Below are some of the resources I used while preparing my sermons in Jonah. I commend them to you for personal study as well as teaching and preaching. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list of resources. I have placed them in order of helpfulness.
ESV Study Bible
The Gospel According to the Old Testament: Salvation Through Judgment and Mercy
Maybe you think that God is watching your every move and looking for an excuse to smite you.
Maybe you view God as a grandfather that overlooks anything you’ve done wrong and sweeps it under the rug.
Maybe you view Go some other way. The important question to consider is this: does your view of God come from your experience or the Scriptures?
In chapter four, we get a glimpse into the character of God and His care for His creation.
There are four main scenes in Jonah:
Jonah and the sea – Jonah runs from God’s will (1:1-16)
Jonah and the fish – Jonah reluctantly submits to God’s will (1:17-2:10)
Jonah and the city – Jonah reluctantly fulfills God’s will (3:1-10)
Jonah and the Lord – Jonah questions God’s will (4:1-11)
Sermon Text – Jonah 4:1-11 (click to read the text)
There are two sections in Jonah 4.
In verses 1-4, we see Jonah’s angry prayer to the Lord. In verses 5-11, we see the Lord’s lesson for Jonah.
Jonah’s Angry Prayer to the Lord (1-4)
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. (Jon 4:1)
The fact that God had relented of his wrath upon the Ninevites (Jon 3:10) “displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.”
Jonah is really upset that God spared the Ninevites. He hated these people and wanted God to bring judgment upon them.
2
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. (Jon 4:2)
Verse 2 tells us that Jonah fled to Tarshish because he knew God’s character. Jonah gets this language from Ex 34:6-7, which is the Old Testament text that is most used to describe God’s character.
Here is some context of Ex 34:6-7:
Ex 32 – Moses had spent 40 days with God on Mount Sinai and had received the 10 Commandments, written by the very finger of God.
While Moses was meeting with God, the Israelites fashioned the golden calf and began to worship it. God threatens to pour out His wrath and Moses intercedes for the people.
In Ex 32:14, we read, “And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.”
Moses came down from Mount Sinai and had the Levites run through the camp with their swords out. That day, 3000 people were killed.
Moses then mades His way back up Mt Sinai to once again meet with the Lord.
As Moses was on the mountain, the Lord provided new tablets of stone with the 10 Commandments written on them and then He proclaimed these words:
Ex 34:6-7
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Jonah knew the Scriptures. He knew that the Lord was merciful and had extended mercy to Israel so many times. He also knew that God would be kind enough to show mercy to the Ninevites if they repented.
3
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jon 4:3)
Because the Lord did show mercy to the Ninevites, Jonah prays that the Lord would take his life. Jonah says it is better for him to die than to live.
4
And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” (Jon 4:4)
The Lord gently corrects Jonah: “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah had rebelled against God and was shown mercy (Jon 2). The Ninevites had rebelled against God and were shown mercy (Jon 3).
When the Lord showed Jonah mercy, He was grateful. He offered a long prayer of thanksgiving (Jon 2) because he was spared from death.
When the Lord showed the Ninevites mercy, Jonah was angry. He prayed in his anger that he would die. Think about this: Jonah is speaking to the author of life, who should be the only real source of meaning in his life, and he is asking to die, because he doesn’t think his life is worth living.
Jonah is speaking to the author of life, who should be the only real source of meaning in his life, and he is asking to die, because he doesn’t think his life is worth living.
Have you ever been there?
Perhaps your life wasn’t going as you thought it should and you just asked wanted to die. Friends, this attitude is ungodly and suggests that God is not sovereign, wise, or good.
Jonah believed that Nineveh’s repentance was not in the best interest of Israel. His love of country had trumped his obedience to God. If your love of country leads you to wish for the spiritual condemnation of others, then you have made your country an idol.
Jonah was angry that God would show mercy to the Ninevites.
One of Jonah’s problems was that he saw himself as morally superior to the Ninevites.
It’s easy for us to compare ourselves to others. We think that we deserve God’s mercy, but “these people” do not. It’s easy to look down and condemn “greater” sinners, while believing we are good (see the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14).
Jesus warned in Matthew 7:1-6 that we should not see the spec in our brother’s eye without taking the log out of our own eye. Jesus said we will be judged according to how we judge others (Matt 7:2).
How many of us hate the moral downgrade that has happened in our country but at the same time do not hate the sins that live in our own hearts?
We condemn homosexuals but let our children and grandchildren live in fornication under our roof. We give them devices that they use to look at porn.
