One Big Story

Jonah was a prophet in Northern Israel around the 8th Century BC and God used him to deliver a message to King Jeroboam II. The message was for the king to push forward in the northeast and restore the northern border of Israel. Ever since King Solomon, after whom the nation split into two, the Syrians and later the Assyrians began capturing the towns and villages and basically shrinking the nation of Israel. Jonah came to the king and delivered the message that God was going to help him retake that area - something they hadn't seen since the days of Solomon. The borders were expanded and fortified to protect them from their arch enemies, the Assyrians.

Jonah was a national hero. God called him and it made him famous- successful.

But that is not the story Jonah is most known for. He would probably wish we remembered the previous story and not the one we'll be studying over the next several weeks.

Jonah is a story about:

running from God.

being far from God.

being stuck in sin.

failure

hypocrisy.

failing

mercy

redemption

Maybe you can identify. You've had stories of which you're proud, stories you'd be happy to be remembered by. And perhaps you've had stories you hope everyone forgets - stories that you're afraid will define your life.

Your story will a big story if you let God be the hero.

Jonah 1:1–2 ESV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

Jonah is a BIG story.

There are very few things in the story of Jonah that are small - that is part of why captures the imagination. It uses the Hebrew word for "big, great" 14 times throughout the four short chapters of the book.

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

The Lost

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The Religious

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.

And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?

You

The story is larger than life and because of this many tend to think that Jonah is a tall tale, is a fish story, an allegory to tell an important lesson, but not a true story.

Most of this because of the fish.

Here are the reasons to believe Jonah to be historical:

Jonah is mentioned in :25

Jonah's father and birthplace is mentioned

Apart from the fish story, most of the other historical data in Jonah seems accurate.

Jesus referenced Jonah as a historical event.

If God can make a fish, he can use the fish however he wants - there are plenty of other miracles in the Bible that are difficult to understand until you meet the Creator.

Jonah is a BIG story with four main characters.

God

This is a story about God - first and foremost. It's not primarily a story

The sovereignty of God

God's in charge. We don't like to hear it, but it's true.

You can't run from God - Maybe you don't have a relationship with God and you're running from his nudging and his call to come clean, stop sinning, repent, and accept his mercy through Jesus. Or maybe you are a believer, a child of God, and you're running from God - something you know he's telling you to do, but you think if you ignore it enough, he'll go away.

The story of Jonah shows us that God is in control - you can't outrun him.

One of the most common themes you'll find throughout all of the prophets is that of the sovereignty of God. The whole point of the books of the prophets is that God knows the hearts of his people, he sends men to warn them of coming judgment, not because he is guessing it might happen, but because he knows it will happen.

The heart of God

For some, this kind of God sounds scary. But the story of Jonah also shows us the heart of God. You have a knuckle-headed, religious prophet and violent, idol-worshipping pagans, and God loves them both. He doesn't where they came from. He doesn't care about their history (These pagans actually hurt his people, the Jews), He doesn't care how much or little they sinned, he offers mercy freely to them both.

The mission of God

The story of Jonah is one episode in the grand story of God's mission to save sinners. The story of Jonah is astounding in it's picture of the lengths of which God will go to accomplish his mission. He uses people - willing or not, he uses people's obedience and disobedience, he changes the weather, commands sea life, he works behind the scene over thousands of miles and chases down people who want nothing to do with him and even those who are actively running from him.

God will do whatever he can to reach you - even giving the life of his Son.

The Lost

(as pictured by the people of Nineveh)

The expanse of sin

The city of Nineveh:

- capital of Assyria.

- Nineveh was seen as the center of the arch enemies of Israel and Judah.

The Assyrians were idol-worshipping pagans who were known to be very violent and harsh.

They were a military nation bent on conquering vast portions of the Ancient Near East.

The Assyrians preferred to win their battles with psychological warfare. They believed that was safer than a battle in an open field and faster than sieging a city for months. But in order to intimidate their enemies, the Assyrians needed to be especially cruel and vicious to those they did conquer in order to set an example. This meant they were known for torture, rape, mutilation, skinning people alive, etc.

You don't get much more distant from God and his ways than that.

The extent of the gospel

There is no sin the gospel cannot cover, and there is no sinner the gospel cannot reach.

