Jonah's Suffering

There have been times in my life (even since I have become a Christian) when I have deliberately rebelled against what I have known God wants me to do and have in effect headed in the opposite direction. I have pursued a line of thought, or persisted in an action that I have known has not been in accordance with God’s will or character. But I hope you realise that I am not alone in my rebellion.

The Bible says that all of us, every person here this evening, every individual in our world, has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). In other words we are all rebels. We have rejected God’s right to rule our lives.

Some of us here this evening are not yet Christians and either consciously or unconsciously you are in fact living in rebellion against God. Some of us are Christians, but at times still continue to sin or deliberately refuse to obey God’s will. The Bible says that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and we make God out to be a liar (1 John 1:8 & 10) because God has pronounced his judgement on our rebellion.

Perhaps it is because we are rebels that the book of Jonah is so intriguing. Jonah is a classic example of the rebel syndrome. Jonah a successful prophet of God decides to rebel and run in the opposite direction. He hears God’s command but decides that he doesn’t like the calling and tries his hand at a rebellion. The result is that Jonah ends up in a difficult situation, under God’s judgement, facing the consequences of sin.

We are picking up the story from chapter 2 of Jonah, and I have three headings for you this evening. Number 1, Jonah’s situation was difficult, number 2, Jonah’s prayer was real, and number 3, Jonah’s heart was still rebellious. Those headings are on your sermon outline.

However as we work our way through this story this evening I want you to look out for how God is at work. This book, and this chapter, is not so much about Jonah as it is about God and the amazingly gracious way he deals with rebels. But let me begin with heading 1, Jonah’s situation was difficult.

Firstly, JONAH’S SITUATION WAS DIFFICULT

Chapter 2 of the book of Jonah opens by reminding us that Jonah has been swallowed by a fish. If you look at verse 1 of chapter 2, we read that Jonah prayed “from inside the fish”. Now being in the stomach of a fish is not likely to have been a particularly pleasant experience. At the very least it would have smelt intolerably fishy! Presumably it would have been cramped and dark. Shortly before this Jonah had almost drowned. It would be true to say that at the beginning of chapter 2, Jonah finds himself in a difficult situation.

However Jonah’s situation was even more complicated than that. He wasn’t just inside the fish. He was inside the fish because he had been rebelling against God. Let me remind you of the story so far. If you have a look back with me to chapter 1 and verse 1, we read in verse 1 and following that:

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: ,sup>2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish [In other words in the opposite direction]. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. (Jonah 1:1-3)

So Jonah has decided that he does not want to go to Nineveh, the capital city of Israel’s enemies, and has decided to run away from God. We read in verse 4 that “4 . . . the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up” (Jonah 1:4). The terrified sailors, verse 5, called out to their own gods but the rebellious Jonah went below deck and fell asleep. You get the impression that Jonah doesn’t care very much if the ship sinks.

Eventually, verse 6, the captain goes to wake Jonah, and verses 9 & 10 Jonah the reluctant and rebellious prophet acknowledges that he is to blame for the storm. Again there is no sign of fear for his life, he simply tells it as it is. He says verse 9, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” (Jonah 1:9). Jonah speaks the truth even if his actions don’t quite match his words. The LORD God is the God of heaven, the maker of the sea and of the land. There is no way that running would ever have been successful. Jonah had zero chance of actually fleeing from God’s presence.

But Jonah is not repentant here. He doesn’t fall on his knees and cry to God for mercy. He is willing to acknowledge that he is to blame, he is perhaps even willing to face up to the reality that he cannot run to freedom, but there is no indication yet that he wants to go to Nineveh. He is basically saying “If the price for rebelling against God is death, then so be it. Pick me up and throw me into the sea and that will be the end of the matter.”

So the sailors took Jonah, verse 15, “15 . . . and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him” (Jonah 1:15-16). In contrast to Jonah the sailors were willing to turn and serve God.

