Introduction
The book of Jonah opens by telling us that the Lord spoke to a prophet named Jonah, commissioning him to go and preach to the people in the big city of Nineveh. Though Jonah obviously didn’t think it was, hearing from the Lord should have been a sweet sound to His ears. He should have recognized the grace of God in this call that came to Him. Whenever God moves to reveal Himself to us, to speak into our lives, to communicate with us, it is an act of grace – amazing grace – and it ought to sound sweet to our ears. And yet, I fear we are often like Jonah. We would rather run from the voice of God than recognize the value of it.
This little book of Jonah isn’t a fish story. It’s a story about the relentless, pursuing, world-changing grace of God, and it all begins with the sound of His voice in these opening verses. Notice with me some lessons we learn at the beginning of this story about the grace of God. For one thing, we learn here that:
- IT IS GRACE WHEN GOD SPEAKS HIS WORD TO US
The book of Jonah is found amid a section of the Old Testament known as the Minor Prophets. There are twelve of those books, and eight of them begin with some reference to the “word of the Lord”.
The opening verse of Jonah says, “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai…”
We are tempted to read that phrase too quickly, and overlook the fact that something significant has been said. It is not the name of the prophet, but rather, it is the fact that God is speaking. One writer said, “A more significant miracle than Jonah being alive in the fish…is that God has chosen to speak to humanity.”
I think we have forgotten what a wonder it is that the eternal God of heaven first of all wants to, and secondly works to actively communicate with us.
For God to speak to Jonah, and for God to speak to us is an act of great grace. Why is that? Well it is firstly:
- Because of His Initiative–The story of Jonah doesn’t start with Jonah. It starts with Jonah’s God. He makes the first move in coming to Jonah and speaking into His life. God takes the initiative in the story of Jonah, as He has in the story of humanity as a whole, and especially those who know Him as their God and their Father. Jonah wasn’t asking God for something to do. He wasn’t begging for this mission. God came first to Him.
Isn’t that true in your story as well? Though you should have been the one pursuing God, He came looking for you. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, you had sinned, and you should have been looking for God to make things right, but instead, you were running and hiding from Him trying to cover up the mess you were in.
Yet, He came looking for you, calling your name and speaking into your life. He took the initiative and He was gracious to do so. You were the sheep who had wandered away. You had foolishly put yourself in danger of death when you should have stayed close to your Shepherd.
And yet, rather than you finding your way back to Him, you just wandered on until the Good Shepherd left the rest of the flock and came looking for you, calling your name. It was not the word of Jonah that came to the Lord; it was the word of the Lord came to Jonah. God took the initiative and He was gracious to do so.
It is grace when God speaks His word to us, not only because of His initiative, but also:
- Because of His Identity-Underline the word “Lord” in verse one. It should be printed there with a capital “L” followed by a smaller, but also capitalized “ORD”. That is a way of signifying that what is here is not just a title for God, but His actual name. This is the name of the God of Israel, who is the one, true God.
The Jews considered the name of God too sacred and holy to actually write out, so they would substitute the name “Adonai” in its place, which means “Lord”, and that is how we end up with the name “Lord” in Jonah 1:1. What underlies this word “Lord” here is the personal name of God. It is the name He uses in communication with those He wants to know Him, and those He enters into covenant with.
Jonah, the man to whom God spoke in this verse was one of the people of Israel, and one of the prophets. With that being said, he was nonetheless just a man, and a pretty flawed one, as this book that bears his name reveals.
And yet, here is the one true God, revealing Himself by His personal and covenant name, speaking into the life of this one man, Jonah.
Think of the grace of this! One writer said: “God is not required by any condition or circumstance to make Himself known to anyone at anytime.” And yet, God has revealed Himself to all of us, first in His creation, then through His Word, and then through His own Son, Jesus, whom He sent into the world. Brothers and sisters, God didn’t have to come out and talk to us. He didn’t have to reveal Himself to us, and yet, He has! Like Jonah, we have been graced to have the Lord speak His word to us! As we look further at the opening verses of this story, we see not only that it is grace when God speaks His word to us, but consider further that: In verse one, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. That’s grace. What was the word that came? Well it turns out that God wanted to use Jonah to do something. That’s more grace. In verse 2, God’s word to Jonah was this: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it…” It turns out that God had a work He wanted to do beyond the borders of Israel, and He wanted to use Jonah in that international work. In a similar way, God is gracious to use people like us in His work in this world. Unfortunately, like Jonah, we don’t always see the will of God as so gracious and good. Yet, I would contend that it is grace when God shows His will to us, and that is true: Yet God was calling him to get up and go from that place to another place. This was going to be difficult, or at the least disruptive to Jonah’s life. Even though we talk a lot these days about finding the will of God, and some even talk about wanting God to use them, I fear that what we really want is merely to consult God about our lives and ask His advice, hoping He can help us get along with our kids, find a better job, and figure out which house to buy. Yet, what we don’t want is God turning our world upside down, and calling us away from the places and people where we are comfortable. We want God to lead us into happy things; not hard things. We want His will so long as it is step up the ladder of success, not when it is a climb up the hill to a cross. We want God to use us as long as it convenient to everything thing else we’ve got going on in life, and not too difficult or disruptive to our own agendas. And yet, the will