Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amit'tai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry ( preach) against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tar'shish from the presence of the Lord, and went down Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tar'shish: so he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them unto Tar'shish: from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and their was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast for wares that were in the ship. into the sea, so that the ship, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down, into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 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. And they said every one to his fellow, come, let us casts lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then they said unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us:
What is thine occupation? and when comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou?
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. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, why has thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
Then said they unto him, what shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? Take me up, 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.
Never the less the men rowed hard to bring it to land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
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, has done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
Now the lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the fish for three days and three nights.
In the book of Jonah, at the end of the prophet's great prayer of deliverance there is the sentence:
" Salvation is of the Lord" (2:9).
The sentence is simple and profound. The origin, the end and indeed, the only possible source of salvation is God. Salvation begins with God's choice of us rather than our choice of him and continues to a successful conclusion because God perseveres with us. Jonah's case is a perfect example. God elected him to do the work that he did not want to do: the evangelization of Nineveh.
God persevered with Jonah in spite of the rebellious prophet's attempt to runaway.
Though Jonah's call was not to a particular ministry and not to salvation, the principal is the same. For nothing can takes place spiritually in a person's life until God on the basis of his own determination calls that person to him.
It would be foolish for a preacher to enter a funeral home to encourage the corpses to lead a upright life, the corpses are dead. If the words are to have any purpose, the corpses must be made alive. After that they can respond, in the same way, the call to discipleship must begin with an act of God,
in making a spiritually dead person alive. The choice to do that is not with one who is spiritually dead but with God, who alone is able to give life. This is what the new birth means. Before conversion, God says we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We are alive physically and intellectually , but not spiritually. We cannot respond to spiritual stimuli. The word of God is a hidden book; the gospel is nonsense. But then God touches us. He brings life out of death. We then believe in Jesus Christ and begin to understand the Bible. This is what it means to be called by God, and this must happen before there can be any true discipleship. Jesus said you did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.
( Jn. 15:16)
Abraham was called. He did not choose God. He was apparently satisfied being where he was in the Mesopotamian river valley in a pagan culture. But God called him and sent him on his way to Palestine.
Moses was called even before he was a baby floating in the Nile in a basket. God said, " I am going to deliver my people from Egypt, and I am going to do it by the means of this baby. I am going to protect him from Pharaoh. I am going to give him the best world's training and education, then I am going to send him to Pharaoh to say, " Let my people go."
It was the same with David. God put his stamp on the future King while David was protecting some sheep. God sent the prophet Samuel to David's home to anoint one of his sons in the family, but when Samuel arrived David was missing. The father brought out all the sons except David. They were there in order. Samuel looked at the boys and thought how good a king the oldest boy would make. His name was Elib, but before Samuel could anoint him, God indicated he was not the one. Next came Abinadab, who was not the future king. Then there was Shamah, and so on until seven of Jesses's sons were presented. Then Samuel asked. The Lord has not chosen these. Are all the sons here, Are all your sons here? The youngest is not here, he's out in the field watching the sheep. When David had finally arrived, the Lord said: arise and anoint him.
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