Let us turn in our Bibles to the Book of Jonah. Book of Jonah. It's on page 774 of the Pew Bible. Our text today is Jonah 2, verses 1-6, but we are going to begin reading with verse 1 of chapter 1. Thus says the inspired and errant Word of God. Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship, and he had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us, that we may not perish. And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation and where do you come from? What is your country and of what people are you? And he said to them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they called out to the Lord, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood for you, O Lord, have done as it please you. So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head. At the root of the mountains, I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life. from the pit, O Lord my God. May God bless the reading of His Holy Word. And now please take your blue Psalter hymnal and turn to page 23 in the back of the blue Psalter hymnal. Page 23. We will be confessing our faith in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 16. We believe this catechism faithfully summarizes the teaching of Scripture. I will read the questions and together we will read the answers. Lord's Day 16, question 40. Why did Christ have to go all the way to death? Because God's justice and truth demand it. Only the death of God's Son could pay for our sin. Why was he buried? His burial testifies that He really died. Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die? Our death does not pay the debt of our sins. Rather, it puts an end to our sinning and is our entrance into eternal life. What further advantage do we receive from Christ's sacrifice and death on the cross? Through Christ's death, our old selves are crucified, put to death, and buried with him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us, but that instead, we may dedicate ourselves as an offering of gratitude to him. Why does the creed add, he descended into hell? to assure me in times of personal crisis and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, especially on the cross, but also earlier, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell. Beloved congregation, in our Lord Jesus Christ, this morning we return to the story of the prophet Jonah. Over the past few months, we've watched as our wayward prophet fled from the Lord's call. His desire, as we saw in chapter 1, verse 3, was to get away from the presence of the Lord. So he boarded a ship to go to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But God wouldn't let Jonah escape so easily. God pursued Jonah first with a storm, then with ironic words on the captain's mouth, and then with the casting of lots which fell on Jonah. But how did Jonah respond to God's pursuit through all these things? Did Jonah show any change of heart? Did Jonah show any change of trajectory? Remember how from the beginning of the story, Jonah has been on a downward spiral. Chapter 1, verse 3, he went down to Joppa and then went down into the ship. And then verse 5, he had gone down into the belly of the ship and lain down to sleep. And Jonah's physical descent mirrors his spiritual descent. Throughout all of this ordeal, Jonah has been unwilling to cry out to God and to repent of his sin. He sinks deeper and deeper into the mire. And this downward trajectory has brought Jonah to the situation we see in chapter 1, verse 15. Jonah continues his descent, being hurled down into the depths of the sea. But what happens next? In chapter 1, verse 17, we see that God actually saves Jonah from drowning to death. The sovereign God appoints a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah remains in the belly of that fish for three days and three nights. And during Jonah's time in the belly of the fish, he composes a prayer to the Lord. Jonah composes a thanksgiving prayer for the salvation he has received from the Lord. And in this prayer, Jonah recounts his experience while he was drowning. So you see what the author of the book of Jonah is doing here. The narrative has taken us forward in time to Jonah's praying from the belly of the fish. But then as we begin to read Jonah's prayer, he tells us about his experience. We go backward in time. We go back to Jonah's desperate situation as he's drowning in the sea. And then his experience of God's salvation. Now this morning we're gonna focus on the first half of Jonah's prayer, verses one through six. And then next Lord's Day we will focus mainly on the second half, verses six through 10. As we begin to look at Jonah's prayer in chapter 2, I want us to consider this one thing. Look at the action of the narrative. It's been going on and on. Stuff has been happening throughout the entire first chapter. It just moves on and on. But then what happens in chapter 2? Jonah prays. This prayer brings the action in the narrative to a pause. So what does that tell us? What is the narrator doing here? by pausing the action. Well, he's putting the reader's focus on reflecting on what Jonah has experienced. It's a backward reflection now. Time's