Jonah,
and other Prodigals
Jonah 1:1-3
Introduction: In a sermon, Dr. Paul Tripp suggested that this little book,
just 48 verses, tells us “…everything we need to know about a biblical
worldview in a podcast…” He points to four themes…
1. A God of awesome glory who is at the center of the
universe (He is, not you!). He is King of the Universe!
2. This world in which we live is terribly
broken by sin. It is evident in big cities, and in small towns… in human lives…
sin is not ok. Nineveh was corrupt, exceedingly evil, so is the world of today.
When we would rather have our way, our control, our pleasure, we are guilty of fleeing
to Tarshish…
3. Human beings were created to live for
something bigger than “me” and “mine.” “The Holy Trinity” is not my wants, needs,
and feelings! We have a higher purpose, to live for God, and His glory.
4. The reality of unrelenting, transforming
grace (compare the first verse with the last verse of the book!). Announcing
judgement is also a call to repentance. God could have sent someone else, but
he was also working in Jonah.
That’s a lot of truth in a children’s Sunday School story!
But we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, “All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped
for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16,17). God included Jonah in the Bible for our
edification! And by the way, don’t let anyone tell that the events it describes
aren’t meant to be taken literally. Jesus himself referred to Jonah as a
picture of his own death and resurrection when He said in Matthew 12:40-41,
40 "For 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. 41
"The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and
condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a
greater than Jonah is here.
If Jonah is ahistorical, then why would Jesus refer to it in
connection with His death and resurrection? Jesus clearly assumes that Jonah is
a historical narrative, trustworthy history. People who doubt that get caught
up in the idea of someone being swallowed by a fish and living to tell about
it. This is a miracle and many people deny anything supernatural in the Bible.
If you can believe Genesis 1:1, is this really so hard to believe? God, who
brought the universe out of nothing, would not be able to prepare a great fish
to swallow a man, and then keep him alive inside that animal for three days?
What about raising from the dead, after three days in the tomb? Nothing is too
difficult for God! Let’s hear together what God is saying in this book.
The Maine* Idea: God is our Creator and King, He knows best, so trust Him
and obey His Word!
I. The Sovereign Lord of the Universe has spoken (1). The main character of this
story is introduced in v.1 (and, let me give you a hint, it is not Jonah!). The
God who is, Yahweh, the Creator of the universe, the Great I AM, has spoken.
The Hebrew construction occurs in this exact pattern 24 times in the Bible, all
but once when God was speaking to or through a prophet. We see it here, then
again in 3:1 when God calls Jonah for a second time. I think it was Greg Laurie
who said, “God said ‘GO!’ Jonah said, ‘NO!’ And God said ‘Oh???’”
“Now the word of the LORD came to
Jonah the son of Amittai, saying…”
Jonah, the son
of Amittai, is the principle human character in this story. We don’t know a lot
about Jonah beyond what is written here. We do see him mentioned in his
prophetic role in 2 Kings 14:23-27,
23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash,
king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in
Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years.
24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did
not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel
to sin. 25 He restored the
border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according
to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah
the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. 26 For the LORD saw that the affliction
of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was
none to help Israel. 27 But
the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under
heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
So we see Jonah, perhaps the son of a prophet, prophesying in
the northern kingdom, and his word being fulfilled. We learn that he is from
Gath-hepher, which would be near Nazareth, in Galilee, not so far from where
Jesus was raised. What we are not so sure about is whether the book of Jonah
describes an earlier time in Jonah’s life, perhaps His initial call to
prophetic ministry, or whether it is later. I’ve seen a few different
commentaries suppose one or the other position. It seems more likely to me that
the Book of Jonah presents an initial call to prophetic ministry, but I am not
sure. So, this we do know. Assyria was a rising power in the east, a threat to
Israel, a pagan nation, and Nineveh was its capital. And the Word of the Lord came to Jonah. God told Jonah to
bring to that violent, pagan nation, a warning of impending judgment. Is a call
to repent implicit in that warning?
God, Yahweh, is
the main character in this story. The God who spoke the universe into
existence, who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, who parted the sea and
allowed the Israelites to walk through, before drowning the army of Pharaoh.
