The Lord Alone is to be Feared
Some of you may remember that a few months ago I talked about my College football coach, John Kolb. You kids may remember that he was the guy who had the mushy nose.
Well, Coach Kolb was not only famous because he played for the Pittsburg Steelers. He was also famous because he participated in the World’s Strongest Man contest. As a matter of fact, he participated in the event twice. In both events, n 1978 and 1979, he was among the top three.
The Worlds Strongest Man contest was something of the climax of his life. He had been one who had long wanted to be the biggest and baddest dude. In his testimony he tells of how he has a picture of his father and him standing in the water at the beach. His father worked on the oil rigs and, due to the rigor of that line of work, he had a chiseled physic. So, in the picture there is little toddler John Kolb holding the hand of his father, who featured all his muscles: the 6 pack abs, the veins sticking out of his ripped arms, and so forth.
Well, Kolb says that one day during high school he came home to find his dad in the house. That was a rare thing, as his dad worked on the rig. And to his surprise his dad stood up to say hello and he realized that he was now looking his dad in the eye. His dad had always been the biggest, strongest guy he knew because of that picture. But now he realized that he was as big as his dad.
That fall Kolb went off to college to play football. And he met some of the other players on the team. And he now looked at them and thought, well, these are the biggest, strongest men. So he dug in and started cracking helmets with these fellows.
By the time he was a senior in college, he was looking around and had the same sort of sense he did with his father. He was now the biggest, strongest guy on campus.
But that year he was drafted by the NFL and he went to the Steelers. And across from him was a guy who went by the name of Mean Joe Green. Mean Joe Green was 6’4” and 275 lbs. And Coach Kolb said Joe Green tossed him around like a sack of potatoes.
But, of course, it wasn’t long before things evened out. As he trained, he was able to start handling Joe Green. And that’s when he came to the World’s Strongest Man contest. And Kolb says that he got to the hotel where all the participants were staying and the door to the elevator opened up. And there stood one of the WSM participants. He was a lumbering fellow whose body seemed to take up the entire elevator.
Coach Kolb said he turned to his wife and said, “I give up.”
In his testimony Coach Kolb goes one to say that there is actually only one who is the biggest & strongest. He turns to the Prophet Isaiah who says that the Lord stretched out the heavens in the palm of his hand. That is the true mark of the greatest and the strongest.
As we come to our passage today, there’s a sense in which we are presented with the very same truth. We are to be astounded by the fact that the Lord is the biggest and the strongest of all.
Jonah wrote this book to confront Israel. He was attempting to call them to repentance. Israel had gone after other gods. They had turned their back on the Lord. So Jonah takes this opportunity to challenge them on this.
And he challenges us too, telling us that the Lord our God is the only God who is to be feared. He is above all other gods and he alone is worthy of our worship and faith.
And we see this revealed in Jonah’s flight from God. Really, we see it revealed in three specific things. We see that the Lord our God is the biggest and the strongest. And we see it in Jonah’s running, his speaking, and also in his dying.
I. In Jonah’s running
Everything in this story points to the Lord’s sovereignty over all things. The Lord hurls a storm. He causes the storm to become more and more tempestuous. He calms the storm as soon as Jonah hits the water.
Not only do you have the storm, but you also have the casting of the lots. It just so happens that the lot falls to Jonah. As we read the text we pretty much know how this rather random act of rolling the dice is going to play out. You can probably assume Jonah knew. He is likely familiar with the passage in the Proverbs which says that the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. He’s probably standing there while the sailors are rolling the dice thinking, “I kinda know how this is going to roll.”
There are even some who say that Jonah’s going to Joppa and catching this boat in the first place is a tell tale sign of God’s sovereign control. Jonah just happens to find a boat headed to Tarshish. He just happens to have the right fare to pay. Everything is just so perfectly in order. It’s almost odd how so many things just happen to fall into place.
All in all, we are reminded of God’s complete control over over his creation. The world is nothing more than Gods play thing; He governs all things and so orders and directs them so as to make his purposes come to pass.
But you cannot miss the contrast that is set up. You should not only see the Lord’s absolute sovereignty, you cannot miss the complete impotence of the competition. The gods of the mariners end up looking pretty bad.
What I’m saying is: Jonah’s flight ends up putting the gods of the mariners in the ring with the God of Israel. You understand that those who go to sea are not going to be seeking to honor any particular gods. They are going to be very specific about the gods that they choose. They are going to recognize gods of water and storm gods.
So, if these were Phoenician mariners, you might expect that they gave homage to Yamm, the god of the sea. They probably tipped their hat to Baal, the god who brought the rain. He was the god who rode upon the clouds and who carried a lightening bolt in his hand. They may have cried out to Mot, the god of death or to Asarte, who was the Queen of Heaven. Maybe even Malqart the god of the underworld.