not moving on. Jonah is reflecting on his experience. So that gives us time to consider what all of this might mean. Gives us a chance to catch our breath, and it also gives us a window into Jonah's mind to see how he is interpreting these events. But it also provides us, as prayer does, it provides us New Testament Christians with a chance to think about how this scripture relates to us and to our Lord Jesus Christ. So we will be doing that today. We'll be looking at how this relates to Christ. And I'm sure your catechism reading has already gotten you thinking in that direction. So even as we work through this text, you'll probably be able to draw out a lot of these implications yourself. Let's begin by taking a look at verse two. What's the first thing that Jonah says? I called out. I called out. Now does that phrase sound at all familiar to you based on what we've seen? Let's look back at chapter one. Chapter one, verse two, what was Jonah initially commanded to do? Well, he was commanded to call out, to call out against Nineveh. Now look down at verse six in chapter one. What did the pagan captain tell Jonah to do? Call out, call out to your God. Verse 14, what did the sailors finally do in verse 14? They called out to the Lord. And yet Jonah doesn't call out to the Lord until he is literally drowning in the sea. You can feel the irony here, right? All this time Jonah has ignored God. It's like he's got earplugs on. I'm not listening, God. I can't hear a storm outside. I'm just going to take a nap in here. And going forward again to Jonah's prayer in chapter 2 now, what is it? What is it that Jonah expects God to do now? What is it that Jonah expects God to do for him? Jonah expects God to do for him the very thing that Jonah refused to do for God all this time. Jonah expects God to listen to him. I cried out to the Lord, I want Him to listen to me. Yet all this time, Jonah has ignored God. Jonah has refused to listen to God. It's only when Jonah's own life is in danger that Jonah actually turns to the Lord in prayer. Now, yes, it's good that Jonah finally calls out to God, but it's just amazing how long it takes him to finally get there, isn't it? What's with this guy? We've seen God pursue Jonah persistently. How could Jonah be so stubborn that he comes this close to dying before he will call out to the Lord? Well, congregation, That's how the sinful heart works. And I think each of us knows the truth of that more than we would wish. Jonah will not cry out to the Lord until, as we see in verse 2, he becomes distressed at finding himself in the belly of Sheol, at the threshold of death. That's what it takes before Jonah really comprehends the danger that he is in. And he's impelled to cry out to God for help. What is it that brings Jonah to this place of distress? Take a look at verse 3. Verse 3 of chapter 2. Jonah takes us back in time here to what brought him to call out to God. For you cast me into the deep. Now this is a different Hebrew word than the word hurled, which we saw throughout chapter 1, but it still gives us the same idea. See, Jonah understands. Jonah sees now that it ultimately wasn't the sailors who hurled them into the sea, but God was behind the sailors' actions. When Jonah told the sailors, throw me into the sea, they didn't do it until God forced them to. We saw that in chapter one with the word connection between God hurling the storm, verse four, right? God hurls the storm which leads to the sailors hurling Jonah overboard in verse 15. So God is really the one behind all this. God is the one who is connected with the hurling of Jonah into the sea. And Jonah gets that now. And look at how Jonah paints this vivid word picture of his descent into the depths in verse 3. Jonah is cast into the sea. He finds himself in a place where the surface currents are surrounding him. That word surrounded in verse 3 suggests the idea of bondage. There's nowhere for Jonah to run. He's at the mercy of the sea. He's at the mercy of God, ultimately, but he's on the sea. There's nowhere to go. The breakers are crashing down on Jonah as he's been thrown into the water. And the waters roll across the surface of the sea, pressing him down. And it seems it's at this time that Jonah finally begins to understand. Look at verse 4. Then I said, I am driven away from your sight. It's here that Jonah realizes he's gotten precisely what he thought he wanted. I'm driven away from your sight. I'm driven away from your presence. Look back at chapter 1, verse 3. What was Jonah's intention? What was he trying to do all this time? Why did he flee to Tarshish? Because he wanted to get away from the presence of the Lord. And just so we don't miss it, that phrase appears in verse 3 not once, but twice. That was Jonah's intention. So you see what's happened. God has given Jonah precisely what he thought he wanted. But when Jonah actually faces the reality of what it means to be away from the presence of the Lord, and when he experiences the judgment of the Lord, when he sees that that's what it means to be away from the presence of the Lord, Jonah quickly changes his mind. What does he say in the second half of verse four? Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. So Jonah feels that he has been cast out of the presence of God. He's been cast out of God's temple, so to speak. He comes to his senses now, or God brings him to his senses, and he realizes this is not really what I wanted after all. So he expresses this hopeful desire that he might once again look upon the place that symbolizes the presence of the Lord, the temple. You see, beloved, this statement shows that Jonah's desire has changed. Whereas before he'd wanted to escape from the Lord's presence, now he desires to return. to the Lord's presence. And the focus on the temple is important because of what is described in 1 Kings 8.48-51. You can write that down and look at it later. 1 Kings 8.48-51. That passage explains that when God's people have been brought out of the land of Israel and when they've sinned in a foreign land, they need to repent by turning toward the land and God's temple. And they should pray to the Lord so that God might have compassion and forgive them. So what Jonah says in verse 4 about the temple, this isn't really an expression of his assurance that he'll see the temple again. Yeah, I'm going to look on the Lord's temple again. No, it's a commitment to approach God's presence in prayer. He's turning to the temple to beseech God to save him. So this is the turning point for Jonah. This is when Jonah stops running. This is when Jonah calls out to the Lord from his distress. He directs his cry for help to the Lord in his holy temple. Salvation doesn't come immediately for Jonah, does it? God changes Jonah's heart, and God changes Jonah's desire in verse 4, but in verse 5, Jonah's life is still hanging in the balance. The waters are still closing in on him, and it's not just the surface waters anymore. He's been sinking down. Jonah has been sinking down deeper and deeper, and the waters have closed over him. They're above him now. He's not only being tossed by the surface breakers, but he's sunk down into the depths. We've got this vivid imagery. Weeds have wrapped themselves around his head. Now, what is that? That's kind of a strange image, isn't it? The seaweed. I mean, it's kind of creepy, but it's also symbolic. That vivid imagery suggests the idea that Jonah is descending to the grave. The weeds wrapped around his head are like grave clothes, as he's being buried in a tomb. Jonah is at death's door. Based on the Hebrew, I'd translate verse 6 a little differently than the ESV. I went down to the roots of the mountains, to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. So he's saying, I went down to the roots of the mountains, And then he describes what the root of the mountains are, the land whose bars closed upon me forever. He's sunk down all the way to the seafloor, right? That's kind of the imagery of the roots of the mountains. He's all the way at the bottom of the ocean. And he further describes that, that bottom of the ocean, that grave, as the land whose bars closed upon me forever, like a prison, right? Jonah has descended to the utter depths of bondage. He feels as though he's been imprisoned, sealed up in a grave from which he has no hope of escape. Jonah has finally hit rock bottom. He can descend no further. And it's at this point that we should take note of the fact that throughout this prayer, Jonah has been drawing heavily on the language of the Hebrew Psalter. You probably could tell that as we sang those Psalms this morning. You probably recognize a lot of the imagery that we see in Jonah chapter 2 from those Psalms. So Jonah's been drawing his expressions from Scripture, from the Psalms, in verses 2, 3, 4, and in the first half of verse 5. But once we get to the second half of verse 5 and the beginning of verse 6, Jonah suddenly stops using those familiar expressions from the Psalter. These aren't recognizable lines. These are new. These are unfamiliar. So why does he suddenly stop using the familiar language? Why doesn't he continue to draw from that rich emotional imagery of the Psalter? It seems to me that the answer is that at this point where he has descended into the depths, where weeds are wrapped around his head, where he's at death's door, Jonah has descended farther than ever before. His experience of drowning, his experience of being on the verge of death, of feeling completely cast out from God's presence, has taken him beyond what he sees as possible to express using the language of the Psalter. It seems to paint a picture that Jonah has gone into the depths of a terrifying new world, away from the presence of the Lord, away from the comfort of that familiar imagery from the Psalms. It's something even beyond what the psalmists could describe, perhaps, because they have never been as far away from God's presence as Jonah thinks he is now. And is this also suggestive of the fact that he's not using the Hebrew Psalter? Does Jonah feel like he is a Gentile? Does he feel like he does not belong to God's people anymore? Like he does not have a right to use the Psalter? Does Jonah feel as though in the depths of the sea, at the gate of death, he's completely without