(Read chapter 1 and 2)
IN taking up Jonah as an illustration of a sinner, and how God meets him, we find that there are four things which characterize him in the first two chapters, ―1. Will; 2. Independence; 3. Indifference;
4. Helplessness. The word of the Lord coming to him, making a demand upon him, at once sets his will at work. God tells him to go east; Jonah goes west. He has a will in him, that is opposed to God; a will that is determined to have its own way, the result of having the flesh in him, ―that evil principle in every man, “woman, and child on the face of the earth, ―which is enmity against God, not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Rom. 8:77Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)). And the will of man never brings him to God; it carries him farther and farther away from Him.
Like Jonah, every man by nature is away from God and out of His presence; not out of His sight, for the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. But, sin having entered this scene, we find that man first of all hides himself from the presence of the Lord (Gen. 3:88And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)); goes out from the presence of the Lord (Gen. 4:1616And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)); and later, in the case of Jonah, flees from His presence (Jonah 1:33But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. (Jonah 1:3)). Man listens to the lies and seductions of the devil, and by him is led on to everlasting perdition. Jonah intends going to Tarshish (destruction), and his eye is attracted by Joppa (beautiful). Satan, knowing what man likes, presents something to suit him naturally, something that he likes, something he can gratify himself with, but does not show to man what is behind it all. He shows him the pleasures of sin, but carefully avoids mentioning to him that the wages of sin is death, and after death the judgment, and consequently the lake of fire forever and forever. Thus Jonah’s eye is attracted to the beautiful Joppa; but he little thinks of the destruction that is beyond it.
It was very convenient when Jonah arrived at Joppa to find a ship going in the very direction be wanted to go, and doubtless Jonah thought so, little thinking that the devil provides accommodation for those he is alluring on to destruction. Jonah has, however, to pay his own fare. God would have sent him to Nineveh at His own expense; but Jonah, living in disobedience to God, is also independent of God. Thus we not only have man opposed to God, but instead of being dependent, he seeks to be independent of God. But is Jonah any better off? Assuredly not. He finds himself on board of a vessel, and now he is not only fleeing away from God, but is found going down into it; and we shall find, as we trace his history in verses, 3-5, 2:6, that his course was a downward one. Man vainly thinks that he can get up to God; get to heaven, not only in his own way, but also that he can merit it. Yet if we trace God’s word, we shall unquestionably find that man’s course is not heavenward but hell ward, ―not to God, but from God; his course being ever and only downward; and, unless the strong arm of Him who brings salvation is stretched out in delivering power, he must, sooner or later, find himself in the lake of fire.
But Jonah is also indifferent. He is callous, hard, reckless, thoroughly indifferent to the fact, that at any moment he may be taken from time into eternity. Blinded by Satan as to his eternal interests, God may speak in such a way as to be understood by others around him, yet here is one that is fast asleep in the midst of danger. Not the peaceful slumber of one who is trusting in God and knows His power, His might, and His love, but it is the sleep of an indifferent callous man, careless as to danger, and reckless of its consequences.
But although Jonah flees away from the presence of the Lord, yet God’s eye is upon him, and He sees him wandering farther and farther from Him, going down, and down, and down, until he sees him as it were on the very point of being eternally lost. God works in His own way, and with Jonah He works in such a way that He produces exercises of conscience. And, beloved friend, have you ever known what it was to be brought into the immediate presence of God, to learn what you are as a rebellious, independent, indifferent, and lost sinner?
First of all, Jonah is awakened out of his sleep of indifference with “What meanest thou, O sleeper?
arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not” (vs. 6). He is aroused, first of all, that he might call upon God; and also the fact is plainly stated that he is perishing. A needful, yet solemn, warning to Jonah’s soul; and equally needful to you, my friend, if you are not saved. You are perishing, and this little paper is written to warn you—yes, you—before it be too late.
Secondly, they cast lots, and the lot falls upon Jonah. He is singled out in the midst of the crowd as the sinner. They were all sinners, equally away from God; and we are all sinners, and we are apt to speak of this fact in a very general way; but what is of every importance, is to find out that I am a sinner, and nothing but a sinner, before God.
Thirdly, he judges himself. A most wholesome and necessary thing to do, for “God will have all men everywhere to repent.” God will have self-judgment; and if man will not judge himself in time, he will be judged, and judge himself too, in eternity. Blessed indeed, although painful, for man to find out what he is and what he has done in time, in order that he may judge himself, loathe and abhor himself, and repent of his evil ways and conduct, so that God may turn him to the person of His precious Son, who died upon the tree, and shed His precious blood that the poor lost sinner might be cleansed, pardoned, redeemed, and brought to God. Jonah, however, has not only to learn what he has done, but also what he is. He is cast forth into the sea, and there he is swallowed up by a fish prepared by God, to learn a most needful and salutary lesson, — his own utter helplessness to deliver himself. Jonah not only needs deliverance from his sins, but also from sin. God not only judges sins, but He also has condemned the nature that has committed the sins. It is not only true that man, as such, has committed wickedness against God, but also he has an evil nature that is so bad that it cannot be improved, and he needs an entirely new nature—to be born of God—before he can produce any fruit for God.
