The Book of Jonah

Today I'm going to go through one of the books of the Bible for the sermon. It's one of the better-known books in the Old Testament. Almost everybody knows the story. They know the events. Yet the lessons in the book are not quite that well known. It's a book also that has generated many comic books and cartoons.

The book just lends itself to becoming a cartoon. You'll see what I mean in a minute, because I'm talking about the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah. Jonah is a popular children's story. It, again, makes a great cartoon. Jonah and the whale. Although it's not really a whale. It's a great fish. But it does make a great cartoon. There's a stormy sea. There's Jonah getting tossed in. He's swallowed by a great fish. And then God speaks to the fish and he's vomited out. Obviously, cartoonists can go a long way with something like that. But there's much more in the book of Jonah than him getting swallowed and vomited out. There's a lot more that we can learn from that book. It's much more than a cartoon.

So, brethren, what lessons can we learn from the book of Jonah? Why is the book of Jonah even in the Bible? What can we profit from it? As I mentioned, it's more than a book about a man and a fish. I used several references in preparing this message. Mostly, I'm not going to cite them as I go through, but I will list them now.

First, references the United Church of God Bible Commentary. Second, the New King James Personal Study Bible. The New King James Cultural Background Study Bible. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. The Companion Bible. Bible Reader's Companion. And Tim Mackey of the Bible Project. I use these references, so now let's take a closer look at the book of Jonah and see what lessons we can learn from this book. To start off, the book is likely set in the area of 790 to 760 BCE. At this time, Israel was prosperous. They were strong militarily. They were strong economically. Things were going well for Israel. Syria was to bully on the block. They are to the north and east of Israel. These were really bad people. They were violent. They were vicious. They were ruthless. They were mean. Think of bad people through history. Someone might pop into mind. Long ago, someone like Genghis Khan, or I'll say more recently, at least in the lives of some people here, Adolf Hitler. These were really bad people, and the Assyrians were right up there with them. Right down there with them, however the case may be. At this time, Syria was going through a period of political weakness. However, they had previously taken over parts of Israel, conquered parts of Israel, and they had to extract a tribute from Israel. So they weren't on Israel's list of friends. These were bad people, and they treated people very poorly. Now, as far as the book of Jonah, the Nelson Bible study says it's a tragic comedy. Now, that's a word that I've never heard before. Tragic comedy. It puts tragic and comedy together. According to dictionary.com, it defines tragic comedy, and there really is a word like that. And I'd never heard the word before. It defines tragic comedy as a dramatic or other literary composition combining elements of both tragedy and comedy. In other words, it's sad, but it's laughable. The book of Jonah also is written as a satire or a parody. And again, a satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. Again, just breaking to the point, it makes a great cartoon. We see sarcasm in sitcoms on TV all the time. Although, I'm not sure what sitcoms we can watch anymore. But in any case, they use that. They take a person's character trait, they blow it way out of proportion to illustrate a point, actually to get a laugh, to be humorous. Comedians use this all the time. They expose a person's weakness and flaws, and they exaggerate it for a humorous effect. That's also in the book of Jonah. Now, just because the book is written as a satire does not mean that it's not true. It is true. Jesus Christ validated this book. He said that Jonah was the sign of the proof of his Messiahship. That's in Matthew 12, verses 38-40. I'll come back to that a little bit later. Jesus Christ also said that Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. That's Matthew 12, 41.

So Jesus Christ validated the accuracy of the book of Jonah, or the reality of the book of Jonah. So with that, let's turn to Jonah. The book of Jonah. We'll start reading chapter 1, verse 1. And if you've got a marker, I suggest you place it in Jonah, or a ribbon, or a bookmark of some kind, as we'll flip back and forth a little bit. Not a lot, but a little bit.

