Following God (4)

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.

These phrases first of all seem to indicate that Jonah was not fed hand to mouth to the fish. He did actually make a splash. These phrases seem to imply that Jonah experienced things before he great fish swallowed him. It’s interesting that Jonah is able to recall these thoughts and was certainly aware of what was happening as he sank to his death bed. The descriptive way he writes. Recalling even the seaweed and the landscape like mountains deep in the ocean. We know men cannot last long while holding their breath but even so it probably felt like eternity. Many of us have had those close near to death experiences where it seems almost like everything slows down and we are very aware of what all our thoughts were and what we said, and how we felt. This was Jonah’s experience. Obviously these are not joyful thoughts. But rather stated in a gloomy way.

Then it indeed seems like it got a lot worse for him in that he was swallowed up in that time frame by the fish where he spent 3 days and nights in the fish.

Couple misconceptions occur when we read and think about this event.

Bible never says it was a whale, but a great fish. It could have been a whale but that’s not certain. Can creates all variety of sea creates, some we’ve never even seen.

Jonah was not in just some dark place on some raft in the belly of the fish. He was not simply chilling out. He wasn’t even writing this prayer. There was likely no lantern, no paper and ink, no place to even write. That’s the common misconceptions. It was an awful experience. The belly of any fish is meant for one purpose. Not a holding tank. Not a ride on a bus. It’s purpose was for digesting and decomposing objects to give nutrients to the fish. Jonah was being decomposed alive in the belly. Jonah quite possibly is describing this event in verse 7 when he says that my life was fainting away. In fact, he called it the belly of Sheol or in other words, the belly of death. Acids, stench, darkness, tearing away at his life itself. In fact, that is quite possibly as some commentators put it, why Jonah’s message was so well received after he was spit out. He would have still been bleached, and scared from the experience of being in the fish. Perhaps still may have smelt of it too.

This is an actual event. Some think that the impossibility of this is why we should write it off as simply an allegory or tale for some life lesson to be learned. But that is not at all how Jesus viewed it. He told it as actual event even likening his own death to it.

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.

Even though this was an absolutely horrific event in Jonah’s life, the question is what was the purpose of this great fish? Was it really to ultimately punish Jonah. Was God’s delight in putting Jonah through all kinds of agony because he turned his back on God. Is this divine revenge.No, ultimately the purpose of the great fish was to be Jonah’s life boat.... physically as we will see that his life is spared.... but most importantly spiritually.

And we can see that quite literally here.

Jonah 2:5 ESV

The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head

A more literal translation would imply that the waters were to literally take his own soul.

Jonah 2:5 KJV 1900

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: The depth closed me round about, The weeds were wrapped about my head.

The word here is nepes (neh-fesh). Its meaning and usage is self, life, soul, mind, emotion, passions,etc. In other words, it is describing the whole person, not just the physical shell we possess but the inner being of what makes us a person. So Jonah is quite literally saying that both his physical being and his spiritual side were greatly hurting to the point of death. This shows us that indeed the sin he had caused brought him great burden and hurt.

Some of us again question God’s methods. Why did God chose to rescue Jonah this way both from his physical circumstance and his spiritual circumstance? Why did he chose something so retched, so awful?

Why couldn’t God have used a different means? God knows what is best in order to reclaim our wayward hearts. He knows what is best! We may hate it but this is exactly what we need. This is exactly what Jonah needed not only to be saved from physical death but more importantly spiritual death. Those 3 days in the belly of the fish were the most healing days of Jonah’s life. More so than any hospital could have ever given. Sure his physical was fading away but his spirit was becoming whole again. Where once he was thriving physically but was dying spiritually now the tables were being turned and boy did it change his outlook. The best medicine is heart medicine provided from the Lord.

Doesn’t that resemble what Paul’s emphasis was in his letter to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 ESV

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Jonah was being healed in that belly. An awful affliction but an affliction that brings eventually brings life.

This is the cycle God has designed for us; he wants us to die so we can live.