But, of course, when you are in dire straits, you probably petition any and every god that you possibly can. You might not be overly particular and just try to reach out to anyone who will do you the favor of calming the storm and keeping you alive.
But that’s not all. Our text also mentions the most prolific god of all: the god of human might. After all the gods fail, we are told that the mariners dug in their oars and rowed with all the strength that they could muster. They ditch their gods and go full on atheistic. Maybe our own power and our own ingenuity can save us! But it isn’t long until they realize that their own human efforts are pretty futile too.
So pretty much every god in the world comes out looking pretty sorry. Whether it is the pantheon of idols or our own humanistic ability, it’s all thrown down.
And you remember the background and the main intent of this book. Israel was a nation that was in apostasy. They had turned from the Lord and were going after other gods. They were being called out by the prophets because of they had chosen to follow Baal; they were calling out to Asarte and Asherah. They were pretty much willing to chase any god that gave any kind of promise of help and prosperity.
So Jonah, in his running from God, actually sets up a showdown between the Lord and all the other gods. And the real question rises is this: Where does your help really come from? Who is it that you can truly depend upon? In whom should you trust? Where should your allegiance be?
Jonah, the sailors, and Israel all are confronted with the fact that there is only one true and living God. All the other things that we may put our hope in are really futile. They are non-existent fakes that can do us no good whatsoever.
And that same lesson comes to us. We are confronted with the reality of our God’s supremacy. He alone is God and he alone is to be feared.
We shouldn’t think that we are in any different circumstances than the ancient world. We are surrounded by all kinds of alternative gods too. There’s the god of secularism; the god of self sufficiency; the god of reason and enlightenment.
All these gods make a whole lot of promises, but what do they actually deliver? What help do they actually afford? Many people acknowledge them and bow down to them, but, when it comes to the real payoff, what do they really offer? Pregnant men, that’s what they offer.
Again, Jonah’s running reveals that there is one, true and living God. Jonah’s flight sets up a contest. He may not have intended it, but it answers the question: Who is God? And who is to be feared above all things?
But there’s another place where we see God’s greatness and sovereignty. It is not just in Jonah’s running, we also see it in Jonah’s speaking.
II. In Jonah’s speaking
It’s interesting that we do not actually hear from Jonah until we get to verse 9. Even when the captain comes to him and tells him to wake up, he is still presented as speechless.
But the first thing that Jonah says is really the focus of the entire text. And what do we find there? We find Jonah’s confession. He is a Hebrew and he fears the Lord, the God of heaven, the one who made the sea and the dry land.
Now, some of this is supposed to be some more of that hilarity that we talked about last week. When he says he “fears the Lord the God of heaven.” You are supposed to say to yourself, “Do you though?” The mariners are the ones who have been presented as fearful. Jonah hasn’t seemed the least bit fearful on this trip. He’s been sleeping.
What’s more, he doesn’t seem to fear God in that he has no reverence for him. He’s been running.
But once you get past the little funny that Jonah makes, you find that he does make a theological statement that is pretty grand. Jonah confesses to follow the greatest of gods.
You see, the gods of the ancient world were often thought of as territorial beings. There was the god of the sea. There was the god of the sky. Then there would have been gods of certain regions. There would be gods of the hills and then other certain gods of the lower country, and so forth.
But what do we find out about Jonah’s God? Jonah’s God is the god of the entire world. His region includes the heavens, the sea, and the dry land.
When the mariners heard this, they get it. Jonah’s God is the highest of the gods. Jonah’s God is unlike any other god. Jonah’s God has complete dominion over all creation.
And that, of course, is the message that Jonah wanted to send to Israel. Israel was a nation that was crumbling to pieces because she had forgotten who her God was. She had begun following all these lesser gods; gods that were localized, gods that were weaker and having little power.
Jonah is writing to remind Israel that she needed to return to her God. And they needed to return to him because he’s the greatest of the Gods. There is no God like him. He has dominion over all the world.
And that’s a good reminder to us. It is incredible how foolish we humans can be. No where do we show our sinful futility and darkness of understanding than in the gods that we choose. We are so foolish that we will trade in the God of heaven and earth for gods that are weaker, smaller, and less influential.
That’s what Romans 1 is all about. We claim to be wise, but we actually become fools because we exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. We are no greater than Esau who traded his birthright for a pot of stew.
Think about what secularism is. First of all, you have to recognize that it is a religion. And it is a religion that basically says, “We have great power.” We don’t need God because we can solve all the world’s problems.
But what power do we actually have? We certainly don’t have power over the weather. I mean the weather man can hardly ever guess what the weather is going to be, let alone control the weather.
