Sermon Idea: God’s commission of Jonah to the nations testifies to God’s great mercy.
Introduction: In the early 1980’s, a movie was released that has become somewhat of a cult classic. Red Dawn tells the story of a group of American teenagers who rally together to defend their hometown as Soviet forces invade the United States in what is portrayed as World War III. You only need a superficial understanding of the 80’s to see the appeal of a film like this. The Soviet Union was the definition of an enemy to the United States, and so there was a nationalistic enjoyment of watching the bad guys be defeated on screen.
The movie was remade in 2012, and in that version, North Korea invades the United States. The appeal remains the same. American viewers enjoy seeing the good guys defeat the bad guys.
These are stories about national pride, evil foreign powers, and a real hatred between two groups of people.
If Red Dawn were set in the days of Jonah, the evil foreign power would certainly have been Assyria, whose capital at one point was Nineveh. Just as you can understand American teenagers basking in the defeat of the Soviet Union on screen, so you might picture Jonah and Israel enjoying God’s judgment on Assyria.
Assyria was known for horrific and brutal violence. They expanded their borders through military conquest and tactics that struck terror into surrounding nations.
Tim Keller writes, “Assyrian kings often recorded the results of their military victories, gloating of whole plains littered with corpses and of cities burned completely to the ground.”
One archeologist has said that Assyrian history is, “As gory and bloodcurdling a history as we know.”
It is to these people that God commands Jonah to go, and it is these people to whom Jonah refuses to go.
Jonah is the story of God’s great mercy to the nations and one prophet’s struggle to understand that mercy. It is the account of God’s salvation through justice and mercy, and Jonah’s failure to understand both.
This morning, we’ll see that God commissions Jonah to Nineveh, but that Jonah flees from the Lord’s presence. Yet, even as Jonah runs, the Lord pursues him, and his mercy is made known to the nations.
I.) God’s mission and the commission of Jonah (Jonah 1:1-2)
The Bible is about God, so Jonah is primarily about God’s revelation. The book begins with the word of the Lord, as it does to all the prophets, coming to Jonah. In just a few words, we are reminded that God is the one ruling with this sovereign providence and that Jonah’s life is in his sovereign hand.
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” (Jon 1:1–2)
We have little to no information about Jonah, except that he is the son of Ammittai. However, this small detail tells us when Jonah lived and that he was a prophet of God.
23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. (2 Ki 14:23–25)
This passage is helpful because it provides insight into the time Jonah lived and insight into Jonah’s life as a prophet. Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam, who did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. It is a time of instability and unfaithfulness. Yet, it was also a time marked by God’s mercy despite Israel’s sin.
27 But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. (2 Ki 14:27)
It also gives us insight into Jonah’s life as a prophet. The Jonah whom God calls to Ninevah is not just a random Israelite, but one who has served God as a prophet and seen his words come to pass. Jonah had a place of privilege and respect. Israel’s borders were expanded, according to his words. Jonah has communed with God, known his Word, and served him faithfully.
If Jonah’s ministry in 2 Kings was before his call to Ninevah, like many think, it is instructive for us. Past faithfulness is not sufficient for the present.
Sinclair Ferguson said it this way, “No past privilege, nor all past privileges together; no past obedience, nor fruitfulness in service, can ever substitute for present obedience to God’s Word.”
We also learn something about God and his mission as he calls Jonah, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
Jonah 1:2)
Jonah is to go speak against Nineveh because their wickedness is great. The picture the text gives us is that Ninevah’s sins have reached a point at which God must bring judgment unless they repent. The LORD wishes to no longer be patient with their evil, and so Jonah is to go and cry out against the city.
Here we see two important truths about God. He is just and merciful. God will attend to the wickedness of the world, no matter how bad things may seem. He is righteous and just. But God is also merciful. It is a mercy to Ninevah that would send someone to call out their evil and warn them of impending judgment.
God has commissioned his prophet on a mission of mercy to the nations, but this is one task Jonah does not understand, so he disobeys the Lord.
II.) Jonah’s disobedience and fleeing from the Lord (Jonah 1:3-10)
The description of Jonah’s disobedience is his fleeing from God’s presence, But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. (Jon 1:3)
Not only did Jonah not go to Ninevah, but he went in the totally opposite direction. Jonah is running from God. He is running from communion with God that comes through obedience. Even the language of Jonah descending into the boat carries this idea.
