Jonah 1:1-16 - God's Grace and Jonah's Flight

Intro: How many of you felt distant from God before? How many of you feel distant from God now? How many of you have gone out of your way to avoid your heavenly Father? Today, we begin a new series through the book of Jonah, and in the first chapter of Jonah, you’re going to see how much of a flight risk you are and how much of a gracious God our God is.

We will read Jonah 1:1-16, p. 726 (2x, pause). *read

Main Idea: When we flee God in our sin, God pursues in His grace. 2x

We’re going to systematically work through the chapter verse by verse so I need you to stay with me throughout the message. We’re going to be in and out of the text a lot. Recurring concept: God’s grace vs. Jonah’s actions. Look with me at verses 1 and 2.

(DON’T READ) Jonah 1:1-2

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

In verse 1, we are introduced to the two main characters: YHWH and Jonah.

Nineveh/Assyria. Records show that Assyria was among the most ruthless nations that have ever existed. Many scholars believe Assyria invented crucifixion. When they conquered a nation, they would behead people and pile their heads into a pyramid. They would skin their enemies alive. At the time, Assyria was extremely brutal and wicked. Assyria today is modern-day Iraq. That is where God calls Jonah to go.

So, we have the main characters identified, we know a little bit about Nineveh.

prophet book (introductory formula)

- Prophetic books begin with the word of YHWH coming to a prophet the son of his dad, and then what follows for most of the book if not all of it is the actual prophetic message. Very first verses of Joel, Micah, Zephaniah

You are all familiar with these introductory formulas.

Example: “dear heavenly father…” prayer

Example: “once upon a time, there was a…,” fairy tale

- Keep in mind, what supposed to follow is a long prophetic message from an obedient prophet of God

(READ) 3 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.

Where’s the prophetic message? And what is God’s prophet doing?

What follows isn’t a prophetic message but a story, and the story begins with the prophet running way from God. IL: *I walk away”It’s the complete opposite of what you would expect of the genre.

- How many times did the narrator say Jonah was going to Tarshish? 3x,

- Is Jonah going to Nineveh? Where is he going? So he’s not going to Nineveh?

*reference: Here is the map… Here is Tarshish… Gath Hepher (2 Kings 14:25)

Why would Jonah, who believes in and worships a God whom he knows is all good, all knowing, all present, run away from this God? This is the narrator’s first hint to you that Jonah is acting like a pagan.

- Pagan gods were regional; their powers and authority were limited. So it would make sense if a pagan ran away from a pagan god, but Jonah?

- What is Jonah running away from? the presence of the LORD (2x)

o Why does it seem like Jonah thought he could actually get away from the presence of the LORD? Psalm 139:7-12?

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

- So why does Jonah flee God’s call to Nineveh? Right now, the author doesn’t tell us, so you are not supposed to know. At least not yet. You do find out the actual reason later in the story. But right now, the important thing isn’t the why but the what, and the what is a prophet of YHWH fled from YHWH.

- When Jonah got to the port city of Joppa, he didn’t buy a boat ticket. These men didn’t sell tickets for boat rides. Jonah either begged or demanded to get on the boat in exchange for money. “If you let me on, I will pay you” *Airport analogy (O Hare)

- Lots of movement in verse 3. Jonah is really going out of his way to get away from the presence of his God.

RE: What are you running from? God calls you to love your parent, your sibling, your child, your spouse. Are you avoiding them, emotionally? God commands you to share the gospel with nonbelievers, family members, coworkers, fellow peers. God even calls you to love your enemies. Is there someone in your life you don’t like? God exhorts you to not stay trapped in habitual sin. He calls you to share your struggles with others for prayer and accountability. Fellow believers, what are you running from right now?

The main idea this morning is that when we flee God in our sin, God pursues in His grace.

1stmain point: When we flee God in our sin, God pursues us in His grace.

In the rest of the chapter starting with verse 4, you see what a pursuit from God looks like. You also see the effects of Jonah’s rejection that he doesn’t initially experience… because he’s asleep.

