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Running from God – Jonah 1:1-6

Jonah

This post is adapted from a sermon I recently preached. You can watch the sermon here (forgive the poor audio and video quality).

See my previous posts about Jonah here:

An Overview of Jonah

Introduction to Jonah

Jonah 1:1-6

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.” 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.

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.”

In these verses, we see three things that happen when someone rebels against God.

(1) Our Rebellion Leads Us to Run from God (1-3)

Jonah was being sent by God to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria. Nineveh was a great city in both size and in power. It was possibly the largest city in the world at the time, spanning some 1850 acres. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and it was full of wicked and violent people who worshiped idols.

God was sending Jonah to warn the Ninevites of His coming wrath. God was sending Jonah to the very people who were the enemies of Israel. Why would God do this? The short answer is that He is compassionate and loving. We will see this explicitly in chapter four.

Instead of going up to Nineveh (about 500 miles NE of Israel), he goes down to Joppa to board a ship for Tarshish in order to get “away from the presence of the Lord” (v. 3). Tarshish was the farthest known western point at the time.

Places in Jonah
Places in Jonah – from the ESV Study Bible

Jonah had a problem with his assignment from God, but he had a bigger problem with God Himself. Jonah had been given a mission that simply did not make sense to him. Jonah hated the Ninevites and he hated even more the idea that God cared for their well-being. Thus, Jonah rebelled and fled from God’s presence.

Jonah did what Adam and Eve did. They disobeyed God’s Word and tried to hide from God in a bush (Gen 3:8-13). Jonah was trying to hide in Tarshish. And like them, we rebel against God when we disobey His Word. Our rebellion causes us to run from Him.

(2) Our Rebellion Invites the Wrath of God (4-5)

Jonah was sent to a great city, but he ends up in a great storm. The text says that “the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea.” As a result of the wind, the ensuing storm was about to break up the ship (v. 4).

In response to the great storm, the professional sailors were terrified. They begin to cry out to their own gods. They hurled the cargo overboard. But Jonah, God’s prophet, is in a deep sleep. The text emphasizes that instead of going up to Nineveh, he has gone “down” to Joppa, then “down” into the inner part of the ship, and has now lain “down.”

Note the irony: pagan sailors prayed while God’s prophet slept off his rebellion.

When we are in rebellion against God, we are inviting His wrath. If you don’t think that your sin is serious, note that God has hurled a great wind in order to break up this ship and drown Jonah and the pagan sailors in the process. Why? Because Jonah disobeyed God and ran from him.

Sin is serious and invites God’s wrath.

Sin is serious and invites God’s wrath. God will wreck your plans when you are disobedient to Him. Storms have a way of waking us up to spiritual realities that we have ignored for too long. While true Christians are saved from God’s eternal wrath (Rom 8:1), the Lord still disciplines them (Heb 12:6).

(3) Our Rebellion Denies Sinners the Hope of God (6)

After the sailors hurled their cargo overboard and cried out to their gods, they are now out of options. Then suddenly, the captain remembers that Jonah is asleep below deck. He wakes up sleeping Jonah and confronts him (v. 6)

The scene drips with irony, as God’s prophet has to be told to pray by a pagan sailor. Even more, the only reason that Jonah is onboard the ship is because he is fleeing God’s presence!

The word “arise” in verse 6 is the same word that the Lord spoke to Jonah in verse 2. At this point, Jonah realizes that his plan of escape is futile and there is no escaping the presence of the Lord.

Conclusion

May the story of Jonah be a warning to us, especially if we are professing Christians that are living in sin and rebellion against God: God will have His way even if He has to wreck your boat and your plans in the process.

God will have His way even if He has to wreck your boat and your plans in the process.

If you continue living in sin and disobedience, you can expect God to bring a storm in your life.

Finally, if you are not a Christian, then like the Ninevites, your sin is storing up God’s wrath. One day you will stand before God. The only hope you have is the righteousness of Christ.

Jonah and the pagan sailors were literally in the same boat. They were headed for destruction and needed someone to still the storm. Someone who could whisper, “Peace, be still.”

Introduction to Jonah

Jonah

This past Sunday I started a new sermon series in Jonah. The post below is how I introduced the book before my first sermon in the series. In addition, I provided the congregation with An Overview of Jonah, which you may find helpful as well.