So here, Jonah 1, verse 1, it says, The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amity, saying... So here we're introduced to Jonah. He's a prophet. He's also mentioned in 2 Kings 14, verse 25. 2 Kings 14, 25, which I'm not going to turn to. And again, Jesus Christ called Jonah a prophet in Luke 11, 29. He was a real historical person. And again, these are real historical events.

Now, usually when God gives a message to a prophet, He gives the message to the prophet, and then the prophet delivers the message to the people. That's the way this usually works. But in this case, the book of Jonah is different. Jonah was the message. Jonah was the message. His conduct, his activity was the message. Again, Jesus Christ said in Matthew 12, verses 38-40, where He says that...

He said Jonah was the sign that He's the Messiah. It doesn't say that Jonah spoke this because He didn't speak it. He lived it. He was the sign that, again, Jesus Christ is the Messiah. And Jonah lived this. He was a type of Jesus Christ in that sense. And then likewise, interestingly enough, Jonah is also a type of the chosen people of God. He was a type of Old Testament Israel. He's a type of the New Testament church. And He's also a type of you and me. He's a type of each of us. We will see some of this as we go through the book.

Continuing on in verse 2, it says, God gives Jonah a job. He says, arise. Go to Jonah. Arise. Go to Nineveh. That great city and cry out against it, for the witness has come up before me. So God is giving Jonah a job. But continuing in verse 3, Jonah didn't want to do it. But Jonah arose to flee Tatarshish from the presence of the Lord.

He went down to Jabba and found a ship going to Tatarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tatarshish from the presence of the Lord. So again, Jonah was not enthusiastic about this particular commission. He didn't want to do it. He really didn't want to do it. He didn't want to go warn Israel's enemies. Or for that matter, he didn't want to warn his enemies. So instead of going, let's say he's here, instead of going maybe 500 miles northeast, he wants to go 2,000 miles to the west. Instead of going into what is now modern-day Iraq, he wanted to go as far as Spain.

He wanted to get away. The interesting thing about this is that he was God's prophet. He knew the Bible, which was the Old Testament. He knew the Psalms. In Psalm 139, verses 7 to 8, David says, Where can I believe that you're not going to find me? I can't go to heaven. I can't go to the grave. I can't go anywhere where you're not able to find me. And Jonah knew that. He knew that. He knew that he couldn't run away from God. He knew that he couldn't escape. He was very familiar with the Psalms, but he was also not thinking rationally.

He wanted his own way. He was not praying, you know, thy will be done. He was praying, my will be done, and I want to leave. I want to go. So with that, I'm going to interject here a little bit. You know, has God ever told us something to do that we really don't want to do? Has that ever happened?

Now God tells us a lot of things. He commands us to do a lot of things. And for the most part, we're okay with that. But then there's something that really... I really just don't want to do that. As an example, I just pulled this one out of the air. Everybody has their own particular points, if you will.

But let's say about loving our enemies. You know, God says, love your enemies. We understand the theory in that, but the practice can be a little difficult. Or even what about praying for our enemies? What about something like that? Again, God tells us to do a lot of things. We agree with most of them that there might be some that we're not really on board with. Again, it's not rational. It's like a child that's running away from his parents. That's the way Jonah was, you know, like running away from God, or trying to run away from God.

Sometimes we try to run away from God, either figuratively or literally. Sometimes we have a problem. We just want to maybe even avoid going to church. And we don't want to come. We don't want to be here. Again, it's not rational, but sometimes we want to do that. I know a person in another area that had a problem, and it was a serious problem. The whole congregation knew about it, and the whole congregation was praying about it.

This person had a problem, and as well as I can remember a quote, this person said, I'm not coming back to church until this problem is fixed. Okay? Who is that person hurting doing something like that? Who is that person hurting? Sometimes we might say, well, you know, I just don't feel like going to church. Who are we hurting at a time like that? Now, I know it's not popular today to talk about commandments, but God commands us to be here.

He tells us in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And of course, that's assuming our health and other, I'll say, extenuating circumstances are fine. Obviously, if you're sick, it's better to stay home.