(READ) Jonah 1:4-5

4 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.

5 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.

In verse 4, what does God do? Hurls a great wind on the sea. No one can hurl the wind. We can fan it. We can blow it, but we can’t throw it. In fact, God doesn’t need to do anything. In Genesis 1, God creates everything. How does God create the entire physical universe? By speaking it into existence. God didn’t lift a finger in Genesis 1 and here in Jonah 1, this same God who instead of speaking a great wind upon the sea, he hurls it. You can imagine how frightening that wind was.

The text highlights how frightening this was. The mariners are afraid; they are screaming to their pagan gods; God hurled the wind so now they’re hurling cargo. And the text expresses the terror in a more subtle way. At the end of verse 4, it reads “the ship threatened to break up.” That word “threatened” in that Hebrew form literally means “to think.” In every OT occurrence in that form, this word “think” is used to describe people. What does this mean? What this could mean is that God’s apparent wrath is so terrifying, that even a thing incapable of consciousness gains consciousness to fear for its own life. God’s power is so present that even an inanimate unthinking object thinks it’s going to die by God’s power. RE: Does that remind you of anything God’s done for you? A nonliving thing incapable of life becoming alive after the intervention of our God in heaven. (2x).

Ephesians 2:4-5 talks about this: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

While everyone’s fearing for their lives including the boat, what’s Jonah doing? He’s asleep.

IL: Have any of you been so stressed and so overwhelmed, where you’re looking at your to do list and say, “I have 40 things I need to get done and 20 have to be done today. I’m going to take a nap.” We call that a stress nap.

There’s something natural about what Jonah’s doing here but at the same time, something unnatural. This Hebrew verb “to sleep” is not the normal word for sleep; it occurs 7 times in the entire Bible (two in this chapter) and it has the connotation of a death-like sleep. A deep, heavy sleep where you can’t move, where you’re stunned. This is a death nap.

Jonah sleeping here is not an isolated incident. Back in verse 3, we see Jonah going down to Joppa and then going down into the ship and here in verse 5, you see Jonah going down again into the inner part of the ship. What you’re beginning to see is Jonah’s progressive descent as he runs away from God. Last Sunday, we heard from our brother David Marus talking about Christ’s ascension into heaven. Today, we hear about Jonah’s descension, three times. The repetition is unavoidable. As he flees to Tarshish, Tarshish, Tarshish, from the presence of the LORD, away from the presence of the LORD, he goes down and he goes down and he goes down, into his deep, heavy, death-like sleep.

RE: Some of you may already be relating to Jonah. You may be thinking, “I’m a mess, and I’ve hit rock bottom.” Are you also a believer who protesting, resisting, and fleeing the God who loves you and calls you to obey Him?

We want God to operate on our own terms and when He doesn’t, we react. Just like Jonah.

In verses 3-4, you see Jonah trying to run away from God physically,

and in verse 5-6, you see Jonah trying to run away from God mentally. Until, he’s woken up in verse 6. What are the first commands Jonah hears when he wakes up?

(DON’T READ) 6 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.”

Arise. Call out. Where have we heard those commands before? From God in verse 2. Isn’t that incredible? God is speaking through a non-believing pagan ship captain, and the first thing Jonah hears when he awakes from his death-like sleep is God’s word. He hears God’s call for him to go to Nineveh through a non-believer. While this is happening, one thing is clear to us: Jonah does not care about these sailors. The sailors are doing everything to stay alive, and Jonah seems like he wants to die. In verses 7 to 9, you see the sailors continuing to do everything they can.

(DON’T READ) Jonah 1:7-9

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Try to visualize the scene. Imagine this building was the ship caught in the storm. The church floors are moving, the pews are rising and falling several meters high, you can barely hear anyone speaking with the crashing water below, the loud rain water above, and the wood cracking and snapping on the ship. You see scared pagan men throwing away their entire business (cargo) while crying out to their own gods. And a small group of men are all screaming questions at Jonah. “What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

Some of the questions might seem odd to us, but the mariners are trying to figure out what is going on. They have no idea what is happening, but they know that Jonah is the cause of the problem.

