Jonah
Thursday Evening Bible Study
Introduction
It was the time of the prophet Amos. It was a time of military and financial prosperity for the northern kingdom. Jeroboam II was the king of the northern kingdom (793-753 BC) and he led the nation with some helpful guidance.
(2 Ki 14:25
NKJV) He restored the territory of Israel Israel Gath
Jonah 1
:1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Jonah – Yonah – “dove”
:2 "Arise, go to Nineveh
Nineveh kingdom of Assyria Tigris river. It was about
550 miles from Samaria Israel
Nineveh
Nineveh
God had a message for the people of Nineveh
:3 But Jonah arose 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 from the presence of the LORD.
Tarshish – Tarshiysh –
“yellow jasper”, thought to be a city of the Phoenicians located somewhere on
the coast of modern Spain Nineveh
Lesson
Running from God
Jonah thought he could somehow run away from God.
David knew better:
(Psa 139:7-10 NKJV) Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I
flee from Your presence? {8} If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make
my bed in hell, behold, You are there. {9} If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, {10} Even there Your hand shall
lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
We may think at times that we’ve gone to a place where God isn’t, but we’re wrong.
You can’t get away from God – you can run but you can’t hide.
And you also can’t get away from God – you may feel like you’ve gone so far that you could never get back. But He hasn’t left you.
Illustration
There’s a story about a fellow who suddenly left a discussion group at a tea quite disgusted, slamming the door after him. One person trying to relieve the tension, remarked, “Well, he’s gone.” To this the hostess replied, “No, he isn’t. That’s a closet!”
That’s what it’s like when we try to run from God’s presence. We just get trapped.
Lesson
The importance of simple obedience
Sometimes God asks us to go somewhere and we, like Jonah, refuse to go.
Perhaps we don’t want to pay the consequences of what might happen if we go.
Perhaps our life would be uncomfortable.
Perhaps the people of Nineveh
Perhaps it won’t work out.
But sometimes God leads us one place only to get us to another.
Illustration
It was time to finally pick out a king for the nation of
God used missing donkeys to get Saul out of the house.
Saul went off to look for the missing donkeys, and couldn’t find them.
Yet while he was looking he just happened to run into Samuel. He never found the donkeys, and in fact they were already found when he got home. But the most important thing was that God worked to get Saul where he needed to be.
If it’s really God asking us to go, why are we worried?
Illustration
It’s the Texas Rangers locker room on an August 1997 afternoon. Star relief pitcher and passionate Christian John Wetteland is flipping through his Bible, talking about why he isn’t worried about his religious fervor fitting in with the Rangers’ club house.
“ ‘ That would be like Noah asking God—not Noah. What’s
his name? Went to
“ ‘ Simsy!’ Wetteland yells, startling reserve outfielder
Mike Simms, who is watching TV. ‘Who refused to go to
“ ‘ Jonah!’ Wetteland, the former Yankee, hollers,
suddenly remembering and very pleased. ‘It would be like Jonah saying to God,
“Well, how many people are in
-- The New York
Times Magazine, cited in Christian Reader, "Personally Speaking."
Here was a fellow who was more concerned about being a strong Christian than what the consequences might be.
Lesson
Setting the example
God is concerned that people have the right examples to follow.
Are you setting the example of running away or obeying?
Paul said to Timothy:
(1 Tim 4:12 NKJV) Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word,
in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
I wonder what kind of example Jonah was setting for the nation back at home.
I may offend some of us Republicans with this comment – but I wonder if we need to be careful just how much of Fox News we watch. I’m not saying that they’re bad at reporting the news. But I think that there’s a mindset of hating our enemies that you pick up on and swallow. I’m not against identifying our enemies. I wonder if we need to be careful about our attitudes toward them.
Illustration
Gasping For Breath
A senior gas company training supervisor and a young trainee were out
checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end
of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house, a woman
in her kitchen window watched the two men as they checked her gas meter. Having
finished the meter checks, the supervisor challenged his younger co-worker to a
foot race down the alley back to the truck-just to prove that an older guy
could outrun a younger one. As they at last came running up to the truck, they
forgot to check who had won since they both realized the lady from that last
house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped immediately and
asked her what was wrong. Gasping for breath, she replied, “When I saw two man
from the gas company running away from my house as hard as you two were, I
figured I’d better run too!”
If we find ourselves running away from God’s call, we might just look around and find that people are following our example.
:4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
I think we could call this “getting Jonah’s attention”.
:5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
He’s unaware of the trouble he’s caused others around him.
:6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish."
:7 And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
casting lots – we’d probably look at it like tossing dice.
:8 Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?"
