God's Heart for the City

But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" And he said, "Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die." And the Lord said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"- Jonah 4:9‭-‬11 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Called To Reorder

We see how God shows mercy to Nineveh because of their repentance. Jonah was throwing a fit because of this. God grows a plant to shade Jonah. And Jonah is happy. Then God sends a worm to kill the plant. Jonah is hot and on top of it, God sends a scorching wind. Jonah is so upset now that he wants to die. Jonah is so worked up over this. God confronts him on this.

God talks about how Jonah is so worked up over this plant that grew up and died in one day that Jonah did not nurture or help to grow. God says he's worked up over this city of 120,000 people. A city of souls created in God's image with eternal consequence. God is confronting Jonah's priorities. How can Jonah be so worked up over these plants and care not for these people? And if not even the people, how about the cattle? Yes, some holy sarcasm.

So the book ends on this question. A question that confronts Jonah. But not only him, but also us, the readers. Are our emotions not also so misdirected? Do we not get all worked up over  such mundane things? How much consideration and care do we take with people, with souls? Should we not care enormously about their eternal destination?

Called To Respond

Jonah was angry because he wanted God to be like Jonah. Jonah wanted his enemies dead. He wanted God to agree with him. But we know that is not how it should be. We should become more like God! Jonah had pity on the plant. But God he had pity on Nineveh. Some translations use the word compassion or grieving. God had compassion on these people. God was weeping over these people. This warring and aggressive nation was not good, but God did not respond with just anger. God was grieved. This is what Jonah was struggling with... the complexity of God's response to sinners.

God says that these people do not know their right from their left. This is not a question of their intelligence. This is pointing out a lack of or disordered moral compass. They are ignorant of their lack of morality. God is not excusing their sin. But God has compassion. They are not foolish, but they are ignorant.

We see this complexity in Jesus. He hates sin, but he has compassion on the sinner. Jonah left the city seething. Jesus left the city to cover over the sins of those in the city.

Christians are called to love those who disagree with them. Not only that, but also love those who hate them, because that is what it means to follow Jesus. Jesus never considered sinners ignorant fools, but rather he had compassion. We are called to humility knowing our sinfulness, but also bold pursuit of souls to call them to the heavenly kingdom.

Called To Remember

We are called both individually and corporately to serve the city of Philadelphia. But we need to remember that we are first and foremost citizens of heaven. The kingdom of God is for the glory of God rather than man. It stands in stark contrast to the cities of men.

We are not serving for our fame or glory. God had already bestowed more glory than we can possibly gather in our lifetime in Jesus. We are not here for our comfort, our personal goals and dreams. We have more than we could ever need in Jesus. We are to remember our true home, heaven... and in doing so, we will better serve and contribute to wherever God has called us to.

Something better than anger

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord , is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord , please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." And the Lord said, "Do you do well to be angry?" Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live." But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" And he said, "Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die." And the Lord said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"- Jonah 4:1‭-‬11 ESV

Rev. Travis Drake

Something better than anger

Opening argument (v1-4)

Jonah's complaint was that he was exceedingly displeased. He saw this as a great evil. He was very angry in his prayer to God. He was very unhappy about the repentance of Nineveh. A world in which God even forgives Israel's enemies is not one that Jonah wants to live in. This is why Jonah wants to die. Jonah does not want to serve a God that forgives more than just Israel.

In this culture, justice was crucial. One must pay for their crimes. Jonah felt that they deserved judgement and punishment. This was revolutionary in that time and age. Jonah felt angry about how these evil people repented in one moment and God forgave.

God asked Jonah if it was good for him to be angry. Jonah wanted to see the city burned to the ground. He wanted retribution. He wanted payback. Justice is restitution and restoration. Retribution simply desires destruction. But for true justice to be served a debt must be absorbed. Jonah didn't want God, he wanted something from God. God wanted good for Jonah. God wanted more than retribution for Jonah; He wanted justice.

Dramatic intermission  (v5-8)

Jonah runs away again, but he doesn't go as far this time. He goes just outside the city. The entire city of Nineveh has just repented and the only person who knows what is going on is outside the city. It is the same issue as before. Jonah is the same prophet who will not go. He is still struggling with the same issue as before the storm and the fish.

Why doesn't God just move on? Pick another prophet? Fulfill the death wish of this prophet? Because God sees progress. Jonah prays about his anger. Jonah doesn't run as far as before. God wants good for Jonah. God shelters Jonah from the sun with a plant. This is vitally important in a desert. But Jonah needs more than shade. So God sends a worm to attack the plant. Then the sun and hot wind attack Jonah.

