Salvation through Sacrifice (Jonah 1)
Messenger dox
Call to worship/OT reading:
pastor michael champoux
Genesis 3:1-15
NT reading:
pastor bobby owens
Luke 8.22-25
song:
The lord almighty reigns
Historical reading:
pastor zack mcguire
Apostles Creed
song:
Lord I need you
Alyssa Osborn deacon appointment
Confession & Pardon:
dr. brett eckel
song:
Speak o lord
Sermon:
pastor andrew loginow
Salvation through Sacrifice (Jomah 2)
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah chapter one. The Holy Spirit writes:
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.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 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.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
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.
This is the word of the Lord. [Thanks be to God]
Let’s Pray.
Holy God, your word holds the words of life. Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Your word makes us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Your word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Bless us now, Father, as we read your word. We pray this by the power of the Holy Spirit, and in Jesus’ name, amen.
Being swallowed up, or in the belly of a fish, or sea monster appears in many tales. In literature, as Americans, I’m sure Moby Dick, by Herman Melville comes to mind. Even in the book there is a chapter where a preacher by the name of Father Mapple delivers his sermon on the book of Jonah. Jumping to modern day you may think of the Super Mario Brothers Movie, where Mario and Donkey Kong are swallowed up by a Maw-Ray, a large eel-like creature who appeared first in the N64 video game Super Mario 64. If you know you know.
Some of you have maybe thought about Finding Nemo, how Dory and Marlin are accidentally swallowed by a whale due to their proximity to krill. Yet, I would have to guess one of the first images that jumps into our minds is Pinocchio, and even more particularly Disney’s retelling of story about the little wooden puppet who wishes to be a real boy.
If you recall, Geppetto was out searching for Pinocchio, since Pinocchio had never returned home from school. Geppetto’s search led him out to sea where he is swallowed whole, including his boat and the cat Figaro, by the great whale Monstro. Pinocchio, learning of this news, heads out to sea in search of the whale. After locating Monstro, he makes his way inside the beast to be reunited with his father.
The common thread between these stories and being swallowed up by a sea monster is that when they are inside the monster there is only utter despair. The immediate thought of there being no escape. Imminent death with no hope of salvation.
In the opening of Jonah, however, we have the announcement of salvation. ‘Now the word of YHWH came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me”’ (vv. 1-2). Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, calls Jonah to preach judgement on Ninevah, and anytime in scripture when God calls a prophet to preach judgement, whether stated directly or not, it is always assumed that repentance will lead to salvation from God’s judgement. Jonah is being called to preach the gospel to Ninevah, a gentile nation. Yahweh is calling Jonah to preach the gospel to the nations.
Instead of rising to go, Jonah rose to flee. He rose to flee from his prophetic office, he rose to flee “from the presence of YHWH” (v. 3). At this point it’s easy for us to stand in judgement against Jonah, and he deserves it, but Jonah is not the only person to flee from the presence of Yahweh. Pastor Mike read Genesis chapter three to us in our Old Testament reading during the Call to Worship. Genesis three contains the fall of man and the first announcement of the gospel. So, what happens after Adam and Eve fall into sin from breaking God’s law? Genesis three, verse eight, “And they heard the sound of YHWH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of YHWH God among the trees of the garden” (ESV). Both texts use the same exact phasing in the ESV, from the presence of Yahweh. Sin causes us flee from the presence of God. This is a universal truth. Be it pride, guilt, fear, and so on, we want to run and hide when we should bow and plead. That is why Doctor Brett leading us in the confession and pardon today was such an imperative moment for this week. When we confess our sins, we effectively abandon fleeing from the presence of God to flee to the embrace of Jesus, whose nail-pierced hands wrap around us to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Spirit, help us to flee to Jesus!
Jonah fled to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. He pays his fare and again we have the phrase “away from the presence of YHWH” (v. 3). Now Jonah would not have thought he could effectively hide from God. The phrase “away from the presence of YWHW” is exclaiming that Jonah is actively rebelling against God. T. Desmond Alexander notes in his commentary on Jonah, “By fleeing from the Lord’s presence Jonah announces emphatically his unwillingness to serve God. His action is nothing less than open rebellion against God’s sovereignty” (Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, pg. 101).
