Jonah - 1

When God’s Grace Seems Too Much

Jonah 1:1–3 ESV

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

We start this new year with a new series in a small book, tucked away, in the middle of the 12-book section known, in our English Bible as the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. We will be studying the book of Jonah. You need to know that these books are called the ‘minor prophets’ - NOT because they are any less inspired than the Major Prophets, like Isaiah or Jeremiah, not because they are any less ‘useful for training in righteousness’, not because they are any less relevant to our lives today. None of that is true. The only reason we call them ‘Minor’ prophets, is because of their size. They are much smaller books tan the major prophets. All of them fit on one scroll in ancient days. We need these books. Oh how we need them. The Gospel is here in these boooks. The Good News that our wrld so desperately needs to hear - is embedded in page after page of these little books.

They have a God-Sized Word for us. So, with that in mind - let me invite you to turn to the book of Jonah. This is a time when we can see who knows their Bibles and who, not so much. Some people flip right there … others are nervously playing tennis in their Bibles: Going back and forth … Zephaniah - no that’s too far .... flip back to Daniel - no, that’s too far the other way. Don’t give up. Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah.

The entire book has only 48 verses, in 4 short chapters, so you can read the whole book in a matter of a few minutes.

Before I read our text for this morning, let me ask a question:

WHY STUDY JONAH? Well, I could say that this book is worth studying because it has captured our imaginations as few stories have. Maybe you’re like me and from the days as a kid in Sunday School - you’ve been mesmerized by a man, swallowed by a ‘whale’ (big fish), that was stuck inside for 3 days - and survived! Maybe the Veggie Tales version of the story caught your attention ....

When I was at seminary, doing second year Hebrew, with Bruce Waltke, the time came to make the journey from learning ABOUT Biblical Hebrew to APPLY what we had learned about words and syntax - to a whole book of the Bible. The very first book we had to read in the original and then translate for ourselves into English - was this very book. Jonah is brief, the Hebrew is relatively simple … but what a powerful story. It captivated me all over again.

Satan has long been busy convincing people to dismiss the book of Jonah as nothing more than an amusing story about ‘Jonah and the Whale’ and to assume that a story about a man who’s swallowed up by a big fish and lives to tell the tale - that a story like that can be taken with all the seriousness of Cinderella, with her pumpkin carriage or Jack and Beanstock with his ‘magic beans’.

Oh, but this book is no ‘cute story’ - it’s so much more than that. Jonah touches on issues that are a constant source of struggle for us as humans: fear and hatred of enemies, the struggle to reconcile the justice of a holy God with His mercy, our need to see ourselves as we truly are: sinners, every one of us - in need of the Saviour … and, the relationship between the SOVEREIGNTY of God and what seem to be random, coincidental events.

It’s unfortunate that so many people associate the book of Jonah with a big fish – that completely misses the point of the book. The fish in chapter 2, is nothing more than a tool in the hands of the God of heaven. And that’s the key. The star of the book of Jonah is NOT the GREAT FISH that God prepared; the Star of this book is the GREAT GOD who prepared the fish - - and the Great God who restored a runaway prophet. The star of the book of Jonah is God – the God of heaven.

My prayer is that, through this study, we will come to a deeper understanding of our Sovereign and Gracious God, a greater ability to worship Him in Holy confidence … and a greater ability to live as His called and faithful people in THIS world of ours, that so often seems to make no sense.

Today, we want to concentrate on the first 3 verses of the book, because they are the key to us getting our bearings - to appreciating the developing theme.

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1 GOD’S CLEAR CALL, vv. 1-2

Let’s start our journey at the beginning. Take a look at verse 1 of chapter 1: “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh ...’”.

This is a Prophetic formula. The Prophets of our OT were God's mouthpiece: They spoke on God's behalf into their world. Throughout the Old Testament, when God commissions a prophet with a message, we read the same phrase: "The word of the Lord came ...".

