11 Then
said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto
us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. 12 And he said unto them,
Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you:
for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could
not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. 14 Wherefore
they cried unto 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. 15 So they took up Jonah, and
cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. 16 Then
the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and
made vows. 17 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. (Jonah
1:11-17)
We have observed how Jonah intended to flee from the Presence of God by going
DOWN to Joppa, and DOWN into the ship, and DOWN into the sides of the ship to
sleep. In frustration, the master of the ship asks Jonah to awaken and help the
crew to keep the ship afloat. Of course, Jonah could not keep the ship afloat.
Jonah was the cause of the great danger that faced the ship and all of its
occupants. Having drawn lots, it was determined that Jonah was the culprit.
Learning that he was a Hebrew, they asked to him to pray to his God for
salvation of all. Unbelievers will not fail to count on the believer when the
axe is laid to the root. Now, Jonah, it would seem to me, faces a grave
dilemma: 1) to answer deceitfully to momentarily save his own hide; or 2)
to confess to these men what must be done. He knows God very well. Now, as a
result of the storm, Jonah knows God even more, and he knows that God will
settle for nothing less than Jonah taking a good bath - he needs it for his
soul is soiled with a rebellious spirit. At least Jonah has the decency to
speak the truth, after all, he is a prophet of God and cannot intentionally lie
even if he is prone to avoid the Word of the Lord. Jonah supposes this to be his
last act of decency and fidelity, for he is sure that, sooner or later, he is
going into the sea.
11 "Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee,
that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous."
The seaman inquire of Jonah of what remedy must they take to suffice in
satisfaction of Jonah's God. They know not this God, but the tempest has given
them a healthy respect for Him. They would like to save ALL aboard, but must do
whatever is required to soothe the deep. These men are a better caliber than
the normal They could wildly disregard any concern for Jonah and simply
dispense with him summarily, but they do not.
12 "And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth
into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake
this great tempest is upon you." The response of Jonah is
honorable and commendable. Here, again, is Christ typified by the
self-abnegation of Jonah is giving up his own life to save others. Jonah is now
more aware of his role as a prophet than ever before. He knows that this storm
is of the Lord. He knows that the Lord will not be evaded. The Lord is more
powerfully on the Sea than He was on the Land!
Jonah showed no compassion at all on the pagan folk of Nineveh, but see how the
pagan sailors employ all of their strength to save Jonah. 13 "Nevertheless
the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea
wrought, and was tempestuous against them." These men did not want
the blood of another on their hands. They were willing to fight as best they
could the boiling tempest and inordinate winds to save all aboard, including
Jonah. But there is no strength that can avail against the Hand of the Lord.
Our great strength is only childish weakness before God. "There is
no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD." (Prov
21:30) There is no wisdom against the Lord because there is no wisdom that does
not come from the Lord. We may be called to teach, to preach, or to visit the
sick; but if we do so on our own merits, we are failures. All must be done in
the perfect will of God and in following that Light He gives us.
14 "Wherefore they cried unto 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."
I am made to wonder at Jonah's reticence, in the face of God's wrath, to repent
of his actions and to pray. These rough, weather-worn seaman, who are graced
with only a glimpse of the greatness of God, are in desperate prayer, but Jonah
remains sullied and silent! They know that God's prophet has spoken, and it is
the storm sent from God that must be satisfied. They do not desire to be guilty
of the blood of the very man responsible for their travail. Nevertheless, they
recognize the inevitable. The same was the case of Christ. One must perish for
the good of all. "Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one
man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. (John
11:50)
15" So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the
sea: and the sea ceased from her raging." Jonah is going to go
down once more, but not down to Joppa, but into the Sea. Immediately, the sea
was calm once it had its grip on Jonah. The Sea, the waves, the wind, and even
the crewman, were all servants of God to accomplish His will in this matter.
This is not such a pleasant situation for Jonah. He may have slept on the ship,
but it is doubtful that he slept in the sea. Even as he was cast off the ship,
he still has uttered not a word of remorse so stubborn and stiffed necked is
he. Some in the Church, and even in the Pulpit, are likewise stubborn and
stiff-necked to do all things according to their own way and not the way of the
Lord.
So what was the response of the seaman when they witnessed the fulfillment of
Jonah's prophecy concerning the calming of the sea? They had, up until now,
feared the tempest, but now their fear is directed to the Lord of the Tempest. 16 "Then
the men feared the LORD." If you will remember, the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. These men have obeyed God far more than
has Jonah. So the prophet has achieved a part of his mission in awaken a
forlorn bunch of sailors to the reality and power of God. "The fear
of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that
do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever." (Psalms
111:10) These men now have a seed of faith, and if watered nearly as well as
Jonah has been watered, the seed will surely grow. Jonah, in the peril of the
sea, may have uttered the words of the Psalmist: "Save me, O God;
for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there
is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me."
(Psalms 69:1-2)
17" 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."
I do not wonder at the kind of fish, for Christ has told us that it was a
whale. In spite of all arguments to the contrary, there are cases in which men
have been swallowed by a whale. But even if there were not, this particular
whale was "prepared" by God for the purpose. Do we truly believe that
the maker of the heaven, the earth, the mountains, the sea, and even the whales
could not have created a whale that would not typify those that we know today?
This verse is one of the most profound of the Old Testament because it is made
reference to by Christ on more than one occasion. " And Jonah was
in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." This is
so powerfully symbolic of Christ who was in the heart of the earth for three
days and three nights. You may be one of those charismatic's who look about and
believe the heart of man is getting better and better. It is not. Jesus asks,
"When the Son of Man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?"(see
Luke 18:8) Does this sound like the true Church is going to achieve dominance
in the world? No, but God shall always preserve a remnant unto Himself. Jesus
calls that generation (which is more than a generation in the chronological
sense) a wicked and adulterous generation. That generation has grown in size
even until this day.
Jesus used the ordeal of Jonah as an example of his own ordeal. Jonah was cast
into the sea at his own behest. Jesus was nailed to the cross at his own
volition. An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of
the prophet Jonas: For as 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 men of Nineveh 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." (Matt 12:39-41) Can
you see that the men of Nineveh, even, were not as wicked as those who
confronted Christ and whose numbers are increasing in our time. Those numbers
are accelerating toward the end just as the Mustard Tree grew beyond its
natural size - so much so that the fowl of the air came to roost in its proud
branches. Those fowl are reproducing much faster than the fruit of the Mustard
Tree. Evil is afoot, not only in society and politics, but in the church as
well.
Can you imagine the suffering, anxiety, and trauma Jonah experienced in the
belly of the whale? Do you not think he now has a coming to terms with his
failure to obey God? His experiences are horrific, and we shall address them
more fully in next Wednesday’s devotion beginning the second chapter.
