Jonah chapter one. And we are reading the last verse was 17.
vs 17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish, three days, and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God, out of the fish belly.


Preparation of the Fish
We just want to look today, in the first part of verse 17, the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And that's a very special word over there the Lord prepared, and the Lord had prepared, not just prepared, or preparing. It was as if the Lord had it prepared much before. It was not like God's plan B. It's not like something went off so bad that the Lord is now trying to salvage the situation. And the word is prepared, or some translation says the Lord appointed or the Lord ordained it. Yeah, that's the exact translation in Hindi, the Lord 'Tehraya'. It's as if the Lord not just prepared or made or fabricated something. It's the Lord ordaining some things to happen in Jonah's life.

You know, a lot of people think this is fiction, that nobody can survive in the belly of some fish. But the reason we know this is true, not just because it is biologically possible that there are fish so big enough to swallow up man but cause the Lord Jesus referred to her Jonah and said, just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days, so the Lord made it clear that Jonah was in the belly of the fish, and that it is a real incident. And so, what a wild idea is this fish to swallow up a man. And why is the Lord going to so much length that he is going to swallow up a man for three days?


We can relate with Jonah
The thing with Jonah is we relate with him a lot, just like we relate with Peter. And incidentally Peters father's name was also Jonah. I mean, we relate with them because they feel like we feel, and we relate to them, because they turned back to God not in themselves, but God reached out to them. I mean, we relate to them, because we are as much as proud as they are. Just read verse 9. And he said unto them, I a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven.

I mean, I can imagine Jonah saying this with so much pride in his heart. I, Hebrew, I fear the Lord God of heaven. And the reason of that pride is because he is saying it to a bunch of Gentiles that don't know the Lord. So, he is differentiating himself between all the people worshipping vanities and saying I Hebrew, I fear the Lord God of heaven, who made all the things. I mean, it's easy for us all to say I, a Christian. I mean, I have a relationship with the Living God. I mean, it's easy to differentiate and separate ourselves from the world and say, No, we are, we are Christians, I Christian. But you see the problem here, what he said, does not add up, or is a mismatch to the place in which he was found, or the things he was found doing. And that's what we call hypocrisy.

I mean, how easy it is to look back and say I am, I am a Christian, and I have a lineage of our father and just like the Jews would say, we are children of Abraham's children. And Abraham is our father, how easy to look at the faith of the people that have gone behind us to justify ourselves. I mean, the gentiles on board, they realize that the moment he took I fear Jehovah, the name of the Lord, they were so afraid, because it suddenly started to make sense why they are in the middle of such a storm. They didn't they were exceedingly afraid. But it turns up that Jonah wasn't, I mean it for Jonah, it's one thing to realize that God is a God who is consuming fire, and then to act according to it. And he also cooled with the situation.

Yeah, he was cool with the fact that he had gone out of God's presence. He was cool with the fact that the ship is about to be capsized because of his sin. He was cool with the fact that in the midst of all the consequences of his sin that he and all the people around him are experiencing, he was cool enough to sleep. I mean, he was cool enough to even admit I did it. So just throw me out of the boat. You see something so radically wrong with Jonah. I mean, it's not just as belligerents to go against God, but just to be hard hearted, to be cool about it to be to take it as if it's all okay and fine. And on the other hand, claim I'm a Hebrew I fear the Lord God has if my relationship with God is still intact,

I mean, Jonah was also another person that faced multiple cycles of depression. In many times in this book, he says, I want to die. And so, when the people asked me saying, just throw me overboard, that's nothing less than suicidal. I mean, in his self-righteousness, He is saying, fine, I'm sinning. I've sinned, so just give me what I deserve. I mean, this is what we call height of foolishness. You see, it's almost suicidal, not a suicide, because if he really wanted to suicide, he would have jumped overboard. But he insisted that he should be thrown overboard. And he being thrown overboard was significant, because he was the type of Christ, he was not going to kill himself, he had to be thrown overboard. And being thrown overboard, he was going to face the punishment that he deserved, but he knew he is going to die.


Easily Discouraged
I mean, Jonah was a person so easily, he would give up on himself. I mean, he would call himself out so fast. If you did realize he sinned so much, maybe now at this point, he's thinking there's nothing more that can be done. And he might have gone so much away from God's presence, that now he's thinking, there's only one way this ends, and it ends with my death. He has a great view of God's justice, but so little knowledge of God's grace. But here's the thing, you can never call yourself out unless God says he's done with you. I mean, you can wallow in your sins, you can self-condemn yourself, and come to a point where you think you're useless and worthless. But if God's not done with you, then you're not done. It doesn't matter how far you are from him. It doesn't matter what you have prepared for yourselves. It doesn't matter how great the sin is, it's so important to find God's grace always abounding over our vilest sin. Even the vilest sinner who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

And so, when Jonah thought it's done, that it's only death ahead. And he was even cool with that. God was not done with him. You see the Lord, were a great fish. You see some amazing that that great fish became salvation for Jonah. Yeah, I'm not saying it, he himself says it in Jonah 2:9, says at the end, salvation is of the Lord. I mean, he realized that had this fish not been there around, he would have died. And how crazy does it sound that God prepares a big fish to save a sinner? I mean, imagine for a second what did what did Jonah go through there? It's easy to say he was there in it for three days. But what did he experience there?


