Jonah 1:13 - Human Effort

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.


Often when we re-read the Bible we see something new in a particlar verse or passage that we never saw before. It was only after I had put together the Sunday School Lesson and upon re-reading the text that I saw the following...

Recall the command of God to throw Jonah overboard so that the storm would be assuaged. This was seen as a type and shadow of the sacrifce of the Lord Jesus Christ for our sin. It was a sacrifice in which we as sinners needed to "participate" by owning the necessity of it. In the Old Testament, the one bringing the animal had to lay his hand upon the head of the offering. It was matter of personalizing the need for the sacrifice. It was connection, ownership - confession that this particular death was brought about on account of the personal sin of the offerer.

But see in the sailors how the human mind works. God has said they must "sacrifice" Jonah. They sought the solution and it was presented to them in all of its stark reality. Someone must die that they might be saved. Yet their human sense of honour chafed against this. And they would rather row against the storm than accede to God's means.

This rowing is symptomatic and typical of the way human beings want to be saved. If they can row then they can save themselves. If they can row against the tempest of God's wrath then they can avoid having to come to God's appointed means. If they can bring themselves to shore and safety by dint of human effort they will be secure. In so doing they can also avoid admitting their own inadequacy and they can avoid the reponsibility of participation in the sacrifice that saves them. Neither God's love nor His holiness will permit this.

All this human effort can be exerted with outwardly good motives. It can seem so upright to ply the oars of human ability rather than to admit not only the need, but the heartfelt desire that the Son of Man die for our deliverance. We hide behind that bastion of human pride that thinks itself too good to partake in the murder of God - not realizing that we participate anyway - whether willingly or not.

Yet if willingly then we are brought to the humility of the admission of both our depravity and our need. We are humbled by our sin and overawed by God's love, mercy and grace. Many a sinner never ceases to row and is ultimately drowned in the storm. Yet when God sets Himself to accomplish something then He will graciously allow men to row to the point of futility and exhaustion. O that we should all not only come there, but also remain there!

In the book of Jonah, God mercifully brought the sailors to the end of their resistance by maintaining the fierceness of the storm. There is a lesson here for modern day preaching. The rocks of God's perfect and holy law, with its just and unavoidable penalties, are the peril toward which the convicting influences of God's Spirit drive sinners until they sue for peace on God's terms, and put their trust in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Preach the law and hold forth the promise of grace. Do both.