The Boat, The Fish, The Cow, and The Worm
Jonah
The Boat, The Fish, The Cow, and The Worm
Jonah
Main Idea: Although we run, Jesus rescues and recommissions us to be ambassadors of reconciliation.
I. Jonah Runs from God (Jonah 1)
Jonah 1:1–2: Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.
Jonah 1:3: Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
Jonah is okay preaching to sinners like him, but he’s not okay with preaching to sinners like them.
Jonah 1:4–6: But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. [Jonah gives them a plan of action]. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”
In their attempts to lighten the ship’s cargo, they proved that the weight of Jonah’s disobedience was the heaviest burden.
~ John Chrysostom
Jonah 1:15–16: So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
You can run, you can hide, but you can’t escape God’s presence.
Jonah 1:17: And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
II. Jonah Rescued by God (Jonah 2)
Matthew 12:40: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
How you respond to this will depend on how you read the rest of the Bible. If you accept the existence of God and the resurrection of Christ, a far greater miracle, then there is nothing particularly difficult about reading Jonah literally. Certainly many people today believe all miracles are impossible, but that skepticism is just that—belief that itself can’t be proven. Not only that, but the text doesn’t show evidence of the author having made up the miracle account. A fiction writer ordinarily adds supernatural elements in order to create excitement or spectacle and to capture reader attention, but this writer doesn’t capitalize on the event at all in that way. The fish is mentioned only in two brief verses, and there are no descriptive details. It’s reported more as a simple fact of what happened. So let’s not get distracted by the fish.
~ Tim Keller, The Prodigal Prophet
Jonah 2:1–2: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
Psalm 107:23-31: Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Jonah 2:7–8: When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
Jonah 2:9: But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
2 Timothy 3:15: … and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Jonah 2:10: And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited [vomit means vomit] Jonah out upon the dry land.
III. Jonah Recommissioned by God (Jonah 3)
Jonah 3:1–3: Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
1 Corinthians 6:9–11: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Jonah 3:6–10: The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Jonah: Disobeyed God by fleeing to Tarshish and was swallowed by a great fish (Jonah 1:17).
Peter: Denied Jesus three times despite declaring his loyalty (Luke 22:61-62).
Jonah: Prayed from the belly of the fish and was delivered by God's mercy (Jonah 2:1-10).
Peter: After his denial, filled his belly with fish the morning Jesus restored him and commissioned him to care for His flock (John 21:15-17).
Jonah: God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, a major Assyrian city, to warn them of impending judgment (Jonah 1:1-2). Nineveh was a Gentile city and a long-time enemy of Israel.
Peter: God called Peter to preach to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, marking the inclusion of Gentiles into the early church (Acts 10:1-33).
Jonah: Instead of obeying, Jonah fled in the opposite direction to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).
Peter: Peter initially resisted God’s vision of unclean animals, which symbolized the inclusion of the Gentiles, saying, "Surely not, Lord!" (Acts 10:13-16).
Jonah: Preached reluctantly, yet the entire city of Nineveh repented, leading to God's mercy (Jonah 3:5-10).
Peter: Preached to Cornelius and his household, and they received the Holy Spirit, leading to the official acceptance of Gentiles into the church (Acts 10:44-48).
Jonah: Was angry and bitter that God spared Nineveh, questioning His compassion (Jonah 4:1-3).
Peter: Rejoiced and defended God’s inclusion of the Gentiles when criticized by Jewish believers (Acts 11:1-18).
IV. Jonah Resentful Toward God. (Jonah 4)
Jonah 4:1: But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
Jonah had a PhD in theology, but he’s in grammar school when it comes to having the heart of God.
Jonah 4:2: And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
Matthew 12:40–41: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
The Compassion of God
Jonah 4:1-11
We are called to have the same concern as God does for the lost and for the nations
Jonah 4:1-11
August 4th, 2019
We are called to have the same concern as God does for the lost and for the nations
I. Jonah’s Pouting (4:1-5)
Jonah should have been exceeding glad for what happened in Nineveh, but instead he is “exceedingly angry.” Jonah’s prayer reveals that his frustration is with God’s grace, mercy, and steadfast love (cf. Exodus 34:6) being offered to Nineveh, Israel’s enemy. He does not think they are worthy of this treatment.
