Jonah: God loves your enemy…
1:1-17, 2:8-9, 4:2 (Pastor Heo)
1:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 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. 4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.
5 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. 6 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 so that we will not perish.”
7 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. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 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.) 11 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?” 12 “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.” 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.
14 Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. 17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
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2:8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. 9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’ ”
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4:2 He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing 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.
God’s loving concern for the Gentiles is not a truth disclosed only in the New Testament – more than 700 years before Christ, God commissioned this Hebrew missionary to preach a message of repentance to Assyria (capital, Ninevah). However, Jewish nationalism blinded the prophet and the people to God’s purpose for worldwide salvation.
This story of Jonah is one of the clearest demonstrations of God’s mercy, love, and compassion for the WHOLE world. It is a very unique and unusual book because of its message and messenger. The whole book revolves around a Gentile world. God is very concerned with the Gentile world, as well as his covenant people. Yet, his prophet is an unwilling messenger – he is fearful that God will spare them in compassion if they repent.
Chp 1:1-3
God called Jonah and told him to go to Ninevah, the capital of Assyria and preach repentance.
Jonah = “dove”
2 Kings 14:25 Jonah was from God’s helpers, 3 miles north of Nazareth, below Galilee. He was a Galilean. He was a contemporary of the 13th king of Jeroboam II (Northern kingdom) – around 770/60 BC.
Northern kingdom was destroyed in 722-721 BC. This event happened 40 years before the total destruction of the northern kingdom by Assyria (these people Jonah is preaching to). At that time, Assyria was a real threat to Israel. To go and preach repentance to them would be helping his country’s enemies. In patriotic zeal, he put his will before God’s and fled.
Ninevah is 500 miles away to the northeast. So, he got a boat to Tarshish (Spain) about 2000 miles away to the west (opposite direction).
Jonah thought he could escape from the site of God. BUT, God uses a creative series of countermeasures to achieve his desired result anyway.
- God sent a huge storm on the sea
All the sailors did what they could to survive or stop the storm. Jonah was sleeping, and the captain came to him “Why don’t you cry out to your God?” They cast lots to find out who was responsible for the storm. It fell on Jonah… The sea continued to get rougher and rougher, so they asked, “What should we do to you to make this sea calm down?” Jonah “Pick me up and throw me into this raging sea.” Finally, they had no choice but to do so – and immediately the sea became calm. They became very afraid of God and offered sacrifices to him.
So, maybe all the pagan sailors in this ship were evangelized by this situation.
- God provided a huge fish (whale?) that swallowed Jonah.
This is the story of chapter 1.
Chapter 2 is the prayer of Jonah inside that huge fish (3 days and 3 nights) – he prayed and confessed “salvation belongs to the Lord” (key sentence).
He realized 2 truths in that fish. (If you want to realize huge truths, go dwell in a huge fish for 3 days and 3 nights, too.)
After three days, God commanded the fish to vomit him up onto the shore.
Chapter 3: Second Commission of Jonah
(almost the same – chpt 1:1-2)
Chp 3:1-2
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
This time, Jonah obeyed, unwillingly still. His preaching in Ninevah was only one sentence. “In 40 days, this city will be destroyed.” (He preached, expecting that the city would be destroyed in 40 days.)
Here is a walking object lesson.
No doubt his skin was bleached white from being in the fish for 3 days. And this 1 sentence sermon brought about incredible results. ALL repented with fasting. Even the animals did not eat nor drink. God saw this repentance and had compassion upon them and did not destroy them as he’d threatened. What a wonderful missionary! Right?
Chapter 4:1 “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry!”
Wait, why? His missionary job was a HUGE success! Yet, he’s upset and unsatisfied with God because God showed love, compassion, mercy, grace, slowness to angry toward Ninevah.
- Jonah complained to God. “Just kill me! I’m angry enough to die!”
- God asked, “Do you have a right to be angry?”
- Jonah, “Yes! I want to die!”
God’s next action taught a spiritual lesson to Jonah.
Jonah went out of the city and built a shack and took rest inside the house – waiting to watch FIRE AND BRIMSTONE rain down!! God provided a vine to give him shade in the VERY hot summer. It made him feel cool. He was very happy with the vine.
The next day, God sent a worm which chewed up the vine so that it withered – and Jonah’s shade was gone! He felt very hot and faint as it blazed on his head. Jonah said, “I want to die! It’s so hot!” (Sounds melodramatic).
Jonah’s emotion changed very quickly during this time.
ANGER!! – despondency – JOY! – despair!!
God said, “You did not make this vine. You did not make it grow. Yet, you can be happy with this single vine. Yet, in this city Ninevah, there are over 120,000 innocent children.” (We can guess Ninevah’s population around the same size of Jeonju – 600,000).
The last sentence is very strange and interesting:
“Should I not be concerned with this huge city?” FIN
3 Lessons
This story can be the same story of today’s Christians. Here are 3 lessons for us today:
#1: God is omnipresent (everywhere at once)
- Omnipresent (all places) –
- omnipotent (all powerful) –
- omniscient (all-knowing)
God is not limited by his Creation, yet he is within (imminent in) all his Creation. Jonah’s first misconception = he could run away, flee from God. (You cannot run away from God.)
Psalm 139:8-9 “Where can I flee from your spirit? If I go up to the heavens, you are there, if I go to the depths, you are there, in the dawn, on the far side of the seas, you are there. You will guide me and your right hand will hold me fast.”
God BOTH transcends the whole universe, AND is within the whole universe.
This is a source of comfort and encouragement to us – because he is always available to help us everywhere.
At the same time, it’s a source of warning as well – no matter how far we try to flee, we cannot escape his sight. Neither distance, nor darkness can hide anything from God.
Hebrews 4:10 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is laid bare (naked) before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
#2: God is a missionary God
Since when? From the Beginning. From Genesis 1 – God is a global, worldwide God. Are you a worldwide Christian or worldly Christian? These are the only two kinds.
- Worldly Christian
- Worldwide Christian
Some Christians think – God is different from OT to NT – in OT, God loved ONLY Israel. Some think in the OT, God was only a God of salvation to Israel, but a God of judgment to the Gentiles. This is a terrible misunderstanding.
Remember Genesis 12? God called Abram, why? To BE a blessing. So that ALL people on earth may be saved through him.
If there is a difference between OT and NT, it is ONLY the TOOL through which God intends to save ALL people.
- OT: Israel was the tool through which he wanted to save all nations
- NT: Jesus is the tool through which all people can be saved
If we obey God’s will to preach the message of salvation in Christ RELUCTANTLY (unhappily), if we are unsatisfied with the conversion, repentance of those we don’t like, then we are doing something WRONG.
#3: In the OT, Jonah is a unique prophet
He is the only prophet whom Jesus likened to himself (Matthew 12:8-41)
One day, some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came to Jesus and challenged him, “Teacher, let us see something special! Show us a sign!” (Do you like signs?) Jesus answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given, except the sign of Jonah. Just as the prophet was inside the fish for 3 days and 3 nights, so the Son of Man (myself) will be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.” (His burial and resurrection).
God says, “The only signs you need = the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Even among Christians (and non-Christians), MANY people say, “Show me a sign and I’ll [believe/change/repent/commit/etc].” But this is the only sign we need to commit to him as Savior and Lord. Jonah’s experience is a type of Jesus’s experience = death, burial, and resurrection.
“His death, burial, and resurrection are more than enough sign I need.”
Let’s pray.
