Monthly Archives: September 2018

Prophet on the Run: Salvation comes from the Lord! Jonah 2.

Reflections on Scripture., What The Bible Teaches us about Prayer.

As Jonah was being tossed about by the waves perhaps he was thinking “It’s bad enough being asked to go to Nineveh, but now I’m about to drown!” But, at this point, God steps in!  In verse 17 of chapter 1 we read: ‘And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was inside the belly of the fish three days and three nights.’  It’s here, inside the fish, that Jonah’s heart and mind turned to the Lord in prayer because at that point he has a startling moment of clarity (v1)!

Jonah had been running away from the Lord, but now he realises that everything that has happened to him was under the Lord’s control. His prayer is in the form of a Psalm.  His situation is desperate so he cries out to the Lord.  When this occurred may not be a 100% clear at first, but my gut feeling is it was when he was thrown into the sea as we have no indication of him praying before that.  But it’s when he’s found out (1:7) he starts to clarify the situation as seen by his statement in chapter 1 verse 9.  The sailors had no problem accepting his guilt because they could see the evidence for themselves as their comment in verse 10 of chapter 1 could be phrased: “Are you crazy?”[1]  Jonah’s command to pick him up and throw him into the sea probably shows that he realised all that was happing was the Lord’s doing and the Lord controlled his destiny from the moment he had started running away!  Therefore Jonah, now thinking in a logical theological fashion, cries out to the only one who can do anything about his situation (v2).  But there is an aspect in verse 2 which is rather interesting, and that is how Jonah equates his experience with death.  Jonah equates Sheol as separation from the Lord.  But now there’s good news; the Lord has heard him!  As John Calvin puts it: ‘Jonah, as we shall hereafter see, directed his prayers to God not without great struggle; he contended with many difficulties; but however great the impediments in his way, he still preserved and ceased not from praying.’[2]  This is encouragement when we face mounting troubles; we pray to the Lord as there is no place that we can be physically or spiritually separated from God’s love and care!

Verse 3 emphasises Jonah’s new found understanding of God’s sovereignty with the phrase: ‘For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas,’ and: ‘all your waves and billows passed over me.’  In Jonah’s mind, the sailors were instruments of God judgement upon him.  This understanding of God’s sovereignty over land and sea was first acknowledged in Jonah’s confession to the sailors that he was the cause of their trouble (1:9).  Yet, at this point in Jonah’s experience, this aspect of God’s sovereignty truly terrifies him as he realises he is suffering the Lord’s righteous judgement and seems been excluded from the Lord’s presence (v4).  Today we properly can’t understand how important the temple was in Jewish thinking, but, to the Jew, the Temple was the very place where God connected with his people and Heaven and Earth, in effect, met (1 Chronicles 28:2).  Verse 4 gives us an indication of this as he will be able to look again to the Lord’s: ‘holy temple.’ and that makes all the difference for him in his present situation.  He gives a vivid description of downing in verse 5 and the picture we get in verse 6 is him being dragged into the deepest depths with the air in his lungs almost gone.  The language is interesting as it gives a picture of Jonah being in an impregnable prison.  Lloyd Oglivie notes that: ‘It was believed that the world of the dead had an imprisoning door that once close behind a person there could be no extraction. Jonah went down for the third time and gave up.  The grave of the sea had him, or so he thought.’[3]  But this was not the case as the sea was at God’s command.  Jonah had cried out to the Lord and now he acknowledges that the Lord: ‘brought up my life from the pit’ (v6).  The word: ‘pit’ within the context of Jonah prayer could be rendered ‘Sheol’.  But as David reminds us in Psalm 139:8: ‘If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!’  As Gordon Keddie notes: ‘Even in Sheol- the grave – the Lord is with his people!’[4]  Jonah’s sin had taken him far from the Lord, but the Lord reached out to him!  We might find ourselves in similar circumstances; due to our disobedience.  But like Jonah, we should know that the prayer of repentance is not limited by the distance we have put between ourselves and God.  Despite that distance, God is never deaf to the cry of a repentant sinner!Verse 7 now gives us the exact point when Jonah’s thoughts turned to God. It was when his: ‘life was ebbing away’. He may have been praying beforehand, but these were probably angry prayers the sort that would have been asking “why must I to go to Nineveh?”  Or, as he was thrown into the sea, “what have I done to deserve this?”  Or, as he was swallowed by the fish, “Lord, could you possibly make this worse?”  We shouldn’t expect answers to angry prayers (although sometimes God is incredibly gracious, as we see in chapter 4)!  But Jonah’s tone has changed.  Despite God’s judgement being the cause of his suffering, I’m guessing he remembered God’s wonderful nature which is seen so clearly in chapter 4 verse 2 that the Lord is: ‘a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding steadfast love, and relenting from disaster’ (echoing Exodus 34:6-7).   Despite Jonah saying this with disapproval there, it makes the difference here.  Jonah stops being angry and prays a prayer that can reach God and is answered.  The illustration of his prayer rising to God’s temple may refer to the custom the Jews had where they turned towards the temple when in prayer.  As Calvin puts it ‘Jonah says that his prayer entered into the temple of God; for that was a visible symbol, through which the Jews might understand that God was near to them.’[5]  Jonah has got his perspective right as his focus is now on God.  This is remedy for us when a situation starts to overwhelm us.  Stop looking at the situation and focus on God, then we will start to get the right perspective!