Jonah’s prayer reveals he has a heart full of self-righteousness, which is the primary barrier the Scriptures to understanding and receiving the grace offered in the gospel. “Self-righteousness” can be defined as a trust in either who you are or what you do for salvation and right-standing before God.
Self-righteousness is dangerous in at least 3 ways:
It makes us fragile (4:3)
It makes us blind to our own sin & idolatry (4:3-4)
“If love for your country’s interests leads you to exploit people or, in this case, to root for an entire class of people to be spiritually lost, then you love your nation more than God. That is idolatry, by any definition... Jonah’s rightful love for his country and people had become inordinate, too great, rivaling God.”~ Tim Keller
It makes us feel superior to others (4:5)
Luke 5:31–32: Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
II. God’s Pity (4:6-11)
The Lord is not yet done with his prophet; he sovereignly “appoints” a plant, and then subsequently a worm and a scorching east wind to counsel Jonah to the place where he can see his own sin laid bare.
After God has Jonah’s attention, he delivers a power-packed point of rebuke to his prophet (4:10-11). God is asking Jonah: Do you really care more about the plant than the people who make up the city of Nineveh?
“By contrasting Jonah’s attitude to the [plant] with his attitude towards the Ninevites, God highlights where the real absurdity lies. Jonah is filled with compassion regarding a mere plant, yet remains hard-hearted towards the entire population of a city. He shows concern for one small item of God’s creation, yet fails to care for a large mass of people, who, like Jonah himself, were made in the divine image. The inconsistency rests not with God but with Jonah.” ~ T. Desmond Alexander
Jonah looks at the Nineveh from a place of anger and judgment, but God looks at the city and has pity on their ignorance (“who do not know their right hand from their left”). Though they are not innocent (God has called them to repent), they are lost, and God’s posture toward the city and its well-being (down to the cattle) is one of compassion.
The Hebrew for “pity” is loaded with emotion; it means to have a deep compassion, even to the point of weeping. God looks upon Nineveh and is moved to the point of grief over their lostness; his heart is drawn toward the city and its inhabitants.
“The basis for mission is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Tim. 1:15). Jonah is told to leave his world of comfort to bring God’s message to people he hated, and he ran the other way (Jon. 1:1-3). Jesus left the beauty and glory of heaven for people who hated him, to love them to himself (Rom. 5:8). Jonah tucked himself under the shade of a tree to protect and comfort himself. Jesus was hung on a tree to protect and shelter us from the judgment to come. Jonah stood outside the populated city to condemn it. Jesus was dragged outside the city to be condemned so we would never taste condemnation (Rom. 8:1-2).” ~ Scott Saul
III. Our Priority (4:11)
The cliffhanger ending of Jonah confronts us to answer the very same question: Is our heart for the lost and for the nations more like God’s or Jonah’s?
If we zoom out from Jonah, we see that this story fits within the broader story of Scripture. The Bible consistently tells us that God is going to make his glory and salvation known among all the nations.
Genesis 12:3: “...and in you [Abraham] all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Isaiah 42:6, 49:6: “I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations... that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth”
John 10:16: “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
Matthew 28:18-20: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Revelation 7:9-10: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Our future is an eternity with saints from every nation, tribe, people, and languages worshipping the Lamb who was slain who is now the King of all kings. And we get to participate in this! Our priority as the church is to declare and display the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth as we are compelled by Christ.
What is our posture toward the lost and toward the nations? We live in a day and age where nationalism is on the rise and cultural and racial tensions are high; we must be careful that we are informed by and faithful to the Word of God and the commissioning of Christ above everything else.
“It may be that in the years to come this warning note from Jonah’s experience will be an urgent one for us to hear. Churches must never be conditioned by national environment rather than by the word of the gospel. But the kind of prejudices, which come to the surface in waves of nationalism, lie in the heart at all times. Prejudices – that is for the Christian, judgments and opinions which are formed without knowledge of the circumstances, and not from the standpoint of God’s Word – can daily drive us from the love of our fellows, and from the service of God. Our prejudices need to be exposed, just as they were in Jonah’s life. Once exposed, they must be destroyed by grace.” ~ Sinclair Ferguson
The cliffhanger ending of Jonah does beg the question: does Jonah ever get it? Does he ever repent? The biggest evidence of Jonah’s repentance is the very existence of this book. Jonah, in raw honesty, revealed to us what was going on in his heart as he wrestles with God. His repentance is hope for our repentance.
