Salvation comes from the Lord (Jonah 1-2)

“Salvation comes from the LORD”

Jonah 1-2*

Key Verse – Jonah 2:9

Today’s passage is about God’s command to Jonah, a prophet from the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BC). God commanded Jonah to preach against the Assyrian city of Nineveh.

So, in this passage, we will learn about preaching. Why are you preaching? What are you preaching? To whom are you willing to preach? Various  truthful and pertinent answers to these questions can be found in the Bible. Jonah gave answers to all these questions succinctly and powerfully, “I will say, 'Salvation comes from the LORD'" (Jonah 2:9b). I pray that through today’s passage we may all come to know the power, commitment, and will behind his confession.

The Assyrian Empire has been around since the 21^st century BC; it has encompassed three historical periods before the time of Christ: the 21^st-18^th century BC (known as the Old Assyrian Empire), the 14^th-11^th century BC (the Middle Assyrian Empire), and  lastly, the Neo-Assyrian Empire period of 911-612 BC. Jonah lived during the last period of the Assyrian Empire.  The kingdom had established its supremacy in the Near East since 911 BC, and maintained it until its fall to the Babylonian Empire in 612-605 BC. Under this supremacy, Israel had to pay tributes to Assyria as a vassal kingdom.

Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. The city was actually established near the beginning of human civilization, being one of the oldest cities built by the mighty hunter Nimrod (Genesis 10:9-11). At the time of Jonah, the city was so big that it took three days to go through it. . If Jerusalem was the city of God and His justice, than Nineveh was the most powerful city established, built, and governed by men’s power and authority. Nineveh’s most distinctive trait was its brutality, by which many people had been killed. Shedding men’s blood is most detestable to God (Genesis 6:13; 9:6). This is also well-noted by the prophet, Nahum, about 150 years later. He called Nineveh “the city of blood…many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number” (Nahum 3:1, 3). As Nahum prophesied, God eventually brought judgment on Assyria  and it fell to the Babylonians in 612-605 BC.

Jonah’s call to preach happened about early 8^th century BC. At that time, Israel enjoyed prosperity under King Jeroboam, while the Assyrian Empire suffered a temporary setback because of internal conflict and earthquakes. God’s word came to Jonah:

"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me" (Jonah 1:2).

Nineveh’s sin reached the threshold of God’s judgment. He had made a comparable decision just before He sent a flood and destroyed the whole human race, expect for Noah’s family (Genesis 6:9-9:17). God had also said  similar things just before He rained down burning sulfur on Sodom (Genesis 18:21). So it was just a matter of time before God carried out His righteous judgment on Nineveh. However, before He administered His judgment, He wanted to give the city one last chance to repent. So, about 50 years before Assyria destroyed Israel, God called Jonah and told him to preach against Nineveh.

A.      Jonah ran away from the Lord

After God told Jonah to preach against it, he decided to run away from the Lord.

“But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD” (Jonah 1:3).

Jonah ran away from the LORD; Jerusalem was the place of God’s presence, so running away from the Lord also meant getting away from Jerusalem. In order to go as far as he could go, Jonah went to Joppa, a seaport about 20 miles west of Jerusalem, and got on a ship headed toward Tarshish. Though we do not know Tarshish’s exact location, it is believed that it was a city located near the farthest end of the Mediterranean Sea, probably located near southern Spain.

Though the Bible does not mention anything about why or how Jonah came to this decision, this should have been a big and very difficult decision for Jonah, since it was a long and difficult journey and he was all alone and running away from God Almighty.   In addition to this, it seems that Jonah made this decision all by himself, and no one knew of it. When he got on the ship, he did not know anyone onboard, so his identity was hidden and the people surrounding him did not know who he was or why he was going to Tarshish. It was part of his sober and well-calculated decision.

What does this tell us about Jonah? It was Jonah’s personal struggle against God and His call. To Jonah, what the Ninevites had done was repugnant;  this pagan city, which was laden with such vile sins, sickened his stomach. Even with all due respect to God and His command, Jonah could not accept the fact that he had to preach to these people and that God might forgive them of their sins. Assyria was particularly hostile to the nation of Israel, and had subjected God’s people to their demands many times. So, personally as well as for the wellbeing of his native country, Israel, Assyria must be punished for their evil deeds!

