Jonah: The Unwilling Messenger

Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 408 views
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

JONAH:  THE UNWILLING MESSENGER

Jonah 1

Introduction

                The book of Jonah is probably one of most maligned book in the Bible.  Why???  Because it has the story of a man who is swallowed by a great fish (or as Jesus said “a whale”).  Ray Stedman in his sermon “Jonah:  The Reluctant Ambassador” wrote:  “There are some interesting historically—verified incidents of men who have been swallowed by fishes, very much like Jonah was.  I would recommend Harry Rimmers’ book, The Harmony of Science and Scripture, in which he tells of an Englishman, a salor, who fell overboard, and was swallowed by a fish.  A day or two later the fish was seen floating on the surface of the water, and was taken ashore.  When it was opened up, the sailors, to their amazement, found their shipmate alive.  He survived the experience, but his skin had turned a chalky white and remained so for the rest of his life.  Dr. Rimmer talked with him and learned the details of his experience.  It was clearly verified.  There have been other accounts like this, probably half a dozen altogether.  It has happened to others besides Jonah.”

                Let’s look at this very interesting book.  Not just because of the fact that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish but because of the lessons that we can learn about God and our relationship to Him.

I.                    The Call of Jonah VV. 1-2

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai”

Jonah—a historical person  2 Kings 14:23-25 “In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Josah king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years.  He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.  He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arahab, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai the prophet from Gath Heper.”

“Word of the Lord came to Jonah”:  God’s call done in many different ways

Grandpa Grant called to preach on a hot summer night in Southern Missouri

A farming community in which the yearly “Revival” was held during the hottest part of the summer
After all the crops had been planted
Before the harvest
Group of men were standing outside the small country church, waiting for the evangelist to arrive
Word was received that the evangelist had become sick and would not be able to come
Other men turned by my grandfather and asked him to preach the revival
This was the first of many sermons that he preached over the years

 

Other call’s in the Bible

Isaiah in 6th chapter of Isaiah
Saw God as a Holy, Righteous Being sitting on a throne
Saw the seraphs crying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the earth is full of his glory.”
Isaiah cried “Woe to me!  I am ruined:  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty.”
Heard God’s question:  “Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?”
Responded: “Here am I.  Send me!”
Jeremiah 1:4—9
Moses:  the burning bush

V. 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

“Go”

Leave your comfortable home

Leave friends and family

Leave the friendly confines of the Northern kingdom

Where:  “to the great city of Nineveh”

Capital of Assyria:  the monarchy of Assyria lived there

Forty-eight miles in circumference

About the size of Indianapolis inside the belt of I-465

A large population for that day

Wealthy—Nahum 2:8—9

“Nineveh is like a pool,
And its water is draining away.
‘Stop!  Stop!’  they cry,
but no one turns back.
Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
The wealth from all its treasures.”

Powerful and dominate (the city that for some time ruled over the Kings of the earth)

Yet, a heathen city

Without the knowledge and worship of the true God
Wicked city
“Their wickedness has come up, that is, it has come to a high degree, to the highest pitch; the measure of it is full to the brim; their wickedness has come up, as that of Sodom, Gen. 18:20, 21.  It has come up before me—to my face (so the word is); it is a bold and open affront to God; it is sinning against him, in his sight; therefore Jonah must cry against it; he must witness against their great wickedness, and must worn them of the destruction that was coming upon them for it.  God is coming forth against it, and he sends Jonah before, to proclaim war, and to sound an alarm.  Cry aloud, spare not.  He must not whisper his message in a corner, but publish it in the streets of Nineveh; he that hath ears let him hear what God has to say by his prophet against that wicked city.  When the cry of sin comes up to God the cry of vengeance comes out against the sinner.  He must go to Nineveh, and cry there upon the spot against the wickedness of if”    Matthew Henry’s Commentary

“And preach”:  “Webster’s Desk Dictionary”

To deliver (a sermon)

To advocate (moral principles, conduct, etc) as right or advisable

To give advice in an insistent, tedious, or moralizing way

This 3rd definition was what Jonah was to do

Speak what?:  “against it” against the way of life in Nineveh

Speak why?:  their wickedness had come up to God:  GOD NOT LOOK ON SIN

When men’s sin was great during the days of Noah, God sent the flood
When men’s sins were great in Sodom and Gomorrah, God sent burning sulfur on the two towns
 

THE ESCAPE FROM GOD????

