MPC, 6th July 2003.Jonah 1 - "The one that didn't get away"
Matt Rowson MPC, 6th July 2003.
I heard a story of this lady who was travelling on a plane and she was reading her Bible. The man sitting next to her said to her “You don’t really believe that stuff do you?” “Yes, I do actually” she said.
“Even the bit about the guy getting swallowed by a whale” “Yes, even that bit” she replied.
“How could he have stayed alive for three days in the stomach of a whale?” “I don’t know. I’ll ask him when I get to heaven.” “What if he doesn’t make it to heaven?”
By now she was getting quite fed up with him so she looked at him and said “Then you can ask him, can’t you!”
Now I don’t suggest that you give that kind of response to someone in that situation, but whether they actually think its true or not, most people know about the Jonah story. It would have to be up there along with Adam and Eve, and Moses parting the Red Sea, as one of the most well known and widely known stories in the Old Testament.
We’re going to be looking at the book of Jonah for the next 4 weeks. It’s only a small book – 4 chapters long, but it has a lot to teach us about God and his purposes, and it poses the question to us of how on board are we with God’s purposes as well.
Now if you notice where the book of Jonah is situated in the Bible its included in the section with all the prophets, which is fair enough since Jonah was a prophet, but there is something very different about Jonah compared to the other books of prophecy around it. Usually the books of prophecy in the Bible are all about God’s message, that is, most of the words in the book are the words of the prophecy and there is only minor stuff in there about the situation and the prophet.
But that’s where Jonah is different from most of the other books of prophecy. The book of Jonah is more about the prophet himself and how he responds to the job of proclaiming his message, in fact there are only 8 verses in the whole book that are the actual message of God that Jonah is called to preach. So right from the word go, it’s a book of the slightly unexpected.
Now I think we should just spend a couple of minutes looking at the cast of the story and getting to know them a little bit – to help us understand what’s happening over the next 4 weeks. So who was Jonah? – no, he didn’t play Rugby Union for the All Blacks – he was an Israelite, one of God’s chosen people. But not only was Jonah an Israelite, he was more than that - he was also a prophet of God. Now prophets had a very important, a very privileged and special role. They were the mediators, the message bringers between God and man. God spoke to his people through his prophets. We find out in 2 Kings 14:25 that Jonah was a prophet in the time of King Jeroboam II.
Now its important for the whole of Jonah to understand the situation in Israel at this time. On the outside things looked like they were going pretty well. Israel had won back some land under Jeroboam II, God had once again come to the aid of his people in their distress. There was a time of peace.
But that was the outward appearance – underneath it, things were rotten. The first thing the Bible tells us about King Jeroboam II is that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. The King and all the people of Israel had NOT turned away from the sins of idolatry that had been a snare to God’s people for generations.
Jeroboam was a rotten King who lead the people astray, even after many many years of God sending them prophets like Elijah to turn them back to him, to get them to wake up to their senses and put their idol worshipping and arrogance behind them and serve God only. The hearts of the people were a long way from God. So that was the state of Israel at the time, where Jonah was a prophet.
One of the other main characters in the book are a people called the Ninevites. So who were they?
Well, Nineveh was most probably the capital of Assyria. They were one of the world super-powers at the time, and they were also very cruel and brutal. I won’t go into the gory details but they did terrible and barbaric things to their victims in battle.
We learn from Chapter 4 that there were around 120,000 people in Nineveh. There are other prophets that speak about Nineveh as well. Nahum talks about them after the Jonah event and says about them in Nahum 3 verse 1 & 3…
1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!... 3Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number...
They were ruthless, barbaric and merciless. They were enemies and a threat to God’s people Israel. And basically, the Israelites and the Ninevites would have hated each other.
Now, usually, the Prophets of Israel were called to preach to God’s people Israel, to get them back on track – to warn them that if they keep ignoring God and sinning against him then they’re going to cop it – God will punish them. They are called to repent so that God might forgive them. But Jonah has a different task – an unusual one.
Look at verse 1 and 2 with me.
1The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
These enemies of God’s people Israel; these barbaric, Gentile pagans were the ones that Jonah was commanded by God to preach against, to tell them that their sin has come up before God.
The message of the prophets is usually given to God’s own people – but Jonah is sent to his enemies. We’re not going to answer the question today of WHY God sent Jonah to a Gentile country to preach against it – we’ll look at that more in the coming weeks.
So there’s been a few unexpected things about Jonah so far but perhaps none more so than “Jonah the Prophet’s” response to God’s call.
Verse 3 says…
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
Jonah does a runner. Instead of heading East to Nineveh, he jumps on a boat heading West for Tarshish in what’s now Spain. Isaiah tells us that Tarshish is a place where God is not known – Jonah wants to leave God’s special people, the promised land and flee from God’s presence to a place where God is not even talked about – he wants to get away completely.
