Shall we continue our study in the prophecy of Jonah? We would like to read in chapter one, verses fourteen through sixteen, in this book of Jonah, in order to consider the final scene of Jonah in the midst of the storm, when he experienced the wrath of God because of his disobedience. There are some valuable lessons that we may learn, not only in relation to Jonah, but also in relation to the sailors, the mariners upon board. We have the word saying, beginning at verse fourteen, Wherefore they, that is the mariners, they cried unto the Lord, These terrified sailors, 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. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from arranging. Then the men, he is the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord. and may bounce. It is very strange that these heathen men, though the storm was worse, yet they call upon Jehovah God, asking him not to lay innocent blood to their account. They had more concern for the life of one man, and that was Jonah, than Jonah had. for the thousands of people who live in the city of Nineveh, where God had commanded his servant to preach. Though these men knew nothing about the laws of the God of Israel, they realized that the circumstances of the lot that they had taken had pointed out guilty Jonah, and the words of the prophet himself together with the fierce dawn, all were indications of the sovereign will and the power of God in and through it all. God had done as it pleased them, and this was excellent discernment by these even men. Recognizing above their own gods which they worshipped, undoubtedly the pagan gods of evenism, Yet the sovereignty, the omnipotent, the greatness of the God of Israel, they ably discerned through this terrifying experience. The experiences through which these terrified sailors pass, may we not suggest, brought one hundred percent conversion to Jehovah, the God of Israel, the whole crew of this vessel were converted to the Jehovah of Israel. Yes, it took the fear of God, and it took his mighty omnipotent power to bring these even men to confess Jehovah. One may wonder today, what would be needed to awaken and to shape the hearts and the consciences of mankind that they would turn In this our day, unto the Lord. To so many, the storms and the distressing circumstances of light do not seem to awaken them to turn to the Lord. They are like Jonah, as we have looked at him in verse five. When the ship came into the midst of the raging storm, we read that Jonah was gone down into the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. He was absolutely insensible to the storm and its dangers, until the shipmaster came and said, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Rise call upon thy God. How sad it is that today, prevailing in all directions, We have many who are fast asleep spiritually, unaware of the coming danger of the judgment of God, content to go on as they are, without being awakened in conscience and in heart. One can well wonder what kind of storms, what vehement storms, what terrible storms of judgment could awaken the consciences of men and women today. Oh, may the Spirit of God still be able to do his work. But may I state, if the chance there is one, listening to this message, who knows not Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel, yea, better still, greater still, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent his only-begotten Son into the depths of Calvary's tree to redeem your soul. My beloved, don't be asleep. Like the words of the shipmaster, may you take these words to heart, as he awoke Jonah and said, Arise, O sleeper, call upon thy God. Well, did Isaiah the prophet write? Call upon God, seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto our God, who will add mercy and abundantly pardon. Until the shipmaster came and said, What meanest thou wilt leap and arise call upon thy God? Jonah was insensible to the danger. My beloved friend, are you unaware of your danger if you're unsaved? Do you not see the storm clouds of divine judgment getting darker and coming nearer to the world today? And pressure upon heart and mind in this present day certainly is so great and the perils of many. They should speak to the conscience of every unsaved person showing them the need of God. God's salvation, God's promise to save us from eternal wrath. and eternal judgment, and eternal death through faith in the atoning death of his Son. One raises the question, how can you sleep on? What meanest thou, O sleeper, call upon thy God and arise, before you find your soul sinking down into an eternal grave? How we can thus recognize the Lord still calls, though men may be sleeping, but it was inevitably forgotten experience that these sailors passed through, but one that was worth of all that they suffered. For it brought every one of them to confess the living and the true God, and they were awakened to penitent prayer. Who of us can fully enter into their prayer as well as their action? Their prayer faith prayerfully, certainly, in their penitent prayers said, that if they cast Jonah into the sea, they begged the living God to thus remember them and have mercy upon them. That was no easy thing for them to do, to pick up Jonah bodily and cast them into the sea. They had been just previously unwilling to do it, but now it was inevitable. There was no other way of deliverance. And just as soon as Jonah hit the wave over the side of the ship, the sea ceased from a raging. There was perfect calm and peace immediately. The storm was over, and what an experience. For it was the hand of God. But the result of the experience in the hearts of these even sailors brought godly fear and worship. We read that the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Do