As we all know, no one, not even Jonah, can flee from the presence of God. So, Yahweh “hurled” as the ESV states “a great wind upon the sea” (v. 4). The word “hurled” is so effective in relaying the power of this scene. It doesn’t say “God caused a wind”, or “God brought about a wind”, or even “God sent a wind”. No, he “hurled a great wind”. We are given a sense of great power, a sense of intense velocity, and a sense of immense fear. And what follows tells of the perfect storm; “there was a mighty tempest”, “the ship threatened to break up”. I love that language “the ship threatened”. I find it so intriguing because it’s personifying the ship as if it has emotion. The literal translation of the Hebrew is the ship “thought to break up”. This is the only occurrence in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word hissab, ‘think’, is [linked] with an inanimate subject” (Alexander, pg. 102). We know what the phrase means, “the ship threatened to break up”. Truly, any of us who have ever driven an old car really knows what it means for a vehicle to threaten to break up. But let’s step aside and think about how creation is raging against Jonah’s disobedience, first the wind and the waves and now the boat too appears to be raging in fury against Jonah. All of creation is tearing Jonah back to his calling.
Now, all of this intensity is getting to the mariners, they are terrified and call out to their gods, and then “hurled” the cargo into the sea. They are doing everything they can to save their lives, they can’t get paid if they don’t have cargo. They value their own salvation over their bank accounts. The word “hurled” is used to describe the action. God “hurled” the wind; the mariners “hurled” the cargo. They definitely did it to lighten the load of the ship, the text states as much, yet given the parallel of their action and God’s action, it could also mean they are making a sacrifice to appease their gods. A sacrifice to bring about their salvation. But where is Jonah during this great storm? He was fast asleep in the inner part of the ship.
Pastor Bobby read to us in our New Testament reading during the Call to Worship from Luke eight, verses twenty-two through twenty-five. Listen as I read Mark’s account of the same event. Mark chapter four verses thirty-five through forty-one:
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
How wild is it that in the first chapter of Jonah we have a scene that is basically the same scene that we read in the Gospels? But it isn’t that wild though, is it? We at Christ Community Church have been blessed with Pastor Kevin and Dr. Al, as well as our other elders, preaching to us and teaching us that there is nothing serendipitous in the Bible. There are no happy accidents. We can have confidence that the early church was meant to think of Jonah when they had first read this in the gospels. We can have confidence that we are meant to think of Christ here in Jonah today. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. And though it may not always be obvious what the specific meanings of different connections are throughout the scriptures, and sometimes we need to do the hard work of study, and prayer, and listening to teaching, we can know that since we have a unified story with a unified author, those connections are never coincidence, they are intentional.
So, they wake Jonah up, and call him out for the absurdity of sleeping through a storm so intense that the boat is about to break apart. So very similar to the disciples response when they say to Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38 ESV). They then cast lots to determine whose fault the storm is, and the lot falls on Jonah. Providence. Jonah has no control of what he can do or where he can go apart from God allowing him. God is sovereign over the wind, God is sovereign over the water, God is sovereign over the ship, God is sovereign over the mariners, God is sovereign over the lots, God is sovereign over Jonah.
The questions start flying: Who caused this evil? What is your occupation? Where are you from? What is your country? Who are you people? Verse nine, ‘And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear YHWH, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid’ (ESV). And though it is assumed, Jonah only names two parts of God’s creation; the sea and the land. He is directly point out that God has sent this tempest. The men are now exceedingly afraid. They were afraid when they thought death was upon them, but now that Jonah revealed that the God who created everything, who created the sea, was the one who made this storm, the men become exceedingly afraid. They fear Yahweh far more than they feared nature, because He is master over nature.
In verse ten we have “fleeing from the presence of YHWH” a third time. Jonah had told them exactly what he was doing on that ship. He joined their crew in anonymity and God has led him to his confession. His confession of who he is, his confession of who God is, and his confession of his sin. And though Jonah makes his confession, do not be fooled, Jonah does not repent here. He merely is stating facts.