But everywhere else, this commission introduces a new episode in a prophet’s mission. In other words - you would expect words like this when a prophet is already ‘on the clock’ - new instruction for a new sermon. Here in Jonah - is the only time in the BIble, where it introduces a brand-new book.

But here - the word of the LORD comes out of nowhere.

Jonah is minding his business, going about his life - and ‘THE WORD OF THE LORD’ comes to him. God’s call INTRUDES into Jonah’s life and, one way or another, that call is going to change … everything. That’s the way it is for us, as we begin a new year. God’s call INTERRUPTS the ordinary rhythm of the man’s life - interrupts his plans and direction.

Question: What are you living for in 2025?

If you are a Christian -

Verse 1: “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.’”

Now, before we go on, we need to place this book in its historical context. This is not the first time we meet up with Jonah, in the Bible. His name shows up back in 2 Kings 14:25 “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.”

2 Kings 14:23–27 “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.”

So Jonah is a prophet, in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, between 790-760 BC, during the rign of Jeroboam, the second. Jeroboam was an evil King - spiritually faithless - a rebel against God and His Word, devoted to the worshp of false gods, like the rest of the kings of the north … but as 2 Kings 14 tells us - this was a time of God’s mercy - and there is unparalleled prosperity and military success in Israel, during this time.

Nineveh is one of the most important cities in Assyria … and in time - it will become the capital. That’s important to know because Assyria had been a terror to Israel, for decades, in the previous century, bulldozing through Israel and surrounding nations, building its Empire and terrorizing everyone in its path. In Jonah’s day, the threat isn’t there - Assyria is going through its own internal struggles - which is one of the reasons why Israel is doing so well at the time.

The Israelites hated Assyria - - they feared her too. Assyria had a reputation for its military might. When we were in Isaiah 9, before Christmas, we talked about how the Assyrians, were notorious for their cruelty … how Archaeologists have found reliefs – kind of ancient propaganda posters – depicting the Assyrians flaying the skin from the backs of their enemies, building mountains of skulls of their conquered enemies. This was a blood-thirsty lot. And they celebrated their own cruelty.

Another one minor prophet, Nahum, prophecies about the coming destruction of Nineveh in his book. If you turn to Nahum 3, we can see just how little love there was, on the part of Israel - - but not just Israel.

This is the way the rest of the world felt about Assyria. Nahum 3:1-5; 19

"Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder - no end to the prey! The crack of the whip, and the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end - they stumble over the bodies! And for all the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her charms.

Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts ..."

And down to v. 19, "There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil? (NIV: Who has not felt your endless cruelty?)"

There was certainly no love lost between Assyria and its neighbours.

Now, this story is more contemporary than you may realize. You see, Assyria is modern day Iraq. Nineveh was right on the banks of the Tigris river, almost on the very spot of the modern day city of Mosul, which - not that long ago, was a stronghold of the terrorist group, ISIS. And the feelings between the Assyrians and Israel in Jonah’s day, would be about the same as the feelings between Israel and terrorists who want to destroy it today.

Picture yourself as a pious Jew today. You love God and you are fiercely loyal to your nation - - in fact, you work for the Israeli national government.

You've recently buried relatives, killed in the October 7 terrorist attack. You have just experienced the pain, the resulting anger at the suffering you have received at the hands of people who would get pleasure from wiping you out.

God comes to you and says, "I have a message for you. I want you to get your things together and take a trip to Hamas and Hezbollah headquarters.

I want you to go and tell the people there that they have reached the end of the line. Their wickedness has created a stench so repulsive, so repugnant - - that the odor of it has reached my very nostrils.

I know what they have done to my people - - - and I will NOT tolerate it any longer."

Here's a picture of God's might: Do you see what God is saying here? He's saying, "I am the JUDGE of the whole world. Assyria may have its own gods, the people there may not call on my name, but their king must still answer to me. I am the judge."

"I am also holy ... because the stench of the sin has ascended all the way to me - I must deal with it. My holiness DEMANDS that justice be done."

God gives Jonah the mission: "Get up and GO!"

