God compassionately pursues humanity in order to offer them an opportunity to return to relationship with Him...

What I find so interesting is that virtually no one denies that Jesus existed. Both secular and religious historians agree that Jesus was a historical person. However, while virtually everyone agrees that Jesus existed as a historical figure; there are other individuals who are mentioned in the Bible that provoke great disagreement and debate over whether or not they actually existed in history.  

And one of the individuals that provokes such disagreement and debate is a man referred to in the Bible by the name of Jonah. Regardless of whether or not you buy the whole Bible, Jesus, or church thing; regardless of all the bad experiences that you may have had with Christians and churches, we are all at least somewhat familiar the story of Jonah. You know the story of Jonah; there’s Jonah and there’s a fish, and the fish eats Jonah and then spits him out on dry land.

Unfortunately, many people view Jonah as simply another fish story- a fable, a campfire story that is fiction and has no real practical meaning apart from a great Sunday school story. The question of the reality of the events of the Book of Jonah is an important question, because if the story is fiction, then the message of the story can be ignored or dismissed.

So, is Jonah reality or fantasy? Well, for people living in the time that the Bible was being written, the story of Jonah was viewed as objective history. The Jewish scholars and rabbi’s of the day viewed the story as factual. Jesus Himself spoke of the events of Jonah as historical fact in two passages in the gospels, which we will look at a little later. Even members of the early church who liked to view Scripture with symbolic rather than literal meaning viewed the book of Jonah as objective history. The fact that the events of Jonah are factual is important, because this forces us to take the message of the book seriously.

Now Jonah, the man, lived around 760 years before Jesus came to earth. In addition to the book of Jonah, Jonah is also mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 and was a member of the nation of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II. And as such, Jonah was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom. As a prophet, Jonah was God’s spokesperson who was used by God to see and to proclaim His message to His people.

So let’s jump into this letter that is found in the Old Testament of our Bibles, because it is in the events that surround Jonah’s life that we will discover a timeless truth about the nature and character of God that has the potential to powerfully impact how we engage others. So let’s look together beginning in Jonah 1:1:

The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Now imagine yourself as Jonah for a moment. You receive a message and command from God to go do your job as a prophet. But instead of responding to God’s command with obedience, you choose to head for Tarshish. Now a natural question that arises here is “Well Dave, why would Jonah choose Tarshish? In essence, Jonah basically said “Where is the farthest place that I can go to get away from God”. AHA!! Tarshish, I’ll head there. Now this morning, why would Jonah think that he could run away from the Lord? Has Jonah lost his mind? I mean we all know that there is no place that we can go to hide from God, don’t we?

Have you ever felt like running from God? Well, Jonah buys his ticket for a cruise from God and heads aboard. And it is at this point that God begins to teach Jonah a lesson about His character and calling. If you have been around church for any length of time, you probably know the story. The Lord respond to Jonah’s plan to run from God by bringing a great storm that started to destroy the ship. The sailors, who were most likely skilled Phoenician’s and had made this journey many times before, responded by throwing all the cargo overboard in an effort to save the ship. The fury of the storm is revealed by the fear that overtook the sailors, who then began calling out to their God’s which were of the rain, thunder, and sea.

In total desperation, the sailors finally wake Jonah up. Upon being questioned by the sailors, Jonah informs them that he is a Hebrew and worships the God of heaven, the maker of the sea and land. When the sailors ask Jonah what they should do, he replies “throw me overboard”. After trying to save the ship by rowing back to land, they realize that the storm is only getting worse.

Reluctantly, the sailors throw Jonah overboard, which calms the sea. As the storm miraculously disappears, the sailors respond to the sudden stoppage of this devastating storm by recognizing and worshipping the Lord as the one true God. In the meantime, we see what happens to Jonah in verse 17:

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

 It is at this point in the story that many question the validity of this story. Really, is there a fish large enough to swallow a man whole and even if there was one; could someone survive 72 hours in a fish? To answer the second question first, 3 days and 3 nights does not require 72 hours, but only one 24 hour day and parts of two other days. This was the common meaning of this phrase in the culture of the time of the Bible, and Jesus Himself used this phrase when referring to His own death and resurrection.

In terms of what kind of fish swallowed Jonah, the short answer is that we do not know. The word for fish here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, was used to refer to any sea creature. In addition, the word appointed, in the language that this letter was originally written in, conveys the sense of a supernatural provision of something. So God supernaturally provided a fish capable of swallowing Jonah.

Now is that really so hard to believe? Is it so hard to believe that the Being who created the universe and everything in it in 6 days could not create a fish to swallow Jonah? Now, you might be thinking to yourself “Dave, I know this story. I know what it is about”. If I have just described the thoughts that are running through your mind, I have a question for you to consider. And that question is this: is Jonah just about a fish eating a man? We find the answer to this question in the verses that follow, beginning in Jonah 2:1:

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, "I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. "For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. "So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.'  "Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head. "I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. "While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple. "Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD." Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

 As we look at Jonah’s prayer, do you see anything missing from it? Do you find it interesting that at no time in his prayer does Jonah ask God for forgiveness? At no time does he admit his disobedient selfishness and rebellion. Though he vows to keep his promise to God and obey his call to do His will, it is only out of the fact that God is that one holding all the cards, so to speak. God is the one who rescued him from the sea by His power and it is God who holds Jonah in His all powerful hand.