We condemn transgenders but we fail to fulfill biblical gender roles in the home and in church. Women are not submitting to their husbands and men are not leading their families to serve Jesus.
We wish we could vote out corrupt politicians, but we refuse to confront unrepentant sin in the church. Church discipline is almost extinct in American evangelicalism.
Ironically, it is so easy for us to judge Jonah without examining ourselves. It is as easy for us to judge others as it was for Jonah to judge the Ninevites.
The story of Jonah is something that we all need to learn and to remember every day. We are all sinners (Rom 3:23). We are all in need of God’s mercy and grace. It’s easy to look down on someone else, but the fact is that without Jesus, we would all be in hell along with the worst sinners than come to our minds. Until we understand the depth of our own sin, we will never appreciate God’s grace or have a true love for lost sinners. Until we understand the depth of our own sin, we will never appreciate God’s grace or have a true love for lost sinners.
Until we understand the depth of our own sin, we will never appreciate God’s grace or have a true love for lost sinners.
In vv. 1-4, we see Jonah’s angry prayer to the Lord.
In vv. 5-11, we see the Lord’s lesson for Jonah.
The Lord’s Lesson for Jonah (5-11)
Notice the parallel structure of Jonah between chapters 1-2 and 3-4:
The parallel structure of Jonah
The end of Jonah is the only section of the book that doesn’t have a counterpart. Thus, Jon 4:5-11 is the object lesson of the book and leaves us with a question that the author wants us to ponder.
5
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.
Jonah went out to the east of the city and made a booth for himself. A booth is a shelter of branches that gives some shade. Jonah sat in his little booth in the shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city.
It seems that Jonah was hoping that God would in fact send his wrath upon the city. Jonah wanted Nineveh to go up in smoke like Sodom and Gomorrah. So, Jonah waited in the heat under the shade of his booth.
Once again, Jonah is oblivious to his own hypocrisy. When Jonah was disobedient to the Lord, He was grateful for God’s deliverance through the fish (Jon 2). But when it came to the Ninevites, whom he perceived to be more sinful than himself, He had a front row seat to what he hoped would be the fireworks of God’s wrath.
It’s been said that in Jonah is similar to both brothers in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). In chapters 1-2, Jonah is the prodigal who is in rebellion against his father (God). In chapters 3-4, Jonah is the older brother, who is angry that his father (God) would forgive the sins of his younger brother (the Ninevites).
6
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 God knew what Jonah was doing and more importantly, He saw into Jonah’s heart. In His kindness, God used a plant, a worm, and a wind to show Jonah the condition of his heart.
Verse six says that, “The Lord God appointed a plant” in order to give Jonah some shade “to save him from his discomfort.”
The text also says that Jonah “was exceedingly glad because of the plant.”
Remember in v. 1 (Jon 4:1) that God’s mercy toward the Ninevites displeased Jonah exceedingly, but here he is exceedingly glad because of the plant that is now giving him shade.
Jonah is completely self-absorbed. He is more worried about his own comfort than the fate of the Ninevites. This is a pattern in Jonah’s life. Remember, he slept during the storm while the sailors were deathly afraid. Now he is enjoying some shade while hoping for God to destroy Nineveh.
And so, God uses a worm and a wind to confront Jonah’s narcissism.
7-8
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.”
After a day of enjoying the plant that provided shade, “God appointed a worm” and “God appointed a scorching east wind.” After the tree was gone and the wind blew, the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he was faint.
Once again, Jonah desires to die – “It is better for me to die than to live.” This is the second time that Jonah has asked to die.
Jonah had called the Ninevites to repentance, but he refused to repent himself. Jonah refused to repent when the storm came and he continues to be hard-hearted in the face of God’s love and mercy.
It’s easy to condemn the sin we see on the news. It’s harder for us to look in the mirror and to see the sins in our own hearts.
It’s easy to condemn the sin we see on the news. It’s harder for us to look in the mirror and to see the sins in our own hearts.
9-11
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 Lord once again asks, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah, in v. 9, for the third time, desires to die.
The Lord uses the plant to prove His point. If Jonah pities the fate of the plant, who only lived for a day, then should not the Lord pity the city of Nineveh, which is home to more than 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left? The phrase “do not know their right hand from their left” means that the Ninevites are spiritually blind and do not know what to do about it.
Conclusion
We are not given Jonah’s answer to God’s question. The real issue is how we answer the question.
What is your attitude towards people who are spiritually blind and living in sin?
Do you know that they will experience God’s wrath without Jesus? Do you care?
Do you have compassion for the lost?
Do you rejoice when sinners repent?
