Lessons From Jonah
I was honored to preach this sermon at Living Hope Community Church on June 25, 2023.
The Book of Jonah is located toward the back of the Old Testament, between Obadiah and Micah. That’s a part of the Bible called the Minor Prophets. Jonah is one of these minor prophets. He didn’t really want to be a prophet. But God still used him.
Most Christians are at least somewhat familiar with the story of Jonah. You may even recall the main moral of the story – something about running away from God? But there are actually multiple lessons we can learn from this story that are relevant to us today. It’s a lot more than a Veggie Tales episode.
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
Jonah 1:1-2
God is a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness. But he’s also a God of justice, so he hates injustice. He’s a God of peace, so he hates violence. He’s a God of holiness, so he hates evil.
There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family.
Proverbs 6:16-19
Because he’s a God of love, and because he’s a God of justice, he rescues the oppressed and he brings wrath against the wicked.
When God revealed himself to Moses, this is what God said about himself:
“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:6-7
God is balanced. He runs to show mercy and love. But there comes a point where wickedness is so egregious, that God must, in his justice, bring judgement upon the wicked – whether that be an individual, or a nation.
God judges nations. Genesis 18:25 calls him “the judge of all the earth.” In the Old Testament, God brought judgement upon Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt, Canaan, Edom, Israel, Judah, and Babylon, to name a few.
But God isn’t spiteful or vindictive. Destroying nations isn’t the goal. God wants to forgive. He wants nations to repent of their wickedness, and re-establish justice and peace in the land.
So, usually, God won’t destroy a nation without warning. He provides warning first, and he usually does this through prophets. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God send prophets to speak against wicked nations.
That’s exactly what God is doing here with Jonah. He’s sending the prophet Jonah to speak against Nineveh.
Ninevah is located in modern day Iraq. At the time, it was a great city of the Assyrian Empire.
At the top of this blog post is an artist’s rendering of what Ninevah may have looked like. It was a rapidly growing city, growing in both population and prestige. It would later become the capital of the Assyrian Empire, adorned with this ornate palace and massive stone gates.
At the time, it was a city of 120,000 people. That may not sound like many by today’s standards, but in the ancient world, that was absolutely massive. It meant that Ninevah was one of the largest cities in the world.
God is saying to Jonah: God and speak against this great city!
But Jonah doesn’t want to go.
But Jonah set out 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 his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
Jonah 1:3
If you’re wondering where Tarshish is, you’re not alone. Few Israelites would know where it is, as it is far – very far – from Israel.
From his starting point in Joppa, Jonah needed to travel 550 miles northeast to go to Nineveh.
Instead, he set out to travel 2,550 miles to the west.
He set sail for Tarshish, in modern day Spain.
Now, Jonah didn’t know about North and South America, so from his perspective, Spain is literally the end of the world. After that, it’s just ocean.
God called him to go to Ninevah. He went as far he could possibly go, in the opposite direction!
At Living Hope Community Church, we recently just finished a series on outreach, witnessing, sharing the gospel. Perhaps, as we went through that series together, you felt inspired to share your faith with a friend, a coworker, or a stranger.
Has God ever inspired you to speak to someone?
I call this a “go to Ninevah” moment.
As some of you know, I am aspiring to learn Chinese as a second language. So, I went to a language learning meetup group here in Albany. I met a Chinese American guy who is fluent in English, Chinese, and Spanish. He’s a really cool guy, and right off the bat we had a great conversation about Chinese. So, we actually got together to hang out a few times, and he helped me a lot with my Chinese by teaching me idioms and things that they don’t teach you in class, that help you sound really authentic.
We became Facebook friends, and, as some of you know, on Facebook I don’t hide the fact that I’m a Christian. So, he probably knew I was a Christian, and I even sensed that he might be curious about it, but I didn’t say anything.
Then one day we’re sitting in a coffeeshop and he’s telling me about a trip he took to a city in China called Wuhan. Now, this is before the pandemic, so at the time, most Americans had never heard of Wuhan. But I had heard of Wuhan, because when I was learning Chinese in college, I had a pen pal in Wuhan who was herself a Christian, and she came to Christ when Americans who run a coffeeshop in Wuhan shared their faith with her.
Now, my Chinese American friend is telling me about his trip to Wuhan, and about a coffeeshop he went to that’s run by Americans. Now, Wuhan is a city of 12 million people. There are thousands of coffeeshops in Wuhan, and actually a lot of them are run by Americans. So, I don’t think too much of what he’s telling me at first. But then, he tells me that this particular coffeeshop is run by Christians who came to Wuhan hoping to share their faith with the Chinese, but they can’t just start a church or a home fellowship because missionary work is illegal in China. However, through the coffeeshop, they’ve been able to talk to some of their customers about Jesus.