Then, for the first time in the book you hear Jonah speak. “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

As the reader, you see a blatant contradiction between what Jonah claimshe does and what he actually did. He says he fears YHWH, worships YHWH. In the story so far, has Jonah demonstrated fear or worship or obedience toward YHWH?

Here’s the big kicker of Jonah’s statement. The pagan sailors believed that there was a direct connection between their imminent death on the ship and Jonah’s God. Remember, the pagans believed in regional gods. These pagan gods didn’t have power or authority everywhere. Jonah says his God is in heaven who made the dry land and the sea.

Pagans: “you are running away from the God of the sea on the sea?” You see this response from them and Jonah’s solution in verses 10-12.

(DON’T READ) Jonah 1:10-12

10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.

Earlier, we saw the mariners discover the cause of the problem (Jonah), and here in verses 10-12, they discover the reason behind the problem (Jonah fleeing from God’s presence). What they want to know now is the solution to the problem. What’s the solution? Jonah says to throw him overboard. How does Jonah know this? Is there any indication in the text we’ve read so far that this would work? You could say, well Jonah’s a prophet so he probably knew the future. You could also just as easily say, Jonah made it up. There is nothing in the text that tells you that he would know this. Jonah would rather die than fulfill his specific call from God. Jonah tries to escape physically by heading to Tarshish, then he tries to escape mentally by sleeping, and now, he tries to escape spiritually/completely by dying.

Jonah could’ve confessed his sins to God during the storm. He could’ve repented on the ship. Instead of confessing his sins, repenting of his ways, obeying God’s calling, or loving the nonbelievers, Jonah would like to die. This is not the only time in the story he desires this.

I know and you know Jonah is not the only person in the room who has felt this way before.

RE: Would you rather die than confess your sins? All of you would say, no of course not. I’ll ask the same question in a different way:

When was the last time you confessed your sins?

There is another layer to his selfishness. Jonah wants to be hurled off the boat. Who is Jonah demanding to hurl himself off the boat? The sailors. Jonah doesn’t say I will sacrifice my life for the lives of others. He points the finger at the sailors and says, “you do it. Kill me if you want to save yourself.” So do they? Not at first.

(READ) Jonah 1:13-15

13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

14 Therefore they called out to the LORD, “O LORD, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.”

15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

Jonah forces these men who are fighting for their lives into an ethical dilemma. Do you see what the ethical dilemma is? Two options. If the sailors don’t throw Jonah overboard, then they will die as innocent people for someone else’s sin. If the sailors do throw Jonah overboard, then they will become guilty of murdering an innocent person. RE: Which option would you choose?

Within the framework of this ethical dilemma, either option you choose is wrong. Jonah puts these men in a lose-lose situation because of his selfishness.

Jonah gets what he wants in verse 15. He’s thrown overboard.

Remember his descent. He’s went down to Joppa, went down into the ship, went down into the inner part of the ship, and finally, Jonah sinks even deeper into the waters. Into death. Jonah tries to run away physically (3-4), mentally (5-10), complete/spiritually (11-15). The farther he tries to get away from God, the more he descends. We have now reached the descent of Jonah entire being.

Jonah is thinking, somewhat logically, that if Jonah is dead, he doesn’t have to go to Nineveh. He can go straight to heaven. Jonah seems to think that God cannot use a dead man to proclaim His good news.

Embassy, can even death stop God from accomplishing His mission? Our God is so powerful, even death submits to our king in heaven, something that God uses as an instrument of His glory.

Contrast Jonah with the nonbelieving sailors. There is a critical moment here in verse 14. Verse 14 is the very first time the nonbelieving pagans talk to the one, true God and they address him by name: YHWH. The first main point of this chapter is that when we flee God in our sins, God pursues us in His grace. The second main point we’re seeing here is that when we flee God in our sin, God pursues others in His grace, too.