In this way, Jonah had a great disagreement with God, not only in regards to his personal feelings but also in the implementation of God’s law and its justice. Jonah thought that he was right, but he could not go against God Almighty. What could he do? It was better for him to run away as far as possible from the Lord, but how could he share this decision with anyone? Anyone he told would say it was crazy to go against God! But Jonah had no room in his heart to help Nineveh escape their wickedness, and he was unhappy with God’s decision. He could not overcome it and decided to get away! “I cannot do this and am dropping my position as God’s  prophet.” Jonah just wanted to retreat  far away, by himself, where no one knew him. There he could be  happy, without thinking of all the hassles, hustling, and bustling of all of the Ninevites’ ungodly affairs! He wouldn’t have to be the person that  carried out this mission! God could send someone else if He had to. So Jonah ran away as far as possible! At that time, it was not easy to travel anywhere, even to a neighboring country. How much more difficult would it have been to go to such a distant country as Tarshish? But Joanh’s resolve was all too clear. Truly, in his mind, he wanted nothing to do with God’s call! He literally wanted to escape to a place where God could not find him and where no one knew where he was. Have you had such a moment in your life when you had no desire to follow God’s command and wished to find a place to rest your soul in peace?

But what happened to Jonah?

While the ship was in the middle of the vast sea, God sent a great and violent wind that threatened to break up the ship!

“All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep” (Jonah 1:5).

The ship was in great danger; at any moment, it would be broken or capsized, and all those on board would be drowned. We do not know how far the ship had gone before it encountered this storm, but they were in the middle of the sea, all by themselves. So everyone struggled hard to save the ship and  their lives, including the captain. All of them got together and  franticly began throwing away all the cargo and  praying to their god. Only one was cool in the midst of such turmoil; Jonah went down below the deck and fell into a deep sleep. It might have been that he had not been slept for many days because of his worries and concerns about God’s command. But after finally resolving himself to  getting way and boarded this ship, he could put all his worries and concerns about the mission behind him. Now he felt free and found peace with himself. So, for the first time in many days or months, he fell into a deep sleep, and  slept like a rock. When the captain found him sleeping below deck, he was surprised and asked:

“The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish" (Jonah 1:6).

Despite the captain’s urging, Jonah did not move; instead, he remained silent and cool.  Why was he unwilling to move? His resolve was clear; he was doing what he thought was right, and he refused to change. Most likely, he couldn’t change himself. If God was chasing after him, he would let God do to him whatever he wanted to do. His mind was already resolved to take whatever God threw at him. He was so much engrossed in himself that he did not pay much attention to the sailors’ frantic efforts to survive.

But the sailors could not wait any longer and had to make a quick decision on what to do. So, in order to find out the cause of the sudden storm, they cast lots and it fell on Jonah. They bombarded him with questions:

“So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" (Jonah 1:8).

Jonah ran away from his people and from God. He was among strangers and no one knew why he was on that ship or what his job was. He wanted to find solace in his own world, where no one knew about him and no one would bother him to do or not to do anything. But among these strangers, he still had to tell them everything about himself. It seemed like  God was personally asking him these questions - who he was, what he was doing and why - through these sailors. He did not want to go back to the problems he had left behind, but God forced him to reveal who he was, why he had gotten on board this ship, and what he had done to God. So he owed these sailors an answer because he was the cause of the danger to these sailors.

“He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land" (Jonah 1:9).

Here, “the LORD” is the original name of God, YHWH. It is translated as “the God of heaven and earth”. God is the creator of the earth and heaven; the winds and waters are His creation and He did these things because Jonah had disobeyed Him. God met Jonah with the same power that created the universe, but also forced these sailors to recognize this same power. God wanted Jonah, as well as the sailors, to honor and respect Him as the One who created the whole world. He  confronted all that Jonah and the sailors cared about with His creative power. Who can stand against it? Jonah became keenly aware that God, the LORD of heaven and earth, was bringing His rage down on him and that he could not escape from His power. He thought he could escape from God, but the God of heaven and earth had no problem  catching up with him, even if he travelled far away from Jerusalem. God was also demanding Jonah’s life! Then, how did Jonah confront God’s power?  

