The
God of Jonah
Jonah 1:1-4:11
Key Verse 4:10,11
But the LORD said, "You have been
concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It
sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and
twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and
many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
In the passage for today, God
trained and used Jonah to help the people of Nineveh repent and be saved from
destruction. Through the passage, may God bless us to meet with the God of
Jonah, so that through this fellowship with Him we too would grow as useful
servants for all the campus students in this great city of Los Angeles and
beyond.
I. The Lord runs after Jonah (1:1-17)
First, the Prophet Jonah. Who was Jonah? He was a Hebrew. He
worshiped God, the maker of heaven and earth (1:9). He was also the prophet who
ministered in Northern Israel (2 Kings 14:25). As a prophet, he received the
privilege to have access to the word of God (1:1). In order to save the world, God established
the Israelites as a kingdom of priests. Among the Israelites, Jonah was the
prophet who took charge of the word of God. Jonah was a walking Bible in his day.
The world looked to him for spiritual help. In our days, God calls Christians
and uses them as 'walking Bibles.’ We are 'moving Bible houses,' so to speak.
As a moving Bible house, each of us has the blessed mission to serve God's
words to his flock daily.
Second, God's command to Jonah. Look at
v. 2. "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its
wickedness has come up before me." God's command was for him to 'go.'
God's servant must be a 'ready-to-go' man at all times. In the military,
whenever the commander-in-chief says, "Go," the soldiers must pick up
their weapons and "go." When Jesus rose again and appeared to the
disciples, Jesus commanded them, "Go into all the world and
preach..." (Mark 16:15). Going is essential in saving souls. When God says, "Go," we must rise
up and go to our sheep's place.
To whom
shall Jonah go? The Lord commanded him to go to the great city of Nineveh!
Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. In the days of Jonah, the Assyrian
Empire was emerging as a superpower nation. God always has his eyes on the
superpower nation. In the days of Joseph, God sent Joseph to help the
superpower nation of Egypt with the gospel message (Genesis 45:5). In the days
of Daniel, God called Daniel as a Bible teacher for the people in the
superpower nation of Babylon. In the days of Jesus, God sent Paul to Rome to
help people within the Roman Empire to repent and be saved. Likewise, in the
days of Jonah, God sent Jonah to Nineveh to help the people within the Assyrian
Empire to repent and be saved from destruction.
What should
Jonah preach? Look at v. 2 again. "Go to the great city of Nineveh and
preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." This
message is not pleasant to preach. As God's servants, we are called to serve
not only sweet messages, but also hard messages. Because the world is evil, we
will most likely be called to preach 'against' the audience we are sent to.
"Preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
God gave Jonah a hard message to serve.
Third, Jonah's rebellion. How did Jonah
respond to God's command? Let us read vs. 3-16 responsively. Jonah didn't like
God's command. He ran away from God. In his rebellion, he played hide and seek.
Perhaps, like Isaiah, when he was called to serve God as a prophet, he must
have said to God, "Lord, here I am. Please send me! If I do not go, who
else would go?" But now he was running away from the Lord, earnestly
hoping that God would change his mind and send someone else.
Look at v.
12. "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it
will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come
upon you." He knew that he was at fault. Yet he didn't want to obey God's
command. He knew that God was chasing after him. Yet he simply did not like the
command, so he did not want to even think about it. He hated it so much that he
would rather die than obey the command. "Pick me up and throw me into the
sea!" In essence he is saying, "Lord, I would rather die than go and
preach against the great city!"
Fourth, God provided a big fish for
Jonah. In great reluctance, the crew members threw Jonah overboard. Now Jonah
was bound to become food for the fish in the Mediterranean Sea. Then what
happened to Jonah? Look at v. 17. "But the LORD provided a great fish to
swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights."
Jonah wanted to die, but God did not allow him to die. God provided a big fish
and commanded the fish to take care of him.
This event
shows that the life of God's servant is in the hands of God. Livingstone, the
famous British missionary who served in the African jungles, left one famous
statement: man will never die until God's mission for him is done. From God who
provided Jonah with a big fish, we learn that man's mission is more important
than man's life. Therefore, we should not worry about our life. We must
struggle to serve the mission no matter what happens to us. We must take up
Apostle Paul's attitude when he said in Acts 20:24, "...I consider my life
worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the
Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's
grace."
II. The Lord Answers Jonah's Prayer (2:1-10)
The life
inside the fish was no fun at all. In fact, it was terrible. He felt
distressed, tumbling like a pair of socks in a laundry machine. He felt dizzy.
He could hardly breathe. He drank so much salt water that his stomach began to
swell like a frog in a pond. Like a man riding a roller coaster at Magic Mountain,
he plunged down to the roots of the mountains underneath the sea and then rose
up again to the surface of the sea. The biggest problem was that, although he
wanted to die, he could not die. He had no control over his life. The life
inside the fish was surely bitterer than death itself. And Jonah later
described his life inside the fish as 'the life in the depths of the grave.'
