Salvation belongs to the Lord
Our first introduction to Prophet Jonah is in 2 Kings 14:23-26. Jonah is sent to deliver a grace-filled message to the wicked king Jeroboam II. In Jonah 1:2, we read that God commanded Jonah to take the word to the wicked city Nineveh. When God said that its wickedness had come before him, He was using language similar to what He had said of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Going to Nineveh was a difficult mission. It was 500 miles away and was a pagan city. Moreover Nineveh was a city that the children of Israel hated. So Jonah decided not to go. Instead Jonah 1:3 tells us that he tried to flee to Tarshish.
It wasn’t as if Jonah thought that he could actually go anywhere where he could escape the presence of an omniscient and omnipresent God. Jonah 1:9 makes that clear. Moreover, he would have read Psalm 139. He knew his theology. Rather, in fleeing to Joppa, he was going away to a place where the word of God was scarce, and he was going away from the community of God’s covenant people who would keep him accountable. He was also fleeing from his calling as God’s prophet. Similarly, we cannot run away from God, but we can run from God’s people the church, when we distance ourselves from God. Hebrews 10:24,25.
Jonah found a ship going to Tarshish. If Bible scholars are right, Tarshish is in southern Spain. This means he was going in the opposite direction to where God wanted him to go. And he was even prepared to go across the sea.
Why did Jonah not go to Nineveh, unlike all the other prophets who did not hesitate to obey God’s command. We get the answer from Jonah 4:2, where we see that Jonah’s problem was that God was a merciful and would spare Nineveh, something that he did not want. He knew that a prophetic announcement of doom had within itself the possibility of mercy in the event of repentance. He knew that God was not sending him to Nineveh only to announce a pending judgment, but rather that Nineveh might repent. Jonah was afraid they may repent and that God would forgive them. Jonah felt that the Ninevites deserved judgment. When his own nation Israel was backsliding, Jonah could not see why God should be merciful to the Ninevites. So instead, he would run away to Tarshish.
He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for Tarshish, the very place he was determined to go. Maybe this assured him that he was doing what he was meant to be doing. We must remember that circumstances are not our guide for finding God's will because they can be read in many different ways. The ready way is not always the right way.
God pursues us with his unrelentless love to redeem us from sin. God searched for Adam and Eve in the garden. So also, God pursued Jonah, doing three great things.
First, He sends a great storm. (Jonah 1:4). God’s hand is evident, as it says that God ‘hurled’ a great wind, so fierce that those seasoned sailors were terrified. But Jonah, the one who should have been most afraid, was asleep. The sailors cast lots and the lot fell on him. The moment Jonah told them the reason for the storm and the remedy, the sailors stopped calling out to their gods. They began to call out to Yahweh, even before they witnessed any miracle. They cried out to the Lord for mercy, and then picked up Jonah and hurled him into sea and the sea ceased its raging. This is a picture of the Gospel. The One greater than Jonah, the Lord Jesus, was hurled into the storm of God’s wrath that we might be delivered and not destroyed. Jonah sank into his watery grave.
Second, the Lord prepared a great fish to save his life. (Later on in the story, we read that God also prepared a small worm to eat the root and so destroy the plant that shaded Jonah. It makes no difference to God, who uses whatever it takes to get the disobedient one back into the place of blessing. He is faithful to Himself and to His purposes. And as Jonah was there in the fish’s belly, this truth came alive to Jonah, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” Jonah may have been quoting from Psalm 3:8. It means salvation goes where God wants it to go, when He wants it to go and how He wants it to get there. God saves by whichever means, through whomever and whenever He chooses. God wanted salvation to go to Nineveh through Jonah, and that was exactly what would happen. God owns it and has exclusive rights to it. He does with it whatever He pleases. Exod 33:19, Paul quotes this verse in Rom 9:15 and adds, in conclusion in Rom 9:16, So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. If “Salvation belongs to the LORD” then He is the only Saviour. Isa 43:11 “I, I am the LORD, and besides Me there is no saviour. Salvation belongs to the LORD and he saves only through Jesus Christ. John 3:16; Acts 4:12. God “spoke” to the fish again and it vomited Jonah on dry land. Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, which is itself a picture of the resurrection of Jesus (Matt 12:38-42).
Thirdly, the Lord saved people. He saved the pagan sailors, Jonah 1:5, and changed them into a boatload of Yahweh worshippers. Then God saved the great city Nineveh, and we read of a miraculous movement of repentance. It was an act of great mercy, for the city did not deserve His mercy.
Every chapter in this story points forward to the Gospel of Jesus, and we see how God continued His redemptive plan despite Jonah's disobedience.