But other than that, we are commanded to be here, both Old and New Testament. God tells us what to do. And of course, looking at this group, why does God tell us what to do? Why does He command us? I think we all remember Mr. McCready. He tells us to do something for our good. That's why He commands us to do various things. The answer to our problems are here. The support we need is here. God tells us we need to be here. But, as I say, like Jonah, it's not rational.

And sometimes with us, it's not rational either. We want to take off, and we want to go, and we want to run. I'm not going to read verse 4, but basically, you know, the sailors set out. God sent a great storm, a terrific storm, a storm where the sailors were afraid the ship was going to break up. They threw all the cargo overboard, and then they're praying to their gods.

And in verse 5, it says, Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his God, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship and laid down, and was fast asleep. Now, I don't know why he was sleeping, you know, why he was tired or fatigued, but I will say, if we are trying to run from God, that's a very fatiguing situation.

It draws energy. It saps energy. Whether that was this case or not, I don't know. Continuing in verse 6, it says, The captain of the boat came to him and said to him, What do you mean, sleeper?

Arise, call upon your God. Perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish. So here we've got the ship full of sailors, and they're all praying. Well, not everyone's praying. God's prophet is not praying. He's asleep. Asleep at the switch, so to speak. So then the sailors said to him, well, they realize that something is wrong. That, you know, this storm is not the usual storm. Something is wrong. Somebody has caused this, so they cast lots, and they drew lots, and sure enough, the lot fell towards Jonah. So then the sailors asked him, well, in verse 9, I'll read verse 9 first.

So then he said to them, or they said, Well, who are you? You know, where are you from? Where are you going? What are you doing? And verse 9, he, that's Jonah, said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord. It's interesting here. He says he fears God, but did he really? You know, if he feared God, he wouldn't be on a boat going the opposite direction.

If he really feared God, he'd be about his father's business. But he says, I fear the Lord. He was a so-called Christian in name only. He says, I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea, which they were being bounced about in, and dry land. Now, interestingly, the word here for the Lord is the YHVH.

We are translated as eternal, sometimes as translated as Jehovah, but it's YHVH. He says, I fear the Lord. And then verses 10 and 11, he said, well, what should we do? But again, just pausing here in thinking, you know, like, did Jonah really fear the Lord? And of course, no, he didn't.

What about us? When someone says, well, you know, what is your religion? Why am I a Christian? Does our saying, I'm a Christian, also align with the way that we live? Does that support the way that we live? In Jonah's case, obviously, it did not. Again, if he really feared God, he wouldn't be running away.

So verses 10 to 12, the sailors are asking, well, what should we do? And Jonah basically says, pick me up, not basically, he does say, pick me up and throw me in the sea, and everything will be well for it with you.

Picking up the story again in verse 13. It said, nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring the ship to land. They didn't want to throw him into the deep. It says, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they cried out to the Lord.

Now, interestingly, you've got these pagan sailors, who each had his own God. Now they're crying out to the Lord. Again, YHVH. So they cried out to the Lord and said, we pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood for you, O Lord, again, YHVH, have done as it pleased you.

So the sailors did not want to throw Jonah in. They didn't want to at all. But in verse 15, it said, they picked up Jonah, and they did throw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Verse 16, it said, then the man feared the Lord exceedingly. Now, Jonah, God's prophet, didn't fear the Lord enough. These men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows. So it's kind of interesting, and I'm reading into this as a point, I'm guessing that the sacrifice, they might have vowed now, but the sacrifice, I think, occurred after they came back to land.

Because it said they dumped all the cargo overboard, so I don't think there's any herds, or cattle, or sheep. Maybe there would be. But in any case, you don't want to build a fire to sacrifice something on a wooden deck. You just wouldn't do that. So I'm thinking this happened afterwards. This made an impression upon the men. The sailors, again, they did not want to kill Jonah, but they did throw him overboard.