In the second chapter of the book, we observe Jonah passing through deeper exercises to learn the powerlessness of man, and that salvation from sins, and sin, is of the Lord.
First of all, Jonah prays. In chapter 1 he does not, but now he does. The first mark of a divine work in the soul is, “Behold he prayeth” (Acts 9:1111And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, (Acts 9:11)). His soul is afflicted, and he had the conscious sense of being heard; not that prayer delivers him, He owns too that it was God who cast him into the deep; man may have been used, but he now traces God’s hand in it. Have you, beloved friend, learned the wondrous blessed news, that God is not against the sinner but for him (Rom. 8:3131What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)); that He has proved it by giving His Son (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)), not sparing Him (Rom. 8:3232He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)), but delivering Him up to death? Yes, Jonah finds out that it must be God, and God only, that can deliver him out of his present condition, and place him in a place of liberty from sin, Satan, and the world. Jesus is a Saviour who not only saves His people from their sins, but also from the power and dominion of sin, to which the soul has been heretofore a slave.
Jonah next looks toward the temple. Solomon in his prayer (1 Kings 8:38-3938What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: 39Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) (1 Kings 8:38‑39)) requests of God, “What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men).” Jonah doubtless remembers this prayer, and acts upon it.
But his prayer does not deliver him, neither his looking towards the temple―God’s dwelling place.
Then he proposes sacrifices, and offers to pay his vows. Still he does not get delivered, neither is he in a position to either sacrifice or pay vows; but the human heart will cling to something it is able to do for God, instead of allowing God to do everything, so that He, and He alone, may get all the glory and the praise that is due.
Jonah at last comes to a dead stop. He has been talking to God about himself all through chapters 2; at last he turns away entirely from self, and turns to God. “Salvation,” he now owns, “is of the Lord.” He immediately gets deliverance, for the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited up Jonah upon the dry land. What a change of position for Jonah. We have traced him going his own way to destruction, and we have found that God’s will as well as Jonah’s has been at work. God is not willing that any should perish. And He works first of all by the storm and the tempest, and then next of all by passing Jonah through deep exercises, to learn not only that he is a sinner, but his utterly helpless condition, unable to save himself, and that God only can meet him and deliver him as he is and from where he is.
What a contrast between Jonah’s position in the first and the end of the second chapter. Carried hither and thither by a terrible tempest on a sea of unrest, now we find him upon dry land. What solid comfort it must have been to his soul, to find every question with a holy God settled, and divinely settled; and now free, from self, from sin, the world, and Satan, to go and deliver God’s message to others.
Have you, beloved friend, found rest of conscience in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and found also rest of heart in Him by bearing His yoke? (Matt. 11) He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him. He was always dependent upon God, although independent of man, He was always cast upon God. He was neither indifferent to the claims of God or man; and He went voluntarily into death, in obedience to God’s will, to carry out God’s will and His purpose, that He might be free to save poor, wretched, ruined man righteously. And God, who did not deliver Him from death, but delivered Him up to it, has delivered Him out of death, having raised Him from the dead, and seated Him in the very highest place in glory. And not only so, but everyone who has taken his true place, as a guilty hell-deserving sinner before God, has been led on to find the wondrous fact, that Jesus has died for his sins according to the scriptures (1 Cor. 15), and has been raised again; and also that now he is looked at as being in Christ (Rom. 8), accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1), made meet too to be a partaker , of the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1), standing on ground that has been already swept over by divine judgment, executed upon the person of Him who did nothing amiss (Luke 23), and having a place before God in conscious acceptance in all the present favor of Christ.
And now, beloved friend, God is waiting to be gracious to you, ―not willing that you should perish. He, in the love of His heart, has given His own precious well-beloved Son, and all the waves and billows of God’s righteous judgment against sin have passed over Him. He has been down under it all, that you might not bear the judgment righteously due to you, but that you might be delivered from out of the kingdom and power of Satan, and be translated into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Col. 1). Are you willing to bow to God’s verdict passed upon you, owning yourself subject to the judgment of God, deserving eternal punishment? If so, may you trace not only Jonah’s history, but your own; and also learn too, on the other hand, that God is a Saviour God. He is the source of blessing and salvation; and may He get His joy in saving your precious soul; and may you, conscious of your sins being forgiven, and of being in Christ and Christ in you, be found to be living for Christ, following Christ, serving Christ, until you are taken from this scene to be forever with Himself, and like Himself, who loved you and gave Himself for you (Gal. 2).
“Jesus, spotless Lamb of God,
Thou hast bought us with Thy blood;
We are Thine, and Thine alone,
This we gladly, fully own.”
E. G.