"Jonah - When God Calls" Series

July 6, 2008 - Rev. Edward Chandler

"Lord, I'll Preach Condemnation to Them, But I Won't Love Them"

Jonah 4 and Nahum 1-3

To understand the Book of Jonah we must know something about the history of that period. Jonah probably was a disciple of Elisha and succeeded him as a prophet. Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam II and he was a statesman. Assyria was a dreaded world power and kept that power for about 300 years. In the year 721 B.C. Assyria had attacked the northern kingdom of Israel and took most of the people back to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian empire. Jonah could not believe that God wanted him to go and preach to the Assyrians and offer them an opportunity to save themselves. Jonah wanted to see them totally destroyed. So he boarded a ship bound for Spain. “God may love those Assyrians, but I sure don’t, and if He is depending on me to preach to them, He is sadly mistaken.”

I. Jonah discovers, like some of us, that it’s a losing battle when we try to run from God. God has many ways to get our attention. See Jonah, Chapters 1 and 2.

II. God is a God of second chances. Jonah now reluctantly heads for Nineveh. He has a sermon of 8 words, which he speaks throughout the city of Nineveh, with a population of 120,000.

III. To his chagrin, the people listen and repent. He is angry with God for being loving and gracious. He wanted God to zap them.

IV. Jonah witnessed a revival, the likes of which had never been seen before, but he was angry because the people repented. In disgust he said to God, “This is the very reason I did not want to come here.”

V. Instead of rejoicing and mingling with the people, Jonah withdrew to a hillside outside the city and sat down to pout, still hoping God would rain down fire on the city.

VI. The episode of the vine and the worm. He was thinking only of his comfort. The story ends with the wicked Ninevites repenting and the prophet of God bent out of shape, and out of the will of God.

Lessons for us to ponder:

1. God is always merciful and compassionate, not willing that anyone should be cut off. This portrait from the Old Testament.

2. He is a God of second, third, fourth and more chances. He is long-suffering, but his patience will end. See Nahum.

3. Often God finds it difficult to find someone who will properly represent Him to those who don’t know Him.

4. He calls all of us to reach out to the unsaved, but if we do it, we often do it with no genuine love in our heart. We may say the right words, but deep in our heart we hope God will teach them a lesson.

5. Though we will not admit it, we sometimes are frustrated with God for blessing those we deem as unworthy of being blessed by God.

6. Talking about Jonah on Communion Sunday. We should re-think the invitation.

We have not loved you with all our whole heart.
We have not been obedient.
We have not done your will.
We have broken your law.
We have not loved our neighbor.
We have not heard or responded to the cry of the needy.
Yet, He invites us to repent and come to His table of grace.

Be sure to read again the 4 chapters of Jonah and the 3 chapters of Nahum where Nahum describes the destruction of Nineveh about 150 years after Jonah’s revival. The Assyrians left God and went back to their old ways, and Nineveh, a showcase city in Jonah’s day, was completely destroyed by the Medes and Babylon in 607 B. C. It was not until 1845 that Layard discovered the ruins of the city. It has never been rebuilt.