Jonah 1:17-2.1

Jonah, chapter 1, beginning with verse 12, we’re going to read through chapter 2, verse 2. Our focus is really going to be on verse 17 and verse 1 of chapter 2. And he said unto them, take me up and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you. But I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land. But they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried on the Lord and said, we beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee. Let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased. from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice in the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed under the Lord, his God, out of the fish’s belly. And he said, I cried by reason of mine affliction under the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. God blessed to us, his sacred and holy word this morning. When a dog bites a man, that’s not news because it’s a common occurrence. If a man would bite the dog, then maybe that, you know, that would bite the dog. be newsworthy. In the same way, if a man catches a fish, that’s not news. But when a fish catches a man, now that’s news. Now, most people accept most fish stories with a grain of salt. Fishermen from the beginning of time have always seemed to have a knack for stretching the truth somehow that 12-inch bash ends up 24 inches when the fisherman retells the story. They seem to be notorious exaggerators. Most people, therefore, quite naturally, discount all fish stories. This fact may have some psychological bearing upon the story here recorded in the book of Jonah. This is part. probably the most famous fish story ever told. The prophet spent three days and three nights in the belly of a fish, was vomited out, came forth alive and well, delivered a powerful message to the people of Nineveh. And they repented. Amazing story. But before you discount this fish story, Remember, it’s not a story that’s retold by man, but by God himself, as we look at this as inspired writing. Now, I have to spend a few minutes on the great fish here, because there’s been a great controversy about this particular story. Even in so-called Christian circles, this account has been rejected. as fable, as a parable, as an allegory, and not as historical fact. How important is it to believe that Jonah was literally swallowed by a great fish? And what difference does it make? Yes, Russ. That puts a lot of weight on the story, doesn’t it? Any anything else you can think of here? It’s a pity that the story here about the fish ends up being what takes up all the attention of people. And people miss some of the spiritual implications that are taught in this book, which I think are quite valuable. People lose sight of some of these teachings. And there is a sense, and we’ll look at this, in which this is a prophetic book. It is a, you might say, what’s the prophecy of this book? It is prophetic, and we’ll be looking at that because it has something to say about Christ. And that’s why it’s here. You might say, well, this could fit in with a historical section. Why didn’t we read about this in kings or something? Why is it here in the minor prophets? Because it is prophetic, and it has a prophetic message. So what about this great fish? Did it really swallow Joan? Can a person actually believe such a story? How is important to believe? Why is it important to believe this? Well, if you believe in the God of the Bible, then you’re going to have a little difficulty accepting verse 17 as the truth. God can certainly create a great monster of the deep to swallow a man up. And God, because he is a God of miracle, with the Red Sea and the sun standing still and the resurrection and so forth could certainly do whatever he pleases here, even if you might think it’s miraculous. Now, if you don’t believe in the God of the Bible, then you might say, well, this fish story could never have happened. This has to be a fable. It can’t be true. It’s not possible for it to be true. Strictly speaking, I will say this. The swallowing of Jonah. Donna does not even have to be classified as a miracle. I think there’s some miraculous things associated with it. The skeptics who deny this story is unbelievable need to realize that it’s really quite plausible and it’s not so far-fetched. Now, let me just take a second here and talk about some sea creatures that could have swallowed Jonah. The sperm whale could have swallowed Jonah. In the New Testament, Jesus said, Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly in Matthew, chapter 12, and verse 40. The Greek word here for whale is ketos. It really means sea monster. It’s a general term. It could refer to a whale, but it doesn’t have to refer to a whale. A few generations ago, one heard that a whale could not possibly swallow man. It was a physical impossible. And the reason they said this is they said this, said the throat of the whale was considered too small to swallow a human being. It would have difficulty swallowing an orange. So people said this story could not possibly be true. This objection rose from a failure distinguished between the Greenland whale, which was a popular well-known whale, and the sperm whale. The Greenland whales were best known to