Jonah 2: How to Get Out of the Belly of a Whale*

Jonah 2:7 "When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple."

Yesterday we learned at how rebellion against God gets you into the belly of a whale.* The question before us this morning is this: once you're in there, how do you get out? Answer: repent from your rebellion.

In Jonah 2, we see a prayer of Jonah that came from the belly of a whale. First of all, let's take a moment to praise God for this: the prayers of his saints have been proclaimed even from the belly of a whale. Is that not amazing? Anywho, Jonah's prayer in this chapter leads to his repentance. First, he acknowledges the sovereignty of God (1-3). God is the one who spared his life in bringing him to the belly of this whale, and he was the God who was going to save him out of it. Thus, Jonah is led to plead to the Lord for his salvation from the whale (4-7) because Jonah knew that God was powerful enough to deliver him from it. Jonah knew that God would not forsake him no matter what (4). Because of the Lord's sovereignty and salvation from the whale, Jonah vowed to the Lord that he would pay what he vowed to him (7-9). In other words, Jonah repented of his past mistakes and promised to obey the Lord once again. Inside of the belly of a whale, Jonah repented from his rebellion. The Lord then caused the whale to vomit Jonah onto dry land (10).* Jonah had learned his lesson, now it was time for him to do what God had called him to.

So, what can we learn from this story? Primarily, the lesson that we can learn here is that the pattern of a true Christian is repentance. Although Jonah in chapter one rebelled against the Lord, he was eventually humbled by the Lord and therefore led to repentance. The moral of the first two chapters is this: if we are truly Christians, we will live in repentance. In chapter one, Jonah failed at this, but in chapter two, he seems to get it right. Nonetheless, the moral is clear: a true Christian repents of his sin and follows the Lord's calling upon his life.

So, where are you in your walk with God today? Are you living in repentance? If you aren't, I there are only two reasons for your behavior. First, you may not be born again. If you have never confessed your sin to God and called upon his name for salvation (1 John 1:9, Romans 10:13), then you are not saved and are heading to eternal damnation. What is the solution to this? Call upon the name of the Lord, who is merciful to those who call upon his name (Romans 10:13). This is the greatness of the Gospel. Secondly, you may be a Christian living in rebellion as Jonah was in chapter one. You may be a follower of God who is merely living in sin and hypocrisy. But note the pattern of Jonah: Jonah eventually repented. If this is you, the solution is repentance! Ask God for forgiveness from walking in sin and not following his direction. He will have mercy upon you and purge you from your sin if you ask him (1 John 1:9). So, whoever and wherever you are this morning, repent! For the kingdom of God is near (Jonah 1-2, Mark 1:15).

*For all of you Bible and science nerds, technically the Bible does not say the word "whale" but rather refers to a "great fish" that swallowed Jonah (Jonah 1:17). Apparently (I learned this yesterday, so it's news to me as well) its impossible for a whale to swallow a human because although it's a huge animal, its throat is too small for a human to fit through. Therefore, most likely another type of fish swallowed Jonah. If this wrecks your childhood now that you know a whale didn't swallow Jonah, I'm sorry. However, I don't think the sovereignty of God is outside of expanding a whale's throat to fit a human inside. If you'd like to still believe that a whale swallowed Jonah, then just believe this as well. Either way, newsflash! It doesn't matter to the story. Thus, I'm gonna keep refering to the fish as a "whale," simply that's way cooler than "great fish."

*Ew.