But God had not given up on Jonah and God still wanted the people of Nineveh to be saved. And as Jonah is sinking down it seems that he comes to his senses and calls out to the LORD. And we read verse 17 of chapter 1, that “17 . . . the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). God is gracious in his dealing with this rebellious prophet. He rescues him from the water. However Jonah is not yet out of the fish. He is still in a difficult situation. And he is inside the fish because he has been rebellious.

When you and I find ourselves in a hard place there are various possible reasons why we are in that difficult situation. Sometimes we have to say that we experience hardship in life simply because the world has been affected by sin. Something bad happens to us because the world is not safe or because its inhabitants are sinful. For instance you might step off the pavement to cross the street and a drunk driver swerves round the corner and hits you. The resulting hardship is not directly linked to a specific sin or act of rebellion on your part.

However, sometimes we do end up in difficult situations because of our sinful behaviour, because of an act of rebellion against God that you or I commit. That was Jonah’s experience. His situation was difficult not because the world is a hard place but because he deliberately and consciously persisted in disobeying God.

That is an important distinction and it helps enormously in understanding how to apply the contents of chapter 2 to our lives. Our situation becomes parallel to Jonah’s when for instance we know that God is calling us to show love to a difficult colleague at work but you or I persist in hating them, or slandering them, which then results in our relationships with everyone at work being damaged. Our situation becomes parallel to Jonah’s when we know that as a Christian God does not want us to go out with a non-Christian but we deliberately rebel and in the end discover that it is difficult to share life with a person who does not also want Jesus as Lord.

Our situation becomes parallel to Jonah’s when we decide to put career ahead of our spiritual well being and you or I end up moving away from a good church, or working hours that make fellowship with other Christians difficult, and as a result grow cold in our relationship with God. And more generally the situation is parallel to Jonah’s when you and I decide in any way to live life our own way, rejecting God’s right to rule, being a rebel. That is true for the Christian and for the non-Christian.

Jonah’s situation was difficult. He had nearly drowned in the storm, and now he was in the belly of a fish; all because he had been rebelling against God. Your situation this evening might well be difficult. If your life ‘stinks’ right now, and it does so because you have been rebelling against God, then at the very least turn to God in repentance and ask for his mercy. God demonstrated his mercy to Jonah by not letting him run away, by not allowing him to perish in the sea, and by eventually giving him another chance. God is gracious and compassionate. Turn back to him.

Secondly, JONAH’S PRAYER WAS REAL

But how does Jonah respond to his difficult situation? Does Jonah repent, turn around, acknowledge that God is right and willingly obey God’s call? Well I am going to argue that in fact Jonah does not. He only takes a small step towards God, and God in his mercy rescues Jonah. But even if Jonah’s repentance is not yet complete I want to suggest that Jonah’s prayer was real. That is my second heading – Jonah’s prayer was real.

Let’s take a look at the content of chapter 2 and how Jonah prays. Please work with me through these verses. Chapter 2 and verse 1:

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. (Jonah 2:1)

Jonah is praying to God after he has been rescued from drowning. Notice that the author of the book suggests that Jonah is now back in a position where the Lord is his God, the Lord is now Jonah’s God again, Jonah is no longer in complete rebellion. Jonah knows that he has run away from God and that God has just rescued him. Look at verse 2:

2 [Jonah] said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. (Jonah 2:2)

Jonah was sinking down into the depths of the sea, he was as good as dead, when he came to his senses and called out for help. He decided that he did not in fact want to die. It is like the person who jumps off a bridge intending to kill themselves but fortunately is not successful and afterwards says that it was in the moment that they let go and had no chance of going back that they realised that death was not the solution they wanted.

And surely there is irony here that even in the depths of the grave Jonah has been unable to escape God’s presence. Even in the raging sea, in this difficult situation brought about by Jonah’s rebellion, God is still there and ready to rescue.

I am reminded of the story of Peter (the disciple) getting out of the boat and walking on the water just like Jesus (Mt 14:25-33). But when he sees the wind and the waves he becomes afraid and starts to sink. He cries “Lord, save me” and Jesus reaches out his hand and brings him back to the boat. Lord save me, I am in a difficult and messy situation.