semen of an earlier generation. They had very small throats. But the sperm whale has an enormous mouth, stomach, and throat. Think Moby Dick, if you would. And they can reach a length of 65 feet. It’s known that they inhabited the Mediterranean, and certainly as well as the Atlantic. An average specimen might have a mouth 20 feet long, 15 feet high, and 9 feet wide. In other words, the mouth would be larger in most rooms. You know, it would swallow us up. It’s known that the sperm whale, feed largely in squid. And certainly some of those are larger than man, and there have been, you know, whole squid found in sperm whale’s bellies. So it’s very possible. Whalers have found that to be true. So he could have been swallowed by a sperm whale. He could have been swallowed by some type of fish. Neither the Greek here, Katoos, nor the Hebrew dag, demand that this creature be a whale. It could have been a great fish, just as the text here in the Old Testament says. There’s a species of shark known as the whale shark, because of its enormous size, it can reach 65 feet in length. Jacques Cousteau, the famous sea explorer, says the whale shark is by far the largest and heaviest living fish of our time. If one bears in mind that the whale itself is not a fish but a mammal. So this shark, could certainly have swallowed them up. I don’t know, when I was growing up, Contiki was a, that book was quite popular. And this Thor, Hayer doll, made this raft, and he traveled through the Pacific, and he had this huge whale shark fallen about, swimming under his small raft and so forth. This is quite capable. Friends, it could have been just a huge fish. of the common variety. We don’t know. God could have just made a fish get huge. This was specifically prepared fish by God. They’re examples of pictures of giant groupers, photographed by Jacques Cousteau, who had big miles larger than men. And so who knows what God could have done in this occasion. As I said, the word here, actually refers to sea monsters. And I read in the book of Psalms about this Leviathan who dwells in the sea and makes his wake in the sea. And you read about him in Job. Chapter 41 is huge creature. Without delving into anything specific, I think it’s interesting that there are all kinds of creatures in the sea. And some of them we really don’t even know what’s all in the sea. Some Japanese fishermen not too long ago in the 70s brought up, looked like a pliosaurus in a fishing net. A small one, but you’re thinking those things have got to be dead and gone and extinct. Maybe not. We just don’t know anymore. It’s interesting in the Genesis account when God created Great Whales, according to the King James version there, literally it says giant sea creatures. there are huge creatures in the sea. So it’s quite possible for that to occur. Now, could a man survive being swallowed by a whale or a great fish? Well, there was an article from the Britannica Research Service, which considers the possibility of this. The bulk of the information was taken from this sign of the prophet Jonah and its modern confirmations, Princeton Theological Review, 1927 would have to be that old because today they probably wouldn’t even attempt such a study. It maintained that a man certainly could survive in a whale’s stomach, however would be very uncomfortable. He said you would have air to breathe, since mammals are mammals have to come to the surface every so often and get air. They have, there would be air in the stomach. and it would be quite hot, 104 to 108 degrees in a whale’s stomach. Also on pleasant contact with the animal’s gastric juices of the stomach would have to take place, which would probably affect the skin, they said, but the juices would not digest living matter, else the whale’s stomach would be digested. So there are, and there are actually cases of men being swallowed by whales and surviving. I’ll give you one such case of the voyage of the whaling ship, the Star of the East. February, 1891, this particular ship spotted a large sperm whale in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, which is off of Argentina, down there by South America. So the two boats were launched, and in short time they had harpooned the whale. and the second boat had gone after the whale to put another harpoon into it when the whale put up a tremendous fight did a lot of thrashing around one of the ships of boats was capsized in the process one man was drowned the second sailor james bartley disappeared and they couldn’t find him in the meantime they’ve managed this the first ship managed to get some more harpoons in the whale and they managed to kill the whale eventually and bring it to the side of the ship took the blubber off the next day they brought the stomach of the whale onto the deck of the ship and cut it open and guess who was inside. James Bartley. He was unconscious at the time and they threw seawater on him and he woke up and he woke up and resumed his work on the ship and was no worse for where, evidently because of it. So he survived. The conclusion of the article cited by Britannica Research Service as this. The story of genre occurs in Hebrew language and tradition as a historical record. It can hardly be disputed that the test