Verses 8-9 act as a conclusion to the Prayer. Jonah thinks of the sailors and their fruitless prayers.  Jonah’s experience had proved that their idols were: ‘worthless’ and could provide no help whatsoever.  Help had come when Jonah was thrown into the sea and strangely, both he and the sailors saw the Lord’s grace.  The sailors in that God stilled the storm, and Jonah in that God had provided the fish.  At that point the sailors were a good example of people without God.  Whatever people use to shape their life if is not God then they will forfeit grace.  Rather interestingly, the word for ‘idols’ literally means ‘snare’.[6]  Jonah ends his Psalm with a statement of intent; he will praise and thank God (v9).  What is meant by him sacrificing to God is not altogether clear.  It could mean Jonah will make a sacrifice when circumstances allow, which, interestingly enough, is the response of the sailors (1:16).  Jonah’s concern is that salvation is the property of the Lord as no one else can impart it.  Jonah’s and the sailor’s recent experience stands as testament to this as neither party could have saved themselves.  Only God and his supernatural agencies can do that!

To be continued…..!

[1] James Bruckner, The NIV Application Commentary, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2004), 45.

[2] John Calvin, Jonah, Micah and Nahum, A Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Volume 3, The Geneva Series of Commentaries, (Edinburgh, the Banner of Truth Trust, 1986) 76.

[3] Lloyd J. Oglivie, The Preachers Commentary, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Old Testament Volume 22, (Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1990) 433.

[4] Gordon J. Keddie, Preacher on the Run, The Message of Jonah, Welwyn Commentary Series, (Darlington, Evangelical Press, 1986), 58.

[5]  Calvin, Jonah, 85.

[6] T. Desmond Alexander, Jonah (with David W. Baker {Obadiah} and Bruce K.Waltke {Micah}), Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, (Leicester, Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 117.

You can Run but You can’t Hide! Jonah: The Background and First Chapter

Reflections on Scripture.

 ‘It’s going to get worse, before it gets better’ is a phrase that Jonah would have probably nodded his head ruefully in agreement with as he would undoubtedly testify to the truth of that statement!  We very often think of the book of Jonah as the stuff children’s talks are made of, an absolute gift from heaven for the speaker to do their stuff and provide vivid and exciting illustrations!  After all, isn’t that the book that has all that stuff about the prophet being swallowed by a whale?  The problem with that kind of thinking is it really misses the point of the book.  Besides that, the Hebrew renders our precious whale as a ‘big fish’ ‘or sea monster.’  And I’m not going to get into debates over what the fish was anyway as to do so is to miss the point of what the book teaches![1]  Jonah has much more to teach us other than that!