The Greater Miracle of Mercy
Jonah 3:1-10
1. Jonah announced the message God gave him
2. The people of Nineveh believed God and repented
3. God saw what the people did and relented on His plans to destroy them
Jonah 3:1-10
July 28th, 2019
What happened at Nineveh?
1. Jonah announced the message God gave him
2. The people of Nineveh believed God and repented
3. God saw what the people did and relented on His plans to destroy them
Jonah preaches
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:1-4)
The people of Nineveh believe God
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” (Jonah 3:5-9)
God relents on His plans to destroy
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:10)
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:38-41)
Jesus confronts a GREATER DOOM
Jesus is a GREATER RESCUER
Jesus delivers a GREATER SIGN
Jesus offers a GREATER INVITATION
Prayer from the Depths
Jonah 2:1-10
An encounter with God’s grace and steadfast love is an opportunity for prayer and praise.
Jonah 2:1-10
July 21st, 2019
An encounter with God’s grace and steadfast love is an opportunity for prayer and praise.
I. Praying in Distress (2:1-6a)
For the first time in the narrative, Jonah finally prays to the Lord in light of his dire circumstances. Prayer is the proper response to this situation, as it the first step of surrender and a recognition that we are helpless and dependent upon the Lord.
Though Jonah is in the “belly of Sheol” (literally: the ‘womb of death’), God still hears Jonah. As Christians, we know even more powerfully that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (cf. Rom. 8:38-39).
As Jonah poetically recounts his downward descent of drowning, he begins to recognize the sovereign hand and action of God behind all of the events that have taken place: “You cast me into the sea… your waves and your billows passed over me.”
“In spiritual terms, he is experiencing what every awakened person feels: the sense that God’s presence is so real and near that each event in life is seen to be under his control…When we are aroused from spiritual lethargy, we become conscious of the weight of God’s judgment; we recognize that we are in the presence of a holy God and yet have lived without a thought for his majesty. Every circumstance of life seems to be enlarged in its significance by his all-pervasive presence.” ~ Sinclair Ferguson
In the midst of his near-death experience of drowning, verse 4 is a critical turning point for the runaway prophet. Jonah realizes that he is “driven away” (banished) from God, which is ironically what he wanted when he fled from the Lord. However, it is not until this moment that he fully realizes the horror and terror of sinking to his death without the sovereign help of God.
Jonah models the first two steps of repentance in this moment:
Repentance begins with turning our attention back to the Lord (“yet I shall look again”). Psalm 51:4: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned…”
Repentance means being specific about our sin and rebellion (“... upon your holy temple”). The temple was where God’s presence dwelt, which is precisely what Jonah is running from (cf. 1:3)
The presence of God is essential for our lives: we are helpless and powerless without it. In Christ, we have been given the indwelling Spirit of God, but in our sin the Spirit can be “grieved” (Eph. 4:30) or “quenched” (1 Thess. 5:19).
In Jonah’s turning back to the Lord, his prayer is saturated with the Word of God and direct quotations or allusions to the Psalms. “When a true child of God is in trouble, it is wonderful how dear the Bible becomes to him” ~ Charles Spurgeon
II. Proclaiming Steadfast Love & Salvation (2:6b-9)
Jonah prays in gratitude and praise that God has raised him up from the gates of death, even though his life had hit rock bottom and was near death. He remembers the Lord, who in his grace, won’t let Jonah get away.
Jonah proclaims, “those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” Idols are essentially “empty substitutes” for the real God, and they have no real power.
Idolatry is a heart and a worship issue (“pay regard” = cherish or worship); idols are things that have captured our hearts more than God. We can make anything into an idol, and the subtle danger of idolatry is that they are often good things that we make into ultimate things. We look to them for our sense of identity, safety, security, and comfort.
Idols are “vain” because they will always over-promise and under-deliver. They cannot bear the weight of our worship and expectation in the way that God is designed to in our lives. It is only his “steadfast love” (covenantal love) that can fulfill our deepest desires.