Here is a good place to pause and remind ourselves that admittance of sin does not in itself mean repentance of sin. Knowing that you’re a sinner is not the same as placing your faith in Christ Jesus. The reformed tradition helpfully defines faith as being composed of three facets. Knowledge, assent, and trust. You cannot have faith in Jesus unless you have knowledge assent and trust. You must know the components of the gospel. Man is dead in sin and incapable of earning nothing except God’s righteous judgement. Jesus, truly God and truly man was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, fulfilling the law, and died on the cross bearing all of the sins of all the people who had faith in the promise past, present, and future. He resurrected on the third day. He ascended, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. We confessed this today when we recited the Apostles Creed during our Historical Reading, led by Pastor Zack. You must have this knowledge, but you must also assent that these things actually happened, that they are a historical reality. Thirdly, you must trust in Jesus. You must trust him for everything, and in everything. That is faith. Faith leads us to repentance. Jonah lacks repentance in this moment.
His response is for the mariners to throw him overboard. “What do you do? Throw me into the sea. The sea is the problem right now so toss me in and your problem will go away. He particularly says “hurl me into the sea” (v. 12). It’s as if he is directly responding to God’s action. God hurled this storm at you because of me, then hurl me into the sea. God’s going to toss this at us? Well let’s toss it right back.
However, the men aren’t yet fully convinced. They “rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them” (v. 13). The ESV has a footnote for “rowed hard”, it says, “Hebrew the men dug in [their oars].” Have you ever rowed a boat? I have on multiple occasions. Rowing is hard work. Rowing is difficult enough in a row boat fighting the current. Rowing is difficult enough to be an Olympic event, with elite competitors. Now imagine doing it in a cargo ship in the middle of the greatest storm these men have ever experienced. They gave everything they could to save Jonah’s life and to save their own, but it was in vain. The sea is growing worse and worse by the hand of God. They give up and give in to Jonah’s plan.
Yet before they hurl him into the sea, they do something strange; they stop and pray. Verse fourteen, ‘Therefore they called out to YHWH, “O YHWH, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O YHWH, have done as it pleased you”’ (ESV). They turn from their supplication of their false gods and cry out to the true God, and speak to God using his covenant name Yahweh. Their false gods provided no salvation. They were mute. Salvation alone belongs to Yahweh. And they have full knowledge that sending Jonah overboard is sending him to his death. They say it pleased Yahweh to send him to his death. Can you feel Isaiah fifty-three verse ten reverberating in your ear? “Yet it pleased YHWH to bruise him” (KJV). Does not the prayer of the mariners turn your hearts to this passage in Isaiah? We know that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah fifty-three, and Jonah’s death is paralleling Jesus’ sacrifice. They say of Jonah, “lay not on us innocent blood.” Jonah was not innocent. No man is, save one, Jesus of Nazareth. He was innocent. His blood was the innocent blood delivered unto death. And while the mariners pray that they may not have innocent blood laid on them, our prayer is that the innocent blood of Jesus be laid on us, and cover us to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jonah is then hurled into the sea and the men are saved. Salvation through sacrifice. “The sea ceased from its raging” (v. 15, ESV). The only cargo that was hurled into the sea to bring them salvation was Jonah. The first chapter of Jonah is tied to Jesus calming the storm in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Yet, Jesus is not thrown into the sea for it to be calmed. Jesus speaks and the sea obeys. And why is this important when we’re speaking of Jonah? Why does it matter that Jonah is sacrificed, and Jesus commands the sea? It’s as if Jesus is telling his disciples “Remember Jonah? Remember how God hurled a great tempest at him, and how the only way the storm would relent was for Jonah to be thrown into its fury? Do you remember? I am the author of the storm. I am the one who sent the tempest upon Jonah and I am the one who shuts up the wind and the waves. I am the author and master of all of creation; the wind, the waves, and even the fish. Jonah was sent to bring the gospel to the nations, but I am greater that Jonah.
“And YHWH”, I am who I am, “appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (v. 17, ESV). Providence. Providential and significant that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. As God’s people on this side of the resurrection we appropriately think of Christ’s death and burial. Jonah was dead and entombed. Salvation through sacrifice.