Put yourself in Jonah’s shoes. You’re a successful and popular prophet, and believe you me that wasn’t usually the case where most prophets were concerned!  After all, you’ve made a prophecy that has come to pass and more to the point it was a good prophecy not one of those ones about war, famine and pestilence due to covenant curses (Deuteronomy 28:15-68) which was the usual run of things where the rebellious people of Israel were concerned.  Jonah’s only other mention in the Old Testament is as a prophet to the northern kingdom around about 793-753 BC and is concerning this prophecy.  The interesting thing is that when he makes his prophecy King Jeroboam the second is on the throne and he, to be honest, was a lousy King!  Yet it is at this time that the word of the Lord comes to Jonah concerning Jeroboam’s actions in restoring large areas of land to Israel.  Despite being a thoroughly wicked King this was: ‘according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-helper’ (2 Kings 14:25).  Now let’s face it, that’s the kind of prophecy that people want to hear especially as it hasn’t required any great change in their devotion, or more to the point, their lack of it, to the Lord!  So before we encounter him here, Jonah is that unusual thing for a prophet, the flavour of the month or year in this case due to his prophecy.

But just when Jonah starts to think “I could get used to this” or “being a prophet isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be” his next assignment from the Lord is, to put it mildly, not as crowd-pleasing and certainly wasn’t going to make Jonah flavour of the month with the people who the prophecy concerns. We read in 1:1-2: ‘Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”’ Nineveh![2] How Jonah’s spirits must have sunk when he heard the location for his next prophecy.  These were Israel’s enemies (and just about everyone else’s) who were making life a misery for the surrounding nations.  Their atrocities that they carried out on those they captured would probably turn the stomach of those who produce R rated movies or photographers hardened by working in war zones!  I suppose the closest we could get to Jonah’s situation today would be a missionary receiving a call from the Lord to go to downtown Tehran in Iran and preach the Gospel there.  Surely no one in their right mind would go!  But there’s one major hitch where Jonah is concerned, the Lord has commanded him to go!

But Jonah is having none of it and promptly takes a ship heading in the other direction towards Spain! However, he has temporarily forgotten one thing.  The Lord is sovereign over all of creation, not just the nation of Israel.  To quote boxer Joe Louis: ‘you can run but you can’t hide’,  so if Jonah thinks one reluctant prophet can escape the Lord he’s got another thing coming!  The Lord sends a storm that is so bad that the pagan sailors turn to their gods in prayer and in a panic throw the cargo into the sea.  Jonah, in the meantime, having thought he’d given the Lord the slip and more than comfortable with his actions decides to take 40 winks down below until a panicking Captain comes down to wake him up and alert him to the danger that they face.  In desperation the sailors turn to casting lots and the lot falls on Jonah.  Finally Jonah owns up realising he can run but he can’t hide where God is concerned and, from what we can gather in chapter 1 verses 9-10, confesses to the sailors who he is and what he has done.  Not surprisingly this terrifies the sailors because they can see the proof of it all around them, so they ask him what they are to do.  Jonah tells them there is only one thing they can do and that is throw him into the sea as it’s his fault that the storm has come upon them and he basically thinks drowning is a lot better than going and preaching to Israel’s enemies.  Instead, showing a lot more consideration than he had shown them they try to row back to land, but the storm is so severe it gets them nowhere.  In the end they reluctantly do as Jonah has said, pleading with the Lord not to hold it against them (after all they are probably reasoning if the Lord is mad at his prophet for running away from him he might be even madder with them if they drown him by throwing him into the sea).  The storm ceases and ironically Jonah’s success as a prophet continues as the sailors turn to the Lord and offer sacrifices to him and, more significantly, make a vows to him (1:16).  But the Lord has provided for Jonah in a most surprising way!

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 (v17).

To be continued….

[1] In my opinion speculation and about the kind of fish involved and if it is scientifically possible is a waste of time!   Although it is possible that a large sperm whale could swallow a man there would have to be an element of the miraculous for a man to survive three days and three nights as Jonah did.  But that shouldn’t be a problem when we believe in a God can do the miraculous!  As Wiersbe notes: ‘It was a “prepared” fish” (1:17) ‘designed by God for the occasion, and therefore quite adequate for the task.’ Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Amazed, Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship, (Illinois, Victor Books, 1996) 81.

