In The Belly of the Whale
“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.” Nahum 1 v 7/8
When Jonah was in the belly of the whale it was both a blessing and a curse.
As you will remember, God had asked Jonah to go Nineveh and tell them to repent, lest they would be destroyed. Jonah of course did the opposite – him go to Nineveh? Phew, no thank you! So, he took a ship away from the situation, as far away as possible, in fact, and he also hid himself away in the bottom of the boat – and slept.
He forgot that you cannot hide from the Almighty – Whose eyes are everywhere! And that if the Lord wishes you to do something, you will end up doing it….
So, a great storm blew up and the sailors feared for their lives. So fearful were they that they called upon all aboard to pray to their God/god to save them. Finding Jonah asleep they woke him and asked him to pray too. They drew lots on the situation, and the lot fell upon Jonah, and so he admitted to the others that he was cause of the trouble. The sailors were afraid for they feared Jonah’s God. He asked them to cast him into the sea, but initially they refused, and tried to get to the shore. However, the storm persisted so finally Jonah was cast overboard.
The Lord knew – He always does – and there was the big fish awaiting him.
Once in the whale’s belly, what was Jonah to do? He was alive, that was the blessing, but very afraid, and probably expecting a slow and painful death – a curse it would have seemed. In such a predicament, what else could he do, but turn back to the Lord God and pray.
We have reached a situation the Lord warned us of centuries ago. Whereby the enemy has gotten very high, and we have gotten very low. In fact, if you take a long hard look at our situation, it will certainly seem that all is lost. We, like friend Jonah, have suddenly found ourselves at a dead end, with no apparent way out.
Neither our churches nor our governments can help us – they are utterly lost and deluded themselves, and with the gleeful help of our enemies, are leading us merrily along the path to self-destruction.
Calamity follows us as we seek to get out of the mess we are in. Whichever way we turn there seems no way out. Our Israelite lands are being flooded with illegal immigrants and our leaders have no desire to close the door. All our assets and blessings are being given away, and we are being left high and dry. This is the way it seems, and with the growing technology in this frightful digital age, our every move is being watched and tracked, indicating that the prophesied dictatorship of “1984” has arrived. On top of that, certainly here in the UK, we are being told to prepare for war. Even a Church official tells us the Church is preparing for war! Is this to frighten us and put us into more subjection, or is there something going on we don’t know about – yet?
We remember that Our Lord told us there would be wars and rumours of war, but that the end is not yet. Or have we gone past that stage? At the moment (1st July) there is a fragile peace between Iran and the Israeli state. But will it last, and what of the desolation of Gaza, and the Russia/Ukraine war. By themselves, apart from our foolish support and supplying of weapons and money, we are not involved – at the moment! If this were to change, and we have a real-world war, where exactly would we stand?
Surely we are in the time of ‘Jacob’s trouble’. An issue of the British Israel Bible Truth Fellowship Magazine (Sept/Dec 2022), contains an article written by the late Dr Michael Bennett on the subject of Jacob’s Trouble. In it he reminded us that only Jacob could experience Jacob’s Trouble. Jacob of course being Israel. “Alas ! For that day is great, so that there is none like it: It is even the time of Jacob’s Trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” Jeremiah 30 v 7
When Jonah was on board that ship, all were in fear of their lives. But it was Jonah who was the cause. Once he had been ejected the storm ceased and we presume the ship went merrily on its way.
Inside the belly of the whale would have been very hot and acidic, and, well, not pleasant at all. So, this would have pretty soon brought Jonah to his senses. God was not going to allow him to die inside the whale. The Lord would wait – and sure enough, just like the Prodigal Son, who having been abandoned by his friends, and was forced to dwell among a herd of pigs, sanity prevailed. The Prodigal returned to his father, humbly asking for forgiveness, and Jonah turned back to Our Father God, and prayed for His help.
He did however still have to complete his mission, and the Lord God caused the big fish to vomit Jonah up – in just the right place for him to carry out his job!
Our wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ, was once asleep in the bottom of a ship, and a storm blew up. His disciples took fright and went below to awaken Jesus. He being perfect had no qualms and calmed the storm in an instant. “…Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm…” Matt 8 v 26
So this is where our hope and comfort should lie. From time to time it has looked as if something big was about to happen, but then everything fizzled out and calmed down. Amen to that, but the time will come when there will be an almighty implosion, and we as the descendants of Jacob/Israel will experience a trouble as never seen before. This may be next year, 2 years hence or many years hence. Or it could be tomorrow. We will find ourselves in a situation similar to that of Jonah in the belly of the whale. Alone, and in despair. And in repentance with a humble heart, we will call out to Our Lord, and He will deliver us. He will indeed be our only way out! “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord. And He heard me; Out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; And the floods compassed me about: All Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; Yet I will look again toward Thy Holy Temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: The depth closed me round about, The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; The earth with her bars was about me forever: Yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: And my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine Holy Temple….” (Jonah 2 v 2 – 7)
We do seem to be blindly heading towards our own destruction, and the time has come I believe, for we British Israelite believers to boldly speak out and tell our people, not only just who we really are – but that the only way out of our predicament, is Almighty God Jehovah, and His Son, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ – Who will be returning soon!
