Jonah's Call (1 of 6)
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Jonah 1:1–3 NLTThe Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.
Introduction:
We don't know much about Jonah, son of Amittai, before God called him to go to Nineveh. He was a Hebrew prophet who served the Lord during the reign of Jeroboam II of Judah. We don't know when God called him to be a prophet and we don't know how long he served as a prophet. What we do have is one brief glimpse into the life of this prophet who accomplished so much and hated every minute of it. Whoever wrote that everyone is famous for at least fifteen minutes could have been referring to Jonah.
One would think any man of God who achieved the kind of success Jonah did would be happy with the results. He was called to preach in one of the world's great cities and the people responded to the Lord in a way that most preachers can only dream about.
The point of Jonah's story is what it took to get him to the place where he could preach that sermon and what happened afterward. Jonah's story begins with his calling.
I. THE COMING . . . OF THE CALL OF GOD.
Jonah 1:1 NLTThe Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:
God chooses different means of speaking to His people but He always speaks clearly. How will we know when the Lord is calling us? This is important isn't it? There's your answer. God's calling is too important for Him to not speaking clearly to those He is calls. You'll just know.
A. This is a . . . PRIVILEGED CALL
Psalm 45:10–11 NLTListen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say. Forget your people and your family far away. For your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
B. This is a . . . PREEMPTIVE CALL
In the New king James version we read the first part of verse 1 as:
Jonah 1:1 NKJV
Now the word of the LORD came...
The Hebrew word for came used here has the connotations of: to become, will come to pass, will happen. thus looking forward in a preemptive manner.
C. This is a . . . PERSONAL CALL
In the first part of verse 1 we read:
“...to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,”
This makes the Call personal to Jonah.
D. This is a . . . PRACTICAL CALL
The Call of Jonah is similar to the Call of Paul during his Damascus Road Conversion as we read in Acts 9:6:
Acts 9:6 (NKJV)
So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
II. THE CLARITY . . . OF THE CALL OF GOD.
Jonah's calling was not only clear it outlined for Jonah a clear path of obedience. That path would lead him all the way to Nineveh. Without a doubt this was a path Jonah didn't want to take. Funny thing about God's calling is that He never asks for our opinion. God needs no input from us to formulate His plans and make them work. The Lord doesn't deal in generalities. He didn't ask Jonah to go to the place of His choosing to preach the Word. He told him to go to Nineveh.
Like most of the Jews of his day, Jonah was a prejudiced man. He was unapologetically Hebrew and the Assyrians, of which Nineveh was the capital, were their implacable enemies. While there was no problem with the clarity of Jonah's calling there was a real problem with Jonah.
God's calling is not about what we want to do, it's about what God wants us to do whether we want to or not. We won't always feel good about what God wants us to do and the job He calls us to do won't always be easy.
Jonah was told :
A. The Place "Arise, go to Nineveh that great city, . . ."
In the first part of verse 2 we hear the command to arise and go to Nineveh:
The words here are absolute, imperative and final. Arise and go are forthright instructions and a call to action without question.
So that you know: Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. The site of Nineveh is 500 miles from Palestine, bordered on three sides by rivers, it was capital of the gentile world, it sits on the East bank of the Tigris River, and Nineveh was one of the oldest cities in the world. It is bordered by deserts to the south and mountains to the north.
It was the largest city in the world for approximately fifty years until the year 612 BC when, after a bitter period of civil war in Assyria, it was sacked by a coalition of its former subject peoples including the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. The city was never again a political or administrative centre, but by Late Antiquity it was the seat of a Christian bishop. It declined during the Middle Ages and was mostly abandoned by the 13th century AD.
Its ruins lie across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate. The two main tells, or mound-ruins, within the walls are Tell Kuyunjiq and Tell Nabī Yūnus, which is the site of a shrine to Jonah. Large amounts of Assyrian sculpture and other artifacts have been excavated there, and are now located in museums around the world.
B. The Plan
In the latter part of Jonah 1:2 :
Is God’s plan for Jonah to accomplish:
Jonah 1:2b (NKJV)
cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me
God here is declaring or calling out, Nineveh's Sin, Nineveh's Shame, and Nineveh's Sentence
C. The Purpose
" their wickedness is come up before Me." While Nineveh’s sin is not specifically spelled out here , we know from Proverbs 16:5 :
Proverbs 16:5 NLTThe Lord detests the proud; they will surely be punished.
