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One of the central truths we learn about God from the second chapter of Jonah is that salvation, start to finish, is from God. It is solely a work of the Almighty. At the end of chapter one, Jonah is in a bad way. He is on the verge of drowning in the middle of the sea, and he says in Jonah 2:2, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me" (ESV). In desperation these thoughts surely raced through Jonah’s mind: Lord, I remembered you and cried out to you, and you heard me and reached down to me and rescued me—you saved me.
Jonah’s salvation was God’s job, not Jonah’s. Notice, God did not throw Jonah a life jacket for him to swim to, nor did He provide him with a boat to row his way to shore. Instead, He appointed a fish to swallow Jonah up, and then commanded that fish to vomit him out on dry land. Jonah played no part whatsoever in the unfolding drama.
Not only did God provide the means and do all the work in saving Jonah, but He also gave him the desire to be saved. Jonah did not plead for help until his life was being threatened by the sea. At first he didn’t recognize the trouble he was in. Though this God-ordained storm had come upon the ship while he was fleeing God’s presence, heading toward Tarshish, Jonah was not concerned. In Jonah 1:5, as the winds blew and the seas raged, he is in the inner part of the ship, fast asleep (ESV).
Jonah’s tone changes, however, in chapter two. After he is thrown into the sea, with the currents swirling about him and the waves and breakers sweeping over him (2:3, NIV), he comes to a full understanding of the danger and his need.
The prayer Jonah prays while in the belly of the fish makes it obvious to us that Jonah was totally helpless. It was God who had been directly at work in the details of Jonah’s life. It was God who was responsible for saving him. He clearly states that God was the one who had put him in danger in the midst of the sea so that he would cry out and be saved: “For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas…your waves and your billows passed over me” (2:3, ESV, emphasis mine). Jonah knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that God alone was in control of every aspect of his salvation, which is why he says in 2:9, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!" (ESV).
R.C. Sproul, in The Reformation Study Bible says, “(Jonah) extols (God) as the only source of salvation and deliverance. In imparting salvation to Jonah, the Lord moved the prophet from disobedience to repentance” (1288).
This is the way God worked throughout His Word and throughout history. He moved the Ninevites from idolatry to faith, moved the unbelieving Jews from enemies of the cross to servants of Christ, and moved the doubting Gentiles from pagan sinners to forgiven saints. He works this way in our lives as well. And so, our response should be like that of Jonah: “I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you” (Jonah 2:9, ESV).
After being saved from certain death, Jonah worships the Lord: God, because you have saved me, in turn I will be thankful and will sacrifice to you—I will worship you. Let us also worship the God who has saved us.
Graham Hale
Graham Hale is the Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Jacksonville, TX. and is a Womenary Professor. He earned a B.A. (Political Science) from the University of Arkansas in 2001 and a M.Div. (Missiology) from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006. Graham is currently pursuing a D.Min. (Pastoral Leadership) at Southwestern Theological Seminary.