hope and without God in the world as the Apostle Paul might express it? You see, God has commanded Jonah to go from the familiar land of Israel to the unfamiliar land of Nineveh. When Jonah objects, he nevertheless cannot prevent God from taking him to this unfamiliar place. In this case, to the gates of death at the bottom of the sea. And Jonah's expression, going from the familiar language of the Hebrew Psalter to the unfamiliar language is actually a reversal of what we saw happen in chapter 1. Let's think about this. What did we see in chapter 1? Let's give ourselves a reminder. What happened back in verse 5 of chapter 1? The Gentiles, the pagan sailors, they were all crying out to their pagan gods for help. But what happens by verse 14 in chapter 1? These pagan sailors, having received the word of Yahweh through Jonah, despite his unwillingness, they call out to Yahweh by name. They recognize his sovereignty. And in verse 16, they respond to the Lord's salvation as an Israelite might. with great fear for Yahweh and sacrifices and vows. So do you see the contrast? In chapter one, God places expressions that would be familiar to Israel on the lips of aliens and strangers. But in chapter two, Expressions that were not previously used to describe Israel's experience. Expressions that were unfamiliar to Israel are now on the lips of Jonah. Whereas it seems like the sailors have become my people, God's people to Yahweh. Jonah, on the other hand, has become like a Gentile. Jonah has become like one who is called not my people by God. There's something else we need to notice about the language that is used in Jonah's prayer. A lot of the vocabulary that Jonah used here reflects the vocabulary used somewhere else in scripture. Back in Exodus 15, actually. It reflects the vocabulary from the Song of Moses there, which praises God's deliverance from the Egyptians. So let's actually turn to Exodus chapter 15. Keep your finger in Jonah, but turn back in your Bible to Exodus chapter 15. Exodus 15, it's on page 57 of this Bible. Now, there are actually 19 key words that are common to both Jonah's prayer and this song. So that pretty much makes a really strong case that Jonah is intentionally alluding back to this song. We don't have time to consider all 19 of those words, but we'll consider a few of the most poignant ones. In this case, the similarity in vocabulary between these two songs serves to emphasize the contrast in theme. So first, look at Exodus 15, verse 4. Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Reed Sea. Now the irony in this statement is pretty remarkable. In Exodus, Moses is praising the Lord for casting the cursed Egyptians into the sea. Whereas in Jonah, it's the Israelite prophet whom the Lord has cast into the sea. But look at the end of this verse. There's another word connection here that's really interesting. The word translated red in Red Sea is actually the word reed. And that word reed appears in Jonah 2.5 when Jonah says, literally, reeds were wrapped around my head. It's not weeds, it's reeds. Reeds were wrapped around my head. So this imagery from the Reed Sea, what did it serve to depict? How would Israel think of the Reed Sea when they heard that word? Well, it would take them back to their deliverance from the Egyptians. They had been delivered through the waters by the Lord. And then their enemies were crushed behind them. But it takes on quite a different meaning for Jonah, doesn't it? Jonah comes quite literally face to face with the reeds in the same way the drowning Egyptians did. The reeds became the Egyptians' grave clothes. The reeds become Jonah's grave clothes. Jonah has become like a cursed Egyptian. Now look at Exodus 15 verse 17. 15, 17, you will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, oh Lord, which you have made for your abode. So after the Exodus, what happened? The people of God are brought to God's mountain, right? They're brought to his dwelling place where he speaks to them. But what happens in Jonah's experience that involves a mountain? Turn back to Jonah, Jonah 2.6. Jonah 2, 6. So Jonah does not go up to the mountain of the Lord, does he? Jonah doesn't go up to commune with Him in His presence. Instead, Jonah goes down to the roots of the mountains, away from the presence of the Lord. He's at the opposite extreme. Again, you see how Jonah is painting the picture that he's become like one who is cursed. He's become like one who cannot ascend to the mountain of the Lord, to commune with the Lord. He's away from the presence of the Lord, down in the depths of the ocean, at the roots of the mountains, down in the place that symbolizes death. Now there's one more thing we can consider here in light of the Exodus. In the Exodus, where was God going to, what was he going to do with his people? What was the end plan? Where was God taking his people? To the promised land, right? God was taking them to the land of Canaan, and he would dispossess the inhabitants of Canaan, the wicked inhabitants of Canaan, and he would bring his people into that land. And Canaan was to be a land of liberty and prosperity and safety, where the Lord is present, where