Imagine if God treated us the same way we sometimes wish He would treat others.
We are to look on even those we think are wicked sinners with compassion. Instead of condemning others, we are to pity them and show compassion for them. This doesn’t mean that we excuse or overlook sin. It means that we recognize that we, too were once dead in our sins (Eph 2:1). Instead of condemning sinners with an attitude self-righteousness, we share the truth in love, offering them the hope of the gospel.
Does your heart reflect the heart of Jonah, or the heart of Jesus?
The story of Jonah is proof that God loves sinners. The message of Jonah points to the message of Jesus.
The story of Jonah is proof that God loves sinners. The message of Jonah points to the message of Jesus.
Consider the similarities and differences between Jonah and Jesus:
Jonah preached a message of judgment, but Jesus preached a message of grace and salvation.
While Jonah almost died for his own sins, Jesus died for the sins of the world
Jonah’s ministry was to one city, but Jesus was and is the Savior of the world
Jonah’s obedience was reluctant but Jesus always submitted to the Father and willingly laid down His life.
Jonah hated the Ninevites but Jesus loved those He came to save
Jonah went outside the city to watch Nineveh be judged. Jesus was crucified outside the city so that we would be spared from God’s judgment.
In Exodus 34:6-7, we saw that the Lord is:
Merciful and gracious
Slow to anger
Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness
Forgiving of iniquity and transgression and sin
But he will by no means clear the guilty
If you’re reading this article and you are not a Christian, I am warning you: God is merciful, but he will by no means clear the guilty. We have all sinned and are all guilty of breaking God’s Law. We all deserve God’s wrath and to spend eternity in hell separated from Him.
But the good news is that you can be forgiven this very day. Repent of your sin and trust in Jesus alone, and God will extend mercy and grace to you because of the work of Jesus Christ – His life, death, burial, and resurrection.
For Christians, our attitude towards sinners should reflect the compassionate heart of Jesus rather than the calloused heart of Jonah.
What lost people are you praying for?
Have you shared the gospel with anyone recently?
How many times have you complained about how things are going in our country?
Considering your answers, does your heart for sinners reflect the heart of Jonah, or the heart of Jesus?
Our attitude towards sinners should reflect the compassionate heart of Jesus rather than the calloused heart of Jonah.
The way things get better in our world is when Christians start loving people the way God loves people. The gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes (Rom 1:16).
If you want to see change in the world, love God with everything you have, and love your sinful neighbors as you love yourself and share the gospel with them.
Jonah hated the Ninevites but God loved them.
Who are the Ninevites in your life?
Will you see them as God sees them and love them as God loves them?
In chapter one (Jon 1), we read about Jonah and the storm. In chapter two (Jon 2), we read about Jonah in the fish. Today, we will be reading about Jonah’s experience in the city of Nineveh.
Jonah 3:1-10
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 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. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 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.
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 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, 8 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. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
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.
BIG IDEA: God will pour out his wrath on sinners, but He shows mercy to those who repent.
That’s a pretty basic theological statement, but it’s not a popular message for modern minds. Many don’t like the idea of God, especially the God of the Bible. Even more despise the idea of God’s wrath and the thought of us being sinners in need of repentance. In fact, the only part of that sentence that most people like is that if there is a God, He is merciful. Nonetheless, our views of God must come from Scripture and not from ourselves or the culture.
1
After the fish spit Jonah out (Jon 2:10), in verse 1 we’re told that “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.”
In the Old Testament, prophets were to take the word of the Lord that came to them and proclaim it. Today, there are no prophets as there were in the Old Testament. Today, God does not speak through prophets, but through His written Word, the Bible. The job of every preacher of God’s Word is to communicate the meaning of Scripture as it was intended by the author, as inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:20-21). As Christians, we are to read God’s Word and have it change our hearts and minds (Rom 12:2). We cannot expect to be faithful to the will of God when we refuse to open the Word of God.
We cannot expect to be faithful to the will of God when we refuse to open the Word of God.
2
We’re not told where Jonah was spit out, but once again, the Lord tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. At the very least, Jonah would have had 550 miles to travel, which would have taken at least a month if he was riding a camel or donkey and much longer if he was on foot. The Lord tells him to call out against the city of Nineveh and to speak “the message that I tell you.”
As Christians, we are not free to alter the message of Scripture. We are to proclaim God’s message even when it is unpopular. We preach the truth of God’s Word and we do not apologize for it. To alter or soften God’s Word is to be disobedient to God Himself.
Jonah was given a second chance even though he was disobedient to the Lord. If you are not a Christian, you may be surprised that even though God will judge every sin, He is also a God of second chances.
