Jonah chapter 1 and 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. Let me read it again. 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. One of the greatest blessings
for a believer in the Lord who is experiencing hardship is to
be able to trust in the near and personal presence of the
Lord Jesus with him. One of the greatest blessings
for a believer experiencing hardship is to be able to trust in the
near and personal presence of the Lord Jesus. There's nothing
more comforting than to know in whatever situation we find
ourselves, we are not alone. When it's planes sailing, the
Lord is with us, though because it's planes sailing, we rarely
notice. When it's blowing a storm, the
Lord is with us, and even in the whale's belly,
the Lord does not abandon his little ones whom he loves. I've often wondered what was
going through Jonah's mind as the mariners in that little ship
lifted him up and launched him over the side into the storm
and into the sea. Many years later, the disciple,
Peter, in a not dissimilar situation, felt himself sinking into the
waters, not of the Mediterranean, but of another sea, the Sea of
Galilee. And we read in the New Testament
that he, beginning to sink, cried saying, Lord, save me. And I suspect that Jonah cried
the same thing. He'd been endeavouring to flee. He sought to flee from the presence
of the Lord. But now he gladly recalled the
Lord's words. I am a God at hand, saith the
Lord, and not a God afar off. Can any hide himself in secret
places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do nor I fill
heaven and earth, saith the Lord. Am I a God at hand, saith the
Lord? So here we have Jonah's confidence
that even in this moment, the Lord was with him. There's nothing
that we do that the Lord does not see. There's nowhere that
we go that the Lord does not know. There's nothing that we
endure that the Lord does not share. As Jonah felt the cold
sea water, he likely thought that his life was over. But the
Lord had something quite different prepared. and prepared it was. We are clearly
told that the Lord prepared a great fish. Now people will speculate
what fish could possibly swallow a man and whether there is such
fish in the Mediterranean Sea. You know what? That really is
irrelevant. God prepared this fish. the location,
the timing, the size of its mouth and its throat, and the dimensions
of its stomach. Everything was prepared in a
manner that served most suitably the purpose that God intended. which was to deposit this runaway
prophet onto the land near Nineveh so that he could go and do what
the Lord had instructed him to do right at the very beginning. And the person who thinks it
couldn't happen, or what are the chances, really doesn't grasp
the point. The point is, God actively intervened
to preserve Jonah's life, to arrest his flight, and redirect
his goings. Jonah's work was not done. The
Lord had more for him to do, and whether or not there was
a cry of repentance, a cry for forgiveness, a cry for help,
I say whether or not there was, the Lord had already prepared
a great fish to swallow the prophet whole and to carry him back the
way that he had come. And the mode of transport presented
Jonah with a long journey time. sufficient for him to reflect
on his attitude and his actions. The duration that we're given
here in verse 17 tells us that The three days and three nights
Jonah was in the belly of this large fish. It's called a whale
in the New Testament so whether we say whale or whether we say
large fish we are not being disrespectful to the language
of scripture or what it teaches. But the duration of Jonah in
the belly of this large fish was three days and three nights. And I explained in my little
note yesterday that this is the way that the Jews express part
of one day then the whole of the next day, 24 hours, and part
of the day following. So three days and three nights
are not three of 24 hours, but one part of a day, then a whole
day, and then another part of the day. And it matches the length
of time that the Lord Jesus lay in the tomb. from the Friday
evening when the Lord was crucified, which was the eve of the Sabbath,
through the Sabbath day, to very early the first day of the week.
And the fact that this was the same time shows that Jonah was
designed to be a type of the Lord Jesus in his death and burial
and resurrection. And this is what we see from
the words of the Lord when he speaks repeatedly to the scribes
and Pharisees who questioned him in Mark's gospel and in Luke's
gospel concerning the miracles that he performed and the sign
that they required in order to believe that he was truly the
Messiah. So today what I plan to do is
take three headings and one is the sign of Jonas, which is what
the Lord calls this episode in Jonah's life, the sign of Jonas. A lesson for Jonah. my second point
and then thirdly just to say a little bit about a lesson for
us today. So these are the three areas
that I want to just spend a little bit of time on today and I trust
that the Lord will allow us to glean something from this passage
that might be a help and encouragement to us. So the first thing is
to mention this context in which the Lord mentions repeatedly
and frequently the sign of Jonas. And the Lord used this little
phrase no doubt reinforcing the historical narrative and the
truthfulness of this Old Testament event. But the Lord repeatedly
referred to the sign of Jonas when the scribes and the Pharisees
came to him demanding a sign from heaven. And it's really quite astonishing
how deceitful and mendacious the scribes and Pharisees were
with the Lord. One might have thought that all
the miracles the Lord performed would have been sufficient evidence
that Christ was the one that he said he was. What more could
these scribes and Pharisees be seeking? The Lord himself had
said, and I'm quoting the Lord, the blind see, the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. To the poor, the gospel is preached. To which we could add, he fed
multitudes, he walked on water, he stilled the sea, so that his
disciples could say, what manner of man is this that even the
wind and the sea obey him? And yet the Scribes and the Pharisees
wanted more. Can you believe that to them,
Christ's miracles were only evidence that the Lord was in league with
the devil. That was what they said. They
said, these things that you do show that you are in league with
the devil. They said, these are if-ly signs. They said effectively, and I'm
paraphrasing, they might dazzle the common people. but they won't
fool these judicious Pharisees. The Pharisees and the scribes
wanted a sign from heaven. That was what they said. Though
what they expected is hard to say. Was it that God should come
down from the sky like he did at Mount Sinai? Was it that he
should have some great manifestation at the temple in Jerusalem? It's
hard to understand what these men could possibly be seeking.
