Jonah felt overcome by surrounding circumstances, but God lifted Him up: Jonah’s prayer part 3 of 6.

Jonah 2:5-6

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.” Jonah 2:5-6

Jonah was deep in the ocean [where the earth was seen beneath the sea], inside the belly of a fish, weeds wrapped around his head, with no hope of ever again seeing the dry surface of the earth. Even then, God lifted Jonah from that unsettling experience.

“The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me…”
In a spiritual sense, the “waters” symbolize the populations of the world in every city. Like Jonah, our Lord Jesus Christ felt the deep and wide “waters” surround and close Him in. “But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” Matthew 27:20-23

As Christians, we believers in God, acknowledge the need for the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, and welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are surrounded by an atheistic culture and closed in from every sector of society. The “waters” of today’s culture are put on the “same sheet of music” by the atheistic entity that gives people what to think, feel, say, and do. This entity enlivens the image of the beast to speak and live through people as they are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

“Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you...Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 1 John 3:13, Matthew 5:11-12 Also read Psalms 73.

“Weeds were wrapped around my head.“
Jonah was in misery having the nagging weeds wrapping around his head. This is part of the “scarlet cord” in the Old Testament that points to the crown of thorns driven into the scalp of our Lord Jesus Christ, “When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head…” Matthew 27:29 I’m sure the weeds were on other body parts of Jonah, but the Holy Spirit put the focus on the weeds wrapped around the head as a foreshadowing of what would happen to Jesus, the Christ, Son of God, and Savior of the world.

The “weeds wrapped around the head”, and “crown of thorns”, also foreshadow the suffering of those who live for God through Jesus Christ. The entity with power over physiology, to give people what to think, makes it very painful, nagging, and uncomfortable for Christians within our thoughts. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18

“I went down to the moorings of the mountains…”
The “moorings of the mountains” are basically the foundation of the earth on the bottom of the seas. You could say that this is about as low as a person can go. Jonah was there.

Our Lord Jesus Christ also experienced that lowness on this earth as He was given the death penalty [crucifixion on the Cross] reserved for the vilest of criminals, was homeless, “And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Luke 9:58. Jesus was despised, and a man of sorrows, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Isaiah 53:3. Jesus was numbered among the transgressors, “And He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many…” Isaiah 53:12

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Isiah 53:5

Jesus Christ is our “Lilly of the Valley”
I’ve found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
[Church Song}

“The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.”
Jonah thought that the surface of the dry earth was barred to him, and that he would never see the light of day again, but God did bring Jonah up out of the pit. God also resurrected Jesus Christ from the pit of the grave after being imprisoned there for three days and three nights.

“Pilate marveled that [Jesus] was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mark 15:44-46

“Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! Mark 16:2-6

Our born-again experience is the resurrection working in us. We were dead for living for the ways of the world, then when we came to God through Jesus Christ, we became alive in the Spirit. Our old worldly ways, behavior, thoughts, and lifestyle were left buried in the grave, but our new behavior, thoughts, and lifestyle was resurrected to life. Our born-again experience is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we want to share that Gospel.

Ezekiel 37 Valley of Dry Bones Arise

 Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!
Up from the grave he arose;
with a mighty triumph o’er his foes;
he arose a victor from the dark domain,
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
[Church Song]

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1