Summary of the Bible in 66 Days: 32. Salvation: Jonah 2:9

 Jonah 2:9 ESV

But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”


The first and second halves of this verse seem like a contradiction. If salvation is of the Lord, why does Jonah go on about his sacrifice and vow?

Jonah is right: salvation is 100% of the Lord. Yet having been saved, we should sacrifice everything for the One who sacrificed everything for us.

Because God saved Jonah, he realised he should sacrifice his ethno-nationalism and obey God's call upon his life. Jonah's (eventual!) obedience didn't earn his salvation. Jonah's obedience was evidence that he was saved.

Jonah had faith. He wasn't even saved from the belly of the whale at this stage. Yet he trusted that God would deliver him to fulfil the divine calling upon his life.

'Lord, we thank you for our salvation. May we fulfil your callings upon our lives. For the honour of your name we pray, amen'.


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