Jonah 1+2

Introduction

This evening we’re beginning a short series of sermons on the book of Jonah. I’ve preached on Jonah several times before in my life as a preacher. The last time was in 2013 and it was here in Immanuel. But I’ve never been entirely happy with any of my sermons on Jonah. And so, I’m going to have another go at it.

And the reason I’ve been unhappy with my previous sermons on Jonah is perhaps because I interpreted it the way many preachers interpret it. Many preachers regard the book of Jonah as a book about mission. So, God commanded Jonah to go and preach his word to people in a foreign nation. At first Jonah was reluctant to go, but then he went and preached God’s word to them. And the result was that there was a kind of revival, because so many of the Ninevites believed God’s word and turned to him in repentance and faith. And so, we must do likewise: we must go overseas or we must go to people who are not like ourselves and we must preach the gospel so that they too will repent and believe.

However, God didn’t send Jonah to Nineveh to preach the gospel. He sent Jonah to condemn them. And so, when Jonah arrived in Nineveh, he announced that judgment was coming on them. And that’s all he said to them. Preachers sometimes say that he presumably said more to them than that. They say he presumably told the Ninevites that God is gracious and compassionate and willing to forgive us when we repent. However, the text doesn’t tell us if that’s what he said.

And did the people of Nineveh really turn to the Lord? The text says they believed God and put on sackcloth and the king told them to give up their evil ways. But it’s not at all clear that they gave up their false gods and worshipped the Lord exclusively. And while it says that God had compassion on them and that he did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened, it doesn’t say that he forgive them. He let them live a little longer, but it doesn’t say that they were forgiven or received the hope of everlasting life.

And so, I don’t think this is a book about mission. It’s about something else. What it is about, we’ll get to later. But, of course, whatever it’s about, it’s also about the Lord Jesus. It’s about the Lord Jesus, because as we were thinking about last week, the whole of the Bible from start to finish is about him. When the Lord was on the road to Emmaus with two of the disciples after his resurrection, it says that, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets — including Jonah — he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. The whole of the Bible is about him. And so, the book of Jonah is about him as well. It foreshadows him. It points to him.

This is a two-part series, because the book of Jonah can be divided into two matching parts. The first part is chapters 1 and 2; the second part is chapters 3 and 4. In the first part, we have God and Jonah; then we have Jonah and the gentiles; and then we have God and Jonah again. So, God and Jonah is in verses 1 to 4 of chapter 1; Jonah and the gentiles is in verses 5 to 17; and God and Jonah is in the whole of chapter 2. In the second part of the book, we also have God and Jonah in verses 1 to 3 of chapter 3; then Jonah and the gentiles in verses 4 to 10 of chapter 3; and God and Jonah in the whole of chapter 4. So, the pattern is: God and Jonah; Jonah and the gentiles; and God and Jonah again. And that pattern is repeated. Today we’re studying the first part: chapters 1 and 2.

1:1–4a

It says in verse 1 that the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai. Jonah is mentioned in one other place in the Old Testament, which is 2 Kings 14 where it says that Jeroboam II restored the border of the northern kingdom of Israel to what it originally was, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet. At that time, God’s message through Jonah concerned the people of Israel. Now though, God has a message for the people of Nineveh.

Nineveh was a city in Assyria. It was not always the capital city of Assyria, but it became the capital city towards the end of the eighth century. The scholars aren’t agreed when the events of Jonah took place. Some think that they happened near the end of the eighth century when Nineveh was the capital. Others are less sure. But whether Nineveh was the capital or not at that time, the Lord refers to it in verse 2 as ‘the great city of Nineveh’. It was a large and important city. Visitors would have felt overwhelmed by the size of it.

And the Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh. More literally, the Lord told Jonah to arise and go. So, get up and go. And once he gets there, he was to preach against it. In other words, the Lord was sending Jonah to condemn the city. And he was to preach against it and condemn it because its wickedness had come up to the Lord. God had seen the wicked things the people had done in Nineveh. Their wickedness had gone up to heaven like a bad smell. The historians are able to tell us about the wicked and cruel things the people of Nineveh were known for, but even if you glance forward to chapter 3, and to the words of the king, you’ll get an impression of what they were like, because the king tells them to give up their evil ways and their violence. Nineveh was a violent city. And God had seen their evil ways and their violence and he was sending Jonah to condemn them for it.

