“Jonah, The Defiant Disciple”
“Jonah 1:1-3”
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Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
I. Jonah’s Direction
a. The character of the man
Jonah (a dove) is probably the first Hebrew prophet and was from the tribe of Zebulun in Galilee. He lived and ministered during the reign of Jeroboam II. Jonah has been ridiculed and treated as a mythical character most particularly because of what happens to him at the end of chapter one but Jesus believed him to be a historic person as proven by the references in, Matthew 12:39-40, Luke 11:29 and the reference to him in 2 Kings 14:25.
b. The call to his mission
Jonah is called to go to the city of Ninevah which was approximately 500 miles beyond the bounds of Israel and call them to repentance. The Ninevites were a particularly cruel and barbaric people to the Jews primarily because they were Gentiles, they had been used by God to bring judgment on the Jews and the mistaken isolationist notion that salvation was for the Jews alone.
II. Jonah’s Disobedience
a. The problem in focus
Jonah’s real problem was his concept of God. It was under developed. Jonah saw God as a being with influence and power limited to a certain geographical area (a concept that was common among the idol worshipping nations that surrounded Israel) therefore he sought to get as far away from his God as possible. In this case, 2,500 miles from his home to Tarshish (located on the coast of Southern Spain) and 3,000 miles from Ninevah, so he boarded a ship at the port of Joppa.
b. The price of the fare
The text says that “…he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it…” Defiance always costs us something. In Jonah’s case the price for his disobedience is affliction and suffering. It’s ironic that we have to take the medicine and pay for it too! This is true in Jonah’s case for the medicine for him was suffering and affliction and he had to pay to have it!
III. Jonah’s Discipline
III - Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in ’71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."
Source Unknown.
a. There a powerful storm
The Lord sent a “great wind” and a “mighty tempest” so great that the ship was in danger of breaking up! Most likely this storm had hurricane force winds and waves taller than a two story building. This storm was probably very similar to the “Eurocyldon” mentioned by Paul in the book of Acts that sank the ship he was on.
I have also found that God has a discipline to match our disobedience. If our defiance is great then the discipline will be designed to match our defiance.
THE REFINER'S FIRE
III - The story is told of a group of women that met for Bible study. While studying in the book of Malachi, chapter three, they came across verse three which says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered how this statement applied to the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out more about the process of refining silver, and to get back to the group at their next Bible study. The following week, the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him while at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest, beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith work, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire, where the flames were the hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, then she thought again about the verse, that "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the entire time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, that not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "But how do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that’s easy--when I see my image in it."
b. There was a sailor’s plea
The seriousness of the situation is seen in that these heathen sailors had thrown their cargo overboard (which was their living) in order to lighten the ship. With no cargo there would no payday. They pleaded with Jonah to pray but this disobedient prophet was in no condition to pray for them much less himself.
What a poor witness this man of God was to these heathen sailors. He had an opportunity to speak for Jehovah but his own life was in such bad shape that he had nothing to give these men in their hour of need. Finally, after doing everything in their power to save the ship, verse 13 says “…the men rowed hard…,” they prayed to the Lord and threw Jonah overboard and the text declares that the “…sea ceased from her raging.”
IV. Jonah’s Decision
a. The petition of the prophet
Not only did God prepare the storm to discipline His servant, He also prepared a fish to deliver His servant. The OT Hebrew word for fish is translated “large aquatic animal” while the word “whale” that is used in the NT means “a huge fish.” There are certainly creatures of the deep large enough to swallow a man whole (sperm whales have been found with 400 lb. squids whole in their bellies) but whether you explain this event naturally or supernaturally, the fact remains that this was an act of God.
ILL - Someone once asked Jay Kesler, former president of Youth for Christ International, if he believed that God could make a fish big enough to swallow a man. As a college president and above average in intelligence, in a world in which we have learned to split the atom and go to the moon and send spaceships to Neptune, did Kesler really think that God can make a fish big enough to swallow a man?
I mean really? Dr. Kesler’s reply is one of simple trust in a great God. He answered, "Let me tell you, I not only believe that he can make such a fish, but the God who made the sun and the moon and the stars, if he wanted to, could air-condition and carpet the fish!"
[Belief in the Word, 1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking, p. 38]
b. The preservation of the prophet
Verse 10 states that God heard Jonah’s prayer, that the Lord “…spake to the fish…” and that the fish vomited the Prophet up on dry land! God delivered Jonah out of the belly of this great fish alive. Some commentators think that Jonah died and was resurrected because of the use of the word hell which is “sheol” in Hebrew or abode of the dead. Whether he died or not he was alive when his feet hit dry ground!
ILL - A certain pastor observed a little girl standing outside the preschool Sunday school classroom between Sunday school and worship, waiting for her parents to come and pick her up for "big church."
The pastor noticed that she clutched a big storybook under her arm with the title "Jonah and the Whale."
Feeling mischievous, he knelt beside the girl and asked, "What’s that you have in your hand?" "This is my storybook about Jonah and the whale," she answered.
"Tell me something," he continued, "do you believe that story about Jonah and the whale?" The girl said, "Why, of course I believe it!" The pastor inquired further, "You really believe a man can be swallowed up by a big whale, stay inside him all that time, and come out okay?" She declared, "Yes! This story is in the Bible, and we talked about it in Sunday school today."
Then the pastor asked, "Can you prove to me this story is true?" She thought for a moment and then said, "Well, when I get to heaven, I’ll ask Jonah." Finally the pastor asked, "What if Jonah’s not in heaven?" The girl put her hands on her hips and sternly declared, "Then YOU can ask him!"
[Believing the Bible, Citation: Rich Tatum, Carol Stream, Illinois; source unknown]
c. The proclamation of the prophet
ILL - E. Stanley Jones tells of the time he was about to board a plane when he heard God, in his spirit, telling him not to get on the plane. He learned later that the plane crashed and there were no survivors. When he shared his experience with someone, they said, “You mean to say that you were the only one God told not to get on that plane?” Jones said, “By no means, but it is possible that I was the only one listening.” It is important to develop your ability to hear God.
Chapter 3, verse 1 states that “…the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time…” and this time Jonah obeys! It’s not often in life that we get a second chance but God is a god of second and third chances!
Psalms 46:1 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
