The story of Jonah being swallowed by a fish and surviving has led to heated debate through the centuries. But the point isn't how it happened, but why. Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah answers that question as he shares more from his series. Jonah the runaway prophet.
To learn why God brought Jonah through this dramatic experience, listen as David shares his message hitting rock bottom. And thank you for joining us and welcome to this new week. We continue our study of the book of Jonah. And we've called this study the runaway prophet. And we're following Jonah on his contest with God to stay in God's will and following God's determination to bring his prophet back home and make him productive again.
So here we go with part one of hitting rock bottom. This is Jonah 1:17, and we'll be there in just a moment. We have the study guides, we have the CD packages, we have the video package. You can get these materials from Turning Point at davidjeremiah.org and order them all for the study of this book. We would love to have you join us as we finish up this book together.
And you can do so by using these materials. They're very helpful, especially if you're going to use this material for a small group. Don't forget also during this month, we're making available our special 27 calendar, the light of the world, Turning Point's annual calendar project. I've been doing this now for almost 50 years, and this calendar is just one of the most beautiful ones we've ever done because it reflects the title, The Light of the World. The photography is just beautiful.
Some of the most beautiful scenes you will ever find. And it's a wonderful wall calendar that you can use to keep track of your events or just to enjoy as you see it every day hanging someplace in your home, in the kitchen, in your study, in your bedroom, wherever. It's a wonderful reminder of God's wonderful provision of light and darkness. Ask for your copy when you send your gift to Turning Point during this month. And now here is part one of hitting rock bottom.
On a February morning in 2025, off the coast of Chilean Patagonia. A kayaker named Adrian was out for what looked like an ordinary paddle. He came home with a story he will carry with him for the rest of his life. Patagonia is a land of green mountains, cold blue water, and humpback whales that pass through each year. Those whales can reach 50 feet long.
and they feed on tiny krill. and are known to be gentle. That morning, Adrian paddled while his father filmed from another kayak. and then the surface beneath him began to swell. The kayak lifted and it vanished.
His father shouted his name, but there was no answer, only an empty circle of water. where his son had been. Adrian later said, I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I realized I was inside the whale's mouth. I felt a slimy texture on my face, and all I could see was dark blue and white. Then, as suddenly as it had swallowed him, the whale opened its mouth, and released him.
Adrian popped back up, coughing and shaking, but alive. I thought I was going to die, he said, but God gave me a second chance. There is probably no story in the Bible that has produced more jeering and mockery than the story of Jonah and the great fish.
Some people say it's the Achilles heel of the Bible. Most people stumble over one issue. They just cannot imagine how a fish could swallow a man and keep him alive for three days and then release him. The idea is not as impossible as some assume. Writers like Grace Kellogg have noted that whale sharks and great baleen whales have mouths large enough to take in a human being.
These creatures have no teeth. and they feed by filtering food from the water. A whale caught near Cape Cod in the 1930s was nearly 100 feet long. With a mouth reportedly large enough to swallow a horse.
Now let's look at our text. Here's what Jonah says.
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Please note that the text does not argue or try to explain or apologize for what happened to Jonah. It simply says this is what God did. The Lord Jesus clearly believed this story.
He didn't think it was a myth or somebody made it up. He linked his own resurrection to it. He said, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a fish.
So he would be three nights and three days in the belly of the earth. The real issue is not what kind of fish it was. The real issue is whether we believe in a God of miracles. And let me tell you something you may be surprised about. If you believe Genesis 1.1, You will be okay.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Anyone who believes in God as Creator should not struggle with this story. Ladies and gentlemen, if God made the universe If he created the heavens and the earth, he could surely prepare a great fish. And if None existed. he could make one for his purpose.
The Bible simply says, the Lord prepared. A great fish. Did you know that the word whale is not found in the text. We do not know what species this fish was, and the Bible doesn't tell us because. The point is not the kind of fish.
but that the Lord prepared it. If you are an inductive Bible student, you will probably already know the fact that in the book of Jonah, The Lord prepared Four things. If you read through the book, he prepared a fish to rescue Jonah. Then he prepared a vine to show Jonah a glimpse of comfort, Then he prepared a worm. to take the comfort away and expose his selfishness.