Jonah is waiting to see if God will attack the city. But instead God sends a worm to attack the plant. God sends the sun and the hot wind to attack him. This is ironic. Then God uses words.

Closing argument

God asks why he is so angry over this plant. God asks if it is good for Jonah. Jonah replies to God in anger. He says he is so angry that he wishes for death. And it would be anger that killed him. Anger is what controls him. Jonah is experiencing tunnel vision from anger and the desire for retribution. Jonah is not free, he is a slave. Jonah needs to forgive them.

God finally closes the scene. He says, You, you pity this plant that grew in one day and perished in the next. But I, I care for this city. God is contrasting himself with Jonah. God cares for this city of 120,000. But where is God? God is outside talking to this one prophet. Why? Because the city has repented, but the prophet has not. Jonah is blinded by his anger. The people in the city don't know their left from their right. But Jonah is even more blind in his anger about Nineveh. He is the lost sheep and God is calling him back. Jonah doesn't know the way home even if he was shown it.

More than being told and shown the way, we need a rescuer. God has to save us, even from ourselves. God places difficult people and difficult circumstance in our lives for our good.

Application
Don't be trapped by your anger. (forgive, cancel the debt)
Don't be discouraged by your incremental progress

Do ask yourself, is your anger good for you?
Do remember that God was willing to go after one little sheep.

Turning

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord . Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish." When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.- Jonah 3:1‭-‬10 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Jonah turns (v1-3)

Jonah had just been through a life threatening storm. He had nearly died of drowning and spent time in the belly of a big 🐟. He probably still smells of fish guts. God calls Jonah again. Not only did God save Jonah, but God gave him a second chance at his calling as a prophet. God could've rightly sent his call to another person. Jonah knew how foolish it was to run from God. Jonah now knew that God would have his way. But Jonah reacts differently. Jonah goes to the city of Nineveh.

The city turns (v4-9)

Jonah goes into a three-day city. Bible schools debate what that means. Is it three days walk across? Does it take three days to see the whole city? Jonah gets there and one day in, likely at the outskirts of the city, Jonah gives God's message. It means Jonah was no longer rebelling or dilly-dallying. He was doing what God asked. Immediately, the entire city from the king down to the animals repent. They all turn from their sin from the highest to the lowest of the cattle. The bloodthirsty enemies of Israel repent from a five word sermon.

This was meant as a foil to the nation of Israel. But these evil pagan Assyrians, they met the first prophet of God, of Yaweh. They had no biblical basis or knowledge. But Israel has the word of God and prophet after prophet. And their repentance, turning to God and away from evil things is so so shallow. And not only the nation of Israel, but does this not convict us? We have the entire Bible, the full revelation of the gospel, the understanding of the fullness of God's promise. Our repentance is so partial, so shallow. We likely need to repent of our repentance.

Repentance is a lifestyle, not an event. The life of the Christian is one of continual turning from sin and to God. Our status as a child of God is secured by the life and death of Jesus. But if we will not repent and turn from our sins, it was affect our relationship with God. God will not cut us off, but our experience of God is impacted. Our joy in God and our intimacy with God.

God turns (v10)

The city repents without knowing what God would do. Jonah only preached of righteous judgement. The assyrian had no idea if their repentance would alter the coming judgement. They did not know what would happen. There was no word spoken of grace or love.

But the Christian has the guarantee of Jesus. They know of the mind-blowing grace of God. They know the story of the gospel. But we hear the gospel every Sunday. At some point it can become background noise. That's a dangerous place to be. So how do we avoid this danger? The text here is clear. We must repent. We must confront the sin in our lives and then look at the grace of God we have in Jesus. The gospel is only awesome and awe inspiring when we see how big our sins are... Grace becomes the driver of our lives.

Salvation Belongs to the Lord

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, "I called out to the Lord , out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.' The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord , and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord !" And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. - Jonah 1:17-2:‬10 ESV

Rev. Charles Han

Is this story a historical fact or is it a myth? Or is it a metaphorical story? Is it a story of Jonah's recovery from sickness at sea at an inn called "The Fish"? Let's take in the details. This story has no embellishment. It is told in a matter of fact manner. Jesus even refers to this story in literal fashion. If you disbelieve this story, then all your faith is questionable. The question here is not how believable this story is. The question is whether we have a purely naturalistic perspective. The Christian worldview is supernatural. How so? The major foundation is based on a supernatural event, the resurrection of Jesus. No naturalistic explanations suffice.

