TFS20: The Great Mercy of God in the Book of Jonah

The great mercy of God is revealed along with His great longsuffering through the prophet Jonah in the Book of Jonah. Jesus quoted from this book as a series of literal events and declared that the outcome these events have eternal significance to all mankind for all eternity.

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The Great Mercy of God in the Book of Jonah

"Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet”

- Augustine of Hippo

Author – Jonah – “dove” – from Gath (Zebulun – Northern Kingdom 2 Kgs 14:25)
Circumstances – Oppressive Assyrian Empire over Northern Israel
Time – 760-755 BC reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 BC)

CHAPTER 1: God calls Jonah

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

Jonah 1:1-2 (NKJV)

God wanted to bring mercy to His enemies, these pagan gentiles This is consistent with Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The LORD wanted to save them from His own righteous judgement which comes from His perfect holy nature – by extending mercy to them which comes from His own kind and loving nature.

This is what He did (and does) at the cross.

Jonah runs away

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 1:3 (NKJV)

Jonah KNEW the Psalms as we shall see, he quotes them in his prayer from within the fish. He surely knew the Psalm of David where David says, Psa 139 7-10 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

The LORD wanted to bring this mercy to them through Jonah specifically .
Jonah fled to Joppa because he didn’t want the gentiles to receive the mercy of God. About 800 years later we read in Acts 9:42 that in this very town of Joppa, Peter’s vision was symbolic of his resistance to sharing the saving mercy of the Gospel with the gentile world.

God sends a storm

"But the Lord sent out (HURLED) 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. 5 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. 6 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.” 7 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. 8 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?” 9 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 1:4-9

This is the first of many actions by the Lord to accomplish His purposes not only in the Ninevites but in the prophet himself.
This is quite similar to a New Testament event where seasoned, experienced veteran sailors were panicking over a life-threatening storm. The contrast is Jesus is at peace because He is in command of the storms. (Mark 4:35-41) Jonah’s peace came, most likely from a complacency toward death

“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. 11 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. 12 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.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 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.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took..."

Jonah 1:10-16

Jonah begins to reveal a sort of “death wish” – He would rather die than share salvation with the hated Ninevites
They throw him in and the LORD immediately calms the sea as only God can do. Seeing God’s command of the sea resulted in the repentance and conversion of the unbelieving sailors. This was a great mercy on these men.
In Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus demonstrate this exact same command and authority over the sea – demonstrating His authority was equal to that of the Lord in Jonah.

God sends a fish

"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."

Jonah 1:17

I like the literal translations which say “the LORD prepared…” because it communicates God’s foreknowledge of Jonah’s disobedience and death wish.
Some try to impugn Jonah’s account as “mythical” or “allegorical” because of this very verse “How can a man live in a fish for 3 days!?”
- How can several men live in a steel container filled with oxygen – deep in the ocean for 3 months? Yet, they do! It’s called a submarine! God, the creator of all things can easily cause a massive air bubble in a massive fish which would sustain Jonah for 3 days!
- Jesus quotes this event as factual even more so as a “sign” saying that it pointed to His own 3 days in the belly of the earth only to be resurrected:
- Math 12:38-40 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 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. 40 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.
This reveals that God will go to extreme measures to discipline His own but it is only within the confines of His loving protective will.

CHAPTER 2: Jonah near-death conversion

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. (Psa 18:5-6) 3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ (Psa 5:7) 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. (Psa 69:1-2) 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. (Psa 49:15; 103:4) 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. (Psa 142:5-7) 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. (Psa 50:14) Salvation is of the Lord.” 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”

Jonah 2:1-10

Jonah’s response was humility and repentance and quite possibly, salvation (vs9) resulting in God’s mercy and the swift completion of Jonah’s discipline.
- He’d been complacent about the death of the Ninevites and complacent about his own death.

CHAPTER 3: God calls Jonah again

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”

Jonah 3:1-2

Jonah made a real mess of things, he could have obeyed and had a 336 mile trip but instead he traveled 150 miles south, endangered the lives of sailors, got thrown into the raging sea, died or nearly died in a giant fish.
The Lord’s longsuffering with Jonah brought him full circle back to His original calling: He could have given up on Jonah and used someone else. He clearly set His heart on this little prophet to bring about mercy to the Gentiles and, as we shall see, genuine change in the heart of his prophet.

Jonah obeys

“So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Jonah 3:3-4

Jonah did repent in the fish and did indeed decide to listen and obey the voice of the Lord but is it wholeheartedly?
Notice Jonah’s message? Just half – the judgement half, not the opportunity to repent and be saved.

God brings about repentance

“So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? 10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

Jonah 3:5-10

Leading up to Jonah’s visit, Nineveh had experienced a plague in 765, a solar eclipse in 763 and another plague in 759 which may have prepared their hearts.
Jonah didn’t have to be perfect in his message as we see here, he just had to be available to the Lord through obedience, which up until now, he was not.
God was able to use Jonah’s “half” message to bring repentance in the hearts of these gentiles and demonstrate His great mercy toward a people that hated Him.
If we revisit the passage in Matthew 12 we will see that this event was so significant that it will impact the eternal judgment of many: Math 12:41 “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
Nineveh repents on a half-message: STORY OVER HAPPY ENDING? Wrong.

CHAPTER 4: Jonah prays for death

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”

Jonah 4:1-3

Jonah, despite learning that death was not a nice thing and crying out for the Lord to save his life, is once again declaring his desire to die

- Prov 8:36 “But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death.”

Jonah’s death-like experience could not bring about genuine heart change.

- Rom 2:4 “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”

God asks about Jonah’s anger and Jonah Ignores

"Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. "

Jonah 4:4-5

The Lord directly addresses Jonah’s heart here. The root cause of his wishing for death for himself and for the Ninevites is anger (keep in mind that this is Jonah who is retelling these events of himself!)

God prepares a plant and Jonah is Grateful

“And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.”

Jonah 4:6

As with the great fish, God demonstrates more kindness and longsuffering toward angry Jonah by sending a little plant – which He prepared beforehand knowing full well what Jonah’s choices would be – a small creature comfort.
Despite saying that it was better to be dead than living, Jonah is now thankful to the Lord for this wonderful little blessing of shade that seemingly grew up out of nowhere. The heart of man is a FICKLE thing. We are like perpetual teenagers.

God prepares a worm to kill plant

"But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered."

Jonah 4:7

Just as the LORD sent a small comfort for Jonah, we see that He “prepared” in advance a removal of that comfort – knowing full well what Jonah’s response would be.
This “taking away” was a learning or “self-revelatory” opportunity for Jonah to see what was dwelling in the very depths of his own heart.

God sends a hot east wind Jonah again prays for death

"And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”"

Jonah 4:8

Another of the “preparations” that God made in advance – specifically for Jonah. This vehement/hot east wind was a further discomfort to accompany the worm He prepared for the removal of the plant
God sent a massive life-threatening storm, a giant fish, a comforting plant and a hot east wind. ALL for Jonah’s sake, God could have let Jonah kill himself or just go to Tarshish, but He set His heart on Jonah to complete this task.
Again, Jonah wishes for death – appearing to have learned nothing from his near death experience in the fish.

God again asks about Jonah’s anger Jonah answers

"Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”

Jonah 4:9

God repeats Himself twice for the sake of the Ninevites: “Go to Ninevah…”
Here God repeats Himself again but this time for the sake of Jonah, His servant. “Is it right for you to be angry?”
The first time, Jonah ignored the LORD and went up on a hillside to watch the fall of the city. The second time, Jonah answered back in rather impudent fashion, that he was right to be angry – even if it killed him!

God sets things straight with Jonah’s heart

"But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

Jonah 4:10

The LORD gets the last word and holds a mirror up to Jonah’s heart in a way that only the word of God can do
- Jonah cared more for a senseless plant that he had nothing to do with but that just provided him comfort than he did for the Ninevites.
- 120,000 CHILDREN – those who cannot tell their right hand from their left
- If Jonah had hatred and animosity toward Ninevah’s men and women, could he not want mercy for innocent children who have done nothing? If not children, could he not have had mercy on the animals?

WRAP UP: What Jonah Learned

Jesus, being the very living WORD of God – consistently reinforces this principle when He was criticized for interacting with those deemed “sinful” and not “righteous”. He even goes so far as to quote Hosea 6:6 which reiterates that the LORD prefers mercy over making sacrifices to Him (in those days it was animals, in our day it is usually sacrificing our time, energy and/or money: Math 9:12-13 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The book of Jonah, is not about the Ninevites, its not even about Jonah himself though he is the central figure of his own autobiographical work. Rather, the book of Jonah is about the mercy of the Lord toward those that hate Him and his patience and longsuffering toward His own servants, His own people.
HOW DARE SOMEONE COME ALONG AND TELL US TO “UNHITCH” OURSELVES FROM THIS GLORIOUS REVELATION OF THE MERCY OF GOD ESPECIALLY WHEN IT SO ELOQUENTLY POINTS TO JESUS DEATH AND RESURRECTION?

My hope and prayer is that as you listen to this "Great Mercy of God in the Book of Jonah" episode, you will recognise that the great mercy of the God of the universe is available to you through His Son, the Lord Jesus through whom, if you put your faith in Him (Jesus of the Bible) for the forgiveness of your sins - calling out on the name of the Lord to have mercy on you and forgive and wash your sins away - that you would come to embrace the God of the Bible in truth - so that you can lay hold of, and lay claim to, an eternity with Him, and either sonship or daughterhood to Him now, today. And if you are already a believer, my hope is that this episode will provide you with a deeper understanding and grounding in God’s word as to what the scriptures have to say regarding the mercy of God shown throughout the scriptures.

Andrew Hamilton, Author "7 Essentials for Bible Literacy" 7 Essentials for Bible Literacy

No one receives eternal life and eternal presence with God (from Whom all good things come – James 1:17), by belonging to the right church, denomination, world religion, or by having a particular world view. Rather only those who trust in the Lord Jesus (preached by the Apostles in the Bible) for their own sin. We will not trust in a Savior for sins that we either don’t believe we have or that we think aren’t deserving of hell. But the Bible says that ALL have sin and the wages of that sin is eternal separation from God (death). The good news is that the Bible says that you can know that YOU have eternal life. Click the button below to see if you are genuinely saved from your sins according to the Bible:

TFS20 – The Great Mercy of God in the Book of Jonah