Yet the Lord's answer to them was always the same. In Matthew
chapter 12 verse 39 he says this, an evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it
but the sign of the prophet Jonas. The sign that they would be given
and the only sign that they would be given was the death, burial
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The same chapter,
verse 40, says this. For as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise
in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because
they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater
than Jonas is here. Christ is the one who is greater
than Jonas or Jonah. And his resurrection in the same
pattern over the same timescale as the sign of Jonas was proof
of his divinity and should have been believed by that generation
in which he lived. And it continues to be the same
answer to all today who say, I would believe if only, whatever
that only may be. People tell us, I wish I could
believe it, I would believe it if only. The truth is, men and
women cannot and will not believe because like the scribes and
Pharisees, their hearts are evil and adulterous. What does adulterous
mean? It means that they're unfaithful.
It means that they're deceitful, they're liars. They are without
faith, and if you have no faith, then you cannot believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how you might say you would long
to, you would like to, and you would. Do you know that today,
some churches artificially manufacture signs and wonders of their own
to attract members. But their claims of these signs
and wonders, their claims to possess such power merely confirms
that they are still in their sins and continue to be evil
and adulterous like the scribes and Pharisees. The Lord has spoken
emphatically on this matter. There is only one sign. There
is only one sign given to this unbelieving world. The sign of
Jonas. So that Paul says in Romans chapter
10 in verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's the sign. That's
what's to be believed. It isn't to do with what we see.
It's not to do with our eyes. It's not to do with our senses.
It's not to do with what is tangible and evident and visible before
us. It is faith. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. And all the signs in the world
will never generate that faith in the heart of an evil and adulterous
people. It takes a work from on high. And if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, which was the sign of Jonas,
thou shalt be saved. You are saved. It's what you
are, for you are a believer in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's it. It's what distinguishes
all who are God's elect people, all who are chosen to salvation.
And those who are outside of Christ are distinguished thereby
as well. Do you confess Christ? Do you
believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead
for the remission, the taking away of sins? Then you are saved. The gospel of God's grace by
the death of Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. death and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ because that resurrection proved that all that Christ had
accomplished on the cross was sufficient and acceptable to
God. Acts chapter 4 verse 12 says,
neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other
name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. So here is the meaning, the sense
of this sign of Jonas. This death and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ is that message that we preach, is that
gospel that is given amongst men. And it is by the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ and all his accomplishments that men
and women and boys and girls will be saved. Here's the second
thing I want to point out today. This is a lesson as well for
Jonah. So that Jonah was learning something
here, himself as an individual, in his own circumstances, in
his own day. It is true that Jonah supplied
this suitable sign, this fitting type of Christ that we have just
referred to. And yet the prophecy isn't a
parable, it's not an allegory. It is historical and it was given
to the church for our teaching. Jonah was a real man who was
swallowed by a real fish. He preached to real sinners in
Nineveh and he wrestled with real problems in his own understanding
concerning God and God's purpose of grace. So that in addition
to being assigned to Old Testament believers and condemning Christ's
own generation, Jonah's role as it is recorded in this book,
this prophecy, it has a number of other things that it teaches. Let me just list a few of them
for you. This little book of Jonah serves
to declare the grace and mercy of God to repentant sinners. It foreshadows the calling of
the Gentiles, especially following the death and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus. It instructs the church concerning
the power and the goodness of God. It explains the nature of
repentance. Jonah also reveals the role and
the mission of ministers of the gospel. And it explains the infirmities
of the best of men in this life. Jonah was a minister of the Word
of God, and yet that did not mean that he had learned all
there was to know. Blessed as he was by the closeness
of the Son of God, Jonah had lessons to learn. as we all do. And let us just pause on that
for a moment. No matter how old or how young
you are, no matter where you've been and what you've seen, no
matter what the Lord has taught you hitherto, you still have
more to learn. The day we have no more to learn
about the glory and the majesty, the goodness and the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. When that day comes, the Lord
will translate us into his presence. So as well as giving a sign by
Jonah, the Lord was also teaching Jonah a lesson. A lesson that
allowed the prophet to work through his own prejudices, to work through
his own wrong assumptions, and to come to a clearer understanding
of the ways and the purposes of God. When the Saviour calls
his people to salvation, when he calls us to experience forgiveness
of sins, the Lord himself describes that process as taking his yoke
