Springboro OH
9-26-2020 5:43pm

Pastor's Corner: Von Anderson

Salvation belongs to the Lord

James 2:9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (ESV). This week we will pick back up where we left poor Jonah at. Cast out of the ship and floating in the sea. Verse 17 says that the Lord “appointed” a fish to swallow Jonah. This word appointed appears 28 times in the Old Testament. It is the Hebrew word “manah” pronounced “maw-naw”. It means that something has been set aside or prepared. In this case it means that the Lord had this fish set aside for this very occasion. 

It has been debated for years and years whether or not a fish could actually swallow a person and could that person actually survive inside for three days. Once again that is mankind trying to argue things from a human perspective and understanding and not from God’s perspective. God, who simply spoke a word and creation came into being. He who holds the stars and planets in the palm of his hands. Is it really so hard to believe that He couldn’t create a fish capable or performing this task.?  Too often I think its not that people don’t believe in what they read in scripture more than it is they have an incorrect understanding of just how big God really is. But, the ending of chapter one is not the ending of Jonah. As a matter of fact in some respects its just the beginning.

As we begin chapter two, we see that not only has Jonah survived but he is alert enough to be able to pray. As we look at this prayer we see some really cool things that Jonah experienced and understood about the true nature of God, that sometimes we think only those in the New Testament understood. Verse 2 states, “I called out to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol(grave) I cried, and you heard my voice.” Jonah 2:2 (ESV) There was Jonah sinking into the sea slowly dying. Looking as the world was closing in around him, surrounded by the sea, he felt as if he was being lowered into the grave. Yet he says even at the point of death and at the bottom of the sea as he cried out God still heard his voice and answered him. In the 139th Psalm, written by David, the question is asked, 7 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!”. (ESV) 

We see there is no where that we can escape the presence of God. Many people think that they can run here or hide there or use the darkness to hide what they are doing, yet time and time again we are faced with the fact God is all-seeing, all-knowing and most important all-merciful even in our disobedience and sin. Verse 3 says “For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.” (ESV).

What an incredible insight into Jonah’s beliefs and his unwavering faith. He tells God that he understands that it was God who cast him into the seas, not the sailors. Simply put he did not place any blame or responsibility on the sailors for their actions, they were only carrying out that which God had set forth into motion. He goes on to say that it is God’s waves and God’s billows that swept him under. He asserts to us all, that all of creation belongs to God. Not only is it God’s but the He has dominion over it with full control. Verse 4 “Then is said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ (ESV). Wow! Even in the belly of a fish, Jonah proclaims his faith in God. 

Even in the midst of seemingly a hopeless situation, he knows that whether in this life or the next he still has hope in God. Verses 5-6 describes Jonah descent into the depths of the sea. “The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God” (ESV). 

Can you get a mental picture of what Jonah experienced? Thrown overboard during a terrible storm, hit by wave after wave, blown everywhere by gale force winds, slowly sinking, unable to stay afloat, seaweed wrapped all over your body, unable to breath, watching land fade off as well as light, descending into eternally darkness. There really is no preferred way I would like to die except maybe just die in my sleep. But there are several ways I would greatly prefer not to die. Probably at the top of this list would be drowning. I even have slight panic attacks when I have a bad cold and I am stuffed up feeling like I can’t breathe. Here is Jonah watching and knowing his life was ebbing away and yet he rejoices, because at what seemed like the very end God rescued him. Many people look at the fish as some sort of punishment. Not Jonah. He realized and was grateful for what it was. God’s plan of salvation for him. It is what seemed and seems foolish to others and yet it was exactly what Jonah needed to survive. Verses 7 and 8 tells us of his cry out to God, the one and only true God. He says in verse 8, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” (ESV). Idols are nothing more than mans invention they have no power or ability to do anything. They are worthless and vain.

So we get to verse 9, “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”. (ESV). As scholar and bible teacher J Vernon McGee always said, “Where the rubber meets the road.”, this is where Jonah has come to. Salvation of mankind does not belong or is able to be found in anything other than God himself. We owe Him everything, and He owes us nothing. God and God alone is to be worshipped. Not people, regardless of their station in life. There is no pastor, deacon, Sunday school teacher, politician, celebrity, family member, mentor, friend, motivational speaker, or any man, woman, or child, that deserves our worship. For God and God alone is to be truly worshipped and praised.

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