you think that their lives were changed? I certainly would think so. We have no record of after-events concerning the ship, nor concerning the sailors. The account deals chiefly with Jonah himself. But we can wonder... Just what these men did, and where they went, when the storm ceased, their cargo had been thrown overboard. And so there was no sense in going to Tarshish, for they had no cargo to take. They may have returned to Joppa from whence they had sailed. But wherever they went, what a story they must have had to tell. A most strange report. they would carry back. Perhaps the people of Nineveh heard it, before Jonah even arrived there. And if so, it made his preaching very much more effective. But my beloved friend, again listen, as Jonah sacrificed himself to be cast into the raging sea, to save the lives of the sailors upon the ship, Again we would reiterate there is a greater sacrifice for you and for me to consider. And that is the sacrifice of the Son of God, when our Savior went down, when his soul plunged into the raging storm of divine judgment when he died upon the cross of Calvary to save you and to save me. How we need to dwell, penitently, carefully and prayerfully, upon the value of such a sacrifice. He was not a disobedient prophet as Jonah. He was obedient even unto death, and even the death of the cross. Can you tell the experience of having been delivered from an eternal death, because of the one, the man from heaven above? going down into death and judgment to save your eternal and precious soul. This is a greater sacrifice, greater salvation, from a greater danger that Christ the Son of God has made for you and for me. Have you confessed it? Have you believed it? And made the Savior yours. We have considered the first chapter. And we go now to the end of the chapter, the last verse, and then into chapter two, where we come to the section that we have suggested touches upon the chastened prophet. In our consideration of the preceding chapter, chapter one, the disobedient prophet in the midst of the tremendous storm at sea, which God sent upon the ship and upon his servant Jonah, has been our meditation. This was the manifestation of Jehovah's wrath upon his servant Jonah, fleeing from his presence as well as fleeing from the divine commission that God had given to him to preach in the Assyrian capital, the city of Nineveh, the message that God ordained. The last reference to Jonah and our view of him was when the sailors took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea. Chapter one and verse fifteen. The reluctant mariners on board the vessel at Jonah's head vines, and after their prayer to Jehovah lifted him up and threw him overboard in the midst of the raging sea. But let us ask the question, what was the result? First the angry sea became calm. The stormed sea. and the ship with its occupants were no longer in danger and in trouble. Can you imagine the immediate and as well as the immense relief there would have been in the hearts of these men who had been wrestling and striving to save the ship, as well as their own lives, together with seeking to save the life of Jonah also, whom they were very reluctant to toss overboard. Perhaps we wonder why Jonah did not jump overboard, rather than permit the sailors to lift him and cast him over the side of the ship. It would seem that Jonah might have been waiting for them to do it. And ultimately, they reluctantly swing him, unresisting, from the deck of the vessel into the foaming sea below. Does not then speak to our hearts of the time when Christ was taken by men? They nailed him to the cross of Calvary for our sins? Yes, he came from heaven willingly. He came to die the death of the cross, yet that death was also for our sins, and it was a death that was accompanied and perpetrated by the hands of men. The very ones whom he came to say took his sinless precious body and nailed it to the tree. Through the years of his ministry he had foretold that he must be crucified. Wicked men would take him and nail him to that Roman givet of shame. My beloved let you and I never forget his treatment at the hands of those men and also his judgment. which he bore for our sins as our sin-bearer at the hands of God. When he went into the raging waves and waters of God's wrath upon sin, and the sinner, what a storm of judgment he endured. But let's get back to our story. Let us consider what happened to Jonah. We have considered Jonah the disobedient prophet in chapter one in the storm. Now as we approach chapter two, we consider Jonah the chastened prophet in the powers of the great fish. Let us read first of all the closing verse of chapter one. 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. The Hebrew word prepared is very interesting. It means appoint. God had appointed, for God arranged it, that the fish should be there when Jonah was cast into the sea. It's a good thing that the fish did what God told him to do, and was on time when Jonah was cast into the sea. Strange to say that the animal world And the creatures of the world, they are more ready and come to obey the will of God than even then. But it was arranged by God that the fish should be right there when Jonah was cast into the sea. The kind of fish, whether it be a whale or anything else, matters not. And its dimensions are of secondary importance. More important than the fish is the man. the prophet Jonah. We must not permit ourselves to be sidetracked by speculating over the fish, as many do, for the swallowing of Jonah by the sea monster was not an act of punishment upon God's part, but rather of preservation, for which no natural explanation can be given. May I repeat the statement again? most unusual fact that we should realize. The act of the fish swallowing Jonah