The Book of Jonah
Introduction
The marvel of God’s Word is the fact that it is always relevant to the needs of people, regardless of the time in which they live.
I want us to turn our attention this afternoon to the book of Jonah.
A book that is one of the most relevant books in the Bible for the present time. It speaks to us the twenty-first-century church in general, and to individual Christians in particular, in plain and piercing terms.
Churches as a whole, as well as individual Christians, have rebelled against the will of the Lord in regard to its mission in the world.
Many Christians have discreetly turned aside from the issues in their society that were once addressed with fearless and positive confrontation by the church.
In this sense, the story of Jonah is clearly relevant to our generation.
If you want a title for this message from the book of Jonah I think "How God Deals with Rebellion" is appropriate and we are going to read selected verses as we go rather than read the whole book first!
We are going to consider five points as we work through the book of Jonah:
1. The Easy Road to Resistance
2. The High Cost of Disobedience
3. The Deep Agony of Chastisement
4. The Loving Patience of God
5. The Continuing Battle with Rebellion
So let’s start with "the easy road to resistance" by examining the directions God gave Jonah, the dilemma this assignment posed for the reluctant prophet, and the decision he made.
Our first reading is from: Jonah 1:1-3
"The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:
’Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.’" (Jonah 1:1-3 NIV).
The directions God gave to Jonah (1:1).
We are told in 2 Kings 14:25, that the of hometown of Jonah was Gath Hepher which was located about four miles north of Nazareth in Galilee.
We know nothing very little about Jonah’s life other than the reference in 2 Kings, where he was God’s messenger of mercy to Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II, and his experience in Nineveh.
So here we see the sovereign will of God in choosing Jonah, an unknown, to do a job for him.
The word of the Lord came specifically to Jonah.
God knew exactly who he was looking for and where to find him.
It is both wonderful and frightening to know that God is equally aware of who and where we are!
Then "the word of the Lord" came to Jonah.
Whenever God speaks, he speaks with substance.
He does not waste His words; God’s Word is serious business,
and when we read or listen to its message, we are responsible before God for what we have heard.
These words were directed specifically to Jonah.
He could not take comfort in that they might be for someone else. Along with these words came the fact that God knew Jonah—both his strengths and his weaknesses. He knew Jonah’s potential.
And certainly this is true in God’s relationships with us.
We are prone to forget that God sees the end from the beginning. When we learn to cooperate with him, we will not fail.
The dilemma (1:2).
As I said earlier, God had already used Jonah in the past.
He had ministered, we know, during the reign of King Jeroboam II. We can assume that he had been God’s spokesman on other occasions in Israel. But up until now, he had lived and ministered among his own people, God’s chosen people.
Like any other Israelite, Jonah felt great security and pride in his identity with Israel. Jehovah was his God and the God of his people. So it was "business as usual" with Jonah.
Then all of a sudden God broke into Jonah’s secure and comfortable lifestyle.
Can’t you imagine that Jonah thought,
Why me, Lord?
Why not one of those prophets who live in the big cities who have been exposed to the ways and personalities of pagans?
I’m just a country preacher out here in Galilee.
This simple rural lifestyle is all I know.
Not me, Lord! Isaiah, Amos, Hosea—they could do it far better than I could, Lord!
Why Nineveh ?
Nineveh was a pagan city, whose people through the generations had been enemies and persecutors of God’s people.
Nineveh never would have been on Jonah’s itinerary, or even on his prayer list:
You know, God may ask you to do something that doesn’t seem to make sense. We do not always know why God picks certain places to do things. You do not know why you were born where you were, rather than in another country with different parents or on a different date in history. Likewise, God may be directing you in a certain way that you don’t understand.
So you are saying, "I can’t do it. It’s too big for me. I’m afraid; I cannot go in that direction. Besides, I just can’t understand why God would say to me, ’Do that!’"
One of the thrilling things about God is that he is full of surprises. We never really know what he is going to do next. But we can take comfort in the words the angel spoke to Mary concerning her conception of Jesus, "With God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).