(READ)16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

“and the men feared a great fear of YHWH and they sacrificed a sacrifice to YHWH and they vowed vows”

As Jonah goes down and goes down and goes down, the nonbelieving sailors fearedin v5, feared a great fear in v10, and finally, feared a great fear of YHWH in v.16.

We think the story of Jonah is just about God pursuing Jonah. Here, you see God wasn’t only interested in showing grace to Jonah. God also wants to show grace to the nonbelieving pagan mariners that Jonah didn’t care about. God didn’t just save these men from the storm; He saved their souls.

The new believers offer vow offerings in compliance with OT law (Lev 7:16-17) which ironically, they probably never read.

God used the disobedience and hatred and passivity and selfishness of Jonah to save the souls of nonbelieving pagans. Jonah in a great irony did the very thing that he didn’t want to do: help convert non-Jewish pagans. If God wills that a person be saved, that person will be saved no matter what.

Some of you this morning are looking at your life and feel like you are in a storm. You look outside and see the sun and clear skies, but you feel like you’re in a storm. Have you considered this storm to be evidence of God’s grace and mercy?

You need to consider the possibility that the storm, as wrathful as it seems, as terrifying as it is, is actually an act of grace. That this terrifying storm that God threw at you, is evidence of His severe mercy in your life. Maybe God wants to save you this morning. Maybe God has already poured out His grace to you.

If God has elected you before the foundation of the world, if God has chosen to adopt you to be His son and daughter through His salvific work of Jesus Christ, then you can try to run away all you want. You can try to run away physically, mentally, and completely. You can try to run away in your fantasies, daydreams, addictions, anger, depression, hatred and apathy toward your fellow nonbelievers, in your death-like sleeps, you can try to flee in your sin, but our Father in heaven will pursue you and does pursue you with all of His love and grace and mercy. When God pursues you in His grace, He finds you in His grace.

When we flee in our sin, God pursues in His grace, which should cause us to also pursue others in grace.

In the passage Scott Roper read for us this morning from Mark 4:35-41, the author writes a story of Jesus falling asleep on a boat during a storm. One pastor argued that you cannot understand this NT story unless you know the OT story of Jonah because Mark is obviously making a point about Jesus using Jonah 1. In the Jesus story, there is a great storm on the sea, the boat is breaking, the men are terrified, Jesus is sleeping in the boat, the men wake Jesus up for his help, they yell that they are perishing, the waters stop moving, and at the end of the story, the men don’t just fear; the men fear a great fear. In both endings, the men are more terrified at the end of the story than they were at the beginning. In both endings, they see the tremendous power of God.

One clear difference you probably noticed between the two stories is that in Jonah 1, Jonah is thrown to his death. In Mark 4, Jesus isn’t. But the point Mark is making is that it is by the death of Christ that the storm was able to stop. The same power God spoke creation to existence in Genesis 1 is the same power Jesus spoke the storm to stop: Peace! Be still!,

and it is by this power that Jesus died on the cross on our behalf for our sins and then after being buried for three days came back to life! It is by this power that Christ descends to the grave but ascends from the dead and ascends again into heaven! It is by this power that you know and fear the one true God who gave His life for you.

Jonah said, “if you want to be saved, you sacrifice me”

Jesus said, “because I want to save you, I sacrifice myself.”

Jesus said in John 10:17-18, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again”

Jonah doesn’t care about the world. Jesus loves this world.

Jonah ran away from the word of God. Jesus is the Word of God.

Some of you this morning need to wake up from your death-like sleep and hear the wonderful, life giving, authoritative word of God.

Embassy Church, Arise! Go! Go to that great city of Chicago! Proclaim the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Please pray with me (*Prayer of Petition), Dear Heavenly Father,

In our flight, we ask for your pursuit. In our sin, we ask for your grace and mercy. In our aloneness, we ask for a relationship with your son Jesus Christ. In our weakness, we ask for the power of the Holy Spirit. In our life, we ask for you.

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil[a] has come up before me.” 3 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.

4 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. 5 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. 6 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.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.