Though God was displeased with His prophet, He never deserted him, as evidenced by His sending of the great fish. As God was merciful to Jonah, He will offer mercy to the Ninevites as well.
How about you? How many times have you disobeyed God and deserved His punishment, yet God has shown you mercy?
God showed mercy to Jonah because He cared about the Ninevites. But God also cared about Jonah. He wanted Jonah’s heart to reflect the heart of God (Jon 4:9-11). God is not simply interested in obedience out of duty, but He wants us to delight in Him (Ps 37:4).
This time, Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord (v. 3).
3
In chapter one when Jonah received his commission, he “fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (1:2). This time, Jonah realizes that he should not and cannot run from God’s will and so he goes to Nineveh in reluctant obedience.
Scripture does not give us every detail of the story. As I mentioned earlier, we are not told where Jonah was spit up onto dry land. We’re not told if he went to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice (Jon 2:9). We are simply told that Jonah “arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.”
The text says that Nineveh “was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.”
Nineveh is called a great city four times in Jonah (Jon 1:2, 3:2-3, 4:11).
There is some debate about what exactly the text means when it mentions “a three days journey.”
One possibility is that it would take three days to get through the city and its suburbs.
A second possibility is that it would take three days to go around the outside of the city.
A third possibility is that “three days’ journey” is an idiom that is meant to communicate how long it would take to get to Nineveh. In other words, this phrase is meant to communicate that the city is far away from Jonah when he began his journey.
The clear thing about the text, however, is that Nineveh was a significant place. As we will see in chapter four (Jon 4), this great city greatly mattered to God.
4
When Jonah arrives in the city (in v. 4), he began to warn the Ninevites of God’s coming wrath. His message was simple – “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that those were the only words that Jonah spoke, but it was the core of Jonah’s message.
In Scripture, the number 40 is often identified with testing or judgment.
During the great flood in Genesis, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The Jewish spies explored Canaan for 40 days.
The nation of Israel was tested in the wilderness for 40 years.
Goliath taunted Israel’s army for 40 days.
Here, the Lord gives the Ninevites 40 days to repent of their wickedness.
The word “overthrown” is the same word that was used in the warning to Lot about Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:23-29). It’s clear using this word and the number 40 that the author is communicating that Jonah’s message was a word of judgment. Notice, Jonah did not name their offenses. He didn’t tell them what they ought to do. He did not explicitly offer any hope of avoiding judgment.
He didn’t even mention God’s name. Remember, in chapter one (Jon 1:9) he told the Gentile sailors that He feared the Lord, and Jonah used the name Yahweh. But when it came to the Ninevites, it seems that Jonah shared very little. He simply warned them of coming judgment. As we will see in chapter four, Jonah did not want the Ninevites to repent. He wanted God to wipe them out.
Like Jonah, we are called by God to give people bad news. We are called to warn them of God’s coming wrath against them. It is only when people understand the depth of their own sin against a holy God will they be ready for the good news that He offers forgiveness through Christ. The good news of the gospel only makes sense to people if they understand their condemnation without Christ.
We are called to warn others of the wrath to come, even our enemies.
We are called to warn others of the wrath to come, even our enemies.
Jonah was not a missionary that preached a message of hope but was a reluctant prophet that preached a message of judgment and doom. In what must have been a shock to Jonah, the people of Nineveh believed his message.
5
Verse five is a summary statement of what happened, and vv. 6-9 contain the details.
Perhaps you may be asking this question:
Why would a city full of wicked people believe Jonah, who was a prophet from a different place and who worshiped a different God?
There are several possible reasons:
One is that around the time of Jonah’s mission, Assyria had experienced a series of famines, plagues, revolts, and eclipses, each of which would have been interpreted as omens of far worse things to come.
It’s also possible that someone saw the fish spit Jonah up onto dry land and that news had spread to Nineveh.
Perhaps the pagan sailors spoke of Jonah as well as the mighty power of the Lord to still the sea. Maybe they had told traders that went into Nineveh and told the tale.
One or more of these were contributing factors, but the most likely cause is that they had a guilty conscience (Rom 2:15) because of their wicked ways and that God had begun to till the soil of their hearts.
The text says that the Ninevites “believed God”, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they were converted. There seems to be no indication that they entered into a covenant relationship with God. Notice, there is a mention of God (Elohim), but not of Yahweh (the Lord) as there was with the sailors (Jon 1:14-16).
We also are not told that they removed their idols or understood God’s law. In the ancient world, people believed there were all sorts of powerful gods, but they only worshiped ones they believed had power over their lives.
