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Jonah’s Leftovers // Jonah 1:17

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Sovereign To Send // The FISH

"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." ~Jonah 1:17 ESV

BACKGROUND

Jonah the prophet had been serving the Lord faithfully for years but one day God called him to go to modern day Syria to the city of Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrians, and they were a brutal and ruthless people.
 
Jonah, knowing the forgiving nature of God and having witnessed it in full effect when calling the wicked King of Israel (Jeroboam [2 Kings 14]) to repentance had no interest in seeing God do the same with the Assyrians in Nineveh. The scriptures say Jonah tried to escape the very presence of God by escaping to the edge of the “known” world and fled to Tarshish.
The story of YAWEH had yet to reach Tarshish so scholars believe Jonah thought he could completely escape all things of God by going there. Jonah travels to Joppa to catch a ferry.

As Pastor AB said two weeks ago, “Whenever we want to run away from the presence of God, there will always be a boat to take us there.”

While on the ferry Jonah goes to sleep in the bow of the boat and a large storm pops up. Such a large storm that the seasoned mariners begin to throw cargo overboard to make the boat nimbler to evade its wrath. But nothing they do is effective, and things continue to deteriorate for them. Through casting lots they quickly find out that Jonah is the source of their troubles and as they question him Jonah informs them, he is the source of all their troubles as he is running from God.

What they do not understand is: “God is prepared to break up this ship, drown Jonah, and let all these idol worshiping sailors perish, all in response to Jonah’s rebellious actions.”

As we see all throughout the scriptures, “The Lord will make a storm wreak havoc and wreck our plans when we readily dismiss obedience to His command.” Let’s reread a bit from last week and out verse for this week.

VERSES 11-16

"11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows." ~Jonah 1:11-16 ESV

WAIT....DID JONAH DIE?!

As Pastor John pointed out, God uses this storm to bring these pagans to salvation after seeing the full display of God sovereign power.

These men see what appears to be nearly a hurricane turn into a pond instantly once Jonah’s body hits the water. How could you not be awestruck? Even though the shoreline is within sight the water becomes too much for Jonah. There is hot debate among biblical scholars about what happened to Jonah from here. Here are the possibilities:

1. Jonah passes out from exhaustion (while still floating above the water)

2. Jonah drowns but not to the point of death

3. Jonah dies from drowning

No matter where you land in this debate Jonah is no Michael Phelps chilling in the water. The water consumes him as verse five of Chapter two shows us from Jonah’s prayer. 

But the God who sent the storm was not out to kill Jonah, but instead to rescue Jonah from his running. Because nothing happens outside of God’s sovereign will, the required resources for Jonah’s rescue were already waiting in the water.

VERSE 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." ~Jonah 1:17 ESV

THIS SOUNDS "FISHY"

Notice the scriptures do not declare the creature that captures Jonah.

If you are reading non-literal version of the bible, it might say “whale”. But the Hebrew does not declare anything more than a fish. There were few species within these waters to would have had the capability to swallow a man whole. The white shark of the Mediterranean (Carcharias vulgaris), which sometimes measures twenty-five feet in length, has been known to swallow a man whole, and even a horse; these sharks also have slow digestive systems. The most likely possibilities are the sperm whale or a whale shark. A sperm whale has 4 chambered stomach, which not all are used for digestion.

This verse is troubling for some people. How in the world can a fish swallow a man and that man stay in the belly of a fish three days and three nights?

In the scientific age we have become thrown off from the point of this story and started saying, “something miraculous like this is not possible.” Of course, it’s not possible it’s a miracle! Miracles by definition are outside the normal course of nature .Having complete control of all things God could have created any sea creature he willed to swallow up Jonah.

As David Platt says, “If the Bible had said the Lord sent a shrimp to swallow Jonah., I would believe it. You could argue with me repeatedly that there is no way a shrimp could eat a man or that a man could stay inside of a shrimp for three days. If Scripture had said,” The Lord raised up a shrimp and it swallowed up Jonah,” it would be true. God is sovereign Creator. He could create a shrimp way bigger than “jumbo” that could swallow a man whole.”

“But nobody could survive in the belly of the fish for three day and three nights. That’s just scientifically impossible, so we can’t believe that” However, keep in mind what is going on here. Just a few verses earlier Jonah tells the mariners:

“9And he answered them, I am an Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, which hath made the sea, and the dry land.” ~Jonah 1:9 ESV

More specifically, If the Lord could speak the world into existence, he most certainly could call whatever creature he wants to assign to swallow Jonah & keep Jonah safe from its stomach acid.

3 DAYS + 3 NIGHTS

Notice the underline portion of V.17:
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.
~Jonah 1:11-17 ESV

If there is one thing the book of Jonah teaches us it is this: God is sovereign over all things. This is no exception; God sends a fish to Jonah.

Nevertheless, the issue is not whether the miracle could happen; the issue is Why does he need to be in the belly of fish and the three days and three nights?

Living in the New Testament age it is clear God’s sovereign will has so much more going on here than just Jonah’s rebellion & God’s pursuit of the Assyrians living in Nineveh. God is planning some 750-790 years in advance through the prophet of Jonah’s rebellion to display his approval of his Son Jesus through his resurrection. 

In fact, in the New Testament Jesus points back to this very verse.

“38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

 ~Matthew 12:38-41 ESV

JONAH

There is so much going on here we could spend another few hours unpacking it, but I am going to attempt to do my best to condense it down and yet make it understandable.

I going to go back to Jonah, then to Jesus, then to Jonah and Jesus then close back out with Jonah.