V. 3a “But Jonah ran away from the LORD, and headed for Tarshish.”

“Ran away”:  Jonah

Didn’t just try to ignore God’s call

By staying in his home town
By spending some extra time at the Temple worshipping and serving

Ran

As fast as he could
Away from the place where he had heard God’s call
Thought that God only existed in the local area
Psalmist said that he wished that he was back in Jerusalem so that he could worship God for in his mind God could only be heard and worshiped in Jerusalem

“Headed for Tarshish”

City in what we call Spain today

One scholar says that Tarshish was as far west as Nineveh was east from Jonah’s location

V. 3b

“He went down to Joppa”

Now called Jaffa

In the region of the land of the tribe of Dan

Had been a harbor, at least, as early as the King Solomon

“Where he found a ship bound for that port” (Tarshish)

Trying to get away from God

Matthew Henry “But Jonah, instead of rising to go to Nineveh, rose up to flee to Tarshish, to the sea, not bound for any port, but desirous to get away from the presence of the Lord; and, if he might but do that, he care not whither he went, not as if he thought he could go any where from under the eye of God’s inspection, but from his special presence, from the spirit of prophecy, which, when it put him upon this work, he thought himself haunted with, and coveted to get out of the hearing of.


!!!!  

V. 3c

“After paying the fare”    even though he was running from God, Jonah was going to be an honest runner

“He went aboard and sailed for Tarshish”

Walked up the boarding plank

Prepared himself for a sea journey

Not easy for a Jew
For the Jewish people were
A land people
Who hated the sea
Why else would they hire people from other nations to sail their ships

“To flee from the Lord.”  Why        

Did not want to go to the city of Nineveh

Did not want to associate with the people of Nineveh

Might have thought that God was just for Israel and the land of Israel

BUT, it wasn’t a common belief for years earlier David had written
 “Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence”

Ps. 139:7

THE OUTSTRETCHED ARMS OF GOD  V. 4—5b

v. 4 “Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.”

A great wind on the sea

Proverbs 30:1—4 “The sayings of Agus of Jakeh—an oracle:  This man declared to Ithiel, To Ithiel and to Ucal:  I am the most ignorant of men:  I do not have a man’s understanding.  I have not learned wisdom, Nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.  Who has gone up to heaven and come down?  Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands?”

Matthew Henry “God...cast forth (so the word is), with force and violence, a great wind into the sea; even stormy winds fulfill his word...he holds them, and whence he squeezes them when he pleases; for though, as to us, the wind blows where it listeth, yet not as to God, but where he directs.”

A violent sea arose

Waves began to rise

Ship began to roll

Here and there
Up and down
So violent was the sea that the ship was in danger of breaking up with all hands being lost at sea

V. 5 “All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.”

Fear of the sailors

Sailors had seen storms before but there was something about this storm that was unusual
It was more violent than any other storm that they had ever seen
Which caused great fear in their lives
Pleaded to their gods but to no avail
Took matters into their own hands by throwing their cargo (their livelihood) overboard
BUT TO NO AVAIL

 

V. 5—6

“But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.”

Jonah felt that

He had outlasted God

He had gotten away from God

He had won

So he was “secure” in his outlook

So Jonah lays down and falls into a deep sleep

As if he had no care in the world

After all he had just ran away from God and had succeeded

But he did not know what was going on up on deck

“The captain went to him...”

The captain of the ship, not the sailors, but the man in charge

“Get up and call on your god!  Maybe he will take notice us, and we will not perish.”

“Wake up, Jonah.  Can’t you see the danger we’re in?”

Sounds a little like another ship at another time:  Jesus and His disciples
Jesus sleeps while the disciples sat awake
Storm arises
Disciples afraid
Criticize Jesus for being asleep
Jesus rises and calms the sea and the wind

Captain

                                                Asks Jonah to wake up

                                                Asks Jonah to call upon his God

 

SAILORS’ SUGGESTION:   “Then the sailors said to each other, ‘Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.’  They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.”

