Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; ball your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 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. (Jonah 2:1-6 ESV).
As we are continuing our look into the Cross of Christ we come to one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible. At the heart of this book and the way God dealt with the Prophet Jonah is the gospel. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and call it to repent. Instead, Jonah ran from the Lord and boarded a ship heading in the opposite direction. God sent a storm that threatened to sink the boat. Jonah told the sailors that if they threw him overboard, the ship would be saved. So, they did, and Jonah was also saved when God sent a great fish that swallowed him and eventually spit him up on land.
Perhaps you’re not like I am in that you’ve never felt like you’re in the belly of a fish. Believe me when I say it is not a place anyone would want to be. Yet, here is the prophet being slowing dissolved in the belly of this enormous fish designed by God for just this moment. And Jonah prays. Our reading today includes both this prayer song of praise and thanks to God. Jonah recognized that God saved him from death and gave him a new chance in life. Jonah said, in effect, “I sank to the bottom of the sea, but God, you raised me up.” He ended with this confession: “Salvation comes from the Lord.”
Jonah’s story points to Jesus. Jonah was thrown into the sea so that the sailors would be spared. Jesus gave up his own life so that we can be spared from eternal death. Jesus also sank into the depths of a tomb, but God raised him up on the third day. Because of that work of grace, we now have a new future and deliverance from certain death.
However dark and despairing your circumstance may be, Jesus delivers us and sets us on firm land to continue our journey with hope and healing!