III. THE CONFRONTATION . . . With The CALL Of GOD
We read in Jonah 1:3 :
Jonah 1:3 NLTBut Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.
Consult any period map and you'll see that Tarshish was in exactly the opposite direction from Nineveh (it is directly due east across the Mediterranean Sea). Many of Jonah's day believed that the influence of the gods they worshipped only extended to the borders of the countries where they lived. Get out of your country and you could get away from your god. Some have suggested that Jonah actually believed this. I'm not sure what Jonah believed but I am sure that he somehow thought he could run away from God.
Jonah wasn't the only one to have this foolish thought. The fact is, try as we might, there is no running from God. Even David thought it was possible to run from God but soon discovered that God went with him wherever he went no matter how far or how fast he travelled.
David says in Psalm 139:1-9:
Psalm 139:1–9 NLTO Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
Like Jonah we may reject God's calling but like David we'll never be able to shrug off God's company and conviction.
A. The Confrontation With GOD'S PERSPECTIVE
"But . . . " We read in 1 Samuel 16:7 :
1 Samuel 16:7 NLTBut the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
B. The Confrontation With GOD'S PLAN.
"Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish."
Jonah refused, rejected, & renounced the office of prophet rather than obey God.
C. The Confrontation With GOD'S PRESENCE.
In the first part of verse 3 we see that Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord." But we are left to wonder why he thought he could runaway from God; again as we know from Psalm 139:7-10:
Psalm 139:7–10 NLTI can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.
D. The Confrontation With GOD'S PATH.
So Jonah went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish: By any measure either going God's Way to Nineveh or Man's Way to Tarshish. Which are 3,000 miles apart.
IV. JONAH'S COWARDICE
Let’s talk now about Jonah’s cowardice as shown in the first part of Jonah 1:3a:
Jonah 1:3a (NLT)
But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD
The Reasons for His Rebellion
Let’s look now at the reasons for Jonah’s blatant act of rebellion:
A. Lack of Fear
Jonah apparently had a lack of fear of God, other wise he would have done as God told him to do. We know from reading Proverbs 9:10:
Proverbs 9:10 NLTFear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
B. A Lack of Faith
Jonah probably also had a lack of faith in God which caused his rebellion, unlike that of Abraham as we read in Hebrews 11:8:
Hebrews 11:8 NLTIt was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.
Jonah tried to rationalize and reason out everything instead of trusting God to do what was right. Faith says to God I will do what is right, whether I understand it or not
C. A Lack of Forgiveness
We also know Jonah was not willing to forgive the Ninevites for the terrible things that the Assyrians had done in regard to the nation of Israel.
D. A Lack of Faithfulness
And verse 3 also demonstrated Jonah’s own lack of faithfulness to God.
We will see later in this series on Jonah: The Results of His Rebellion:
Such as:
Forfeiting the Presence of God
Foregoing the Peace of God
Forgetting the Power of God
Forsaking the Plan of God
Frustrating the Purpose of God
But for now let’s discuss your own calling of God...
V. Your Calling of God
Are you in a position where you feel your abilities are not sufficient, your past learning doesn’t match, your capabilities are limited, and people don’t accept you? God has called you and He will take you through. We read in Romans 11:29:
Romans 11:29 NLTFor God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.
When God calls you for a particular task, remember He will be with you. He will give you the overcoming wisdom and strength to handle the challenges. The only answer to Moses’ many excuses was ‘I will certainly be with you.’
What more do you need when the creator of the Universe, the source of wisdom, strength and power promises to be with you?
God places you in such a position so that you will rely on God’s wisdom and not yours, as Paul rightly says in – 1 Corinthians 1:29:
1 Corinthians 1:29 NLTAs a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God’s choices are unique and beyond human comprehension.
Are you placed in a position where you feel yourself inefficient, incapable and unaccepted? Remember always that you are in a place where God wants you to be. You are deliberately placed by God in a place where you’ll learn to depend on God every moment so that to God alone all glory belongs. As God promised Moses, He will be with you as an able guide, whose wisdom and grace will be sufficient for you.
God has called you and He will take you through.