We recently commemorated the 13th
anniversary of the September 11th, terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon. It was a day that radically changed our country
forever. I remember sitting in history
class when the professor told the class that the second plane just hit removing
all doubts that our country was under attack. The events on September 11th
rattled our country’s security, yet reinforced our national pride. September 11th is a day when we
remember. We remember those who lost
their lives and rededicate ourselves to be fervent in our fight against
terrorism. And as we remember that day,
we often ask, “Where was God on September 11th?” The question is
often asked after events of great calamity.
Where was God during Hurricane Katrina? Or the Tsunami in Indonesia?
Where is God now with the brutal slayings of Christians in the Middle East? It
is a very honest and important question to ask.
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Granted,
many people ask the question with disdain or anger, but others ask out of
confusion or deep hurt. If we are going
to be honest, we all have probably asked that question. The Psalmist asks this question in the face
of much terror,
I say to God, my
rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the
oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries
taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” (Psalm
42:9-10).
We live in a day of terror. We
cannot escape it. And when we face this kind of terror and calamity, we may be
tempted to ask, “God, are you sovereign?” Sovereignty means possessing supreme
or ultimate power. In the face of terrible evil, we may be tempted to doubt
God’s control of the universe. Is God
sovereign? Is God in control?
This
is the question we hope to answer as we study the book of Jonah. We continue our series through the Minor
Prophets asking eternal questions. When most Christians hear of Jonah, we
immediately think of him spending 3 days in the belly of a whale. Although Jonah being swallowed by a great
fish (perhaps a whale) is important to his life, it is not the ultimate purpose
of the book. G. Campbell Morgan aptly
says, “Men have been looking so hard at the great fish that they have failed to
see the great God.[1]”
Jonah is a book displaying God’s sovereign compassion for the world even in the
midst of much terror. God is in control.
Jonah
is different from the rest of the Minor Prophets in that the focus of the book
is on the prophet’s story rather than on his message. It is written more as a narrative than as a
prophetic book. Some scholars question
the veracity of this book and try to categorize it more as a fictional parable
rather than a true historical event.
This is a flawed view and one that does not honor a high view of
Scripture. The book is full of real
places and real people experiencing real events. Jesus even referred to Jonah as a real
historical person (Matthew 12:39-41). In effort to explain away the
supernatural, scholars have denied the historicity of Jonah and set themselves
up against the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
God Sovereignly Calls
We see God’s
sovereign hand at the very outset of the book in His calling of Jonah. God
shows that He is in control from the beginning to the end of this book because
He is control from the beginning to the end of all things.
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.”
Nineveh is a great city and also a
great enemy of God’s people. They were known for their brutality and
cruelty. God knows of their sin (as God
knows of all sin) and has called one of His people to speak out against
it. It is foolish to think that we can
hide anything from God. All sin will be
held accountable. Are there any sins in
your life that you think are hidden from God?
Rest assured, He sees all and one day will call you to account.
As
it is foolish to think we can hide anything from God, it is also foolish to
think we can hide anywhere from God, but that is exactly what Jonah tries to
do, verse 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 down into it, to go with
them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
It is never good when God tells us
to do something and our reply begins with, “But.” I hear that word often as a parent after
telling my children to do something, they often reply with, “But Daddy.” The only thing that follows that statement is
an excuse for disobedience. Jonah went
the opposite direction of Nineveh and paid a fare to go away from the presence
of the Lord. Jonah, the prophet of the
Lord, was being disobedient.
God Sovereignly Chases
It is hard to miss
the Lord’s hand traced throughout this book.
The people of Nineveh deserved to be destroyed for their evil and yet
God was sending a prophet to call them to repentance. Jonah deserved to be cast
from God’s presence because that was exactly where he wanted to go. And yet,
the Lord sovereignly chases him with a compassionate love. Verse 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.”
The Lord sent the wind. God was
pursuing the disobedient Jonah through the wind and the raging.
Sometimes the Lord
uses circumstances to calls us to repentance.
We saw this happen after 9/11, Katrina and the Tsunami. Tragedy exposes the reality of death and
brevity of life which often cause us to call out to God. Do you see the irony in that last part of
verse 6? The pagan sailors tell Jonah
the prophet to call out to God and maybe God would think of them and they would
not perish. As the story continue, see
how God has already thought much of them for the wind was not only for Jonah,
but for these pagan sailors.