There is so much going on here we could spend another few hours unpacking it, but I am going to attempt to do my best to condense it down and yet make it understandable.

I going to go back to Jonah, then to Jesus, then to Jonah and Jesus then close back out with Jonah.

Why Nineveh? Why was he called there in the greater framework of salvation?

 In this Biblical account, Jonah is symbolic of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, those chosen by God to be witnesses to the world but who repeatedly disobey God’s commands.

Jonah also represents Israel’s rebellion against God, who, nevertheless, continues to show His mercy and preservation, which is represented by the shade plant in chapter 4 we will see.

God sends Jonah to the Assyrians for their repentance and not to the Israelites which seems odd on the surface. But, God choose one of Israel’s greatest enemies, a people widely known at the time for their cruelty and harshness to prove a point to the Israelites. He intended to righteously shame Israel, to point out that a pagan city could repent after a stranger’s preaching. If they could repent, why could his people not?

JESUS

Jesus’ ministry was flourishing in the countryside as multitudes where repenting, being baptized, and healed but for the Pharisees it was not enough evidence to suggest he was actually the long-awaited Messiah. So, when they come to him wishing for another sign, he cast judgment on them and points back to Jonah while at the same time points forward to his death. Let’s read it again.

“39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

~Matthew 12:39-41 ESV

What is the sign of Jonah? We’ve established the Pharisees’ refusal to accept that Jesus is the Son of God. Only the miracle Jonah experienced would point to the truth that Jesus is indeed God. Jonah was in the fish for three days and three nights and was spit back out alive. In the same way, Jesus would be crucified until death, buried, and then resurrected three days later.

As Jewish tradition goes we should not understand the three days and three nights as a fixed/ literal 72 hours. In the instance of Jesus, he was presumed to be dead per the scriptures at 3pm on Friday and found risen from the grave on Sunday morning (3 days). Jonah was the same. It is likely he was not inside the fish for 72 strait hours but a time spanning three days.

This sign would be the only one the Pharisees would accept. In fact, it was only after Jesus’ tomb was found empty by women on the third day that the Pharisees finally gave into the slightest possibility that Jesus was telling the truth about himself. This miracle had the juice to upset the apple cart for them so they bribed the guards who were charged with guarding Jesus’ tomb to stay silent about what they watched transpire:

12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ~Matthew 28:12-14 ESV

Jesus here predicts that he will die and be raised to life again. Jesus will be spit out of the earth just a Jonah was spit out of the belly of the whale.

Directly following Jesus admonishment of the religious leaders in Matthew 16, Jesus’ disciples forget to bring any bread. In his obvious frustration, Jesus answers them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” ~Matthew 16:6 ESV

Jesus’ direction here should not just be understood for the disciples but for us all. Directly Jesus was instructing them to stay away from the broken theology of the Pharisees’ (AKA – Their Leaven).

We could also broadly apply that to our world too. We need to be watchful to prevent ourselves from falling into that same trap of doubt and unbelief when God’s truth is staring us right in the face. Funny enough, the Bible calls this type of attitude “stiff-necked” & “hard-hearted.”

As I pointed out in the sermon: Make no mistake, God despises the pride of the religious.

THE DEEP LINK BETWEEN JONAH + JESUS

James Buckner says the following: “Jesus did perfectly what Jonah also (If temporarily) accomplished: both were from Galilee; Jonah struggled with his call to preach, Jesus struggled to do the will of the Father (in the desert, at Gethsemane); both preached God’s message of judgment and reconciliation to the marginalized and to sinners; both choose death forsaken by others; both bore and removed the consequences of sin from others; both caused the storm to cease after sleeping through it (Jonah through repentance, Jesus through his divinity); Jonah entered the jaws of the fish, Jesus entered the jaws of the grave; both were kept for three days; both were raised up again by the father; Jonah’s obedience in preaching led to the conversion of a great city, and Jesus’ obedience led to the conversion of many cultures of the world.”

IMO this is why we cannot question the validity of the story of Jonah. If it were purely an allegorical fable like humpy-dumpty, I do not believe Jesus would have mentioned it. If Jesus did not believe this story was real the sign of Jonah would carry zero weight and the illustration would fall flat.

SUMMARY

Jonah saw Nineveh as a dump, God saw an opportunity to love despite their past actions. Jonah saw the storm as anger, but God was only stirring the sea to bring Jonah back to his will.  Jonah will mourn being eaten by a fish, but God rejoiced in his rescue. Too often we see the world through the eyes of Jonah and not the eyes of Christ. We are bitter with Pride and so we say to God, “I’m not going.”

We are bitter about our circumstances, I didn’t get the promotion, I don’t have the house I want, why am I still not married? Little do we know sometimes, “The things that consume us are actually God’s rescue plan in our lives.”

Had God NOT sent the fish to swallow Jonah he would have died in the depth of the sea. Rather in God sovereign grace the fish was Jonah’s Rescue.

 We begrudge the fish or hardships we are swallowed up by, but little do owe know God is using that fish to carry us away from even worse circumstances.

What are you bitter with God about today? What circumstance do you find yourself in? Maybe you need to look at it from a different perspective…

Maybe the thing you resent was actually sent from God to keep you from even worse circumstances. Maybe this is why Paul says in Phil. 4:4 to “Rejoice in the lord always and again I say rejoice.”

“Whatever God takes, be still thankful for what he leaves.” –John Flavel

We need to position our hearts to rejoice in every circumstance even in the belly of the fish. Because to live is Christ…even if it’s inside of a fish.

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