Let me describe for you a unique plant that depicts this well. It’s called the gorse bush. A british aritist and protestant missionary Lilias Trotter wrote of this plant describing these concepts. She wrote…

“The whole year round the thorn on the gorse bush has been hardening and sharpening. Spring comes and the thorn does no drop off; it does not soften. There it is as uncompromising as ever, but halfway up appear two brown fuzzy balls, mere specks at first, that break at last straight out of last year’s thorn — into a blaze of golden glory.” Glory to God! What a mighty God we serve that turns thorns into a blaze of golden glory! Yes! In your life too, God will turn THORNS TO THRONES! Notice from the narration above that the Gorse Bush produces a flower that grows right out of the thorns. Yes! The Thorn Uses The Whole Year To Grow Harder And Sharper And Doesn’t Bow To Any Pressure! The Holy Ghost wants you to know that it is thorns (tough, difficult and hard times) that produces your crown and the gold in you. Just like the gorse bush, sometimes in life, thorns (trials) beautify your life. Vs. 10 of today’s Word says: “But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” God uses thorns, trials, tough times and even disappointments, etc, as His raw materials to bring out your goal. Without THORNS, there would be no plant called, ‘Gorse Bush.’ No matter how the year has been and no matter your life’s story, always tell yourself: “This Thorn Shall Beautify Me At Last, It Shall Bring Forth My Blaze Of Divine Glory.” As you close, remember that it was the thorn in the flesh of Apostle Paul that was used to multiply the grace of God in his life and ministry! Hold on and Hold out!

This is what Christ modeled for us. A life of affliction… a man of sorrows was his name. But from his life came also abundant life. Through his death came also resurrection and eternal life.

This was how we came to Christ, die to ourselves, but it’s also how we continually grow and flourish into Christ’s likeness until we do indeed physically die. Death to self is how we grow.

As Jesus even taught us.

John 12:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

If we did more dying, we’d probably feel more alive than ever. Because, like the gorse bush, the flower will blossom from the thorn.

2. Jonah’s Repentance

Now let me just point out to you another important concept and I will address it in the form of a question. If we are viewing the great fish as God’s gracious act of rescuing Jonah, when did God rescue Jonah, before or after his repentance? In other words, did God wait for Jonah to get his “act together” before he rescued him?

a). What Came First: Rescue or Repentance?

In some sense we could say yes to both since Jonah wasn’t fully rescued or delivered from his physical circumstances until after he was spat upon the land. Had he remained in the belly, it would have killed him. Yet it is in the belly of the fish that Jonah prayed his prayer of repentance. Jonah 2:1

Jonah 2:1 ESV

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

However, had God waited for Jonah’s repentance first before rescuing him, Jonah would have been a dead man at the bottom of the sea and we know what dead men cannot do. Dead men tell no tales. Jonah’s story would have never been told or at least much of the story would be vastly different. This physical rescue shadows the spiritual rescue that took place. God did not wait for Jonah to repent first before restoring Jonah spiritually. No God acted first when God changed his heart in the belly of the fish.

It much resembles our own rescue and salvation.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The truth is, we would not repent if Christ did not first begin His saving work in us. Scripture is pretty clear that we were lost, alienated, enemies of God, dead in our trespasses and sins, unable to even understand the truth and then the great phrase BUT GOD who is rich is mercy… etc. When we understand this, it’s no longer good job Mike for making the right decision, you deserve some measure of credit. Nope, God deserves all credit because every part of this salvation belongs to Him to us.

He gave us His son, then just didn’t turn it over to us… no the Bible is pretty clear how we began this work in us. He convicted the world of sin. John 16:8 through the Holy Spirit, that’s why we pray, God draw these unsaved souls to you, but we don’t pray well God I hope that these guys will come to their own senses. That they on their own would make the right choice. No, we plead with God the Holy Spirit to do a work in their life. We know that we can sow and we can water all we want, but it’s only God that can bring the increase.