and learning of him. And I want to put the emphasis
on that word learning. All believers, when we look at
the scripture, all believers had to learn Christ. Moses, David, Jonah, Paul, you
and me, we all must learn Christ. Who he is, what he has done. Because that is the way in which
we grow in grace and a knowledge of the truth. I don't know whether it's comparable
or not, but let me just say this, even the child Jesus increased
in wisdom and learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now Jonah's schoolroom was a fish's belly. And I'm grateful that the Holy
Spirit does not conceal the faults and the failures of God's elect. There are very few characters
in Scripture concerning whom we don't have notice of one fault
or another. And it is the goodness of God
that he is patient with us and corrects us graciously and gently
according to our need. Discipline in the Christian's
life is an evidence of divine love. Because Jonah was loved
by God, the Lord took time to teach him and correct him and
lead him into truth. God's love isn't earned by our
obedience. When the Lord loves, he loves
with an everlasting, unchangeable, unconditional affection. God's
love manifests itself, it becomes evident, it is shown to us, it
is revealed to us and experienced by us in his kindness, in his
care and in his protection of us. Jonah was cared for by the
Lord in his sin and in being disciplined for his sin. And God's care for his servant
included preparing a great fish to swallow him. God's care for his servant included
preparing a great fish to swallow him and keeping him alive and keeping
him breathing and keeping him conscious and keeping him rational
during the ordeal. Let me just say this, there is
a great difference between divine punishment and fatherly discipline
and we need to understand that. Punishment is for what I've done
wrong and no believer is punished by God. No elect child of God
is ever punished by God because the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered
already for all I've ever done wrong and all I ever will do
wrong. There's no double payments with
God. He has charged Christ and punished
him for that wrong. He will not charge me or punish
me. Discipline, however, does come
to the Lord's people and it reveals my weaknesses and it is a vehicle
to apply God's mercy and help and comfort as he directs me
not to sin again. Punishment looks down with shame. Discipline looks up with gratitude. Jonah was swallowed by a great
fish and it was a mark of God's goodness
because he emerged a wiser man. So here's a lesson for us today. If we were to fall off a boat
into a whale's mouth, I think our first reaction would be,
this isn't good. But what if we had sufficient
presence of mind to be able to say, wait a minute, God has prepared
this fish for me. God will be in this fish with
me. and God will carry me through
this experience and bring me safe to the other side of this
experience. If we could think that, I think
that we would make that trial, whatever it may be, easier to
endure. Now, I'm not naive enough to
think either you or me can think like that. It just isn't how
we're made. It just isn't how we work. The problems that we have, the
times that we fall into the mouth of the whale, the problems that
we have, Paul says, he says in Hebrews
chapter 12 verse 11, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, and the problems that we have are not a joy to us. They are grievous. He continues,
Paul continues, nevertheless afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. And just as Jonah had much to
learn in the whale's belly, so do we. God called us in order
to conform us to the image of Christ, to the image of his son.
And he is doing that now. I'm not saying he's making us
holier every day. We've mentioned this before.
But he is conforming us to the image of Christ. He is making
us to be like his Son. And we are wrong to consider
our conversion as something that happened a long time ago or something
that was a single event in time. Conversion is the commencement
of our lifelong experience of God's grace. It's the mere starting
point of our conscious awareness of the Lord's work in our lives.
And from that first awareness, It's called an awakening. From
that first awareness of God's love and mercy until the day
of our death, we shall continue to enlarge our stock of divine
truth as the Lord leads us and guides us and directs us in our
life and in our spiritual journey. So brothers and sisters, fellow
believers, We are being continuously changed by the experiences that
we have. We are being changed from glory
to glory. Jonah's worth, Jonah's usefulness
to the body of Christ, to the church of Jesus Christ required
him to both disobey the Lord and learn from his mistake. and
that is true for us all. Although we hate the garment
spotted by the flesh, yet even our sins are conducive to our
learning Christ. The evil of the old man in the
flesh and the warring of the flesh against the spirit are
means by which God weans us from trusting in ourselves and deepens
our reliance upon Christ the Lord. As with Jonah, the process of
discipline and development will not be easy. There's no joy in
the whale's belly. In the coming verses, Jonah describes
the depths that he plumbed and the darkness that he endured. And yet trials enable and secure
our growth in grace. They encourage knowledge of the
truth and spiritual communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. Trials
do that more than the plane sailing ever will. And what's more, the
hardest experiences of life tend most to this end. It's when we're stripped of our
earthly comforts that we lean most heavily upon the one who
is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. So whatever dark experiences
lie ahead, whatever dark experiences the Lord leads us through, let
us not chafe at his means and methods, but let us humble ourselves
and learn of him. Jonah is in glory right now,
thanking the Lord for that great fish and for all his grace and
his mercy and soon that is where we shall be as well. May the
Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.