Jonah’s decision (1:3).
Jonah had said, "Not Nineveh, Lord! Anywhere but Nineveh!’"
When Jonah deliberately turned his back on God’s will for his life at that time that might have been the end.
For God dealt far more stringently with his disobedient children in those days before this marvellous age of grace, which our Lord Jesus ushered in for us.
When Jonah paid the fare on the ship in order to go to Tarshish, in the opposite direction from Nineveh that could have been the end for him.
Sometimes through our disobedience we force God to "finish with us" before he would like to. When we persist in saying no to God concerning something he wants us to do, something we know he wants us to do, sometimes he says,
"All right, have it your way. I’ll use another!"
And he does choose someone else to do the job he had planned for us.
But that was not the end of the story for Jonah, God stayed with Jonah. Jonah thought he had settled the matter once and for all.
But just as God knew where Jonah was when he called him in the little village of Gath Hepher, he knew where he was when he boarded that ship at the port of Joppa.
It is an easy road that leads down to "Resistance Harbour."
It is downhill all the way! Just as Jonah found a ship already there, ready to sail in the opposite direction from Nineveh, so Satan sees to it that the means of our resistance toward God are easy and available.
According to Jonah’s experience, we can be sure of one thing:
If we are God’s children, we are not our own.
We belong to him. We are his children, and he is our heavenly Father. That means he is going to deal with us as disobedient children when the need arises.
But oh, the joy that comes when we stop resisting his will for our lives and say, "Here I am, Lord! I can do nothing in my own strength. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"
Let’s look at The High Cost of Disobedience.
Reading: Jonah 1:4-17
Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" "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." Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Sooner or later, every genuine Christian comes to understand fully and clearly what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote, ’You are not your own; you were bought at a price" (1 Cor. 6:19-20 NIV).
This means that we are the exclusive possessions of the almighty God. He who has all power in heaven, on earth, and under the earth owns us. Because of this, He is concerned about how we live our lives.
And His concern is such that he gets involved in our lives.
Sometimes this involvement is positive—that is, he pours out blessings on us that we can hardly contain. But at other times his involvement is negative—that is, he deals with us as loving parents deal with a disobedient child.
It is at this point that we pick up Jonah’s story. His disobedience was not the result of thoughtlessness or carelessness.
It was planned, calculated, and intentional.
Not only did he disagree with God’s assignment that he go and preach to the heathen Assyrians in Nineveh, he flatly refused to consider it at all! And so intense was Jonah’s rejection of God’s assignment that he did not just say no to God and remain at home, he tried to put as much distance between himself and Nineveh,
Geographically, as he possibly could.
This often happens with disobedient Christians. Our "running from God" may not be geographical. There are many ways a person can "run from God."
Sometimes we "run down" and get tired of our evasive tactics and return to God.
Other times, most of the time, God breaks into our "plans" and gets our attention in rather abrupt and painful ways.
God’s reaction to Jonah’s disobedience (Jonah 1:4-5).
The text literally reads that God "hurled" a mighty wind and storm upon the sea. And even though the sailors aboard the ship on which Jonah was a passenger were doubtlessly well accustomed to storms on the Mediterranean, they had never encountered a tempest like this one!
The tragedy is that these men were being forced to suffer this fear because of the sin of another!
Often our disobedience toward God will cause other people to suffer as well as ourselves.
None of us is an island.
Each of us has a sphere of influence; we touch the lives of those around us either positively or negatively.
But where was Jonah during this storm’?
He was down in the hold of the ship, fast asleep.
He had reached a second stage in his disobedience toward God.
At first he was running, trying to find an escape route.
The second stage was this false sense of security.
At least on the surface of his consciousness, Jonah felt that he had successfully dealt with this troubling assignment from God.
Disobedience in Christians’ lives can progress to the point where we become insensitive to wrongdoing.
We become comfortable, for a little while, in our sin.
We feel, at least subconsciously, that we are "getting by" with our sin, that God is discreetly looking the other way.
Jonah was thinking: What is happening right now is all that really matters.
God’s instrumentality (1:6-16).