was not particularly in the way of punishment upon God's part, but was it not rather a preservation? If Jonah would have been cast into the raging waves of the sea, that could have possibly been the end of him. But being cast into the bowels of the great fish and swallowed, it was an act of divine preservation. of which we can give no natural explanation at all. Jonah's preservation in the valley of the great fish can only be explained as being a miracle. The Lord himself called this experience of Jonah a sign in Matthew twelve and verse thirty-nine, and the word sign in the New Testament, as you may read it, always implied a miracle. And the Lord Jesus was speaking of that miracle when he referred to Jonah, that he was preserved in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights. The preservation of Jonah in the bowels of the great fish, and Jonah's chastening from the Lord for his disobedience, is certainly a picture of the nation of Israel. Israel, like Jonah, was a chosen people of God. chosen to be his special people and his witnesses to the whole world. As Jonah, so Israel was commissioned amongst men of different nationalities to thus represent the God of Israel. But just like Jonah, Israel, though commissioned of God, became disobedient to the will of the Lord. And as Jonah found himself scattered, or as Jonah found himself amongst men of different nationalities upon the Bethel, so Israel, because of disobedience, has been scattered throughout all the nations of the earth. While Jonah was among the heathen, those heathen came to a knowledge of God, while Israel is among the nations. Strange to say but true, the Gentiles come to know the Lord. Jonah was miraculously preserved in the sea monster. May we not also end that the nation of Israel has been miraculously preserved by the plan of God amongst the nations and the Gentiles during their exile and dispersion throughout all the world. We can truly say that the book of Jonah is also a prophecy for Israel, representing the banishment of the nation of Israel among the nations of the earth. But providentially, miraculously preserved, many years ago in the days of King Alfred the Great of England, he questioned his chaplain regarding the veracity of the Bible being the Word of God. He said to him, Give me in one word a proof that the Bible is the word of God. The servant of God thought for a moment prayerfully. Then he answered with one word and said to the king, Jew, your majesty, my beloved, that is a complete answer to the miraculous preservation of God. on the behalf of his earthly people Israel. Their preservation throughout the centuries of dispersion and exile are most the nations of the world. But let us return to Jonah in the great fish. Now what else could Jonah do but pray? And this he did, as we may read, beginning in chapter two and verse one. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord is God, Out of the fish, out of the fish's belly. The chastened prophet knew whom to turn to instinctively in his trouble. He turned to the Lord and what a dilemma he was in. To whom else could he ever turn? Who else could ever hear his voice? Who else could ever hear his crying? Who else could know his dilemma and his condition and his situation? None but he over himself. In the fish he cried out to God in prayer. And may we state that this first verse of chapter two makes it very clear when Jonah prayed, it was when he was imprisoned in the valley of the great fish. Jonah, may we state, for he wrote the book of Jonah, he recorded this prayer together with all of the events of this prophecy. some subsequent time after it happened, after his release from the fish and the fulfillment of his ministry at Nineveh. We can rejoice and wonder in amazement that by the grace of God and the guidance of God, Jonah was not ashamed to write the story of his imprisonment in the bowels of the great fish and to confess that he prayed. There are those who believe that Jonah actually died in the fish, and then was brought back to life, which I believe is very, very doubtful. There is no need to think that, for Jonah was in a state of consciousness, though he may not have realized the full extent of his situation. There is an amazing story, which we would like to mention, of a sailor. who, himself, by the name of James Bartley, in February, we named the date, and it has been documented, in February in the year eighteen ninety-one, he was followed by a firm whale, while seeking with others to capture the great fish. The whale upset the boat in which he was with others, and one man was drowned while Bartley himself disappeared from sight. The whale was ultimately captured by the crew, and it was brought on board the whaling vessel. The next day, while the crew were busily removing the blubber, they were startled by signs of light in the stomach of the whale. And inside the stomach of the whale they found the missing sailor, doubled up, and unconscious. A bath of seawater revived him as they slashed it over him. And though he remained for two weeks in a serious condition, he ultimately recovered from the experience and resumed his duty. Now this was a documented account of an actual occasion when this man, by the name of James Barclay, was swallowed by a sperm whale and found later in the stomach of the whale and recuperated, though he was indeed in an emaciated condition when revived. But now when we think of Jonah in the whale, let us confess in humble and sincere faith that God was able to preserve and sustain the life of his servant Jonah, And Jonah, now please note these words, Jonah was intelligently acquainted with the fact that he could only pray while in the great fish, and pray to his God he did. His prayer may consist chiefly of thanksgiving. Not one word