[8:00 a.m.] Something Greater Than Jonah Is Here (Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:38-41)

And now would you remain standing for the reading of

God's word In some ways this verse probably doesn't need much

introduction to us. But if you're just joining us

for the first time, we've been studying the book of Jonah, I

believe come to probably the most well known verse of the

story and what he is known for. And so we had that from Jonah

117, but also a reading from the New Testament that helps us make

sense of what it is that we're reading from Jesus's eyes.

From Matthew 12, verses 38 through 41.

Matthew 12:38–41

Jonah 117 And the ward appointed a great fish to swallow up

Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and

three nights. Then Matthew 12, starting at

verse 38. Then some of the scribes and

Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign

from you, But he answered them. An evil and adulterous

generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it

except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For just as Jonah was 3 days and three nights in the belly of the

great fish, so will the Son of Man be 3 days and three nights

in the hearts of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up

at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for

they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, something

greater than Jonah is here. This is the word of the Lord be

to God. You may be seated.

The title of the sermon that Paul gave.

It was something greater than Jonah is here.

There's obviously greatness talked about in terms of Jesus's

words to the scribes and the Pharisees, but what we say makes

a prophet great or not. What would we even say is a

prophet? We call Jonah a prophet and we

read of his story. We have the the famous vision of

this great fish that swallowed him up.

But what does it mean when we would call Jonah or Jesus a

prophet? I looked up the definition in in

common language in Merriam Webster's and there was about 5

different definitions for a profit.

As you can imagine. Somewhat we would actually agree

with. One who utters divinely inspired

revelations 1 gifted with more than ordinary spiritual or moral

insights. Now this is one that we might,

may, or may not agree with in terms of how it's used in common

language. One who foretells future events.

An effective or leading spokesman for a cause, doctrine,

or group. Lastly, A diviner, A forecaster.

These are some of the common definitions of the word for

profit. But I would say if we think

about the prophet's greatness, we might even say it comes from

maybe the accuracy of their divine revelation.

So if they're supposed to prophesize something in the

future, how accurate is their prophetic words?

Maybe even on a more modern, secular level, we would say a

prophet is most successful. He can actually discern the

heart of his followers. How much does he know about them

that you would provide the insight that they need to move

forward the way that they would feel?

Most known prophets today, I think, are celebrated for their

ability to connect to the heart, how they speak truth and how

winsomely they speak. Sort of worldly profits would

probably be what we would say for many people come from their

favorite songs. It might be their favorite

politicians, it might even be from the lifestyles of the

famous people that they deemed have had it all.

So then therefore, they can sort of speak to whatever other area

of life in a prophetic way. Now, as the Church, we would not

say all of these things are prophecy, but we have to also

recognize that on a personal level, sometimes we allow things

to speak to our hearts to give us hope that we're never meant

to do so. And what all of these things

have in common is a belief that whatever the prophet of the day

is speaking to, whatever is speaking to the heart, will

actually save the people that they are speaking to, right?

That's the kind of the common humanity around it.

We're seeking for something to save us, whether it's the

comfort, the acceptance, the approval.

The prophet is trying to tell the people that these things

that bring them pain, these other things will bring them

life. Let's go back to Jonah and his

greatness. He was called to be a prophet of

the Lord. He was raised up.

We're to get to assume in his earlier days as a prophet, as a

student of the word, he was successful, he was faithful.

But what is he most known for today?

Verse 17, He was the word appointed a great fish to

swallow him up. And then later on we hear Jesus

referring to Jonah and Jesus and Jonah, both of them have a

message of salvation for US. One in his failure and that he

was trying to save himself from helping the people that needed

the help the most. He was actually angry that they

would be saved. So in a lot of ways, Jonah, in

all terms of the definition, is not a great prophet.

He doesn't want the people that God is sending him to to be

saved. He's worried that if he goes and

speaks the message that he sent to speak, it's going to go well,

that they will actually repent. So he runs the other direction.

Our Shorter Catechism for the Westminster Profession of Faith

actually ask the questions. Question 24.