The God who led them through the wilderness by the Pillar of cloud by day and
Pillar of fire at night, who dwelt in the midst of the people in the Tabernacle
and then the Temple, He spoke to Jonah, and by the way, He has spoken to
us. The writer to the Hebrews began his Epistle saying, “In different times
and in different ways God spoke in times past to the fathers through the
prophets, in these last days He has spoken in [the] Son…” (Heb 1:1,2). The
Word of the Lord has come to us—the Word was made flesh and lived among us
(John 1:14). Does that astonish you? It should. If we grasp just a little of
who God is, of His holiness and majesty, His awesome power omniscience, it is
astounding that He would stoop to talk to us, through the prophets, and
ultimately, through the Son. We should be quick to listen, and to obey! In 2 Kings 14:25 Jonah is called the Lord’s
“servant.” That is a precious title, a time in his life when it seems he knew
God and walked with Him. He is not at that point in this story. At least
not yet. How about you? The God of the universe has spoken! That’s the Maine*
Idea: God is our Creator and King, He knows best, so trust Him and obey
His Word!
II. God is Holy and Just, He is also compassionate and calls
us to bring His message to the world (2).
"Arise,
go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has
come up before me."
It wasn’t so
unusual for God to speak an oracle against a pagan nation through one of His
prophets. We saw several in our survey of Isaiah in Sunday School. Jeremiah has
some as well, as do some of the minor prophets. What I think is unprecedented,
is telling one of His prophets to actually go to that pagan nation, and
to pronounce against it God’s impending judgment! What do we know about this city
Nineveh?
Nineveh later
became the permanent capital of Assyria, and in Jonah’s day was already the political,
cultural, and economic center of the Assyrian Empire. The ruins of Nineveh are
located about a mile east of the Tigris River, opposite Mosul in northern Iraq
(see Major Cities of the Biblical World, ed. R.K. Harrison, p.181). It
was one of the largest cities of its time, maybe close to half a million
people, including women and children. Because of the wealth and power of
Assyria, they were considered a threat to the security of Israel. Eventually,
in 722 BC, they would be the ones who would overrun the northern Kingdom and
sack the capital city of Samaria. These were enemies, and God tells Jonah to go
to them, and to announce His coming judgement. Why did he run? We’ll learn more
later in our study, but, as Tim Keller asks, “How long would a Jewish rabbi
have lasted if he stood on the streets
of Berlin and called on Nazi Germany to repent?” (Prodigal, p.14). That
wouldn’t be too different that asking you or me to go to Tehran, or Bagdad, or
Peking, and to preach the Gospel in the public square! How would that go?
God said to Jonah go to that “great city,” it
seems talking about its size and population and influence. The need for the
mission is that their evil had come up before the Lord. The wickedness of their
pagan culture was like a stench in God’s nostrils, an offense to His holiness. They
were a violent, immoral, and idolatrous culture. Like the world in Noah’s day,
like the world in our day, “every man did that which was right in his own
eyes… there was none righteous, no not one…” God is holy, and He will by no
means leave the guilty unpunished. But why send Jonah to warn them? Well, what
happens when he does? They repent, they put on sack cloth and ashes and cry out
to God for mercy!
God had souls to
save in that city, and He is not willing that any should perish, but that all
would come to repentance. It would seemingly be only for a generation, but some
would believe! But they were pagans, violent and sinful, the enemy of Israel!
And Jonah did not want to go. Are you convinced that God has souls to save in
the Boothbay region? God said “Go!” and
Jonah said, “No!” Your neighbors and family and friends who have not yet
believed, are separated from God. God has placed you where you are, as His
witness, he has told you, “Go and tell.” The Word of the Lord has come to us,
as surely as it came to Jonah. Will we make excuses? Will we run and hide? Or
will we speak the truth in love? God is our Creator and King. He knows best, so
trust Him and obey His Word!
III. We must overcome the temptation to resist His Word and
to think that we know better than God what is best for us (3)!
