Auto Pilot: Engaged
Have you ever put or lived your Christian life on
automatic pilot?
There is usually not a switch we turn on to live our spiritual
walk without thought/awareness. Spiritual decline often
happens so slowly that we hardly notice. What are some
warning signs?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Worship becomes remote
Prayer becomes repetitive
The Lord's Table becomes a habit
Hearing the Word becomes routine
Fellowship becomes a burden
We withhold/reluctantly give our tithes, offerings
What can we do to turn off the auto pilot?
Quick Review of Week 9 ….
The Storm at Sea
(Jonah 1:13-16)
Jonah 1:13-16
13 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. 14 Therefore
they call 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.
Why didn’t the mariners immediately throw Jonah overboard?
What does this reveal about them?
What was their intent in trying to reach land?
Why were they unsuccessful?
Rowing Harder
• The ship's crew did not want to give Jonah up, and they tried
their best to row back to the shore
• Their desire to spare Jonah's life seems admirable, but it was a
direct contradiction to the Word of God
• God had spoken through the prophet: The life of the man who
spoke the Word must be given up if the crew were to be saved
• But the first instinct of the crew was to refuse the sacrifice;
they felt that they could get through the storm of God's
judgment, and so they rowed harder
• God has spoken through the prophet, promising deliverance
from the storm of judgment to the entire crew through the
sacrifice of one man who is willing
to lay down his life
• But these men think that they can
save themselves by their own effort
• They believe that they can survive
the storm without the sacrifice
“But they could not …”
• These four words are the turning point of their story
• When the crew realized that they could not beat the storm,
they turned in their desperation to what God had said through
the prophet and they staked their lives on the sacrifice of Jonah
• Do you see how beautifully this points to Jesus Christ?
• The storm of God's judgment is stronger than you are; you do
not have the ability to survive this storm by your own effort, no
matter how hard you try
• The storm of God's judgment will wreck you, unless you are
saved by the sacrifice of Someone else
• On the cross, Jesus gave His life to deliver you from God's
righteous judgment against your sin. Cast out by men and
forsaken by the Father, He offered Himself as the sacrifice that
would placate the wrath of God on your behalf.
• At its heart, the gospel is about God's storm and His sacrifice;
Christ was thrown into the storm of God's judgment so that,
through His sacrifice, you would be saved.
Jonah 1:13-16
13 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. 14 Therefore
they call 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.
The sailors want to remind God that throwing Jonah overboard is Jonah’s
solution, not theirs
• They acknowledge that murder is a capital crime for which they could
perish if God held them responsible
• The sailors don’t want to be held responsible if Jonah has misled them so
that they are making the wrong move
• They want to be sure they are doing the will of Yahweh
Our Guilt in the Sacrifice
• Why didn't Jonah throw himself overboard and save
the crew from this anxiety?
• The great events of the Bible story were shaped by
God to throw light on what we most need to
understand about our Lord Jesus Christ
• Jesus did not take His own life; He was crucified, and
that truth is pictured in the crew throwing Jonah
overboard
• As they were guilty of sin in throwing a man who had
done them no wrong overboard, so we, as members
of the human race, are guilty of sin in the crucifixion
of the Son of God
• Yet the death in which we incur this guilt is, in God's
amazing grace, the means of our salvation!
The Fear of the Lord
• Verse 5: The sailors are "afraid" of the storm
• Verse 10: The sailors are "terrified" of God: they're now
more afraid of the God who's in charge of the storm than
they are of the storm itself.
• Verse 16: They "greatly feared the LORD." Their sacrifice
and vows show this means having right and awed respect
for someone, rather than being terrified of them.
