Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet - 22
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Introduction: Jonah is being taught by God concerning his anger toward the Ninevites and the Lord’s will. The book ends with a question that is instructive for us.
Text: Jonah 4:1-11
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. 4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? 5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. 10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
As we begin this final lesson on the book of Jonah, I would like to read this thoughtful introduction given by John Phillips concerning this last scene where Jonah leaves the city of Nineveh and then is taught by God through His Word and His sovereignty.
John Philips - “Sick of the sight of sackcloth, the sullen prophet turned his back on Nineveh and went to the east side of the city. There he made a shack in which to wait for events to unfold. He thought perhaps the desired judgement might yet fall.”
“It has been said that the grace of God is manifested not only in His compassion for repenting sinners but also in His patience with repining [complaining discontented] saints.” - John Butler
This of course is the scene we see unfold. God has mercy and compassion on Jonah and sets out to do to Him as He does with us; God teaches us His ways.
When we come to the Word of God, we are being instructed about our all-wise God.
He is revealing to us His ways and who He is. He is also revealing to us the truth about ourselves.
The Bible tells us that God prepared a gourd, a worm, and a vehement east wind.
All of these were to teach and instruct Jonah.
Jonah rejoiced for the gourd.
This reminds us of those things in our lives that God does that we judge as being a blessing.
But as we look at the rest of the ‘prepared things,’ all of them in truth are a blessing.
This was not immediately evident to Jonah at the time.
God’s work in our lives according to Romans 8:28-29 is to bring about good in our lives. That good is to conform us to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It is this matter of ‘godliness’…god-likeness.
How is it that we are to be like God?
The answer is found as we look to the Author and Finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 12:2)
He is —the express image of the invisible God (Hebrews 1:3). He is the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18), God in the flesh (John 1:14).
God has given to us the perfect example of godliness.
C. Jonah’s Instruction v4-11
1. The Questions v4, 9
2. The Object Lessons v5,6-10
3. The Conclusion v10,11
We looked at the questions God asked Jonah and these questions are scattered in the midst of these object lessons.
The first question was asked before Jonah had left the city. It is found in verse number 4. The Lord asks Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry?”
Then we read of this first object lesson.
God commands and appoints a gourd to shade Jonah on the east side of the city.
v6“And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief.”
God wants us to know specifically that purpose of this gourd was to deliver Jonah from his grief.
This is what you and I need to hang on to.
These very words are precious for us.
You find yourself in a spot where you are saying, “I just do not understand why all of this is going on in my life.”
But God tells us in His Word that His actions have a purpose behind them as it concerns us.
We see Jonah’s reaction to this blessing.
In verse 6, Jonah was “exceeding glad of the gourd.”
We answered the question last week as to why Jonah was happy for the gourd. We discussed why he was exeeding glad. And we discovered that Jonah was concerned with his own comfort. He was blessed by God but did not thank the God who sent the blessing.
He was ready to benefit from the shade God provided, but He was not ready to give glory to the God that gave the shade.
We might do well to ask ourselves this question this morning,
What makes you rejoice with great joy?
The answer to this question will reveal to us where our affections really are.
Jonah’s affections were skewed.
We notice that his affections were self-centered.
We are told in the Word of God where our affections are to be.
The Bible tells us in the book of Colossians chapter 3 that our affections are to be on the things of God.
Colossians 3:1-2 “If ye then be risen with Christ [if you are a Christian], seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
We see that we are to “seek” and we are to “set.”
We are to actively engage in spiritual work. We are seek those things which are above...to purpose by an act of will.
We are to set our affections on things above... to have our minds and thoughts be concerned with Christ and His things.
Our affections are to be on Christ. Our affections are to be on heavenly things, the things above.
This will help us in dealing with the difficulties of life.
How are we to deal with this life, when great difficulties come?
How are we to learn what God is teaching us in this life?
At this point in our passage Jonah is not grasping what God is teaching him.
I certainly do not want to float through this life never learning what God has for me to learn.
I want us to turn just for a moment to I Samuel 30.
Read I Samuel 30:1-8
Here we read of David returning to the Philistine city of Ziklag.
This city was where David at the time lived while sojourning in the country of Philistia.
This was prior to David’s reception as the rightful King of Israel.
David was in exile in this place. He was given a city from the Philistine king Achish. (I Samuel 27:6)
David and His men had gone to Jezreel but had been sent back by King Achish to Ziklag.
When they arrived back at Ziklag they discovered while they were away that the Amalekites had come and taken the city, burned it with fire and taken people of the city captive.
The Bible says in verse 4, “Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.”
Everything was taken away. This was terrible. This was a desperate situation.