The expression, 'depths of the grave,' shows that he virtually died and was
buried. He became a dead person, drinking the foul soup of death.
In
distress, what did he do? Look at v. 1. There, at the end of the rope, he cried
out to the Lord for help. How much did he pray? Look at v. 7. "When my
life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to
your holy temple." He prayed until his prayer rose to the throne of God.
At first he must have said, "Lord, if you save me, I would go and
preach." But still there was no answer. He repeated the same prayer more
earnestly than ever. Still there was no answer. Finally, what did he say? Look
at v. 9. "But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What
I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD." The
Israelites do not use the word 'vow' lightly. Yet, the Prophet Jonah used the
word 'vow.' He made a 'vow' to go and preach. He said, "Lord, I will go
and preach as you commanded. I am serious. I will go even singing a joyful
song, 'O Zion haste, thy mission high fulfilling, to tell to all the world that
God is Light...'" In this way, Jonah
sincerely prayed to God that if God only saved him, he would go to Nineveh and
preach the message. How did the Lord bless his message? Look at v. 10.
"And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry
land." From the Lord who saved Jonah from the depths of grave, we learn
two things:
First, the Lord gave Jonah a second
chance to fulfill the mission from God. God could have abandoned Jonah so that
he would decay in the stomach of a fish or end up as ground beef between the
teeth of a shark. But God gracefully spared him. Jonah wanted to commit
suicide, but God did not allow him to do so, for his mission was not yet done.
Furthermore, the Ninevites were yet to be saved. Often times, we forget God's
purpose for our life. Then, in our own selfish desires, we run away from God,
going the opposite direction. Then we end up in a terrible place like the
stomach of a big fish. Then we come to remember God and cry out to him. Then
the Lord always hears our prayer and gracefully saves us, so that with many
thanks we could offer our bodies to save lost souls.
Second, thorough training, God molded
Jonah into a useful servant of God. Before the training inside the fish, Jonah
was a stiff-necked person. But, after the training, he became a very obedient person.
In the past, his mouth was full of complaints, but now his mouth was full of
thanksgiving. Furthermore, through training, he overcame the fear of
death. Through his training, he picked
up resurrection faith. He experienced the power of God who can raise the dead
from the grave. In short, after the training, he shook off the fear of death.
He was ready to go and brave any hardship including martyrdom.
III. The Lord sends Jonah to Nineveh (3:1-10)
First, "Proclaim the message I
give you!" Look at vs. 1,2. "Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah
a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message
I give you.’" God did not alter the message. He gave Jonah the same
message as before. Here, the expression, "the message I give you," is
very important. God's servant should not mix his own ideas with God's message.
God's servant must deliver God's message. To us, the command, 'Proclaim the
message I give you,' directs us to serve God's words, so that people would
repent of their sins and fit their standards of life to God's standards of
life. As Bible teachers, we must not fit the word of God to people, but fit
people to the word of God.
Second, a call for repentance. Look at
vs. 3,4. "Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now
Nineveh was a very important city--a visit required three days. On the first
day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh
will be overturned."" His message was simple. "Forty more days
and Nineveh will be overturned.’" This message was suggestive of many
messages. Essentially, this message calls for an immediate repentance. God
could have destroyed the wicked Ninevites immediately by sending great
disasters like an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude. But God did not do that. God
granted them the grace period of 40 more days. Between the words 'forty more
days' and 'Nineveh will be overturned,' there is the hidden message calling the
Ninevites to repent. God has the same message to fallen men in each generation.
God never punishes man's wickedness without giving man a sufficient opportunity
to repent. In each generation, God calls people to repent by sending his
servants to them with the gospel message.
Third, the repentance of the Ninevites.
How did the Ninevites respond to the message? Let us read vs. 5-9 responsively.
Ninevites, although they were violent people, believed God. The people in Sodom
and Gomorrah did not. When Lot's sons-in-law heard from Lot the message of
God's impending judgment, they thought that their father-in-law was joking. The
Ninevites could have treated Jonah as an insane person and ignored his message.
However, they 'believed' Jonah's words as God's message. They declared a fast
among all of them, including cattle. It was a nationwide repentance. Like one
man they all repented, from the King in the royal box to the dogs and cows in
the field. And their repentance was not superficial. They sincerely repented.
In great terror and fear of God's judgment upon them, they gave up their evil
ways and violence. Furthermore, they believed in God who is slow to anger and
quick to show compassion. Look at v. 9. "Who knows? God may yet relent and
with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
The
Ninevites set a good example of repentance. In Luke 11:32 Jesus said, "The
men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn
it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah
is here." From a biblical point of view, a great man is not the man who
never sins or who commits sins in lesser amount than others, but the man who
quickly repents. Abraham is great, not because he did not make any mistakes,
but because whenever God rebuked him, he quickly repented. King David is great,
not because his sin was lighter than others' sins; the sins he committed were
of mega-size sin including first degree murder. Yet, when God’s servant rebuked
him, he quickly repented. The Apostle Peter is considered to be one of the
greatest leaders in God's redemptive history, not because he never sinned, but
because, despite his many mistakes, he was quick to repent.