“This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them” (Jonah 1:10).

When the sailors heard Jonah’s story, they were terrified; they felt confronted by God Almighty in His full power and wrath. Can anyone not be fearful of this authority and power? In His mighty power, He can even take away lives, but Jonah remained calm. It was obvious to them that the only solution for this terrible disaster was going to have to come from Jonah. They asked him:

“The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" (Jonah 1:11).

Contrary to these sailors’ panic, Jonah was so calm and, in this dreadful calmness, he answered them:

"Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you" (Jonah 1:12).

Jonah fully acknowledged that  he had caused this trouble for them and that God was chasing after him, not the sailors. An interesting thing to note here is that Jonah did not ask God for forgiveness or pleaded with Him for mercy to save him and those sailors. He was ready to give up his life for the decision he made. What does this tell us about Jonah? When he made the decision to run away from the Lord, in his mind, he went through the risks and dangers of this decision - including his willingness to pay for it with his life, so his resolution was very clear and firm. He would not bend on his stance; he was willing to pay with his life for the decision he had made! This was shown here. Yet the sailors were afraid to throw a man who had such a clear and intimate connection with the God of heaven and earth overboard, so they made an effort to save themselves by some other means rather than throwing him into the sea.

“Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before” (Jonah 1:13).

But it was no avail. God was not willing to relinquish his demand; the life of Jonah. So they did not have any choice but to throw him into the sea. As they throw Jonah into the sea, they said this:

“Then they cried out to the LORD, "Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased" (Jonah 1:14).

As far as these sailors were concerned, Jonah was an innocent man! What did he do that he deserved such a death? Humanly speaking, he had done nothing wrong! Why is it wrong  to refuse to preach to evil and ungodly people? This understanding might have run in the depths of Jonah’s heart. In his righteousness, he was even ready to die if God wanted to punish him for what he did not do! What was underneath  such an unwavering resolution? The Bible does not describe this explicitly, but, through these considerations, we can think of a few things:

·         His personal righteousness resulted in his decision that he was right in thinking that such a vile nation must be punished by God.

·         He was also proud as a godly man, chosen by God; he couldn’t jeopardize his nation, Israel, by preaching to a pagan nation and possibly helping them escape  God’s judgment.

·         Jonah also held a deep-seated hatred toward the ungodly; he was good and right. Though this is the other side of pride, it is still important to note.

No matter how we look at this situation, Jonah’s primary concern was his personal feelings and his own sense of justice,  goodness, and righteousness. He had less concern for what God was thinking or what He had in mind. Jonah thought that his head was a little bigger than God’s. This was disobedience to God and a challenge against His goodness and authority.

B.      Jonah suffered under death’s power.

God forced the sailors to throw Jonah into the sea. In the vast sea, it was certain that he would die if no drastic rescue measures were made. What did God have in mind?

“Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17).

He went down to the depths of the sea and had struggled survive against the raging waters, swallowing water and  gasping for air. Death was right at the door, waiting to take him, but God sent a big fish and had it swallow Jonah up. He was in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. What is it like to be drowned or to be in a fish’s belly for three days and three nights? It is very difficult for us to fully grasp the depth of Jonah’s experience, because none of us has had a similar experience. Nevertheless, Jonah wrote about his experience during this time in a poem or psalm, which is saturated with vivid descriptions of his experience.

Jesus compared Jonah’s three days in the fish’s belly with his three days in the tomb. What do these two experiences share in common? To find this answer, Jonah’s experience plays an important role for us to discover the true meaning of Jesus’ death, not only in the aspect of suffering but also regarding its impact on  life as a whole.

Jonah describes his near-death experience in three stages: a description of his distress (Jonah 2:3-6a), his appeal to God for help (Jonah 2:7), God’s rescue (Jonah 2:6b, 7b). This passage is headed by an introduction/summary (Jonah 2:2), and ends with a conclusive vow of praise and decision in faith (Jonah 2:8-9).

