The Word of God in the Holy Bible assures us of the sovereignty of God over all things. This doctrine is called the providence of God. God is the ruler. Nothing that happens is apart from His knowledge or apart from is power both in this world and in the next. To doubt the teachings of the Bible leads us to doubt God Himself.
We live in a time of questioning, skepticism and doubt. The words of the song, "the things that you are liable to read in the Bible ain't necessarily so", express this questioning attitude. Particularly, questions are raised when we come across dramatic and poignant stories in the Bible that deal with the struggle of mankind for faith. This truth is illustrated by the story of Jonah who was disobedient to God, was cast into the sea, swallowed by a great fish, was restored to life again for a second chance, and then turned back to God and served Him faithfully. It is also difficult to grasp the powerful meaning of the story of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the midst of a storm, came walking on the surface of the water to rescue his disciples.
We modern, skeptical individuals tend to take all of this as being fanciful fairy tales and, therefore, not worthy of modern acceptance. The result is that God Himself, His providential power, His love, and His goodness are removed from our lives. We are the losers for this.
The stories of the Bible are based on facts, They are based on history. But they are much more than that. They have in themselves a deep powerful, spiritual message.
I have in my library a book entitled, "Great Escapes." It tells of some twenty different occasions when individuals have managed to escape from the most difficult circumstances. One of the stories is about young Winston Churchill, who, as a war correspondent in South Africa during the Boer War, was captured by the enemy. He managed to break free and made his way alone across South Africa to safety.
Another is about young Douglas MacArthur. As a lieutenant in the United States Army he served as a scout with General Pershing in Mexico trying to catch up to Pancho Villa. He was captured, and his horse was shot. He escaped and commandeered a handcar that was sitting on a railroad siding. He made his way back across the border, pumping the handcar with one hand and firing his revolver with the other.
A third story is about a New England whaling expedition in the South Pacific in the 19th century. The whaling fisherman were out in their small boats when they came into the midst of a large school of whales. One of the small boats was capsized and one of their seamen was lost. A few days later, as they were dressing out a huge whale they had caught, the crew found an object in the whale's stomach. It was their lost companion and he was still alive.
They brought him back to New Bedford where his family decided he would never have to go to sea again. Rather, he sat on the front porch and the family charged people five cents to come and see him.
The world is filled with the most extraordinary things and many of them do speak of the power and the truth of God. What the story of Jonah is really telling is that the providence of God rules everything. The great fish in the Bible, the Leviathan as he is called, is a symbol of the awful destructive chaos beneath the surface of life. The Israelites were not a sea going people. They were terribly afraid of the sea and its storms, its wind and its awesome power. The great fish symbolized death and hell. The whale is the archetypal symbol of the wallowing up of everything into the final denouement of nothing. That is why the movie "Jaws" struck such a horribly responsive chord with cinema-goers around the country. the great fish brings to the surface the age old, unconscious fear in the hearts of everyone of eventually being swallowed up by death and hell. What the book of Jonah is telling us is that God is the Lord of death and hell. God's purpose is involved in all of this. Not even death and hell are beyond His control and His power. In the New Testament Jesus used this Bible story from the book of Jonah as a symbol of His descent into death and hell followed by His Resurrection by the power of God. New life vomited forth from the jaws of death and hell is the message we find in the Book of Jonah.
It is too bad that the modern world chooses to ignore these symbols. As we push God aside, we also push death and hell aside. We say they are not important so let's not talk about them. When you repress truth in any area, you repress all truth. If you do not take seriously death and hell, then you do not really believe in the power of God and the victory of God over all things. You are then short changing yourself. You are at the mercy of the unconscious feelings of anxiety and guilt that work in all of us. I do not think it is an accident that the lectionary provided by the 1979 Prayer Book, in which the lessons for today are stipulated, left out the last verse of that story about Jonah. We read it today because, of course, it is in the Bible. The last verse is "And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." There is too much truth there for the fastidious skepticism of the modern mind. We need to bring back the power and the truth of God into our lives as well as in our religion. In a similar fashion, our Lord Jesus Christ was disgorged from the grave back into a triumphant and victorious life. So we will be, too, if we believe in Him.
Today, the Gospel of Matthew speaks of the control over all of nature by God in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the meaning of the story of Jesus walking on the water and coming to His disciples, who were terrified and distraught in the midst of a storm. This is a difficult subject to comprehend because we know that people normally do not walk on water. It is contrary to the laws of nature. However, the Word of God is superior to nature. He created nature.
There was a professor in one of our seminaries who was a great rationalist. He doubted most of the teachings of the Bible. He taught his students to doubt them as well. In regard to this account, he said that Jesus was really walking on a sand bar that had accumulated under the water. The students rather disprespectfully used to refer to this professor as "Old Sandbar". Who are we to try to rewrite scriptures and to change the revealed truths of God because we do not understand them?
Let us expand our own consciousness and our own understanding to the point where we can be led to faith.
What the Bible is bringing to us in its entirety is the powerful Word of God so that we can believe in Jesus Christ. Then, when we face the storms of life, when we appear to be momentarily swallowed up by the jaws of death and hell, we will not lose our faith. We will know that even in the depths of our own misery and difficulty, Christ is there and that He has a plan for us. This purpose is shown to us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ who endured the cross. He suffered and died to prove to us everlastingly that God is the Lord of death and hell.
At some point in life every human being has to come to terms with these realities. We can not forever suppress the fact of death and hell by changing the terminology and ignoring these two realities. We have to face them. We have to decide if we are going to live in abject terror or are we going to develop the courage and strength that will overcome our fears and guilt? The Bible promises us that through Jesus Christ we will be able to stand fast and live successfully in the face of all that life threatens us with. There is no individual who is beyond the love of God.
The Gospel story of Jesus walking on the water illustrates this truth. Peter represents mankind who tries to navigate the chaos of existence under his own power. As he began to sink he cried out, "Lord save me." The words of the old gospel hymn speak of this situation, "I was sinking deep in sin, far from the faithful shore." And the refrain follows, "Love lifted me." In the Gospel of St. Matthew we read, "And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him, and said unto him,"O, thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?". It is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that His grace comes to us to save us in the midst of all the storms of life. It is through faith in the Providence of God that we are assured of safely reaching our final destination on the golden shores of eternal life.
