Sermon Tone Analysis

Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be sure you have named your sins privately to God the Father.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)

 

 

You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to learn Truth from the Word of God.

 

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth," (John 4:24)

 

 

 

Worm and the Plant

 

       During the dispensation of Israel, the Jews were both custodians of the Word of God and responsible for its distribution.

This made Israel a missionary nation.

Abraham was the first missionary under the title of “Hebrew,” meaning, “the one who crosses the river.”

Abraham crossed the river Euphrates to evangelized the Canaanites.

Three of his converts are mentioned in scripture: Aner, Eschol, and Mamre.

That the Jews failed to take the gospel to the Gentiles and some of the reasons for it are discussed in, (Rom 10:2-3).

However, there were some exceptions.

Jonah is a case in point, though he must be classified as a reluctant missionary.

Nevertheless, the grace of God overruled, and Nineveh was evangelized in spite of the negative volition of Jonah.

Although the lessons from Jonah are numerous and fantastic, only one will be emphasized — the lesson of the worm and the plant.

Summary of chapter one

 

       /Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying./

(Jon 1:1) Jonah was a prophet in Israel and a believer.

By that I mean he had trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation.

In the Hebrew his name means “Dove,” while the name of his father means “Truth” or “Truthful.”

Just how the Word of the Lord came to Jonah we are not told.

We do know that before the canon of Scripture was completed, God spoke to His prophets and special chosen people by means of dreams or visions, by angelic messengers, and even face to face.

But however the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, when it came, it was in the form of a Command: /Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me./ (Jon 1:2)

       Nineveh was the capital of the great Assyrian Empire which at that time was becoming a world empire.

The city of Nineveh had a population of between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people.

How do we know this?

Besides extra-Biblical sources, the very last verse of the Book of Jonah tells us that there were 120,000 children who had not reached the age of accountability, living in the city of Nineveh!

And even figuring in the tremendous infant mortality rate of that day, 120,000 children would indicate a population of between 600,000 and 1,000,000.

The 1,000,000 mark seems to be closer to it.

It was probably the largest city in the world at that time.

The circumference, according to ancient historians, was sixty miles.

Its skyline must have been a marvelous sight with over 1,500 towers soaring above the walls, which are described as being as wide as city streets and one hundred feet high.

Three or four chariots could pass long the top of the walls at one time.

But as great as the city was in wealth and splendor, it was even greater in wickedness.

The Assyrians were not only the wildest and toughest, but the vilest and most evil people on the face of the earth.

In fact, so vile were they that their wickedness was said to have reached unto heaven.

“Their wickedness,” God told Jonah, “has come up before Me.”

This does not mean that their sins were stacked as high as heaven, but that the odor of them had reached God.

This is an idiomatic expression in the Hebrew which says in effect that Nineveh “stinks.”

The stench is so rotten that God can smell it in heaven.

They have gone for the super-super-duper wickedness; evil (False satanic and human thinking) and sin.

(Lust of the eyes; lust of the flesh; and the pride of life; 1Jn 2:16)

       Now suddenly, God calls one of His prophets and says to him, “Arise, go to Nineveh.”

Although we do not find it in this passage, we will discover later on that Jonah evidently had said that he would go.

He made a vow, dedicating himself to the task, but then changed his mind.

Therefore, we read in, (Jon 1:3) /But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish/... Tarshish, a famous Phoenician seaport on southern Spain, was known for its smelters.

We may also note the fact that if one wanted to go in the opposite direction of Nineveh, which was east of Jerusalem, one would have to go to Tarshish, which was exactly west of Jerusalem.

So Jonah went in exactly the opposite direction.

He went “down to Joppa,” (The modern port of Jaffa) and there he caught a ship, very likely a Phoenician ship, since these did all of the traveling between Tarshish and Joppa.

He paid his fare, indicating that he had the financial means to go to Nineveh, except that he was going in the opposite direction.

In, (Jon 1:4) we see the grace of God.

In fact, it is apparent from the very beginning of the Book.

First of all, even though their iniquity is full, God is gracious because He plans to give Nineveh yet another opportunity for Salvation.

When a nation reaches the point in its wickedness and rejection where its evil will contaminate the rest of the world, God will cut off that nation.

Yet God never judges a nation without first offering His grace.

Jonah was the chosen vessel in this case to warn of judgment to come, and also to offer God’s grace in Salvation as an alternative.

The fact that Jonah went in the opposite direction is not really so unusual.

This is something which man has practiced throughout the centuries, yet God is still gracious — not only because He wants to do something about Nineveh, but also because He wants to do something about Jonah, who is definitely a believer out of fellowship.

It was grace that “sent out a great wind into the sea.”

The sea is the Mediterranean, by which means Jonah was trying to get to Tarshish.

Tarshish, incidentally, was considered the end of the world!

Just beyond Tarshish were the “Gates of Hercules,” known today as Gibraltar.

Out beyond that, as it was said in that day, you would drop off into nothing.

So Jonah was going just as far away from Nineveh as his mind could conceive.

He was going to the end of the world.

“But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,” resulting in a fearful storm.

The mariners on Jonah’s ship were Phoenicians, accustomed to the sea.

They lived most of the time on the sea, but this was such a violent storm that it frightened even them.

They were so afraid that they began to dig out their gods and cry to them.

They were very practical, also.

They not only prayed, but they tried to change the ballast and the balance of the ship by ridding it of the cargo.

Now during all of this, there was one passenger who did not seem to be disturbed in the least.

Jonah was fast asleep “down in the sides of the ship.”

This type of apathy is so apathetic it is pathetic.

It is a result of quenching the Holy Spirit.

One doesn’t sleep through a Mediterranean storm unless he is either totally indifferent or completely calloused, and apparently Jonah was both.

So in, (Jon 1:6) we see that the shipmaster came to him and woke him.

The Hebrew word for shipmaster is rather interesting, actually meaning the “upper-steersman.”

He was the captain of the ship.

“Call on your God,” he said to Jonah.

“Get up and get with us on this thing.

We all have different gods, and we are trying to get the whole pantheon to give attention to this storm and do something about it.”

But when the storm continued, they decided to cast lots to see who had angered the gods.

(Jon 1:7) The lot fell on Jonah.

God used this to bring about His sovereign plan for Jonah.

These Phoenician sailors are most commendable in their behavior.

Instead of immediately tossing Jonah into the water, they began to ask him questions to determine of what he was guilty.

What did this man do to cause his God to raise up such a storm?

Perhaps his occupation was a disreputable one which had caused the wrath of the gods.

Admitting that he was the cause of the situation, Jonah told them he was a Hebrew and that he feared the Lord.

(Jon 1:8-10) /So they said to him, /(Jon 1:11) /what should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?/

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 on account of me this great storm has come upon you.”

/(Jon 1:12) “Just dump me overboard,” Jonah was saying, “and you will all survive.”

Notice: (Jon 1:13) /However, the men rowed desperately to return to land/… They were not anxious to dump anyone into the sea, even a carnal, out-of-fellowship, miserable believer who deserved nothing better.

They just could not bring themselves to do it.

Do you see the contrast?

These heathen Phoenician sailors had more concern for the ONE life than Jonah had for the hundreds of thousands of people who lived in the city of Nineveh!

I wonder, how interested are YOU in those for whom Christ died?