Jonah 1:1-17
Key Verse: 1:2
We will study the book of Jonah and learn the heart of God. We may have heard funny stories about Jonah and good CBF material. Maybe God give us spiritual insight into the deep meaning of the "reluctant prophet" that Jesus referred to several times, comparing his own death and resurrection to Jonah's experience. Today we want to learn from God's call and Jonah's response.

1. Jonah Runs Away From God's Call (1-10)
    Jonah son of Amittai lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II king of Israel. He is mentioned in 2 Kings 14 and credited as speaking the word of the LORD. In that case he prophesied that the original boundaries would be retored to the northern kingdom of Israel. (2 Ki 14:25). Verses 1-2 say, "The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.' " God spoke to Jonah personally to "go to the great city of Nineveh." Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire. Genesis 10:11 says that Nineveh was founded by Nimrod. God was sending Jonah because God was giving them a chance to repent and live. God wanted the Ninevites to hear the word of God and repent and live. God's intention is for all people to repent, turn away from wickedness and live.
    Read verse 3. "But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD." After hearing the word of God Jonah immediately headed far away in the other direction. Nineveh is Northeast by land, but Tarshish is west by boat near Spain. Jonah was grounded in an ugly, narrow, selfish nationalism. He felt that if Nineveh was given aid, that it might mean destruction for Israel. He wanted Israel to win. He did not want to see good things happen to Nineveh and the Assyrian empire, which could increase Assyrian strength and lead to the downfall of Israel. Full of patriotic fervor he boarded a ship going very far away from Nineveh. He may have viewed Ninevites as a sub-human species. In the back of his mind he may have wished calamity and misfortune would overtake Nineveh. The Bible says he "ran away from the LORD." He assumed God endorsed all aspects of his patriotic thoughts. When he voted, he voted for the kingdom of Israel patriot party. He became so ensconced in his idea, that he could not obey God's command and ran away from the LORD. Likewise, Christians can let politics and traditional views cause us to disobey God's word.
    God is a God of world mission, even in the Old Testament, caring for all the people of all the nations of the world. Many people all over the world consider themselves wholesome upright people, but are holding ancient grudges which prevent them from obeying God's commands, including world mission. They are mainly worried about border disputes and redrawing borders on maps. When I first came to UBF, Shepherdess Wynelle was in my fellowship. She was an American girl who grew up in a country manor. God was leading her to marry a German shepherd, Walter Nett, but Wynelle's father viewed him as a NAZI, since her father was a soldier in World War 2, even though Shepherd Walter had a clear testimony of faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit blows where it pleases. Even the most obstinate people can be ripe for harvest if we have God's point of view. In the late 1980's having a ministry in Russia seemed like an unpopular or unlikely calling when the US and Russia were locked in a nuclear arms race, pointing hundreds of missiles at each other.
    As Jonah sailed to Tarshish God was sending problems and frustrations his way. God sent a great wind on the sea with a violent storm. The sailors panicked and each cried out to his god, but it didn't improve. They threw luggage overboard so the ship wouldn't sink. They discovered that Jonah was below the deck taking a nap. Outraged they urged Jonah to call on his god. They inquired to find out who's guilt led to this calamity. In their pagan ignorance, they casted lots. The lot indicated Jonah. They asked Jonah where he came from. He answered in verse 9. "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." He had Hebrew identity; he gave a theologically correct confession about the Creator God. The sailors were losing their patience and sensed that Jonah had done something wrong, though they didn't know what. The author comments in verse 10b that "They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so." Jonah had convinced himself that his patriotic idea or human idea was absolutely God's will, so he resisted God's word, when God led him in another direction. When he followed his stubborn human idea rooted in nationalism instead of obeying what God says, he was heading downward in a sinking ship. The Bible is telling us that if we want to be blessed, we should just obey God's word simply and embrace God's plan for world mission. The Bible says that Jonah was running away from God.

2. Jonah Was Swallowed By A Great Fish (11-17)
    The storm kept getting worse. Verses 11-12 say, "The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, 'What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?' 'Pick me up and throw me into the sea,' he replied, 'and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.' " The sailors decided to sail to shore instead of throwing Jonah overboard. When that did not work, they prayed to the LORD about this problem that their lives would be spared. Verse 15 says, "Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm." When they saw this, they were amazed and offered sacrifices to Jonah. Because of Jonah's disobedience, he brought this pointless trouble on unsuspecting people around him.
    Let's read verse 17. "But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights." God sent a "great fish" like a whale to swallow up Jonah and keep him alive. Before his death Jesus said that this experience of Jonah was a sign of his own resurrection. Matthew 12:40 says, "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." God was accomplishing his purpose despite Jonah's unwillingness. The Old Testament writing is revealing, promising and demonstrating the coming of Jesus. People think all actions and history must support national pride, but God is leading us to have a deeper relationship with his Son Jesus through repentance and forgiveness of sins.
    When we review this chapter, we see that Jonah could have avoided these problems if he just obeyed and went from the first moment. Instead he became burdensome and had a false sense of security. May God lead us obey and carry out his high calling to bring the gospel of Jesus to all the people of the world, so they can escape God's judgment and be reunited with their creator. May God help us to empty ourselves of our human pride which gets in the way of obeying God.