2 THE PROPHET’S RESPONSE, v. 3

Verses 1-2 describe God’s commission; verse 3 describes the PROPHET’S RESPONSE.

The story has started out so promising. The original Hebrew language Jonah was written in, is VERY concise here. In verse 2, God says, "Qum Laich" (arise, go) 2 short words.

And verse 3 starts with what seems to be a perfect obedience: "Yaqum" - God says 'Arise' in verse 2, and v. 3, "Jonah rose ..." .... so far, so good. But then the surprise comes: "Jonah rose, alright, but that's not the end. Verse 3, "But Jonah rose TO FLEE to Tarshish ... from the presence of the LORD".

Jonah says, "Thanks for the offer, God, but I can't make the trip. I'm taking a cruise".

Nineveh is to the east, through the desert

… Joppa is a seaport, to the west, on the Mediterranean coast. Right where the modern day Israeli city of Jaffa sits.

There at the harbour, packed with sailing vessels from various ports of call - exotic destinations that would keep him from going to Nineveh, Jonah finds one that is not only headed in the opposite direction … this one is headed for Tarshish - about as far in the opposite direction as you could possibly get, in Jonah’s day.

God tells Jonah to go EAST to Nineveh; Jonah instead heads west to the sea. Joppa is at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean sea and TARSHISH?

… well Tarshish is all the way westward, across the Mediterranean, through the narrow pass of the Strait of Gibralter that separates Europe from Africa and north around to the westcoast of present day Spain. It was a region rich in silver and other metals and in Solomon’s day, ships that would do trade between Israel and Tarshish, would be gone for THREE years.

What’s going on here? It’s one thing to hear God’s command and put your fingers in your ears, “I can’t hear you!” But it’s quite another thing to head in the opposite direction as far as it’s humanly possible to go.

What’s Jonah thinking? Well, there’s no conversation recorded, where Jonah asks his best friend for advice … but v. 3 tells us what’s going on in Jonah’s head right now. Verse 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 an dwent down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, AWAY FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.”

This prophet is trying to run away from God! Now, he’s ministering centuries after David, there’s no way he doesn’t know David’s words in Psalm 139:7–9 “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 … ”

He knows that there is no distance he can run to, where the infinite God is absent … but Jonah is going to run and try anyway. This is a story of backsliding.

Notice the direction Jonah is headed - his course is downhill. He wouldn’t have said that he’s on a descent - he would have said EXACTLY what we say today, when we run from God’s call. Jonah would have said that he’s improving his life - that, “I did it my way”; “I’m free to do as I please”. But that’s always a downhill journey.

Look at v. 3 again and notice the way the narrator describes Jonah’s direction of travel.

“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 h paid the fare and WENT DOWN INTO IT, to go with them to Tarshish.”

He GOT UP to run … and immediately started going down. Down to the harbour … and down into the bowels of the ship. See what the Bible is saying here, friend: the way of the LORD is up … and any way that turns from hmi .... is down. Oh, the journey of ‘doing it MY way’ - may look beautiful when you start … the sea may look as calm as glass and the ship may look like a luxury yacht … but the way is still down.

There’s another result of running. Donald Grey Barnhouse pointed it out, years ago. Right after Jonah finds the ship going to Tarshish, look at what v. 3 says next: “… SO he paid the fare … and went down into it ...”.

Barnhouse put it this way: ““It is always that way. When you run away from the Lord you never get to where you are going, and you always pay your own fare. On the other hand, when you go the Lord’s way you always get to where you are going, and he pays the fare.” That is worth saying again: When you run away from the Lord you never get to where you are going, and you always pay your own fare. But when you go the Lord’s way you always get to where you are going, and he pays the fare

You need to hear this, you who are engaged in a spiritual battle right now. On this side of the cross and of the Day of Pentecost, we who belong to God through Jesus Christ you and I are intended to see something of ourselves in Jonah. Jonah was a prophet -

- - - called to be God's mouthpiece in the world.

