How did Jonah know that the sea would become calm if the crew threw him out of the boat? There can only be one answer: God revealed it.

When Jonah’s sin was exposed, God’s silence was ended, and Jonah spoke as a prophet again. This prophetic word was a command from God: “Sacrifice Jonah and you will be saved.” The sacrifice of Jonah will be the salvation of the crew.

Notice that the crew’s first instinct is to refuse the sacrifice: Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land” (1:13). Feel the weight of this picture. God has spoken through the prophet. But these men think they can save themselves without the sacrifice!

The strength of this impulse to refuse the sacrifice is significant. A deep-seated pride in the human heart says, “We can make it through the judgement of God. We’ll just row harder.” That is the polar opposite of a God-centred life!

When the crew realised that they could not beat the storm, they turned in their desperation to what God had said through the prophet. They staked their lives on the sacrifice of Jonah.

God’s storm is stronger than you are. You can’t overcome sin enough or make yourself good enough to survive God’s judgement. The storm of His judgement will wreck you unless you are saved by the sacrifice of Someone else.

That is why Jesus Christ came into the world. That is why He went to the cross. He was cast out as a sacrifice to calm the wrath of God on your behalf. He died on that cross so that you should survive God’s judgement against sin.

Has pride been causing you to “row harder”? What will it take for you to stop refusing Jesus’ sacrifice?