As Jonah agrees of obedience, he is vomited out of the fish onto dry land. That must have been pleasant. If you have ever been on the receiving end of projectile vomit, you know of what I speak. God, having deposited Jonah on land, repeats His command and receives a different response, as we see in chapter 3…

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you." 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."

Now the reason that the visit required three days because the circumference of Ninevah and its suburbs, so to speak, was 60 miles. Most scholars believe that the population of Ninevah was approximately 600,000 people. We then see how the residents of Ninevah responded to Jonah and his message in verse 5:

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. "But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. "Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish." When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

 The Ninevites, upon hearing the message of condemnation from Jonah the prophet, recognized their wickedness and repented. But why put on sackcloth and ashes? Sackcloth was a coarse dark cloth that was extremely uncomfortable to wear. Wearing this material was used as a sign of sorrow and repentance. The act of sitting in ashes was a sign of utter helplessness and despair. How many of us, when confronted with our sin, would display that type of sorrow, repentance, helplessness and despair?

When we are told that the Ninevites repented, this word means more than simply feeling sorry for something you did; to repent means that you feel sorry for what you did and the sorrow that you feel drives you to change something in your life. Now can you imagine what it looked like to see entire nation respond in such a matter to the revelation of selfishness and rebellion in their midst. God, upon seeing their repentance, responded by having compassion upon them and removed His wrath from them.

Now a natural question that arises here is “well Dave, while God removed His wrath, does that mean that we will see the Ninevites in Heaven?” We find the answer to this question from Jesus Himself as he talked about this group in Matthew 12:41…

"The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Maybe you are here today and you are struggling with whether or not God will truly forgive you of your selfishness and rebellion. As the people of Ninevah found out, the God of the universe meets those who repent, who turn from selfishness and rebellion with a desire to trust and follow Him, with open arms.

Now, as a prophet of God, you would think that Jonah would have been totally stoked about seeing an entire nation come to repentance. Jonah was stoked alright, but not in the same way as I mean, which we see in Jonah 4:1:

But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."

What is so interesting is that the word angry here, in the language that this was originally written in, literally means to be hot. You see, Jonah was stoked alright; he was stoked with anger over God displaying compassion. Jonah wanted justice, Jonah did not want God to extend grace and mercy to the Ninevites. But why is Jonah so angry?

To understand why Jonah was so angry, we must first understand who the Assyrians, who were the people that lived in Ninevah, were. The Assyrians were the bitter enemies of the Jews. Jews considered the Assyrians to be barbaric and subhuman. Part of this would be attributed to how Assyrians dealt with their enemies in war, which the Jewish nation had experienced. A historian wrote the following when describing how the Assyrians treated those who they captured:

“The usual procedure after capturing a hostile city was to burn it, and then to mutilate all the grown male prisoners by cutting off their hands and ears and putting out their eyes; after which they were piled in a great heap to perish in torture from the sun, flies, their wounds and suffocation. The other members of the community would be burned alive”.

You see, Jonah wanted to God of Holy wrath, not the God of compassionate love. How soon Jonah forgot God’s mercy upon him after he had selfishly and rebelliously disobeyed God’s first command to go to Tarshish. Can you relate to some people that we might feel the same way about?

You see, we often want justice dispensed when wronged, not grace and compassion. Maybe its justice against the terrorists. Or maybe its justice against the coworker who steals from the office, or your lunch from the refrigerator. Maybe its justice against the neighbor who abuses himself and others around him. Jonah, in his anger, responds by making a shelter outside the city, hoping that God would still destroy the enemies of the Jewish people. For Jonah, it was time for an object lesson from God. Let’s look at it together at what happens next, in verse 4:

The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life." Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death." Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

Now to fully understand what God is saying to Jonah here, we first need to understand what God means when He asks “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

This question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Should I not have compassion on the 120,000 children who are so young that they do not even know the difference between their right and left hand, never mind right and wrong?”  The Bible never tells us how Jonah answered that question. The Bible never tells us whether or not Jonah learned the lesson and had a change of heart. The story of the book of Jonah ends with Jonah unrelenting in his desire for justice and not mercy toward the Assyrians.

However, it is here that we see the Lord reveal for us a timeless truth about the nature and character of God that has the potential to powerfully impact how we engage others. And that timeless truth is this: God compassionately pursues humanity in order to offer them an opportunity to return to relationship with Him. Just as it was with the Assyrian Empire, just as it has been throughout history, God compassionately pursues humanity in order to offer them an opportunity to return to relationship with Him.

You see, the point of the book of Jonah is not about the fish; the point of the book of Jonah is the plant. The story of the book of Jonah is about the story of a God who a God of grace, mercy, and compassion that is slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness, desiring all to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God desires all to have the eternal relationship with Him they were created for, including the terrorist across the planet from you, the coworker in the cubicle next to you, your neighbor next door to you, the classmate that sits next to you, and the person you look at in the mirror every morning. That is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about an event that occurred in history. An event where God gave what was closest to Himself to rescue what was furthest away. Christmas is about God providing all of humanity the opportunity to experience forgiveness from the selfish and rebellious things that we all have done that have hurt God and hurt others that separate us from God.