And then he prepared an east wind so Jonah would understand the compassion that God had for a lost city. This story of Jonah is about God pursuing his disobedient servant. What he did with Jonah, he still does with us. He corrects and disciplines us because He loves us. He loves us too much to let us keep running away from him.
So let's consider the purpose behind the great fish. that he prepared for Jonah. Purpose number one. to rescue Jonah from drowning. Jonah probably thought that being thrown overboard was the worst thing that could happen to him.
Remember, They discovered among the sailors that he was the one responsible for the storm.
So, in order to get rid of the storm, they decided they had to get rid of Jonah and they threw him overboard. If you read Jonah's prayer in the second chapter, He refers to the thoughts that he had, that he was floating down through the sea.
So I'm going to jump over to Jonah chapter 2 and just read what Jonah said about his experience. You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas. And the floods surrounded me. All your billows and your waves passed over me. The water surrounded me even to my soul.
The deep closed around me, weeds were wrapped around my head, I went down to the moorings of the mountains, and the earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Jonah sank. to the bottom of the ocean. He may have come back up. Perhaps he drifted back up for a moment, as a drowning man sometimes does.
But his experience was one of absolute total terror. He knew his life. was about to end. But God had a lifeguard waiting for him. And he sent his lifeguard to pick him up.
God could have allowed Jonah to drown. When people disobey us, we sometimes grow so angry, we wish the worst would happen to them. We wouldn't care if they drowned, just get them out of our life, we think. But God did not deal with Jonah out of anger. He dealt with him out of love.
He allowed Jonah to feel the terrible fear of the ocean. yet at the same time he sent a great fish to rescue him from drowning.
So the first thing that happened was God sent a fish to rescue Jonah from drowning. But then he sent that fish also to return Jonah to Nineveh. God prepared that great fish not just to save Jonah from drowning, but to take him where he did not want to go. back toward Nineveh. I think there's a little humor in this.
God said, Go to Nineveh. Jonah said, No, and boarded a ship headed the opposite direction as far away as he could go. And God said, Oh, no, you don't. The storm hits, Jonah goes overboard, God sends a fish to pick him up, and the fish turns him around and takes him back where he started. Jonah had paid a lot of money to run from God.
But God arranged his return and it was free. By the end of chapter two, God speaks to the fish, and Jonah gets dropped off right on dry land. Jonah verse 10 of chapter 2 says, So the Lord spoke to the fish. and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Now, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly where Jonah was dropped off. Most likely, it was somewhere along the Mediterranean coast, but. it was still a long way to Nineveh. In other words, Jonah had to walk the rest of the way originally assigned to him. That great fish was not just God's rescue plan.
That great fish was God's return plan. And God saved Jonah from drowning, and He sent him right back to Nineveh.
So he sent the fish to rescue Jonah from drowning. and to return Jonah to Nineveh. And then number three, to reach Jonah's heart. The Bible says in verse 17 of chapter 1. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days.
and three nights.
Now Jonah's real problem was not geography. Jonah's problem was his heart. He hated the Ninevites. He lacked compassion for them, and he was out of fellowship with God. God told him to go preach the gospel to the Ninevites, and Jonah said, I'm not going to do it because he's afraid God would save them and he didn't want them to be saved.
Jonah was a prodigal. Like the son of Luke 15, he tried to outrun his father and discovered. that rebellion always takes us lower than we planned. He avoided the pig pen, but when the Prodigal experienced even worse. He came back to God.
William Bacchus has written a book called The Paranoid Prophet. It's a very interesting book. It's an imagination. of Jonah speaking to a therapist about his ordeal. If you ever get that book, you'll find it's fun to read.
