Jonah: God's Prodigal Prophet
Notes
Transcript
Tozer Said,
Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late - and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work.
Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late - and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work.
Let’s Review the Story of Jonah.
Jonah’s Plight
Jonah’s Plight
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.”
Who was Nineveh
Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire during its peak (circa 8th–7th centuries BCE), which aligns with the likely historical setting of Jonah’s story (though some scholars debate whether Jonah is historical or parabolic, the traditional dating places it around the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel, ~786–746 BCE). The Assyrians were known for their military might, imperial expansion, and brutal practices, which provide context for Nineveh’s “wickedness.”
Extreme Violence
The Assyrians were infamous for their ruthless military campaigns. Historical records, such as the annals of kings like Tiglath-Pileser III, Shalmaneser V, or Sennacherib, describe practices like mass executions, impaling enemies, flaying captives, and mutilating bodies to instill fear. For example, Assyrian reliefs from Nineveh depict soldiers impaling prisoners or stacking severed heads.Military Brutality
The Assyrians practiced forced deportation, uprooting conquered peoples (including Israelites from the Northern Kingdom, as seen in 2 Kings 17:6). This caused immense suffering, breaking apart families and cultures.
Assyrian kings boasted of their cruelty in inscriptions, such as Ashurnasirpal II’s claim of burning cities, skinning enemies alive, and building towers of skulls. Nineveh, as the empire’s heart, was associated with these policies. Terror as Policy
Moral and Religious Evil
Idolatry: The Assyrians worshipped a pantheon of gods, including Ashur, Ishtar, and Marduk, with practices that included human sacrifices in some cases . From an Israelite perspective, this polytheism and its associated rituals were abhorrent and a form of spiritual “wickedness.”
To Jonah, an Israelite, Nineveh represented the epitome of gentile wickedness—not only because of their violence but also because Assyria was a looming threat to Israel. By 722 BCE, Assyria would conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel, so Jonah’s reluctance to preach to them may reflect both moral disgust and nationalistic fear of an enemy.
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.
Jonah’s Praise
Jonah’s Praise
(Chapter 2)
7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
God saved Jonah - This is mercy
Why does God show Jonah mercy?
Why does God show Jonah mercy?
Because God is merciful!!!
God showed mercy to Jonah to extend mercy through Jonah.
Jonah becomes a conduit of mercy. God gave mercy to him so that he might let mercy flow through him.
God saved Jonah to save Nineveh.
This is the manifold mercy of God - it was never a one off.
Jonah’s Preaching
Jonah’s Preaching
(Chapter 3)
Jonah realizes the ministry in Nineveh was not an option. He will not even let him quit!
What Happens when Jonah Preaches?
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,
8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
We would put him up for a Dove Award. — He’d be on the cover of Christianity Today -
THIS MAKES A GREAT ENDING TO THE BOOK. JONAH’S STATUS BECOMES LEGENDARY AS THE GREATEST Evangelist OF THE ANCIENT WORLD!
A MAN RESCUED BY A FISH BECOMES GOD’S TOOL TO RESCUE MANY FROM CERTIN DESTRUCTION!
CANT YOU SEE JONAH AT THE MONDAY MORNING MINESTRER’S CONFERENCE. HOW WAS YOUR SUNDAY? - WE HAD THREE PEOPLE GIVE THEIR LIVES TO THE LORD - HOW ABOUT YOU? WE HAVE 2 MEN REDEDICATE THEIR LIVES. WE HAVE A MARRIAGE THAT WAS ON THE ROCKS GLORIOUSLY RESTORED…HOW ABOUT YOU JONAH - I DON’T LIKE TO BRAG BUT THE ENTIRE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH RESPONDING TO THE PREACHING OF THE WORD. SO THAT FROM THE KING TO THE COWS.
YOU HAVEN’T EVER SEEN A MOVE OF GOD LIKE THIS
This is a perfect pace to end the book! But the book doesn’t end where you think it should.
It is not about the sin in the pagan people - It is about the sin in the prophet!
Jonah’s Pouting
Jonah’s Pouting
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
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.
3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.
6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.
7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.
8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”
10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.
11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
God’s prophet struggled with God’s character.
It was the mercy of God that made the man of God mad!
This is why I didn’t want to go in the first place because I knew that you are merciful.
I was afraid they might repent and you would extended them mercy. It is the reason I went to tashish in the fist place.
At the heart of this story is a prophet who’s heart is so far from God.
He doesn’t want to live and serve a God who might show mercy to those types of people. Jonah said I would rather die than to see you show them mercy.
Jonah is very eager to receive the mercy of God extended to him.
But Jonah hates the mercy of God extended through him.
Contrast Jonah with everyone else in the story.
Everyone and everything in the story of Jonah obeys God.
The Wind Obey’s God
The Fish Obey God
The worm Obeys God
They Pagans Obey God
The fish obey God
but the man of God doesn’t Obey God.
Just because you are around the things of God doesn’t mean you embrace the heart of God.
Just because you are around the things of God doesn’t mean you embrace the heart of God.
The modern American evanglical church we are so voisterous when it comes to our denuncation of the world around us.
We live in a world of moral confusion.
A world were we don’t recognize basic human dignity and worth.
A world that is so confused by the basics like - what marriage is - what human it means to be male and femal, a world where men pretend to be women and we are told that we must play along and join in the ruse. The evanglical church from both the pew and the pulipt stand rady to decry these things.
But listen to me - this book more than any book in the bible takes aim not at the problems in the world but the problems in the people of God.
The problem is not out there but in here. It is in the pew and often in the pupit.
We can be so myopic about our own lives that we miss the rebellion and in our own heart.
The sea obeys God, the waves and storm obeys God, the fish obeys God, even the lowly worm obeys God - BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU?
When the pagan realize they aren’t right they make things right - they repent!
When is the last time you got on your face before God and repented? When is the last time you were so grieved by your sins that you pushed food away and placed yourself low before him?
When is the last time that you cared enough about those who will spend eternity under God’s wrath about the hope of heaven?
Application:
Are you willing to go on mission even when the mission field makes you uncomfortable?
Are you willing to go on mission even when the mission field makes you uncomfortable?
Are there things within the character of God that make you squirm?
God you can’t do that!
God that’s not ok!
You have no right!
God doesn’t need a permission slip to be God. He doesn’t need nor is He seeking your approval.