It seems that they didn’t really believe in God in a salvation sense, but rather that God’s word of judgment was true and would come to fruition if they did not change their behavior.
They wanted to do whatever it took to keep themselves from experiencing God’s wrath.
6
The message of Jonah reached the king of Nineveh. Verse six says that he got up from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Sackcloth was rough and uncomfortable material (similar to an old potato sack) that was worn to indicate mourning.
Not only did the king put on sackcloth and sit in ashes, but he issued a proclamation that was published throughout the city in vv. 7-8.
7-8
In modern day terms, he called an emergency press conference and gave instructions to the citizens of Nineveh: neither men nor animals were to eat or drink. They were to be covered with sackcloth and to “call out mightily to God.” In addition, they were to turn away from their evil and violent ways.
By commanding the people to cry out to God and to turn from their evil ways, the king hoped that they would be spared from God’s wrath. That is what we see in verse nine.
9
The king doesn’t seem terribly confident that God would relent but he hopes that their repentance will turn God away from his fierce anger.
Notice that the king is concerned that the Ninevites would perish. This is the third time that a pagan has shown concern that people might perish. We saw the captain of the ship concerned about him and his crew (1:6). We saw the sailors ask the Lord for mercy and that they would not perish for throwing Jonah overboard (1:14). And here in v. 9, we see the king of Nineveh hoping that the city will not perish.
Ironically, God’s prophet Jonah has expressed no such concern. In fact, he was very short with the sailors and the Ninevites, but his prayer of thanksgiving for his own deliverance was quite long (Jon 2).
As Christians, we should care more about human suffering than unbelievers.
As Christians, we should care more about human suffering than unbelievers.
As the Ninevites repent, they are in fact spared.
In v. 10, we see that when the people repented, God relented.
10
God saw the people’s repentance and he spared them. The text says that, “God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”
The KJV says that God repented. I don’t really the use of the word repent. I say that because when I think of repentance, I think of a change in morality. But God is perfect. He does not sin, and He does not change.
The theological word for the idea that God does not change is immutability. I want to share two verses to emphasize that God does not change:
Numbers 23:19 – God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
James 1:17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
The reality is that God did not change His mind. Implied in Jonah’s message of judgment was that judgment would be spared if the people repented.
There are varying opinions as to whether the Ninevites were converted. One commentator says that Jonah was the most successful evangelist of all time. In my view, the text seems to indicate that the repentance of the Ninevites was quite shallow.
It seems to me that he Ninevites were not really acting in true faith and devotion to Yahweh, but were really acting out of self-preservation (see especially v. 9 – “Who knows?”). But God honors their small step in the right direction and relents from His imminent judgment.
Overall, it seems that the majority of the Ninevites were not truly converted, but perhaps a few were. Remember, Jesus mentioned the Ninevites to the Pharisees because of their willingness to repent when warned of coming judgment (Matt 12:38-41).
Conclusion
The repentance of the Ninevites is similar to someone who hears the gospel and walks down the aisle. He or she makes some sort of emotional decision but later drops out of church and continues to live as they always have with no regard for obedience to Jesus.
Most of these people want to escape hell and exhibit some remorse for their sins, but many have not genuinely put their faith and trust in Jesus, which becomes evident over time (Mark 4:13-20).
We all need to be warned about superficial repentance. In His mercy, God spared Nineveh of immediate judgment. However, it is not enough to be spared a temporary judgment. If the Ninevites only repented but did not put their faith and trust in Yahweh, they would be judged in eternity. In fact, only 125-150 years later, Nineveh experienced God’s wrath, which is expressed in the book of Nahum.
Friends,
It is one thing to believe that a message is true in your mind. It is another to believe it in your heart.
It is one thing to believe that the gospel is true. It is another to build your life upon it (Matt 7:24-27).
It is one thing to walk the aisle and “accept Jesus”. It is another to follow after Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross, as you submit to Him as Lord (Luke 9:23-24).
God is patient. He is kind. He is merciful. But He will pour out his wrath on sinners who do not repent (John 3:36).
Do we see ourselves as needing mercy just as much as the Ninevites? It’s easy to compare ourselves with others and to become self-righteous. The reality is that we are all in need of God’s grace (Rom 3:10-11, 23).
Maybe you’ve never committed acts of violence or torture, but we have all broken God’s Law. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
The greatest news is that God shows mercy to those who repent of their sin and trust in His Son Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, and died for our sins as a substitute for us, who deserved His wrath.