They threw him in the sea, and then the sailors, again, pagans feared God, and made a sacrifice and vowed, either then or at a later time. So, looking at this story, just quickly going through it, who are the good guys here? The pagan sailors. They're the ones that, now they fear God, they made a sacrifice. They're the ones that took a vow. Who's the bad guy here? God's prophet. It's kind of ironic. It's kind of ironic. The good guys are the pagans. The bad guys is God's prophet. It's interesting that God used Jonah to preach to these pagan sailors, even though, you know, he did his best to, you know, avoid the situation, to get out, to run, to hide.

God still was able to use Jonah to accomplish something with these sailors. And I'm not recommending that anybody do this. I'm not saying what Jonah did was good at all. But it shows what God can do despite our best or worst efforts.

God worked with those individuals and a message was preached to them. And I'll say again, what about us? You know, is Jonah being a type of us? We tend to stand out whether we intend to or not. You know, in our neighborhoods, at school, at work, any place, well, I said in our neighborhoods, we tend to stand out, you know, whether we actually are saying anything about church or not. People notice us and they draw conclusions about this. So again, we need to be Christians in more than just name only.

It's, you know, the way we talk, the way we act, the way we dress, you know, our morals, our ethics, goes a long way. And then back to Jonah in verse 17. He's been thrown over the side, he's in the deep. In verse 17, he says, Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Again, it says, the Lord prepared a fish. You read the commentaries, they're all, you know, very enthralled with what kind of fish is it? You know, it probably wasn't a whale because, you know, the small throats, you know, they get into it. That's not the point.

The fish is not the story. Jonah and God are the story. God prepared the fish, and the fish swallowed Jonah. So one lesson we can learn from this, from Jonah, is to not run from God. Actually, you know, we cannot run from God. The saying goes, we can run, but we cannot hide. Continuing on in Jonah the second chapter. Jonah the second chapter, don't know, again, the sequence of events, but Jonah obviously became conscious.

He realized that he's still alive, and he realized that he's in a fish's belly. Probably wasn't a lot of room in there. Probably wasn't very nice in there. But then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the fish's belly. And he said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and he answered me. Jonah knew that God had heard him. Out of the belly of Sheol, or the grave, I cried, and you heard my voice.

And again, he technically wasn't in a grave, but figuratively he was. If God didn't intervene, he wasn't getting out of there. He was going to die. So here God was with him. God was aware of his situation, just like with us.

You know, we have various trials that we go through. Sometimes we're content, sometimes we're not content. Obviously in a trial, we're not content. We have our various trials. Trials might be of our own making. We may have made a series of bad choices, and we end up in a bad spot. Or maybe we've been making good choices, and we still end up in a bad spot. I mean, think of Daniel. Think of Joseph. They were obeying God. They were doing what was right.

And they ended up in a bad spot. And like Daniel and like Joseph, God is aware of us in our situation. You know, whether things are going very well for us, or whether they're not going so well. God knows about our situation. Continuing on, I'm going to drop down to verse 7. Dropping down to verse 7. Well, before I get to verse 7, just looking at this prayer, I said that Jonah was very familiar with.

I said the Old Testament, and specifically the book of Psalms. In this prayer from Jonah, the second chapter, he quotes from parts of 20 different Psalms. So, I mean, he was well familiar with the book of Psalms. He was well familiar with, again, God's Word. So, another lesson that we can learn from this is that God is aware of our situation.

As circumstances do not show whether God is with us or not. And God was with Jonah, even though his circumstances were very, very dire. Sometimes, and again, his prayer here, sometimes we need to hit bottom before we can start going the other direction, which is up. Again, the problems may be of our own situation, or they may not. And again, to quote former pastor, Mr. McCready, when he says, if you're going through the valley of the shadow of death, keep going. Don't stay there. Don't camp there. Keep going. So when you hit bottom, again, it's still you and God working together.