of petition is in it, as we shall see, when we study it in detail. But let us get this clear understanding of Jonah's situation, to be in sight of a great fish in the middle of the ocean, a most remarkable situation and place to have a prayer meeting. It is a wonderful thing that in the Old Testament days of Israel, and you may read the account in First Kings chapter eight, of the dedicatory prayer of Solomon when he dedicated the temple in his day to Jehovah, that it was possible for every dispersed Jew wherever he might be dispersed and scattered among the nations of the earth, he could turn to Jehovah in prayer. Facing, if he would, the city of Jerusalem, where the temple at once stood, You may recall that even Daniel, in the book of Daniel, he opened his windows three times a day, facing Jerusalem, as he prayed. To every pious Jew, there was always the opportunity of turning his heart and her heart in the direction of the place where God had placed his name. And God, in the prayer of Solomon, was requested to honor the prayer of his children, wherever they might be scattered, when their thoughts turned to Jerusalem and the temple. And there's no question of doubt, the piety of the prophet Jonah moved him to intelligently pray and turn in supplication to the Lord Jehovah his God on this occasion. Surely we may wonder, Why the nation of Israel does not do the same, but in their blindness of unbelief still today, it will take a deeper experience, a storm of greater sorrow, to burst upon them as it will in the Middle East very, very soon, to bring them to their knees, confessing, repenting and confessing and acknowledging the chasing and the guard upon them, and cry to him for deliverance. out of their situation. Jonah did the right thing. He did the only thing. And often you and I, my beloved fellow believer, may also realize that there are occasions when we can do nothing to rescue ourselves from the predicament and danger that we may be in, but turn in prayer onto the Lord. What a privilege. What a joy to realize the avenue of prayer, no matter whether it be at the bottom of the ocean inside of a whale, whether it be in the depth of a coal mine, whether it be in the depth of the sea or in the heights of the heaven, or upon the earth in any place. What a joy to have access and liberty to speak with the living God. The entrance into his presence having brethren therefore boldest to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. May God teach us to do as Jonah did in our dilemmas and difficulties to know how to pray. Shall we turn again to the second chapter of the book of Jonah? Shall we read the prayer that Jonah uttered from the depths of the belly of the great fish? Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of the... Out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. for thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy weight passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the sows. The depths closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul painted within me, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying impanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay back. that I am vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land. May the Lord bless the reading of his precious and holy words. We begin in detail the study of the prayer of Jonah, whining the belly of the great fish. He was imprisoned there under the chastening hand of God for three days and three nights. We acknowledge that Jonah's preservation while in the fish was a divine miracle, contrary to what the modern critics and skeptics may claim in ridicule as to its impossibilities. Our strongest claim to this miracle is based upon the immutable words of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He concerned the fact as recorded in Matthew chapter twelve, and verse forty, when he said, For as Jonah 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. Whatever other evidences may be produced after the truth about Jonah, the prophet, the words of Christ coming from his sinless Blessed let us assure every believer in him that the story of Jonah was a living experience. For let us return to consider the prayer of Jonah from the verses two through nine. Note the following points concerning his prayer from inside the great fish. It is not a cry for deliverance. For Jonah must have known he was being delivered. Had not God miraculously saved him from perishing in the depths of the stormy sea? And though finding himself taking what trouble he was the first submarine ride in human history, nevertheless he was conscious of its surroundings and able to call upon God in a most intelligent manner. using words that contain thanksgiving, contrition, and repentance, and also, if you please, of rededication to the work of God. If you can see Jonah, and I hope you do, in eternity, be sure and ask him if he realized in a very special manner the wonderful love and the wonderful care of God while he was inside that fish. I fully believe that when the redeemed and the glorified saints in the new creation fellowship, one with another, listening to the personal testimonies of our God's wonderful love and care, Jonah will have something to say that will be so different from the rest of us. in connection with his unique experience. There is no doubt. Jonah would have realized and did realize that the Lord had spared him from drowning in the sea, and preserved him now in the most strange circumstances of thought, while in the bowels of the great fish. So let us take the prayer and divide it into three sections, and consider them separately in the will of the Lord. The first section consists of thanksgiving from verses two through six. The second section consists of contrition, verses seven