:9 So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."
LORD – the Hebrew is “Yahweh”, the name of God.
:10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "Why have you done this?" For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
It’s interesting that he’s told them about his rebellion against God. It’s actually kind of sad. He ought to be telling them how to follow his merciful God.
:11 Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?"; for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
:12 And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me."
Sometimes we may wonder what we did to cause the storm we’re in, and we wonder because we really don’t know.
Lesson
Why storms?
1. Sometimes God is getting ready to
show people His glory.
(John 9:1-3 NKJV) Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was
blind from birth. {2} And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" {3} Jesus
answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of
God should be revealed in him.
Then Jesus healed the man, bringing glory to God.
2. Sometimes God is working to
refine us.
(1 Pet 1:6-7 NKJV) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, {7} that the
genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes,
though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the
revelation of Jesus Christ,
The trials we go through are like the fire that refines precious metals, helping the goldsmith separate the valuable metal from the worthless dross.
3. Sometimes God is showing us that
He’s enough.
(2 Cor 12:7-10 NKJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure by
the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. {8}
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart
from me. {9} And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My
strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather
boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. {10}
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in
persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong.
God continued to allow Paul to suffer this “thorn in the flesh” and Paul learned that he didn’t have to quit because of it. He learned that God’s grace on his life was enough. He learned that God doesn’t need strong, healthy people to work, God prefers to use weakness so that people can see God’s power at work.
4. Sometimes we are being chastened.
This is what is happening to Jonah.
Jonah knew better. He knew exactly what was happening. He isn’t responding this way because he has a death wish or because he is following some sort of superstitious belief. He is a prophet. He knows what God wants of him.
(Heb 12:11
NKJV) Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;
nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those
who have been trained by it.
Sometimes the storms come to get our attention. Sometimes they are the way that God gets us to turn away from destructive behavior. Sometimes it’s the way God gets us to turn around and follow Him.
5.
Sometimes we may not simply know the reason.
Illustration
WHY ME?
A fellow was driving a rig in a long line of
tractor-trailers when a police officer pulled him over for speeding. Astounded
that he alone was caught, he asked, “Out of all these trucks that were going
just as fast as I was, why did you pull me over?” “Have you ever gone fishing?”
the officer asked. “Yes,” the man replied. “Well, have you ever caught all the
fish in the pond?”
Sometimes it feels like it was just a cruel coincidence. But that’s only because we don’t always know
why.
:13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
It sounds to me that they don’t want to be guilty of murder, throwing Jonah overboard.
:14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, "We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You."
:15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
:16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.
:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
great fish – it doesn’t say “whale”. Some people have difficulty with this because most whales can’t eat something as large as a man. But it simply says “fish”, and that it was a special fish that God had prepared probably just for this occasion.
Some folks have a problem “swallowing” this story. Could such a thing ever have happened?
I know some folks point to modern examples where a fisherman has been swallowed by some huge fish, but I have a more convincing authority to quote on the authenticity of this story.
Jesus believed in the story of Jonah.
(Mat 12:38-40 NKJV) Then some of the scribes and Pharisees
answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." {39} But
He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet
Jonah. {40} "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth.
Not only was Jesus talking about Jonah being a picture of Jesus being in the “belly” of the earth for three days, but don’t miss the fact that Jesus Himself understood this story as a literal, factual, telling of the truth.
Jonah 2
:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish's belly.
I think one of the most amazing parts of this story is the fact that it took Jonah three days before he started praying.
That’s stubbornness!
Illustration
Stubborn Ship
Supposedly an actual transcript of a radio conversation of a US Newfoundland 10-10-95 .
Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, DIVERT YOUR COURSE!
Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT
CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC
FLEET. WE ARE
ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND
NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS, I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES
NORTH, THAT’S ON FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO
INSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
Canadians: This is a
lighthouse! Your call!
You aren’t going to win if you’re going to go up against God.
:2 And he said: "I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.
Sheol – the place of the dead.
Jonah had felt like he was dead.
:3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
:4 Then I said, 'I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.'
Solomon had prayed that if God’s people sinned and were finding themselves
taken captive in a distant land (1Ki. 8:46 -50),
that if they turned and prayed towards the Temple Jerusalem
:5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.
:6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God.
:7 "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple.
:8 "Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy.
:9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD."
Jonah is officially giving in to the Lord.
:10 So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Jonah 3
:1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,
He is the God of the second chance.
You may have said “no” to him about something in the past, but perhaps it’s not too late yet to turn around and say “yes”. Perhaps God will speak the word a second time.
:2 "Arise, go to Nineveh
It wasn’t until Jonah was finally humbled that he because useful to God.