Whether a terrorist targeting the innocent, a gunman taking aim at concertgoers, a parent horrifically abusing a child, the gospel can save - the story of Jonah shows us this.

Chances are the story of Jonah will mess with your understanding of the gospel and it's reach.

The Religious

(as pictured by Jonah)

While the story of Jonah is an incredible story about the depths of God's mercy for sinners, it is also a smack in the face of religious elitism. Jonah was a man of God, born to the people of God, and called for the purpose of God - he was part of the "us" called to the "them."

He believed he was favored by God or had more of a claim on God and his gospel based on his race, his religious status, his good works.

We'll see this most clearly through:

The presence of pride and the absence of compassion

Jonah believes he deserves God - he's entitled to it.

He misses God's heart and hopes for the destruction of the lost. But, we'll see that he becomes:

The object and the agent of God's mercy

Jonah needs God's mercy just as much as the Ninevites. Unbelievably, God gives him mercy and he uses him for mercy.

ILLUST - Me learning about gratefulness toward God as I struggle with gratefulness from my adopted children.

You

Jonah ends with a question, leaving the reader to take into account the whole story and come up with an answer. Basically, the writer of Jonah wants you, the reader, to find:

Your place in the story

As we go through Jonah - ask yourself, "With whom do I identify?" Ask God to let you see yourself as if your are reading your story. We all see Jonah from a narrator's view - see yourself in the story.

Your place in the mission

God's mission did not begin with Jonah and it did not end with Jonah. God is still on a radical mission to save people far from him. Whether it's Africa, India, Burma, or Granger, God is on mission, and he calls people to join him, and he will accomplish his mission through you or in spite of you.

God wants to use you.

*Watch for the interaction of the characters.

*Think about yourself in the shoes of each.

Jonah is a BIG story with three main themes

While God's mercy is a theme that runs like a thread throughout the story, there are three main themes that we find as we follow Jonah through the story.

Reluctance and resentment of God’s call and mercy.

The story of Jonah starts with his reluctance and resistance to God's call. Then it seems like everything is good, and Jonah then resents God's love and mercy on the people he hated.

Repentance from sin.

EVERYONE in the story is confronted with their sin and given a chance to repent.

Repentance is just as needed for the religious man as it was for the pagan sailors or the violent Ninevites.

Radical devotion to the mission of God.

God calls Jonah to something hard. The whole backdrop of the story is someone being called to a radical devotion to God's call and how it could cost him dearly.

*Watch for places these themes are found.

*Think about the reasons behind the themes.

Jonah is BIG story with two major scenes.

Jonah is a literary masterpiece. There are parallelisms, chiasms. There's irony and turns of phrases. Most basically, you can divid the story into two major scenes.

Running from the mission.

Chapters 1-2

Running on mission.

Chapters 3-4

*Watch for transitional phrases

*Think about the transitions of your own life.

Jonah is a BIG story with one meaningful lesson.

Salvation belongs to the Lord (2:9), and can reach anyone through anyone.

Right in the center of the story is the hinge. This is a theme throughout the book and it's as if Jonah finally gets it and it changes everything.

*Watch for this theme throughout the story.

*Think about what this truth means for you.

What would change in your life if this truth hit

Conclusion

Why should we care about the story of Jonah?

- It tells us about God and his relentless pursuit of those who are far from him as well as those who are running from him.

- It shows us a picture of Jesus.

Jesus compares himself to Jonah when confronting the Pharisees in :

Matthew 12:41 ESV

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. - .

Both Jonah and Jesus were from Galilee. Jonah is from the village of Gath Hepher which was only three miles north of Nazareth in the region of Galilee - Jesus' hometown. Both Jonah and Jesus were called by God to leave their place of safety to deliver God's message of mercy to their enemies. Jonah was called to deliver God's message of judgment; Jesus willingly submitted to absorb God's judgment. Both Jonah and Jesus shared a sign to authenticate their message - a sign of three days in a place of certain death.

- It reveals our own heart and lives.

Some of you are running from God and he's trying to get your attention.

Some of you are resisting what you know God is calling you to do because of the cost.

Some of you, if you're honest, have no desire to reach the lost. You'd be just as happy to see those who are far from God to simply get what they deserve.

Some of you just need to give God your story. You've made a mess of it and you need God to take your mess with his mercy and turn it into a ministry.