applied to it are, in fairness, bound to be the most careful, accurate, and dispassionate that science and history can apply. Physiological test entirely disprove the alleged impossibility of the story. It is shown by study of the structure of the sperm whale and its habits that is perfectly possible. for a man to be swallowed alive and after an interval vomited up again also for him to remain alive for two or three days within the whale. Historical tests show that a similar event has occurred has happened in later times in at least one case. I’ll stop with that. I just told you that case you run into someone that so that’s impossible. Yeah, it is possible and you at least have that information. Now, here’s the most important thing, and I think Russell hit on it already. It’s found in Matthew chapter 12 is our Lord’s words that I think are the most pertinent here. Let’s look at Matthew 12, begin with verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a son. sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. Whereas Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The man of men of men of us shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Jonas is here. Now we can go over all the so-called facts regarding the biblical count that are interesting and supportive of it and so forth, but it’s belief in Christ’s words that count. If God says it in His word, we should believe it whether or not we had any other type of support. Jesus said here that whatever happened to Jonah was going to happen to him. this three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So Jonah here is vouched for by Christ. And Christ indicates here not that he was just in the belly three days and three nights, but he must have come up because he preached to Nineve and they repented. It must be just like the account of Jonah says it is. Christ’s words here in Matthew 12 are just as inspired as John 3. 16. Was the Son of God mistaken? Was Jesus taken in by Jewish fables? If so, then Christ could have been mistaken about other things, such as heaven and hell, such as the resurrection, such as salvation, such as salvation. Where does it end? If Christ was wrong about Jonah, that he’s not infallible and he can’t be divine. So before we look at Jonah and begin to write it off as a parable, it is a fable, a fable, and it couldn’t possibly happen. Jesus vouches for the truth of it. And you are impuging Christ if you you discredit this story about Jonah that we have read. Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. So faith in the literal account of Jonah is really indispensable. We cannot cast it aside. Why? Because it portrays the resurrection of Christ. It is prophetic. And we’re going to be looking at that. These things are so intertwined that Christ’s resurrection in the story of Jonah that the discredit the one discredits the other. I accept the usual account of the great fish because my Savior says it’s true. Because it is contained in the scriptures which are inspired by God. I don’t care whether we have scientific, so-called scientific evidence to support it or not. We should believe it because God said it. Let God be true and let every man be a liar. So there’s a great controversy about the great fish story, but hopefully as we looked this over, these are the reasons why it’s plenty of, there’s plenty of reasons to believe that it’s true. Now let’s look at some practical implications here from this account here. What can you learn about this phrase the Lord prepared a great fish? I want to think about that. What does this tell you about your need? What does this tell you about your sin? And what does this tell you about your preservation? Let’s look at those at least there’s three areas that you could consider. Maybe there’s others that you might think of. What can this tell you here about your need. We see here that God does prepare things in advance in your life. Don’t we see that? This huge sea creature didn’t just appear. Wasn’t it grown by God? We don’t know how many years this creature lived. But we know one thing. It was prepared for a particular occasion. Why was it right next to the ship or close to the ship? At this particular time. It could have been anywhere in the Mediterranean. And see why, or maybe if they were in the Atlantic, either way, it could have been anywhere else, but why is it here? Wasn’t God grooming this creature for his service? He prepared this great fish, and he prepared it just for Jonah, it seems. Why did this meet Jonah’s need at this particular time? It kept him from drowning. Right. It was a way that God, spared his life. Now, think about this. Doesn’t this teach us that God knows our needs before you and I even do? Isn’t Jesus right when he said that before we even ask that God already knows what we have need of, God has prepared and advanced a means. Has he not for us? What about Jonas’ sin? How does this great fish relate to Jonas’ sin? What was the purpose of this three-day period in the belly of a whale or fish? what is God doing here? Mark? You know, there’s a phrase that you use for the prodigal son, and it’s used elsewhere. he came to his senses, you know? God uses that phrase. He gets a mind change through this. it’s interesting if