“Jonah sees the literal idols that the pagans worship and doesn’t see the more subtle idols in his own life that keep him from fully grasping that he too, just like the heathen, lives only, equally by God’s grace.” ~ Tim Keller
“Salvation belongs to the Lord” is the truth of the whole Bible. When we realize that salvation is fully of the Lord, it reinvigorates our faith. There is nothing we did to earn our salvation and there is nothing we can do to lose it. It is his work from beginning to end.
Jonah says he will “pay” what he has “vowed,” likely meaning he will fulfill his prophetic ministry and go to Nineveh. This encounter with the grace of God has recommissioned him to bring the Word of God to Nineveh.
III. The Problem Within Jonah (2:10)
Jonah is unceremoniously “vomited” back onto the dry land, as the Lord continues to exercise his sovereignty over creation. This was not a pretty or pleasant experience, but it is again God’s surprising mercy and grace to his undeserving prophet.
This is not the end of the story here for Jonah, however. Though Jonah repents in some sense here in chapter 2, he still has unresolved issues with God’s plan for Nineveh. He is genuinely grateful and thankful for his salvation and deliverance, but he will object when this is extended toward those he deems undeserving.
Jonah has now had a firsthand experience of God’s mercy toward the undeserving, but the story is still full of tension as he seems to reluctantly warn Nineveh and then acts in defiance and anger toward God’s mercy for them in chapter 4.
We ought to recognize our own stories and our own repentance in the midst of the tension with Jonah. There is always a risk of experiencing the mercy of God firsthand, but then being unwilling to extend this to others.
We also have access to the greater story that Jonah could not have known at this time. Jonah could only look to the temple (2:4, 7), but the temple set the stage for the sacrificial, atoning work of Christ on behalf of a guilty humanity. Through Christ, we have access to a greater resurrection, a greater salvation, and a greater mission.
“Why did Christ come? Why was he conceived? Why was he born? Why was he crucified? Why did he rise again? Why is he now at the right hand of the Father? The answer to all these questions is, in order that he might make worshipers out of rebels.” ~ A.W. Tozer
Unrelenting Grace to the Undeserving
Jonah 1:7-17
God sovereignly pursues the undeserving with unrelenting grace, inviting us to respond with repentance and worship.
Jonah 1:7-17
July 14th, 2019
God sovereignly pursues the undeserving with unrelenting grace, inviting us to respond with repentance and worship.
I. A Fragile Identity (1:7-10)
Since Jonah has been silent and indifferent on the ship up to this point, the sailors cast lots (something like dice) in order to determine what is going on with the divine displeasure of the storm. The lot fell on Jonah (cf. Prov. 16:33), who they already suspected at this time.
The sailors are asking key identity questions here. They are wanting to know Jonah’s:
Purpose: “What is your occupation?”
Place: “Where do you come from? What is your country?”
People: “... of what people are you?”
Jonah responds to their questions by leading with his ethnic identity (“Hebrew”). Though this has religious connotations, this was the primary way foreign nations would have identified the Israelites ethnically and racially. The fact that Jonah leads with his race hints that this is the most important part of his identity.
“While Jonah had faith in God, it appears not to have been as deep and fundamental to his identity as his race and nationality… if his race was more foundational to his self-image than his faith, it begins to explain why Jonah was so opposed to calling Nineveh to repentance. The prospect of calling people of other nations to faith in God would not be appealing under any circumstances to someone with this spiritually shallow identity. Jonah’s relationship with God was not as basic to his significance as his race. This is why, when loyalty to his people and loyalty to the Word of God seemed to be in conflict, he chose to support his nation over taking God’s love and message to a new society.” ~ Tim Keller
Then Jonah tells them who he worship: “The Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” This is both deeply ironic (he is fleeing the God of the sea on a ship) and deeply inconsistent (Jonah’s words ring hollow about worshipping the Lord).
Jonah’s fragile and fractured identity make him blind to the situation he finds himself in. His words here ought to serve as a warning for us to consider how we are building and understanding our identity.
It is not only what Jonah includes that is instructive for us, but also what he does not say. Jonah never answers what his “occupation” and mission is because he is now in flux as a prophet of God. He has lost his sense of purpose and mission, which is the inevitable consequence of running from God and building an identity apart from him.