The Bible goes on and tells us in verse 6, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: ....”
David had no earthly thing to delight in at this point. His current home had been burned. The homes of these mighty men with him were burned with fire. His family had been taken away. All the people that were with him experienced great distress and loss.
And if all of that was not enough, His mighty men were ready to stone Him.
I want you to notice is this small phrase at the end of verse 6, for it reveals to us where ultimately David’s affections resided.
Of course David loved his family, of course David loved his home, of course David loved his mighty men… but when all of that was taken away the Bible says,
“but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”
We could say it this way, despite the circumstances that were presented to David, despite His experience at this moment; this great loss, despite the fact that all seemed to be doomed; David purposed to look to the LORD and the things above.
His affections were not misplaced. He set his affections on the LORD and He actively sought the LORD.
Going back to our text we see that Jonah’s affections were on the wrong things.
His concern was not for the things above or for Christ which sitteth on the throne, but rather his own comfort. His concern was for self.
Jonah saw that the gourd provided Him shade, but later Jonah would understand the greater purpose that God was teaching Him.
And so we now see that this blessing of the gourd is taken away.
The Bible tells us in verse 7, “But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.”
Why would the Lord do such a thing?
In one day the gourd appeared, the shade was good. But in one day, the gourd was smitten and withered away.
The leaves no longer provided the shade that they did previously.
The plant weeped and died.
That which Jonah had rejoiced with exceeding joy was now gone.
I am reminded of Abraham’s great trial of faith being called upon by God to make sure His affections were in the right place. For God told Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Genesis 20:2)
Can we imagine such a thing, that God would ask you or I to sacrifice a son or a daughter?
Let me ask this morning, Would that be a blessing to you?
Jonah experiences the loss of this shade but then his difficulty gets worse.
The Bible tells us that God prepares another stage to this object lesson before explaining the truth Jonah needed to hear.
The Lord prepares and sends a vehement east wind.
The Word that is used in the text indicates this was hot east wind that is peculiar to this area in which Jonah was in.
This wind has been described as a sirocco which is a pernicious wind that blows called the Syrian wind. It is said to resemble the steam from the mouth of an oven.
Perhaps you might think of what it might be like by taking a hair dryer and blowing it on high closely in your face.
The account is given to us in Albert Barnes commentary on the Bible by a sojourner describing an Assyrian summer.
Here is what the traveler described in his journal,
“The change to summer had been rapid as that which ushered in the spring. The verdure (greeness or freshness of vegetation) The verdure of the plain had perished almost in a day. Hot winds, coming from the desert, had burned up and carried away the shrubs. The heat was now almost intolerable. Violent whirl-winds occasionally swept over the face of the country.”
God asks Jonah now the second question in verse 9 following the gourd, the worm and the wind,
“And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.”
The sad state of one who resists to be taught by God.
We understand that Jonah would realize His own folly afterwards because we have this account by the prophet himself.
John Butler - “Sin does not have to have reasons or facts to argue. It simply argues because it is sin. You can explain ever so carefully to folk the peril of their ways, show them many Scriptures to prove their way is not the will of God; yet they will belligerently argue with you and continue to justify their evil way though it makes no sense at all. It is the willfulness of evil. Peter spoke of this when he said unbelievers "willingly are ignorant" (2 Peter 3:5) of the spiritual truths.”
God now presents truth to Jonah.
By His Word He reveals to us the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
God contrast Jonah’s ways and His ways.
He shows Jonah His error.
“Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”
Notice the contrast:
Jonah had pity on that which he had not laboured. “...for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow...”
God had pity on this city of which He had laboured.
Jonah had pity on that which was only temporal. A temporary gourd which came up in a night and perished in a night. “...which came up in a night, and perished in a night...”
God had pity on a city that was of great antiquity.
Jonah had pity on that which has no soul.
God showed mercy and grace to city full of precious souls. “And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”
And you and I are caused by this to ask ourselves the question, What is it that you and I value the most?
God valued the souls of those in Nineveh.
The Lord Jesus Christ bleed and died at Calvary so that men might be saved.
Do we have misplaced affection and priorities?
What is it that matters the most to us?
As we close this precious little book:
We see man’s selfishness and pride.
Even in the life of one called by God and served God as His prophet.
Jonah shows us the struggle of a rebellious man with the will of God.
We see God’s priority toward every soul.
Remember how God reached a small group of mariners.
Remember how God reached an entire city.
We see God’s priority of preaching the Gospel, that men might be saved and the He might receive honor and glory.
This is the business you and I are to be involved in.
Are we doing what God has called us to do? Or are we like Jonah fighting against His will and design for our lives.