 Thus, Jonah in verse 9 and the sailors in verse 16 make
the same confession of faith and direct the same worship
to Yahweh
 Through the same faith and worship, both Jonah, the
Israelite, and the Gentiles have equal standing in the eyes
of Yahweh
 Jonah’s anti-missionary activity has ironically resulted in
the conversion on non-Israelites
A Long Time Ago … In a Place Far, Far Away
• There was a Worldwide Missionary Conference held in
Edinburgh in 1910
• It was a massive ecumenical venture, one of the most
comprehensive attempts to ignite a fresh passion for world
missions in the entire history of the church
• Numerous papers were written that included questionnaires,
missionary responses from the field, transcripts, area reports,
reports to commissions, minutes, published findings, etc.
• Ploughing through the history of this massive effort to engage
the church with the needs of the world, it became obvious
that nothing much had been accomplished beyond
committees, papers and reports
• This extraordinary effort made very little difference … It was a
massive disappointment
• But if all this effort couldn't make a difference, what would?
Gospel: A-through-Z
• Denney's point was simple:
• When your heart is gripped by the love of God poured out in
the cross …
• When you see the extent of that love in the propitiation by
which Christ became the sacrifice for your sin, bearing wrath
and entering hell for you …
• And when you are convinced that this Christ offers Himself in
redeeming love to others who do not yet know Him …
• Then a passion will be lit in your heart to pursue a Godcentered life
• The gospel is not simply what non-Christians must believe
in order to be saved, but after they believe, they advance
to the deeper theological waters of the Reformed faith
• The gospel is not simply the ABCs of Christianity, it is the
A-through-Z of Christianity
• The gospel doesn’t just ignite the Christian life; it’s the
fuel that keeps Christians going every day (Colossians 1:6)
… Now Week 10
Herman Melville, Moby Dick
A Warning Against Escapism
“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there
is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill
eagle in some souls that can alike dive down
into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them
again and become invisible in the sunny spaces.
And even if he forever flies within the gorge,
that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in
his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still
higher than other birds upon the plain, even
though they soar.”
Transformer
• This is the story of a mature believer
who had stopped praying and, having
stopped, did not know how to get
started again
• After his secret sin had been exposed,
Jonah received revelation from God
that the storm would cease if the crew
threw him into the water
• Jonah spoke to the crew about God; he preached and he
prophesied but he could not bring himself to pray
• But a great transformation took place when Jonah was in the
water. God broke through the
barriers that had locked this man
into despair. Hope was born and,
out of that hope, Jonah began to
pray.
• Let’s see how this
transformation happened
The Structure of the Book of Jonah
 Scene 1: Jonah’s First Call
(1:1-3)
 Scene 2: The Storm at Sea
(1:4-16)
 Scene 3: Jonah’s Deliverance & Prayer
(1:17 – 2:10)
 Scene 4: Jonah’s Second Call
(3:1-3a)
 Scene 5: Jonah’s Preaching Converts
(3:3b-10)
Nineveh & Yahweh Changes
His Verdict
 Scene 6: Jonah’s Response to Yahweh’s (4:1-3)
Change of Verdict to Save Nineveh
 Scene 7: Yahweh’s Provisions and
Jonah’s Response
(4:4-11)
Jonah 1:17 – 2:10
SCENE 3
1:17And
the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
2:1Then
Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2saying,
“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.
3For 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.
4Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon
your holy temple.’
5The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head 6at 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.
7When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer
came to you, into your holy temple.
8Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I
will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
10And
the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Jonah 1:17 – 2:10
SCENE 3
1:17And
the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
2:1Then
Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2saying,
“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.
3For 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.
4Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon
Jonah 1:17 and 2:10 bracket this scene in Jonah.
your holy temple.’
5The waters
Whatclosed
happens
Jonah
inmy
these
twodeep
verses?
in overtome
to take
life; the
surrounded me;
weeds wereWhy
wrapped
about
my
head 6atthese
the roots
of the mountains.
does
God
perform
actions?
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.
7When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer
came to you, into your holy temple.
8Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I
will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
10And
the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
The Big Fish
• When I first learned
the story of Jonah,
I pictured God's
extraordinary sea
creature arriving to
rescue the prophet
as soon as he hit the water
• But a closer look at the story has convinced me it
wasn't like that … God allowed Jonah to go to the
bottom before He sent the fish
• When Jonah was in the water he felt sure he
would die; when he was in the fish he was sure he
would live
• The belly of the fish was not a place of trauma for
Jonah; it was a place of deliverance
Jonah 1:17
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.
Why
this
specific
means
ofwe
returning
Jonah
to his
Whatdid
Why
isdid
it God
significant
the use
sailors
that
think
the
would
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they
ofthrew
Jonah
Jonah
after
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not ahas
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he
is thrownplace
into the
waves is Why
that God
already
prepared
a
means?
What
fish
todid
save
Jonah
him expect
from drowning?
to happen?
••What
The
fish provided
for instruction
theaLord.
The
As when
does
He
theimpeded
wordtime
“appointed”
Jonah’s
flight
(manah
byfrom
hurling
in Hebrew)
storm
tell
into
usbelly
the
of
a in
fish
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isand
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soWhat
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to itdo?
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learn.
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•message
In addition,
the Lord does not usually protect us from the
of warning
consequences of our own choices and actions. Jonah had chosen
the sea as his escape route; it is there that the Lord awaits him.
What does the word “swallow” suggest about Jonah’s situation?
Swallowed (bala’ in Hebrew)
This word almost always has a hostile connotation in the OT:
• Pharaoh & his chariots are swallowed in the Red Sea (Exodus 15)
• The psalmist begs Yahweh not to allow the deep to swallow him
up (Psalms 21; 35; 69; and 124)
• Swallowed up is synonymous with being annihilated
(Lamentations 2)
• Ephraim [Israel – Jonah’s nation] was gulped down as a person
would eat a ripe fig (Isaiah 28) in God’s coming judgment on her
• Jerusalem is swallowed, digested, and vomitted out by Babylon
(Jeremiah 51) in her future judgment
The followers of Korah are swallowed up by the earth and taken
down to Sheol (Numbers 16; Psalm 106) as punishment
Sinners ambush the innocent and like Sheol swallow them alive
and whole, like those who go down to the pit (Proverbs 1:12)
 Thus, when Jonah is swallowed by the great fish, he and his
audience would initially interpret this to mean death and entering
the underworld of Sheol
Jonah 1:17
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.
How long did Jonah reside in the
belly of the great fish?
Why was he there for this specific
length of time?
To what New Testament reality does
this point?
“three days and three nights”
• This expression attracts our attention due to its use in the NT as
a description of Jesus’ time in the grave and the “sign” that the
Ninevites and Jesus’ audience both witnessed (Matt 12:40;
16:4; Luke 11:29-30, 32)
• We will address this issue in a future class
But what did this phrase mean to Jonah’s readers?
• There is only one reference elsewhere in the OT that uses
“three days and three nights”
• In 1 Samuel 30:12-13, a sick Egyptian, left for dead by his
Amalekite master after having raided Ziklag, is too weak to
speak after having been without food and water for three days
and three nights
• Taken together the expression probably stands for the longest
period of time one can reasonably be expected to survive in a
situation like Jonah's or like that of the abandoned slave
Jonah 1:5 and 2:1
1:5 …But
Jonah had gone down into the inner
part of the ship and had lain down and was fast
asleep.
2:1 Then
Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from
the belly of the fish…
Where was the prophet in each of these verses?
What does this tell us about him?
• Jonah finds himself in essentially the same position
• This is the narrator’s way of indicating that Jonah repeatedly is
in a state of isolation (we will see this again in chapter 4)
What is the significance of Jonah 2:1?
• Finally, we see Jonah’s willingness to pray
• He prayed not only to the Lord, as the sailors did, but to “the
LORD his God”
Jonah’s Prayer
2“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.
3For 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.
4Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your
sight; yet I shall again look upon your
holy temple.’
5The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;6weeds were
wrapped about my head 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.
7When my life was fainting away, I
remembered the LORD, and my prayer
came to you, into your holy temple.
8Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake
their hope of steadfast love.
9But I with the voice of thanksgiving will
sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will
pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
• We are dealing here
with the prayer of Jonah
which is also a psalm
• There are many
types/genre of psalms
found in the bible.
• The two main types
being laments (prayers
in times of need) and
songs of praise (worship
in times of joy). There
are also psalms of
thanksgiving, wisdom
psalms, royal psalms,
and others.
What kind of psalm is
found here?
Psalm of Thanksgiving
• Jonah's surprised (and possibly breathless)
prayer is a typical psalm of thanksgiving with:
(1) an introduction that attests that his
prayer for deliverance was answered
(verse 2)
(2) a recounting of the crisis and of his
deliverance from it (verses 3-7), and
(3) a subsequent vow to worship God for that
deliverance (vv. 8-9)
2“I
Introduction
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.
3For
Crisis and Deliverance
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.
4Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight;
yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
5The waters closed in over me to take my life; the
deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped
about my head 6at 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.
7When my life was fainting away, I remembered
the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into
your holy temple.
8Those
Vow to Worship
who pay regard to vain idols forsake their
hope of steadfast love.
9But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice
to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation
belongs to the LORD!”
Jonah’s Psalm
• Experts view Jonah’s
response to God in two
completely
•There aredifferent
severalways:
1.
Someand
see Jonah
words
phrases
praising God despite his
repeated within this
difficulties because God
psalm.
has
given him a second
What word (s) are the
chance
2.
Others
see Jonah in
most
frequent?
denial,
when he
• “I” ispraising
used 10x
should be lamenting and
• “me” is used 7x
repenting … he is familiar
What
doesused
this in
with
prayers
suggestbut
about
this the
worship,
he misses
spirit
behind
them and
psalm
of Jonah?
misapplies them in his
own situation
What do you think
and why?
Let’s talk about me
• Normally a song of thanksgiving begins with the singer praising
God (or exhorting his fellow worshippers to praise God) for His
goodness and mercy
• … Jonah skips this part and begins by focusing on his own plight;
Jonah makes us see his self-centeredness
• In addition, in psalms when sin is recognized as the cause of the
writer's duress, he makes that element primary and seeks
deliverance from sin before anything else (as in Psalm 32)
• This is followed by the psalmist again emphasizing God as his
only deliverer
• Jonah, however, although he is unquestionably in dire straits
because of his own disobedience, does not even recognize his sin
and so utters not a word of confession
• What is more, Jonah limits his description of God’s merciful
deliverance to two poetic lines (last half of verse 7) out of about
twenty-five!
• The one praying for deliverance is more prominent in Jonah’s
prayer than God the deliverer
Jonah’s Prayer and the Psalms
Jonah 2:2 –
“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.
• Psalm 18:6 – “In my distress I called
upon the LORD; to my God I cried
for help. From his temple he heard
my voice, and my cry to him
reached his ears.”
• Psalm 120:1 – “In my distress I
called to the LORD, and he
answered me.”
• Psalm 86:13 – “For great is your
steadfast love toward me; you
have delivered my soul from the
depths of Sheol.”
Declarative Psalm of Thanksgiving:
Introduction – Jonah 2:2
“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.
• In Hebrew, the first word in Jonah’s psalm/prayer is “called out.”
Where
have
heardJonah’s
this verbprayer
before?
What
Which
iscame
thewesubject/request
first:
of Jonah’s
or God’s
prayer
deliverance?
here?
This is the same verb that Yahweh (1:2), the captain (1:6), and the
Why
Whatdoclue
youdoes
thinkthis
Jonah
givedoes
us asnot
to Jonah's
stick with
state
hisof
intention
mind and
to
sailors (1:14) used in seeking help to alleviate life-threatening danger
die
thefor
reason
his sin?
whyWhy
he prayed
does he
after
even
three
praydays
to beand
delivered?
three nights?
