Text: 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 rowed hard[b] 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 pleased 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. (Jonah 1:11-16)

Context, Context, Context: Ever the reluctant prophet, Jonah was beginning to get the picture, but not fully. When the pagans knew the ship was going down, they turned to this reluctant prophet as a go-between, a nexus, between the judgment of God and their deliverance. And what did even they do? They looked to another to save them. They “hurled [Jonah] into the sea.” And things changed. The men feared the Lord (the beginning of wisdom). Then they offered a sacrifice. In other words, salvation and deliverance came to unbelievers by way of the work of another man.

Teaching: All of Scripture is one coherent story. It’s filled with my stories but they’re all a part of one grand story of Creation>Fall>Redemption>Restoration. That’s the pattern. Unbelievers are grafted into the family of believers. But it all hinges ultimately on the One who was delivered over for others. It’s the ultimate story of sacrifice. And what do you know? This prototype Jonah would be under the waters for three days and resurrected onto dry land three days later. Sound like a precursor to the Gospel? That’s because it is. God is progressively revealing His story to redeem a people for Himself through the sacrifice of Christ.

Encouragement:  There’s a reason that we love hero stories. But hero stories always involve the sacrifice of the hero in the cause of the greater mission. And there is no greater hero story than the God-man sacrificing himself on behalf of His sheep.