and eight. The third, the last, of rededication, or if we may put it, consecration, in verse nine. We read verses two through six. I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried I, thou hearest my voice. For thou didst cast me into the depths, in the midst of the sea, and the flood compassed me about, and all thy billows and thy ways passed over me. Then said I, I am passed out of thy sight yet. Will I look again toward thy holy temple? The waters compassed me about even to the soul. The depths closed me round about, The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth wither bars was about me forever. Yet hath thou brought up my mind from corruption, O Lord my God. Again we repeat, his prayer was one of praise, for a deliverance already assured. For the word prayer does not necessarily imply perdition. or supplication. It can also refer to thanksgiving or praise as well. It has been suggested that throughout the prayer Jonah wavers between despair and faith, which leads him to hope in God's sure deliverance. On the contrary, instead of wavering, The entire prayer breathed the atmosphere of confident deliverance, in spite of the recital of the gloomy circumstances in which the prophet of God was bound. Those who would suggest that the prophet was wavering between despair and faith, I believe they are wrong. He prayed very confidently that God would deliver him. Then note in verses one and two of our chapter, verse one, that Jonah prayed under the Lord his God. And in verse six, he calls him, O Lord, my God. These expressions show his personal faith in his God. True, he has been fleeing from his God, but he knew positively on this occasion of his prayer that God had not forsaken him. Yes, he had run away from God, but God did not run away from him. My fellow believer, what a precious truth that is. No matter where we may flee or seek to flee away from God, we cannot get out of his reach. One sang a lovely song, a precious him a past year. I cannot drift beyond the circle of Islam. And how blessed it is to realize none of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus can ever get so far away from God that he cannot find us and that he cannot be with us. God did not forsake Jonah. My beloved, listen, it wasn't another human being in the whole world that could do anything for him. But he still called God my God. Oh, the blessed eternal relationship, belonging to a child of God, when God is my father. God had not forsaken Jonah and still. God would be trustworthy as he had always been before. I am the Lord God. I change not, wrote the prophet Malachi. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. My beloved, let me say, as the poet that's put it, we change, he changes not, so Christ can never die. His love not mind the resting place, his blood not mind the time. Please let us reflect. It's a very precious truth that in the circumstances of Jonah in the bottom of the sea, his God was with him. He could turn and trust that blessed one. And how much truth there is in this fact? that should give encouragement and strength and faith to every child of God. My fellow believer, are you and am I permitting difficult, despairing and gloomy circumstances to overcome? Or may I be very frank, the days that we are living in are perilous, the problems, the heartache, the grief, the sorrows, the pain, the anguish, a mental and heart anguish and suffering that we feel, chiefly because of the condition, spiritually and morally, as they prevail today. They can make us despair, but, oh, let us not despair, no matter how gloomy the circumstances, may they not be permitted to overcome us. It may be that we are being chastened by our Heavenly Father in our experiences. But that never changes his love, and neither does it change his faithfulness. Oh, my beloved, may I emphasize that, whom the Lord loves, he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receives. And even the chastening hand of our Father upon his children is always an act of love. And though it is written in Hebrews twelve, from which we have quoted already, it is written in verse eleven. Now no chasing for the presence, even to be joyous, but rather grievous. Nevertheless afterwards it worketh a peaceable fruit of righteousness, of them that are exercised thereby. And every chastening act of our Father in the lives of his children is but an act of his love, as well as the evidence of his faithfulness, with his children. He's not going to let us wander away, and not seek to restore us. I often wonder how many Psalms it might have been that Jonah knew from memory when he was inside the bowels of the great fish. Many of the words that he used in his prayer would indicate that he was acquainted and was well versed in the Holy Scriptures, and especially the Book of the Psalms. As he called upon his God, may I quote one of the verses that is found in Psalm Jonah must have known that fiftieth psalm. He must have known what David wrote in verse fifteen, and it must have flooded his heart with divine encouragement when God said through the psalmist long before, Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will answer thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Was Jonah in trouble? And how? But can God hear his prayer from the belly inside of the great fish at the bottom of the ocean? Now that might seem to be a problem to some. Could God hear his prayer from the bottom of the ocean? Absolutely so. Can God answer the prayer of his servant down at the ocean bottom, imprisoned in the great fish? Again the answer has to be a resounding and an empathic affirmation. Yes. Can God deliver the man out of his dilemma from the extenuating circumstances? Again the reply is positive. Jonah called upon his God. Jonah said, O Lord, thou