At one point, Jonah says to the therapist, I turned just in time to see it coming. A sea creature the size of a ship was racing toward me, its mouth open. Screaming in terror, I was swallowed whole. The darkness was total. The noise around me was like a huge machine.
I knew nothing but terror. It was awful. It was terrible. But God was getting Jonah's attention. The belly of that fish became God's classroom.
where Jonah finally had no voice to hear but the Lord's. I wonder if you've ever been in a place like that. A place where God finally had your full attention. I mean, God sometimes puts his children in places of seclusion so they can see what is really going on in their hearts. His purpose in discipline is never destruction, but always restoration.
The Lord desires to bring his children back to himself even when they have run far away. Notice just how far Jonah's heart was from God at this point. In chapter one, The pagan sailors prayed while Jonah was sleeping. And they begged Jonah to call on his God, but there is no record in the text that Jonah ever prayed until he was in the water. God shut every other door, and finally, Jonah had nowhere to go but to pray.
Have you ever been there? Have you ever heard anybody say, well, I've tried everything else, I guess all I can do is pray.
Sometimes We take what should be the first alternative and we make it the last alternative. We try everything under the sun except the one thing for which we are perfectly prepared. The Bible says in Jonah 2.1, that Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly. Finally, Jonah praise. After God had shut every other door.
He had no other opportunities, no other alternatives. All through chapter one, the pagans are praying, and the prophet is not praying. We can be just as hard-hearted as Jonah if we're honest. We often try every option first, and only when everything fails do we finally pray. One of my friends is the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City.
His name is Jim Simbler, and he's written about some of these things. Here's one thing he said about prayer, to which I raised my hand in agreement. He said, prayer cannot be taught by principals and seminars. Prayer has to be born out of felt need. If I say I ought to pray, I will soon quit.
The flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray. Jonah didn't pray because he had learned that prayer was a good thing. He prayed because he didn't have any other option. He was driven to pray.
Sometimes we just have to be in a mess before we really pray. Jonah did not want to talk to God, even in the storm and the terror of that ship. He still would not pray. Even though the storm was raging around him, the sailors were praying. Jonah wouldn't pray.
But when the Lord put him in a place with no distractions and no escape. His stubborn heart finally cried out to God. I don't know if you have noticed that in your own life. I have, and I have seen that story repeated over and over. as a pastor.
Some of us are just doggone hard-headed. And God has to work a little harder to get our attention. You see, Jonah was under God's tutelage, learning what it meant to get things right. I want to tell you something that I've learned. God never does this.
In a vacuum, he has a purpose in mind. Here are three passages of scriptures from Psalm 119. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted.
that I may learn your statutes. I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. God disciplines his servants. to reach their hearts. It is the only way some people will open up to him.
If you've noticed, Quite often people tell you Here's where I was, and this is what happened to me, and this is what God used to bring me to Himself. He often takes the methodology that we think is from the world. and incorporates it into his plan.
So The fish came to rescue Jonah, to return Jonah to Nineveh. to reach Jonah's heart. and the recommissioned Jonah for service. Here's the thing I like the most. This is one of the great thoughts of this whole story.
God's purpose in all of this was to bring Jonah back to the place. where he could be used again. Think about everything that happened. The boat ride. The whale ride.
They were not random events. The whole purpose was to get Jonah back to where he had been at the beginning of the story. Where was he at the beginning of the story? Remember Jonah 1.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, great city, cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. Everything between those first two verses And where we are now. was God's effort to return Jonah to the place of obedience. What a detour this was. I mean, all of that pain and fear.
could have been avoided with one simple yes to God. But instead of walking straight to Nineveh, he chose a long and costly road. and disobedience always adds chapters to your story. It always adds chapters to your story, chapters that never had to be written at all. I want to say something to you.
kind of on a personal basis if I can. If you're fighting with God, And you are in a contest with him. You can't win. You cannot win. Why don't you just do what he tells you to do the first time and spare yourself all those extra verses?
That really is a good idea. Just do what he says. If God says to go to Nineveh, Go to Nineveh. You may not understand it. It may not be something you're excited about.