you read this carefully and we’ll talk about this in a minute. When did Jonas start praying? Did he pray on board? just go ahead. In the belly of the whale. He has a long prayer. Yeah. It’s interesting. It says he was in the belly of whale three days and three days and three nights and then the next chapter starts with then. Almost as if I he was stubbornly not going to pray. I maybe he figured he was going to die but God wasn’t going to let him die either. God was going to to bring him to repentance. And so God prepared this fish in advance in order to deal with Jonah’s sin. Now think about this. Before Jonah even got the command to go to Nun of, the great fish was already getting prepared by God, right? Before Jonah headed down to Joppa, before he got into the ship. Before any of this thing had God had already prepared for the repentance of Jonah. and this tells us here that nothing is outside of the scope of God’s decrees, even our sin, and that God even in decreeing our actions here, has a purpose to bring us to repentance. And so this was all working for his good. God is not surprised by anything. It wasn’t if it can’t, oh, what am I going to do now, Joan, I won’t go to Nineveh. You know, that’s going to throw everything off. No, none of that. is found here. Why, it’s already prepared. Everything’s prepared to bring this man to repentance. And so we see here how God works here. He’s not surprised when you and I rebel against him. It is not something that catches him off guard. He’s already prepared in advance for that occasion. Notice how gracious God here is to Jonah. Because when this fish swallows him up, it doesn’t devire him. It protects him. Now, we have to say, it’s probably very uncomfortable being in the stomach of a whale with over 100 degrees temperature in the dark for three days and three nights, getting slashed around. God often puts us in uncomfortable situations when we sin and deals with our sin in that situation. But God laid out the chance. circumstances well in advance. But in graft, as we always say, God remembers mercy. So the thing I find astounding here is not necessarily the great fish. There can be great fish. But God’s preparation in advance for all this. That’s what’s interesting, I think, and really captures your attention. The wisdom of God is beyond our comprehension. He prepares and work such events in your life and mine, and that’s amazing when you think about it. So when you find yourself in the whale’s belly, I’m using that figuratively, when you get yourself into trouble after rebellion against God, realize that he has actually prepared in advance for your repentance. He has prepared all things necessary to bring you to where you should be. So God prepares things in advance in your life. We see that, I think, coming out here. What does this passage teach about God’s providence and irrational creatures? We might say every atom that’s in the universe is following exactly what God has purposed for it to do. And here, this whole issue of the fish or the great whale here, whatever the case is, being alongside the ship indicates to us that God directed the fish. He not only prepared the fish, caused it to grow this big, but he directed that fish to be exactly where he wanted it at the right time. We see this repeatedly in Scripture, how that God directed, you know, the ravens to feed Elijah by the brook and so forth. All these things happen because God controls the creatures of this world, and he can do as he pleases with them. what does this passage teach you about prayer? Prayer in the time of trouble. Jonah prayed. Three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, and then he prays. What does this teach you about in the time of trouble praying to the Lord? What is the promise? Yes. That was the hard part, right? Getting him to that point. But doesn’t God say, and through the psalmist about crying under the Lord in the day of trouble and he delivered me. And that’s exactly what Jonah does here. He cries under the Lord in his day of trouble and he delivers him. And that’s the promise we have as well. Why does it say here that he pray under the Lord, his God, L-O-R-D, capitalized? What does that indicate to us? So he’s basing his prayer on this covenant relationship that he has with God, isn’t he? just as we ought to when we pray. Should any condition or state discourage you from prayer? Why or why not? If you would pray. Here Jonah is in the belly of this great fish, and this is where he prays. And what’s interesting is, God hears him and answers his prayer, right? His verse 2 tells us. Prayer may be performed anywhere. It may be performed on a mountaintop. It may be performed in a dark cap. a cavern somewhere in a desert behind prison bars, or, in this case, in the belly of the fish. And maybe the first time it was ever, we had prayer from the belly of the fish, but we see it can happen. And it can be answered. When God says in Scripture, I will that men pray everywhere. I always took that to be all over the face of the earth. But it could be taken in a sense. It doesn’t matter where you are either. still will answer your prayer. God’s providence is such that the access to the door of heaven is open to us. It’s interesting that we are