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.