“Come, let us cast lots...”

                                A common practice of the ancient Near Eat

                                                Possible method of casting of lots

Group of market sticks or marked pebbles put (cast) into some type of container

One who draws out a particular marked stick or pebble was considered to be the marked individual

Other examples of the casting of lots

Leviticus 16:6—20 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.  Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.  He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat.  Aaron shall sacrifice it for a sin offering.  But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.”                                               

Ps 22:18 “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

Proverbs 18:18 “casting the lot settle disputes and keeps strong opponents apart.

Idea—who ever selected the special stick or pebble was chosen as (v. 7b “to find out who is responsible for this calamity.”

Guilty

                                                Responsible for a certain deed

                                                Who had angered their god to cause this great storm?

                7c “They cast lots”

                                None of the sailors suspected himself to be the guilty one:  they didn’t say

                                                “Is it I who has caused this storm?”

                                                “Am I the reason for the wind and the wave that are about to destroy this                                                            ship and all on board?”

                                They thought

                                                Is it him (looking at the one to his left or right?)

                                                            OR

Is it the captain or one of the passengers on the ship?

It’s not me, so who is the culprit?

                “And the lot fell on Jonah.”

                                So Jonah’s the culprit

                                Jonah’s the reason for the life-threatening storm

THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN JONAH AND THE OTHER MEN ON BOARD THE SHIP V 8--11

                Sailors to Jonah

                                “Tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?”

                                In other words

The casting of lots tell us that Jonah is the cause for the danger to the ship and people on board

                        Asked “who have your angered?”

Who have you upset to the point that they have caused the great storm that is endangering us?

                                And “what did you do?”

                                                What did you do that is upsetting some god?

Then, “”Where do you come from?”

“What is your country?  From what people are you?”

From what country do you belong?

Where is your homeland?

 Jonah’s response

“I am a Hebrew.”

A descendant of Abraham

A descendant of Jacob

An Israelite and of their religion

“And I worship

“The LORD”

The sovreign Lord of all

The God of heaven

Who made the sea and the land

The creator of the sea and the land

The only creator

                V 10 Response to Jonah’s Revelation

                                Terror:  if the God that this Jonah worships can cause this great storm

                                                What stops Him from snuffing us out

                                                What keeps Him from ending our lives right now

                                                He created land & sea, what else can He do

                                                This storm comes from an offended justice

“That God was angry with one that feared and worshipped him, only for once running from his work in particular instance; this made them afraid for themselves.

‘If a prophet of the LORD be thus severely punished for one offence, what will become of us that have been guilty of so many, and great, and heinous offences?”  Matthew Henry

                                Question:  “What have you done?”   What did you do to cause this catastrophe?

                                They knew

                                                That Jonah was running from the LORD

                                                Because he had already told them so

                Meanwhile, “the sea was getting rougher and rougher” v 11

                                The sea:  not getting any calmer

                The question:  “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

                                Jonah was the reason for the storm

                                                If Jonah

                                                                Had not run from God

                                                                                &

                                                                Had not caught a ride on this ship

                                                Then the wind and waves would not have grown up to cause them danger

                                Storm in an indirect way—the result of sin

Jonah’s answer   “Pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will become calm.  I know that if is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

                                Jonah

                                                Wouldn’t throw himself into the sea

                                                Had put himself and the other souls on the ship in danger

                                His reasoning:

                                                If he was sacrificed for them they would be saved from the storm

Could have expressed it like David in 1 Chronicles 21:17 “David said to God, ‘Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted?  I am the one who has sinned and done wrong.  These (referring to the men of Israel) are but sheep.  What have they done?  O LORD my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”

                               

THE SALVATION OF THE SAILORS AND THE SHIP

                Note first of all, the stubbornness of the sailors  V. 13

                                “Instead”

                                                Of listening to Jonah

                                                By following his advice

                                “The men did their best to row back to land.”

