Great to be back studying with you and seeking the Lord for ongoing freedom from impurity of all kinds.
We’ve been looking at the truth that we were crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:7), were buried and risen with Christ (Romans 6:4).
Every New Testament truth is illustrated with an Old Testament story. These stories can be compelling in capturing our imaginations and anchoring them to the gospel.
Today’s illustration is about Jonah. Just a quick review: God called Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevites but Jonah did not want to do what God called him to do, so he ran. He ran the opposite direction from Nineveh, got on a boat going to Tarshis, instead.
“But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the LORD by sailing to Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3).
He went down to the bottom of the ship and fell asleep, as he was exhausted from all of his running away from God. But Jonah did not realize that we cannot run from God, for God is everywhere. Jonah was about to learn the same lesson that David learned when he wrote this:
Psalms 139:7-12 NLT I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! (8) If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. (9) If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, (10) even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. (11) I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— (12) but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
Question 1. What truth is David expressing in Psalm 139:7-12?
Jonah ran away from God, hoping to hide. But God sent a terrible storm which threatened to capsize the boat. Have you noticed that when you run from God, you end up in trouble? I sure have!
So, Jonah is in this boat, and a terrible, life-threatening storm has come up. Jonah knows the storm is there because he has run from God.
Jonah 1:11-12 NLT And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?” (12) “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”
This is what happened next:
Jonah 1:14-17 ESV Therefore they called out to the LORD, “O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.” (15) So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. (16) Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. (17) And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:1-6 ESV Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, (2) saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. (3) For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. (4) Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ (5) The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head (6) at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
Jonah knew he was the cause of the storm, so he told the sailors to throw him overboard, and as they did so, “the sea ceased from its raging.”
If you know the story, then you know that a large fish swallowed Jonah and he remained in the depths of the ocean for three days and nights, before he was raised up and spit out on the land. After which, he went and preached to the Ninevites.
There are lots of good lessons we can learn from the life of Jonah, but notice what Jesus said about Jonah:
Matthew 12:39-40 ESV But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. (40) For just 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.
Question 2. According to Jesus in Matthew 12:39-40, what primary truth are we supposed to see from the Book of Jonah?