The Development of Faith - Jonah
Coming to a vibrant faith in the living God is usually a process in which there are several stages.
This is well illustrated in the first chapter of the book of Jonah. Jonah had been commissioned by God to go and warn the great city of Nineveh that God’s judgment was imminent, because of their wicked behaviour. Jonah’s reaction was to flee in the opposite direction and he caught a boat going west.
A Need Shows the Relevance of God
A great storm arose, so much so that all on board feared for their lives.
“All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god.” Jonah 1:5
Jonah fled from this situation also and went ‘below deck’ to his bunk and fell asleep. It is striking that Jonah, the made who claims to worship the Lord, the God of heaven, is the only person who does not pray. He falls asleep, perhaps in despair. However Jonah is clearly lying. He thinks he can run away from the Almighty God and refuse to do what God asks of him. His theoretical belief system may be right but it has not become a personal faith. He can talk the talk but does not walk the walk. The New Testament makes it clear that obedience is the necessary evidence of real faith.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36 (ESV)
The captain found Jonah asleep and remonstrated with him. They were in a desperate situation; the only thing left to do was to beg for divine help.
“How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God. Maybe He will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” Jonah 1:6
Clearly the desperate circumstances, their need, had brought them to the point where God was relevant. The wording is striking. The sailors were ‘afraid’ of the storm (1:5), but ‘terrified’ when told about the all powerful God (1:10). After the sea is miraculously calmed we read,
“At this the men greatly feared the Lord.” Jonah 1:16
The reminder about the power of God and the subsequent miracle led the sailors to fear the living God; it took more for the religious man to be inwardly turned to fear God. The phrase, ‘the fear God’, comes more than two hundred times in the Bible. Without this awe and respect for the creator of the universe there is no saving faith. Without a personal ‘fear of God’ our religious activities do not satisfy the Lord.
The sailors became more afraid of the power of God than they were of their mortality. In a parallel story in the gospels the power of God had the same effect. Jesus was crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his disciples when a furious storm broke out. Jesus, like Jonah, was asleep at the back until wakened by the anxious disciples.
“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Mark 4:38
With a word Jesus calmed the sea, just as God had in the story of Jonah. This caused an even greater reaction amongst the disciple sailors,
“They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waters obey him.’” Mark 4:41
God’s Word is Shared
Jonah, who had been running away from telling godless people God’s message, is now compelled to talk about his God. The ship’s company believed that their problems were the result of someone upsetting God and they were determined to put matters right. Their solution was to cast lots to see who the guilty culprit was. Jonah was picked out. They asked him,
“Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?” Jonah 1:8
He explained that he was running away from the Lord, from doing what He wanted. He went on,
“I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” Jonah 1:9
This response is the central theme of the first chapter. We can be sure of this because the chapter is structured on a chiasm with this as the central point. Jonah is saying that it is the Lord who is making all this trouble. He made the seas and controls all that goes on. Hearing this had a marked reaction on the sailors,
“This terrified them and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ Jonah 1:10
There are so many ways that people come to realise that our actions can offend God. What is needed is someone to tell them about the one God who is so offended by man’s disobedience. This is not a God to be trifled with, yet he is a loving, compassionate God who forgives all who turn to Him..
A Sacrifice is Offered
It was Jonah who suggested that a sacrifice was needed to appease the fierce anger of the Lord.
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea.” Jonah 1:12
This reflects the message of the whole Bible. We all pay the price for sin, both personally but also socially, but the good news is that God’s anger can be appeased. This was to be achieved by one man ‘lifted up’ as a sacrifice for all time. The sailors did not like the proposition of someone else satisfying God on their behalf so they determined to try and save themselves.
“Instead the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.” Jonah 1:13
This is surely a picture of the way we try to remedy our problems without reference to God. It simply cannot be done. Over time many come to the realisation that a Saviour’s help is necessary, having come to the end of their own resources.
“Then they cried to the Lord . . .”