When he tells me this, my jaw drops because I realize he’s talking about the same coffeeshop I know about. That seems pretty astounding because we’re talking about a city of 12 million people on the other side of the world yet somehow we both know about the same coffeeshop.
Also, he’s really interested in this. He’s like, “It’s wild to me that someone would literally move to other side of the world just to talk to somebody about Jesus. Like, they must really believe this stuff.”
This was a “go to Ninevah” moment.
This was perfectly set up for a faith conversation. We both shared a common connection. The topic of Jesus was naturally brought up – it wasn’t forced. And, he expressed interest. Bewilderment, perhaps, but that’s still a form of interest!
Just like God spoke to Jonah “GO TO NINEVAH” it was like God was screaming at me “TALK ABOUT JESUS“!
Just like Jonah sailed to Tarshish, I too took the conversation in a different direction than where God was telling me to take it.
I’m not proud of it. And I regret it. But I’m gonna be honest with you – I totally wimped out.
Can you relate?
See, Jonah gets a bad rap. Of all the prophets, he’s probably the one we make fun of the most.
But I think most of us – if we’re honest with ourselves – have had a Jonah moment.
Why did Jonah set sail to Tarshish?
The Bible doesn’t tell us, but it’s probably the same reason we don’t share our faith with others: fear.
Jonah may have had good reason to be afraid. The Assyrian Empire was a brutal culture. They laid waste to cities, slaughtering or enslaving their populations. Not long after the time of Jonah, the Assyrian Empire invaded Israel, taking ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel into captivity.
Here’s a quote from one of the kings of Assyria on his exploits:
Their men young and old I took prisoners. Of some I cut off their feet and hands; of others I cut off the ears noses and lips; of the young men’s ears I made a heap; of the old men’s heads I made a minaret. I exposed their heads as a trophy in front of their city. The male children and the female children I burned in flames; the city I destroyed, and consumed with fire.
Ashurnasirpal II
Now, we don’t know if Assyria in Jonah’s day was as violent as the Assyria that laid waste to Israel. But, if the Assyria of later generations is any indication, Jonah had good reason to be afraid.
This was an empire hostile to Israel. And Jonah, an Israelite, is going to show up and proclaim a message of doom? How do you think that’s going to be received? Probably not well. Jonah’s life could be in danger.
It’s completely understandable why he’d be afraid. Even though he’s being sent by the God of angel armies, who will be with him every step of the way. So, he should have faith and confidence in that. But, he gives into fear. And he sails to Tarshish.
The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up; call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”
Jonah 1:4-6
The sailors said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them so.
Jonah 1:7-10
Talk about an effective witness! Jonah shared his faith with these sailors, and they immediately believe!
He said: “I worship Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea of the dry land.”
So let me get this straight: he’s the God of heaven, the sea, and the dry land?
That’s wild. In the ancient world, you had a god for each individual thing. So, you’d have a god of the sea, like Poseidon in the Greek tradition. Then you’d have a different god for the dry land.
But Jonah’s like, “No, my God is just the God of everything. Also, he made everything.”
So these sailors are just absolutely astounded by how powerful Jonah’s God is. And they’re like, “Let me get this straight… you thought you could run away from that God?”
You can’t run away from that God!
Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, O LORD, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
Jonah 1:11-17
What I think is so funny about this story, is that Jonah is so wildly successful as a prophet and as a missionary, even though he’s trying so hard not to be. He’s literally running away from God, trying not to be God’s messenger, and he ends up converting a bunch of people to faith in the one true God, basically by accident. Amazing.
He tried to run from God, but God wouldn’t let him run. And he gets swallowed by a big fish.
But God is faithful. He saves Jonah’s life. Jonah gets spit out, and ends up on the shore. God gives him a second chance.
Now, in chapter 2 there’s an awesome prayer that Jonah prayed while he was in the big fish. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to read it, but I highly recommend that you bookmark this page and read it during the week. It’s really awesome.
But for now, turn to Jonah chapter 2 verse 10.
Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out onto the dry land.
Jonah 2:10
And now Jonah has learned his lesson. He obeys God. He goes to Ninevah.
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Jonah 3:3-4
Ninevah was surrounded by a wall 33 feet high and 49 feet thick, which stone towers spaced every 59 feet.
This is probably the gate that Jonah walked through when he entered Ninevah. It was reconstructed based on an archaeological excavation of the original Assyrian wall. This gate was a major historical landmark and cultural artifact. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by ISIS in 2016 and no longer stands.
Imagine what Jonah felt when he passed through this absolutely massive stone gate representing the overwhelming power and might of Assyria.
He probably felt some fear!
But, he’s learned his lesson. He’s not gonna run away this time. He’s trusting in God. Yahweh is his confidence.