1)      God hurled Jonah into the depths of the sea. He choked Jonah’s life by water and led him through the fullest darkness of death. He went down into the depths, to the very heart of the sea. It is filled with darkness and Jonah’s life was sapping away by the second; one sentence captures this well: “I have been banished from your sight” (Jonah 2:4a). He was being cut off from God, the source of life. Jesus had a very similar experience; when he was gasping for his last breath on the cross, he shouted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” (Matthew 27:46). Near-death experiences entail something more; this kind of experience includes a feeling of entrapment in the deepest darkness (“To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever” (Jonah 2:6)) He was so uptight about being entrapped under the earth and water; a feeling of hopelessness and fatalism overwhelmed his spirit. Death is not becoming nothing! It is living without God’s light; it is a life filled with darkness and of being trapped, suffering under utter hopelessness. Jonah experienced death’s  full impact over his being.

2)      "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7); had Jonah ever forgotten the Lord that he was saying he now remembered Him? I doubt that he had ever forgotten the Lord and His power and authority. Here Jonah was saying that, with God’s presence and love absent in his life, he  recalled for the first time the true value of living life in God’s blessing, which he had enjoyed before. In the midst of death and its awful and unbearable darkness, he came to truly appreciate life in and with the Lord.
Before, Jonah had never imagined the depths of the darkness without God, and, at the same time, he had never valued how precious God’s countenance upon him was, which gave him life. In this way, this experience revealed two importance truths to him: first, he learned a keen sense of the value of life in God, which he had undervalued in the past, thinking that he had all he needed in life and that he could stand alone, without God’s support! And secondly, death’s awfulness spoke powerfully to the preciousness of life in God, meaning that, if at all possible, life must be preserved in God; no one should undergo such a terrible moment of judgment by death, through God taking away one’s life and the countenance of His glory. Can we say that, if one does not know the full extent of death, then he cannot fully value life?

3)      ...“But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit...my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple” (Jonah 2:6, 7).

Here, the word ‘pit’ is often used to denote death. God heard his prayer and brought him out of death/pit. God heard his prayer! No one could give any help in such a situation, except God alone!  God not only  listened to Jonah’s prayer, but He also showed His mercy on him and gave him life again. By His mercy, death was removed and the darkness was gone. God is the God of mercy! He seeks out  those who seek Him, even if they rebel against Him!

This was an amazing experience. Jonah succinctly summarized his experience in this way:

“He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry” (Jonah 2:2).

He went down  deep into the realm of the dead! In desperation, he cried out for help, and God heard his prayer and gave him life! Simply, it was a death-to-life experience. This experience was brought to him by God’s mercy!

Why did God throw Jonah into this pit of death? Why did He force him to go through such a terrible experience?

I would like to find this answer by examining Jonah’s life, before and after this experience. 

Before, Jonah saw the world according to his own perspective; as he saw it, the right must be upheld and blessed by God, but the wrong and evil must pay the cost of their evil deeds. His view was heavily focused with using right and wrong as the sole parameters for blessing or judgment. This was well-expressed by his decision. Jonah agreed with God that Assyria deserved His punishment; their sins were far beyond His tolerance, going far beyond the threshold of His patience and love, so they had to be judged.

Like Jonah, everyone has his or her own threshold for judgment, including  God. What is your threshold that allows you to endure a certain level of sin or weakness from others? One may say, “I am very generous and can put up with the wrongs of others at least three times. I can even tolerate more than ten times.” Some may be able to tolerate more than 50 times of the same sin being committed, because he or she is so godly. But after that 50^th time, in his mind, it is better for the wrong to be punished with death. We all have such a threshold of tolerance, although it varies from person to person. Often we might think that we are the most tolerant of others and the most generous towards their shortcomings.

Tolerance of the wrongs of others has to do with benefits as well. Jonah loved his people and his nation, Israel. He had no affection for the powerful and evil kingdom of Assyria. For the benefit of his people, God’s people, it was better to judge Assyria! He was so righteous in his own eyes; in no way  could he compromise this principle.