Why does he run? Why does he disobey God and try to flee? Is he scared because he knows how brutal the Ninevites are? Is he remembering all the horrific things they do to their enemies? Maybe he’s thinking “Why would I go and preach to these pagans – they’re our enemies!”
From chapter 1 we’re not told why – we can only guess at this stage and it’s not until chapter 4 that we DO find out WHY he ran – but I don’t want to spoil the story and tell you how the movie ends – you’ll have to wait for a few weeks – although I’m sure many of you already know.
There are perhaps lots of different reasons why he might have run, but it all boils down to not trusting and obeying God’s word. Jonah refused to let God be God, and he refused to be a part of God’s purposes to preach to Nineveh, whatever the message might be – we don’t find out until the end of chapter 3. But just like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden who also tried to hide from God when they disobeyed him. They too thought they knew better than God – that having received a command from God, they could take it or leave it – decide for themselves whether or not they were going to obey.
That’s what the heart of sin is. It’s ignoring what God says, its disobeying him and thinking we know better.
One of my most scary moments as a boy was being chased by a Red Belly Black snake. We had lots of them on the farm, you’d see them all the time, and you just tried to stay out of their way. One day I was walking along the edge of a dam watching my sister and her friend who were in a canoe just a couple of metres into the Dam. All of a sudden my sister's friend screamed and fainted.
I couldn’t figure out why until I turned around to see this huge snake that was longer than I was tall reared up bearing its fangs, it was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. It was a very scary sight that gave me nightmares for months after that. I backed back quickly and it came towards me striking. I just turned and ran faster than I ever had before. I ran because I thought I’d be better off getting out of there. I didn’t trust that the snake had my best interests at heart.
Now it was the right thing for me to get away from that snake – it DIDN’T have good intentions for me.
Jonah ran because he thought he’d be better off out of there as well. He thought he knew better than God. He didn’t want to be a part of God’s purposes to preach to the Ninevites.
So Jonah’s on the run – to escape from the presence of God and his call to preach to the Ninevites. He boards a boat at a seaport called Joppa that’s on its way to Tarshish and he probably thought he was in the clear. He probably thought that he had successfully escaped from God and the assignment he’d been given. But of course he can’t escape God…
Verse 4 says…
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.
Jonah can run but he can’t hide. It was foolish of him to think that he could escape from the God who created the heavens and the earth – where could he possibly go to escape from God?
I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie “The Perfect Storm” about a fishing trawler that gets caught in one of the worst storms ever seen, huge waves many times the height of the boat, winds like a cyclone, thunder and lightening.
Well, that’s what Jonah and the sailors encounter – God has complete control over the sea he can send a huge storm, just like someone playing in a bath with little plastic boats, you thrash the water make all these waves and watch the little boat bob up and down. God has complete power and authority over not just a bathtub of water but the ocean. As I heard another speaker put it, Neptune is out of a job when the Creator God is around. The Perfect Storm from God hits and we’re told that the sailors were afraid – as you would be, and we find out that the sailors are a religious bunch – verse 5 says that they cry out each to his own God.
Their fear of the storm causes them to pray to their gods – to their idols, and they also throw all the cargo overboard – all the stuff that’s going to weigh the boat down and cause it to sink under the continual bombardment of the huge waves. But where was Jonah while all this was taking place? while all the sailors were praying to their gods to rescue them? Verse 5. Jonah was below deck having a sleep – maybe he was exhausted and worn out from all his running from God. The captain of the ship has to actually tell Jonah – “Wake up and start praying!” Maybe Jonah’s God will listen and save them from all drowning.
Then they do what was a common practice back then – they cast lots to try and figure out who is responsible. Which person did something wrong to put them all in this situation. Who offended their god to bring this disaster on them? First we saw God was in control of the storm, now we see that he’s in control of the casting of lots as the lot falls to Jonah.
All eyes, all attention turn to Jonah – he must be the one who’s caused it and they give Jonah the 20 Questions.
Verse 8…
8 "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
It’s like filing in your tax forms.
They’re the same kind of questions you ask people when you meet them for the first time at Church.
What do you do?
Where do you live?
Where are you from?
Then Jonah answers them in verse 9…
9 "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
Well, again the sailors are terrified, the god’s they were praying to were probably little local insignificant gods – but Jonah’s God is the God who made the land and sea - the God who made everything! What happened? What did this guy do that made his God so angry with him that he brought this great storm on them. And they’re in the position of helping this guy run away from his God. Notice that their fear has turned from a fear of the waves and the storm, to a fear of God who’s behind it.