:3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh Nineveh
It’s easy to get the wrong idea. I used to think that the fish spit Jonah
out on the beach at Nineveh Nineveh Mediterranean Sea .
Nineveh
:4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried
out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh
Not a very fancy message. No stories. No jokes. He doesn’t even tell the people what to do. He doesn’t even invite them to turn to God.
:5 So the people of Nineveh
:6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh
the king of Nineveh
:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.
:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
:9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
:10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
This could easily be called the greatest revival in world history. An entire major city turns to God.
It wasn’t a lasting revival because during the following generation, the
Assyrians would come and wipe out the northern kingdom of Israel
Lesson
Success in ministry
I am mystified at times as to how to measure “success” in ministry.
Compare the ministries of Jonah and Jeremiah.
If we were to stack them up side by side and count how many people “went forward” at their crusades, Jonah is easily the winner. Jonah converted an entire city. Jeremiah converted … nobody.
If we put them side by side and measure their hearts, measure their faithfulness to the ministry and the Lord, Jeremiah is easily the winner.
Perhaps our ideas about “success” aren’t the same as God’s ideas.
I would think that for most pastors going into the ministry, this is something that we wrestle with.
I know that I read and admire stories about the small, unknown guy who is simply faithful, though he doesn’t see too many results from his ministry.
Like the story about the unknown deacon who was preaching the message in the place of the pastor who didn’t show up on a cold Sunday morning in England when a young sixteen year old walked in and sat down in the back. The old deacon was preaching from Isaiah –
(Isa 45:22 KJV) Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
And that morning Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers to ever live, was saved. Because of the faithfulness of an unknown man.
But as much as I am encouraged by the faithfulness of that deacon, I have to admit that like most guys I know, I’d rather be the guy they influenced, one of the Spurgeons of the world.
But I have the idea that in God’s eyes, numbers maybe aren’t always the true measure of a man’s ministry.
Think of Jonah and Jeremiah.
For most of us, we’ve come to the place where we’re looking forward to that day when we see Jesus, and we are hoping for Him to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
That line comes from the parable of the talents, where a lord distributes his wealth to his servants to take care of while he’s away:
(Mat 25:19-27 NKJV) "After a long time the lord of those
servants came and settled accounts with them. {20} "So he who had received
five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered
to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' {21}
"His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were
faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into
the joy of your lord.' {22} "He also who had received two talents came and
said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more
talents besides them.' {23} "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful
servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over
many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' {24} "Then he who had
received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man,
reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered
seed. {25} 'And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look,
there you have what is yours.' {26} "But his lord answered and said to
him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown,
and gather where I have not scattered seed. {27} 'So you ought to have
deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received
back my own with interest.
If you look at the parable carefully, the Lord measured the servants faithfulness with what they did with what He had given them.
He didn’t expect the fellow with two talents to come up with as much as the fellow with five. And the fellow with one was rebuked because he didn’t do anything with the one talent he had been given.
God is looking for faithfulness in the things He’s given us. He’s looking for me to be the best Rich Cathers I can be. He’s not measuring me against fellows with five talents.
What has God given you to do? What’s on your plate? What’s in front of you. Be faithful in those things.
Jonah 4
:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
:2 So he prayed to the LORD, and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
:3 "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!"
Now we get the real reason why Jonah refused to go to Nineveh
He just knew that God was going to be kind and gracious to the people of Nineveh
And Jonah wanted them destroyed, not forgiven.
:4 Then the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
:5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.
He hoped that God would change his mind and destroy Nineveh
He was planning on waiting out the remaining forty days. I get the idea that the “three days walk” (3:3) might have also been the extent of his ministry.
:6 And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
Jonah was glad for God to be gracious to him.
:7 But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.
:8 And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."
:9 Then God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "It is right for me to be angry, even to death!"
:10 But the LORD said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
Jonah seems to have only known what selfish love was all about.
All Jonah really cared about was himself.
He was upset for the plant, but only because the plant helped him out.
He was upset because God disturbed his comfort.
:11 "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left; and much livestock?"
one hundred and twenty thousand persons … – this was the number of
young children in the city. The population
of Nineveh
Jonah didn’t even care for the children of Nineveh
As a touch of sarcasm, God mentions that destroying Nineveh
Lesson
God’s love
Jesus said,
(Mat 5:44-48 KJV) But I
say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
{45} That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the
just and on the unjust. {46} For if ye love them which love you, what reward
have ye? do not even the publicans the same? {47} And if ye salute your
brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? {48}
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
When we learn to love our “enemies”, then we are beginning to love like God loves.