And, of course, since the Lord is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, since the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, then his rule and authority extends beyond the borders of Israel and embraces all the nations including Assyria. He has the right to judge them and he has the power to destroy them. Just as he was able to rain down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Abraham, so he can do the same in the days of Jonah to Nineveh. He’s able to do it, because he’s almighty. And he has the right to do it, because he made the world and everything in it and he reigns over all of it.

And so, the Lord called Jonah. But instead of arising and going to Nineveh, the text says literally that he rose to flee. So, he got up. But instead of going to Nineveh, as the Lord commanded, he fled from the Lord. I’m sure Jonah knew that you can’t flee from the Lord. The psalmist says that whether I go up to the heavens, or down to the depths of the grave, or settle on the far side of the sea, God is there. God is everywhere. But Jonah was trying to get away from Israel and Judah, where God revealed his presence to his people. And he did so by heading for Tarshish.

We don’t know exactly where Tarshish was, but we think it lay to the west of Israel and possibly it was somewhere on the island of Sardinia or even in Spain. In any case, it was in the opposite direction from Nineveh. To get there, he first headed for Joppa, which was on the coast near Jerusalem. Notice that the text says he ‘went down’ to Joppa. If you trace the direction of Jonah’s journey, you’ll see that he went down and down. So, he went down to Joppa. Once he got on board the ship, he went down into it. And then when he was thrown overboard, he went down to the depths of the ocean and towards death and the grave. The Lord commanded him to get up and go. But instead, because of his disobedience, he went down, down, down towards the grave. That’s where disobedience takes us.

Our author tells us that he paid for his fare. He doesn’t say anything about any other passengers, but he does refer later to the ship’s cargo. So, presumably this was a cargo ship, which was headed for or stopping at Tarshish; snd Jonah has managed to get a seat on board. And after paying his fare, he went on board. That is, he went down into the ship. And so, he set sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord wasn’t going to let him get away that easily. According to verse 4, the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. More literally, he hurled a great wind on the sea. And so, the wind became a weapon in the hands of the Lord; and just as a soldier in those days might hurl a spear at his enemy, so the Lord hurled a wind on the sea to prevent Jonah from reaching Tarshish.

1:4b–17

And so, that’s the first section of today’s passage: God and Jonah together. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah tried to run away to Tarshish; and the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea to stop him. Now we come to the second section which concerns Jonah and the gentile sailors.

Our author tells us in verse 4 that the great wind, which the Lord hurled on the sea, caused a great storm to rise up. And the wind was so great that the ship threatened to break up because of it. Jonah was hoping the ship would take him away from the presence of the Lord, but the ship, in a sense, is conspiring with the Lord to stop Jonah in his tracks.

Then our attention is directed to the sailors. All of them were afraid and each cried out to his own god. That makes clear to us that the sailors were not Israelites. They were not members of God’s people. They did not worship the Lord, but other gods. And they didn’t all worship the same god, but different gods. They called to their own personal gods for deliverance from the storm and sea and from death. And they also threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship and to make it more buoyant on the water.

And where is Jonah when all of this is going on? Take a look at the second half of verse 6 where it says that he had gone below deck, where he lay down and went to sleep. So, the sailors are busy on deck, throwing the cargo overbaord and crying out to their gods for help, while Jonah is doing nothing to help. He’s not helping with the cargo and he’s not praying to his God. Some of the commentators makes the point that the sailors are acting more righteously than Jonah is. So, while it’s true that they don’t worship the true God, nevertheless they’re behaving in a better way than Jonah is, because they’re working hard to save the ship and they’re appealing for help from their gods. Tim Keller, who has published his sermons on Jonah, says they’re working for the common good. And they’re working for the common good in the best way they know how, whereas Jonah is doing nothing to help the common good.