Down in the depths

Jonah went and ran from God when called to go to Nineveh. He said he was in Sheol. Even though the sailors had thrown him in, Jonah attributed his state to God. God had brought Jonah to the depths of despair. This drive Jonah to prayer and to cry out for salvation. This was not severe punishment. This was severe grace. God needed to wake him up. During the height of the storm, Jonah alone did not cry out.. All the pagan sailors were calling upon their gods, but not Jonah, he was asleep. Jonah was in spiritual slumber and stupefaction. God brought him to the depths of the sea to cause Jonah to awaken and turn to God for salvation. For some, God must bring us to the utter depths before we turn to God.

Down in the fish's belly

Jonah's prayer is not a cry for salvation. What was it then? It was a cry of thankfulness. It was a cry of praise and exhortation. Jonah knew the fish was God's salvation. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days. Jonah knew that he deserved punishment for his actions. He knew that he deserved death. But God heard Jonah and saved him. Jonah recognized the grace of God. He recognized that God was granting rescue to a sinner in the throes of rebellion. Jonah knew that he would not be entirely cut off from God. Jonah's troubles are a sign that point to Jesus. Jesus was cast into the depths of Sheol. He was dead for three days and then came back to life, like Jonah was in the tomb of the fish's belly and then spit out to life.

Salvation is free. But humanity refuses to accept it. Why? Vain idols. They can be literal false gods or other things that we hope will save us. Our talents, our dreams... These idols require so much of us, we forget God's everlasting love, security, and life. Nothing else can give this to us. God gives us hope, grace, and life by bringing us into desperation and deliverance. This is the way of following Christ till we see Him again.

Out onto the dry land

God was devoted to Jonah. He could have been left in that fish. God gave the prophet a second chance, a new life. God had not given up on Jonah. Jonah still had more to learn. God was not finished with Jonah. God could've just marked Jonah as unreliable and moved onto a new prophet. Jonah had failed, but God was not done. God had more kingdom work for Jonah. So it is with us, God will use us weak sinners. Take heart, stand up, and get back into the work of the Lord.

He rose and He ran

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." But Jonah rose 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, away from the presence of the Lord . But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 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. 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." 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. 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?" 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." Then the men were exceedingly 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. 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. 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." 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. 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." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.- Jonah 1:1‭-‬16 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Jonah's Rebellion

Jonah's a prophet of God. This book starts much like many other books. God commands his prophet to go to Nineveh. Jonah goes and flees in the opposite direction. He runs away from the presence of the Lord. This is an overt act of rebellion. He isn't simply lost; he is purposefully moving in the opposite direction as God has commanded.

The assyrian people were violent and a threat to Israel. Jonah want interested in holding out salvation to these people. He was called to give a warning to the enemies of the people of Israel. This warning meant that there was a chance they might repent... And God might relent and withhold judgement. For Jonah, it made no sense. Jonah saw no reason for God to be gracious to these enemies. Jonah wanted to do what he felt was right. So he rebelled in overt fashion and went in the other direction.

For some, rebellion is covert. We live virtuous lives and do all the right things, but our heart is far from God. We do good things simply so that God will bless us. It is revealed that we are in rebellion when things don't go our way. When God brings trouble, we grumble and call God callous, unkind, ungracious, stingy. We feel that God owes us something for what we do. God is not Lord over our lives. We want control over our own lives. Our lives look okay from the outside, but our hearts are far from God.

Results of Jonah's Rebellion

Jonah runs... Down to Joppa. Down into the ship.  Down into the inner parts of the ship. When we run from God, it may seem great at first, but over time, it will only become a downward spiral. The first act of rebellion may be refreshing and feels freeing. But over time, it will only hurt us more and more.

We become less and less what God made us to be. Jonah is supposed to be God's ambassador to the pagans. But the captain of the ship rouses the prophet to pray for divine intervention! The pagan calls the prophet. Jonah tells them to throw him overboard. The pagan refuses from a tender heart. But being unable to fight the storm, they relent. And throwing him overboard to find the storm calmed. Many commentators believe that the pagans likely were shocked. They likely would have stopped and offered sacrifices to this fearsome and awesome God. Many believe the sailors likely became believers.

Inner rebellion has outward consequences. Do not be fooled. There is no hidden sin that will not affect your life and slowly but surely destroy your life and the lives of those around you.

God's Response

God knew what Jonah was doing. God hurled a great storm upon the seas. God didn't send a storm to destroy Jonah. He sent one to save Jonah from himself. God can and will send trouble and trials to bring us back to himself. God rouses himself from his throne, not to smite Jonah, but to restore him.

Jesus rose from his dwelling on heaven to come for us. Jesus came to earth to chase after those who run from God. Jesus endured the storm of the crucifixion for us to bring us life and peace. He was smitten with the full wrath of God the Father. This is how we know God loves us and is for us. God is trustworthy.