Jonah in the Hands of a Sovereign God

Jonah 1:17-2:10

God was at work fulfilling His eternal plan. Part of God’s plan was to get Jonah ready to preach. God was going to give Jonah, His rebellious prophet, a small taste of the wrath of God. In fact, God was going to give Jonah a small taste of death, hell and the grave.

1.  God’s Terrible Manna ( 1:17 )

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.  

With this fish, God had a two-fold purpose.

A. Appointed for Salvation

The first important point is that this fish was provided or appointed by God.

The Hebrew word translated provided is the word manna.

B. Appointed for Discipline

The fish showed Jonah first hand what the Ninevites were to face should they not receive the message.

So the Lord fixed a time of three days and three nights for Jonah to think about who God was and who he was and what hell is like.  Jonah was in training.

As amazing as this miracle was what was really the miracle was what was going on in Jonah.

It’s in this setting far and away from anything and anyone Jonah remembers God. His theology begins to change.  God’s purposes are working out perfectly.

In his struggle, Jonah remembers God.

2. Jonah’s Prayer (2:1-9)

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

What is amazing about this verse is the location of the prayer, from the belly of the fish.

What Jonah was trying to do this whole time was to get away from God, to flee His presence was his intention. But to his surprise, in the depths of the sea God was present and heard Jonah’s prayer.

(cf. Psalm 139:7-12).

A. God heard and answered Jonah

 [2] saying,

    "I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,

        and he answered me;

B. Jonah Saw God’s Sovereignty

[3] 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. (cf. Jonah 1:15)

Unless we believe in God’s sovereignty we come up against a clear contradiction.

What Jonah is telling us is that God used these pagan men to do His bidding. God can and does control every event.

Jonah doesn’t stop there, he goes on to declare that the storm belonged to God, he says, your waves and your billows passed over me.  God created the waves but Jonah is declaring that the Lord sent them for a purpose. It was the Lord’s storm and this prophet realized the truth of sovereignty (cf. Proverbs 16:9).

C. Jonah Saw God’s Salvation

Previously he said, 'I am driven away from your sight; But now, after the fact he can say, Yet I shall again look  upon your holy temple.'

Jonah has learned that God is present in all places at all times. Jonah’s efforts had done nothing but get him deeper and deeper in distress.

The water closed in around him, the deep surrounded him, weeds were wrapped around him, he sank to the base of the mountains. In his mind his life had ended, whose bars closed upon me forever.

In Jonah’s mind he was dead and buried, he had breathed his last.

Notice what happened next.

Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.

God is the One who is glorified in saving Jonah.

It took Christ to set us on solid ground. It took Christ to secure our eternity with the Father.

That’s why Jonah warns everyone about the vanity of placing hope in anything but the true God.

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

Is there a vain idol in your life?

Do you think, like Jonah, that you’re in charge? Do you think that this year is in your hands to control?

Jonah now realized that he had been playing games. It’s time to live up to his calling as a prophet.

Salvation belongs to the Lord!"

Jonah realized that he deserved death not deliverance. He also realized that no one deserved deliverance, not the Ninevites and not him.

As amazing as Jonah’s resurrection was, there is one greater than Jonah (Matthew 12:38 -41).

What Christ declared to the Pharisees is that they will suffer God’s wrath.

Why was this the case?

Jesus tells the Pharisees that Nineveh repented at the preaching of a half-hearted prophet. While they themselves refused to repent at the preaching of the Son of God who unlike Jonah went willingly.

The Pharisees had heard the preaching of Christ over and over and they refused to repent. However, Nineveh repented the very first time they heard.  WHAT ABOUT YOU????