It's just that you're in a sticky situation right now. Dropping down, well, as I mentioned, to verse number 7, he's continuing his prayer. It says, When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving.

I will pay what I avowed. Salvation is of the Lord. So here we see that Jonah repents, at least sort of. He never says that he's sorry, but now he does have a change of heart. And he's ready to respond to God. He's ready to do what God says. And so in verse 10 here it says, So God spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. So again, God is with us. He knows our situation, whatever it is. Let's turn to Hebrews 13th chapter. Hold your finger or a marker in Jonah.

Hebrews 13th chapter. And I'll read the last part of verse 5. The last part of verse 5. It's just a simple, not a simple, it's a very nice statement, but it's a short statement. This is Jesus Christ. He said, For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Again, whether we're in the belly of a fish, whether in good times, whether in the hard times, I will never leave you or forsake you. I remember talking to a man, this is several years ago, whenever we'd have a conversation, he would always flavor his conversation, I'll use that term, with scripture.

He liked to talk religiously. And, you know, it's hard, I don't know, if we ever had a conversation with him where he didn't reference scripture. And then one time, you know, I saw him and he was just kind of downcast. You know, it just wasn't his old self. And so I said, well, what's wrong? He said, well, you know, God has left me. God has left me. Now here, you know, as a man who is supposedly religious, for God, a very basic scripture. And that's not the only place that's listed.

God is not going to leave us or forsake us. And again, that's an important thing to remember, that there are many lessons in the message today, but certainly that's an important one, is God is not going to leave us or forsake us. I'll ask a question. If we're not as close to God as we have been in times past, who moved?

Think about that. Now, obviously God is still there. He's not the one who moved. And it's up to us to, you know, get busy and do our part to try and get back to, you know, where we were. So again, a lesson from chapter 2 is, circumstances do not show whether God is with us or not. Continuing back in the book of Jonah, start reading in chapter 3.

Jonah 3, chapter 1, and we read the first four verses, it says, The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, and again, the word is Yahweh, YHVH for Lord, came to Jonah second time. It's kind of interesting, you know, God, He doesn't say, and I'm telling you this again, listen up, He's just like He's telling us for the first time. Just very nicely saying, He spoke to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it. The message that I tell you. So Jonah rose, verse 3, and He went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now this great fish vomited Jonah out somewhere, and it doesn't say where he was vomited out. But it wasn't near Nineveh, because Nineveh doesn't have a seaport on the Mediterranean.

So Jonah had a walk, perhaps as much as a month walking over land, perhaps not, depending, you know, where he was vomited out. So but Jonah rose, and He went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And verse 4, Jonah began to enter the city on the first day of the walk. Then he cried out and said, Yet forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. So this was the message.

And it's almost in a way like he wanted to sabotage his message. You know, forty days is going to be overthrown. What's not said there? Well, he doesn't say who he is. He doesn't say where he's from. He doesn't say who's going to overthrow the city. Although I think we can read between the lines a little bit later and get some of this information. But it's just a very short statement that Jonah makes, at least what's recorded here. In Hebrew it's five words. In English it's eight words. We know he wasn't speaking English, and I doubt that he was speaking Hebrew.

But in any case, it's a very short message that he's saying, you know, forty days, and Nineveh's going to be overthrown. Again, it does not say specifically what the message was other than that. But he does deliver the message. And then continuing on in verse five, it says, So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed the fast. Now there's a subtle twist here at this point. It says that the people of Nineveh believed God. The word is not YHVH anymore. It's Elohim. It's, you know, God Almighty, all-powerful.

They believed God, proclaimed the fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. And again, Jonah is preaching about the God that's above all other gods. And there were lots of gods in Assyria. But he's talking about the supreme God, you know, God Almighty, Elohim.

And verse six, it says, And he arose from his throne, and laid aside his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.