Why should
we repent? We must repent because repentance is our job. No one, not even God,
can repent on our behalf. Repentance belongs to man and salvation belongs to
God. No matter how seriously God wants to save us, unless we repent of our
sins, even God cannot save us from eternal condemnation.
Fourth, God forgave the repentant
Ninevites. Look at v. 10. "When God saw what they did and how they turned
from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the
destruction he had threatened." This passage reminds us of Exodus 34:6,
where Moses, the man of God and the giver of the law said, "The LORD, the
LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness..." Because of his compassionate heart, God never despises a
broken and contrite heart (cf. Psalms 51:17). When we sin greatly, and God's
servants rebuke us sharply, we easily despair. But what the Lord did to the
repentant Ninevites motivates us not to despair or feel condemned, but to
repent of our own wicked ways and come back to him for his forgiveness.
IV. The Lord addresses Jonah's anger (4:1-11)
Chapter 4
is the epilogue of Jonah. In this part, the Lord addresses Jonah's anger. Let
us read vs. 1-3. "But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He
prayed to the LORD, ‘O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home?
That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious
and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents
from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me
to die than to live.’" Probably Jonah thought that the Ninevites were hopeless
cases. Or probably he thought that God was too generous in dealing with
notorious sinners like the Ninevites. But in God no one is born 'hopeless.'
When one repents, everyone can enjoy God's blessing of sin-forgiveness. So the
Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
Yet Jonah
did not accept the message. He was still angry. In anger, he began to
demonstrate against God. Look at v. 5. Jonah went out and sat down at a place
east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited
to see what would happen to the city. This demonstration is called a 'sit-in'
demonstration. He put up a picket sign saying, "Down to Nineveh! Down to
Nineveh!"
In vs. 6-8,
God trained Jonah so that the self-righteous prophet would understand God's
heart of compassion. Let us read this part responsively. Probably by that time,
Jonah must have been exhausted to the point of death. He did not eat for three
days and three nights. The mission journey also drained his strength. Now, as
he protested against God's leniency, the scorching sun blazing down on his
forehead made him grow faint. While he was in the stomach of the big fish, his
stomach swelled like that of a fat frog. But now because of severe dehydration,
his stomach became like a flat tire. Once again he felt like dying. But the
physical exhaustion was not much of the problem. His mental anguish hurt him
the most. So, when God asked him second time, "Do you have a right to be
angry about the vine?" he talked back to God, "I do, I am angry enough
to die." In fact, he said, "Lord, I don't understand you because you
changed your mind so quickly. It's unfair!"
What, then,
did God say to him? Let us read vs. 10,11. "But the LORD said, 'You have
been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It
sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and
twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and
many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?'"
This passage teaches us two things:
First, God's servant must serve God's
mission, not for the sake of himself, but for the sake of the lost. Jonah was
not called to feed his pride or satisfy his own sense of justice. God did not
pick up Jonah to make Jonah feel good about himself. God picked up and used
Jonah to promote the interest of the Ninevites. In the same way, God sends us
to his flock, not for the sake of ourselves, but for the sake of his flock.
When we forget this fact, we are condemned to fall into the "Jonah's
Anger" syndrome.
Second, God is the God of concern. The
word 'concern' or 'concerned' means 'being mindful.' We usually think that,
having finished his creation work, God is enjoying a long vacation in God's
kingdom doing nothing.
But this is
not true. God is mindful of all peoples on earth, especially those who are
spiritually ignorant. The Ninevites were ignorant. They could not tell even
their right hand from their left. In this way, to God, all are blind sheep. So
God's heart is always broken; therefore it is quite natural that God is greatly
concerned about the physical and spiritual well being of all peoples on earth.
It is in
this concern that God called us as his servants. When we know that God is the
God of concern, being concerned about ignorant sheep, then we can discern God's
broken heart, obey God's command to serve his word, not reluctantly, but with
many thanksgiving, not in a self-righteous attitude, but with a very humble and
earnest attitude. Then, when one sheep repents as the Ninevites did, we can be
greatly joyful rather than being angry like Jonah (Lk 15:10).
One word:
The God of Jonah
_____________________________
1. What Bible verse shows that Jonah
preferred to die than to go to Nineveh?
___________
2. What Bible verse shows that Jonah
preferred to live and serve the mission than to die? ____________
3. Why did Jonah at one time want to die
than to serve the mission and yet at another become thankful for the
opportunity to serve the mission?_________________________________________
4. Why did Jonah at one time go for the
mission with joy but at another regret that he had served the mission? _______
___________________________________________
5. Jonah stayed inside the fish for
_______________.
6. Read Matthew 12:39. What does “the sign
of Jonah” mean?
The end
