We now turn to Jonah’s reaction to the mercy of God to the penitent
Ninevites. He was enraged that God could consider their repentance, leave alone
forgiving them!
1) Jonah was displeased exceedingly for the
Ninevites repented
Jonah instead of being pleased that he served God who is so rich in
mercy and abounding in steadfast love, was furious that God would forgive them!
In fact the passage shows that according to Jonah, ‘It was evil to Jonah a great evil,’ and this tells you that his
reaction was very strong.
He was not just irritated, he was burning with rage and fury over the
mercy of God on people who were outside the commonwealth of Israel. He did not
appreciate the sovereignty of God in the dispensation of His grace. If God had
consulted with Jonah, if or not to pardon them, Jonah’s counsel could have been
‘no pardon’ without any reservations or remorse! Before you and I lift up our
hands to flare Jonah, let us at least appreciate that he lacked the
understanding of what God was doing and he is not the only one. Habbakkuk and
Jeremiah had the same problem.
Back to Jonah we see that in his prayer to God he justified himself.
His word came out that his problem was he had wanted the people of Nineveh to
be punished for their sins and particularly because they were enemies of God’s
people. He knew that bringing God’s word to Nineveh was itself an act of God’s
mercy, therefore he fled to Tarshish. He felt justified in his defiance of God,
because ‘God’s mercy is only to be spent on His people, and no other!’ This was
Jonah’s theology! In this position Jonah had imbibed a false entitlement to the
grace of God that Israel had. Did God chose Israel because they were the best
nation? Read Deut. 7:6-8
"For
you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to
be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the
face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other
people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest
of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath
that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty
hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king
of Egypt.
No one deserves or will
ever deserve God’s grace, and except the one who doesn't deserve it will receive it. If by any chance it turned out that you deserved the
grace of God, then it would cease to be grace – Grace it always unmerited. If
it is deserved, then it is one’s dues (Rom. 4:4-5). In this chapter, we see the
blowing up of the Jewish balloon – they deserved the grace of God and everyone
else was unwelcome.
Jonah finally admitted
the wickedness of the intent of his heart. If Jonah’s theology was true, Tamar,
Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, the Ethiopian Eunuch, you and I should not be
recipients of God’s saving grace. Thank God that His grace does not depend on
counsel from any man, not even a prophet. God does not solicit for human
counsel. In fact God does not have a cabinet, outside of Himself! This is the
lesson that Peter was taught of God before being sent to the household of
Cornelius in Acts 10. Later on he explained this to the other apostles and this
was the conclusion: If
then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" When they
heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then
to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life." Act 11:17-18.
Thank God that He is not
hindered by human failure. He turns the hearts of men, even kings to do His
bidding. They may not like it, but they will only accomplish the purposes of
God even in their wickedness – no one, even the devil can stay His hand to
accomplish His will. Jonah’s displeasure was all in human vanity and folly.
2)
Knowledge
puffs up (1Cor 8:1)
Jonah knew that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and
abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster! Excellent theology
but only intellectual confessionalism is not a sufficient Christianity. But
while we may be made indignant by Jonah’s rage we must instead see the infinite
patience and wisdom of God in dealing with this prophet. But before casting any
stone against Jonah, let us ask ourselves how we use the knowledge we amass
here. You may be a well educated person in things of God, thank God for that
and use it for His realize the purposes for which He has given it. Never make
the knowledge you have as the basis for slamming other people. Use it to edify
and not to tear down. Any knowledge could be used either for good or for evil.
3) God exposes the selfishness of man in
love for the posterity
Ultimately the Lord forced him to accept the divine love that motivates
divine government in providence by appointing a plant to protect Jonah from the
scorching heat and save him from the discomfort. This made Jonah exceedingly
happy. This was another demonstration of Jonah’s shameful selfishness (4:6)
While he was glad for the plant provided but when it was destroyed by a worm
the following day he was back to his fits of anger. Self-entitlement fails to
receive the grace of God in affliction. We must guard against the thought that
God owes us anything – He does not owe you or me any apology when He governs
His creation.
Just as Jonah was beginning
to enjoy the shade of the vine, God appointed a worm to attack the plant
so that it withered. God then
appointed a scorching east wind and the sun to beat on the head of Jonah so
that was faint! Jonah got even
angrier! In this Jonah was getting a tiny taste of the horrors of the Hell the
Ninevites were headed to before they were saved.
This time, God sets the
record straight! He reminds Jonah that Jonah cared more about a plant than he
did the souls of the people of Nineveh. People made in the image of God and
people who would have perished had He not intervened! Do you see the same
attitude in your life? Where you look at the wickedness of sinners and think
that they deserve hell? Are there people that you consider unworthy of the
grace of God? This is the same attitude.
We all should be highly convicted
by this. We tend to get upset about things that simply do not matter. Think
about the last thing that made you mad. Now, ask yourself this question: What
will it matter in 100 years? Friends, the only thing that really matters as we
pass through this life is finding God's will for you and walking in with all
your power! People are going to Hell and we are worrying about plants and other
comforts. Our priorities need to be refocused and narrowed until they want only
what God wants in all of life. That would please Him and it would get His work
done in the world! Eph. 6:6; Heb. 13:21; 1 John 2:17.)
What has your attention
today? Jonah didn't care about the eternal destiny of the people on Nineveh!
All he cared about was his reputation as a prophet and the foolish prejudices
he carried with him through life. He learned, or at least we hope he did, that
God's will in this world is all that really matters. Isn't it time we put aside
all the things that cloud our vision of His glory? Isn't it time we put aside
our hurts, our desires and our wills so that we might be better able to do His
will in the world?
Jonah suffered because he
didn't care about God's will. What do you care about today? If anything is more
important to you than doing the will of God, then I invite you to leave your
booth and come to Him in humble obedience. God has a right to spend His
mercy, grace and steadfast love on whoever He wills. We should not imagine that
a mortal man can give counsel to God.
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