Jonah

Gtcotr/ws010208

Jonah was a prophet who lived around the same time as Amos and Hosea. It is understood that he prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II, (760BC), and Jewish tradition leads us to consider that Jonah may have been the son of the Widow of Zarepheth, (1 Kings 17).

2 Kings 14:25 … according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.

Jonah was from a small town in the Lower Galilee which sits between Cana and Nazareth. This small town is called Gath Hepher. Interesting to note, Gath Hepher is one of the little seemingly insignificant places I stopped to film one of the Postcards from the Bible in March 2005. The Postcard was not about Gath Hepher at all but rather just a place to pull off and get a good camera shot of Biblical Cana in the background. In fact, at the time we did not even know we were standing at a place of such significant biblical history.

At any rate, it was most likely here in this small town that Jonah first heard from the Lord that he had been chosen as God’s Ambassador to Nineveh.

Nineveh was situated on the bank of the Tigris River near what is now known as Mosul, Iraq, a little more than 500 miles due Northeast as the crow flies.

Well, instead of Jonah obeying God and heading from Gath-Hepher to Nineveh, he left walking Southwest and ended up in Joppa on the Mediterranean Sea. At this port of Joppa Jonah found a ship bound for Tarshish, paid his fair and boarded it for passage away from the calling of God. Tarshish has been determined by many to be the Phoenician port in Spain of which the Hebrews were familiar during the time of Solomon.

If so that he was headed to Spain, then this trip would have taken Jonah more than 2000 additional miles off course and in the opposite direction. It is evident that for whatever reason, Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh … but that was not the end of the story.

God is in the business of stretching and strengthening His people for their greatest day and the fact that they don’t want to cooperate may not change His mind.

Jonah 1 NKJV

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me."

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.

It seems that God was not ready to abandon the people of Nineveh nor Jonah and his greatest day. God caused a great storm to come to the ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Those in charge of the ship found no way to survive this storm but to attempt to appease the God of Jonah by throwing Jonah overboard. The story continues in:

Jonah 1 NKJV

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.

Jonah 2 NKJV

1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.

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.

It seems that God got Jonah’s attention and even his cooperation.

When Jonah repented and agreed to go to Nineveh God caused the great fish which had swallowed Jonah to spit him up onto dry ground. Now we don’t know the geographical location where Jonah landed, but we do know that when he stopped rolling that he heard from God a second time …

Jonah 3 NKJV

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,

2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you."

3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

The bible tells us that as Jonah cried to the city and encouraged them to repent that they all listened to him from the greatest to the least. Each repented and the whole city was saved from the wrath of God. Jonah was a success, perhaps the greatest success ever yet known to an evangelist with a message of repentance. Yet Jonah was still displeased.

Jonah 3 NKJV

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.

Jonah 4 NKJV

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

Jonah became angry with God. Well now that God had secured the repentance of the people of Nineveh He turned His full attention to Jonah.

The Lord gave Jonah a test. While Jonah sat angry up on a hillside perhaps hoping that God would reconsider and destroy these people, God caused a vine to grow up over Jonah to give him shade. Jonah was very comforted by this blessing from God.

Jonah 4 NKJV

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."

Then, God sent a worm to cut down the vine exposing Jonah to such heat that Jonah grew faint and became so frustrated and depressed that he just wanted to die.

The end of the book of Jonah gives us a picture of God reasoning with Jonah to reconsider his perspective and change his attitude. How is it that Jonah could be so sad about a vine in which he had invested no labor and yet not allow God care for the more than 120,000 people in Nineveh which were in such desperate need of someone to help them.

What conclusions can we draw from the book of Jonah?

#1. Disobeying God will not make us happy.

#2. Obeying God will not make us happy if it is not in our heart.

#3. God wants us to see things from His perspective.

2008 will be a year of:

Challenge

Choice

Change (hopefully change!)

A year of challenge

These challenges are designed to drive us closer to God

These challenges test our character

God commits to character not charisma

Character is tested in good days and bad days

A year of choices

Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

God is pro choice … however, God does not have to agree with your choice

Challenges are designed by God to encourage choices

A year of change

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Challenges are designed by God to force choices

Choices are designed by God to assist us with change

God is committed to changing us, transforming us …

How are we changed? --- By the Word!

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This year we will all be challenged to make choices to change and to become more like Jesus.

God wants you to walk His best path for your life and it may require change.