Hey everybody, welcome to today's Beach Talk in Jonah chapter 2. I love to help us understand every word of God that's in the word of God in this chapter of the Bible. This is really exciting. My objective is simple and always the same. It's disciples making disciples who plant churches that plant churches so that Jesus can continue to be a beautiful grassroots movement all over the world.
Now our vision for this year is to multiply our churches to go into more spaces and more places wherever Jesus would call us to go. So I want you to be praying for that. We have a big vision and of course we need God's help and prayer for all of that to happen. So we hope to see you soon in San Clemente or in Rancho Mishviejo or up in Costa Mesa or down in San Diego or in Palmar Cito, El Salvador and soon in Argentina with our friend Mitch.
Now today in Jonah chapter 2 it says, now the Lord has prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Now Jonah's three days and nights in the fish are very interesting. You see the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.
Now some question if this could happen as the Bible says that it did but surely it's not a difficult thing for God to have prepared a great fish even if that particular fish was a special creation for that moment. You see God can make anything that he wants. Now we don't know what kind of fish this was. Some people speculate it was a certain type of whale or others think that it was a large fish known as a sea dog.
All that we can say for certain is that it was a fish big enough to have a man inside of it who survived. Now this is, there was a story of a whaler in the 1800s who reportedly fell into the sea while harpooning a large fish. When the whale was killed and dissected they actually found this man alive. And so it has led some people to speculate back to this story of Jonah about the veracity of the truth of it.
Now it might be questioned if the story of this fisherman was true but certainly the story of Jonah is true because Jesus said that it was true. You see in Matthew chapter 12 it says we read that Jesus said that Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish. So we can take the Lord at his words. You see Jonah was in the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights.
Though Jonah was a rebellious, resistant person just like we often are, God was not finished with him yet so the Lord preserved his life. Aren't you glad that God isn't done with you and I? You see God could have rescued Jonah in any number of ways but he chose this specific way because of the effect that it would have on Jonah's heart. God's always looking at our heart.
Now the book of Jonah shows us important principles about God's sovereignty, what happens when God wants a person to do something but the person doesn't want to do it. Does that sound familiar like you and I? You see Jonah shows us that God has a way of bringing us to the place where he wants what God wants. You see three days and three nights. Apparently Jonah did nothing for three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.
It was only after the period was over that he began to pray the following prayer. Now some have wondered if Jonah spent the time sulking and finally deciding that he had to repent fully and begin to seek God. Perhaps this was the case. However, the starting point of the prayer in Jonah 2 seems to show that Jonah had cried out to God the whole time he was in there. Now the prayer of Jonah 2 came after Jonah received the assurance from God that he would be delivered. So we pick it up in verse 1.
He says, then Jonah prayed to the Lord as God from the fish's belly and he said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction and he answered me, out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice. So here Jonah praises God for deliverance. You see Jonah prayed to the Lord as God from inside the fish's belly. Jonah was still in the belly of the fish, but he knew it was enough that the Lord had heard his cry. He said, you heard my voice.
You see in faith Jonah knew that he would be delivered. Now Jonah knew God heard him before the answer came. This shows that Jonah had the faith that God can give a total peace and comfort even before the actual answer comes. Now he says, I cried out to the Lord. Now in this and the rest of the chapter, Jonah's prayer uses a lot of phrases and figures of speech from the Psalms.
This shows that Jonah was a man who knew God's word and knew it by heart because there was no Bible and no candle in the fish's belly. But everything that he had, he knew in his mind. He says, in my distress, I called upon the Lord. I cried out to my God. He heard from my voice. That Psalms 18 six. He said, deep calls unto deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and billows have gone over me. That Psalms 42 seven. He said, in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes.
Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my prayer when I cried to you. That was Psalms 31 22. Now in verse three, he says, for you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, like the ocean behind me and the floods surrounded me. All of your billows and waves passed over me. Then I said, I've been cast out of your sight, yet I will look again to your holy temple. The water surrounded me even to my soul. The deep closed around me. Weeds were wrapped around my head or seaweed.
I went down to the moorings of the mountains. The earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Yet you have brought me up my life from the pit. Oh Lord, my God, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple. You see, he knew quite a bit of scripture, a lot of Psalms. Now Jonah describes his trouble, his cry to God and God's faithful answer. Jonah realized that it wasn't the sailors who cast him into the sea. It was God himself.
Jonah saw that he had never been out of God's hands, though he tried to run from him. He said, I have been cast out of your sight. You see, Jonah's greatest pain was not the calamity, but his separation from God, just like Gus. He had this feeling that he was cast out of God's sight, but still he was determined, even in the belly of a fish, to turn his heart towards God and God's temple. Simply, Jonah remembered the Lord like we often do when we're at our bottom.
He said, yet you have brought me up my life from the pit. Oh Lord, my God, again, Jonah can praise God for the answer to prayer before the answer came because God gave him the assurance that it would happen. Now in verse eight, he says, those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is from the Lord. Now here, Jonah declares his commitment to God.
Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. Jonah realized that resisting God, running from him, was like being an idolater. He said, but I'll sacrifice to you. Jonah repented from running away from God and he turned to God with sacrifice and thanksgiving. He promised to pay his vows to God and to do whatever God told him to do. That's what God wants from us. Just simple obedience.
Now at what time or another, Jonah had probably said what we've all said, Lord, I'll do whatever you want me to. Now Jonah realized fully that he must stop resisting God and he should keep his commitments to him. It says that salvation is of the Lord. This was more of a statement of fact. It was Jonah's triumphant declaration. God had saved and would save and Jonah meant it personally. Jonah's salvation is from the Lord. You see, Jonah knows this in the closeup picture.
He knew that his salvation is of the Lord. He also knew that in the big picture that salvation is not of a nation or a race or a language or of one man. So salvation is from God. Salvation is from the Lord. Now at the end of Jonah 2.9, it's clear that Jonah had repented. Now we might wonder, when did Jonah repent? Well, Jonah showed several marks of true repentance. I want you to think about your own life.
He proclaimed his fear of the Lord and he was honest about his sin and his rebellion, no longer covering it up. You see, God always looks for honest confession versus covering things up. Now Jonah allowed himself to be cast into the sea. He took responsibility. Jonah began to pray. He called out to God during the three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. He prayed earnestly and sincerely. Jonah had a new heart of gratitude. You see, true prayer always results in gratitude.
Now Jonah renewed the commitment to God. Jonah gave glory to God in all of this. Now in all of this, we see that repentance is more than just a one time event, though it begins at one time. It's continuous. I know for myself, it's daily. Repentance isn't an event, but it's a process for all of us. Now verse 10 says, God speak, he spoke to the fish. So the Lord spoke to the fish. The fish worked at the command of God just as much as the fish was under the command of God when it swallowed Jonah.
It was under his command when it let him go. You see, God is in charge of all things in nature when he chooses directly to be. If God can speak to a fish, he can speak to us. Then again, fish probably don't resist the will of God as much as us humans do. Sometimes we don't have much of a choice about how we will be delivered. Now Jonah might have preferred another method, but God also had a purpose in this as well. You see, Jonah's deliverance came after Jonah's repentance was complete.
Jonah wasn't just sorry for what he did. He was now trusting God again. In many believers today, there's a work of God or an aspect of his deliverance that will remain undone as long as we resist and we refuse to fully trust God. Now Jonah's deliverance came after three days and nights had passed, providing a foreshadowing of Jesus.
Jesus said for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, Matthew 12 40. So when Jesus spoke of three days and three nights in Matthew 12 40, it does make a Thursday crucifixion necessary. But rabbinic literature from the time of Jesus explains that the phrase so many days and so many nights was a figure of speech that could refer to any part of a day and night.
Ellison notes that that a certain rabbi around the 8100 said a day and night make a whole day in a portion of a whole day is recognized as a whole day. Now this demonstrates how in Jesus's day, the phrase three days and three nights did not necessarily mean a 72 hour period, but a period including at least the portion of three days and three nights for a little bit of clarity there.
So pointing toward Jesus, we see that Jonah's deliverance came after a remarkable demonstration of laying down his life. Jonah gave his life to appease the wrath of God coming upon other people, the people of Nineveh, but death did not hold him after three days and three nights of imprisonment. He was alive and free, foreshadowing Jesus.
Now it's commonly thought that Jonah was vomited out on the shores of Nineveh, but we are not told that this was the case, especially because Nineveh is about 375 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. If Jonah did walk into Nineveh right from the belly of the fish, it would have been a miraculous projection. Think about that. Well this wraps up our time looking at Jonah chapter two today. It was 10 verses, but 10 really good verses.
I want you to ask yourself the question, what was God speaking to me about today? I want you to take a moment to think about that. God always speaks to us in his word. Then we want to pray. Prayer is a chance to stop doing some things, a chance to start doing some things, and a chance to hit reset in our lives. So let's do that together now. Just pray with me. Say, God, help me to change my life. Help me to hit that reset button. Give me a fresh start where I need it.
Help me to stop doing those things that you're telling me by your spirit that I need to stop. And help me to follow you with all of my heart in Jesus' name, amen. Now last thing we want to do today, the Bible teaches that we're supposed to give as part of our worships. Now the followers of Jesus, the disciples of Jesus, have been practicing radical generosity for thousands of years. That is how people hear about the Lord.
When the people who know the Lord set aside part of their resources so that other people who don't know the Lord, they can know the Lord. So when you give as part of your worship in and through Ocean Water, we take those funds, we pray, we think about how can we help people in Argentina with our friend Mitch is going to go? How can we help people in El Salvador with our friend Sampapo? How can we help our friends in Indonesia like we're going to do in September? So I want you to pray.
I want you to practice radical generosity so that other people can hear about the Lord. That is why we give. You can do that at OceanWater.com and as always, I hope you have a beautiful day.