Jonah is the story of our salvation, it is not meant to be prophetic. His book is a narrative that tells us a lot about salvation and about our walk with God but it is a story of a backslidden son in a sense one that goes away from God and then God uses him in a way brings him back but in this case, Jonah never really does come back but God uses him in a way it shows that God uses us for his will regardless of us he doesn't need our cooperation even to make us do his will. But the essence of faith is measured by obedience and Jonah finally did obey! We are vessels of God either of honor or dishonor (good or bad examples!) and we are here for his purposes, not ours God will achieve his plan for us no matter what. Jonah was saved or thought he was and was wayward, backslide, nearly apostate, and reluctant to God's will.
We find his prayer in the belly of the fish as one of salvation but it is not, he is already saved and knows it. He would even rather die than fulfill his ministry and commission and direct order! There is no prefabricated prayer of salvation (as some make his prayer out to be) in Jonah's prayer in Jonah chapter two he never prayed when he was on board the ship nor when he was called to go to Nineveh but now he seems desperate and he wants to pray while in the belly. This is not a prayer of faith or of repentance is a theological one of confession and faith where he's trying to make a point with God, for instance, he says that those who worship idols forfeit their grace when he was referring to the sailors and looking down on them thinking that he was better than them comparing themselves. He knew all the theology of salvation but he did not have his heart in the right place. He actually thought he was better than others or superior or had a holier-than-thou attitude which was repugnant to God and that's why the fish vomited up as a symbol of God's rejection of his prayer.
But God was to use Jonah despite himself just like God uses us despite ourselves and he saves us despite ourselves. No one deserves salvation! When it says "Salvation is of the Lord," it also means repentance of the Lord faith is of the Lord and regeneration of the Lord is God's work in us. It is God's work in our hearts to kindle it with faith and repentance by regeneration. God grants us repentance and changes our hearts and woos us to him we do not do this on our own we do not conjure up faith or repentance we do not catch it like we catch a cold in a crowd. Jonah did not consider himself unworthy (the prerequisite to salvation is to realize our unworthiness!) which is a primary consideration to come into God (realize you are not worthy!) He humbles himself shall be exalted he exalts himself shall be humbled. The way up is down in God's economy just as John said, "He must increase and I must decrease." God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble! (James 4:6). And Jonah did not see this and was never onboard with God throughout the whole book.
We must realize from that verse in Jonah 2:9 that the salvation of the Lord is not a cooperative venture of us and the Lord or us alone god grants salvation from first to last all by grace. It is God's work in us. Jonah in his prayers much like many of us we want revenge we want vindication we want to get even or to score we do not want repentance. Even a child that gets caught with a cookie in his hand at the cookie jar is not sorry for what he did but for the consequences and when he gets in trouble he wants revenge and does not confess wrongdoing, he doesn't want to repent and admit wrong.
Jonah is the type of person who could probably preach repentance and salvation to other people and knew all the all doctrines of salvation and soteriology but he could not apply it to himself. If he had a high opinion himself and did not realize he was backsliding from the Lord or towards apostasy. But God saved him in a way that is the whole story of us, how we cannot look down even on Jonah but let's learn from the story that we can be in the same boat as God has leveled the playing field and we have no right to feeling superior; to him the missing link is indeed repentance
I did not realize how to save myself until I found out about the missing link of repentance in my life hearing it from a Billy Graham crusade. I knew that was what was missing and what I needed to do to get restored to God because of my sin. Jonah will never get back to God until he repents regardless of what he did even preaching the sermon he must still repent to be restored to fellowship. The story reminds me of the Pharisee in Luke 18 who says I thank God that I am not a prostitute, publican, or a sinner like others but has such a superior attitude and attitude of exceptionalism and superiority that God is offended by his self-righteousness. Soli Dep Gloria!
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