Jonah 1

Intro:

Jonah is a great story that we can learn many things from.

People think that the book of Jonah is a fictional story, because it talks about him being swallowed by a fish.

However, 2 Kings 14:25 mentions Jonah being alive around 793-753 B.C., and Jesus even mentions him to be a historical person in Matt. 12:39-41.

God sent Jonah to Nineveh… He rebelled.. Was Swallowed.. Repented… and fulfilled his mission.

It’s most likely that Jonah wrote this book, because only he could have known all the facts that are recorded.

Jonah is a minor prophet…

Through this book… You will see evidence of God’s grace and love.

Jonah is preaching to a city of Assyrians...

They were cruel and warlike ..

They were enemies of Israel

Assyrian artwork emphasizes war, execution, impalement, flaying the skin off prisoners, and beheadings.

Which makes sense as to why Jonah didn’t want to go there.

Hopefully, we will learn a lot going through this book.

Verses 1-6

Jonah, his Hebrew name means “Dove”

His Father, Amittai means “faithful is Yahweh.”

It’s dope how Hebrew names have a meeting back in the day.. Now, we have names that mean nothing…

God commanded Jonah to go to the evil city of Nineveh.

Jonah was to pronounce its doom under God’s righteous judgment, because of their evil deeds.

The people were persistent in their sins..

They were violent and carefree.

Nahum wrote about it in his book..

Nahum 3:1, 4, 16.

They were heavily in idolatry..

Temples dedicated to the gods Nabu, Asshur, and Adad.. they worshiped Ishtar, a goddess of love and war.

V. 3

Jonah, knew the message he had to give… so he chose to run to Tarshish..

Instead of following God’s orders… He went the opposite the way.

He boarded a ship in Joppa… the ship was heading to Southern Spain..

He’d rather go 2500 miles away than do what God has called them to do.

V. 4-6

The Lord threw a great wind...

God is sovereign.

He did what he needed to in order to accomplish what He wants.

God will do whatever He wants to get His will accomplished.

God is in control of all things…

God threw such a violent storm that the sailors thought the ship was going to break apart.

While they were crying out to their own gods, Jonah kept going down and down...

He kept trying to escape God...

Jonah lost his will to pray… While everyone else was praying to their false gods.. Jonah knew the true God and chose not to pray…

Loss of power in prayer is one of the first indications that we’re far from the Lord and need to get right with Him.”

Verses 7-10

Jonah got the short straw…

He finally tells them that He is a follower of the Hebrew God.

He tells them that he is a prophet…

Instead of Jonah bringing peace, since his name is dove and doves are symbols of peace… He brought chaos.

Jonah’s disobedience caused all this to happen.

Sin will take you further than you ever wanted to go.

Sin will teach you more than you want to know.

Sin will cost more than you want to pay.

Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay.

Sin cost.. And you never get what you paid for.

You need to be careful and make sure that you repent from sin before it’s too late.

Verses 11-17

Spurgeon said, God never allows His children to sin successfully, and Jonah is proof of the truth of that statement.

Hebrews 12:6 NKJV

For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”

It seems like Jonah would have rather died than follow God’s will… Where Moses, Esther, and Paul were willing to give their loves to God in order to save others… Jonah wanted to die selfishly.

Instead of surrendering to the Lord, he was selfish..

Are we willing to follow God? A

Are we willing to do what He’s called us to?

Be Amazed 1. Rebellion (Jonah 1:1–17)

It’s significant that the heathen sailors at first rejected Jonah’s offer and began to work harder to save the ship. They did more for Jonah than Jonah had been willing to do for them. When they saw that the cause was hopeless, they asked Jonah’s God for His forgiveness for throwing Jonah into the stormy sea. Sometimes unsaved people put believers to shame by their honesty, sympathy, and sacrifice

These pagans know that Jonah’s God existed, they knew that he was sovereign… But, did they abandon their old gods? Probably not… but you never know.

Be Amazed 1. Rebellion (Jonah 1:1–17)

The seventeenth-century English preacher Jeremy Taylor said, “God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.” He was referring, of course, to being happy with God’s will for our lives. For us to rebel against God’s will, as Jonah did, is to invite the chastening hand of God. That’s why the Westminster Catechism states that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” We glorify God by enjoying His will and doing it from our hearts (Eph. 6:6), and that’s where Jonah failed.