his temple is. But to what land does Jonah's rebellion bring him? Does Jonah go to the promised land? No. Jonah goes to a place which he calls here, the land whose bars closed upon me forever. It doesn't really sound like the place you would like to take residence in, does it? It doesn't really sound like a nice place. It sounds more like bondage, like the bondage that Israel faced in Egypt, like a prison. Except it's even worse than Egypt. Why? Because of the added intensity there of the word forever. There's no escape from this land. So what we've seen in the imagery of Jonah's prayer and in the contrast with Exodus 15 is a reversal motif of the Exodus. Jonah's experience here in the sea, it's the antithesis of the Exodus. The Exodus brought God's people out of bondage. It brought judgment on God's enemies. But Jonah's rebellion, it reverses that. It brings him right back into bondage. It brings him into judgment. It's like the exodus was reversed or undone for Jonah, or at least that's how he feels. That's how he expresses his feelings as he is drowning. Jonah's getting a taste of what sin really is, right? It's not liberty. It's not freedom. It's bondage and death. And that's precisely what sin deserves as well. Sin deserves an eternal bondage and an eternal death. That's where Jonah was headed if he continued, if he did not repent. That's where all sinners are headed. That's what all sinners deserve. An eternal hell. An everlasting punishment. Away from the benevolent presence of the Lord. You see, Jonah may have had this misconception that because he was one of God's people, or because he was born in the church, because he was an important prophet of the Lord, that he was somehow exempt from the requirement of obedience to God. Like he could get away with anything. Like he doesn't have to repent. He doesn't have to listen to God. And where did this attitude lead Jonah? It led him right to the brink of death. He was so numb, so callous. He was completely unrepentant. Just ignore the problem and everything's alright. Right? How many of us do that? How many of us are sitting in church this morning doing the very same thing as Jonah? How many of us are ignoring the problem of sin in our lives? If that's you this morning, Repent. Turn to God's grace. You can't keep living like that. You can't keep brushing the problem under the door as if it doesn't exist. You know, it's one thing if you're struggling hard with something and you're really fighting against it and you're just having a hard time. God is gracious. God is patient. But it's something different if you have come to the point where you just don't care anymore. Don't wait. There's an urgency here. We can see it in Jonah's story. Jonah is dying. He needs help now. Cry out to Jesus. Call out for his grace. Deal with your sin. Talk to God. Talk with an elder. Talk to me. That's why we're here. Don't wait. Do it today. May the sovereign God open all of our hearts to the means of grace that He has provided for us. Yes, He is going to work out our salvation, and He uses means to do that. He gives us His Word. He gives us the preaching of His Word. May God's Word this morning move us to repent of our sin, to turn to Him, to trust in Him for salvation, because He will give it. See, even in today's Scripture, which seems So much like a downer, so focused on sin, so focused on what we deserve, the death that we deserve, the misery that we deserve, the pain we deserve, the hell that we deserve. We see the Gospel of God's grace. The Gospel of God's grace shines forth to us. You see, God is gracious to show Jonah just what he's doing to himself. God is gracious to discipline him, to show him that he doesn't really want to be away from the presence of the Lord. God is gracious to change his mind. God's working out Jonah's salvation so that Jonah will persevere in the faith as all the saints will. You see, God's rebuke of Jonah hurts. It's painful. But pain is a good thing because it tells you that something is wrong. God's discipline may feel harsh to you, beloved. But God's discipline is not nearly so harsh as the hellish punishment that Jonah and we actually deserve. There's no doubt Jonah has it rough here. Jonah has taken on the characteristics of an enemy of God. He's been cast into the heart of the seas like a cursed Egyptian. He's been driven away from God's sight. He's become like a Gentile, like one without hope and without God in the world. What a feeling must have settled over Jonah's heart, a feeling that God had utterly forsaken him. To be forsaken by God is what Jonah deserves though. To be forsaken by God is what we deserve. Each and every one of us hearing this message today, we deserve to be cast into the fires of hell. We deserve to suffer unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul. And not only for a moment, not only for a day, not for a year, not even for a lifetime. Eternal damnation in hell. Eternal agony, everlasting pain and never-ending suffering away from the presence of the Lord. That is what our sin deserves. And we deserve this because we sin so grievously against an infinitely holy and righteous God. My