But obedience is always better than resistance. When God speaks, the safest place in the world is in the wake of His command. Because if you refuse, listen to me, you're going on a boat ride.
Okay. And you are not going to like it. God loves you too much to let you run forever. And he will do whatever it takes to bring you back to the place where he can use you again. And his goal in all of it is not punishment.
But restoration and recommissioning. Remember what the New Testament says about the stubborn love of God? He who has begun a good work in you. will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. These all are the purposes of God's correction.
But I want to finish up this discussion today. with a few moments of discussion on the promise of God's correction. We saw the purpose of it. What is the promise of it? Let me close with some thoughts about the promise of God's discipline.
This touches everyone because none of us are exempt From these principles. I don't care who you are, how long you've been a Christian, how close you may be walking to the Lord at this moment in time. you have been through some experiences. And maybe you've been through a train wreck or a shipwreck. Why do we run into walls and crash?
Many times, it's our own self-will because we have chosen to do our own thing and not what God tells us to do. Not every storm is for that reason. Please don't judge everybody who's in a storm that they're out of fellowship with God. It may be true, it may not be true. But when it is true, God is not trying to destroy us.
He's trying to restore us. Why does God discipline us when we are running away from Him? First of all, to prove His love for us. Hebrews 12, 6 says, For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and he scourges every son whom he receives. By every human standard, Jonah was rebellious.
and running in the opposite direction from God. The easy thing would have been to let the sea swallow him up and be finished with the whole story and get on to the next book. But God rescued Jonah out of that mess. because in his heart there was an incredible love for that prophet. The reason God goes to such lengths with us is because He loves us.
The very proof of his love Is his discipline in our lives.
Now I understand. This doesn't sound logical. We tried this line on our kids when they were growing up. We would say this is the classic line. This hurts me more than it hurts you.
I never believed that when I was young, and I'm not sure it was always true. But when we talk about the fatherhood of God and the way he deals with his children. This is really true. God proves His love when He goes to extreme measures to recover us. from our own foolishness.
I'll remember the story. about a little boy who had a toy boat floating on a pond. And the boat drifted away from the shore. And the boy couldn't reach it. A man was passing by, saw what was happening, and began to throw stones into the water on the far side of the boat.
The boy was very upset and said, What are you doing to my boat? And then something very interesting happened. The stones created ripples that slowly pushed the boat back toward the boy. The water was disturbed and no longer smooth. but the disturbance achieved the desired result.
That is exactly how God's discipline works. If we allow it, it will drive us toward him. If we don't allow it, it will drive us away from him. But when we drift away from him on the sea of sin or on the pond of unrighteousness, He throws the disturbing stones of loving discipline to push us back. toward himself.
Some of you have been in stormy weather recently. The waves have been rough. And the stones have been heavy. I want to remind you that this is not a sign God has abandoned you. Mm-hmm.
It is proof that he loves you. If he did not love you, he would simply let you go. But you mean too much. for him. to do that.
And I hope you understand that. If you are part of God's family, He's good. take care of you like a good father would take care of one of his children. He will come after you. He's always available to you.
He stands with arms wide open to receive you. if you return. Don't continue running away from God. Tomorrow we'll talk about the last part of this discussion of running from God, hitting rock bottom, part two, tomorrow. In the meantime, let me remind you that this December we'll be taking a wonderful conference cruise to the Caribbean.
We do this every year right after Christmas. This is December 26th through January the 2nd, and visiting ports like Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Half-Moon Cay. Michael Sanchez, Uri Ovega will be with us. We'll have a great time.
We hope you can come and join us for the cruise. Find out about it at davidjeremiah.org. We'll see you right here tomorrow. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, Jonah the Runaway Prophet, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected.
Our monthly magazine Turning Points and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of our 14-month 2027 calendar, The Light of the World, and deepen your faith daily throughout the coming year. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions, available in several attractive and resilient cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website, davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Jonah the Runaway Prophet on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