And Jonah, verse 3, continues his prayer saying:

3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. (Jonah 2:3)

It was of course the sailors who physically threw Jonah into the sea, but Jonah knows that it was really God who hurled him there. Jonah is acknowledging that God is sovereign and that it is God who has prevented him running away.

Verses 4 to 7 tell us something more about what was going through Jonah’s mind. Look at what he says:

4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. ,sup>6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. (Jonah 2:4-7)

Jonah says verse 4, that he had been banished from God’s sight. He had been rightly cut off from God’s presence because of his rebellion. He had turned his back on God and apart from God would perish. The language is the same as that of Adam & Eve being driven out of the Garden of Eden – they were the first rebels against God, the first sinners. But all of us are rebels and all of us deserve to be driven from God’s presence.

And yet verse 4 also contains a note of hope. Even as Jonah is sinking down to the roots of the mountains he decides to turn back to God – he looks (metaphorically) towards God’s holy temple, he turns towards God’s presence rather than away from God. He tells us verse 7, that even as his life was ebbing away, he remembered the Lord. And God answered him and brought his life up from the pit, from the depths, from the mess.

Jonah has not yet repented of running away. As we will see, he has not in fact altered his attitude to the people of Nineveh. But Jonah did in a small way change direction. He turned towards God rather than away from him. And Jonah is genuine in what he says in verses 8 & 9. He might well be using set language from the psalms, but his prayer is real. He says verse 8:

8 “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.” (Jonah 2:8-9)

Jonah knows that only God could have rescued him – the pagan idols are powerless to save. Jonah is genuinely grateful to have been rescued. He fully expected to die. From personal experience Jonah is able to declare that “Salvation comes from the Lord” (2:9). The Lord God is the only one who can provide salvation to humankind.

It seems verse 9 that Jonah intends to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. The sailors had already offered their sacrifice at the end of chapter 1. It is the language of the temple, the sacrificial system, an intention to have restored fellowship with God. It is perhaps even an intention to fulfil God’s mission to Nineveh. Jonah admits he has been rebellious and foolish, but still there is no real sign yet that Jonah is truly penitent.

Again though, this story is more about God than about Jonah. We learn that God is amazingly gracious in the way he deals with his rebellious servants and with a sinful and wicked world. In the midst of the mess, it only took a very small turning around, for God to step in and rescue Jonah. In the midst of our messes it seems that it only takes a very small turning to God on our part for God to step in and aid us.

Jonah was genuinely glad to have been rescued. His prayer from inside the fish was real. And it seems to have been enough of a turn around because as we read in verse 10:

10 . . . the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (Jonah 2:10)

Thirdly, JONAH’S HEART WAS STILL REBELLIOUS

So Jonah’s situation was difficult, Jonah’s prayer was real, and my third and final heading Jonah’s heart was still rebellious. Jonah’s heart was still rebellious.

The book of Jonah is one of those books that only makes sense when you read the whole of it. The book of Jonah is written in such a way that not only is it a good story, but it also teaches us a lot about God, about sinful rebellious human kind, and confronts each of us with the rebellion in our own hearts.

I don’t want to steal the thunder of the final part of this sermon series, but in order to fully benefit from chapter 2, you and I need to realise that God’s work in Jonah’s life is far from complete. As we will discover in chapter 3, Jonah does go to Nineveh and somewhat reluctantly does preach the message of God’s judgement. Certainly if I had been Jonah I would have chosen Nineveh rather than three more days inside a fish.

But when the people of Nineveh take the warning seriously and turn towards God and God graciously relents form sending calamity, rather than see the similarity to his own experience, Jonah can’t cope with it and throws an almighty strop. In effect he lies on the floor kicking his legs in the air screaming, “It’s not fair, it’s not fair”. It would be funny if it didn’t send a piercing arrow into the depths of our heart, the state of your and my individual rebellions and fights against God. Jonah in the depths of his heart was still rebellious. So even at the end of chapter 2 and Jonah’s prayer, God still had a lot of work to do in Jonah’s life.