littlest, least offensive sin deserves eternal punishment because it is committed against the infinite holiness of a perfect God. And if that doesn't seem fair to me, it's because the sin has corrupted my understanding. It's because sin has distorted my understanding of what is right and of how holy and good God is. I know it's unpopular to talk this way. We don't hear it in church that often. Fire and brimstone. It's not a popular way to preach. But church, we must not forget about the hell we deserve. Because the moment we forget about the wrath we deserve is the very moment that we forget why Jesus died on the cross. See, as hard as Jonah had it, as horrible as he felt, Jonah didn't even come close to experiencing the suffering that Christ bore for us. Jonah's feeling of forsakenness by God was but a faint picture. It was but a faint picture of the hell that Jesus experienced on the cross for us. and for our salvation. Whoever felt more forsaken than Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity who was with God forever, who was in perfect fellowship, perfect Trinitarian fellowship, perfect love, the bond of love forever. Whoever felt more forsaken than Jesus, who having been in this Trinitarian relationship from eternity, yet in the flesh, the Son of Man, experienced God's wrath for us. Can you imagine? Can you imagine what Jesus was experiencing when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus was cast into the deep, into the heart of the seas. The flood of God's wrath surrounded him and all the waves and billows of God passed over him. The waters closed over Jesus. to take his life. The deep surrounded him. Grave clothes were wrapped around his head as his body was put in the tomb carved in the rock. And the stone rolled in the entrance, closed the tomb. Seemed as though the light of the world had been swallowed up by the darkness. Jesus' death, though, was not for himself. He is the perfect Son of God who completely did all the Father's will. He never deserved to be cast out of the Father's benevolent presence. Jesus is the sinless Son of God who never did anything worthy of punishment. And Jesus, He is superior to us in every way, superior to the angels. And yet, how did He treat us? Did He treat us with the condescending attitude of Jonah toward the Gentiles? How did Christ treat us while we were still His enemies, while we all desired just to spit in His face, not to embrace Him? We didn't want Him. We rejected Him. We spurned Him. And what did He do? How did Christ treat us then? He loved us. He bore the curse for us. He felt the alienation of those who are cast away from the presence of the Lord's goodness. Jesus suffered outside the gate, outside the camp. He bore our reproach. Jesus, the true Israel of God, the only truly faithful servant of the Lord, was reckoned as not my people so that in him we can be called by God my people. Because Jesus was cast out of God's presence in our place, we are no longer separated from God's presence. Instead, we have full access to the Father in Christ. How can we know this? How can we know that Jesus has accomplished this for us? Well, as we can see if we look at verse six, God saved Jonah. God brought Jonah's life up from the pit by his miraculous intervention, by sending a great fish to swallow him and carry him back to the dry land, to set him back on the right path. But God works an even greater miracle with Jesus. Jonah had not actually died yet. Jonah hadn't died when God rescued him by way of the fish, but Jesus actually did die on the cross. Jesus was dead. Jesus was buried in the tomb. And yet Jesus' descent to death provides, Jonah's descent to death, to death, not real death, but Jonah's symbolic descent to death provides a picture for what Jesus did. In Matthew 12, verse 40, Jesus said, for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And after those three days, God raised Jesus from the dead, just as Jesus had promised. God's miraculous salvation of Jonah, that's amazing. It's amazing how God brings Jonah's life up from the pit, right? God does something far greater in Jesus Christ. Jesus' death and resurrection bring up our lives from the pit. See, we were sinking down. We were sinking down beneath God's righteous frown. We were sinking down to death, even as Jonah sank down to the pit. But Christ laid aside his crown for my soul. The eternal God came down, condescended to become a man, to take on human flesh, to bear the wrath of God in my stead. He died for my life. He died for your life. He died. and was raised for the life of all those who trust in him. So if we are in Christ, we can say with Jonah, and yet with a far deeper understanding of God's salvation than Jonah had, what he says in verse six, yes, you have brought up my life from the pit, oh Lord, my God. For we have been raised up with Christ by faith. His death is our death. His resurrection is our resurrection. We who should be cast out of God's presence, who deserve only to be away from the presence of the Lord. Instead, we've been raised up into God's presence in the heavenly places with Christ. What a great salvation. Amen. Now back to Jonah.