Something happened that ought to have been the greatest embarrassment that could possibly have come to Jonah.
He had to be called to prayer by a heathen!
The captain of the ship, a Phoenician who worshiped false gods, awakened Jonah and implored him to call on his God.
Now here is amazing common sense displayed by these sailors. They came to the conclusion that there was someone on board who was guilty of some great crime, or else this terrible storm would not be beating down upon them.
Their dilemma was to find out who the guilty person might be. They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
When this happened, the sailors began to question Jonah.
They did this not because they doubted the casting of the lots, but rather because they wanted Jonah to confess whatever it was he was guilty of.
Jonah was in a corner.
He had no recourse but to make a full confession— which he did, to these men, but not to God!
Jonah apparently told them the whole story.
The sailors were terrified, for the violence of the storm breaking around them demonstrated the power of Jonah’s God far better than Jonah could have.
They asked Jonah what they should do to make the sea calm again.
Jonah’s answer shows the disobedient prophet in a better light than we find him anywhere else in the book. He said, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea,... and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you".
The sailors had more compassion for Jonah than he had for the people of Nineveh
"Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him"
God’s sovereignty (1:17).
Everything here is miraculous.
God’s timing was a miracle. He arranged for the ship and the great fish to converge on course at that precise moment and at that precise spot.
When Jonah was thrown overboard by these sailors, the fish was there with his mouth open!
The most important thing here is not the fish, but Jonah.
Nothing pleases Satan more than for us to get sidetracked on the fish and on how it was physically possible for Jonah to live for three days and nights inside that great fish.
That can be explained only in terms of the miraculous.
Jesus himself called this a "sign" in Matthew 12:39, and we ought to leave it at that.
There is a dual application here.
Jonah is a picture of Israel. Jonah, like Israel, was chosen by God to be a witness. Both were divinely commissioned, and both were disobedient. Jonah is a type of the disobedient Christian.
We can be certain of one thing: The cost of our disobedience toward God is high, and ultimately we must pay. May God help us to learn this lesson before it is too late.
Jonah paid dearly for his disobedience.
The Deep Agony of Chastisement
Reading Jonah 2:1-3
"From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: ’In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all ’ your waves and breakers swept over me’"
How can we classify Jonah in regard to his relationship with God? Jonah was a genuine child of God, and he was restored. He was not a castaway, for ultimately he did go to Nineveh and preach.
Jonah was a disobedient child of the King. He had deliberately refused to do what God asked him to do.
Jonah had a chastening experience that lasted three days and three nights. Let’s examine Jonah’s agony in the midst of his chastening experience.
Jonah’s distress (2:1 -6).
Though Jonah obviously recorded this prayer some time after the experience, God apparently had given him a "photographic memory " in regard to that event.
He had had time to reflect and to get all of the experience into perspective. The fact that Jonah called on the Lord in his distress is proof that he belonged to God.
In this terrible predicament in which Jonah found himself, he instinctively called on the Lord.
Then Jonah said, "From the depths of the grave I called for help". Jonah did not mean that he thought he was dead and that God would call him back from the grave and give him a second chance.
He was saying that the human impossibility of his situation was such that from every logical consideration, he was as good as dead.
For this great sea monster had swallowed Jonah and like a giant submarine had carried him down to the depths of the sea.
We are amazed today at the sophistication of our radio communications. We can communicate with people even while they are orbiting the earth in a shuttle.
Well, Jonah found out how sophisticated God’s communication system is.
When he cried out to God from the belly of that fish in the depths of the sea, God heard him instantly.
One of the most reassuring promises in the Bible says,
"Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear" (Isa. 65:24 NIV).
Then Jonah came to realize something else.
Everything that had happened to him was no accident.
He had not been swept off the deck of that ship by one of the great waves of the storm that was churning the waters of the Mediterranean.
He says, ’You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas" (Jonah 2:3 NIV) .
In spite of Jonah’s deliberate disobedience, his planned and calculated running from God, he was able to see God’s hand clearly in everything that was happening and to call on God for help rather than curse him because of the dilemma.
