Sermon Jonah Chapter 1

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[2] The title of the sermon: “JONAH CHAPTER 1.”

We’re going to do a detailed Bible study on the Book of Jonah.
This is not a long book at all, but it is a very powerful book of the Bible.
Let’s start there in verse 1 of Jonah Chapter 1.

[3] Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

We know that Jonah is the son of Amittai. We do not know who Amittai was, though.
The name is only mentioned in the Bible in one other location. Let’s read it.

[4] 2 Kings 14:25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher.

So we find out a little more information about Jonah. He was of Gath-hepher.
The exact same underlying Hebrew word is seen in the Book of Joshua.

[5] Joshua 19:13 And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittah-hepher, to Ittah-kazin, and goeth out to Remmon-methoar to Neah;

Gittah-hepher and Gath-hepher is the same place. And Jonah is from this place.
This place was the property of the children of Zebulun.
And this area is in Galilee. Why is this important?

[6] Matthew 4:14-16 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

We know for sure that the area Jonah came from is in Galilee.
We also know 100% for sure that Jonah is a prophet of God.

[7] John 7:50-53 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) 51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? 52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. 53 And every man went unto his own house.

The Pharisees say, “For out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.” Jesus calls the Pharisees liars many times.
And they are wrong again. Jonah was a prophet from Galilee in the land of Zebulun.
Back to the Book of Jonah. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah. Let’s see what God says to Jonah.

[8] Jonah 1:2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

What about Nineveh? We see that it is a GREAT CITY. We see that it is a wicked city at this time.
God commands Jonah to CRY AGAINST this city of Nineveh.
Preaching against these people is what God wants Jonah to do.
Where do we see this city of Nineveh first in the Bible? We go back to Genesis Chapter 10.

[9] Genesis 10:6-8 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

[10] Genesis 10:9-11 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

We see the sons of Ham builded Nineveh. And Ham was the youngest son of Noah. He was a wicked man.
Nineveh is builded by the sons of Ham according to God.

[11] Jonah 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

We look forward to Jonah Chapter 4 and we see Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living there.
God commands Jonah to go preach against these more than 120,000 people.
They are so wicked that their wickedness comes up before the Lord.

[12] Genesis 18:20-21 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

Sodom and Gomorrah were so wicked that their wickedness came unto the Lord.

[13] Ezra 9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

Their wickedness was so great that it grew up unto the heavens.

[14] Revelation 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Babylon, the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit is similar to Nineveh.
Why? Because their wickedness comes up BEFORE THE LORD. It reaches unto heaven.
You can imagine how wicked this place would be.
“Jonah, go cry against them; for their wickedness is come up before me.”
Is that an easy job? Preaching against people is not easy. It doesn’t make you popular.

For example, when I preach against LGBTQ, this doesn’t make me popular.

When I preach against the Covid vaccine, this doesn’t make me popular.
When I preach against fornication, this doesn’t make people in this world today think very highly of me.
When I preach the truth, people will hate me. You won’t be popular. People will want to kill you.
And Jonah, obviously, knows this because watch what he does here.

[15] Jonah 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

When things get difficult, many of us do the exact same thing.
Jonah wanted to get away from the presence of the Lord. He went the other direction.
He didn’t go towards Nineveh. Jonah rose up from the presence of the Lord and ran away to Tarshish.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and got on that ship.
He wanted to get away from the presence of the Lord.

Having the Lord present with you can be very difficult because you are expected to do difficult things.

Why? Because He is with you. You are to have faith in Him. Difficult things become easy with Him.
When you try to do things on your own, though, you won’t make it.
But all things are possible with Him. God will put you into difficult situations to test you and try you.
Jonah is failing this test. Jonah is a prophet of God, but he disobeys God right here.
Was Jonah a saved man when he disobeyed God? Of course he was. He was a prophet of God.
He didn’t lose his salvation by disobeying God’s words.

[16] John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

This happens to people. They are saved and they follow Christ for a little while. Things get difficult.
They quit. Don’t be one of these people who quit on God.

[17] Matthew 26:56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

Did they all lose their salvation? Were they not saved? Of course they were.
They believed on Jesus Christ, but, at times, they forsook Him. Peter denied Jesus 3 times.
Jonah says that he is not going to obey the word of the Lord. He flees from the presence of the Lord.
He should know better. We should know better. But we still do the evil that we do.
In our flesh dwelleth no good thing. Jonah had this same problem. And yes, he was a prophet of God.
And yes, he has a book in the Bible. And this is a very famous book of the Bible. Let’s keep going.