In your home - with your kids; at work; in whatever sphere God has placed you - you have been called to be a prophet to your world and

- we have the Holy Spirit living inside and the commission of Jesus, giving purpose to our lives He told us to go into all the world, making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Tri-une God and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded. Christian, you are called to live your life ON mission, in our world.

Jonah says, by his actions - "I don't want that job!" "I don't want to do it".

On the one hand - you know what you

3 THE PROBLEM

So we see God’s clear commission to Jonah and we’ve seen Jonah’s response: Backsliding. But WHY? How does it make sense that when God gives His prophet a message of judgment, not judgment of his own people - but judgment against his ENEMIES. Isn’t that every prophet’s dream - to go to the bullies who make your life miserable and tell them that God has had enough - the end is near and they’re in BIG trouble?!

Why wouldn’t Jonah JUMP at a mission like that?

Could it be that he’s afraid? I mean, think about what God’s asking. To put the story into today’s context, God is saying, “I want you to go … load up your car in Jerusalem, drive through the streets through the checkpoints and across the border into Gaza. When you arrive in Gaza city, I want you to drive to the centre of town --- all by yourself - - get out of your car, stand on the roof and shout at the top of your lungs,

“I’m from Israel - and I’m here to tell you that our God is going to destroy you for your despicable deeds.”

I mean, if you go around preaching messages like that - you are going to have a very short career.

Fear in witnessing - could that be Jonah’s problem?

It could be - but it’s not.

To understand the PROBLEM - the reason that Jonah decides to run away from God’s commission — it’s found in chapter 4, verse 2. Turn there

Jonah 4:2 “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.”

As the NIV puts it: “A God who relents from sending calamity".

Ahhhh … do you see what the real problem is? Jonah’s NOT afraid that Nineveh won't repent and he’ll have his head chopped off. He's afraid that Nineveh WILL repent. He knows God's MIGHT - that He is the judge and will judge the people's sin. He can incinerate the entire wicked city, just as He did with Sodom. That part is great - that’s EXACTLY what he wanted. What he DOESN’T want to see is God's MERCY.

Not to Nineveh.

Jonah is a prophet. He knows the Scriptures. He knows that God called his forefather Abraham into relationship with Himself - made a covenant that Abraham’s descendants would be His people, NOT so they can thumb their noses at the rest of the world - “I will bless you and through your seed will all nations of the earth be BLESSED.” We, as Christians today are Abraham’s seed - we saw that in Romans 4. And that means it is our purpose today s to show what it looks like to be in relationship with God and call those on the OUTSIDE to repent of false religion and to worship the one, true and living God, too.

He has commissioned you, Christian - and sent you on mission.

Jonah knows that the nations are important to God. It's just that the nations AREN’T important to Jonah and he’s happy to see Nineveh get God's attention if it’s the attention of burning wrath. He’s horrified at the thought of them getting God's attention, if it means receiving His mercy.

Do you have a little of Jonah in you? Are there people in your world-view that, when you think about them receiving God's justice, His judgment, the cockles of your heart are warmed. But when you think about them receiving God's mercy, it just leaves you cold?

For Jonah - it was a city full of people. For us, maybe it is a race of people.

Group of people: Sexual confusion -

... love to proclaim judgment on immoral behaviour.

Individual: The boss who makes your life miserable. Supposed friend who has stabbed you in the back.

Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't struggle with that. I do. I am often amazed at the blackness of my own heart … at the way I almost instinctively decide who should get the mercy of God - and who should merely face His wrath.

It is one thing to know the doctrine of salvation by grace … it’s quite another to know the grace of the doctrine of salvation.

So many of us go to church services, participate in church life, live moral lives and do good deeds in the community - - - and are utterly clueless about the grace of God – because we don’t see ourselves as we truly are - - desperate sinners in need of a merciful savior.