Reading Jonah 2:6-7
“To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit,
O LORD my God. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”
Jonah’s reaction (2:6-7).
Where was Jonah’s "pit"?
Physically, of course, it was prison inside the fish, maybe with his head wrapped in seaweed, surrounded by all of the sea creatures the fish had consumed.
But Jonah was also submerged in a "spiritual pit," a place of separation from God that believers experience when they sin.
Now Jonah was isolated and alone with his own conscience in this fish. While he was aboard the ship in the storm with the other sailors, he had company.
But in the fish, it was just God, himself, and his sin of disobedience. That was far worse than the storm that had raged on the surface of the sea.
What is thrilling about this is that even though Jonah’s soul was overwhelmed by his circumstances, he remembered the Lord (v. 7). He didn’t whimper and cry and wallow in self-pity.
He saw God’s hand in his circumstances and began to pray.
His prayer was not a ritual or memorized prayer.
He wasn’t worried about his choice of words and sentence structure. He simply poured out his soul to the Lord.
He recognized God’s greatness and majesty and acknowledged God’s sovereignty in life in general and in the lives of his children in particular.
Then he confessed his sin of disobedience.
He didn’t blame his environment, the circumstances, or someone else.
Jonah’s reaction to his chastening experience was the kind that a true child of God will have.
Reading Jonah 2:8-9
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
Jonah’s promise (2:8-9).
The implication of Jonah’s words here is that there are many who turn to a host of other sources for help when they find themselves in trouble.
He calls these other sources "worthless idols". Granted, there are times when our problems are physical.
God has blessed the world with the miracles of medical science.
He has endowed men and women with abilities and talents in this field, and he often cooperates with them in bringing relief from physical problems.
But at other times our problems are spiritual, as was the case with Jonah. It is then that it is worthless to turn to "other sources" for help. They may treat symptoms, but they cannot touch the source of our trouble.
Jonah discovered the source of his problem, and he turned to God for help. That was the only place he could turn. In spite of his agony in the fish, he could sing a song of thanksgiving, for he believed God was dependable and faithful to keep his promises.
He knew help was on the way.
Let’s look at The Loving Patience of God
What does the word patience mean to you?
There are three definitions of this common term.
Most people conceive patience in terms of endurance.
It is the act of facing a situation with a determination to stick it out. We may admire such strength and determination, but attitude usually deteriorates over time and can turn to self-pity or bitterness.
A second kind of patience characterizes those people who are eternal optimists, determined to look for the silver lining in a situation. Sometimes these people, as commendable as their optimism may be, only succeed in hiding their head in the sand.
They fantasize and refuse to accept reality.
Their philosophy is that if you ignore a situation long enough, it will finally go away.
Then there is a third kind of patience that is rare indeed.
It is the kind of patience God had toward Jonah and the kind of patience he has toward us at many points in our lives.
It turns a seemingly impossible situation into a learning experience.
Even though Jonah had some serious problems after he had preached in Nineveh, still he learned some lessons about God through his experience with the storm and in the fish that he never could have learned anywhere else.
Reading Jonah 2:10-3:2
“And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. 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’s second call to Jonah (2:10—3:2).
Does it surprise you that God "spoke" to this sea monster?’
Why not - He made that creature! And he gave it a command that it clearly understood, for it "vomited Jonah onto dry land" (2:10 NIV).
However, before this spectacular event occurred, Jonah was convinced that there was nothing he could do about the situation. Jonah had prayed, that was all he could do.
Very often this is the way God deals with us. He brings us to the place where there is absolutely no way of escape.
We come to a dead end. God brings us to the utter end of ourselves.
Why does he do this?
He does it so that we can see, beyond any shadow of doubt, that when he rescues us or delivers us from our impossible situation, it is totally his doing.
This was precisely the point to which God brought Jonah.
Jonah came to accept the fact that he was totally helpless.
He had hit rock bottom. God had Jonah’s undivided attention.
Then God spoke to the fish, and out Jonah came.
