“Arise, and go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” Jonah 3:2
Dear Ones:
The story of Jonah is not really about a man who was called of God, sought to flee from God, and was swallowed by a fish. Though these facts are true, this is not the real story. It is in the first verse of the book that we begin to discover this story. “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai.” (1:1) This story begins with God, His initiative in speaking to an individual. In this case it is Jonah. In that simple declaration, a nation would be affected, even an effect that would touch other nations. In those words we see immediately an INTENT of God, a PURPOSE of God, His intervention in a life, which will have great and wonderful ramifications for many. So, what is the real, and profound story?
Throughout the book, we find that God is seeking to save countless individuals. He begins with saving his prophet, Jonah. It is true that God did answer his heart’s cry, when he was in the belly of the fish, and delivered him from certain death. But this is not the primary thing from which God saved him. He sought to deliver him from HIMSELF, his perceptions and prejudices. Jonah did not want to see the Ninevites saved from the judgement of God, and this, because of all the affliction and suffering that they had caused to his people. They had been very ruthless, violent, completely unfeeling and dispassionate, even cruel. Jonah’s hatred of them went very deep. This is why he fled, when he received the call of God.
God was also seeking to save the mariners, the sailors, who were on the boat with Jonah during the storm. They were certainly idolaters, for “…every man cried unto his god.” (1:5) It is when Jonah confesses to them that he is a Hebrew, fleeing from the presence of the Lord, and that the reason for the storm that they are in, is because of him, that they “cried unto the Lord.” (1;14) After they tossed Jonah over the side of the ship into the sea, at his request, they “…feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.” (1:16) It would seem that these sailors turned to the Lord, when they saw the Lord calm the sea, according to the word of Jonah.
Then, we see that the Lord was seeking to save an entire city of thousands of people, the effect of which would certainly touch a whole nation, as Nineveh was the capital. We do not know all that had gone on in the city prior to Jonah’s preaching, only that the Lord had told him, “…their wickedness is come up before Me.” (1:2) Again, for some reason, at the preaching of Jonah, the people “believed God, and proclaimed a fast.” (3:5) The king of Nineveh gives us some insight into the situation, as he declares to the people to turn “…everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.” (v.8) The result of such an act of humbling themselves before God, repenting from their sin, is that God would see their works, and “…repent of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.” (3:10)
After Jonah’s preaching resulted in Nineveh being spared, he made this remark to God: “For I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” (4:2) God Himself would ask Jonah, at the end of the book: “And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city…?” (4:11) The book of Jonah is a portrait of the unrelenting determination of God to reveal Himself in truth to sinful, lost man, that he might save and bless him. It is in the beautiful portrait of Christ in these pages, that His call to our hearts comes, that we should trust Him fully.
Father, give us eyes to see Thee as You truly are, responding to Thee every day, in loving submission and faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad