Jonah 3-4
Good morning everyone – it is so good to be here with you again. I consider it a great honour to be able to open the word of God with you in this way. I miss seeing each of you but I am so thankful for the encouragement that messages and phone calls bring. I love the book of Jonah and the study that comes out of it, one of the things I see very clearly is that God is a God of second chances. I actually decided to call my mother to see if she had any good stories about giving me a second chance with something, and would you know it, I was a perfect child with not needing a second chance! Well if you know me, you would know that is highly unlikely, but hopefully you laughed! For a few years I was homeschooled and mom reminded me of a few stories about those years. We had a rule with certain subjects that if you didn’t hit a certain grade in a subject, say spelling, then you would be essentially in the doghouse for media or watching movies over that weekend. Well I may have been one of those students who tried to put the least amount of effort as possible into my studies, I was a young boy with a world to explore, why would I learn how to spell. Well my amazing mom told me of a few times where I did not make the grade and should have been in the doghouse, but that she allowed me a second time to take the test. Did I deserve a second chance, not really, I didn’t put the effort in and there was nothing saying she needed to, but because she loved me, or maybe because I drove her crazy when I was in the doghouse, I didn’t ask her that much, she would let me have a second chance. I really am thankful for my parents trying to teach me lessons like this when I was young. All that too say, I think every single one of us can remember times in our lives when we have been given a second chance, and I want us to open up the Word of God, our Bibles, to the book of Jonah and see the second chance that he was given.
Last time I spoke, we were able to fly through the first 2 chapters of the book of Jonah. I love this book and the message that it brings. The more I study the book, the more I realize that the book is not about Jonah or even the Ninevites, it’s about seeing the character of God and who He is. He really is a God of compassion who truly cares for people!
You see in chapter 1 God gives Jonah a mission, to go to a people group who are his enemies. But instead of embracing the mission that God gave him, Jonah chooses to run in the opposite direction! Throughout this time we see that God is always in control. God loved the people of Nineveh and He loved Jonah so He pursues Jonah, He doesn’t give up on him. We even see that running from God is not a good idea! Why? Well in this instance God hurled a storm after Jonah to get his attention. Frankly, Jonah didn’t get it. He doesn’t seem to care that there is a consequence for disobeying God! And the thing with sin, doing things against God, is that it doesn’t just affect us, it effects those around is. Because the storm that God hurled at Jonah terrified the sailors, they thought the ship was going to break up in the storm. The cargo was all thrown overboard and I think you would agree with me that Jonah was not pointing people to God but distracting them from Him. Storms often times bring destruction and this is what sin does, it distorts and destroys. That little thing grows and becomes so much greater than we ever thought it would.
The amazing thing is that even in this part of the story, God is still there and actively involved! He never leaves but continues to care for Jonah and those around Him. If I was in control of this story, and Jonah wanted to disobey and go the opposite way from what I was asking, I might have just said, fine, go, I don’t care about you and I will go find someone who actually wants to be apart of the story, but God doesn’t do that. He keeps chasing Jonah, puts people in his life to call him on what he is doing, this should be enough to get Jonah’s attention and for Jonah to go, okay Lord, I am sorry, I messed up, let me get back on mission. But no, Jonah tells the sailors that if you want the storm to stop you have to throw me overboard! WHAT! Jonah what is wrong with you, if you cared for these guys even a little bit you could have jumped off the side of the boat yourself! But no he forces them to throw him off, even after they try to get back to shore to save him. Well at this point, if I was in control of the story, Jonah would have just stayed in the sea, but God had a different plan because it says that the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and he was in the belly of the fish 3 days and 3 nights. What an awesome God we have!! We serve a God who is in control and who loves people! How amazing is that!
From there we hit chapter 2 where we see Jonah calling out to the Lord finally! He starts to understand his predicament, and I imagine that sitting in a fish would help refocus your thoughts. He begins to understand who God is and I believe that he prays for the first time in this story. In the belly of the fish Jonah starts to look toward God and who He is and what He is doing. He attempts repentance, which is making a 180 degree turn from going one way to going another way. And I love 2:8 – Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Jonah finally got to the point where he understood that if we hold fast to our sin, our idols, those things we will not let God touch, then we are missing out on the grace and steadfast love that the Lord will give us! Jonah finally understood that if we choose not to hold onto God but onto our idols, our sins, the things we deem more important than God, then we are missing out. I am glad that God is in control, because we get to see Jonah’s heart throughout this story.
This is where we left off last time! So now if you could grab your Bibles, we are going to jump into Jonah chapter 3 and make our way through the rest of the book.
Jonah chapter 3! This is where we get to see a God of second chances! A God who is going to continue to use someone who messed up but that God still has a plan for. Let’s read together
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!”
This must have been an interesting journey for Jonah, he has been spit up out of the fish on the beach, probably stinky and maybe parts of his body starting to be digested.
There most likely is a journey to Nineveh and I can only imagine the looks he got as he tried to get hotel rooms, a smelly funny looking guy asking for a room! The room would never smell the same again!
Those details we are not given but what we do know is that Jonah was given a mission, to go to Nineveh and to call out against it the message that God was giving to him. And this time Jonah goes! He is obedient, I don’t believe his heart was wanting to follow God but he obeys. He gets to this massive city and starts walking through it calling out to the people a very simple message, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! Only 8 words in English and 5 in Hebrew. Now I don’t know how it all looked, maybe he came to the city, talked to the officials and then started going through the city seeing what spots he could go to too share his message, but whatever the case, it took him 3 whole days of travelling to get through that city. One of the reasons why I think that Jonah does not want to be there and that his message is probably not being preached in a way that desires people to be saved, is a glimpse into chapter 4, which we will see in a few minutes, but in essence Jonah wants the people of Nineveh to die!
So we have this guy, Jonah, from a different land, looks different, maybe speaks with an accent and speaking in a pitiful way, a perfect combination for a message to flop But that’s not what happens! And this is why I love this story, a story where we see a God of compassion who loves people and gives them second chances!
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.” 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.
This is one of the most amazing parts in the story, Jonah a man who does not want to be there but is obeying God, speaking a message he doesn’t want to speak to a people he does not like and what happens, but a revival! There is great repentance from the greatest of them to the least! They believed God, I don’t know how much of the gospel message that they knew, or heard or understand but they understood enough to know that they had done something wrong against God and that destruction was going to come! They are repenting! They were going one way and now they are turning 180 degrees in a totally different direction. They call for a fast, where no one is eating, and then they put on sackcloth – which in essence would have been like wearing burlap sacks. This isn’t a fun thing at all.
Then we are shown a different scene in verse 6, it is almost as if the camera angle shifts and we go into the throne room of the king. Business is going on and here word comes to the king saying that the people are hearing this weird guy in the town square and that destruction is coming. Well the king gets up from his thrown, takes off his royal, and probably very comfy robes, and puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes. This is not the place a king should be but in this instance it was the perfect spot. It shows his heart to understand that he has done something wrong, his people have done something wrong and he is doing his best to call out to a God that He does not know to turn the wrath and destruction away. He takes it so far that he has a decree issued so that his nobles and even the animals not to eat or drink water, and each of them to be covered in sackcloth and call out to God mightily.
What a comparison to Jonah. These people have no guarantee that God is listening or is going to change his mind. But they understand that they need to repent and so they do! The man who ran from God is helping other people run to God, even though he doesn’t want to. And verse 10 is amazing: it says that God saw what they did, how they turned – repented, and that God relented from the disaster that he said that he would do to them! They trusted in something that they could not see and God shows compassion on them! I love the picture that we have here in chapter 3! A picture of a God who doesn’t desire destruction but restoration! In many ways it is the happiest chapter and maybe one of the most exciting in the book.
But then we see chapter 4 and we get to see the true heart of Jonah and this great object lesson from an amazing God!
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?”
Here we get to see the real heart of Jonah – Jonah is upset and angry because he doesn’t get his way – He then goes on to give God his justification for why he is angry and why he ran away in the first place. In many ways it seems like the scene with a child who is upset and said sorry and as they are saying sorry they go but that other person did this so I was right to do it. It is a glimpse of the repentance in chapter 2 that wasn’t full repentance. And to be honest, do we always get it right when we repent, no, we hold onto things like Jonah did but I hope you can see what is happening here. Jonah’s whole argument against God and why he disobeyed is because of who God is!