Do not let them eat or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God, again Elohim, Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. So here now there is a repentance taking place. They're turning from their evil ways and from violence. So, likely, Jonah said more than just what is recorded here. They knew that they had a turn.

And then he said in verse nine, Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? Notice the Ninevites. They listened to the message. They heard the message, and they did something. It's not just, I believe the message, and you know, and everything's going to be alright. No, there's faith, and there's works. That's a familiar passage, a familiar phrase that we have, faith and works. I'm not going to turn there, but I'll reference James 2, verses 14 to 24, where James, the Apostle James, talks about faith and works.

It's more than just believing. They believed. They fasted, and they repented. They did something. And again, the Apostle James says faith without works is dead. He says that in James 2, 20. It takes faith, and it takes works. They did something. And then as a result of what they did, take a look at verse 10, Jonah 3, 10.

It says, then God saw their works. Obviously, they believed, and now they had works. And they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them. And he did not do that. So if the book ended here, we would say, that's a really nice story. It's got a happy ending. God sends his prophet. The prophet's reluctant, to say the least. But he sends him again. The prophet preaches destruction. The people heard. The people listen. The people repent. And God does not destroy them. All is good.

We've got a happy ending here. But obviously, that's not the end of the story. It's not the end of the story at all. There's chapter 4. Now, sometimes the question comes up at this point, though. Well, what about Jonah? Was he a false prophet? Was he a false prophet? What do I mean by that? Well, the Bible gives us two ways to identify either a true prophet or a false prophet. Turn back to Deuteronomy 18th chapter.

Deuteronomy 18th chapter. Let's start reading in verse 20. Deuteronomy 18 in verse 20. Where we're giving one of the ways that we identify a false prophet. Deuteronomy 18 starting in verse 20. It says, But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak. In other words, he's on his own, not from God.

Or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? How are we going to know if the prophet is telling the truth or not? Or if he's right or not? Verse 22, it says, When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen, or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken.

In other words, if God says it, it's going to happen. It says, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously, and you shall not be afraid of him. So this is one way to identify a false prophet. If the event comes to pass, he could still be a false prophet. But anyway, if it comes to pass, it's one thing. But if it doesn't come to pass, God has not sent him.

God has not used that prophet. He's not given a message. I can think back over many, many years. And I've heard some incredible things, and maybe some of you have heard incredible things also, like the egret fountain in Pasadena. Five tons, five birds, each bird weighing a ton. Automettal was going to fly into Jerusalem. It's an incredible thing. More recently, there was a man who said, thus and such is going to happen, and if it's not going to happen, I am a false prophet.

And he actually put it in writing. I saw this on the Internet in writing. As on the Internet, it had to be true, right? In any case, it was on his website. And he said, if this doesn't happen, I'm a false prophet.

He said himself, well, the event didn't happen. Obviously, the egret fountain is still in Pasadena. The events this person prophesied did not happen. So there were false prophets, period. It didn't come to pass. But the intriguing thing, or the interesting thing that I don't understand, and I hope I never do understand, is why do people still follow these men? You know, they've spoken in the name of the Lord. It didn't happen.

Why follow them? That's what it says in verse 22 here. They've spoken presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of them. But for some reason, people still do follow them. Turn back a few pages to Deuteronomy 13th chapter. Deuteronomy 13th chapter, and I'll read the first five verses. And this is the second way to identify a false prophet.

The first way is if the other does not come to pass. This is the second way. It says, If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or wonder, something's going to happen, and the sign of the wonder comes to pass. In other words, the event does occur, just like he said, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them.

You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Verse 4, You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. Verse 5, With that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death.

It's very serious. The prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away evil from your midst. So this is the second way to identify a false prophet. The event does come to pass, as he said, but he's not speaking according to the Bible. He's got some new way of worship, some other way of worship, something different, not according to the Bible. So those are the two ways to recognize a false prophet.