But, after he had gone through this near-death experience in the sea, these principles crumbled. He tasted its darkness,  sorrow, and pain,  to the fullest extent. It was awful and unbearable, and his life was sapping away every second! Then a radical change came about in Jonah’s understanding of life! His changed perspective  is expressed in Jonah 2:8-9.

C.      God is the source of salvation for all.

"Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, 'Salvation comes from the LORD" (Jonah 2:8-9).

This is the sum of Jonah’s experience of near death in the sea. First two sentence is a reflection on what he did and the next two sentence is the resolution that he made out of ‘new understanding ‘ that came to him.

He had run away from the Lord because he had irreconcilable disagreement with the Lord. But now he came to realized that only idol worshipers do such foolish thing because God’s love is so great and full of mercy.  No matter what disagreement he would have with the Lord, instead of running away from Him, he would sacrifice to the Lord with grateful heart because his love is so great. God’s love is so great that it nullifies all the disagreement between him and the Lord. Also the love of God is so great that he would relate with God only in a way of sacrifice in gratefulness. God’s love overwhelms human understanding and reasoning!

He made a vow and he would keep the vow ; the vow is to deliver the message that salvation comes from the LORD. What did he mean by this? 

First, he came to say this, because he truly appreciated life in and with God for the first time (Jonah 2:7). What he previously knew and understood was totally wrong and insufficient. He had taken it very lightly and had even thought that he enjoyed life because he was better than the Assyrians and deserved it. However, he came to know life’s true value.

Secondly, when Jonah said that ‘salvation comes from the Lord’ he meant that God was the sole owner of his life. Salvation is God’s sole prerogative. In the past, Jonah was sure that he ran his life according to what was good and right, but now, he viewed God as the ultimate determiner of his life, not only for him but also for the lives of the people of Nineveh. No one, but God, was in charge of his life, so God’s will and purpose could not be ignored or put aside. At some point in his life, Jonah had to confront this face to face; if not now, than in the coming days, months, or years. He would surely come to face this truth at some point in his life.

Thirdly, Jonah felt the full extent of God’s mercy for the first time. That mercy produced the salvation of life. God’s judgment was so sharp that He would not let Jonah’s disobedience go unpunished, but His mercy was so rich and great that it extended even to such a man, living under the death’s power.  

What was Jonah’s final conclusion? In coming to this full realization, what was he going to do?

““But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say (repay), 'Salvation comes from the LORD"” (Jonah 2:9).

From the depths of his heart, Jonah was willing to sacrifice everything, because God was worthy and full of grace. He would resolutely do what God told him to do - to declare 'Salvation comes from the LORD’.

Have you ever had such experience in your life? If you have not, then, it is more than possible that your view of life may not be right or even sufficient! You may not know the full extent of LIFE and its meaning, value, and purpose! Does that mean that we are to challenge ourselves to gain such an experience?

Peter and John loved Jesus so much because he was full of love, truth, and power. Jesus was the Son of God to them, but, even though Jesus was innocent and hadn’t done anything wrong, he was still crucified on a cross. As one nail was being hammered down into Jesus’ hand, Peter felt that the nail was going through his own hand. John felt the same pain, because he loved Jesus so much that Jesus’ pain was his own pain. Eventually, Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a tomb. As Peter and John saw Jesus’ gruesome death so vividly, they felt their own death in him.

It was not just Peter and John who went through a death similar to Jesus. Paul says this:

“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4 NIV).

The full impact of men’s sins is seen in Jesus’ death on the cross. When we love Jesus, we taste both death’s power and life’s joy in him. Only then can we come to have the right and full perspective of life! When we are devoid of that experience, we will behave like Jonah and run away from the Lord. As Jonah hated and condemned the Assyrians, so we will hate and condemn those who do evil and see them as unfit to share in our righteousness. Jonah was so right in his own eyes that he was unable to understand God’s heart for the Assyrians. Likewise, we can become so righteous in our own eyes that we are unable to understand God’s heart for many sinners.

Jonah became fully committed to preach the message that ‘salvation is from the Lord’. This came after his utmost experience with God’s salvation power and his own deep conviction. I pray that this may be the confession and resolution for all of us in 2016.