Turn with me to the book of Jonah,
chapter 2. Jonah, chapter 2. While you're just
turning there, as Brother Scott was reading in Romans 5, he read these two verses in the
verses that he read. And as I looked at that, I thought,
this is how I'm going to start my message tonight. I'm going
to start my message with one of those verses for sure.
He said in Romans 5, 8, But God commendeth His love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." We are going to be saved from
wrath through the Lord Jesus Christ. As he read those verses a moment
ago, I began to think. In the glorification of our blessed
God and Father, in the salvation of His people, the Lord Jesus
Christ bore the wrath of God for His own. Now, we've heard
that, heard that for years and years and years, and still, as
He was reading those verses right there, I began to think, oh,
how little, how lightly I think on what He did. And even my fickle
thoughts of what He did just pale into nothingness in what
He actually did, what He actually suffered. In Jonah chapter 1, actually
I'm going to begin with the last verse of the first chapter. And as we pick up where we left
off last Sunday, remember Jonah when asked by the mariners in
verse 11 of chapter 1, they said unto him, What shall we do unto
thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea, raw, was
tempestuous. Ask Him, what shall we do to
you that we might find some peace? And Jonah said, take me up and
cast me forth into the sea, and so shall the sea be calm unto
you. No clearer picture of substitution
right here. What's it going to take? This
sea, the sea, a picture of God's wrath. What's it going to take
that the sea might be calm to us? Jonah, as a type of our Lord,
said, throw me in. I'm going to have to go in, but
I'll go in for you. The sea will be calm to you,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The verse we just read, "...suffered
in our stead, and took the wrath of God for us." Beginning in
Jonah 1, verse 17, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to
swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of
the fish three days and three nights. as our Lord was the one set forth
in Jonah as a type of Christ. Jonah being thrown overboard,
our Lord Jesus Christ is the one that He pictured. You know
that. The Scripture says that the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah. Just as Jonah had a great fish
prepared for him, our Lord, who is pictured in his sufferings,
that's what Jonah chapter 2 is all about, the suffering of our
Lord in His death, His burial, and His resurrection, what He
suffered, the wrath of Almighty God that He bore. As we look
into this chapter, this second chapter, let me just go ahead
and up front admit it. As I've looked at this, I pray
God, by His Spirit, bless this message to our heart and give
us some indication, as only the Spirit of God can, of what He
bore. But in the description of what
Jonah, and I know, I recognize, I realize, this Jonah, this man
Jonah, he's a prophet. But he's a type. Let me ask you
this. If only a historical figure is
the one we're looking at tonight, we could say, boy, how wonderful
that is that the Lord preserved that man. For that, I'm thankful.
I'm thankful. But let me ask you this. If this
Jonah is a type of our blessed Lord in what our Lord bore for
us, the wrath of Almighty God, what He delivered us from in
the glorifying of His Father, we have something to be thankful
for tonight. The Lord prepared a great fish
to swallow up Jonah. This fish, a picture of the grave,
the death, swallowed up Jonah, a picture of our blessed Lord
and Savior, providence in due time. That's what Brother Scott
was talking about a while ago. In due time, God Almighty brought
forth His Son, one born of a virgin, lived perfectly before Almighty
God in His law, obeyed, obeyed, obeyed for His own, for His people
as their representative. And now, as their substitute,
He is set forth to see who died suffering. God's wrath. The Lord
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah, as the Lord
said in the book of Matthew. This is the sign. This is the
only sign. An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign. No sign shall be given but the
sign of the prophet Jonas. This is him right here. And Jonah
was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
You know that's a picture of our Lord. Someone will say, well,
that's just coincidental. No, based on our Lord's Word,
Jonah is assigned as a type of him. Jonah. Jonah was three days,
three nights. Then Jonah, chapter 2, verse
1, prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the fish's belly. Before Jonah, I realize in his
type, in his actual manhood, let me say it like that. was
a rebel against God. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
was made to be. He was perfect. He was without
sin. He took upon Himself, imputed,
charged to sin, guilt. Marvelous! Marvelous that our
Lord, in His death and burial, resurrection, He cried out unto
the Lord. Justice is satisfied. Justice
is demanded. Jonah prayed unto the Lord his
God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of mine
affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me. Was it not the Lord
Jesus Christ that said of His Father, Lord, You always hear
me? Out of the belly of hell cried
I, and Thou heardest my voice. I realize is brought between
hope and despair. But as our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, hanging upon the cross, He cried by reason of the judgment
