Interesting isn’t it that Jonah leaves out a little detail
in his story embedded in his prayer, “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.” That little detail is why the Lord
cast him into the deep. What saved
him? In Jonah’s telling. the catalyst
for the Lord’s actions was Jonah’s faith, “Then I said, ‘I am driven away from
your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.” He sees that there is no hope and then he
remembers the Lord and promises to pay his vow if the Lord rescues him and then
declares, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
Lo and behold, this causes the fish to spit or vomit him up on land and
indeed he sets a course for Nineveh. Jonah’s
situation was hopeless, in the belly of the fish for three days and then,
salvation. Sound familiar? In Jonah’s case it was his sin that was the
cause of his dilemma, in Jesus’ case, as we sing,
“It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection.”
The declaration, “I am the way, the truth and the life”
couldn’t be clearer could it? To us,
that is. We live after the resurrection,
after the amazing revelation that Jesus has life in Him and that life cannot be
taken away. He can lay it down but no
one can take it from Him. Whereas Jonah
was in the belly of the fish for three days because of his sin of disobedience
and his desire to see the Lord judge and destroy the Ninevites, his complete
lack of love for sinners, Jesus was in the tomb those three days because of his
love for sinners. The way to the Father
is Jesus. He is the truth about the love
of God and also the truth about sin. He is
the life of all who believe and follow. He
is our salvation from sin and death.
Now, in retrospect, Peter sees something very important, “this
Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God…” What felt like complete chaos in those hours between
the arrest of Jesus to His death on the cross were actually completely under
the control of God. Peter appeals to
David’s words of prophecy concerning one who will come whose soul will not be
abandoned to Hades, who will not see corruption. Peter says it cannot be David himself of whom
he wrote, his body is still in a tomb, corrupted by death. This one, this Jesus, who was resurrected to
life is the one of whom David wrote. The
resurrection changes everything about all that is before it and all that is
after it. The hope of the world is sure
and certain because of the resurrection of Jesus. We don’t live in a world defined and bounded
by death.
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