II. Substitution at Sea (1:11-16)
The storm continues to intensify, so the sailors now ask Jonah what they should do, since he is the problem. Though we are unsure of Jonah’s motives, he urges them to hurl him off the ship so that they might be saved. He does not seem ready to deal with God quite yet, but he does finally have some level of sympathy for those who are at risk because of him.
The sailors continue to act admirably in trying to save human life, but it is clear that no effort of their own will save them or Jonah. Out of options, they cry out to Yahweh, the God of Israel, for there to be justice and no retribution for the reluctant action they are about to perform.
Even though Jonah is a messy, imperfect character with mixed motives at best, this is ultimately an act of love to spare the lives of these sailors. There are echoes of Christ in his substitutionary and sacrificial act.
Mark 4:35-41: On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Jesus refers to himself as “something greater than Jonah”(Matt. 12:41), because his substitutionary sacrifice is even greater than Jonah’s. In Christ, it was God himself who substitutes himself into the place of an undeserving humanity, so that we might receive mercy and grace.
“Jonah’s willingness to die for the sailors points us to an infinitely greater sacrificial love that brings infinitely greater salvation. Unlike Jonah, Jesus was not thrown into the waters, because Jesus came to save us from a far greater peril than drowning. Jesus was able to calm the storm on Galilee and save his disciples because later, on the cross, he was thrown into the ultimate storm of divine wrath so he could save us from sin and death itself.” ~ Tim Keller
Tracing the escalating “fear” of the sailors helps us to see the proper response to the gospel:
They generally fear the violence of the storm (1:5)
They fear the God behind the storm (1:10)
A “fear of the Lord” that is reverent worship, including sacrifice and vows (1:16). We are called to respond in the very same way to the sacrificial and subtituationary work of Christ.
III. Mercy at the Bottom (1:17)
Jonah’s “downward” running now finds its end as he goes “under the sea” (the realm of death in Hebrew thought). But God’s mercy meets Jonah at the very bottom, through another surprising instrument of mercy: a great fish.
The issue of Jonah being swallowed by a “great fish” and surviving for three days and three nights gives many modern readers skepticism regarding the account of Jonah. Rather than trying to prove this scientifically, we should seek to let the text stand by itself, which clearly claims that God miraculous and divinely acted to bring about this salvation from death.
Likewise, there is little evidence that this story is just a “parable” or a “fable,” with a fictitious account with a true message. Jonah is a real person, Nineveh is a real place, and the story of the fish is presented in a straightforward account (not embellished in any way).
Most importantly, Jesus was quite comfortable talking about the fish in Jonah, and he does so to point us to his own death and resurrection. (cf. Matt. 12:38-41). The true and miraculous story of Jonah and the fish is meant to point us beyond themselves to the greater true and miraculous story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“The fish represents an “unbelievable” theology: Yahweh wants to save the rebellious and the violent. Through the agency of the big fish, Jonah is forgiven and saved. Also unbelievable, the storm is stilled and the sailors worship the true God, and the Ninevites receive the message from Jonah, repent, and are saved. In this way the bigness of the unbelievable fish is finally about God’s saving way in the world. The big fish makes a specific point of God’s extravagant, unrelenting, pursuing, and saving love.” ~ James Bruckner
The “sign of Jonah” is offered to each of us. The message of Jonah is that we have run, rebelled, questioned God’s plans, and are undeserving. The good news is that God’s mercy meets Jonah when he reaches the end of himself. God’s unrelenting grace is offered to us, the undeserving: will we continue to run or will we respond with worship and repentance to the kindness of God?
The Runaway Prophet
Jonah 1:1-6
Though we are prone to run from God when we question his plan, God’s grace runs faster.
Jonah 1:1-6
July 7th, 2019
Main Idea: Though we are prone to run from God when we question his plan, God’s grace runs faster.
The story of Jonah is not ultimately about a rebellious prophet or a big fish or a wicked city; Jonah is a book about God’s relentless, unstoppable, and mysterious mercy toward the undeserving.