In vs. 3, Jonah went down to Joppa and down into the ship.
In vs. 5, Jonah, “had gone down into the inner part of the ship.”
Why would Jonah do this? Why would he run from God’s presence after being commanded to go to Ninevah?
Jonah is going to tell us in his own words later, and we’ll wait to hear from him then. For now, though, we need to at least consider two reasons why Jonah might flee from the Lord: he fears Ninevah, and he fears his fellow Israelites.
Jonah knows that if Ninevah takes heed to his warning, God may very well preserve them rather than judge them. And if that were to happen, how might that affect Jonah’s reputation in Israel? Jonah, the prophet who helped spare the enemy.
It is always tempting, isn’t it, to think more of what others might think rather than what God has willed in His Word? Isn’t it easy for fear of what might happen in the future to prevent us from obeying God in the present? You see, in many ways, we’ve been like Jonah. We have run from God and fled from his presence. Perhaps you’re tempted to run from him this morning.
As God’s relentless mercy finds Jonah, it can find us in Christ. The end of the story for those running from God doesn’t have to be separation from him; it can be reconciliation with him. Bring your sins before God in confession and believe the great promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 Jn 1:8–9)
Not only does Jonah flee from the presence of the Lord, but he also fails to love his neighbors. Sins can compound, you see? The Lord brings a great wing upon the sea so harsh that the ship is in danger of breaking up and sinking.
While the Gentile sailors are praying to their gods and seeking to lighten the ship, where is Jonah? He is asleep.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” (Jonah 1:5–6)
Let’s think more about the storm for a moment. This storm comes as a result of Jonah’s sin.
Sin becomes a mighty windstorm that disrupts the environment in which we live and the relationships we have. I don’t mean that every bad thing we suffer is becasue of sin, but sin does have consequences. It disrupts our enviroment and relationships. The sailors are caught in this storm not because of their sin, but because of the sins of another—Jonah.
It is a warning we should take seriously. Our sin, our running from God, will have consequences, and those consequences will not only affect us, but those around us.
III.) God’s mercy through judgment (Jonah 1:4-17)
The storm may be a judgment, but as God often does. He is about to bring mercy to these sailors through that judgment.
After Jonah finally wakes, the sailors want to know who he is. More than that, they want to find out whose sin is responsible for this great storm.
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And 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.” (Jonah 1:6–9)
In an instant, the sailors come to believe something about Israel’s God. They know their tribal gods have not helped, but they have come to believe Jonah’s God is the maker of the sea and the dry land. This is why they are afraid. But through the storm, the mercy of God finds them.
As the sailors are trying to figure out what to do with Jonah, notice that they initially reject Jonah’s idea to throw him overboard. Instead, these Gentile sailors try with all their might to preserve his life and theirs.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. (Jonah 1:11–13)
Notice the contrast between the Gentile soldiers and Jonah. They do all they can to save his life, but Jonah would rather die than obey God. More than that, they pray to Jonah’s God!
14 Therefore they called out to the LORD, “O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. (Jonah 1:14-16)
The language used in verse 16 is more than respectful; it is conversion language. God mercifully saves these Gentiles through his storm of judgment. The language used is not nominal, but devout. The sailors “fear the LORD exceedingly,” and they offer sacrifices to the LORD and make vows.
And here is the great irony of Jonah 1: the very thing Jonah hoped to avoid by fleeing the face of the LORD happens. God is merciful to Gentiles. The mercy shown to these Gentiles prepares us for what is to come. God’s purposes will not be thwarted, and his great mercy will be given to whom he wills.
God’s mercy is known most truly through faith in Jesus Christ, who is the better and greater Jonah. As Jonah descends into the sea to save these sailors, so Jesus descended into death in our place. He is the true Israelite prophet who saves sinners like you and me through his substitutionary death on the cross. Like Jonah, he was also once asleep on a boat during a great storm, but unlike Jonah, he was not disobedient to the Father. He was the one who rose and simply said, “Peace, be still.”
Application
- God is more merciful than we can imagine.
- God’s mercy is His to give freely to whom he wills.
- We don’t deserve God’s mercy, but we’ve received it in Christ. Rejoice!
- God’s commands are good. We should obey God because his is good, wise, and just.
Nathaniel R. Martin 