…for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
Jonah is saying that he knows that God is gracious, merciful – All these character qualities that explain why he is still alive! Yet he is mad that God has done this for someone else! I hope you’re like Hello Jonah, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!! Jonah is so concerned for his plan and not God’s that he is at the point of wanting his life to end.
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?”
At this point God steps in and asks one simple question, Do you do well to be angry? We aren’t shown a response here at all… But what we do see is the next camera angle, a shift in the scene – Jonah waiting for destruction.
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.”
Jonah now goes out of the city and makes a booth for himself. He wants some shade from the hot sun. How crazy is this, Seeing a city repenting of their ways and yet going out and waiting for them to die! I believe that Jonah didn’t think that they would last in their repentance and would turn back to old ways and with that God would still destroy them. So Jonah is out in the sun waiting.
Then we get to verse 6 and God still chooses to care for Jonah, WHY! I would be done with this guy, but God still has compassion on him. God appoints a plant to grow and come up and give him shade, sounds great! In the hot sun, days maybe like we had this past week that were hot, God is caring for Jonah and Jonah is exceedingly glad! Life is good, I have a plant keeping me cool and waiting for God to destroy these people that I hate, that is what Jonah is saying. Well Verse 7 says that the next day God brings a worm to eat the plant and a hot east wind comes and the sun beats down and Jonah gets faint. And what does he want to do? Die! It is the second time in the last few verses that Jonah is telling God that it is better to die than to live.
God here asks Jonah a very important question, He asks about Jonah’s emotion towards the plant, Jonah is angry that the plant has died, So angry that he wants to die. This seems so absurd doesn’t it! Like Jonah, it’s a plant, get over it! But Jonah’s emotions here seem like ours sometimes doesn’t it.
We get angry at the car that cut in front of us, or the person who wouldn’t get out of the aisle at the grocery store or …. Fill in the blank. Hopefully we aren’t angry enough to die from these things but they are good indicators of what we hold onto dearly, our idols!
Well this brings us to our last verses of the chapter. The ultimate object lesson for Jonah that God has been trying to teach him. The comparison between the plant and the city of Nineveh.
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?”
God is trying to show Jonah his emotions, the pity that he had on the plant – something that he had put zero effort into, something that lasted only for a day was the same emotion that God was trying to show towards Nineveh. God showed pity, he showed compassion on that great city! There were 120,000 persons and cattle!
You see God desired that people get saved. I said it earlier that I do not believe that God wants destruction but that he wants restoration! And I think we see that played out here in the story of Jonah! And in many ways we don’t how the rest of the story goes. History shows that the repentance of the Ninevites lasted for a time, but the scene that we get to see here fades black. The final comparison with God caring for souls and Jonah caring for a plant.
I love this story because it brings so many things into focus for me about who God is and what He is doing. I believe that God loves people, that he pursues them and even at times brings storms into their lives to get their attention! He has done that for me, even when I was running in the opposite direction, he never gave up on me. You see our sin separated us from God and nothing we could do could ever fix that. But God sent his son Jesus to die on a cross so that we could live! And he didn’t stay dead but rose again and is in heaven now. The same God that loved Nineveh and sent them Jonah, sent us Jesus.
The question then becomes, do we repent like the people of Nineveh, understanding that we have done things wrong against God and turn 180 degrees in the other direction – living in a way that honours God, becoming passionate followers of Jesus Christ! At Calvary Baptist Church, our goal is that everything we do is to live this statement out! We are looking to follow God each and every day! Folks this is hard, Often times it is far too easy to be like Jonah and to hold onto idols that we think are important and to get mad when those idols are touched, but we need to see the character of God, that he has compassion and second chances. He desires that people come to repentance, are you living in a way that would show that? Whether that be at work, at home, at the grocery store, do people see a person becoming like Christ, or do they see someone like Jonah, upset at a plant and missing the city behind him that God has just saved? My challenge for you today would be to grab your Bible sometime today, read the book of Jonah in its entirety, Really look at Jonah 2:8 and spend some time in prayer asking God to show you your heart and an idol that you can work on this next week. Folks, it is hard, but we have a God who loves us and shows compassion on us; let us continue to become passionate followers of Jesus Christ!