We have come to worship this morning –

we gather around the Lord’s Table, month by month, to soberly remember and delight in the love that God has for us, which He tangibly showed in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross … if while you are reflecting and worshipping – if you FOR A SECOND – think that it took Jesus one less pang of suffering, one less ounce of pain, one less second of being abandoned by the Father as He carried your sin on his perfect shoulders – than it did for him to pay for the sins of the worst sinner in the world, who comes in repentance and faith to the cross - - - then you are not desparate enough – and you don’t see God’s grace clearly enough.

May we learn not just by memory, but most importantly, by heart and with passion, the truth of the Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:1 and following:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins - - - not just sleeping, not just ill – but dead … ‘Like the rest, we were, by nature, objects of wrath. BUT BECAUSE of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were DEAD in transgressions - - it is by Grace you have been Saved.”

So what are you going to do with your life, this year? Play video games, chase deals on Marketplace, do battle in social media wars?

William Booth -

Wednesday of last week marked the 69th anniversary of a story many of you are familiar with. January 8, 1956, five American missionaries in Ecuador, died in a secluded jungle river, at the hands of a tribe of Auca Indians: Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Peter Fleming. The story of their death is famous – written about in the book, “Through Gates of Splendor”.

Most of you have heard the story - the missionaries had made contact with the tribe - it seemed that there was a hospitality there that would give them a chance to actually visit with the people of the tribe and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You know that when their plane landed on the river - the men who met them brought out spears and brutally murdered all five of them - before even giving the Gospel a hearing.

You probably know that some of the men were married - and that Elizabeth Elliot was the widow left by Jim’s murder - left to raise their daughter who was not yet one year old.

What you may not know is what this widow did - in the days following her devastating loss. You would understand if she immediately left the place of pain in Ecuador and headed back to family and friends in safe America. Most of us would understand if she washed her hands in anger, of the thankless tribe of illiterate humans who pretended welcome and then turned their hostility on her husband and his companions who only wanted to show them love!

Elizabeth Elliot did neither of those things. Not only did she stay in Ecuador - but she spent the next two years, learnign the language of the Auca’s for herself - and teaching her daughter, as well.

Let me read you a little of the letter she sent back home to America - just 2 and a half years after the tragedy:

Dated, October 4, 1958: “I am writing this, hoping that by the time you receive it we shall be living with the very people who were responsible for killing my husband, Rachel’s brother (Rachel was the sister of Nate Saint) and three other men. Dayuma (an Auca woman who had been one of her language teachers) Dayuma says that six of the seven men who did the killin gare there, waiting for us. There names are Kimo, Monga, Nimunga, Minkayi, Gikita, and Kumi.

PERHAPS SOME OF YOU WILL PRAY FOR THEM ....

All the evidence at present points to a successful entrance for us. But I often think of … (and then she relates a story of another missionary family in Brazil that seemed to get along with the people of the tribe they were ministering to - who were suddenly murdered - Husband, child and mother almost dead, who regained consciousness only to find out her husband and baby were dead).

And then Elizabeth Elliot quotes Psalm 68:20, “To God the Lord belongs escape from death.”

And even if we are received and our entrance is “successful” in the physical sense - what of their reception of Christ? … I ask you to pray - for them, for us as we go, that the name of the Lord may be exalted. I would like to repeat what I have said to several when they knew of my intention to enter the tribe ...

I would never go because I thought it would be ‘safe’ or for any other reason, such as ‘carrying on my husband’s work’ or whatever. There is ONE reason alone: I believ it is simply the next step. It is the thing REQUIRED at the moment.

She closes the letter by quoting from ...... Isaiah 50:7:

“For the Lord God will help me - therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”

I will tell you, in case you don’t already know: Elizabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint did not waste their lives … many of the people in the tribe eventually responded to the Gospel message, repented of their sin and trusted in Christ.

They also didn’t waste their lives because their example and their writings, inspired a generation of Christians-some to go to the mission field and many more to live a more mature and sacrificial Christian life.

But most of all - they didn’t waste their lives … because they answered the Call of God to GO ON MISSION with His Unchanging Word.