Expository. Alliterative Preaching Through Jonah

Outline Studies in Jonah Jonah 1:1-3

Bob Marcaurelle 2 Kings 14:23-25

THE MAN WHO RAN FROM GOD

Most of us have felt the desire to get away from it all. We want to fly away and be at rest (Ps. 55:6). We even want to get away from God (Job. 7:19, 10:20 TEV) but as the black preacher said, “Where would you go?” (Ps. 139:10). Jonah, a popular preacher during the reign of Jeroboam (793-753 B.C.; 2 K. 14:23-25), learned this the hard way. We have a holy God who will not let us off, a faithful God Who will not let us down, and a loving God Who will not let us go. Now let’s watch Jonah run.

I. RUNNING FOR GOD (2 K. 14:23-25)

The first half of the Eighth Century (700’s) was

1. A Golden Age of Prosperity.

Under Uzziah (Judah) and Jeroboam (Israel) God’s people prospered. Jeroboam restored Israel’s borders to the extent it knew under Solomon. The hated Assyrians were fighting for their life against internal problems and invaders from the North (Uratu People). National pride in Israel was at fever pitch and foreigners were completely outcast.

. 2. A Golden Age of Preaching.

All right The prophet who predicted this restoration was Jonah. He could have been a pupil of the great Elisha. He was a contemporary of Amos, Hosea, Joel and Isaiah. Thirty years (722 B.C.) after the death of Jeroboam, Assyria destroyed Israel (2 K. 17). Before God sends His judgments, He sends His preachers to call the people to repentance, so they might escape. One of these was Jonah, the Billy Graham of his day.

II. RUNNING FROM GOD (1:1-3)

When God called Jonah to preach to Nineveh, the capitol city of Assyria, he rebelled. He ran in the exact opposite direction by catching a ship to Spain. Why did he run?

1. Prejudice.

Jonah has been severely criticized as a bigot (Patterson), elder brother (Whyte, Lk. 15), and as one we can neither love nor think well of (Kitto).

While some prejudice was present, his main reason was an intense patriotism (love of country), coupled with bewilderment as to why God would spare the nation (4:1-3) that was going to destroy his country.

3. Pity.

These Assyrians were unbelievably cruel (Baxter). They left conquered lands covered with corpses. They skinned their victims alive, impaled them alive on poles and pulled their tongues out. Knowing this we don’t excuse Jonah’s retreat but we do understand it better. We see him as more than a narrow-minded bigot.

4. Prayer?

God sometimes asks us to do unbelievable things, like here and when He asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, or when He asked His Son Jesus to die on a cross. Abraham took three days to make a three hour journey to the altar and Jesus almost died in Gethsemane, praying about the cross. When a hard request comes from God, we all would spend much agonizing time in prayer.

III. RUNNING INTO GOD (1:4-3:2)

1. The Success. Jonah’s flight seemed successful. Satan had a boat. Jonah had the fare .

2. The Storm and the Sleep.

So exhausted and bewildered was he that down in the ship he fell into a deep, snoring (LXX) sleep. Then God shook the ship with a storm. The frightened sailors, as the people of the world will do in life’s storms, turned to their powers, their prayers and finally to God’s people (1:4-6). How sad to find the church asleep in the ship of salvation while a world perishes! Casting lots they found that Jonah was the object of God’s fury. Afraid to touch him because his was the God of creation (1:9), they kept rowing.

3. The Sea.

Finally, at his insistence, they threw him overboard and the sea was calm.

1) Jonah involved others in his punishment.

We never sin without hurting others.

2) Running from God he ran into God, like Paul (Acts 9) and the Prodigal (Lk.15). See him sink below the water into the arms of God (Ps. 139:9-10), where the roots of the mountains (2:5-6) are.

There he PRAYED to his God (2:7). Great convulsions surrounded him and great confusion gripped him as he found himself in slimy, smelly darkness (the famous fish).

He sat there thinking he was in Sheol (2:2).

Still alive, he REDEDICATED his life and would serve God if he ever got another chance (2:8-9).

The fish vomited him up on dry land, probably near Joppa, and God repeated His commission (2:10-3:2). We always come back to the will of God at the point where we left it and repent at that point. The important thing here is not that God could or would prepare such a fish. Anyone who denies the miraculous must discard much of the Bible, including the resurrection of Jesus. The important thing is that God won’t let us go without a fight. He protects us, preserves us, forgives us, and re-commissions us.