of God is gracious and good for you, even when it leads you to lose your whole life for His sake. There is nothing so difficult in the will of God for you that He will not prove His grace to you in the process. His will is gracious, even when it’s difficult for us. Moreover, these opening verses of Jonah remind us that God’s will for us is gracious: While the city of Nineveh doesn’t mean all that much to us today, it was a place that Jonah would have known well. Nineveh was the capitol city of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were a burgeoning world-power at this time, and eventually the nation that would carry away as slaves the people living in Israel, Jonah’s home country. Jonah could probably read the writing on the geo-political world map of his day. He knew God was going to judge His people, and when He did, they were likely to fall to the Assyrians. Yet, here is God sending them a preacher. Here is God reaching out to Assyria before He judged them. Jonah didn’t think this was a good idea. And yet, God’s will for Jonah was good, as the closing question of this book reveals. While maybe not from Jonah’s perspective, it was a good thing for God show mercy on Nineveh. I wonder; what if God’s will for you included you going to your worst enemy and trying to minister to them, could you do it? You should, because the Lord Jesus Himself said, “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.” (Luke 6:27) My point is that even when the will of God crosses your will, and disagrees with your natural inclination it is still gracious and right! God is still gracious to call you in the first place and to include you in His sovereign plan which is so much bigger and better than any little plans you may have for yourself! We learn here that it is grace when God speaks His word to us, and it is grace when God shows His will to us. Thirdly, I want you to see that: III. IT IS GRACE WHEN GOD SENDS HIS WARNINGS TO US Look again at verse 2. The Lord spoke to Jonah and said, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” For Jonah, who knows the future of the Assyrians as an invading army, this mission was not exciting. But, what if you were a person living in Nineveh? The Israelite God is sending a preacher to you to confront you with your sin and warn you that you are all going to die. Well, this too is gracious! There are some folks who don’t like the idea of God sticking His nose into their lives and pointing out things that are wrong. They don’t like it when the Word of God confronts them and warns them of a wrath that is to come, and yet, those warnings come from a gracious God! Consider with me the grace of God in this warning to Nineveh. For one thing, it is gracious because: The phrase, “cry out” is interesting. It gives the idea of speaking up in order to get someone’s attention. One writer said that God was calling Jonah to “…[shout] Nineveh’s evil aloud for all the world to hear…”[ii] Why was Jonah sent to raise such a fuss in Nineveh about Nineveh? It was because, as the Lord said, “…their wickedness is come up before me.” Literally, the wickedness of this city was in the face of God. He had seen it, as He sees all things. Though their wickedness isn’t described here, we know both from history and from other Scriptures that the Assyrians were a violent and savage people. The prophet Nahum calls Nineveh “the bloody city”. Historical records tell of how the Assyrian army would desecrate the bodies of their conquered foes, tearing their lips off, skinning them alive, and piling their bones up as monuments to their greatness. Whatever the full nature of their wickedness, it was obviously an offense to an absolutely holy God. He is pure in all His ways and righteous in all His dealings. These pagan Assyrians did not know this God. They knew not Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. They weren’t given the Law from Sinai, carved on tablets of stone by the finger of God. And yet, the God of Sinai was their Creator nonetheless, and in grace, He chose to reveal something of His Holiness to them by crying out against their wickedness! We live in an age where people increasingly hate to be told they are wrong. “Who are you to judge me,” they say, and while we are not their judges, there is a God who will judge them. And yet, before that day of judgment comes, He has spoken out against their sin, and declared His holiness. That is gracious! Moreover, the warning of God to us is gracious, not only because it reveals His holiness, but also because: Jonah knew why, and he would remind God of it later in this book. It was because God is merciful. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and delights in showing mercy, even to a bunch of pagan savages like those living in Nineveh. Even in confronting Nineveh through a reluctant preacher with a hell-fire and brimstone message, God was seeking to be merciful and gracious to them. In sending Jonah before the gavel of divine judgment fell, God gave Nineveh time to consider their ways and turn from their sins. 2,000 years ago, God sent His Word, not through another preacher or a prophet, but in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came, not just to call sinners to repentance, but to die in the place of sinners on the cross, bearing the judgment of God in His body. He rose from the dead the third day, and now He has returned back to heaven, where He is awaiting the day when He will return as the Judge of all humanity. Now, God commands all men everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. He warns them of a wrath that is to come, but in mercy gives them time to turn from their sins and be saved before that final and furious day. Conclusion Now there are some who resent this whole story-line. They resent a God who would dare command them to bow their knees to a crucified Jewish carpenter. And yet, the warnings of God are gracious! His call to repentance in gracious! The gift of His Son is gracious! By his own admission, John Newton was a scoundrel. He was a slave trader and a foul-mouthed, blasphemous, infidel. But God hunted him down and found him in the middle of the sea, and Newton was saved. He would later write the famous line: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me! Though the Prophet Jonah didn’t realize it, and very often, neither do we, whenever God speaks to us, it is grace. Whatever God speaks to us, it is grace! Does His Word sound sweet to your ears? Is His Word made flesh, the Lord Jesus, precious to your heart? When He speaks to us, it is grace. I pray you hear it that way. Lesson Prepared By: Dr. Antione K. Eakins, Sr. Pastor/Teacher