Jonah - Part 4 - God – Mercy or Judgement?

Before we make predictions as to what the Almighty will do, or worse, tell Him how He should act, let us remember that God always has the bigger picture and the longer view

(Please start by reading Jonah 4)

Source: Grace Fellowship

‘It’s not fair!’ is the common cry.  A sense of personal entitlement pervades fallen human society, bringing with it unrequited misery as a response to injustice. What appears to me to be fair and just can simply be selfishness dressed up. One of our more successful contemporaries has said: ‘Life’s not fair, get over it!’.

Jonah had run away rather than betray his people, had been thrown overboard and drowned in the Mediterranean, brought back to life inside a sea creature, and still had to walk 500 miles to pronounce a few words to an undeserving enemy who became the recipient of God’s mercy. Back home his world view was that the God of Israel should only have dealings with that chosen race. Now he is angry with God who is slow to anger, who has relented from deserved disaster for a foreign people who will bring murder and mayhem to his own kin.  And now he moans at God with that other common human utterance: ‘I told you so!’

Jonah 4 is full of questions; in fact, this is the only book in the Bible that finishes with a question. Twice God asks Jonah if he is right, or perhaps has the right, to be angry, first over the city being spared, and secondly over the withered plant that had shaded him. The narrative throughout the book makes is clear that nothing happened by chance. God sent the storm that threatened the ship, God appointed the fish, God made the castor oil plant grow, then appointed a worm to attack it, and God appointed a scorching east wind to make poor Jonah yet more uncomfortable. 

But perhaps it was God’s questions that made Jonah the most uncomfortable. Is his anger justified? Can a man challenge God’s actions? Jonah would have rather the city be destroyed, and the plant live, but the Lord was showing a better way, reversing human presumption. Jonah thought he knew about God’s nature, but God was bringing him to a more personal relationship, and that was going to be a painful process. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he debates the question of election: Roman 9:14-16 ‘What shall we say then?  Is there injustice on God's part?  By no means!  For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion’. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy’.

Source:Pinterest

Jonah thought he knew how God was supposed to act, but God had higher plans. Eventually Nineveh was overthrown. having returned to their violence and wicked ways God pronounced their downfall some 150 years later through the prophet Nahum.  It is the final question of the chapter and the book, which is most telling. God asks: ‘So shouldn’t I be concerned about the great city of Niniveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who don’t know their right hand from their left — not to mention all the animals?’ (Jonah 4:11 Jewish Bible).

God was giving an opportunity to those who had lost their moral compass. Today we should take this to heart. Like Jonah we can be zealous for God’s name and reputation but fail to understand His heart of compassion and the length of His patience. Before we make predictions as to what the Almighty will do, or worse, tell Him how He should act, let us remember that God always has the bigger picture and the longer view.  

Indeed, life as we know it is not fair, but one day Jesus will return and make everything right.  There will be a Day of Judgement, but today He offers compassion and mercy to those who turn in repentance, having Himself paid for our wrongdoings. We should never resent other people’s blessings, even if we think they don’t deserve it - that’s their story. Having received mercy, let us practise mercy; James 2:13 ‘For judgement is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement’.

Be blessed.

Author: John Plumb

May God bless and enrich your life

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A historical footnote:

It seems that Jonah never made it home. The revered tomb of ‘Nabi Yunus’ is in Nineveh, on the outskirts of Mosul. It must have some significance because in 2014 followers of ISIS blew it up.

Jonah - Part 3 - Nineveh – Innocent or Guilty?

God is merciful, not wishing for anybody to be lost, but there comes a point when His patience runs out and His wrath is revealed.  

(Please start by reading Jonah 3)

Source: Mission Venture Ministries

Nineveh in the 8th century BC had all the trappings of a great city. Capital of the vast and successful Assyrian empire, cosmopolitan and cultured, boasting a grand library and sophisticated learning and living. Palaces and gardens and ingenious water supplies via aqueducts and canals, all was secure and content. But there was a dark side to all this opulence, as the success of the empire was based on systematic cruelty, brutalising every nation they conquered with ever more ingenious means of torture. It is thought that these were the people who invented the hideous custom of crucifixion so as to extend the suffering of vast numbers of their victims. Terror was state policy, and mass deportation the means of keeping whole people groups in subjection.

The prophet Nahum, some 150 years after Jonah, cried out in Nahum 3:1 ‘Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder – no end to the prey!’. Nahum, the only other prophet from northern Israel, predicts in graphic detail the final retribution and destruction of this tyrannical people at the hands of the Babylonians and Medes; Nahum 3:7 ‘Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?  Where shall I seek comforters for you?’ He even predicted the means of conquest and the colour of the invaders’ uniforms.

So why did God send Jonah to Nineveh and why did God go to such extraordinary lengths to make sure he got there with a simple five-word call to repentance? In the following years did God change His mind? What can we learn about the nature of God’s mercy and God’s judgement? The opening verses of Nahum are clear; Nahum 1-3 ‘This is a prophecy about Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nachum the Elkoshi: Adonai is a jealous and vengeful God. Adonai avenges; he knows how to be angry. Adonai takes vengeance on his foes and stores up wrath for his enemies. Adonai is slow to anger, but great in power; and he does not leave the guilty unpunished’. (Jewish Bible)

Source: Never Thirsty

So, the Lord is slow to anger, but that does not mean He lets people off. An analogy might be the pan of milk on the stove which superheats but does not boil, but suddenly there is a point at which it boils over and cannot be stopped. God is merciful, not wishing for anybody to be lost, but there comes a point when His patience runs out and His wrath is revealed. God’s wrath was simmering against Nineveh, and He sent Jonah. The citizens repented and the overturning was delayed.  Years later God’s wrath boiled over, and it was too late.  Nahum was sent to tell them that time was up and in Nahum 1:6 ‘His wrath is poured out like fire.’ Within a few years, impossible though it seemed, that was the end of the great city, which still today lies in abandoned ruins on the outskirts of Mosul in Iraq.

We have much to learn from these Old Testament prophets, whose message is reiterated in the New Testament; 2 Peter 3:9-10 ‘The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come…’  

So, was Nineveh guilty? Emphatically yes, but before we join the cheerers of her downfall let us remember that every one of us is also guilty.  We may not have committed atrocities, but we have all fallen short of God’s standard of holiness, and all deserve His vengeance.  There was a time – forty days – for the city to repent and be spared the overturning. To Jonah’s dismay they did, but afterwards they returned to their cruelty and carnage, their idolatry and arrogance, and God sent another prophet to say, ‘enough already’ (as they say in the USA). The Message version renders the last verse of Nahum; ‘You’re past the point of no return. Your wound is fatal.’

The message for us is that both Jonah and Nahum point forward to Jesus. Jonah proclaims the opportunity for everyone, however good or bad, to repent and believe in Jesus who paid the price of our sin and be spared from the coming wrath.  Nahum pronounces a time when Christ will come as righteous judge and the opportunity will have passed, and the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly will come. (2 Peter 3:7).

Next week: Jonah - Part 4 - God – Mercy or Judgement?

Author: John Plumb

May God bless and enrich your life

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and others

Jonah – Part 2 – Fact or Fiction?

We are not told what Jonah had promised to God, but it must have been something along the lines of agreeing to speak out whatever prophetic message the Lord gave to him.  Many of us have made promises to God and this prayer of Jonah is a reminder for us to review those vows. 

(Please start by reading Jonah 2)

Source: Bret Hammond

Discussions persist as to whether it is possible for a man to survive inside a whale. Scientific minded people will point out that it is not possible for a human to pass through a whale oesophagus, and if they did, they would quickly die from drowning, crushing or from strong stomach juices. There is, however, an account of a sailor in the late 19th century whose whaling boat was capsized by a sperm whale they had harpooned. All but two of the men were rescued and returned to the main ship, the ‘Star of the East’. James Bartley was subsequently found and rescued from the animal’s stomach as they cut it open, some fifteen hours later.  It is said that his skin was bleached, he lost his hair and he was nearly blind, but he lived another 19 years. The story circulated around newspaper articles for 100 years, until in the 1980’s someone decided to check out the truth. Records revealed that the Star of the East was not a whaling vessel and there was no-one on board by the name of James Bartley. 

There are many other seafaring yarns and hoaxes which don’t allow the facts to get in the way of a good story, and the name Jonah is still considered to be bad luck to any seafaring crew. But let us look at the Biblical account. It says at the end of chapter 1 that the Lord appointed/prepared/provided a great fish to swallow Jonah. So why should we doubt that God, who created all things (Jonah 1:9), is able to make whatever sea creature He wants to fulfil His purposes at the exact time of His choosing?

At this point we should overlook some of the Sunday school stories and pre-conceived ideas and look at the text. It seems to me from the language that Jonah actually died and was then resuscitated; ‘out of the belly of Sheol’ (Jonah 2:2) – Sheol in every other scripture is the place of the dead; ‘The waters closed in over me to take my life’ (Jonah 2:5)  – drowning; ‘at the roots of the mountains’ (Jonah 2:6a) – deep sea; ‘I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever' (Jonah 2:6b)’ – no return, but…‘yet you brought up my life from the pit’(Jonah 2:6c). This is the language of one who has passed away but has been brought back again for a purpose.

Source:Angela Arndt

Some eight centuries later Jesus was being challenged by the Pharisees who demanded a sign. In Matthew 12:38-41 He answered; ‘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. 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’.

