Jonah - The Hesitant Witness (3)

1) The Difference: Elijah was Running from the potential threat to his mortality. Jonah was running from the potential possibility of God’s Mercy.

2) Jonah’s disdain was greater than his devotion.

“If you had been a Jew living in the ninth century B.C., you wouldn’t have wanted to live in or even visit the city of Nineveh. It was inhabited by a godless, wicked, violent people, the Assyrians. Archaeological inscriptions have been found in which Assyrian kings boast of their own cruelty, such as flaying their enemies and hanging their skin on the city walls. In our text, when the king calls his people to repentance, he specifies their violence (3:8). Much of that violence was aimed at the surrounding nations, such as Israel, which Assyria tried to conquer and, about 125 years later, did conquer. It was to this violent, wicked enemy of Israel that God called the prophet Jonah. It would be like calling a Jew during World War II to go witness to Nazi Germany. I think we can understand why Jonah boarded the next ship headed in the opposite direction!

When you study this book, you have to ask: Why did God pick an unwilling man to go to Nineveh? Weren’t there any willing prophets in Israel who may have swallowed hard, but at least would have said, “All right, Lord, I’ll go”? Why pick Jonah?

I think God picked Jonah because he reflects the attitude of so many of God’s people down through the centuries. Israel was God’s covenant people, supposed to be His channel of salvation for all people (Gen. 12:1-3). But they had bottled the blessings for themselves. They had lost God’s heart for the nations. But before we condemn those comfortable covenant people, we need to see that, like Jonah, we often value our own comfort above the souls of millions of lost people who need to hear of God’s judgment and mercy.

This was probably displayed on the front of Jonah’s donkey.

3) Jonah slept while those around him trusted in ineffective idols for intervention.

Jonah’s Admission

Jonah 1:7–17 NKJV

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So 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, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled 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 be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. 17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Notice verse 13: The pagan sailors tried to save Jonah. It was only when it was obvious that they were all going to die that they relented and threw him overboard.

This is what is mind-blowing to me: Even in Jonah’s disobedience, God used Jonah to display His power to the unbelieving.

Notice verse 17:

The Lord had prepared.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV

13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

“God won’t put more on you than you can withstand.” That’s NOT in the Bible!

Psalm 18:1–5 NKJV

1 I will love You, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. 4 The pangs of death surrounded me, And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

distress = 1 ṣrr

Hebrew Lemma • wrap, envelop, tie or lock up; be cramped, restricted, hampered, constricted; be depressed, worried; harass

distress (state) — noun. an oppressive state of physical, mental, social, or economic adversity.

Psalm 18:6–30 NKJV

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears. 7 Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry. 8 Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it. 9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. 10 And He rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters And thick clouds of the skies. 12 From the brightness before Him, His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. 13 The Lord thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire. 14 He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them. 15 Then the channels of the sea were seen, The foundations of the world were uncovered At Your rebuke, O Lord, At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. 16 He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, For they were too strong for me. 18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my support. 19 He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me. 20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all His judgments were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me. 23 I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. 24 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight. 25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; 26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. 27 For You will save the humble people, But will bring down haughty looks. 28 For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. 29 For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall. 30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

God prepares a way out for the righteous!

God prepares a way back out of your trouble - even when it is self-made.

Mark 14:72 NKJV

72 A second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And when he thought about it, he wept.

Luke 22:61–62 NKJV

61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” 62 So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Mark 16:7 NKJV

7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

John 21:15–25 NKJV

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. 18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” 20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” 23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?” 24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.