[2]‘A principle city, and the last capital of Assyria.’ J. D. Douglas, Editor, The illustrated Bible dictionary, part 2, Goliath – Papyri, (Leicester, Inter-Varsity-Press, 1980), 1089.

The Letters to the Seven Churches: A Church that Tolerates False Teaching! Revelation 2:12-17

Scriptural Thought for the Month

“I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells” (Revelation 2:13).

Pergamum was the capital of the Roman Province we now call Asia Minor. It was the centre of Empire, and had a temple dedicated to Aesculapius, the god of healing – represented by a snake – which may account for the phrase: ‘where Satan’s throne is’ (verse 13). Therefore, the situation would have been very difficult for the Church there – as Christians were viewed with suspicion, for not submitting to the Emperor.  So, how does Christ address them?

The imagery of Jesus, ‘walking among the lampstands’, representing the Churches (1:20), tells us that the Lord knows all about them. He knows that things have been tough, but they have remained faithful, even during intense opposition (v2).[1]  Yet, if they had been uncompromising in the past, some of them had done a 180 turn and gone to the other extreme!  But, what exactly were they doing wrong?

For that, we need to take a trip back to the days of the Exodus. In Numbers, chapter 22-24 we meet Balaam.  Balak, the King of Moab, was terrified that his kingdom would be overrun by the people of Israel.  So, doing what you did in those days, he calls a prophet who, for a price, will curse them!  Balaam obviously has a nice little side-line in doing this, but insists that he can only do so if God permits it.  A memorable adventure with his ass follows, but Balaam disappoints Balak as he ends up blessing Israel!  However, the story does not end there – Balaam wants it both ways.  He wants his promised wage packet, so he finds another way, by encouraging the Moabite women to lure the men of Israel into sexual immorality (Numbers 31:16).  He comes to a bad end (Numbers 31:8) and is sadly summed up as one ‘who loved to gain from wrongdoing’ (2 Peter 2:15).

So the Church was compromising. Like Balaam, they acted as if they were faithful to God.  Yet in other areas they were anything but!  Most likely some in the Church were saying they could be part of the city’s trade guilds, each of which had its own god and would have had meals where some of the food was sacrifice to an idol.  No doubt these feasts would have also encouraged immorality.  Yet to get on in their particular jobs some Christians were convinced they could both serve God and participate in pagan revelry (v14)!  If that was not bad enough, some of them were following the teaching of the dreaded Nicolatians.[2]

But Christ was having none of it! The two-edged sword John referred to in 1:16 is mentioned twice in this passage.  In Hebrews 4:12-13 that metaphor is used to show the truth and the power of the Word of God.  Quite simply Christ implies the message of the Gospel will cut the arguments of those guilty of this sin to pieces!  The Church needed to repent for allowing this false teaching, which some had embraced (note: ‘them’ in v16), to have compromised the Church.

Nonetheless, Christ wants to bless his Church, with two promises: The ‘hidden manna’ probably refers to the manna that was kept in a jar during the Exodus – to remind future generations of God’s goodness to them (Exodus 16:33). This is later fulfilled in Christ in John 6:51 when Jesus says: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever’.  There are several possibilities as to what the ‘white stone’ symbolises.  But one idea that appears most relevant here and makes most sense is the idea of the 12 stones that were on the breast plate of the high priest that had the names of the 12 tribes on them.  This stone would have their: ‘new name’ on it, ensuring their inclusion among God’s people.  Their future is assured, if they continue to be faithful by staying true to the Word of God.  What a great incentive this is for us today not to compromise whatever the temptation!

Want to listen to a sermon on this passage?  A Church that Tolerates False Teaching!

[1] Who was Antipas?  Some commentators have linked him to various martyrs, but to be honest we just don’t know.  It’s likely that he was a leader in the Church who had been faithful in the face of major opposition.

[2] The Nicolatians are mention here again, but Balaam may give us an indication about what they taught.  The name Balaam means: ‘lord of the people’ and the word Nicolatians means: ‘to rule the people’ which suggests they could have been teaching some form of legalism which led to a ‘cast iron’ control of people.  Warren Wiersbe, Be Victorious (Wheaton, SP Publications, 1985) 30.