How does Christ execute the office of prophet?

Jesus is a prophet. Christ executes the office of a

prophet. This is the answer in revealing

to us by his word and Spirit the will of God for our salvation.

And Jesus is actually telling us today that what Jonah did points

to this will of God for our salvation, and he's saying it to

describes and Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders of the

day. So as we examine this thought of

greatness and what does it mean for Jesus to be greater, I want

us to examine it in three sections.

First, great. Great is the mercy of the Lord

for next greater Jesus, being greater than Jonah and 3rd

greatest, the greatest salvation for us all.

Great Jonah has received something great from God.

While you might never call Jonah a great prophet in the sense of

how he lived his life, what is great about him is how he shows

us the mercy of God. Interesting that I say the word

mercy of God because this is coming at the moment of judgment

for Jonah. He had rebelled against God.

He refused to pass on mercy unto others.

And so God brings us to this moment of the swallowing of the

great fish. But I would say this is God's

great judgment for Jonah, but at the same time it's his great

mercy united together. And so then you kind of come to

this question of the, the great fish.

Many people, I think even in many children's lessons is

called a whale. The actual language itself is

just a simple sea creature. God, God, this term God GAD in

the, the, the English literate alliteration of the Hebrew word.

It's probably just a great sea feature.

So we're not really thinking of the fish section at the pet

store, not something like that, but just some sort of sea

creature, which is why, and many times people have kind of said

it must have been a whale, some mysterious creature like that.

A lot of people say it's perhaps a sperm whale or a baleen whale.

I spent some time this week Googling these types of sea

creatures to see what they're like.

They're about 60 to 100 feet in in length.

Perhaps these whales and many of you will remember the the famous

story Moby Dick that was actually inspired by the Bible.

Herman Melville was inspired by by the Bible to write this story

of a a whale who initially bit off Captain Ahab's leg.

And this is great sea journey of how the these this captain and

this whale battled against one another.

So there he was taking to mind and taking at God's word that it

was actually possible for a whale to swallow up a man.

But perhaps the most important thing about this sea creature is

that God chose it. We'll get to that in a second.

But God chose the creature and perhaps even a miraculous

indefinitely, a miraculous way to show us what he was doing in

this great judgment and great mercy for the prophet Jonah.

The word appointed is used here. God appointed a great fish.

This is the first of four times that that word appointed will be

used in the book of Jonah. All four times that indicates

either a judgment or a mercy that God has appointed towards

Jonah. 3 judgments, one mercy, the fish here right now.

The rest come in chapter 4. There's the plant that got

appoints to provide shade for Jonah.

There's a worm that he then appoints to provide judgment on

the plant that he appointed for Jonah.

And then eventually there's a wind that God appoints to cause

discomfort and to rouse up Jonah's soul Again.

I think this word appointed helps us to address what many

have said is a scientific difficulty of accepting this

story. Some people have, obviously

you've probably heard some sort of exception to this fact that

this could have actually happened.

How could it be that a fish would swallow up a man?

He would stay alive, stay in the belly for three days, three

nights, and then be words from the English Bible vomited up

later. It's the Lord's appointment that

makes it possible. It can involve the suspension of

the natural laws of the universe that the God himself has

created. God created the universe, he

sustains it, but by his divine grace, his divine Providence, he

has caused this creature to be able to eat a man, keep him

whole. So we might be asking ourselves,

yes, could the could this common Sunday school story, could this

really have happened? I would probably say without the

appointment of the Lord, no, it couldn't happen.

But God, because his Word tells us it did, and because we know

throughout the story of God's people that He has brought about

supernatural power to mark particular events in salvation

history that I can say with confidence that this really did

happen because the Lord's appointment.

Do we know exactly how all the details?

No Could have been a special sea creature of some kind that God

created for this special moment with a special kind of toothless

mouth and a giant stomach perhaps could have been just in

God's Providence a normal part of creation that he allowed for

a miraculous event to happen between the the whale and Jonah.