The sudden power
displayed in the wind and the sudden silence of the wind was to cause the
sailors to fear the Lord.
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. Then they
said to him, “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. 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.
The men recognized it was Jonah
that caused the storm, yet they did not want to cast him into the sea. They
rowed hard back to dry land, but the Lord would not allow them to as the sea
grew more and more tempestuous against them.
The Lord continued to hurl the mighty wind
against them until finally the sailors had no choice. Verse 14-16,
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.” 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.
The demonstration of the Lord’s
power caused these men to repent and fear the Lord exceedingly. God sovereignly chased Jonah AND God sovereignly
chased the sailors.
God Sovereignly Catches
Jonah
was heading down to the pit of the sea, but the Lord sovereignly catches this
wayward prophet through appointing a great fish to swallow him. Do not stare at
the fish, but notice the one behind the fish.
Verse 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.
Many scholars believe that Jonah
wrote this book because of the intimate details that are shared which only he could
know. Through Jonah’s own words, he
confirms God’s sovereign control of the whole situation. Listen how Jonah
testifies to God’s control. Chapter 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. For you cast me into the deep, into the
heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows
passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall
again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my
life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of
the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet
you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. 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. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have
vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” And the LORD spoke to the
fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Salvation indeed belongs to the
Lord. God is sovereign in salvation from
beginning to end. He is in control.
God Sovereignly Calls (Again)!!
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The
Lord continues to show His kindness to Jonah.
We come back to where the book started with God calling Jonah. Chapter
3:1-5,
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!” 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.
Jonah wisely obeyed God’s word and
went to Nineveh as verse 3 highlights (according to the word of the Lord). God
had been working on Nineveh long before Jonah got there. It has been documented
through historical records that a few years prior to Jonah’s entering Nineveh,
there was a severe famine and solar eclipse. This may have given people more
reason to respond to God’s message.
The message was
declared and the people believed. And God was behind it all. He was behind the
calling of Jonah, He gave the message, He was in control of their
circumstances, and He prepared their hearts to believe. God saw the change in
the people’s lives and relented in destroying the city, verse 3:10,
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.
God did not repay Nineveh for their
sins, but gave them mercy.
God’s Sovereignly Compassionate
And this is the
very reason Jonah ran in the first place.
It was not because he thought the task was too hard, but that he did not
want God to show compassion. God’s
sovereign compassion given to His enemies and a proper response to that
compassion is the main point of the book. Jonah 4:1-4,
But it displeased
Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 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 was angry that God showed
mercy. Have you ever questioned God’s compassion? Why did God show mercy to those people? Why
was God kind to them?
Jonah
was blind to the kindness of God in his own life. Jonah was in disobedience and
God sovereignly chased him and caught him.
He was rescued by God’s grace, and yet, he does not want that same
sovereign grace to be extended to his enemies.
He knows of God’s mercy, but he does not truly know God’s mercy. So God demonstrated his merciless heart for
the lost through a vine. Verse 5-11,
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?”
The book ends with a question. A
question to make us think about the Nineveh’s in our life. We may not be indignant like Jonah, but we
may be indifferent. Do we trust that God is sovereign? Do we trust that He is
good? Power corrupts and absolute power
corrupts absolutely that is unless the One who actually has absolute power is
incorruptible.
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God
is in control of all things and His control always works for our good. We may not always feel His presence or see His
hand, but we can know for certainty that God is working. God is working because God is always at
work. Jonah shows us God’s gracious
control to pursue the disobedient prophet, the pagan sailors and the people of
Nineveh. God is working, so ask
yourself, “Will you work with Him? Or will you flee from Him?
Jonah spent 3 days
in the belly of the great fish and he spent 3 days teaching in the great
city. Jesus said in this Jonah served as
a sign of His resurrection. Jesus spent
3 days in the earth, before He would rise again. Jonah foreshadowed the resurrection. Jesus was declared to be the Only Sovereign,
the King of kings and the Lord of lords, in his resurrection (1 Tim 6:15-16). And now we are called like Jonah, to be
witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 1:22).
God had pity for the people of Nineveh, who are far from God. God had
pity on us when we were far from God. Jonah ends with a question so we will ask
ourselves, “If God has pity on the lost, will we?”
[1]
G. Campbell Morgan, The Minor Prophets: The Men and Their Message (Westword,
N.J.: Revell,1960), 69 quoted in The Message of the Old Testament: Promises
Made. Dever, Mark. 782.
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