“Then I said, I am cast out of your sight: yet I will look again toward your holy temple” (vs4).
The only hope we have is Christ, so look again. It does no good to deny reality in hope that salvation will come some other way, for “they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy“ (vs8). These lying vanities that teach us to seek salvation from sources other than Christ are wrong, and this is true for saint and sinner. Jonah LOOKED to his wisdom and got himself into a mess, and now he must look to God’s mercy in Christ to get him out.
In grace, God SHUTS every other door, damning us under the law to eternal death and offering no relief except faith in His Son. He closes doors in this life, so there’s NO HOPE of eternal welfare or temporal deliverance except God. We cannot choose sin, because He proves that choosing sin will not alleviate the WRATH that I shall endure. And, it is God’s love to put us in positions where we must trust Christ. Without His pain, I’d spit on Him continually, but by the pain, we learn to submit ourselves to Him, to bow to His will, and receive good. Luke 15, that great story of the Prodigal Son, says, “When he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger (vs17)!” He didn’t care about God, until he got hungry (Luke 15:11-20).
People wanted Lazarus NOT to die, but God wants us to see His glory, so Lazarus dies, so He can raise Him again. We want this and that, but God says “No”, and forces us to look to Christ for salvation. Then, He gives us FAR BETTER than we were expecting: He gives us love, knowledge of His goodness, peace, submission, and FAITH… these great things are PRAYED for us by the Spirit, which become things that we rejoice in too - “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27).
Are you in sin’s misery? Then look again to Christ. Has He FAILED to comfort you thus far? Then LOOK AGAIN to Jesus Christ. He gives us STRENGTH to obtain mercy and strength to seek the Lord, so we can be strengthened by the mercy that we receive (1 Kings 19:7-8). There is no plan B, no other option, and no other hope for life: this is what He teaches the elect, and the evidence I’m His, is that I feel compelled to look to God’s mercy in Christ. I’m encouraged to trust Him, though things are hard, and He RECEIVES my petition (Jonah 2:6). Though He chastens, He will not destroy any that believe. It is written, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise (for no reason) cast out” (John 6:37). This hopeful word enables me to look to Christ because He has closed every other door other than the mercy that’s in Him, the mercy that’s FOR sinners through Jesus bearing the curse away in His blood.
God’s graciousness to the miserable comforts and encourages us. Will you look again to Jesus for mercy, or will you and I die in our sin? Will you believe without any options to do anything else, being encouraged by God’s grace that is for sinners, or will you rebel and find comfort in lies, before going to hell? Sovereign grace DEMANDS the elect look again, and we will (Ps 110:3).
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