I probably more lean in that direction yes, but God's word

doesn't tell us it simply tells us the Lord appointed by his

Providence. There's something that he's

trying to tell us through this miracle.

He God wanted the the readers, He wanted those who would hear

this story to notice something about the life of Jonah and also

the bigger picture for God's people in general in the life of

Jonah. This event was meant to mark

God's mercy for a wayward prophet.

Jonah could have been hurled into the sea.

His punishment served, his death recorded.

But in the belly of the fish, Jonah both received a just

punishment for his disobedience and the mercy of God to hold him

for three days in the fish before he would come hurling

out. I think what God is trying to

tell us of His great mercy, His great judgement, has to do with

what we could learn from the life of Jonah, and perhaps is

what he's teaching us regarding prejudice, thinking that some

group of people based on being outside of a preferred group are

not worthy of God's grace and forgiveness.

See, behind that lie is a belief that we've actually done

something in ourselves by being a part of a certain group where

we have earned God's forgiveness.

That's we are somehow better than another group of people

rather than our quality as men and women around the world who

need the grace and mercy of God in all moments.

So at that heart, I would love to read for you a parable from

further on, the Gospel, Gospel of Matthew from chapter 20,

verses one through 16. You can turn to your Bibles

there if you'd like. I'll read all 16 verses over us

and tell you another parable of the Kingdom from verse 1,

chapter 20. For the Kingdom of heaven is

like a master of his house. He went out early in the morning

to hire laborers for his vineyard.

After agreeing with the laborers for denarius today, he sent them

into his vineyard and going out about the third hour, he saw

others standing idle in the marketplace about the third

hour. And and to them he said, you go

into the vineyard too. And whatever is right, I will

give you. So later on the day they went

going out again. About the 6th hour and 9th hour

he did the same. And about the 11th hour he went

out and found others standing. And he said to them, Why do you

stand here idle all day? They said to him, because no one

has hired us. He said to them, you go into the

vineyard too. And when evening came, the owner

of the vineyard, owner of the vineyard, said to his foreman,

call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the

last up to the 1st. And when those hired about the

11th hour came, each of them received a denarius.

Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive

more, but each of them also received a denarius.

And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the

house, saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made

them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the

scorching heat. But he replied to one of them.

Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me?

For a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go.

I chose to give to this last worker as I give to you.

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

Or do you begrudge my generosity?

So the last will be 1st and the 1st last.

This is the word of the Lord, you see, for many in cultural

Christianity. And I was speaking with Pastor

Paul about this earlier in the week as we were both preparing

these messages for you all. And he said for many Paul

growing up here in Texas, it was really helpful for me to to talk

with him. And he actually said for many,

it's far easier to believe in the miracle of the resurrection

than it is to believe in the miracle of Jonah.

The scientific facts of that this fish and how it could eat a

man, how it could swallow it up, how it could encase a man and

feel him swallowed up. As Pastor Rucker's prayer showed

us, this idea of being encroached in all the way that

the world is crumbling around you all shown to the miracle of

the fish. This would be far more difficult

to believe than in something like the resurrection.

And I would say that the if that is the case, the resurrection

has become far too normalized for you.

The resurrection should cause us to marvel, and as Jesus's words

told us from the Gospel of Matthew, it is greater than the

sign of Jonah. The resurrection should cause us

a greater sense of wonder and a greater sense of what we've been

saved from. In this amazing yet more simple

story of Jonah being eaten by a whale, Tim Teller puts it pretty

simply in his book Prodigal Prophet.

Jonah mistrusted the goodness of God, but he didn't know about

the cross. What is our excuse?

Greater. We have received something

greater from Jesus. What makes Jesus greater than

Jonah is His divinity married with His humanity.

I started to list the ways in which Jonah was our Jesus was

greater than Jonah. Jonah hated the Ninevites.

He hated them so much he could not handle them repenting.

Jesus loved those who hated Him. He desired for all of them to

repent and believe in Him. Jonah ran away from the presence

of God. He was both foolish to believe

that this was even possible and then ran away from where God

wanted him to go. Jesus was appointed himself by

God to leave the fellowship of of the Trinity by becoming a

servant being born in the likeness of man, but also lives

as the Son of God on earth in full dependence on God.