art my God. And with all the faith and hope of his soul he prayed. And this is what every child of God can do. And may I add, if it is an unsafe sinner, friend, this is what you can do if, in simple faith, you will call upon your God to save you now through the Lord Jesus, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, and save me for Jesus' sake. But as we continue to analyze the prayer of Jonah, in this prophecy. We've emphasized Jonah called upon his God. It does not take a great amount of thinking to realize there was nothing else to do. But this in its circumstances, but June Jonah also knew to whom he could turn. We may ask the question, do you and I know a God like this to whom we can turn? Note the second verse and his prayer saying, I cried by reason of mine affliction, or my distress unto the Lord. And he answered me. He heard me, says Jonah, out of the belly of the great fish. And he said, I cried, out of the belly of Sheol, he even said. Thou heardest my voice. Jonah practically confesses himself to be in the grave, a doom so deserving, but from which God in mercy delivered him, answering his cry. It can be safely assumed that by now Jonah realized what a terrible thing it was to be apart from the presence of the Lord. In verse three he continues to reveal the realization of God's chasing hand upon him. For thou hast cast me into the deep in the midst of the sea, and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Do you notice that Jonah described being cast into the sea as being done by God, not by the sailors who had taken him up and cast him overboard. Jonah is saying to the Lord, you did it, Lord, and Jonah knew it to be true that it was of the Lord. We must remember that Jonah wrote this book. Now, please remember this truth. Jonah wrote this book after... It had all happened, and he tells it exactly as it was in his experience. God was the source of his chastening. It was God who had cast him into the sea. The sailors had only carried out the punishment that God had designed for him in his chastening displeasure. There is a lesson for us to learn in this. how we should see the loving hand of God that we too might learn in all our chastening the hand of the Lord. It's not easy to acknowledge this sometimes. Do we do it? He is the God of circumstances, but particularly we who are God's children should always bow in submissive acknowledgement. that God holds the key to all our circumstances. Let me quote the words that were written in the book of Job long ago. Listen to these words in the midst of his trial. Job's saying, God performeth the thing that is appointed for me, even when he was passing through the deepest trial of his life. Let me repeat those words. We need them. He, God, performeth the thing that is appointed for me. The trial of Job is acknowledged as being of divine appointment. David the Psalmist said, Shall we not receive good as well as evil from the Lord? Whether it be by the permissible will of God or the direct will of God, Whatever our circumstances may be, are we willing to acknowledge it is the hand of the Lord? Oh, how we need to do so. Hezekiah, the king of Judah, was brought face to face with the realization that he had sinned against the Lord. And the prophet came to him to tell him that his life would be shortened. And Hezekiah bowed to it, and said that it would be according to the will of the Lord, submitted himself to what the Lord declared. So Jonah said, in his prayer to God, all thy willows, in thy ways, passed over me. They were billows of chastening from God. They were ways of judgment. from God. What Jonah confesses is literally this. Lord, you brought me into this chastening experience, and to so confess it is to submit to God's way as well as to be sooner delivered out of the trial. The words of Jonah are literally from Psalm forty-two in verse seven. Have you not noticed that? where the psalmist wrote, All thy ways and thy billows are gone over me, though they may be prophetically true of Christ in his sufferings upon the cross. But Jonah knew the Scriptures and was able to use them properly in the time of trouble. For the comfort of the Scriptures are ours that we might have hope, according to Romans fifteen and verse four. Perhaps Jonah also knew the truth of Isaiah forty-three, and verse two. Listen to these words, because Isaiah prophesied before Jonah was above the sea. When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. What a wonderful promise! Jonah was in the depths of the ocean, inside the belly of the great fish, praying, yet God was with him there. Please let me read that promise of Isaiah again. When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee. What a promise. And may I state, as you think of Jonah in the valley of the great fish, say what you will about his disobedience, about his character, about his person. But he was the servant of Jehovah. And Jonah could have the consciousness, which I believe he intelligently did, from the scriptures he knew, that God had said, When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. No wonder the psalmist wrote in that precious pearl of psalm, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Then in our fourth verse of Jonah's prayer, there's a further statement. Then said I, I'm cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. No, he was not out of God's sight, though he said so. As we have already suggested, he never could be out of God's sight, but in his chastening he must have felt it so. My beloved let us realize that even in the chasing of our own lives, it makes one feel as though we were out of God's sight, though we never are, even though he confessed as such. And which can only praise God, that in faith he directly thought God were just the same. Yet I will look toward thy holy temple. Now let us reflect that in chapter one he'd been running away from God. He'd run away from the temple, but he knew that back in Jerusalem the temple of God's house was there. God's dwelling place was the place to worship God, and the eyes of his heart looked forward to being there again. Please, may I state the words again? Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. My, what a wonderful vision of faith. down at the bottom of the ocean in the bowels of the great fish. But the eyes of faith, the eyes of his heart, the eyes of his understanding, were directed to the temple, the dwelling place of God. My fellow believer, please let me say something that I am sure is precious. And that is, we know our God is in the heavens above us. The glory of his dwelling place is yonder in the heavens above all the universe. But isn't it wonderful that the believer can look toward that place? And as if, as the apostle has written in Hebrews chapter two, saying, Regarding those open heavens, but we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. And by faith the believer can look into the open heavens above and see his and her blessed Lord on his and her behalf, regardless of the circumstances. And what better thing could we do? I've seen Jonah's case, in circumstances extenuating, but look toward heaven. And he directs his gaze to the dwelling of God, as well as anticipating that he could be back there again in the temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem. He must have remembered the words of Solomon, as we have suggested in the past. and now quote them from First Kings chapter eight, verse twenty-nine and thirty. When Solomon dedicated the temple, he said to the Lord these words, Lord, let thine eyes be opened toward this, thy house, night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there, that thou mayest arcan under the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. and hearken thou to the supplication of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and when thou hearest forgive. Oh, what a prayer. Solomon even asked God, to hear in his dwelling place the prayers and the supplications of his people, Israel, in any and every kind of circumstance, when they thus spread forth their hands toward this house. Again we referred to the occasion of Daniel. Did not Daniel open his window? And did he not spread forth his hands toward the house of the Lord at Jerusalem? directing his prayer to Jerusalem and the temple, for he knew God's name was there. And so Jonah directed the eyes of his faith, the eyes of his heart in prayer, toward God's holy temple. Well, the joy to realize this is the direction for the believer in any circumstance. One thinks of the words of the psalmist in Psalm He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. What a joy to direct the heart and prayer to the Lord God above, recognizing that under the shadow of his wings there is divine protection and there is divine preservation. And oh, my beloved, may I say to my own heart as well as to yours, There is no greater ministry that you and I could fulfill in the days of difficulty, the days of danger, whether it be material, physical, whether it be moral, whether it be spiritual, whether it be of any danger of any kind, difficulties of any form. What better objective could we have than to direct the prayer of the heart to the throne of the eternal God. Oh, the joy of knowing, the immediate access that a believer has into the presence of God. And Jonah directly prays at the temple of Jehovah. He was a long way from that temple without question of doubt. It was impossible to see that temple with his natural eyes, but he knew where it was. He knew the meaning of it. He knew what it meant. where the house of God was in Jerusalem, God's dwelling place. It was the representation of the throne of God upon the earth. And as long as the temple was standing, and was in the midst of God's people, earthly people, Israel, it was the representation of the throne of God here on the earth, wherever the Jew might be scattered. Well, beloved, we do not have an earthly temple to resort to. We have no earthly throne to recognize as being the throne of God upon the earth today. The throne of God is in heaven above, and there on that throne is seated alongside that blessed God of glory, the precious Son of the living God himself. Sit thou upon my right hand, said Jehovah, when he finished the work of redemption, saying, sit thou upon my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot too. And thereupon the throne of God, may I quote what we have, in Hebrews chapter four these wonderful words, seeing then that we have a great high priest who is passed into the heavens, even Jesus, the one who is our great high priest and redeemer. We are encouraged and exhorted, then let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to have in every time of need. My beloved, are you at the bottom of the ocean? Figuratively in experience? Lift your eyes. Lift them up, looking unto Jesus, the author and publisher of faith, and thereupon the throne of God in heaven above, direct your prayer to the heart of the Father, to the heart of the Son, and know that is a God that hears and answers prayer above, if you and I will only direct our petition and our hearts in contrition repentance under the chastening hand that he may have upon us, that we may prove his faithfulness to his own. My beloved, there's no circumstance, but what prayer can be the remedy? This is the lesson that we need. One confesses it readily. May we truly learn it. May we prove it. May we pray. Father, we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, we may in sympathy be with Jonah at the bottom of the ocean. And thereby,