The Stuffy Tummy
For one it is a tummy. It's where things get digested. It's it's a place where there are lots of juices and enzymes and acids to break down food. And Jonah is fighting it all. He has to fight to survive it. And apart from all those juices, he is in the middle of an ocean, the tummy is filled with water. He says the waves are overflowed me, it's come over me. He's fighting floods over there. And then he's also fighting the stuff that you find in a stomach. He's saying the weeds wrapped around my head and all the other things that could have been so harmful for him. And then he's also fighting balance because he says, I go down to the deep and then I come up.

How many things is Jonah fighting just to survive in that belly? I mean, he's fighting the assets, he is fighting the stuff that you find in the stomach, he is fighting the waves, he is fighting the balance. And there is no way humanly possible somebody would survive a situation like this. Probably I'm imagining this way that Jonah in that tummy, he realized this, nobody is going to survive it. But surprising to himself, he finds himself alive. One hour, two hour, three hour, half a day, full day, second day, and is going to come to the end of the third day and Jonah still survived.


Why This Brutality?
That's what probably broke this man. I mean, what Jonah was in the vessel and what Jonah was in the belly of this fish are two different people. Sometimes you may ask, why is God being so brutal over here? I mean, Jonah literally says, I am crying out from the belly of hell. He didn't say belly of fish. He says, what he is into is literally hell. He says, I go down to the depths. And we know the deepest points of the earth are in the ocean. He's at the depths and he's saying, I will cry to the Holy One, the Holy Temple of the Lord. I mean, on the vessel he was ready to die. But over here he's asking for his life. On the vessel he was proud enough to say I'm a Hebrew I fear the Lord but over here truly he says now I remember the Lord. Why this brutality?

You see that's how was one of chapter two starts, then Jonah prayed. Yeah, Jonah prayed. Vs 2, and said I cried. Yeah, it's literally crying. It's like mourning or loud cry. In vs 4, the last part I will look again. Vs 7, my soul fainted within me. I remembered the Lord. Vs 9, I will sacrifice unto you. You see this experience of three days three nights reduced Jonah to nobody. We sometimes we face difficult problems we pray but this is so much more than a simple prayer. I mean, sometimes we just pray but over here imagine Jonah has nothing to do in that belly of fish.

He can't even sleep for those three days and three nights, the only thing he can do, the only hope he can ever have, is on God. I mean, you can't imagine Jonah such a hard hearted such a headstrong, proud person breaking down to such levels where he's crying his heart out. And out of all the places in the belly of the fish, he realizes who God is. He realizes God is not just hope, but the only hope. And in that belly of the fish when he wants so much not just to pray, not just to cry out, not just look unto God, not just remember, he wants to give something to God, but what can you offer in that belly?

I mean, he is nothing there. And so the only thing he says is I will offer the voice of thanksgiving. You see, it's like God asking saints to cry in prison houses asking Jonah to cry and sing in the belly of the fish. If you ask Jonah, I'm sure he would not have been sorry, of an experience like this. Because God in his experience showed that he loves. I mean for Jonah to say in vs 7, the last part, my prayer came in unto you into your holy temple. He's in the depths of the ocean. And the Holy Temple is what we just read in the morning. It's in the heights of heights and above which there is nothing. And he was confident that in that belly in that depths, in almost being dead there, in that hell like experience, his prayer reached to the highest temple.


Praise In Troubles
You see, we got to praise God for this. That just like He prepares a fish for Jonah, he prepares things for us. He for the people on the vessel he threw, he threw a storm for them. And sometimes we might question Lord, why is as if I am the only target? There are so many, many wicked people out there. Why is it that I have to face it? Just like the fish was for Jonah not for the more wicked gentiles on the boat. You see, the Lord loves those that are his. And just like he prepared a fish he can prepare for us experiences with cruciating pain. And he can take us through bereavement through family losses, financial losses, diseases, accidents, in toward things, events happening in our life, jobs going, demotions, all the hell that we can experience on earth he can take us through it.

And when he does that, we have to ask, Lord, am I like job? You are saying righteous, blameless. I am for my righteousness, suffering for this, or like Jonah, I have gone away from you. I mean, is God punishing you? And that punishment is far from vengeance. God is not trying to take vengeance or revenging you. He's like a father punishing you. I mean, there are no extents to which God can go and preparing a fish. There are no extends to the experiences God can ordained for you.