Jonah is a familiar story. The book is only 48 verses and yet it is one of the most well-known stories of the Bible. Many people who not Christians have heard of the story of Jonah and know that Jonah was swallowed by a fish.

In the last hundred years or so, Jonah has become the subject of debate over its historicity. Many modern people scoff at the idea of a man living inside the belly of a fish for three days and three nights. Many of these same people would call themselves people of science and deny the existence of miracles altogether. Once you’ve ruled out the possibility of miracles and the supernatural, then of course Jonah seems like a fable.

However, there is nothing in the book that suggests that it is a work of fiction. A simple reading of Jonah indicates that the story is meant to be taken as historical fact. Nineveh was a real city and its excavation has been the main source of our knowledge of Assyrian history. Jonah was a real person. He was the son of Amittai and was mentioned in 2 Kings 14. And yet no one questions the historicity of Second Kings.

Jesus spoke of the story of Jonah as historical fact.

Most importantly, Jesus spoke of the story of Jonah as historical fact. When the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign, He replied with these words:

Matthew 12:39-40

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.

According to Jesus, if you have a problem with the story of Jonah, then you have a problem with Jesus and His resurrection. And if you don’t believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus, then you have denied a core component of the gospel and you should not call yourself a Christian.

We sometimes think of Jonah as someone who is running from the call to ministry. The reality is that Jonah had a successful prophetic ministry for some time before the events of the book of Jonah.

2 Kings 14:23-25

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Jonah had heard the word of the Lord and had seen God fulfill at least one of his prophecies. Before the events in Jonah, the Bible doesn’t indicate that Jonah was a prodigal son that had lived his life in disobedience to God.

Instead, Jonah is God’s prophet who has experienced God’s power to save, comfort, and judge. Jonah knows about the grace of God, but he is unwilling to tell others about it.

If you are a Christian and have received God’s grace through His Son, Jesus Christ, then you can probably identify with Jonah. We have the greatest news in the world, but we often fail to share it. We have been given God’s grace but often fail to extend it to others. Like Jonah, we are often disobedient to God’s Word and in further need of God’s grace.

Jonah is a wonderful book that highlights God’s love and compassion for wicked sinners like the Ninevites, the sailors, Jonah, and you and me.

An Overview of Jonah

Jonah

Historical Background / Setting

Jonah was a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel from the tribe of Zebulun who lived at Gath-hepher near Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25). He prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BC), a period of political prosperity throughout the land of Israel not seen since Solomon (2 Kings 14:23-29).

Jeroboam II had greatly expanded Israel’s borders so that its size was about what it had been during the Davidic and Solomonic empire (2 Kings 14:25). At the same time, Assyria was plagued by international and external problems that allowed Israel to flourish.

It was during this time that the Lord called Jonah to go to the great Assyrian city of Nineveh to pronounce judgment upon it (Jonah 1:2).

Purposes for Writing

  1. To encourage readers to reflect on God’s compassionate character and to examine if their compassion reflects the heart of God.
  2. To show God’s sovereign control over the material world.
  3. To show the futility of idol worship and self-effort.
  4. To display God’s love for the nations outside Israel.
  5. To teach about the need for repentance from sin in general and from self-centeredness in particular.
  6. To show that God relents when people repent.
  7. To later serve as a sign for Jesus’ preaching ministry and resurrection (Matthew 12:38-41; Luke 11:29-32).

Structure

Four settings:

  1. Jonah and the sea – Jonah runs from God’s will (1:1-16)
  2. Jonah and the fish – Jonah submits to God’s will (1:17-2:10)
  3. Jonah and the city – Jonah fulfills God’s will (3:1-10)
  4. Jonah and the Lord – Jonah questions God’s will (4:1-11)

Seven episodes:

  1. Jonah’s commission and flight (1:1-3)
  2. Jonah and the pagan sailors (1:4-16)
  3. Jonah’s grateful prayer (1:17-2:10)
  4. Jonah’s recommissioning and obedience (3:1-4)
  5. Jonah and the pagan Ninevites (3:5-10)
  6. Jonah’s angry prayer (4:1-4)
  7. The Lord’s lesson for Jonah (4:5-11)

Map

Places in Jonah – from the ESV Study Bible

You can also download this overview here.

The ESV Study Bible helped me as I prepared this overview.

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