Clearly the men had come to realise that the Lord, who created the seas, was the only God that mattered. They have also came to realise that a sacrifice was needed to satisfy this God. Their prayer is very instructive,
“O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life.. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man . . .” Jonah 1:14
It is now abundantly clear why this account is in the Scriptures. It is prophetic about the coming of an innocent person who would take away the sins of the world. The men threw Jonah overboard. The raging sea grew calm.
The Response the Lord Expects from Us
The seas became calm, just as happened later when Jesus stilled the storm. The men’s reaction illustrates the reaction that God expects to see in us all.
“At this, the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.” Jonah 1:16
Note the threefold response.
Fear of the Lord
This is fundamental. Many who attend churches today seem to have little fear of God. Sin, offending against him, is not a great concern. “Does sin really matter?”, people wonder. This is a stupid as Jonah trying to run away from God. People attend church when it fits in with their social agenda. Speaking for Him is too seldom a priority – too often we run away from this responsibility. What a great thing it is to fear the Lord. It is the first step. The book of Proverbs reminds us of this,
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” Proverbs 1:7
2. A sacrifice is needed
It is strange that after sacrificing Jonah they felt another animal sacrifice was needed. Possibly, they were so grateful to the Lord that they wanted to show their appreciation or, alternatively, they felt the guilt of their sin very heavily and offered a substitute. When we begin to fear the Lord we will soon realise that we need a sacrifice. What a thrill it is to know that this perfect sacrifice has already been made. It does not need to be repeated. The apostle Peter wrote about this, so that we should all be clear,
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
Without Christ’s sacrifice for each of us, there can be no salvation. This is why we are Christians, which means ‘Christ’s men’. Too often today, people regard Christianity as a moral ethical code that shows the world how we should all live. This is not true. Christianity is a rescue, initiated and achieved by God Himself. No-one will be rescued and put right with God who does not fear God and sees the need for Christ’s sacrifice for them personally.
3. Vows are made
It is not enough to give merely an intellectual assent to the fact that I am a sinner and have been a fugitive from God, just as Jonah was. Neither is it enough to understand who Christ is and what He has achieved on the cross. The devil believes these. It is vital to enter into a personal allegiance to Christ. We must bow before Him and humbly accept Him to be the Lord of our lives. If Christ is not my Lord, He cannot be my Saviour. Thomas found it hard to believe in the risen Jesus. When Jesus appeared later and showed him the injuries the nails had caused to His hands and the spear to His side, he said to Thomas,
“Stop doubting and believe.” John 21:27
Clearly, Thomas understood what belief meant. His reply is the only way to receive eternal life,
“My Lord and my God.” John 21:18
For a Jew to say this to a man is staggering. He had come to realise that Jesus was indeed the creator God, who had come to earth as a human being. The only response to Jesus of someone has really grasped this is to submit to Jesus as their Lord.
A young lady came into my clinic, wearing a beautiful silver cross on a necklace. I commented,
“That cross is beautiful. Excuse my asking you, but does that indicate that you are a Christian?”
She smiled and replied,
“It depends what you mean by Christian.”
“Someone who is sold out to the Lord Jesus,” I stated.
“Oh, then I am not.”
We must also make a genuine vow to the God of the universe who came to this earth as Jesus and who died as a sacrifice for our sin, if we are to receive the salvation He offers everyone. The sailors on Jonah’s ship understood this. We must allow Him control of our lives. Intellectual assent or feelings about God are not sufficient for the God of the Bible. He will not be trifled with.
Jonah’s subsequent prayer, when he was in the stomach of the large fish, summarises these lessons,
“When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, in your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
But I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2:7-8
There is only one God who always listens to any genuine prayer to him. The sacrifice he wants us to offer is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Animal sacrifices before Christ were illustrations that looked forward to the one wholly effective sacrifice that God’s own Messiah was to offer. We look back with thanksgiving to that momentous event. Jonah also recognises that true faith will be associated with vows of commitment and vows to obey what God wants. We cannot save ourselves, but God has acted to save those who will come back to him.
It may take some time for people to grasp that this is the point the Lord wants us all to come to in our relationship with Him. Our understanding does develop, but submissive thanksgiving is the Lord’s objective for us all.
BVP