But 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
on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
First, let’s
look at Jonah’s Plan, it wasn’t very complicated: Run away from God! Notice
twice we are told in this verse that Jonah planned to flee “from the
presence of the Lord.” A more literally
rendering would be, “…from the face of the Lord…”
He was turning his back on God. Tarshish was across that Mediterranean
Sea, in Spain we think, it was essentially the end of the earth as far as Jonah
knew, as far away from Jerusalem as he could run. But run from God? Now, Jonah
knew something about God. Two hundred years before his time David had written
the beautiful lines of Psalm 139 that describe the omniscience and omnipresence
of God,
O LORD,
you have searched me and known me! 2
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from
afar. 3 You search out my
path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my
tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon
me. 6 Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your
Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are
there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the
morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead
me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be
night," 12 even the
darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as
light with you.
That is not a God you can run away from! Yet Jonah turned his
back on God and ran. Foolish? Yes. Yet we do the same thing, when we know what
God expects of us, we know what He would have us do, we know what His word
says, and yet we rationalize and justify our unbelief, choosing our sin, as if
it is in that pleasure that we’ll find happiness rather than in the will of God!
I am Jonah, and at times, so are you. God’s way is best. He has spoken in His
book. Let’s take Him at His Word!
Notice too, Joppa’s
“provision”: A boat, going my way! I have talked with people who
have convinced themselves that the circumstances through which they have
passed, the series of events that came together, “proves” that God wants them
to take a certain course of action – even though it is contrary to the Word of
God. “This is an exception; this must mean that God knows it is how I will find
true happiness…” If God is in it, know this: His Word is truth, He will
not contradict His Word. God’s best for you will always be found in submitting
to His Word. Jonah planned to go to Tarshish, away from the presence of the
Lord. He arrives in Joppa, and there it is, a boat going his way! To the end of
the earth! Away from Nineveh. Did he think to himself, “Look, maybe God has
opened the door for my trip!”? We can rationalize like that! This was not
providential confirmation of Jonah’s decision. God was there, allowing him to
go a bit further, before reeling him back in!
By the way, if
the town of “Joppa” sounds familiar, you may remember that it is the town in
the New Testament time where Peter went to stay in the house of Simon the
Tanner in Acts 10. It was there that he received a vision of a sheet coming
down from heaven, and got the message that it was ok to eat cheeseburgers and
lobsters… and also to go to the gentiles with the Gospel of Jesus. He goes with
some men to the house of Cornelius, and while he is speaking of Christ, God
shows his grace to those present as they hear and believe and receive the Holy
Spirit. Jonah had been called to go to a pagan, gentile nation, and ran to
Joppa on his way to Tarshish. 800 years later or so, Peter is at Joppa, and he
is told that God has included the gentiles in His plan, and He was to go to
them. Jesus spoke to His disciples, and to us, the same truth,
All
authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make
disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Mt 28:18-20).
God said “Go!” Jonah said, “No!” And God said, “Oh???” We are
here for a purpose. Jesus has said “Go!” Not necessarily across the sea or even
across cultures. But across the hall, or down the street, to the people in our
sphere of influence. Will we trust and obey?
The journey’s
“price”: “He paid the fare…” In this case, Jonah literally paid
in coinage a price to run away from God. But the cost would be much higher.
Sin has a price. Yes, for believers, the price for our redemption is paid in
blood, by Jesus himself. The debt is paid. But God is always working for
our good, and for His glory. He will chasten every child He receives
(Heb 12:5). Sin has consequences. Because God loves us, because He is
working in us, to make us more like Jesus, He won’t let us go on in our
rebellion. Even if He needs to send a storm… or a big fish!
What is God saying to me in this passage? This passage reminds us that God is
our Creator and King, and that He knows best, so let us trust Him and obey His
Word!
What would God have me to do in response to this
passage? I am not
sure if our study of Jonah will bear out Dr. Tripp’s assertion that we’ll find
in this little book “everything we need to know about a Christian worldview in
a podcast.” I am already learning, and being convicted, and challenged. This
is no fish story. It is God’s story, God who cares about humans so much,
that he is present in the storm, to accomplish His purpose according to grace,
and grow our faith. The God who is, has spoken. Just as surely as He called
Jonah, His call is on my life and on yours. Will we listen? We can’t run from
God. We can trust Him. Remember the old song, “Trust and obey, there is no
other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” That truth is part of
the message of Jonah. Let’s explore it together. AMEN.
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