“Turning Points: Jonah... It's More Than Just A Fish Story!”
The stranger gave me one of those ‘dead serious’ stares and before I could shake his hand, asked: “Do you believe the Bible is the Holy Inspired Word of God?” I was caught off guard and honestly didn’t know how to respond. Sensing my hesitation, he gripped my hand even tighter and asked, “Do you believe Jonah was swallowed by the fish? Well, do you?” I sensed only one answer would satisfy him. Anything else and I would immediately be “judged” unworthy.
At the time, I didn’t know what to say and the stranger responded just as I expected. He removed his hand, sniffed and walked away, no longer interested in me. I flunked his litmus test! I thought Jonah was just a children’s story taught in Sunday school. When did it become a pass/fail exam on how to ‘correctly’ interpret the Bible? Is this the real significance of Jonah? Actually, it's not.
So much more than a children’s story, the book of Jonah contains only four short chapters but a significant message that Jews and Christians alike should heed and appreciate. But Larry… can modern people really believe that a big fish swallowed Jonah whole? Actually, it’s not impossible but if you get caught up in this argument you’ll miss the real reason why Jonah is in the Bible.
“The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai; “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh! Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are. But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction…” (Jonah 1:1-3) Who is Jonah, really? What is a Nineveh?
Jonah was a respected prophet/preacher like “Billy Graham” but God wanted him to leave Israel and travel to Nineveh, a major city within Assyria, the country that conquered and enslaved many of the Jews. What if God said to you, “Go witness to Saddam Hussein or Adolph Hitler? Visit the murderer, Charles Manson in prison and offer him God’s Word! Go to a trusted friend who betrayed you and warn her of God’s judgment?” Wouldn’t you be angry and a little fearful? Are you beginning to understand why Jonah boarded a ship headed in the opposite direction?
“But as the ship was sailing
along, suddenly the Lord flung a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent
storm that threatened to send them to the bottom.” Violent
storms in the Mediterranean Sea are certainly not unusual but this storm
terrified even seasoned sailors. They were doomed unless something supernatural
intervened to save them. “’Throw me into the
sea,’ Jonah said, ‘and it will become calm again. For I know that this
terrible storm is all my fault.’”
(1:12)
Give the sailors credit.
They resisted Jonah’s advice at first but conditions were growing worse so
they reluctantly threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once.
What an awesome miracle for the sailors to witness but the best is still to
come. “Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish
to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three
nights.” (1:17)
Jesus himself would refer to this verse as symbolic of His own death and
resurrection.
Jonah was disobedient and
should have met his fate beneath the seas… but instead received a miracle of
God’s grace. “I sank beneath the waves and
death was very near. The waters closed around me and seaweed wrapped itself
around my head… but you, O Lord my God, have snatched me from the yawning jaws
of death.” (2:5-6) Three days later, Jonah was back on the beach and once again
heard God’s voice instructing him to go to Nineveh. This time he went.
Larry, you keep referring
to ‘turning points:’ those significant events that dramatically spark a
noteworthy change. “Is this Jonah’s
life-changing turning point?” It
should be. Being rescued by a giant fish should transform anyone but sadly,
although Jonah outwardly obeys God and goes to Nineveh he has not changed his
original attitude at all. The real “turning point” comes next.
How will Nineveh respond to Jonah? Why does Jonah get so angry with God? What does the meaning behind the story of the leafy plant have to do with the stranger who so successfully intimidated me? Alas, those answers and Jonah’s real turning point are given next.
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Larry's most recent series: Turning Points
Whether it is about healing or forgiveness...
Whether it is about what changed David or Job...
In the end... reading Turning Points may change you!