The (Bitter) End: A Guide to being a Practical Heretic

vv. 1–3) Jonah’s displeasure and anger:

Jonah is greatly displeased and becomes angry because God spared Nineveh.

[displeased] This is rather odd, usually the preacher rejoices when the congregation repents.

[anger] He was upset because he was successful in his preaching. We should not miss Jonah’s intensity here, because here in the Hebrew is strong.

Jonah prays to the Lord, expressing his frustration.

Jonah explains that he fled to Tarshish because he knew God was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love, and relenting from sending calamity.

[Prayer] He was angry because God granted repentance to the Ninevites, and the Assyrians were his people’s enemies! Jonah wanted God to bring judgement on these people he hated.

“We are God’s chosen few,

All others will be damned;

There is no place in heaven for you,

We can’t have heaven crammed.”–Jonathan Swift

The reason Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh, was because he was afraid that God would show mercy and grace. Funny Jonah called on the mercy of God and enjoyed that mercy. Now he resent it when it is extended to others.

What if God treated Jonah the way Jonah wanted God to treat the people of Nineveh?

This gives us insight into our great God!

Exodus 34:5–8 NKJV

5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

Jonah asks God to take his life, feeling it is better for him to die than to live.

The repentance and salvation of the people of Nineveh is so painful for Jonah that he would rather die than to think about it.

vv. 4–5) God’s question and Jonah’s reaction:

The Lord responds by asking Jonah if he has any right to be angry.

Is it right for you to be angry?

Jonah, in expressing his anger against God, was being honest about his feelings—that is good; however we should not for a moment think that all of our feelings towards God are justified.

God loves to ask questions because they reveal our hearts. It also puts us in our place before God:

Where are you? Who told you that you were naked? What is this you have done? (Genesis 3)

Where is your brother Abel? What have you done? (Genesis 4)

What have you done? (1 Samuel 13:11)

Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? (2 Samuel 12)

Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? (Isaiah 6)

Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16)

What do you want Me to do for you? (Matthew 20)

Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? (Luke 22)

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? (Acts 9)

This is the question we should and even ask ourselves if we find ourselves angry with God, “Is it right for you to be angry?

Jonah leaves the city and sits east of it, making a shelter and waiting to see what will happen to the city.

Jonah is hopeful that the repentance of Nineveh was lacking, and hoped to see the city destroyed… He leaves the city probably for safety.

vv. 6–8) God provides a plant:

God provided a vine to give Jonah shade and ease his discomfort, making Jonah very happy.

God, the creator of all things prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and now He prepared a particular plant to shelter Jonah as he waited… Hoping the city would be destroyed.

This is the first time we see Jonah happy. I believe it is safe to say that Jonah’s happiness was just as fleshly as his anger. Both were all about self!

The next day, God sends a worm to chew the vine, causing it to wither.

When the sun rises, God provides a scorching east wind, and the sun blazes on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint.

Jonah becomes angry again and wishes to die, saying it would be better for him to die than to live.

He was so angry with God because of Nineveh’s repentance. The Hebrew word for angry is literally “to be hot.” Now God would let Jonah feel some of the heat.

It is so backwards, when God took the plant away Jonah missed it so much he wanted to die.

“If, dear friends, like Jonah, you want to complain, you will soon have something to complain of. People who are resolved to fret, generally make for themselves causes for fretfulness.”–Spurgeon

vv. 9–11) God’s lesson

God asks Jonah if he has any right to be angry about the plant.

Jonah’s response is that he is so angry, angry enough to die.

Jonah felt totally justified in his anger about the plant’s destruction.

Jonah made three errors that angry people make too. Each of these things put Jonah in a worse place, not a better place.

Jonah quit

Jonah separated himself from others

Jonah became a spectator

How pitiful that these are the last recorded words of Jonah… What a way to be remembered.

Praise God the book doesn’t end here with Jonah. God’s mercy and compassion still worked with Jonah, teaching him and guiding him to God’s heart.

The Lord points out Jonah’s concern for the vine, which he did not tend or make grow, and which sprang up overnight and died overnight.

God then contrasts Jonah’s concern for the vine with His own concern for the great city of Nineveh, with its more than 120,000 children who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many animals.

God showed His mercy to Jonah through a lot of preparation:

The Lord prepared a great fish (1:17)

The Lord prepared a plant (4:6)

The Lord prepared a worm (4:7)

The Lord prepared a wind (4:8)

Nevertheless, the real work of preparation happened in Jonah. What God really prepared was a person, a prophet.

“I would suggest to some of you here who have to bear double trouble that God may be preparing you for double usefulness, or he may be working out of you some unusual form of evil which might not be driven out of you unless his Holy Spirit had used these mysterious methods with you to teach you more fully his mind.”–Spurgeon

Main points

A practical heretic is someone who mentally affirms correct theology yet practically denies it.

Don’t refuse to give the grace that you have been given.

You will experience great peace when you remove yourself from the center of your universe.

Jonah’s problem with the conclusion of this story is that he would have written it a different way.

You cannot make reservations on God’s promises.

Grace becomes entitlement when we make judgment calls on who should receive it.

When we desire God’s grace for everyone but our enemies, we forget that we once were God’s enemies.

Failing to submit to God’s plan will reduce us to pouting protesters.

You may try to get away from the sin around you but you can’t get away from the sin within you.

Don’t have more concern for your temporal comfort than others’ eternal security.

Jonah’s ending is uncertain. Ours doesn’t have to be

Numbers 6:24–26 KJV 1900

24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.