Jonah 1:17-2:1 17 Now the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. 1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. In Jonah 1:17-2:1 we saw the amazing truth that the fish is for us today the power and work of God. The fish is the might and sovereignty of God. The fish is the Holy Spirit of God through whom, though we die in this body, we are made alive. A couple of thoughts about this idea that we did not get to cover in last Sunday’s message: 1. The fish was what preserved Jonah though he died. In the story the fish is this thing that transported Jonah from the death to life. Jonah was dead in that water but the fish transported him to dry land and to life. Can you see how that is a picture of the Spirit of God? Though we die the Spirit transports us to life. This idea can be applied both ways the Scripture tells us that the Spirit gives life. First, the Bible says that it’s the Spirit who works in resurrection to give life everlasting (Romans 1:4; 1 Peter 3:18). The Spirit, then, is the transport from death to eternal life. Our idea of our soul slowly raising out of our just deceased body and floating up to the pearly gates of heaven sure is an imaginative way of looking at how we ‘travel’ to the afterlife. However, that is purely imaginative. Scripture credits the Holy Spirit with this awesome power over death and tells us that the Spirit is our transport to the afterlife. That makes clear the idea that God’s sovereign plan of salvation and judgment is rock solid. There is no backdoor to heaven. There will be no one who slips into heaven unnoticed. One does not get in without the transport of the Spirit of God. Second, the Bible says that it’s the Spirit who works to give believers life in this world—pre-death life we could call it (Romans 8:10-11). In Scripture people are never encouraged to simply confess Jesus, say a little prayer, and go on about their business. Unfortunately, that idea has become a norm in the modern western evangelical church setting though. What Scripture says is to confess and then live for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15). But the true confessor understands that he/she cannot live without the indwelling of the Spirit. The life of a believer is not his/her own. We now belong to the One who purchased us out of our slavery for His own Kingdom. Romans 8:10-11 promises that if you have Christ in you then the Holy Spirit, who raised Christ from the dead, will give life to your mortal body as well. Again, the picture of the fish in Jonah is one of a transport taking a person from being dead in the mortal body to being alive in the mortal body. The mortal body of Jonah was preserved in the fish. And ultimately the body was made alive so that Jonah could go to Nineveh and obey God’s commands given him in 1:2. 2. Much is made of the fact that Jonah never prayed throughout chapter 1. Jonah often gets painted in a very negative light for not praying when even the pagan sailors prayed several times. Well, let’s look at these instances where the sailors “pray” but Jonah does not. It’s repeatedly noted that the sailors pray in verse 5 at the first sign of trouble and Jonah neglects prayer. But the sailors weren’t really praying. They “each cried out to his own god.” Scripture is clear that pagans do not and cannot pray. Talking to a fake god is not prayer. Next, Jonah often gets a bad rap for not praying when the captain asked him to in verse 6. Well, the captain was not asking for prayer the way we Christians think about asking for prayer. The captain was asking for proof of the existence of Jonah’s God because the sailor’s gods had failed them. Lastly, Jonah is condemned for a lack of prayer when even the sailors called out to Yahweh in verse 14. Hhhhmmm, a major theme of all Jonah 1 is that these sailors would reach that point of forsaking their own gods and calling out in repentance to Yahweh. Don’t yell at Jonah for that, thank him for it because of his preaching in verses 9 and 12. But finally, in Chapter 2 we have this awesome prayer from Jonah. The real question is, why the silence of prayer in chapter one and then this marvelous prayer in chapter 2? Answer—the fish! The fish is the power of God; the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26 tells us that “we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Amen. Jonah gets swallowed by the Spirit and then prays. The Spirit intercedes and now Jonah can pray not the prayer of a man but prayer in the Spirit! Study this prayer enough and you will become convinced that the ideas conveyed are ideas that words cannot correctly express. The Spirit was groaning through Jonah! Loved ones, be swallowed by the fish. Be overcome by the power and Spirit of God. Be transported in your mortal body from a dead life and a living life. Be transported at your physical death to the heavenly Father. And while you are here on this earth be so swallowed by the Spirit that He Himself would intercede for you in your prayers with groans that words cannot express. Blessings, Matt
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 21:47:07 +0000
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