What irony is revealed here?
seems 1that
Jonah’s
desire totoescape
what hetothought
• •InItChapter
Jonah
was unwilling
“call” (preach)
Nineveh to
to save
God’s
sentence
of or
judgment
against
him
betrays
a personal
itbe
from
divine
judgment
to “call” upon
God
to save
the foundering
penchant for grace when his life is on the line
ship
And
Jonah’s
life is
very Yahweh,
important
to him,
this prayer
• •But
now,
Jonahown
is finally
calling
fulfilling
Hisas
command
that
heshows
“call.” Yet ironically, the prophet is only calling out for his own sake!
• Jonah 2:2 – “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.
• Sometimes Sheol refers to the place
where all people go after death (see
Genesis 37:35; Job 7:9; Psalm 89:48)
• In other passages Sheol is the destination of unbelievers (see Numbers
16:30, 33 and Psalm 9:17); they are cut off from Yahweh and forgotten
• In still other parts of the Old Testament, true believers in the LORD
experience Sheol when they suffer divine punishment, such as tragedy,
suffering, calamity, or untimely death (such as Jacob in Genesis 44:29 and
King Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:10)
What is the connection between Sheol and the concept of
the presence of the LORD that we studied earlier?
• Sheol in its essence represents separation from God;
theologically, it is the opposite of Yahweh’s presence
Which understanding of Sheol best describes what Jonah
experienced as he was drowning?
Should we interpret the belly of the great fish to be Sheol?
Explain.
Declarative Psalm of Thanksgiving:
Crisis and Deliverance – Jonah 2:3-7
3For
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.
4Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again
look upon your holy temple.’
5The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep
surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6at 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.
7When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and
my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
Jonah’s Prayer and the Psalms
Jonah 2:3 –
“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.”
• Psalm 69:1-2 – “Save me, O God! For
the waters have come up to my neck. I
sink in deep mire, where there is no
foothold; I have come into deep
waters, and the flood sweeps over
me.”
• Psalm 69:14 – “Deliver me from
sinking in the mire; let me be delivered
from my enemies and from the deep
waters.”
• Psalm 88:6 – “You have put me in the
depths of the pit, in the regions dark
and deep.”
• Psalm 42:7 – “Deep calls to deep at the
roar of your waterfalls; all your
breakers and your waves have gone
over me.”
Jonah 2:3
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.
• Having
Jonah 1:15
madeclearly
clear that
shows
hethat
holds
it was
God the
responsible
crew thatfor
threw
his
Jonah
distress,
overboard;
how does
however,
Jonah show
here how
in Jonah
this fact
2:3 the
affects
prophet
him?says
God
• He
“cast
says[him]
that the
intoflood
the deep,
“surrounds”
into thehim
heart
and
ofthat
the seas”
all of
Was
God's
Jonah
waves
telling
andthe
billows
truth“passed
(an orthodox
over” him
statement of God’s
sovereignty)
• Once again,
or Jonah
was heassociates
blaming the
GodLORD
very for
closely
his predicament?
with these
What
threats
does
to Jonah
his lifenot
by adding
say about
possessive
his predicament?
pronouns to them:
• they
He makes
are “your
no mention
waves” and
of his
“your
ownbillows”
role in the events that
brought
To whathim
extent
here,
is especially
God responsible
his flight
forfrom
the troubles
the divine
we
commission
experience and
in our
hislives?
failure to repent while onboard
The Deep (tehom)
Genesis 1:2 – “The earth was without form and void, and
darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Jonah 2:3 – ”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.”
Genesis 1:2, like Jonah 2:3, uses the Hebrew word tehom. The ESV
translates this word as “the deep.”
What is the context of the word tehom in Genesis 1:2?
• This refers to the primeval ocean that existed near the beginning
of creation; it is the state of the earth prior to God’s speaking, lifegiving acts of creation
What is its context in Jonah 2:3?
What does the use of the word tehom in Jonah 2:3 tell us about the
effect of sin on Jonah and on us?
• His condition is presented as a reversal of creation, that is, death