[18] Jonah 1:4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

You can try to run from God, but He fills the heavens and the earth. You cannot flee from God.
He is everywhere. As He shows us here, He can send a great wind into the sea.
This great wind causes a tempest or a great storm in the sea. It’s so bad it’s going to break the ship.
Imagine that. God controls the wind, and you should know how powerful that can be.

God brought forth the locusts to Egypt through the east wind. He took away the locusts with the wind.

The strong east wind caused the waters of the Red Sea to part.
The wind caused the waters to cover the Egyptians.
Wind brought quails from the sea to the children of Israel for food.
God’s wind destroys and helps. The wind can be calm, peaceful, and comforting.
Or, the wind can be destructive and violent. God’s creation shows who He is. The wind shows this.

And with Jonah disobeying the Lord, you can see the destruction in God’s wind that He sends here to Jonah.

The wind creates this MIGHTY TEMPEST in the sea and the ship is going to break.
So, what happens? Let’s keep going in Jonah Chapter 1 verse 5.

[19] Jonah 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

We see that these mariners were not of God Almighty. They cried every man unto his god.
They had false gods. And the false gods weren’t helping this storm.
They started tossing everything out to lighten the load inside the ship.
They were trying to keep it above water for as long as possible. Nothing was working.
Jonah wasn’t bothered because he was down into the sides of the ship and was sleeping.

[20] Jonah 1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

The shipmaster comes to Jonah and wakes him up. “Get up, O sleeper. Arise.”
“Call upon thy God.” He wants Jonah’s help. The Bible never tells us that Jonah calls out to God, though.
We never see that Jonah asks for God’s help right here. Let’s keep going.

[21] Jonah 1:7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Everyone on the ship comes together to cast lots. They want to know who is causing this evil.
Let me give you an example of casting lots. All of us are going to cast lots.
Let’s see who is causing the problems today. This is just an example.
Everyone throw up one hand with the number of fingers you want to hold up. One to five fingers.
Unless you have six. Then you can hold up six. Let’s say I choose the number 58.
I will start counting in the back. When I get to 58, this is the person causing problems today.

This is similar to casting lots. The lot fell upon Jonah. Obviously, God helped to show this was Jonah.

And we all know that it was Jonah that was causing the problems here.
Again, he attempted to flee from the presence of the Lord. He disobeyed God.

[22] Jonah 1:8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?

They ask him for more information. “Whose cause this evil is upon us?” Why is this evil upon us?
What do you do? What is your job or occupation? Where and when did you come from?
What country do you live in? What people art thou? And Jonah answers them.

[23] Jonah 1:9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

Jonah is an Hebrew. The first time we see the word Hebrew in the Bible is in Genesis Chapter 14.
Abram is a Hebrew. Jonah is the same. Jonah says that he fears the Lord who is the God of heaven.
He’s telling them that the Lord made the sea and the dry land. In other words, He has power over all.
And you can see the power He has over the seas as He is the one who has sent this storm.

Does Jonah, in general, fear the Lord? Yes he does. He is telling the truth.

He disobeyed him here, but he does fear the Lord. He is a prophet of God and knows God.
And Jonah knew what he was doing. He seems to be okay with losing his life over this.
You’ll see this as we continue in Jonah Chapter 1. But Jonah tells these men that God made the sea.
God made the dry land. He is the God of heaven.

[24] Nehemiah 9:6 Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

[25] Psalm 95:5-6 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

[26] Psalm 146:5-6 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: 6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

[27] Acts 14:15-16 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: 16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

[28] Acts 17:23-25 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

God allows us to make our own choices. He suffers us to walk in our own ways. Jonah made his choice.
But God has plans for Jonah. People need to be saved. He needs Jonah to preach to people.
He needs Jonah to preach the truth to Nineveh. God’s will is for all men to be saved.
And He is the God of the heavens, the earth, and the sea. Jonah tells these men the truth.

[29] Jonah 1:10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

These men are listening. They are exceedingly afraid now.
Jonah had told them he fled from the presence of the Lord. They say, “Why did you do this?”
And we can ask the same thing. Why did Jonah flee from the presence of the Lord?
Why do we do the same thing at times? Again, things were getting difficult.
We learn in the Book of Jonah that Jonah didn’t want to help these people. They did wicked things.

Jonah ends up going into Nineveh after some persuasion from God.

He preaches that Nineveh will be overthrown in 40 days. Nineveh ends up turning from their evil way.
And God repents of the evil that He was going to do them. Jonah gets very angry.