“Jonah is an old, old story. And yet it still offers to us insight, encouragement, and faith for living faithfully in our new world. In a world that is constantly at a pace unimaginable by Jonah and his contemporaries, we can still look to the simplicity of God’s dealing with Jonah to see what faith looks like in our world today. Jonah was a rebel. We are rebels too. Jonah was running. We run too. Many of us run as fast as we can away from God, but God’s grace is faster. God’s grace was great to Jonah. To us, God’s grace is greater still.” ~ Anthony Carter
I. Running From God (1:1-3)
Three things to observe in the introduction to this book: The Prophet, The Call, and The Response
The Prophet (1:1): Jonah, the son of Amittai; he is also mentioned in 2 Kings 14:23-27 as serving as a prophet in the Northern Kingdom during the reign of King Jeroboam II. He is presented as nationalistic as he supports agressive expansion for Northern Israel.
The Call (1:2): Jonah is called to go and “call out against Nineveh.” This is unique because Ninveh was not an Israelite city; it was the capital city of the mighty Assyrian Empire, one of the enemies of Israel. Jonah is to warn this city of its evil before the Lord.
The Response (1:3): Jonah “arose”... and fled. He runs away from God because he does not agree with God providing a gracious warning to a violent, sinful, and wicked people like the Assyrians.
If Jonah goes through, he faced the threat of death or rejection from his own people. Despite these possibilities, Jonah’s issue is theological and with God himself: he does not think that the Ninevites were worthy of the grace of this warning. He believers they should be punished for their wickedness and evil. That is he why he “flees from the presence of the Lord.”
“Jonah wants a God of his own making, a God who simply smites the bad people, for instance, the wicked Ninevites, and blesses the good people, for instance, Jonah and his countrymen. When the real God – not Jonah’s counterfeit – keep showing up, Jonah is thrown into fury or despair. Jonah finds the real God to be an enigma because he cannot reconcile the mercy of God with his justice. How, Jonah asks, can God be merciful and forgiving to people who have done such violence and evil? How can God be both merciful and just?” ~ Tim Keller
Jonah flees to Tarshish, which was as far away from Nineveh as you could go; he is attempting to do the exact opposite of what God has called him to do.
Jonah knows he can’t literally run from the presence of God, but he attempts to run from the functional, relational presence of God in his life. He is seeking to resign as prophet and build his own identity in a place far away where he can drown out God’s word and God’s voice.
Jonah’s running ought to make us consider our own “running” from God. What are the things that make us want to run and how do we run?
“Does God know what’s best, or do we? The default mode of the unaided human heart is to always decide that we do. We doubt that God is good, or that he is committed to our happiness, and therefore, if we can’t see any good reasons for something God says or does, we assume that there aren’t any.” ~ Tim Keller
To run away from God’s word is to ultimately run away from God himself. This running is exhausting and will lead to a dead-end.
II. Grace That Runs Faster (1:4-6)
Though it wouldn’t look like it to those caught on the boat, this mighty storm is a mercy from God. He is chasing down his prophet and will not let him run away.
Storms are inevitable in this world because of sin. But we must remember how those on this boat ended up in the storm:
Some storms are a direct consequence of our own sin (Jonah)
Some storms are a result of living in a fallen and broken world where things are not the way they are supposed to be (the mariners/sailors)
No matter how we end up in a storm, God has a purpose in the midst of them. Even if we can’t see a good reason for what is happening, there is mercy deep inside of the storms of this life.
In the midst of the storm, it is ironically the pagan sailors who are more spiritually in-tune than the prophet of God. They sailors are the ones who pray and call out to their gods, and they take action by “hurling” their cargo off the ship, at great cost to themselves, in an attempt to preserve human life.
Jonah is in a “deep sleep” while the sailors are doing all that they can. This is the logical conclusion to Jonah’s running which is always described as “going down” because sin always takes us toward a “downward” orientation.
Jonah’s running makes him indifferent to the plight of his fellow humanity, even though he is the one who knows that God has created all human beings in his image with worth, value, and dignity.
The introduction to this book leads us to a messy, runaway prophet. But the good news of Jonah is that a greater Jonah has come; where Jonah flees from his call to follow the mission of God into enemy territory to an undeserving people, Jesus freely left the comforts and privileges of heaven to come to us, though we are undeserving.