And all the while, Jonah, God’s prophet, is far from impressive in his attitude and actions.
Have you noticed how Jonah’s words and actions in this chapter contradict each other. He says that he’s a Hebrew one of God’s people, and that he worships the Lord the God who created everything, but his actions show the opposite – he’s actually blatantly disobeying him and trying to get away from him. His words are empty when compared with his actions. Yes, he’s one of God’s people, his God is the only true and living God, but inside he has no passion for God’s purposes, and no concern for the welfare of both the Ninevites and these sailors whose lives are at risk because of him.
It makes you wonder if you and I can be like Jonah? On the one hand can we rightly say “Yes I belong to the true God, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour - but then act in the opposite way, and have no passion for his purposes or for others. We might say to people that we’re Christians, that we go to church, that we have a relationship with Jesus. But then do we gossip about other people to them, do we tell lies to them, lose our temper with them, instead of looking for opportunities to share the gospel of Gods love with them, and backing it up with a life that’s been impacted and shaped by the gospel – do our actions contradict our professing to be Christians? Jonah certainly did. The sailors had a healthier fear and respect of God than Jonah himself did, and they didn’t even know the true God!
It would be like saying you’re a Queenslander and then putting a bet on the Blues to take out the State of Origin Series 3-nil.
Jonah’s actions don’t fit with who he is. The story continues… Things keep getting worse the sea keeps getting rougher and rougher and the sailors say to Jonah – well, you got us into this mess – you get us out – what do we have to do to stop this storm from killing us all? – what can we do to stop God from being angry?
Well Jonah knows its his fault – he’s realized that he cant run from God. So he says to them in verse 12…
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
Even still, the sailors don’t want to take Jonah’s life – they try and row back to land as a last desperate attempt to save their lives but God is in control and he wont let that happen – the waves get even bigger the storm grows even more wild and they just can’t battle against it. The sailors realize there is nothing left to do but throw Jonah overboard. They even pray to God, not “each to his own god” like before – they now pray to Jonah’s God, the only true God, and ask him not to hold it against them, for throwing Jonah overboard to let him drown in the sea.
So Jonah is tossed overboard and sinks beneath the waves, and then, at last, the storm subsides and the sea grows calm.
For the third time we learn that the sailors are scared – they greatly feared the Lord, and they even offer sacrifices to him, thankful for mercifully sparing their lives. It’s a very different picture to what you’d expect. While Jonah did not fear God and tried to run in the opposite direction, to flee from his presence – these pagans who don’t know God at all come to the point where they fear him and offer sacrifices to him. Have you noticed that while Jonah is moving further and further away from God in his attitude and reverence for him, these pagans are moving more and more towards him. What started out as them fearing the waves and praying to their own gods, they now have a reverent fear for the true God and they pray and sacrifice to him.
Well it seems like the end for Jonah doesn’t it – he can run but he cant hide, and now he’s paid the price. But in verse 17 we see that God in his mercy rescues him and causes a huge fish to swallow him as he sinks to the bottom of the ocean (but more on that next week).
What do we learn from Jonah chapter 1?
Why did God send Jonah? If God was able to control the wind and waves, the roll of the dice, even making a fish swallow Jonah and preserve his life. Surely he didn’t need Jonah in the first place to preach to the Ninevites. He could have done it himself, without Jonah – without any human. Well of course God could do that, but he didn’t. God has chosen to use frail, weak, imperfect sinful humans to spread the message of salvation. And even when Jonah God’s prophet tries to escape from God, and hide from his purposes, God is still in control. Nothing can get in the way of God’s purposes, along the way, even some pagan sailors come to a better understanding and draw closer to the true God.
Jonah chapter 1 I think leaves us with a confidence that nothing will get in the way of God’s word and his purposes to bring that word of salvation to those he chooses.
And by God’s grace, that is something that we can all be a part of. Not everybody is an evangelist, but how serious are you about seeing people you know come to know God, to give people the opportunity to hear the gospel of God’s gracious offer of forgiveness of their sin? We can all be involved in talking to our friends and family about Jesus, we can talk about the change that Jesus has made in your life and the hope that you have in him. You don’t even necessarily have to talk to them about it yourself. You can give them a book – something like “A Fresh Start” by John Chapman – a great clear simple and well written book on what it is to be a Christian. If they’re Internet users, you can email them a link to a website where they can find out more about Jesus, about what a Christian is and how to become one. Sites like christianity.net.au. You can invite them to church, especially to open church Sundays where they can hear a clear explanation of what the gospel’s about.
There are many ways each one of us can be involved in God’s purposes, in his plan to spread the message of salvation through Jesus, and my prayer is - and I hope it’s your prayer as well that each one of us would have that passion and desire to see God’s purposes through his word fulfilled.