of Almighty God that was levied against Him with the guilt of
His own charge to Him. He cried out, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? Can you enter into the depth
of what He said? I can't. I'll be honest with
you. I cannot. My God, my God, why? I know that
Almighty God would not look upon him, thou art of pure eyes, than
to behold iniquity. I know that. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I cried by reason of my affliction
unto the Lord, and he heard me. Christ actually endured the wrath,
indescribable wrath of Almighty God. He endured that which our
sin demanded. Justice. I am a just God. It was the Father that cast Him
where He was. Verse 3, Jonas says, For thou
hast cast me, into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and
the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves
passed over me." He did absolutely that which was demanded, and
eternal counsel dictated. All of thy billows. There was
nothing held back. God Almighty must deal with sin. found on our Lord. Nothing. Complete judgment. Wave after
wave. Thou cast me into the deep, in
the midst of the seas and the floods. They compassed me about. Thy billows, thy waves, they
passed over me. Then I said, verse 4, I am cast
out of thy sight. The Father, as I said a moment
ago, will not look upon sin. I quoted that Scripture out of
Habakkuk. Thou art of pure eyes, and to behold evil, and canst
not look on iniquity. Thou cast me out." Yet, the Lord
said, I will look again toward thy holy temple. My gaze shall
be toward the holy place, the holy of holies. Our Lord type in him said, I
will look unto thee. That's by the grace of God that
a man would even say that. When we go through the trials
that we go through, I mean, we have sufferings and we have trials
and tribulations. A believer looks to the Lord
by faith, in hope, in assurance. But what our Lord took and what
our Lord endured And what he suffered, here is the obedient
Savior. Obedient. It's my beloved Son. That's what God said. Then said
I am cast out of thy sight, yet will I look again toward thy
holy temple. The waters, verse 5, confused
me about, even to the soul. The depth clothed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. The waters. So many with the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 26, 38, He said, My
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. The waters of
God's wrath encompassed Him, even to His soul. And that was
His quote before He went to Calvary. That's what He told His disciples.
Would you watch for Me? Would you watch with Me? He said.
That's what He said. My soul is exceeding sorrowful
even unto death." I don't know what he said. I don't know. But he said, my
soul is exceeding sorrowful. The waters wrapped, devoured
him. In Psalm 69, Look at this, and
here again we read in these psalms. I tell you, we would do well
when you read these psalms, and often you read of the affliction
of David. Recognize that David is speaking
of our Lord's suffering. Psalm 69, ìSave me, O God, for
the waters are come in unto my soul.î I sink in deep mire where
there is no standing. I come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying. My throat
is dried. My eyes fail while I wait for
my God. They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away." Let me ask you something. Who could
say those words? Only Christ. Who could restore
that which He took not away? Only our Lord. But He started
off. He says, The waters come into my soul. Jonah speaking
in verse 5 of chapter 2 says, The waters compassed me about
even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. The bindings. I know this. Divine love held Him there. and
divine judgment was cast upon him. The bindings, the weeds,
the depth closed me. The deep place of separation,
unfathomable, the depth, the deep. What did he suffer? What did he suffer? All I can
say is I can say this, he suffered the wrath of God for His people. And when He said, My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me? He said in verse 6, I went down
to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
Me forever. Yet hast Thou brought up My life
from corruption, O Lord, My God. and gone down to the bottoms
of the mountains, the extremity, the source of the mountains.
Actually, it is the opposite of exaltation. He was made the
lowest. The greatest was brought down
to the lowest for our sake. Can you imagine? The bars. He says, the earth with her bars. was about me forever. The jagged
places is what that word means. The piercing objects. I have
been brought, he said, to the lowest and there is no escaping. He must suffer. He must die. If Christ bare not God's wrath
for his own, they are hopelessly lost. Eternal wrath! Now, we talk about wrath. We
talk about a jail. We talk about bread and water.
We talk about... We know nothing of the indescribable
wrath of God against sin. He said, The bars were about
me yet. Hast thou brought up my life
from corruption? O Lord my God! Psalm 16, 10. It says, Thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One
to see corruption. He said, You brought me to the
place of utter, utter wrath and judgment. I cried out, but You
brought my life up from corruption. When my soul, verse 7, fainted
within me, I remembered the Lord. I can enter into that a little
bit. I know you can too. You know something. You know
something. As I said a moment ago of trials. You know something. I know something. But you know
what Paul said these things are. Brad, he said they're light afflictions.
