Jon 2:10 | KingComments | STEP | The confession that the salvation is from the LORD is the moment that the fish vomits Jonah up onto the dry land. It is like the man who is mentioned in Romans 7. He also lives between hope and fear. He longs for living according to God’s commandments, and he still does not succeed. Always focused on himself, searching for strength in himself, he becomes increasingly desperate. His total despair is expressed in the words: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” ( ). These words herald the solution, the salvation. He has said “who” will set me free. That means that he no longer expects it from himself, but from someone else. That Someone is Jesus Christ, as the following verse says: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” ( ). This confession brings the man, so to speak, from the swamp, in which he sank deeper and deeper, onto the dry land. This dry land is described in Romans 8 as follows: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” ( ). Now that the disobedient servant has come to full surrender, he is freed from his perilous position. As soon as the LORD commands the fish to do so, it vomits Jonah up. There is no need for a repeated command. Brute beasts carry out an order faster than rationally thinking people. We don’t know where Jonah was put on dry land. But it could have been in the neighborhood of Joppa. From there he had taken the wrong direction. It also fits in with the way God acts when He restores someone. Anyone who has deviated must first return to the point where the deviation started. Often the point of deviation is the moment that a certain sin is allowed in someone’s mind without condemning it. After the thought often follows the deed. Then not only the deed should be condemned, but also the thought. What someone allows in his thinking is generally decisive for his behavior.

‏ Jonah 2:10

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The confession that the salvation is from the LORD is the moment that the fish vomits Jonah up onto the dry land. It is like the man who is mentioned in Romans 7. He also lives between hope and fear. He longs for living according to God’s commandments, and he still does not succeed. Always focused on himself, searching for strength in himself, he becomes increasingly desperate. His total despair is expressed in the words: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom 7:24).

These words herald the solution, the salvation. He has said “who” will set me free. That means that he no longer expects it from himself, but from someone else. That Someone is Jesus Christ, as the following verse says: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:25a). This confession brings the man, so to speak, from the swamp, in which he sank deeper and deeper, onto the dry land. This dry land is described in Romans 8 as follows: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1).

Now that the disobedient servant has come to full surrender, he is freed from his perilous position. As soon as the LORD commands the fish to do so, it vomits Jonah up. There is no need for a repeated command. Brute beasts carry out an order faster than rationally thinking people.

We don’t know where Jonah was put on dry land. But it could have been in the neighborhood of Joppa. From there he had taken the wrong direction. It also fits in with the way God acts when He restores someone. Anyone who has deviated must first return to the point where the deviation started. Often the point of deviation is the moment that a certain sin is allowed in someone’s mind without condemning it. After the thought often follows the deed. Then not only the deed should be condemned, but also the thought. What someone allows in his thinking is generally decisive for his behavior.