However, do you remember what I said at the end of a recent sermon on Ephesians? I quoted a theologian who said that the best Christian is also the best human. The best Christian is also the best human, because God is at work in his people by his Spirit to renew us more and more in his image and to enable us to be and to do what we were always meant to be and to do. Since Jonah was an Israelite, since he knew the true God, then he should have been the best human on board that ship. He should have been up on deck, working alongside the sailors, helping them to lighten the load and calling on his God to rescue them. He should have working with others for the common good. He should have been the best human on that ship. But, in fact, he was the worst human on that ship.

And we must not be like him. Since we are Christians, since we know the true God, then we should be the best humans wherever we find ourselves. And we should get up and get out and get involved in the life of our city and in the towns where we live, working with others for the common good. We can show a watching world that Christians are the best humans and the best citizens and we can always be relied on to help.

According to verse 6, the captain found Jonah. It’s likely that he was sleeping in the cargo hold. And so, while they were removing the cargo, they found him, lying there, fast asleep. And the captain said to him: ‘How can you sleep?’ We can imagine his disbelief, can’t we? And his annoyance. ‘I can’t believe you’re sleeping at a time like this!’ And just as the Lord had commanded Jonah to get up, so the captain commanded him to do the same. ‘Get up and call on your god!’ The captain said to him that perhaps Jonah’s god will take notice of them and keep them from perishing.

According to verse 7, the sailors then conferred together about casting lots. This was a common way for obtaining divine guidance in those days and it was practiced in Israel, where God’s people trusted the Lord to reveal his will to them by means of the lot. This involved using stones or other small objects to represent each person and then shaking them together until one fell out. And that would reveal to them the person they’re looking for.

Our author says that the sailors used the lots to find out who was responsible for this calamity. And look: the lot fell on Jonah. And so, they asked him a series of questions. And the first is: ‘Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble on us?’ By this question, they’re not asking Jonah to tell them who he is, but they’re asking him to tell them about his God. Jonah’s God is responsible for this calamity. So, who is he? Who is your God? And the rest of their questions are related to this, because asking someone what he does, where he comes from, what his country is and from what people is he, was a means of finding out about his God. And therefore Jonah answered them by saying that he is a Hebrew and he worships the Lord. And he adds that the Lord is the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.

And his answer terrified them, because they realised that Jonah’s God is much greater than their gods. Their own, personal gods may have ruled over their own country, but Jonah’s God was in heaven, where he ruled over the whole earth. In other words, their own personal gods are no match for Jonah’s God and their own personal gods cannot save them from out of the hands of Jonah’s great God. And they’re also terrified, because, according to verse 10, Jonah explained to them that he was running away from the Lord. ‘What have you done?’ they ask in disbelief and horror. How could you have provoked your God like this?

And since the sea was only getting rougher, they then asked Jonah what they should do to him to make the sea calm down. What can they do to appease Jonah’s God? He tells them to throw him overboard and he assures them that the sea will become calm afterwards. Presumably he did not consider throwing himself overboard because taking his own life, or self-murder, was forbidden. But it wouldn’t be murder if they threw him overboard. It wouldn’t be murder, because it was the judgment he deserved for what he had done wrong by disobeying the Lord his God. It was his fault that this great storm had come upon them. He was the one who put their lives at risk because of his disobedience to God. And therefore he deserved to die.

Once again, they showed themselves to be more righteous than Jonah, because they did not want to take his life. Instead they did their best to row back to shore. But they were unable to do so, because the sea grew even wilder than before. And so, finally, they cried out, not to their own personal gods, but to the true God, the Lord, asking him not to hold them accountable for taking innocent life. I don’t think they’re saying that Jonah is innocent. Instead they’re saying that in case they’re wrong about Jonah, and in case it turns out that he’s innocent, then don’t hold it against us, because right now there’s nothing else they can do.

And they took him and they threw him overboard, like a piece of the cargo. And immediately, the raging sea grew calm. And if they were afraid before, now they’re even more afraid when they see the power of God, who can not only send storms, but who can also end them in an instant.

And look! They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. We don’t know if they gave up their other gods and committed themselves to the Lord alone. But they had certainly come to realise that Jonah’s God, the Lord, was far, far, far greater than their own gods.

And what happened to Jonah? According to verse 17, the Lord provided a great fish to swallow him. And Jonah remained in the belly of the fish for three days and nights.