Living his life in the flesh by the Spirit, Jonah resisted

talking to the Pagan sailors even when they showed their own

fear of the Lord. Jesus spoke with those who hated

him to reveal the will of the Lord for the salvation of the

repentance. Jonah sort of even hurled

himself into the sea. I know it was a sailors that

threw him there, but it was a resound.

He was resigned to do so. It was the last ditch efforts,

probably because of shame, desire to give up rather than at

a heart of sacrifice, a heart of repentance.

But Jesus gives himself up willingly out of love and

compassion for those who would follow him.

Jonah was appointed a fish to swallow him because of his own

sins. He was cast down as a

punishment. Jesus was tempted in every way

that we are. He was tempted as every way that

we are, like Jonah, yet was without sin.

He was cast down by his own will and for the punishment of our

own sins. Jonah only came near to death in

the water, at least as the text reads it.

That's we don't really get any details of like whether he

actually died in the belly or not, but I'm going to say it was

near death in the water. Jesus actually died a death that

was infamously known for its pain and torture, came under the

full weight of sin and punishment as his descent was

down to hell, taking on the eternal separation from God that

our sins deserved. Maintaining God's justice.

Jonah maintained God's justice by saying that Ninevites were

not deserving of his mercy. That was his form of justice,

right? He said.

They weren't. They weren't deserved together.

That was Jonah's justice right there on display.

Jesus maintains God's justice, offering himself as a merciful

sacrifice. Jesus is far greater than the

sign of Jonah. Now the greatest.

When we think about what Jesus's words tell to us in Matthew 12,

he talks kind of about about the the sons of Nineveh being risen

up in judgment. Because what he's actually

saying the greatest while he's there and he's great is actually

yet to come. The greatest is the fact that

all peoples will be united together in Christ.

All those who claim that they need Jesus, that his death and

resurrection brings about the glory of the nation's coming

together, that is the sign of the greatest prophet of all

time, whose glory will be unmatched, whose glory we can

only begin to fathom now because he's actually rescued us in this

moment. So whatever moment that you feel

God's glory rising up in you and worship, that is just a small

picture of what's to come as all tribes, tongues and nations will

be gathered before the throne in glory.

And so as I close and begin to look to the table, we think

about our eternity, our eternal, our eternal security bought to

us by the Son of God. It brings us back to the

beginning, the mystery of Providence, that our new states

as those who are reminded of the greater Jonah.

It's meant to remind us that we have been sent just as Jesus was

sent to preach the good news to the lost.

Our Sabbath rests today being a foretaste of our eternity,

sealed to us by God. It's meant to equip us for

mission throughout the week, remembering that we are living

and praying for the Kingdom that is now.

But it's fullness is not yet. The fullness of the nations is

not yet. And I was reminded of a quote

from Randy Alcorn that I'll I'll close us with before I pray.

And yes, the pressures of us as Christians are many.

Our sufferings are legitimate. If you're feeling that right

now, want you to know it is legitimate.

But as we think about the difference between Jonah and

Jesus, for Christians, those who have been bought by Christ, this

present life and all of its sufferings, this is the closest

to hell that we will ever get. It's the closest that we'll ever

get to the belly of the fish. For unbelievers, this is the

closest they will ever get to those tastes of glory on this

earth. Let us pray God, as we think

about the prophet Jonah and how you have given us this

miraculous sign of the great fish appointed to swallow him up

as a foretaste, as a pointing to what Jesus was about was going

to do on the cross. We ask you to show us what you

would have from us, from your word today.

I pray as my brothers and sisters contemplate your word

for them. You Holy Spirit, would speak to

them with the words that need to linger.

Linger by the power of the Holy Spirit and those that need to be

forgotten. Would they be forgotten by the

power of the Holy Spirit leading them to what you would have for

them this day? Would you prepare us as we as we

remember again your great promises for us around your

table? In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.