Many children’s parents have either read or told the story of Jonah as a fantasy that teaches the perils of disobedience. However, Jesus spoke to the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees about Jonah:
“A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jesus related Jonah’s time in the whale to His approaching death, burial and resurrection to eternal life. Jesus said, “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:38-41).
Ninevah had become the object of God’s judgment and His potential mercy? It was a godless nation and capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire (modern-day Iraq). It was famous for committing brutal atrocities such as cutting off ears, tongues, and hands of prisoners and skinning people alive and stretching their skins over city walls. They would impale people on poles, cut off heads and stack them on massive pillars. And they brutally murdered infants.
God’s mercy urges us to pray and intercede with thanksgiving for all people (I Timothy 2:1-4 ESV). He does not want one person to be lost. Therefore, God commanded Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah fled from his assignment and headed for Tarshish to avoid the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:1-3). Jonah believed that Ninevah deserved total annihilation—not mercy.
How ironic that Jonah, who was a prophet of God, thought He could flee from the presence of the Lord. For the Word tells us that “nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight” and everything is laid bare before Him (Hebrews 4:13).
God knows when we sit down, when we rise. He discerns our very thoughts from afar and understands what we think from a distance (Psalm 139:2) “Even before a word is on our tongue, He knows it and our thoughts and words before we speak them” (vs. 4).
God discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. He looks deep inside us to judge our true motives and thoughts (Hebrews 4:12). “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (vs. 13).
Jonah believed He could hide from the Creator of all things. Though we hide things from others, nothing is hidden from God, and Jonah would fail in avoiding his assignment to bring God’s Word of repentance to an evil and rebellious nation.
Humans justify their behaviors and decisions, but God brings people, just like Jonah, to the valley of decision. The prophet Joel wrote, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14). That place of decision is a courtroom setting where God acts as sole Judge, rendering His final verdict and executing justice on all people (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:11–12).
God uses our disobedience to teach others the perils of disobedience. When a violent storm threatened to sink the ship, the pagan sailors reacted with fear, prayed to their gods, and threw cargo overboard while Jonah slept soundly below deck. When nothing worked and the storm intensified, the crew casts lots to see who brought disaster upon them. The lot fell to Jonah. (Jonah 1:4-6).
Jonah admitted he was a Hebrew, who was running from the God of heaven who made the sea and dry land. This terrified the sailors, so they asked what to do. Jonah told them to throw him overboard so the seas would become calm. They reluctantly threw Jonah overboard and the seas immediately calmed (Jonah 1:7-12) Amazed by God’s power, the sailors offered sacrifices to the Lord and made vows to Him. So, the entire crew was physically and spiritually saved (Jonah 1:13-16).
God had prepared a whale to swallow Jonah. Inside that place of darkness, stench, death and the grave, Jonah experienced three terrifying days and nights to consider his sin of disobedience.
Jonah eventually promised to obey God, who caused the fish from the sea to vomit Jonah onto dry land. Remember, Jonah had told the sailors God had authority over sea and land. That act of God reflects a truth in Revelation 3:15-16: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth.
God’s Word came to Jonah a second time and told He him to go to Nineveh and preach the message He had given him the first time. So, Jonah obeyed and said to the people, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:1-4). Jonah was making a proclamation of what he hoped would happen.
Jonah was upset when the people repented in sackcloth, so he said, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now Lord, take away my life, for its better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:1-3).
How sad that Jonah preferred death over calling his enemies to repentance. Yet God tried to reason with Jonah, and said, “Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left…?” (Jonah 4:2).
Jonah did not repent of his bad attitude. And this conversation is the last we see between God and Jonah. Yet we see God’s immense love in His effort to reach Jonah’s heart with truth. We are told to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who mistreat us (Luke 6:27-28). Do we pray for our enemies and the wicked?
We receive God’s truth, wisdom, peace, forgiveness, and compassion when we repent of our sins and walk in obedience to His will. Will we extend that same mercy to others? Peace and growth only come when we surrender to God’s will, for He tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice (I Samuel 15:22).
PRAYER: FATHER, it is my desire to be obedient to Your will. I realize that the first part of obedience is forgiving and relentlessly praying for others. Help me to forgive and surrender to Your will and purposes. In Jesus’ name, amen.