PURSUING THOSE CALLED TO TELL

FEBRUARY 17, 2013 

·         Jonah is the book of the Bible which perhaps has been criticized more than any other. 

·         Unfortunately, many Christians thoughtlessly cast aspersions upon this important book of Scripture without realizing that they are playing into the hands of the critics and innocently becoming the dupes of the skeptics. 

·         This book is the spot where the enemy has leveled his heaviest artillery. 

·         As a result, the average Christian today feels that this is the weakest of the sixty-six links in the chain of the Scriptures.

·         There are some who have put forth the theory that Jonah had a dream in the ship while he was asleep during the storm and that the Book of Jonah is the account of this dream.

·         And some believe that, although Jonah was a real character and did take a ship to Tarshish, a storm wrecked the ship and then Jonah was picked up by another ship on which there was a fish for its figurehead.

·         The Lord Jesus personally gave authenticity to the historical character of Jonah and to his experience in the fish.

·         There are significant subjects which are suggested and developed in the Book of Jonah.

1.      The resurrection of Jesus Christ,

2.      Salvation is not by works,

3.      God's purpose of grace cannot be frustrated,

4.      God will not cast us aside for faithlessness, (He may not use you, but He will not cast you aside)

5.      God is good and gracious,

6.      God is also the God of the Gentiles,

7.      The universal dominion of God,

8.      And the willingness of foreigners to learn of God and to respond to His offer of salvation. 

1.     WHICH WAY ARE YOU GOING? (JONAH 1:1-3)

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

NASB 

·         Whether the Lord spoke to Jonah audibly or silently, Jonah knew God was giving him instructions.

·         As we shall see, Jonah's problem was not in understanding God's instruction but in obeying it.

·         "Jonah" signifies "Dove."

·         Amittai, "the truth of God."

·         Many prophets had been sent to the Jews.

·         Many miracles had been wrought on their behalf.

·         Often captivity been announced to them for the multitude of their sins.

·         But They never repented.

·         Not for the reign of one king did they cease from the worship of the calves.

·         Not one of the kings of the ten tribes departed from the sins of Jeroboam.

·         The children of Israel had not obeyed the Lord's instructions and commands.

·         He had sent to them His prophets, but they had hardened their necks and given themselves up to do evil before the Lord and provoked Him to anger.

·    Therefore, the command of this verse came to Jonah so that Israel may be shown, in          comparison with the heathen, to be the more guilty, when the Ninevites should repent in response to one prophet who preached only one day, and all without any miracles. 

2.     WHAT WILL IT TAKE? (JONAH 1: 4, 7-12)

4 And the LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up

NASB

 

·         God is going to save a city with this storm.

·         He is going to turn around a prophet is going the wrong way and start him going the right way.

·         God let Jonah have his way up to now, as He often deals with those who rebel against Him.

7 And each man said to his mate, "Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us." So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.  

·         The sailors evidently believed that one of the people on board had committed some evil thing and that his "god," was punishing all of them.

·         God used their superstition to accomplish His own purpose. 

8 Then they said to him, "Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 

·         Jonah apparently has had some time to talk to these sailors, but he hasn't told them much about himself.

·         He certainly is no witness for God.

·         A man out of the will of God can never be an effective witness for God.

·         He is entirely out of the will of God. 

9 And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land." 

·         That meant a lot, for the Hebrews were known to be monotheistic; they worshiped one God, never an idol.

·         Jonah's witness to God as the Creator is expressive of the Hebrew's faith in the Lord as Creator of the heaven and earth. 

10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, "How could you do this?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 

·         Now they feared God, for they realized at once (probably through the conviction of the Holy Spirit) that Jonah's God, the Creator of the land and sea had caused this very unusual and violent storm that threatened their lives.

·         They feared, not the creature but the Creator.

·         Such fear is the beginning of wisdom and conversion. 

11 So they said to him, "What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?" —  for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you."

NASB 

·         These sailors felt that they had to do something about Jonah or with him in order to avoid being destroyed and lose their lives.

·         They recognized that they had very hard decision, and they wanted Jonah to make that decision. 

3.     WHO WILL YOU TURN TO? (JONAH 1:17—2:4)

17 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

NASB 

·         God could as easily have kept Jonah alive in the sea as in the fish's belly, but, in order to prefigure the burial of the Lord, He willed him to be within the fish whose belly was a grave. 

Jonah 2:1-4

1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, 2 and he said, "I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; Thou didst hear my voice. 3 "For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Thy breakers and billows passed over me. 4 "So I said, 'I have been expelled from Thy sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Thy holy temple.'

NASB 

·         In confessing his error, repenting his disobedience, and expressing his willingness to go to Nineveh as the Lord had commanded, we learn that Jonah was delivered and granted a new opportunity to serve the Lord.

·         Many silent with their lips, have cried aloud with their heart. 

http://www.trivia-library.com/a/real-life-jonah-a-man-who-survived-in-the-belly-of-a-whale.htm

In February, 1891, the ship Star of the East was off the Falkland Islands when the crew spotted an 80' sperm whale. Two rowboats filled with crewmen were launched to capture the monster. Closing in, one harpooner let go his weapon and shafted the whale, which lashed out, almost overturning the boats. Returning to the ship with their dead whale, the crewmen realized one sailor, James Bartley, was missing. It was decided he had been tossed overboard in the fight and had drowned.

Six hours later the crewmen began removing the blubber from the dead beast. By midnight the task was still unfinished, and the sailors went to bed. In the morning, they resumed their job. Then the unexpected happened. According to M. de Parville, editor of the Journal des Debats, writing in Paris in 1914, "Suddenly the sailors were startled by something in the stomach which gave spasmodic signs of life. Inside was found the missing sailor, James Bartley, doubled up and unconscious. He was placed on deck and treated to a bath of sea-water which soon revived him, but his mind was not clear and he was placed in the captain's quarters." Recovering, Bartley recalled being hit by the whale's tail and that he had been "encompassed by great darkness, and he felt he was slipping along a smooth passage that seemed to move and carry him forward. His hands came in contact with a yielding, slimy substance, which seemed to shrink from his touch. He could easily breathe, but the heat was terrible. It seemed to open the pores of his skin and draw out his vitality. The next he remembered he was in the captain's cabin."

Except for the fact that his face, neck, hands had been bleached white, Bartley--like Jonah--survived the belly of the monster. 

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=1103644 

"Dr. Harry Rimmer, President of the Research Science Bureau of Los
Angeles, writes . . . "In the Literary Digest we noticed an account of an
English fisherman who was swallowed by a gigantic Whale Shark in the
English Channel. Briefly, the account stated that in the attempt to
harpoon one of these monstrous sharks, this sailor fell overboard, and
before he could be picked up again, the shark turned and engulfed him.
Forty eight hours later the shark surfaced and the British navy killed it
with a one-pound deck gun. They towed the shark to shore and were in the
process of cutting it apart to find their friend and give him a Christian
burial, when to their amazement they found he was alive. He had lost all
his hair, fingernails, and toenails, and had a yellowish blotched skin."