Jonah 1
Jonah • Sermon • Submitted
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Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
The Story of Jonah
The Story of Jonah
We’re all probably familiar with the story of Jonah.
Interestingly, most of the story we know takes place in chapter 1, with a little in chapter 2.
I wanted to take a deeper look at this fishy tale and see what more God can teach us.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
Jonah was a prophet in Israel.
Jonah was a prophet in Israel.
He’s not just an abstract person, Scripture places him in history.
In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, 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.
Jeroboam bar Joash reigned from 786-746 BC.
So we know when Jonah lived.
We also know his father’s name, Amittai
And that he was from Gath Hepher.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
As a prophet, Jonah had one job, to deliver messages for God.
The message God wants Jonah to deliver is not a nice one.
Jonah is to cry out against Nineveh because of all of it’s wickedness.
What was going to happen to Nineveh was not God being mean.
It was punishment for their actions.
Has God ever given you an unpleasant message to deliver?
Sometimes we see the wickedness in others and feel compelled to “Deliver a message from God”!
Are you sure the message is from God?
Could it just be from you?
How much of the unloving reputation Christians have is because someone delivered their own message, but called it a message from God?
And if it is a message from God, how do you deliver a difficult message?
Do you deliver it in love and concern,
Or in self-righteousness?
Are you acting in agape love, or just edifying your knowledge and spirituality?
So Jonah has a simple yet unpleasant job.
What does he do?
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.
Jonah runs!
Jonah heads the exact opposite direction from Nineveh.
Tarshish is the farthest city in that direction.
If Jonah goes any farther, he’s Christopher Columbus!
Notice, Jonah didn’t call in sick.
He didn’t even run from his job.
He’s trying to run away from God.
Silly Jonah.
We do the same thing.
God tells us to love our enemy and we come up with five reasons to hate him.
God tells us to help the poor and we make excuses why we can’t.
God tells us to go to some mission field and we find a dozen reasons why we can’t
We may not run to another city, but we certainly run from God.
So Jonah goes to Joppa and finds a ship going to Tarshish.
Tarshish is the farthest city in that direction.
If Jonah goes any farther, he’s Christopher Columbus!
Then Jonah goes down into the ship.
Silly Jonah! Did he think he could hide from God in the hull?
If God can find you on the deck, He can find you in the hull.
But don’t we hide things from God all the time, or at least try to ?
How many secrets are you keeping, hoping and praying that God doesn’t notice?
But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
Found you!
God stirs up the wind and the wave against Jonah and the ship that he is on.
Often the consequences of our decisions impact the lives of others.
Just as Jonah’s decision to take this ship to Tarshish has impacted these sailors.
Our decisions to disobey God can have consequences on our families, our friends, even complete strangers.
Jonah’s decision was wrong, but that doesn’t mean the right decision won’t have unpleasant consequences for others.
What do you do with an unpleasant task from God?
What do you do when your decisions have unpleasant consequences for others?
Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
I bet the sailors were scared.
They cried out to false gods and that didn’t help.
Well, false gods rarely do help.
So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”
Then they started throwing cargo overboard.
OK, maybe Elijah mocking them seems not nice,
But what do you expect calling on false gods?
Then they started throwing cargo overboard.
When a sailor throws his livelihood overboard you know it’s serious.
Where is Jonah in all this?
Fast asleep in the hold of the ship.
And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
At least Jesus didn’t have a reason to worry.
At least Jesus didn’t have a reason to worry.
He is God of course.
He would calm the storm.
But Jonah was simply oblivious about what was going on.
And sure enough, just like the disciples, the captain comes in and wakes Jonah.
So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
What’s the big idea sleeping at a time like this!
The captain does not sound happy.
This is not some pleasure cruise, the men are about to die.
And none of their gods has helped them.
Call on your God, maybe He can save us.
It couldn’t hurt.
After all, none of their gods has helped them.
Who know if it
And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
Casting lots was a common way of trying to determine the will of God.
These men are scared, and probably a little panicky.
The storm is destroying their ship.
They’ve thrown the cargo overboard.
And non of their gods has helped them.
Can you blame them for being panicky?
So they decide to figure out who has caused this mess.
Surprise, the lot falls on Jonah.
Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
Dude, what is going on here?
Now that they know this is all Jonah’s fault, they want to understand why.
Why has this trouble come upon us?
What do you do for a living?
Where do you come from?
What country and of what people are you?
This sounds like a bad
So 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 is a Hebrew.
OK, that is not a surprise to us.
But it probably is news to the sailors.
He fears the Lord, the God of heaven.
But apparently not enough to obey Him.
The God who made the sea and the dry land.
No wonder they are in so much trouble.
Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled 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 be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
Now the men are even more afraid.
Jonah had told then men he was fleeing the Lord.
So, what’s the big deal, fleeing from one more “god”
But Jonah’s God has shown POWER!
It’s one thing to face the sea, quite another to face the wrath of the one who created the sea.
Especially when the storm keeps getting worse and worse.
So they ask Jonah a very important question:
What do we have to do to calm the sea down?
And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
Have you ever said something and then thought, that was not smart?
I wonder if Jonah thought that after he said to throw him in the sea?
Jonah knows it’s all his fault.
He also knows that if they sacrifice him, they will save themselves.
But if Jonah thought his sacrifice would save the sailors, why didn’t he just jump into the sea himself?
Have you ever known exactly what to do, but needed someone to kick you in the pants to make you do it?
Why make the sailors do the job?
Why put his blood on the sailors hands?
Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
The sailors didn’t want to kill Jonah, so they rowed as hard as they could to get to land.
But you cannot row against God and win.
The more they rowed, the worse the storm got.
I’m sure they thought they were doing the right thing.
They did not want the blood of Jonah on their hands.
But in trying to save Jonah, they were working against God.
Have you ever done what you thought was right only to find out you were fighting God’s will?
Did you ever come to your senses afterward?
What did you do?
We know what the sailors did.
Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
Hey Lord, don’t blame us.
It’s not our fault.
We’re just doing what You want.
And as soon as they threw Jonah into the sea, it calmed down.
So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Just as God has the power to create the storm, He can stop it.
Remember Jesus in the storm?
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
When God shows His power, then people believe in Him.
The men feared God when the sea calmed.
Then they offered sacrifices and took vows.
Why is it we seem to take vows only when we are in trouble or God delivers us from it?
Conclusion
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.
This fish was no accident.
We often see things and think they’re just coincidence.
But God prepares things for us.
God prepared the fish for Jonah.
What is God preparing for you?
Pray that is not as smelly as a fish.
Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.
This is the sign Jesus used as an example.
But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For 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.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So why is this fish story important to us?
God calls all of us from time to time.
It may not be audible, it may be something you feel or some Scripture that you can’t get out of your head.
How we handle this call says a lot about our relationship with God.
Running from God not only means you’re all wet, but can cause trouble for you and those around you.
How do you feel when your disobedience injures innocent people around you?
Disobedience also leads to a hardened heart.
Sleeping in the bottom of the boat of life while others around you perish.
When God calls you back from your disobedience, He may not use something as nice as a fish.
We see in Jonah the consequences of disobedience.
But we also see God giving him another chance to obey.
Remember that the next time things go haywire in your life.
Maybe God is giving you another chance to do what He wants.
Next time we’ll see what happens when Jonah obeys.