Have you trusted in Jesus as Lord? Are you honoring Him with your life? Are you offering yourself to God as a living sacrifice?
Christians,
God does not tell us to tell people that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life. Jesus never said this to anyone.
Are we willing to share the message of God’s Word, even the uncomfortable parts about God’s wrath and judgment?
God commands us to call people to genuine repentance and true faith in Jesus.
Will we be found faithful when God calls us to the Ninevehs in our life?
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.
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.
In part one, we saw that our disobedience leads to despair and death.
In today’s post, which covers verses 6b-10, we will see that God’s deliverance leads to thanksgiving.
Jonah’s disobedience had led him to despair and it was leading to his death. But when Jonah was drowning and the waters were closing in, God’s mercy finds him.
Look at v. 6b:
yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
Just as Jonah recognized that God was responsible for him being thrown overboard, he now recognizes that God brought him up from the pit. When God disciplines and afflicts His children, it is always for our ultimate good – to conform us to the image of Christ (Rom 8:28-29). God does not waste any of our suffering.
Just as Jonah had sunken down to a pit and hit rock bottom, we were destined for the pit of hell until God intervened (Rom 5:6-8).
Jonah said, “You brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God” (v. 6b).
That is something we need to remember every day. There was nothing we did to earn our salvation (Eph 2:8-9). God brought us out of the pit of hell through His Son Jesus Christ.
Even as believers, we go through dark times – we could call it a metaphorical pit. Even in those times when God’s people are in their deepest anguish, He is there.
Jonah’s rebellion has brought him low, but God’s mercy will raise him up. In vv. 7-8, Jonah humbles himself before the Lord.
7-8
When Jonah’s life was fainting away, he remembered the Lord. In chapter one, we saw the word of the Lord came to Jonah, but Jonah ran away. Instead of going up to Nineveh, he went down to Joppa. He went down into the ship. He laid down and went to sleep. Now, Jonah has gone down into the sea.
In chapters 1-2, the trajectory of Jonah’s life is down, down, down. The sailors urged Jonah to cry out to his God, but He would not. Jonah finally cried out to the Lord when he began to feel the life going out of him.
God heard Jonah’s prayer, and He sent the fish that He had already appointed (1:17).
When your life feels out of control or when you feel your life fainting away, cry out the Lord. He will hear your prayers.
When your life feels out of control or when you feel your life fainting away, cry out the Lord. He will hear your prayers.
In contrast, Jonah says in v. 8, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” We saw this with the sailors. When the storm was raging, they each cried out to their gods, but of course nothing happened. There was no salvation with the false gods/idols they were praying to. Anyone that worships idols will not be delivered.
This message was also for the Israelites who would later read Jonah’s story. As you know, the Israelites had a bad habit of forsaking their love for God and intermarrying with pagans and worshiping false gods. Jonah knows that if his people do that, they forsake their hope of God’s steadfast love. The word translated “steadfast” is a word that is often used when describing God’s covenantal love with Israel. The message for Jonah’s first readers was this – do not trust in idols, or you will forfeit God’s steadfast love.
Do not trust in idols, or you will forfeit God’s steadfast love.
Likewise, we cannot live for ourselves and put our hope in idols such as money, sex, power, or status and expect to experience God’s steadfast love. When you come to Christ, you are to die to yourself and live for Him. Any other way of living will prove worthless and vain in eternity (Luke 9:23-25).
When you’ve hit rock bottom, put your hope and trust in God. The false gods that you are living for for will not save you. Only God can save you from the pit.
9
And that’s why we see tone of thanksgiving in v. 9:
But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
Jonah offers thanks to the Lord for His great salvation. He vows (or commits) to make a sacrifice to the Lord. If you recall from Leviticus, animal sacrifices were to be made with animals without blemish. Jonah is very thankful to God for His deliverance and will offer a costly sacrifice.
Today, we no longer offer animal sacrifices because Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial laws. He died as the once and for all sacrifice (Heb 9-10). In response to our salvation, we read in Rom 12:1-2 that we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. We are to live our lives as holy and pleasing to God. That is how we best thank Him today – by living completely for Him.
In the last part of v. 9, Jonah says, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” This is the message of the book of Jonah. In his prayer, Jonah acknowledges that there was nothing he could do to save himself. His deliverance was not a result of his efforts, but the result of God’s mercy and grace.
This is the message of the book of Jonah – “Salvation belongs to the Lord.”
The clear teaching of Scripture is that no one is good enough to be justified before God (Rom 3:10-11, 23). In our natural state, we are dead in our sins and destined for hell. We can only be justified, or made right with God because of the work of Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1). Salvation is not of man. Salvation belongs to the Lord.
