Dr. Ron Sumners
January 25, 2004
There has always been some skepticism about the Book of Jonah. Some have tried to say that it is a fictional book that teaches a lesson by using allegory. One of the main reasons for such skepticism comes from the first verse of our text. This verse tells us of Jonah being inside a great fish.
The question that always comes up is, “Is that possible?” All things are possible with God. The verse says that God prepared the big fish to swallow Jonah. Certainly, God could do that if He so desired. I personally believe that after Jonah prayed the prayer of repentance, while in the belly of the fish, he died. When the fish deposited him onto the dry land it was a resurrection. God brought him back to life to do His bidding. I believe this because of what Jesus said in Matthew 12:39-40, “. . . an adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For 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.” Jonah was resurrected as was Jesus. Both were raised to fulfill the purposes of God.
In order to satisfy critics, certain scholars have spent much time trying to discover if an ordinary great fish or whale could swallow a man. In such searching, some enlightening evidence was discovered.
First, in an account in the Daily Mail, a paper of 1928, Mr. G. H. Henn tells of walking inside the carcass of a dead whale. He said the throat was like a door leading into a large room. Another account tells of a sperm whale whose stomach contained a sixteen-foot shark skeleton.
The most striking incident comes from a Paris journal of science. In 1891 the whale ship, Star of the East, was in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands when they spotted a large sperm whale. Two boats were lowered and in a short time one of the harpooners was able to spear the whale. As the second boat came close, the whale’s tale overturned the boat. One man was drowned but another, named James Bartley, disappeared. The whale was killed and drawn up beside the ship.
The crew worked the rest of the day and part of the night removing blubber. The next day the whale’s stomach was attached to some tackle and hoisted on deck. When it was split open, James Bartley was found, unconscious but alive. After he was revived he related his story. He said that when the boat overturned, the waters foamed around him and he was drawn into darkness. He found himself in a place where the heat was intense. In the darkness the awful truth came to him, he had been swallowed by the whale. He became unconscious until on the deck of the ship.
Now, all of that is simply to remind us of at least part of what Jonah went through. But to stop with only a proof that a whale can swallow a man would be to miss the whole point of the book. You can strictly believe that Jonah was indeed swallowed by a great fish and still miss the point of the story. It would be better to believe that the story is only an allegory, yet understand the point and purpose of the book! Far more important than Jonah being swallowed by a fish, is the fact that Jonah repented to God. In so doing, Jonah gives us an example of what it is like when a man repents to God.
When a person repents to God, he realizes how desperate his condition really is. Maybe Jonah had not realized how serious his condition really was until he found himself in the place of certain death. Maybe he thought that God would just leave him alone. Then the storms came and Jonah was thrown overboard and now he is in a place of no escape. There could be no more running. It was too late. This was the end.
But God was not finished with Jonah. By the way, God isn’t finished with you either. God made a way for Jonah to do some long, hard, serious, undisturbed thinking. Jonah came to realize how desperately out of whack his relationship with God really was.
How long was Jonah alive in those seventy-two hours? We can’t know, but certainly it was long enough to get desperate. That is the point most of us must come to before we take action. Many of you have ignored your relationship with God for a long time. What will God have to do to get your attention? Where will be your place of desperation?
The question is: “How desperate must you become before things are settled between you and God?” I doubt you will end up in the belly of a great fish, but you could be just as desperate as was Jonah!
When a person repents to God, he becomes convinced that God’s way is best. When a man is desperate, he will sometimes reconsider what God has been saying to him. From the perspective of the belly of the fish, Jonah decided that God’s way did not look so bad after all!
In every community there are some Christians who are members of a local church but who are out-of-step with God. They have made up their minds that they are not going to change. They have grown very comfortable in their Christian mediocrity. Mark it down. If they get desperate enough and realize that their way hasn’t really been the best way, they may be forced to reconsider doing things God’s way.
Maybe God has been convicting you of some sin in your life lately. Maybe you are convicted that God wants you to become involved in a personal ministry, or tithe, or teach, or any of a hundred things. Maybe there is some sin or activity in your life that you know is keeping you from being what God desires. The question is, are you convinced that God’s way is the best? Is God going to have to put you in a desperate situation before you see His way?
When a person repents to God, he commits himself to God. It is one thing to be desperate and another to realize that God’s way is the best. How many times has God heard bargaining prayers that say, “God, if you will do this for me, I will always serve you.” You may have prayed that prayer yourself. When the crisis ends, the promises of commitment end also.
It is a different thing completely to see a man become desperate, realize that God’s way is the best and then wholeheartedly and lastingly commit himself to God.
An example of this is marriage. It is one thing to want to be married and to believe that marriage is the best way. It is another thing to commit yourself to another person for the rest of your life.
Jonah made his vows to the Lord and fulfilled them. Have you fulfilled your vows to the Lord?
Real repentance has to include submitting your whole self to God. It is not just being sorry for your sins. It is a sorrow for your wrong doings that leads to acceptance and performance of a new way of life. The message of the New Testament begins with “Repent!” It is quickly followed by, “Come follow Me!”
I don’t know where you are today. You may be on the top of the world or you may be in the belly of the great fish! Are you desperate enough today to make things right between you and God? I do know that God desperately wants every person to be in right relationship with Him.
How desperately does He want this to happen? He wants it so much that Jesus died on the cross for you!
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