[30] Jonah 4:1-2 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

Jonah wanted to get away from God because he knew God would be merciful to these wicked people.
Jonah goes and preaches that they will be overthrown in 40 days. They repent of the evil.
And God changes His mind and doesn’t do evil to these people. And this is why Jonah was very angry.

He prophesies about them being overthrown in 40 days, and it doesn’t happen. Why?

Because God will be gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and kind to people who turn away from evil.
And, in Jonah’s eyes, this didn’t make him look too good. This is difficult for Jonah. He wants to be right.
He wanted that more than these people being saved from God’s wrath.
He preached hard against these people and then God saves these people from His wrath.

When we preach hard against certain people, we should want them to wake up and be saved.

We don’t preach hard against them so we can be right. This was Jonah’s mistake.
Sometimes we make things all about us and not about others who need saving. We cannot do this.
Our number one goal is for all people to be saved. This is God’s will. So we give it our best shot.

And we do so even when something might make us look bad.

If someone can be saved, but we are humbled and brought low in the process, what shall we do?
We help save the people at whatever cost to our ego. This is of the flesh.
We are to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. We do what needs to be done to make this happen.

[31] Jonah 1:11-12 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. 12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

Jonah is ready to give his life up to save these men. He knows the storm is because of him.
But was Jonah really looking to save them, or was he just trying to die? I don’t think he cared any longer.
When he fled from the presence of the Lord, he knew that God would be coming for him.
He didn’t want to help Nineveh SO BADLY that he would give his life in disobedience to God.

And sometimes this can be difficult for us too. If there are people doing wicked things, it’s hard to want to help.

And I believe this is why Jonah would rather die than go preach against these people and help them.
If he preached against their wickedness, he knows that they might turn from their sin.
God’s wrath was coming for them, and it appears that Jonah wants to see this wrath from God.
So he would rather die than give these people a chance to turn to God. Not good.

Jonah asks them to take him up and cast him forth into the sea. Then the sea will be calm.

What do these men do, though? Are these evil and wicked men? They had false gods.
But maybe their chance to know the LIVING GOD is now. Jonah tells them about God.
Do they now fear God? Will they cast Jonah out into the sea? Let’s see what happens.

[32] Jonah 1:13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

They didn’t want to throw Jonah overboard. They tried their best to row the ship to land.
But they couldn’t. God was against them getting back to land.
And we know why as I’m sure you all know the story of Jonah. The sea versus men? The sea wins.
God versus man? God wins. So, let’s see what happens next.

[33] Jonah 1:14 Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.

They thought they were going to die. The only way out is to throw Jonah into the sea.
They tried getting back by rowing. THEY CRIED UNTO THE LORD. Before they cried unto false gods.
Now they cry unto the Lord. “Let US not perish for this man’s life.”

Jonah gets a little bit of this selfishness back. “We don’t want to die for Jonah.”

“Lay not upon us innocent blood.” They didn’t want to kill someone who was innocent.
They were now crying out to the Lord for help. “For thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.”
This is God’s will. They now see this. So, they are going to cast Jonah into the sea.

[34] Jonah 1:15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

These men take up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea. Imagine that.
“And the sea ceased from her raging.” As soon as Jonah was cast into the sea, the storm stopped.
The waters were calmed. This tells you 100% for sure that Jonah was causing the problem.

[35] Joshua 7:24-25 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

[36] Joshua 7:26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

This story is similar to the seas calming. “So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.”
As we know, God does get angry and He has fierce anger. He showed us this anger with Jonah.
God has fierce anger against His own people when they don’t do what He asks them to do.
Jonah knew what God wanted him to do. And he ran from God’s command to him.
Now that Jonah was cast into the sea, the raging seas calmed down.
These mariners including the shipmaster were saved.

[37] Jonah 1:16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

These men now believed in the Lord. They feared the Lord exceedingly. They witnessed a miracle.
They saw these things with their own eyes. They know the Lord controls the seas.
They offered a sacrifice unto the Lord. They made vows. I believe they were all saved because of Jonah.

God takes Jonah’s disobedience and saves some men here. These men now fear the Lord.

They witnessed that calling out to their false gods previously did nothing.
They witnessed the wrath of God. Jonah was to be punished.
He was thrown over board and God’s wrath calmed. They now fear God because of these things.

[38] Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

[39] Proverbs 10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

[40] Proverbs 14:26-27 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. 27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

[41] Proverbs 15:16 Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.

