Salvation belongs to the Lord. Whether Jonah literally dies and was resurrected, or he was alive and experienced a spiritual revival, the point is that the Lord is gracious towards us. No matter what we do to disappoint Him, if we are truly repentant, and want to move forward, then He will forgive and restore us. Jonah ran from God, and even though God had to deal with him severely to get his attention, Jonah did respond to the grace of God that came through a disciplinary measure.
God loves his children enough to discipline them and get them back on track. AS the writer to the Hebrews tells us, that no discipline we receive from God is more than what Christ endured. God loves us enough to discipline us and to get us back on track.
Hebrews 12:3–17 (ESV)
Do Not Grow Weary
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 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.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
You see, it is the love of God that He desires us to go His Holy way. The Great Commission is ours, and we are to make disciples. We are to call others to repentance, to holiness, to righteousness. We are to share the love of God that both offers hope to the broken hearted and loving discipline to those who fall away. God doesn't want anyone to perish, and he calls each of us to help in that work. Jonah was put into an extraordinarily awful circumstance, from which he was restored to his office of prophet. This did not bring perfection, as we will see in chapter 4, but God works in us and through us for His glory.
None of us are perfect. No one here knows their bible as well as we should. However, if we wait until we have all the information before ever taking a step of faith in sharing the gospel and making disciples and holding one another accountable, we will wait too long. If our hearts are against those who God calls us to preach to, he just may need to break our hearts to prepare us to serve Him better. And that is because He loves enough and cares enough for us to discipline us.
Our final point is the conclusion:
Restored = revival
And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Recently we sang the song “And can it be”. One line from that song is: “My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee.”
It would be easy for us to look at Jonah and say, “yes, but he only went after he tried to flee from God. He went reluctantly”. Well, of course this is true, but many believers, while making that point, forget that they as well were once opposed to God. Many will say they were never opposed to God. Yet, this may not be true. Even though we may not have been rabid atheists, we were opposed to God until He drew us to himself through the power of His Word and the Holy Spirit convicting us of our sins and convincing us of the truth.
Just as the LORD spoke to the fish and caused it to vomit Jonah out upon the dry land, He spoke to our hearts. He took our hard hearts, which were totally opposed to hi, His righteousness, His ways, and made them hearts of flesh:
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Our own hearts held us captive, just as that fish held Jonah captive, and yet, in our opposition to Him, He graciously remade our hearts and desires. So what is our desire, if we say we are in Christ, that we are believers unto salvation, that we are the elect who were chosen from before time begin, that we are those whom he has lavished His grace upon?
Yet how many of us, like Jonah, are often so repelled by the sin of the world that we have no desire to see the sinful raised to life in Christ? If we are honest, would we not admit that when we see true wickedness, our first thought is not always that we hope that person hears the gospel and responds? Don’t we, like Jonah, often rather wish the wrath of God would destroy those people right now?
And yet, scripture tells us that the city rejoices when the wicked perish. So how do we hate evil, and fight against evil, and at the same time obey this commandment, this great Commission, which tells us to make disciples?
We can only do so empowered by the Holy Spirit. He empowers us to be his witnesses. He empowers us to live a holy life. He empowers us to understand God’s Word better and better. He empowers us to serve. This is, the Bible teaches, the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, who lives in us. What more power do we need?
Perhaps it is a matter of motivation. Perhaps we don’t share the same love for the lost that Jesus does. What then? We must pray that God increase our love for the lost, increase our zeal for the kingdom, increase our craving for righteousness.
There is a whole world of lost people, and they aren’t just off in some far-off land, they are right next door, right across the street, right in the next cubicle at work, in the next booth at the restaurant, in the car next to you at the stop light, everywhere we go, there are people who are lost and are heading to hell unless God intervenes in their life with the gospel message, and God has so ordained it that His message is given by people. Simple people who were once lost themselves, and were shown the way, and now eagerly show the way to others.
Yet, like Jonah, we often flee from this task we are charged with. So what will we do, as individuals, as Oasis Church? What we will we do to reach the lost among us in our community? We need connection to people, yes. But we need proclamation. You see, we can do good deeds all day long, smile at folks, open doors for people, show them the utmost courtesy, but unless they hear, they will not believe.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Would you say, “but I am not a preacher?”. Every believer can preach in this sense: that you share the gospel that you believed with others. Every now and then I buy some product that is really great. Or the price was really great. I’m sure you may have done this as well. You want to tell everyone about this because it brought some improvement to your life. How much more ought we to desire to share the good news of Jesus with those around us?