Of course that is good news for you and me. That is good news for those of us here this evening who are currently rebelling. We don’t have to have it sorted before God will help us. We can turn to him in the midst of the mess. You can ask him to save you in whatever situation you currently find yourself.

If you are not a Christian, you are according to God’s definition a sinful rebel who needs to experience God’s salvation through the work of Christ on the cross. It might be that your life is ticking along just fine and that you would say that there is no mess, no difficulty. In some ways I am glad, I wouldn’t want to wish bad things upon you. But on the other hand if your life is a mess and falling apart it is probably a sign of God’s grace and mercy. He is prepared to stop you in your tracks, bring you to your senses, help you realise your need of him before it is too late. As Jonah rightly says “Salvation comes from the Lord” (2:9) and his salvation is offered to you today through Jesus.

If you are a Christian but are currently living as a rebel in some way, it is again possible that God has brought you to a place where his judgement on your sin is obvious. Your salvation is secure because of Christ, but God has given you over to the consequences of your sin in a particular area and you have yet to turn back to God and call for help. In Jonah’s experience it doesn’t take a lot of movement on your part for God to exercise a great deal of saving action. The prodigal son walks back along the road and the father runs to great him (Luke 15:20).

Perhaps for instance you are in a bad way spiritually at the moment because you have been pursuing a career at the expense of your church involvement. Perhaps you are in a bad way because you have not been following God’s will for sex within marriage. Perhaps you are in a bad way because you have been stealing and have been found out. Perhaps you are in a mess because a small amount of sin has been having its corrosive influence on the whole of you’re being.

Again I am not talking about the situation when we go through bad times because our world is affected by sin. I am talking specifically about the times when you and I experience the consequences of a specific sin that we have persisted in, in rebellion against God, and therefore experience his judgement. The right response in such a situation is the response that Jonah makes in a very limited way – to come to your senses and turn to God to save you. You need to know that God still loves you, he has not given up on you, he wants you to turn back to him. God is gracious and compassionate – quick to respond.

But you know, I also need to emphasise that God does not always rescue us from the consequences of our sin. God did take Jonah out of the water, but he probably smelt awful for weeks. You can imagine him stinking of fish and seaweed for months. Even as he walked up and down the streets of Nineveh he was maybe trying to get the water out of his ears. It is not that God always delivers us from the consequences of our rebellion – whether that is the broken relationships, the health implications, the general fall out. God didn’t make it as if Jonah had never been in a storm or swallowed by a fish. There were still consequences of his past rebellion, but God did help him to get back into relationship with himself.

I suppose though as I finish, the challenge that I want to leave you with is to go a step further than Jonah. Simply realising that you are in a difficult situation and crying for help is not quite the same as having a heart transformation. Jonah’s heart was still rebellious. What you and I need is the ongoing transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We trust in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and to rescue us from our rebellious ways. And God does rescue us because he is the God who saves. But we need more than just a rescue. You and I need a transformation.

Transformation requires true repentance, a deep understanding of why our particular rebellion was so much against God’s will, and a persistent longing to go God’s way and not our own way. Perhaps you have been rescued, but are you truly penitent? Do you understand why you are at fault? Is sin abhorrent to you?

The prophet Ezekiel speaks of God putting a new heart in to his people – a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone. The promise is of God putting his Spirit in his people and moving them to follow his decrees and carefully keep his laws (Ezek 36:26-27). That is what we need and what you and I need to pray for.

If you have yet to become a Christian the challenge is to acknowledge your difficult situation, pray to the Lord, experience forgiveness, and seek a transformed heart. If you are a Christian it is the challenge of daily putting to death our rebellious nature and with God’s help living a transformed life through the power of the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit. But it all starts by knowing that we are sinful rebels just like Jonah.