When God speaks, he liberates, he delivers, because his Word is truth. "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," Jesus said (John 8:32).
The first two verses of chapter 3 are perhaps the high point of the book of Jonah.
Here we have one of the most beautiful expressions in the Bible of God’s love for his disobedient people.
"The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time".
Other passages of Scripture suggest the same truth.
In Ephesians 2 Paul says that we are "by nature objects of wrath" (v. 3 NIV). Then he adds, "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved" (w. 4-5 NIV).
God came to Jonah a second time.
Jonah’s reaction to the fact that God gave him a second chance (3:3-4).
Jonah learned an important lesson here—one that is just as timely for us today as it was for him in that ancient time.
He learned that God’s will does not change.
The first time God came to Jonah, God said, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it" (1:2 NIV).
God said, "Go," and Jonah said, "No."
Jonah may have thought that if God had a little time to think about it, he would change his mind about Nineveh.
But Jonah learned that God does not change his mind. God said, "Jonah, go to Nineveh," the first time; and he said, "Jonah, go to Nineveh," the second time!
"Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh ".
Jonah would have preferred God to send someone else to do the job. But Jonah found out that he was the one God had chosen and called for his task.
God selected Jonah to do a work nobody else could do as effectively.
Likewise, God has something for you and me to do in His kingdom that no one else can do as effectively. And He will help us do it.
Paul learned this lesson when he said, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (Phil. 4:13).
Nineveh’s response (3:5-9).
Jesus said that Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites.
He meant that the account of all that had happened to Jonah because of his disobedience had reached Nineveh before the prophet even arrived.
They knew all about Jonah and that Jonah’s God punishes sin.
They also learned that he forgives and spares sinners when they repent.
The record gives us only five words of Jonah’s sermon in the original language.
In English the phrase is longer: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned" (v. 4 NIV).
Nowhere in the Bible or outside of it do we find where one sermon from a servant of God was used so greatly, for the whole city of Nineveh repented of sin and believed God.
The people did not set their eyes on Jonah.
He didn’t become a national hero, an overnight sensation, or a household word.
The account says the people believed God.
The response of the people was so spontaneous that they did not wait for orders from the king.
When Jonah’s message reached their ears, they repented.
And when the king heard it, he did exactly as the people were doing. And because of that, God spared the city.
Their repentance automatically moved God’s impending judgment away from them. God works the same way today.
How does God’s deal with us when we are disobedient?
He chastens us, disciplines us, corrects us —in order to get our attention.
He "comes to us a second time." He gives us a second chance.
If you or I had been writing the story of Jonah, there is no doubt that we would have concluded it with the tenth verse of chapter 3,
“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.”
That is the logical ending- That would make it the kind of story we like to hear—the "happily ever after" kind.
But that is one of the unwavering characteristics of our Bible.
It never glosses over the sins of the men and women whose lives it records.
Rather, it depicts these people in their battle with temptation and sin. It reveals them at the pinnacle of strength and victory; but when they sink to the pits in their disobedience and sin, it records that too.
So it was with Jonah. Certainly God was disappointed with Jonah’s attitudes and reactions, but he never stopped loving him.
God would much rather have demonstrated his love to Jonah by sending him blessings on top of blessings — just as he would with us. But there was a streak of rebellion in Jonah.
Maybe Jonah never became a consistently obedient servant of God.
Maybe he may have been stubborn and prejudiced all of his life. Consequently, much of the time God had to send his love to Jonah in the form of chastening and discipline.
Jonah found out, and we must never forget, that God will never leave his children alone.
When we obey him, he is going to be with us in blessing.
When we disobey him, he is going to be with us in rebuke and chastening.
If we are his children, we cannot escape him.
So, we come to our final point the Continuing Battle with Rebellion
Scripture Reading: Jonah 3:10-4:10
“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.
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."
But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
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. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
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?"
Jonah’s displeasure (3:10—4:3).
From every human standard, Jonah had been a success.
He had been God’s spokesman in the pagan city of Nineveh.
God had used his message to cause great conviction to come upon the people.