2:1–10

And so, in the first section of today’s passage, we had God and Jonah together. Then in the second section we had Jonah and the gentile sailors together. And now we have God and Jonah together, although mostly it’s Jonah addressing God in prayer.

And we read in verse 1 of chapter 2 that Jonah prayed to the Lord from inside the fish. And his prayer begins in verse 2 where he says that in his distress he called to the Lord his God; and the Lord his God answered him. He then says that from the depths of the grave, he called for help; and God listened to his cry.

Where was he when he was in distress? Where was he when he called to the Lord his God? He was in the sea, wasn’t he? He was drowning in the sea, going down to the depths of the grave at the bottom of the sea. He was drowning. And in his distress, he called on the Lord; and the Lord answered him by sending the fish to save him from drowning. I’m sure being in the fish was unpleasant. I’m sure it was dark and damp and smelly and unpleasant. But it was better than drowning, wasn’t it? God heard his cry and he saved him from drowning by sending the fish to swallow him alive.

In verse 3 he says that the Lord hurled him into the deep and into the very heart of the seas. He says that God hurled him into the deep, because the sailors were acting on God’s behalf. The sailors were the Lord’s instruments by which God picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea. And Jonah mentions the deep and the heart of the sea, which were associated with the grave in the ancient world. Heaven was above and the grave was deep down below, under the sea. And he says that the currents swirled around him, drawing him downwards to the grave. The waves and breakers swept over him. So, if he ever managed to reach the surface of the water, another wave would sweep over him and push him downwards.

And as he sunk down beneath the surface to the depths of the sea, and towards the grave, it occurred to him that he had been banished from God’s sight. And according to the NIV, he then said: ‘Yet I will look again towards your holy temple.’ That sounds as if he’s expressing confidence. So, even though he’s perishing, he knows he will appear again in God’s holy temple. However, that’s perhaps not the best translation and it’s more likely that he’s saying that he will keep praying to God’s holy temple. So, though it seems that he has been banished from God’s sight, and is perishing in the sea, he will keep praying to God, who is in his holy temple. He will keep praying, even as the engulfing waters threaten him and the deep surrounds him and the seaweed wraps around his head like grave-clothes. He will keep praying to the Lord his God even as he sinks down to the roots of the mountains under the sea and even as it seemed that the earth beneath was barring him in for ever. When it refers here to the earth beneath, barring him in, we’re to think of the underworld. The underworld has taken him captive and won’t let him return to the land of the living.

And once again we hear that Jonah is going down. So, he went down to Joppa; then he went down into the ship; now he is going down to the depths of the sea, closer and closer and closer to death and the grave and to the underworld.

But then, near the end of verse 6 there’s a ‘but’. We were reading recently in Ephesians 2 about how, by nature, or by birth, we were dead in our transgressions and sins and dominated by the world, the devil and our own sinful flesh with its sinful desires. And then we read: ‘But….’ But God raised us with Christ to live a new life. That was in Ephesians. And here we read that Jonah was perishing, going down, down, down to the grave, drowning in the depths of the sea. But…. But then, God brought his life up from the pit. God brought his life up from the pit by sending the fish to swallow him alive. And by swallowing him alive, the fish kept Jonah from drowning.

And he summarised what happened to him in verse 7: when his life was ebbing away, when he was growing faint and was dying, he remembered the Lord his God. He remembered and prayed; and his prayer rose up to God’s holy temple. He says that those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. On the other hand, he will fulfil his vows and will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord who rescued him from the grave. He will give thanks to God, who saved him from the grave and kept him alive.

And the chapter ends and prepares for the next part by telling us that God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land.

Application 1

And so, that’s the first part of the book of Jonah. And what is it about? What lesson can we learn from these two chapters? What do they teach us? And what is the book of Jonah about?

It’s about God’s mercy, isn’t it? It’s about his compassion. It’s about his kindness. Jonah deserved to drown, because the wages of sin is death; and Jonah sinned against the Lord by disobeying his command to arise and to go to Nineveh. Instead of obeying the Lord, he headed off in the opposite direction. And when he was on board the ship, he kept to himself and did not help the sailors who were working hard for the common good and who were doing all they could to save everyone from the storm.