Paul said it to in the Corinthians there are some among you that are weak, that are that are sick, and that are even dead. I mean, God is not going to spare us just because we think we are the temple of God, we are the children of God. He says that, look, look at the place of Shiloh look at the place where the tabernacle is, look how decimated it is. I mean, he warned not just a temple of Solomon, but the whole city of Jerusalem will be destroyed, And then he also warned the disciples that Herod's temple will be destroyed. And even just because something is called a temple just because something is ordained by God, God's name and God's place. God is not going to spare it. We are the temple of God, and he who destroys the temple, him Will God destroy.

But you see, Jonah didn't find that complete destruction. God brought Jonah to the gates of hell to like he literally faced death. And he found salvation. How often did the Lord say that I am not going to make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure. I mean, you might be hard pressed by the problems you're facing, sometimes even your closest acquaintance people in the church might offend you. But are you realizing that this is the hand of God that is hard pressed upon you? That God in His mercy and love is judging you? Why does the Lord do it? Just to see us broken, that we don't just pray, but we pray and cry and look and remember and ready to offer our vows.

I mean, he says he will not despise a broken and a contrite heart, a God who dwells in eternity who inhabits eternity, the high and lofty One dwells with the one who is contrite spirit. And the only reason why God likes to mess up our life and allows us to go in through these experiences so that we do not become ourselves, we break down and not be our own selves. He only does this to change us to his Son's image.

See, I remember one brother was telling me that he was once disciplined by the church and he was for over a year where he was not even allowed to come to the church leave alone, being part of the table. Tough time. But he said in during that time he spend this time reading the Word of God and drawing close to God. In one of the functions he had attended, somebody told him this, that brother, you are God forsaken. And he didn't have a second opinion. He knew what he had gone through. So, he readily agreed to it. And then that night, he comes back to his room and he's reading the Word of God. And he is drawn to that verse in Isaiah, where the Lord says, You are my servant, I have chosen you, and I have not rejected you.


A Relentless God
You see, God will never ever forsake forget a broken-hearted person. I just want to read one verse in closing, let's turn to Isaiah chapter 30. For context verse one, Woe to the rebellious children. Over here in English, it is children. I mean, not rebelling Gentiles, unbelievers, foreigners, but God's children. And that verse ends by saying that they may add sin to sin. And look at what they say in verse 11. Get out of the way, turn aside out of the pot, cause the Holy One of Israel to seize before us, Holy One of Israel is a phrase for Jesus Christ. They are literally saying let Christ die, let Him seize from us. And so, what does the Lord do? Verse 14, he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's vessel that is broken in pieces, he shall not spare so that there shall not be found in the bursting of a shred to take fire from Earth or to take water out of the pit.

God is saying I'm going to so break you into splinters into such a miniscule pieces that there will be no worth further for you. I mean, if you break a port at least you get some big pieces with a curve we can make use of it some way. But the Lord is saying I want to break you to splinters. And vs 17, one thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five shall he flee. Till you be left like a pillar upon the top of a mountain, and as a sign on a hill. You will be like a pillar on top of a barren mountain, or like a sign on the mountain for everybody to see. That's how reduced and nothing you will be.

Why is the Lord being so brutal mean? So, breaking down the person? Why is the Lord even doing it? I mean, why is the Lord so relentless after the sinner? If we are lost? Is that a loss to the Lord? If we worship a God who has glory in himself without any of the creation, and before the creation, there is no loss to him. There is no need for God to run after a rebel child. He is so filled with servants and faithful angels who have never sinned once in their life. I mean, why should God really care about us? Why would he make us go through these experiences? He says in verse 18, therefore, will the Lord, Wait. He's waiting.

I mean, he's waiting for Jonah to get down onto his knees, pray, break down, cry and look into him. He's waiting for us to unbecome ourselves so that He can show himself gracious, so that an exalting Himself, He will show us mercy. I mean, that's the God we serve. A God who is highly exalted in the heavens decides to exalt himself onto a Roman cross, and in that way, he shows us mercy. I mean, he can take us to the gates of hell to the gates of death, and all the while, He's just waiting for us to turn back. That we be humble and of a contrite heart. Vs 19, the last part, He will be very gracious unto you, at the voice of your cry, when He shall hear it. He will answer you.

Our God is so relentless. He is just waiting for us to cry. Sometimes he doesn't even wait for it. I mean, the people cried he raised Othniel as a judge. They again did sin and then they cried, He raised Ehud as a judge. They again cried, He raised Deborah as a judge. They again cried he raised Gideon as a judge. They again cried and he raised Jephthah as a judge. And then they did again evil but this time they didn't cry, but anyways, God still raised Samson as a judge.

Our God is so relentless, and he is so forgiving. He so wants us coming back unto him. Sometimes it's a great fish. Sometimes it's a great famine, so that the prodigal son is reduced to nothing, no food, no citizenship, nothing. He's like a pig feeder, and in that horrible position, the prodigal son can remember the father's house, like the worst king of Israel, Manasseh, who even offered his own son on the altar, burned him up. Such a hard hearted, proud, wicked king is chained in a foreign land horribly captive there. And in that condition, he can humble himself. All he wants is for us to cry out. May His name be glorified.