These men learned that the fear of the Lord prolongs their days. They thought they were dead.
They were trying to figure out the cause of this storm. STORMS CAN BE CAUSED BY GOD ALMIGHTY.
Remember that. You might not be afraid right now, but you should fear God before it comes to that point.
Fearing the Lord and doing what He says will save you. God wants everyone to be saved.

[42] 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[43] 1 Timothy 2:4-6 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

We clearly see that God didn’t just love Jonah. He loved Jonah by chastening him.
But God also loved these other men on that ship. And they were saved that day.
You can clearly see this. Everyone focuses on Jonah, but think of these other men too.
This is what Jonah wasn’t doing. He was so focused on himself instead of people being saved in Nineveh.
But God isn’t selfish. He isn’t focused on Himself.

They could have been like Pharaoh and hardened their hearts after seeing the miracle.

But they didn’t. They instead chose the fear of the Lord. They offered Him a sacrifice. They made vows.
What is a vow? A vow is a promise. In this instance these men made a promise to God.
We look to the first instance within the entire Bible to understand a vow.

[44] Genesis 28:20-22 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

This is a vow to God. Jacob makes a promise that God will be His God if these things happen.
He promises to give God a tenth of everything God gives him.
We don’t know the exact vow these men made to God in Jonah Chapter 1.
But we know that they now fear the Lord, offered Him sacrifices, and made a promise to Him.

But, let’s go back to Jonah. He was now cast into the sea. He was probably at the lowest point in his life now.

He probably thought he was dead. He was ready to go and be with the Lord.
He didn’t know the plans that God had for him at this time.
Let’s see what happens at the very end of Jonah Chapter 1.

[45] Jonah 1:17 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.

Make sure you notice the exact words from God.
“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” You can believe these words or not.
Most people miss this in the book of Jonah.
They attempt to show that it’s possible for an actual fish to swallow a person and live.
Many will say, “This isn’t possible because a man can’t live in the belly of a fish.”

There are stories of people being swallowed up by whales and then being spit out. They survive.

But let’s be serious. These people weren’t in the belly of great fishes for 3 days and 3 nights.
“And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

[46] Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

In the Book of Matthew, we see the great fish is a whale.
Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the whale’s belly. Is this possible? Did Jonah die in the whale?
Did Jonah live in the belly of the whale? The Bible doesn’t say that he died.
I simply trust that God PREPARED a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

Personally, I believe this is a specially prepared whale in which Jonah would live.

This story is a picture of the soul of Jesus Christ going to hell, but is not an exact representation.
Yes, Jesus Christ died. His body was buried. His soul went to hell.
But Jonah isn’t Jesus Christ. I don’t believe Jonah died. The Bible doesn’t say that he died.
The Bible says that God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

In Jonah Chapter 2, we’ll see that Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly.

So, Jonah was alive at this point in the fish’s belly because he was praying to the Lord.
Most people doubt the story of Jonah. I do not doubt the Book of Jonah at all.
They will call this a fairy tale or a fable while they make up fables.
The word of God is the truth. JONAH HAPPENED. He was was swallowed by a great fish.

There is nothing too hard for the Lord. He can prepare a whale so that a man can live within.

He made the whales. Of course He can prepare a whale for Jonah to live for 3 days and 3 nights.
God can keep Jonah alive for 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a great fish.
Don’t you think God can do these things?

[47] Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

Have you seen the heavens? Have you seen outer space? Open up your eyes and have a look.
Go outside at night on a clear day. Do you not believe the greatness of God?
Do you really think it’s too hard for this to happen to Jonah?
If you do, there’s no way you would believe the soul of Jesus Christ went to hell.
There’s no way you would believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.

[48] Acts 2:31-32 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

If you can’t believe that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, then you won’t believe on Jesus Christ.
You won’t be saved if you won’t have faith in the word of God.
The soul of Jesus Christ went to hell. Jonah is a picture of this. Jesus ties this together for us.
He does so in Matthew Chapter 12. The Son of man went to the heart of the earth 3 days and 3 nights.
Hell is in the heart of the earth or the center of the earth and the Bible teaches us this.

Jonah was headed for death because his disobedience to the Lord. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh.

God chastened Jonah. Jonah was ready to die versus helping the people at Nineveh.
Jonah was cast into the sea. He was swallowed up by a whale specially prepared for him.
He was in the belly of the whale for 3 days and 3 nights. Jonah calls out to God.
God hears his crying from the belly of the whale. God saves Jonah.
The whale vomits Jonah upon the dry land in Jonah Chapter 2.
We’ll continue Jonah Chapter 2 next time.

Let’s pray.

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