Although doesn’t it seem odd that so much of the allure and excitement that is built around Jonah in children’s Sunday School lessons, as well as other various aspects of culture is only given one verse of the seventeen verses in chapter one? People want to debate was it a fish or was it a whale? Different areas of scripture, Hebrew and Greek, use large fish, whale, and sea monster. So, you can’t find a definitive answer in the Bible. Is that problematic? It this something we should worry about when defending the gospel to skeptics? It’s definitely a fun question, and an enjoyable debate to have, but the classification of the sea creature who was appointed to swallow Jonah is irrelevant. If it was important for our faith and the glory of Christ the Holy Spirit would have told us. What is important it that God is sovereign over creatures, God is sovereign over history, and God is sovereign over salvation. God is moving history, and the entirety of his creation, to his good purpose. And still, so much excitement over one verse. T. Desmond Alexander makes a very helpful comment on this point. “The account of Jonah’s unique rescue is not embellished with vivid descriptions of either fish or Jonah’s stay therein. Indeed, the fish is mentioned only in two verses (1:17; 2:10), and even then very briefly. The author’s portrayal of this most peculiar event is very low key; it has certainly not included in order to heighten the dramatic quality of the narrative. This being so, why should the author have invented it, if it did not really happen? (Obadiah, Jonah, Michah, pg. 111-112).
Jonah sacrificed his life to save the men on the ship. This was the clear result of his being thrown into the sea. Yet, I don’t think that was Jonah’s primary intent. Everything we know about Jonah in the first chapter should lead us to question Jonah’s motive. You may disagree with me, and I’m okay with that. I do not know everything. However, I truly do not think Jonah’s primary intention in his death was the salvation of the men on the ship. I think Jonah’s primary motive to end his life was to avoid preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. Jonah would rather be dead than go to Ninevah and preach the gospel. Jonah has been fleeing from his calling the entire chapter, and he is yet to be repentant.
Salvation cannot exist apart from sacrifice. God clothed Adam and Eve by sacrifice. Isaac was saved by the sacrifice of the ram caught in the thicket. The Israelites were saved from the angel of death by the sacrifice of the spotless lambs on the night of the first Passover. Salvation is obtained by means of sacrifice. Jonah is thrown into the sea; he is thrown to his death for his own salvation. Salvation from God’s command for Jonah to “arise and go”. Salvation from having to give the message of the promise of Genesis three, fifteen, the message of the gospel to the gentiles. Jesus, on the cross, throws himself into the waves of God’s wrath and the tempest of God’s righteous judgement. Jonah sacrificed his life for his pride. Jesus sacrificed his life for the salvation of all those who have trusted in him. Sin has secured death for all of mankind. Christ’s sacrificial death emancipates God’s people from the chains of the grave.
The only way to obtain salvation is to look to Jesus, and say I have nothing, I can give nothing, I can do nothing, I am nothing. I am utterly hopeless apart from the person and work of Christ Jesus, and then you must take Christ by faith. If you are here this morning and you are not trusting in Jesus for your salvation, I plead with you now that you take Christ by faith. Repent of your sin, and rely on Jesus for your everything.
Jonah chapter one ends in utter despair. Whenever someone is in the belly of the beast there is no hope, there is only death. Be it Jonah, Mario, a wooden puppet, or Christ in the tomb. This is our state apart from Christ; dead, entombed in our sin. But be encouraged. Whatever you know of Pinocchio, whatever you know of the Gospels, and everything we are going to walk through together in the book of Jonah. Know this; the story isn’t over yet.
Let’s Pray.
Our Father in heaven. You are mighty and powerful. You are creator of all things. You are master over the wind and the waves, you are master over technology and transportation, you are master of men, you are master of all creatures great and small. By your will creation bows, and by your hand your creation moves to your good purpose. You are the author of salvation. Your word is perfect. Your word brings about salvation. Your word feeds the soul and trains the heart. Your word convicts, and your word leads us to repentance. Your word holds the words of life. Your word blesses us as we prepare our hearts for the Eucharist. Where we remember, and where we proclaim that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and that Christ is coming again. We pray this now by the power of the Holy Spirit, and in Jesus’ name, amen.