This is the message that we should proclaim: Sinners drown in their sin and devotion to idols and false gods, but God saves through His Son. Salvation belongs to the Lord. There is salvation in no other name except Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
10
Finally, “the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”
Again, the fish was not sent to punish Jonah, but to deliver him.
Conclusion
Jonah 2 offers us hope. While our disobedience leads to despair and death, God’s deliverance leads to thanksgiving.
We see this in three ways[1]https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/mercy-at-the-bottom:
God still listens. Despite Jonah’s rebellion, he cried out to God. God heard Jonah’s prayers, and he is always ready to receive our most desperate cries. No matter what you are going through, God still listens.
God still reigns. Jonah knew that God was in complete control. We saw that in verses 3-4. When you are going through a difficult time, know that God is not asleep. Jonah’s situation reminds us that we can trust God even in the most dire of circumstances. God is sovereign even when we feel like we are drowning.
God still delivers. Jonah experiences God’s salvation and concludes that God saved him for a purpose. Jonah has been spared to once again worship God in his holy temple and to go warn the Ninevites of God’s coming wrath. God saves us for a purpose – namely so that we worship him and minister to others.
God’s deliverance of Jonah reminds us of how He has delivered us through Christ
Jonah was entombed in the belly of a fish for 3 days. Jesus was entombed in the heart of the earth for 3 days.
Jonah felt grief when He was in the water. Jesus felt grief when He was forsaken by God on the cross.
Jonah experienced God’s wrath because of his sin. Jesus, in contrast, took God’s wrath upon himself for the sins of others and to atone for them
Jonah entered a watery grave, but he didn’t stay there. Jesus was laid in a tomb, but he didn’t stay there.
Jesus was raised from the dead, and appeared to many witnesses, ascended into heaven 40 days later and sat down at the Father’s hand where he now reigns in glory.
Have you been running from God?
Are you on your way to hitting rock bottom? Is your marriage on the rocks? Are your kids destroying their lives? Are you living in unrepentant sin?
There is hope in God. The same God that saved Jonah from death is the same God that offers us spiritual life through the life, death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. If you are not a Christian, trust in Jesus today. If you are a Christian, hold fast to the promises of God. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
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.
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.
What would your last thoughts be if you knew you were about to die and pass into eternity?
In Jonah 2, the curtains are pulled back and we are invited to see the emotions and cries of Jonah, who is a drowning, dying man.
From a human perspective, there is no hope for Jonah. As a result of his disobedience to God, he seems destined to die in the sea. As Jonah is on the brink of death, he has an encounter with the living God.
BIG IDEA: Our disobedience leads to despair and death, but God’s deliverance leads to thanksgiving.
Our disobedience leads to despair and death, but God’s deliverance leads to thanksgiving.
The last verse in chapter one really belongs with chapter two. Keep in mind that while the chapter and verse divisions are helpful tools, they were added later and are not inspired by the Holy Spirit.
1:17 and 2:10 frame this section, which details Jonah’s experience in the belly of the fish.
1:17 – The fish swallowed up Jonah.
2:10 – The fish vomited Jonah out.
Verse 17 says that “the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” The Lord sent the fish to save Jonah.
Jonah did not pray for God to save him from the fish, but he expresses thanks for being saved by the fish.
Jonah’s rebellion brought God’s discipline, but God showed Jonah mercy. In the same way, our rebellion brings God’s discipline, but God is merciful to us.
The Lord is merciful and saves Jonah’s life through the great fish. In chapter 2, we see Jonah’s prayer of thanksgiving for his deliverance from death. Jonah is inside the fish and he recounts his near death experience and God’s mercy towards him.
Our disobedience leads to despair and death (2:1-6a)
Verse 1 gives the setting of the prayer. Jonah prayed this prayer from the belly of the fish.
Verse 2 gives the summary of the prayer that is fleshed out in vv. 3-9. It is a summary statement.
Jonah never prayed for God to save the pagan sailors, but he does thank God for saving him. This says something about his heart, and we’ll see in chapter four.
Well what does v. 2 say about Jonah’s prayer? Essentially, that Jonah cried out to the Lord and that the Lord heard him.
2a: Jonah called out to the Lord in his distress and the Lord answered him.
2b: He cried from the belly of Sheol and the Lord heard Jonah’s voice.
Jonah realizes that once he is drowning that he isn’t ready to die. And so he called out to the Lord.
Certainly, Jonah had reason to be distressed:
He had rebelled against God – rebellion against God will leave you distressed.