So he goes throughout the city and proclaims the message: “FORTY DAYS AND NINEVAH WILL BE OVERTHROWN!”
Normally, prophets are sent to the king. But in this case, God sent Jonah to just preach to ordinary people. So he’s just out on the street, proclaiming the message.
It was probably awkward!
He was probably afraid of how people would react!
How would people respond to this message?
Why would they listen to Jonah?
He’s just some random guy from a foreign country!
How would you respond if you were walking through the city of our local city of Albany, NY and you saw a random guy with a thick accent yelling: “FORTY DAYS AND ALBANY WILL BE OVERTHROWN!”
Would you believe him?
Probably not.
But guess what?
And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”
Jonah 3:5-10
It’s absolutely wild that the people of Ninevah repented when they heard Jonah’s message! It’s completely not what you’d expect to happen! It’s as crazy as seeing a cow in sackcloth!!
The people repented! They believed in Yahweh and cried out to him for mercy!
It’s nothing short of a miracle.
At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.
Jeremiah 18:7-8
God is a God of second chances. He’s not a bully out to get you. He loves to forgive. He loves to give another chance. All you need to do is turn to him. Turn from evil, and turn to him.
This next verse was written about Israel, but I think the story of Jonah proves that the same principle applies to all people who put their trust in God:
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
That’s exactly what happened.
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.
Jonah 3:10
It’s a miracle.
While this is going on, Jonah is sitting outside the city, and he can’t wait for the city to be destroyed. Don’t forget, Ninevah is part of the Assyrian Empire. The Ninevites are enemies of Israel. Jonah hates the Ninevites!
He can’t wait for fire to fall down from heaven and destroy the city.
Get out the marshmallows! We’re having a fire tonight!
But to his great shock and disappointment – the city is NOT destroyed!
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” Then the LORD said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals?”
Jonah 4:1-11
Here is Ninevah, a city the size of Albany, NY.
God is saying: “Dude, are you kidding me? you care more about a plant, than all the people in this city?”
120,000 people, not to mention all the cows walking around in sackcloth!
Jonah’s heart wasn’t God’s heart.
Jonah wanted Ninevah to be destroyed. But God’s heart was that the Ninevites – even though they were some of the most wicked people in the world – God’s heart was that they would repent and be saved.
“For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone,” says the Lord GOD. “Turn, then, and live.”
Ezekiel 18:32
God has a heart of compassion for the lost. Do we have that same heart?
Do we have compassion for the even the worst, most despicable people?
Or do we have grudges against them? Disgust? Bitterness? Unforgiveness?
Do we celebrate with heaven when a sinner repents?
Or do we respond with cynicism?
“I see so-and-so is back in church today. We’ll see how long that lasts.”
“So-and-so says he’s a Christian now. What a joke.”
Are these godly attitudes?
Are there people in your life who you don’t share your faith with, because, I mean, what’s the point?
When it comes to some people, you just know, they’re not gonna want to hear about Jesus. Don’t waste your time.
That’s prejudice. The reality is, you don’t know their hearts. God does.
The Book of Jonah really challenges us here to not allow your prejudices to get in the way of the gospel.
We see over and over again in the Book of Jonah, and indeed throughout the whole Bible, that the truth can set even the most unlikely person free.
The sailors on Jonah’s ship were pagans worshipping Poseidon, literally the last people you’d expect to make a sacrifice to the one true God. Yet when Jonah told them about Yahweh, they believed.
The people of Ninevah were so wicked that God had proclaimed his judgement against them and threatened to destroy their city. Literally the last people in the world you would expect to repent and believe in the one true God. But when they heard Jonah’s message, they repented.
You can’t write people off. No one is too far gone. No one is too lost that they can’t be reached.
Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
He didn’t come to pat the righteous on the back and tell them what a great job they’re doing.
He came to eat dinner with sinners and corrupt tax collectors.
He came to give forgiveness and undeserved mercy and grace to prostitutes and robbers.
He came to pursue murderous men like Saul of Tarsus and say to them, “I’m giving you another chance. I want you in my kingdom.”
That’s God’s heart.
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
Not wanting any to perish.
That’s God’s heart.
Is that your heart?
Jonah gets a bad rap – lots of people make fun of him, even call him a “failed prophet” because he ran from God, and when he finally obeyed God, he did it with the wrong heart.
But Jonah was just a human, no different than you or me. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we often have the same struggles Jonah had.
So the book of Jonah should be a wakeup call.
Let’s learn from Jonah, and not make the same mistakes.
When God calls you to do something, do it. Where is your Ninevah? It’s time to go there. You can pray about it and seek wise counsel, but don’t let anyone talk you out of doing something God called you to do. And don’t let fear stop you.
Respond to difficult people with compassion. Don’t hope that they “get what they deserve.” Hope that they repent and change and grow. Look for the best in people.