                                                All grabbed oars

                                                Rowed as hard as they could back to land

                                “But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.”

                                                Man cannot stop God’s plans

                                                God will use even the mislaid plans of man to get His purpose done

                The cry for help  V 14    they

                                Didn’t pray to their many gods as before

                                Prayed to the one true God, the Creator

                V 15

                                Threw Jonah overboard

                                Immediately, the raging sea calmed

                V. 16 Response of sailors to the calming sea

                                Greatly feared the LORD

                                Result of their fear

                                                “Offered a sacrifice to the LORD”

                                                “Made vows to him”

“Then the men feared the Lord with a great fear, were possessed with a deep veneration for the God of Israel, and came to a resolution that they would worship him only for the future; for there is no other God that can destroy, that can deliver.”  Matthew Henry

                                               

V 17 “But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.”

                “Jonah’s life, after all, is saved by a miracle...In the midst of judgment God remembers mercy...Though he flees from the presence of the LORD, and seems to fall into his avenging hands, yet God has more work for him to do, and therefore has prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah (v. 17), a whale as our Saviour calls it (Mt. 12:40)...This fish was prepared, lay ready under water close by the ship, that he might keep Jonah from sinking to the bottom, and save him alive, though he deserved to die...It was the Lord’s mercies that Jonah was not now consumed.  The fish swallowed up Jonah, not devour him, but to protect him.”  Matthew Henry

APPLICATIONS

                THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE LIVING GOD

                GOD CALLS EACH OF US TO SOMETHING

                                WITNESSING

                                LIVING FOR CHRIST BEFORE A SINFUL WORLD

                                BEING AN EXAMPLE

                                                IN THE WORKPLACE

                                                IN THE HOME

                                                IN THE SCHOOL

                                                WHEREVER WE ARE

                SOMETIMES WE TRY TO FLEE GOD’S CALL BY BECOMING INVOLVED IN “CHURCHY” ACTIVITIES INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT HE CALLS US TO DO

                GOD USES EVEN THE BEST PLANS THAT MAN MAKES TO HAVE HIS WILL DONE

                                SENDS STORM TO DRAW JONAH BACK TO THE TASK AT HAND

                                USES THE UNBELIEVERS TO BREAK US OUT OF OUR COMPLACENCY

                                                OTHER SAILORS ON THE SHIP TO SHAKE UP JONAH

                                                USE UNBELIEVERS TO CONVICT US

IF UNBELIEVERS CAN BE INVOLVED IN THE WORK OF HELPING THE NEEDY

HOW MUCH MORE SHOULD WE, AS BELIEVERS, BE INVOLVED IN HELPING OTHERS

               

GOD HAS WAYS OF BRINGING TO LIGHT CONCEALED SINS AND SINNERS:  NO SIN HID FROM GOD

THE STORM HELPED JONAH TO REALIZE THAT GOD KNEW WHERE JONAH WAS, AND WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO

WHEN SARAH HEARD, AT THE AGE OF 89, THAT SHE WOULD HAVE A SON WITHIN THE YEAR, SHE LAUGHED TO HERSELF (GEN 18)

                                GOD SAID TO ABRAHAM, “WHY DID SARAH LAUGH?”

                                SARAH WAS HID FROM VIEW, BUT GOD STILL KNEW THAT SARAH HAD LAUGHED AND HAD SOME UNBELIEF THAT SHE WOULD BEAR A SON WITHIN THE YEAR

GOD WILL USE NATURE AND THE NATURAL AND UNNATURAL LAWS TO LEAD MEN TO HIM

                JONAH—STORM AND FISH

                OTHER ABOARD THE SHIP—WIND AND WAVES

EVERYONE DESERVES TO HEAR THE SAVING MESSAGE OF GOD

NINEVEH WAS POWERFUL AND WICKED CITY, YET GOD SENT JONAH WITH THE MESSAGE OF MERCY IF THE PEOPLE WOULD REPENT OF THEIR SINS

THERE IS NO ONE ON OUR EARTH THAT DOES NOT DESERVE TO HEAR THE MESSAGE OF THE SAVING GRACE OF JESUS CHRIST

Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more