They had responded positively and repented of their sin, from the lowliest peasant to the king on the throne.
A great sweeping reformation had come to the heathen metropolis. Apparently it had been a city of evil and sin comparable to that of Sodom and Gomorrah or Tyre and Sidon.
Its wholesale iniquity had risen like a stench in God’s nostrils.
It was within forty days of total destruction.
Its time was running out.
But in his sovereign mercy, God extended a reprieve, if the people would repent and forsake their sin.
Nineveh was so large that it took three days for Jonah to reach all of the major sections of the city with his preaching.
But in so doing, he reached everyone.
All of the people heard Jonah’s message of warning and repentance.
The people listened carefully, and they believed in Jonah’s God. And when Jonah’s preaching mission was over, it was as if God had turned that great city right-side-up.
But then we read this disconcerting statement: "But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry".
Why did Jonah become angry?
Was he worried about his reputation back in Israel?
Was he afraid that he would be the laughingstock of his people when he returned home?
Would they think Jonah was a turncoat?
Not really.
Jonah simply begrudged the heathen Ninevites the abundant mercy of God!
Jonah had gratefully received God’s pardoning grace upon his repentance in the belly of the fish, but he was not willing for Nineveh to have the same pardon.
Then, with no apparent sense of shame or reluctance, Jonah laid bare his angry feelings toward God for what had happened.
Jonah in his prejudice, could not bear to see God show mercy and compassion to those Jonah did not like.
So a despondent, angry Jonah set about to justify his running away from God in the first place.
He dared to quarrel with God because he had spared Nineveh.
God’s reaction to Jonah’s displeasure (4:4-9).
Jonah went outside the city walls of Nineveh and built himself a shelter east of the city.
Some say that Jonah did this before the forty-day period of grace had expired. He was hoping that the repentance of the Ninevites was not genuine and that God would still destroy them.
In any event, after Jonah had built his shelter, God caused a gourd vine to spring up with miraculous speed.
Jonah became "very happy" about the shade this vine provided.
Incidentally, this is the only place in the book where Jonah is said to have been happy or glad and it was a selfish happiness for his own comfort!
God had a plan behind this.
That night God singled out a worm that would have a special task to perform during its existence.
It was to attack the tender stalk of the gourd vine; and overnight the vine withered and wilted to the ground.
When the sun rose the next morning, it was accompanied by a sultry east wind, which God also sent.
And the combination of the blazing sun and the hot east wind almost caused Jonah to suffer a heatstroke.
He became faint and begged to die.
Then God said to him,
"Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
And Jonah answered God with these unbelievable words:
"I am angry enough to die".
I don’t think there is a picture in all the Bible of an individual,
one of God’s children, who showed such stubborn rebellion as Jonah!
God’s compassion (4:10-11).
How great is God’s wisdom and compassion?
What irresistible logic God used with Jonah, and what boundless love and pity he demonstrated to him!
Look at the greatness of the city of Nineveh as God describes it. Those who "cannot tell their right hand from their left hand" are children who had not reached the age of accountability.
And if we are to assume that these children represented even one-fifth of the total population of the city, there would have been some 600,000 inhabitants of Nineveh.
Furthermore, we see the tenderness of God for his creation in the fact that he even spared the cattle in the city.
If God was willing and ready to spare Sodom if only ten righteous people could be found there, surely he wanted to have pity and spare 120,000 children who had not reached the age of discernment and wilful sin.
What if we could have just a tiny fraction of the compassion and concern of God for those in our world who are morally and spiritually destitute in their sin.
Conclusion
In this little book of Jonah, we have an amazing account of God’s mercy and concern for all people. And we have the disappointing picture of how God’s own people can be guilty of such gross spiritual sins as prejudice and rebellion against God.
But we also see how we cannot escape God if we are indeed His own.
He will never leave us in our disobedience.
He will chasten us as children.
Why?
Because he is our heavenly Father and we are his children.
May God help us to learn the good lesson of obedience and submission to the Father’s will and know the joy of having him release on us the untold blessings of heaven.