So that brings us back to Jonah. What about Jonah? Was he a false prophet? He spoke of the name in the name of God, in the name of the Lord, and the event did not happen. It did not come to pass. Well, the answer is that nearly every prophetic passage is conditional, not absolute. It's conditional, and especially passages regarding judgment. Some prophecies are absolute, and some are conditional. The principles illustrated in Jeremiah 18th chapter.

Jeremiah 18th chapter, and I'll start reading in verse 10. Jeremiah 18 in verse 10. We'll see what God says. Jeremiah 18 in verse 10.

I'm in Jeremiah 19. Just excuse me a minute.

We may not get to Jeremiah 18. My pages are stuck together.

There we go.

Jeremiah 18 in verse 10.

I'm sorry, Jeremiah 18 verse 7 to 10. It says, The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull down and destroy it. If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And that's exactly what happened to Nineveh.

He said he was going to destroy it. They repented, and he relented. Verse 9, In an instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant. If it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent concerning the good which I said I would benefit them. In other words, if they turn from God, God is going to turn from them, and He's going to apply judgment.

God applies judgment or mercy depending on what the people choose to do. They either obey Him or they reject Him. God reveals what is coming so that people can be motivated to change their behavior, to repent. Prophecy is not an end in itself. Prophecy is to get people to repent, to think, and to change. God is not about punishment. I'm not going to turn there, but Ezekiel 33, verses 10 and 11. God says He does not take pleasure in the death of His wicked, excuse me, the death of the wicked.

He has pleasure when people repent. Again, Jesus Christ said, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. He said that in Luke 15, verse 7. And in 2 Peter 3, 9, it says, God doesn't want any to perish, but that all should come to repentance. So back to Jonah. He was not a false prophet. He was not a false prophet. He delivered a message.

The people changed, and then God changed. Jonah actually understood about conditional prophecy, as we shall see. He understood about it, and it made him angry. In fact, it made him very angry. And that brings us back to Jonah 4. Jonah 4, starting in verse 1. Again, chapter 3, verse 10, it says, God relented from the evil, from the destruction that he was going to do to Nineveh. And in verse 4, chapter 1, it says, But it displeased Jonah exceedingly.

And he became angry. And he was very angry. This was his enemy. This was Israel's enemy. He was upset. He wanted him destroyed. He's throwing a temper tantrum here. He literally lost it. He wants his own way. The Exponsitor's Bible Commentary states that the literal translation of this verse is, But it was evil to Jonah with a great evil. In other words, the Ninevites were the evil ones, but now the evil is applied to Jonah.

God is showing compassion to the Ninevites. He's showing mercy. But now, his prophet is great evil. So again, I ask the question, who are the good guys here? That's the people of Nineveh. These bad, wicked, terrible Assyrians, they repented. They turned to God. They fasted. They prayed. And again, who is the bad guy? The evil is applied to Jonah. The bad guy is God's prophet. Again, how ironic is that? In verse 2, it says, So Jonah knew that God was gracious. In fact, he's actually giving God his own words back. In Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7, God describes himself when he's talking to Moses.

And he's saying, I'm compassionate. I'm loving. I'm merciful. I'm forgiving. These are essentially the same words that are here. And Jonah is just parroting back to him. He's finding fault with God. He's arguing with God because God is too merciful. Now, obviously, Jonah wants mercy for himself, but no one else. And especially, you know, not those evil Assyrians. He's arguing with God. And I'll interject at this point. I certainly do not recommend any here do that. Obviously, Jonah did, and he received mercy, but I would not say that he's an example for us in this regard.

I would not recommend that at all. Again, Jonah hated the Assyrians. Now, these were bad, evil people. In Israel, you know, they were God's special people. They were called. They had a special relationship. They were exclusive. Again, God's own special people. Jonah wanted mercy and kindness for Israel, and he wanted judgment for all others, and especially the Assyrians. He didn't want mercy for them, and the thought of mercy for the Assyrians was just absolutely intolerable.

