Jonah
Message 3 – Running & Returning

Jonah was a Jewish Prophet who lived 8th Century BC, also referenced in 2 Kings 14.

God told him to preach to people in city called Ninevah (ancient city in Iraq, near modern city of Mosul). Jonah didn’t want to so ran away from God. He ends up in in a boat, in a storm, and is thrown overboard. He is swallowed up by a large fish, spends three days and nights in the belly of that fish until the fish vomits Jonah onto dry land.

He preaches to the city of Ninevah, the Ninevites respond, there’s revival in Ninevah, and Jonah isn’t happy about it because he disagrees with God’s kindness to the Ninevites.

Jonah 1:15–17
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. 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.

This is the point of unbelief for most people.

It was an unbelievable back then, as it is unbelievable today. In the account of Jonah, it’s not just the fish that seems unbelievable. God extending mercy to the undeserving Ninevites – that was unbelievable. And the Ninevites repenting and turning from evil – that too was unbelievable.

When it comes to the fish in Jonah’s story, most of us ask, “Could Jonah really have been swallowed by a big fish?” There are better questions to ask, such as:

•Is God so gracious He would rescue a person from trouble of their own making?
•Does God orchestrate circumstances to bring a person back to their calling?
•What does Jonah’s expulsion from the fish mean?
•What does God’s dealing with Jonah teach us about how God deals with us?

Romans 2:4 tells us it’s the “kindness of God” that leads us to repentance – and few accounts in Scripture illustrate this so well as Jonah’s.

Three expressions of God’s kindness toward us.

1. God’s kindness rescues us at our lowest

Jonah’s life had been on a downward spiral because of his own choices.

He goes down to Joppa, down to the port, down below the deck of the ship. He is lying down, falls into a deep sleep, then the boat in the storm is about to go down. The repetition is not a coincidence. It’s showing the downward slide resulting from Jonah’s decisions.

Jonah 2:1–6
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 breakers and your waves
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.
To 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 Jonah found himself drowning in the consequences of his decisions, at that point he found God’s kindness. Chapter 2 is his song of thanks to God.

Romans 8:38–39
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We can never fall so low that we are beyond God the reach of God’s love.

Jonah 1:17
And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

Long before Jonah ever ran from God, God was preparing a way for Jonah to be saved. In the same way, Jesus the Lamb of God, was prepared for us and our salvation. If God was that kind toward Jonah, He can show the same kindness to us.

Psalm 103:2–4
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.

2. God’s kindness redeems our missteps

Jonah may have reflected on his missteps with regret. Yet, God in His kindness, redeemed Jonah’s foolishness and used it for a good purpose.

Jonah’s sin incurs a storm. God uses the storm to bring the pagan sailors to Himself.

Jonah 1:16
Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

Jonah runs from God and is swallowed up by the fish. God uses the scene to illustrate the story of Jesus.

Matthew 12:40
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

We need not live burdened by regrets. Instead, trust God to redeem them for His purpose.

3. God’s kindness returns us to our calling

Jonah 1:1
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai…

Then the rest of chapter one is Jonah derailing the calling.

Jonah 2:10-3:2
And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. 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.”

Who better to tell the Ninevites God had a second chance for them, then a runaway prophet who himself needed to hear the word of the Lord second time?

Romans 11:29
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

God doesn’t change His mind. He is persistent with His calling.

Jonah 2:2
“… out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.”

“Belly of Sheol” literally means, “from the womb of Sheol” – the place of the dead. It’s the only time the word “womb” is used with “Sheol” in the Bible.

From the place of the dead, new life would come. Jonah was as good as dead but now was born again by God’s mercy.

Jesus himself was laid in the tomb three days and three nights – everyone thought it was his end. But God took a tomb and made it a womb. On the third day, from the place of the dead, resurrection life burst forth. He came out of the grave and by that same power, we are born again.

Because of Jesus we can be born again, live again, and walk again in His calling for our lives.