Jonah sinned against the Lord. He was disobedient. And another thing to notice which is against him is that in his prayer to God in chapter 2, he does not confess his sin before the Lord. He does not confess his guilt or ask for forgiveness. Yes, he cried out to the Lord for help and his prayer went up to God’s holy temple. But in his prayer, he did not confess his guilt. Furthermore, while he acknowledged that salvation comes from the Lord, it’s possible that he’s only thinking about how God saved him from drowning. But we not only need to be saved from troubles; we also need to be saved from the penalty and power of sin. Jonah doesn’t say anything about that.

And so, Jonah disobeyed God’s clear command. And there’s no sign of contrition on his part. There’s no sign of sorrow for his sins. There’s no confession. And yet, God was merciful to him. God was compassionate towards him. God took pity on him, and despite his sins and shortcomings, God saved him from drowning and saved him from the grave and kept him alive.

These two chapters are about God’s mercy to Jonah. The wages of sin is death; but God saved him from death. And next time we’ll see that God was merciful to the people of Nineveh. Though their wickedness had come up to God in heaven, and though they were a violent people, God relented from sending disaster on them and he let them go on living on the earth.

And God has been doing the same ever since the days of Noah and the flood. In those days, God saw our wickedness. And he decided to destroy every living creature, apart from those who were kept safe in the ark. But he killed all the others, because all of them were sinners; and the wages of sin is death. But then, after the flood, God made a promise that he would never again cut off all of life from the earth with a flood. Even though we’re all sinners, who deserve to be destroyed, he promised to preserve the world and to sustain us and to uphold life, instead of destroying it. And ever since that time, God has been patient and kind towards the whole world; and he has kept his promise not to destroy the world, but to sustain it. He is kind and good to all, sending sunshine and rain on the evil and the good and on the righteous and the unrighteous. He is good to all, despite our sins and shortcomings.

And so, even though Jonah was disobedient and deserved to perish, God was merciful to him and God saved him from the grave. And so, we should give thanks to God for his mercy towards all his creatures and his goodness and lovingkindness towards all that he has made. Though we deserve to be destroyed, nevertheless, in his mercy, he holds back his judgment on the world for the time being and he is good to all that he has made.

Application 2

And because of his mercy, he sent into the world Jesus Christ, his only Begotten Son, who is a new and better Jonah. And he sent his Son into the world, not to condemn us, but to save us.

When God sent Jonah to Nineveh, Jonah rose up and fled in disobedience to God. But when God the Father sent his Son into the world, he got up from his throne in heaven and he came down to earth as one of us in obedience to his Father in heaven.

And whereas Jonah went down, down, down because of his disobedience to God, the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, went down, down, down because of his obedience to his Father. He went down by coming to earth from heaven. And he went down by becoming one of us. And he went down by dying on the cross. And he went down by being buried in the tomb and by remaining under the power of death for a time. Jonah went down, down, down because of his disobedience. But the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, went down, down, down because of his obedience to his Father. And that’s because it was his Father’s will for him to die on the cross to pay for our sins and shortcomings with his life, so that everyone who trusts in him as the only Saviour of the world receives forgiveness and the free gift of eternal life.

Jonah was cast overboard as a judgment on him for what he had done wrong. But the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, was cast into the grave, even though he never did anything wrong. And so, he was condemned and died, but not for his owns sins, but for our sins. For our sins and shortcomings — for all that we have done wrong; and for the ways we have fallen short of doing God’s will — he was condemned and crucified and he bore the wrath and curse of God in our place, so that we could receive the blessing of God, including the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of his Spirit and the hope of eternal life in his presence.

Jonah was cast down into the sea, and God rescued him by sending a fish to swallow him alive and to bring him back to dry land. And the Lord Jesus was cast down into the grave, but God rescued him from the grave by raising him to new life. And God exalted him to the highest place in heaven to rule over all things for the sake of his people. And one day, he will come again with glory and power to raise us from the grave so that we will live with him in body and soul forever even though none of us deserves it. Because of his mercy to us, God our Father sent into the world a new and better Jonah. And because of Christ, we have peace with God and the hope of everlasting life and peace and joy and happiness in the presence of God for ever.