So He convicts the world of sin, but it is only He that can soften hearts as well because before Christ that Bible says that our hearts are hardened in the deceitfulness of sin. They are literally cemented in and we need a divine sledge hammer to bust it open.

I really like what John Piper says about this. He begins with this verse from Ezekiel about the new heart covenant.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Then he says,

So, the point in those passages is that God must do the decisive, miraculous heart transplant, heart replacement. If we are going to escape the hardness and deadness of that heart, the old heart has to be taken out, a new heart has to be put in — and we can’t do that surgery on ourselves. That is the point. This is God’s sovereign, gracious, saving work, and the effect of it is new, tender, obedient love toward God. And Deuteronomy puts it a little differently: “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6). So, if we are going to ever turn around, stop hating God and start loving God, he has to do that heart transplant and that heart circumcision.

He does go on to describe that’s it not simply having God do everything, there are commands in scripture that do include our involvement. As Piper says, “God is the decisive cause of unhardening my heart, but my acting is a real, essential part of the miracle taking place.”

Again God convicts the world of sin through the Holy Spirit, he unhardens our hearts by giving us a new heart (one that actually wants to serve him), and He also gives us the faith to believe. Ephesians 2:8-9 tell us where this faith comes from.

Ephesians 2:8–9 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.

Faith is not of your own doing. In fact, where does faith come from. It is from the fruit that only the Spirit can produce. Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

God is still the factor, the most essential factor. There can be no change apart from God. He is the cause and most importantly the initial cause of that transformation.

So we are reminded of God’s grace in our rescue because our rescue, or at least the beginning of our rescue starts even before we repent.

Now real quick, we should talk about what real repentance is, and Jonah’s pray hits alot of the marks.

b) What is Genuine Repentance?

- Cry of need for God

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.

It is interesting that much of these verses resemble in remarkable close ways the prayers of confession by David and other writers of the Psalms.

Psalm 18:6 ESV

In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 3:4 ESV

I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

I think that it reminds us and even proves to us that our prayers of repentance out to follow not just principles but even exact examples. So that we address God in the right way. Jonah here, without any paper, or book, or light, is able to recall to memory the scriptures that were written from the Psalms, remember that David came well before Jonah as Jonah served much later after the kingdoms had already split.

Anyway, we out to know as our biblical examples remind us that repentance starts with a humble recognition that we have are in desperate need of God. We are not capable of helping ourselves. We need the almighty’s power and grace to change our lives. But simply calling out to Him isn’t enough. We need to be specific and especially specific with where we have fallen. Where we have missed the mark. We need to agree with God about our sin. And that comes through…

- Admittance of our specific sin

Jonah 2:8 ESV

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

- Remembering of God’s character

Jonah 2:7 ESV

When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.

Jonah 2:8 ESV

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

- Acknowledging of God’s righteous ways

Jonah 2:3 ESV

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.

It wasn’t the sailors that cast him into the sea. It was God. Part of repentance is accepting the punishment that we are receiving. That is what Jonah is doing. He’s accepting His punishment as punishment from the Divine. And He’s yielding to whatever God has for him in His punishment.

It’s tough for us to accept punishment. We hate it. But it’s proof that we understand that the consequences of our sin and mistakes. It’s proof that we agree with God’s righteous standards.

- Commitment to change

Jonah 2:9 ESV

But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

3. God’s Renewal

What happens when true repentance occurs (or rephrase it when is repentance true repentance or what is the fruit of genuine repentance?)

This is interesting but when was the Jonah’s prayer? In the belly of the fish, we’ve already discussed but is details we left out earlier. Notice, how the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2 go. Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and 3 nights, THEN JONAH PRAY. At first I though of verse 17 of chapter one to be more of an overview of what happened and chapter 2 is the details during that time, but it seems that from the way these 2 verses flow that Jonah’s prayer here is after he had spent the 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the fish. Now it’s very likely that Jonah prayed alot during his time in the fish, but those prayers were likely different than this prayer at the end of the 3 days and nights. What is unique about Jonah’s prayer in chapter. It’s filled with fruits of repentance in it. And what fruits do we see.

a). Hope and Assurance

Jonah 2:4 ESV

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

Assurance that he would escape this imprisonment.