But for much of our lives we have problems; problems with our limitations. We have stress we cannot manage. We have questions we cannot answer. We have no control over other people. For so much of our life we are supposed to bow down to the god of secularism. But what does this religion really profit? And we have not even come to deal with the greater problems, like evil and death.
We are told that someday we will find some solution. Someday science will evolve to the point where we will be able to live forever in some sort of bionic state. But all that is silliness.
This was written to shame us, in many respects. It is here to remind us that the gods we chase are paltry in comparison to the Lord. The Lord is sovereign over all the earth. He’s the one who has control over all things. And he alone deserves our worship.
I mentioned the problem of evil and death. I don’t want to skip over that. After all, that’s a pretty big problem. And that’s the ultimate challenge, right? What god has the power of death? Is there a god who has some kind of reign over evil?
Well, there’s a sense in which we’ve already seen at least part of the answer. We’ve seen that God is sovereign over Jonah’s running. The sin of Jonah is no match for the Lord. The Lord simply uses Jonah’s sin to serve his own purpose. He doesn’t create the evil, but he certainly shows his power over it.
But what I want you to see is that this passage also speaks to the issue of death. The Lord also shows his greatness in Jonah’s dying.
III. The Lord shows his greatness in Jonah’s dying
What do I mean by that? Those of you who are familiar with the story know that Jonah doesn’t die. He gets a divine taxi ride back home by means of a big fish.
But, you may have noticed that for the last two weeks we did not read the entire chapter. We did that for a purpose. I know you know what happens next, but I want you to think about what you would expect. If you had not known the rest of the story and you read to this point. What would you assume would happen to Jonah?
The mariners have a pretty good idea, don’t they? They know that Jonah is as good as dead. Before they pitch him overboard, they offer up a prayer. They realize that throwing him off the ship means he’s as good as dead. And they do not want to incur the wrath of this Jehovah God. They have already seen what he can do. They do not want innocent blood on their hands and have to pay the price. So they explain that they are only doing what they think that this God wants.
So, for all practical purposes, this is Jonah’s burial. There’s a sense in which Jonah is buried at sea. No one thinks that he can survive the storm or the sea. I would assume that even Jonah believes as much. He probably wasn’t expecting this fish to come and ferry him back to land.
All in all, Jonah dies. Or at least he is presumed dead. And as soon as he hits the water, the storm dies down. That is the nail in the coffin for the sailors. They need no more evidence; this Jehovah God is the real deal. They walk the aisle and sign their decision card. They are now devoted to the God of the sea faring Hebrew.
But what do you see in this? I’d like you to think about this death. And I want you to think of it in this way: think of it as atonement. This one Jew dies, but his death accomplishes something. The men on board the ship find life. Jonah goes down to the grave, but the men on the ship go on to enjoy life and peace. From here on out, no more storm. The judgment that threatened to undo them is no longer there. It is as if God’s wrath is appeased because it has fallen upon Jonah.
We read about how the mariners offer sacrifices and make oaths, but there’s a sense in which Jonah becomes a sacrifice himself.
So once again, Jonah, despite his best efforts, becomes a sermon. He ends up preaching the gospel. He becomes the very embodiment of the gospel.
Israel should have understood what God was saying in this passage. God was saying to Israel, your idolatry has invoked my wrath. Since you have failed to be the people I called you to be, you deserve to die. The curses of my covenant will fall upon you because you have broken my covenant.
But the Lord also sends a message of hope. Israel understood sacrifice. They had lambs that they would offer up. And every time they offered up a lamb, they would put their hands on that animal and say, “I transfer my sins upon this beast; I offer his life on my behalf of my own.”
So this is a message of grace. The grace that comes to these mariners is a reminder that the Lord can deal graciously with his people. But the only way they can live is if there is a sacrifice.
That’s where Jonah’s burial looks to another. And we in the New Testament Era know for certain that the Lord is sovereign over death. Because there is one who is greater than Jonah. Jesus Christ became the true sacrifice. Everything that Jonah embodies is found in reality in Jesus.
In our creeds we confess that Jesus not only died, but he was buried. We don’t give a lot of thought to it. We put a lot of emphasis on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. But we need to remember that there was also Dark Saturday.
Like Jonah, Jesus sank from the cross down into the tomb. And that stone that was rolled over the mouth of the cave is a testimony to the curse of sin. It was more than a testimony to it. It was a embracing of it. For Jesus went down into the grave on behalf of his people.
All in all, Jonah’s burial at sea reminds us of the consequences of sin. The wages of sin is death. But it also reminds us that our God is sovereign over everything, even death itself. He is a God of life and death does not stop our God from bringing life and salvation to his people.