called a living temple because the Holy Spirit is within us. So we don’t have to go to a particular sanctuary to pray. There’s a sense in which we are the sanctuary because Holy Spirit dwells within us. And so we can pray wherever we all. are. Joseph Bailey tells of a Christian organization that was given a mansion along Chicago’s gold church, coach, coast, excuse me. The zoning board approved the use of this headquarters for the Christian organization, but some neighbors objected and they took him the court. William Peterson, the Christian group’s business manager, was put on the witness stand. He was asked, what we used to use the large room on the second floor? for it. And he told them the board would use it several times a year for a meeting, staff meeting, and it would be used daily for prayer. The lawyer asked, how can you pray there? Will you have a crucifix or some other kind of worship center set up? I’m Jewish. I know you won’t have an altar and a star of David. The defendant said as Christians, we can pray anywhere. We don’t have to have a sanctuary to pray. Peterson replied when the when the lawyer asked, even in this courtroom, he said, I’ve been praying here all morning. The court approved the zoning board’s decision. You know, you can pray in school, you can pray in the job. You can pray while driving, but keep your eyes open. You know, beside a hospital bed and a nursing home over a crib. It doesn’t matter. It’s a comfort to know, it’s a can pray anywhere. The third thought is this. God even hears your prayer after tremendous disobedience and rebellion. No doubt Jonah had always been a praying prophet, a righteous man, and yet he seems not to have prayed for some time. He was disobedient to the will of God. He withheld himself from the throne of grace. All the while, he went to job of those 60 miles. We don’t read of them praying. On the ship, he fell asleep. Eventually, he fell asleep. Eventually, He’s awakened by the captain and he’s commanded to pray, but we don’t read that he prayed at that time. He’s cast into the raging seas. That didn’t stir him to pray. He’s swallowed by this mass of fish or whale. Still, that didn’t move him to pray. Only after he’d been in the belly three days and three nights, I said, then he prays. You know, sometimes we have hardness of heart. We’re stubborn in our rebellion. God has to break that down. God chastened him severely, but he didn’t remove his loving kindness from him. He heard his prayer. He answered his prayer. God still had covenant interest in him. Now, when we come up along a passage like this ought to be encouragement for anyone who is a backslider, who has fallen, who has been rebellious in some sense against the Lord. God says this. God says this, in Jeremiah 31, 14 and 22. Turn, O backsliding children, Seth, the Lord, for I am married unto you. Return, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to thee. For thou art the Lord, our God. He’s still there covenant God. He says, come, you know, come back to me. Repent. Though our sins be great, God calls us to come back. To repent. to come to the throne of grace. And so, this is to what Jonah found. When he humbled himself, he turned to the Lord in prayer, he found that God heard him. Let us have that same spirit ourselves. God says, turn to me, and I will heal your backsliding. Don’t let a sense of dread or guilt keep you from turning to the Lord in the time of affliction. when you’re humbled under God’s providential dealings with you. go to the closet of prayer. Call upon me, God says, and I will answer you. So this fish story is no tall tale. God has recorded it. Jesus says it’s true. For the naysayers, there’s even evidence of, you know, scientifically, if you want to call it that for it. But more importantly, there are practical implications connected with this story that helps us as well. God prepares things in advance for your life. You can pray anywhere and God even hears your prayers after tremendous disobedience and rebellion. Any other thoughts on this section of scripture? Yes. To me, it should be obvious that if you have a historical facts to even look at. You can see that. In this case, there’s some special dealings that God had with Jonah. He’s able to pray and he’s a conscious while he’s in the stomach and so forth. But the truth is, it’s scriptural. It’s true. And like you said, the most of you you can really say about it, if you want to complain, is that it’s improbable. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It’s just not a usual thing. It’s unusual. That God does unusual things? You can find that from Genesis to Revelation. That’s no big deal. Okay. Any other thoughts? Yes, Russell? Well, as we’re going to see, this all has a purpose that goes beyond this Jonah’s rebellion and all that. We’re going to be looking beyond and seeing the Lord Jesus’ Christ in his work being portrayed here in Jonah. And that’s why I said this is why it is a prophetic book. You might say, well, there’s no real prophet. The only prophecy is in 40 days that Nineve’ll be destroyed or something like that. But the real prophecy here is about Christ. And that’s what we shouldn’t miss. Let’s close then with prayer. Keith, would you close us with prayers?