He had been disciplined by God – God’s discipline is not pleasant at the time.
He was drowning and about to die – near death experiences are intense.
The phrase “belly of Sheol” represents death. In most OT references, Sheol is the place of the dead and is sometimes seen as the fate of the ungodly and a place of divine punishment. Simply put, Sheol was believed to be where the soul went after death.
The good news is that the Lord heard Jonah’s voice and He answered him.
Jonah was not dead when he prayed, but he was getting close, as we will see in vv. 3-6a.
3
In v. 3, Jonah recognizes God’s sovereign hand in his situation.
Though the sailors threw him overboard, Jonah knew God stirred their hearts to do so. He says, “you cast me into the deep.”
Jonah was drowning in the sea, and he recognized that it was God’s waves and billows that passed over him (“your waves and your billows”). Jonah knew the Lord controlled the sea (Jon 1:9).
Jonah was in the middle of the sea without a lifeboat, and like the sailors in chapter one, he knew that he could not save himself. He struggles to keep his head above water. Eventually, he will run out of energy and start sinking down into the sea.
4
Verse 4 is the key verse in vv. 1-6. As I previously mentioned, the storm was not Jonah’s main problem. His main problem was that he was living in rebellion against God and needed to have a heart change. When Jonah says that he is driven away from God’s sight, he is saying that he is separated from God.
When people are in rebellion against God, they are separated from Him. For unbelievers, of course this means that they do not have God as their Father, and they are under His just wrath. For believers, they are not separated from God in a salvation sense, but there is a break in intimacy and fellowship.
Jonah, though he was God’s prophet, was driven away from God’s sight. His rebellion against God had led him to get away from the presence of the Lord and to forsake God’s mission.
As Jonah begins to sink into the deep, he decides to look towards God. Jonah says, “yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.” It’s unclear from the text if Jonah literally thought that he would be saved and make it back to Jerusalem to the temple or if he was speaking figuratively – that he was looking to the Lord’s presence and seeking his help. Verse 9a seems to indicate the former. Either way, in some sense, Jonah turned to the Lord.
He finally understood that there was no way out except to turn to the Lord. Jonah refused to cry out to God in the boat, but he does cry out in the waves of the sea. Many people today are living for the world (1 John 2:15-17) without any care of God (Matt 24:36-39), and in disobedience to God (Eph 2:1-3). Often, God must send a storm to get people’s attention before they will seek Him.
Most people don’t seek God when things are going well. A few will seek God during the storms of life. Some people however, have to come face-to-face with death before they wake up and even then, some don’t.
This is Jonah’s plight. He is separated from the Lord, but in His suffering, he turns to God. That is what we must do. In times of suffering and difficulty, we must turn to the Lord.
In times of suffering and difficulty, we must turn to the Lord.
God is gracious to Jonah and He will be gracious to us, but I want to implore you – don’t want until you’re on the brink of death to turn to the Lord. Seek Him while He may be found. Do not love the world but seek first the kingdom of God. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and live for Christ.
5-6a
Many people come to the Lord or renew their commitment to the Lord only after hitting rock bottom. Only after a crisis do people realize they are living for themselves rather than living for Christ. God has to show us that we must cry out to God or perish. It’s been said that you never realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.
You never realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.
God is more concerned about your holiness than your happiness. At times, He will knock out your legs from beneath you to make you dependent on His grace. Scripture says that He disciplines those He loves (Pro 3:12; Heb 12:6).
If it wasn’t too late for Jonah, it’s not too late for you. No matter what kind of sin you’re living in or how far away you feel from God, it’s not too late to turn to the Lord until you’ve taken your last breath.
In verses 1-6a, we have seen that our disobedience leads to despair and death.
In verses 6b-10, we will see that God’s deliverance leads to thanksgiving.
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.
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
To encourage readers to reflect on God’s compassionate character and to examine if their compassion reflects the heart of God.
To show God’s sovereign control over the material world.
To show the futility of idol worship and self-effort.
To display God’s love for the nations outside Israel.
To teach about the need for repentance from sin in general and from self-centeredness in particular.
To show that God relents when people repent.
To later serve as a sign for Jesus’ preaching ministry and resurrection (Matthew 12:38-41; Luke 11:29-32).
Structure
Four settings:
Jonah and the sea – Jonah runs from God’s will (1:1-16)
Jonah and the fish – Jonah submits to God’s will (1:17-2:10)
Jonah and the city – Jonah fulfills God’s will (3:1-10)
Jonah and the Lord – Jonah questions God’s will (4:1-11)