Why would he have this hope?

Because He knew that God had answered him.

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.

Jonah 2:7 ESV

When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.

He knew that God heard his prayers and had answered him. And when did he acknowledge that God heard him. In the belly of the fish. He acknowledged God’s answered prayer while he was in the fish as verse 2 tells us. How did Jonah know God answered Him, simply put, because of the hope and assurance that God had filled his heart with.

Furthermore, Jonah heart bare the fruit of genuine repentance through his thanksgiving.

b). Thanksgiving

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.

If you or I were in the belly of the fish, I’m sure we wouldn’t appreciate our circumstances very well and would give lots of reasons and complaints as to why, yet fruit of Jonah’s heart revealed that he no longer viewed this fish as his eventual death bed and torture but as his lifeboat and he gave thanks for it. You brought my life from the pit.

c). Joyful and Willing Obedience

Jonah 2:9 ESV

But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Two points prove this. First of all, he sacrificed to the Lord. Not just any sacrifice but a sacrifice with a great voice of thankgiving. It wasn’t done this sacrifice out of ritual but out of joy and desire. Just like the sailors had done when God saved them from the storm, Jonah too also made a sacrifice for the Lord as is fitting with the situation. Of course, I don’t believe this to have been done in the great fish for where would he have gotten the material or items needed to make a fire or an offering. This was likely after he was vomited out.

Second, he promises to uphold his vow.

This is a critical part in proving our repentance is genuine. In fact, Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary has a wonderful definition of repentance. In its fullest sense, it is a term for a complete change of orientation involving a judgment upon the past and a deliberate redirection for the future. True biblical repentance goes beyond remorse, regret, or feeling bad about one’s sin. It involves more than merely turning from sin but also turning to something else. A cleansing from unrighteousness and a clinging to what is righteous. 180 degree turn. And we do see that in Jonah’s life. He did obey. He probably still didn’t understand why and there was still probably apart of him that didn’t want to, but he did obey. Eventually that desire to not be apart of this thing in Nineveh would eventually overwhelm him again and cause him to vere way of course, but here, in this moment, his heart was bent of loving and obeying God and that’s why we did what He did.

We do what we do because we want what we want.

So this is no longer the prayer of a man that is dying in his spiritual state but of a man that has had his heart changed and God’s life surges through him, the abundant life.

There’s alot we see in repentance. The question we’ve been asking is when did Jonah repent, and truthfully it is hard to pinpoint an exact time because there is a reason and truth for that. David Guzik had some helpful thoughts on this matter. He says,

*In all this we see repentance as more than a one-time event. Though it begins at one time, it must continue and mature. Repentance is an event, but it is also a process. (David Guzik- Blue Letter Bible Commentary- The Enduring Word)

C. In the Repeated Command

Jonah 3:1–2 ESV

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”

Who lives our Christian life?

Proverbs 24:16 NASB95

For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.

Boromir- redemption arcs- gaining back his honor (righteousness)

Christ gave us our righteousness the right time, & it is through Him that we continually receive our righteousness even when we fall. He that begun the work, He will complete it.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

So all glory be to Christ.

God’s Grace

In the Storm (God’s Chastening or Drawing)

In the Fish (God’s Rescue and Redeeming)

In the Repeated Command (God’s Unfailing Plan and Purpose)

Overall, the book of Jonah is proof of God’s sovereignty over man. It shows us that God has a way of bringing us to the place where we what He wants. Jonah was going to do God’s will no matter what because God deemed it so, whether Jonah wanted to or not. Isn’t that the meaning of Philippians 1:6. God begins the work and God completes the work. Not because of us, but because of Him. When we sin, God uses that, but it very stops His plans for us. He works through those things just as He worked through the evil that was done to Christ, the ultimate evil in all the world, so that we might be saved. That’s our God.

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