So, Jonah was a sign. He brought a message of repentance to bad people, but he himself had to die and be restored to life to demonstrate God’s authority over life and death. God confirms His Word with miracles. This sign points forward to Jesus who was to die on behalf of sinners and to be raised, not just for a few more years but for all eternity, into heaven, in the presence of God on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24).

Jonah ran away from the presence of God and died trying to spare his own people of Israel from the ravages of the Assyrians. He was brought back to preach repentance to those undeserving of mercy. Jesus died bearing the burden of all the sins of all mankind. He was resurrected and restored to glory where He intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:25). Jonah’s was a brief restoration to temporal existence, possibly bearing the evidence of his ordeal, but Jesus was resurrected to his new body, permanent and indestructible, yet still bearing the marks of His suffering. Nevertheless, Jonah became a sign of greater things to come.

Hidden in that dark, cold and lonely place Jonah repented saying in Jonah 2:9 ‘what I have vowed I will pay’. We are not told what he had promised to God, but it must have been something along the lines of agreeing to speak out whatever prophetic message the Lord gave to him.  Many of us have made promises to God and this prayer of Jonah is a reminder for us to review those vows.

The moment Jonah repented and vowed to pay up on his promise the power of heaven came down and the shout ‘salvation belongs to the Lord’ went up, the fish heard the voice of its Creator, spat out the prophet, and Jonah was back on dry land.

Next week:  Nineveh – Innocent or Guilty?

Be Blessed.

Author: John Plumb

May God bless and enrich your life

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and others

Jonah – Coward or Hero?

The cost of obedience to God’s call may be even greater than the cost of disobedience.  The question we might ask ourselves today is this: ‘Am I prepared to hear God’s Word and to act on it, whatever the consequences and whatever the cost?’

(Please start by reading Jonah 1 - the whole chapter)

Source: Heart of Mesa

When the Word of the Lord came to Jonah and what did he do?  He ran.  God had told him to go to Nineveh, some 500 miles north-east of his hometown, but instead he headed for Tarshish, a couple of thousand miles to the west.  What triggered such terror for this prophet of the Lord and why such flagrant disobedience?

The year is 760BC, and the Hebrew people are a divided nation – Judah to the south and Israel to the north.  Both kingdoms have suffered from idolatrous and power-hungry leaders, but northern Israel has been particularly afflicted, and their territory whittled away by surrounding enemy states. God has sent the prophets Elijah, Elisha, and later Amos and Hosea to remind them of the results of repeated apostasy and rebellion against God’s commands. But, to a despairing nation, Jonah brings a message of hope; 2 Kings 14:26-27 ‘For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash’.

Jereboam II, though yet another godless despot, was able to take back lost territory, quadrupling the size of Israel and ushering in a time of unprecedented prosperity through trade.  All of which was foretold by Jonah the prophet. 2 Kings 14:25 ‘He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher’. So, we don’t know why God chose Jereboam as deliverer, but we do know that Jonah had impeccable credentials as a prophet of the Lord, yet he still ran.

Source: Redbubble

Now imagine Jonah’s journey from Gath Hepher to Joppa. God could have blocked his way at any time, but our prophet made it to Joppa, had the money for the expensive fare, and found a ship going the way he wanted to go. What was going on in Jonah’s mind?  From the text we know that he was no coward; later telling the sailors to throw him into a storm-tossed sea, and later still telling God that he was not afraid to die. We can only imagine the reasons for the turmoil in this man’s mind as he walked the 60 miles to Joppa.  

As a prophet, Jonah had been given a glimpse of what was to come.  Within a generation the Assyrians (whose vast capital city was Nineveh) would cross the newly established borders of Israel. They would come with vast armies bent on conquest through new levels of barbarism, for whom cruelty was a beaurocratic policy for subjugating every populace in their path and annihilating every culture not their own.  Everything that Jonah knew and loved would be swept away. His future family, his people and his tribe Zebulun would be ravaged, brutalised and deported, the borders gone and the brief success of northern Israel as if it never happened. Isaiah 10:5-6 ‘Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets’.

Jonah could do nothing to prevent God’s plans.  Worse still, he is being called by God himself to preserve the future tormenters and oppressors who will commit atrocities against all he cares for. He knows God as the God of mercy, he knows the Ninevites as the thugs they were, and he knows what is to come for his people, and he would rather be drowned than have to deliver that message. I imagine on that road to Joppa he’s asking a different question: ‘Why me?’ Here is a man who was prepared to do anything to save his people, even to die so they might be spared, and who points forward eight centuries to one who will.

The cost of obedience to God’s call may be even greater than the cost of disobedience.  The question we might ask ourselves today is this: ‘Am I prepared to hear God’s Word and to act on it, whatever the consequences and whatever the cost?’

Next week we ask the question: Jonah – Fact or Fiction?

Be Blessed.

Author: John Plumb

May God bless and enrich your life

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and others