We talk about suffering. We talk about suffering. Paul
said it's just light affliction. We don't know anything about
suffering. I've never suffered. I've never. Oh, just a little bit. But to
think, this light affliction, which is but for a moment, when
we consider the eternal weight of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ
has suffered the wrath of Almighty God. He suffered the wrath for
sin in my stead. He said, when my soul fainted
within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto Thee,
into Thy holy temple. When my soul fainted, I looked
at that word fainted. It means rolled itself up. And actually, what the word means
is, I bowed to that which you bestowed on me, your wrath. I
bowed to it. I bowed to it. Didn't resist
it. For this end, I came. He set
his face, the Scripture says, like a flint. Here is Almighty
God. God-man. And he knew. He knew. what he was going to
suffer. Sin charged to him, placed upon
him, and he would become legally guilty. I cannot imagine, but
I know this, when he was made to be sin, it wasn't pretend. He was made to be sin, and Almighty
God judged him, smote him, He smote him! He smote him! God... He said, when my soul fainted,
vowed to, turned within, I remembered there was no struggling against
His Father's justice toward sin found on Him. He knew. Justice! Justice! This is right! in his obedience, if sin was
found on him, and it was, he was right. It was right. He must,
God must judge him. He's a just God. O God Almighty, under the wrath
of God Almighty's wrath, they that observe lying vanities forsake
their own mercy. Let a man say what he will, what
he's going to take in the salvation of a soul. Talk about his fickle
will and his fickle this and his little choice and his church
membership and here's Almighty God. The God-man suffering. Indescribable. I read these words
and I'm at a loss to know what to say. I don't know what to
say. They that observe, they that
keep, they that hold to lion banities, they forsake mercy. But I, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He says, I, I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. And I will pay that I have vowed
the salvations of the Lord. I'll sacrifice. What other sacrifice would atone? What other sacrifice will do?
I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. Thankful. Thankful. Here is Christ himself. He was finished, thankful, made
to be seen, slain from the foundation of the world, and here in time,
came and suffered. I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving, the bleating, thankful that all of
his enemies had conquered Who are his enemies? The enemies
of his people. Sin. Satan. Rebellion. All of his enemies. Thankful. I will pay that which
I have vowed. Eternal covenant. Eternal promise. The people of God charge to Him. Their surety, their surety, the
surety must make the payment good. The debt must be paid. I will pay. I won't try to pay. I'm going to do the best I can
to pay. Or I'm going to make the payment good if you will.
I will pay. What's it going to cost? That's
what it's going to cost. I'll pay without the shedding
of blood. I'll pay completely. I'll make
an end. This is the bottom line. What's
it going to cost? I'll pay it." And he did. I'll pay that which I vowed,
the salvations of the Lord. I know Jonah could say that.
I know he could, and all God's people can, the salvations of
the Lord. Salvation in its conception.
Salvation in its execution. Salvation in its satisfaction. Salvation is of the Lord. I want
you to notice that Lord is capital L, capital O, capital R, capital
D. Jehovah. Triune God. Triune God. Salvation is of the
Father. He chose a people. Chose a people. Chose them in Christ. Chose them
from the foundation of the world and gave them to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Salvation is secondly of the Son. He paid. He suffered the wrath of Almighty
God and redeemed them. He bought them back. Paid for
them. Paid what they could not pay. Salvation is of the Holy
Spirit, the quickening God. The sealing God, the keeping,
the revealing salvation is of the Lord. And the next time we
look at Jonah, Lord willing, I'll start in verse 10. It says,
And the Lord spake to the fish, and it bombed it out, Jonah,
upon the dry ground three days. Three nights our Lord was in
the grave. And after three days and three
nights, Almighty God raised Him from the dead. And He came out
victorious. What did He suffer? Well, I can
truthfully say He suffered the wrath of God. I know that in
the book of Jonah, I know that Jonah, as a man, I am convinced
that man was in the belly of that fish three days and three
nights. I don't doubt that one bit. But what is the type? It's a type of our Lord and Savior. Not another sign is going to
be given. You want a sign? Here's a sign. As Jonah was in
three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so shall
the Son of Man be three days and three nights. What did he
suffer? I don't know. But I can say this,
whatever he suffered, he suffered for his people. And he suffered
completely. And he suffered to the satisfaction
of the justice of Almighty God. And when he said it was finished,
I'm telling you, to you that believe, it's finished. No wrath
for you. No wrath. No wrath. Let's stand
together.