Again, as I said, you know, he lost it. He wanted them punished. He wanted them destroyed. He wanted them judged. He didn't want them spared. Again, well, what about us? You know, as Jonah being an example for us, we know that God loves us. We know that God loves the church. But what about those who are outside the church? Does he love them as well? What about those who are our enemies? Does he love them as well? Do we want God to spare them?

Do we want God to bless them? These are things to think about. Do we want God to call them? Well, Jonah wanted destruction for his enemies, like the apostles, James and John, the so-called sons of thunder. They wanted to call on fire and destroy us in the city. And they were about judgment. They weren't about mercy. But Jesus Christ said to them, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of. Christ came to save, not to destroy. Let's turn to John 3, verses 16 and 17. John 3, verses 16 and 17. And I know that most everybody here can probably recite the Scriptures by heart without looking at the page.

But sometimes it's just good to look at something and to read it and to let it sink in. John 3, 16. For God so loved the world. The world. Yes, he loves the church, but he also loves the world. That he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Verse 17. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. And again, not for judgment, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Now does that mean Christ is not going to judge? No, it doesn't mean that at all. That's not the reason.

God is about saving people. He's about building up. He's not about destroying. He's not about tearing down. He's not about judgment. Last weekend, actually the last Sunday, was Father's Day. And I'm just thinking of the model prayer that Jesus Christ taught us to pray. It starts out, our Father, not my Father, our Father, who are in heaven. God is the Father of everyone, and he loves everyone. Now, I'm not discounting the fact that we are here because we are called, we are chosen. But that doesn't mean that God doesn't love someone equally as much as he loves us.

It's just that he has a plan. We understand that plan through the feast days. He has a plan. He's working with us in a different way. But he has a plan for everyone, and he loves everyone.

God will have mercy upon all, and he gives grace to those whom he chooses. Turn to Micah 6, the book right after Jonah. Micah 6, verse 8. It says, He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? And what does God want us to do? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

He wants us to love mercy. Not to love judgment, not to see others punished, not to see others fry, so to speak. He loves mercy, and he wants us to love mercy. James 2.13 says, mercy triumphs over judgment. But Jonah, he wanted judgment, and especially for the Assyrians. Jonah did not get the picture. Verse 3, continuing on, after his argument with God, he says, Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. So again, it's very irrational here in chapter 2.

He wanted to live. He wanted out of that fish. He wanted life. But now, he said, I want to die. It's more than I can handle. I want to die. It's just very irrational. So in verse 4, God starts dealing with him and trying to help him. It says, and the Lord said, is it right for you to be angry? And this is a rhetorical question. So what does Jonah do? He went out of the city, verse 5, and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.

And again, you can just see his attitude here. God said, is it right for you to be angry? What does Jonah say? He doesn't say anything. He turns his back on God and stomps out of the room. He goes up on the hill. He says, I don't want to deal with it. I'm not going to talk with you about it. No, that's just it. He doesn't say anything. He goes and sits on the hill.

And then in verse 6, the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might shade his head to deliver him from misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. And again, commentaries and people, they get off, well, what kind of plant was this? It doesn't make any difference. God created a plant that gave shade to Jonah, and it made Jonah happy. This is the first time in the book so far that Jonah is happy. And he's happy, and he's enjoying that plant.

Let's see, I wanted to pick up a specific phrase here that one of the commentaries said. And the marginal note says that Jonah rejoiced with great joy as far as that plant is concerned. He was just really happy. In verse 7, and we know the story, it says, But morning dawned the next day, and God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.

And it happened when the sun arose, so the plant, you know, it's now down. And it happened when the sun rose, that God prepared a vehemant east wind. And think of being in a hot, dry desert with a east wind, a strong east wind. The sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. And again, he wished death for himself, and he said, It's better for me to die than to live.

You know, just again, very emotional, very irrational. And in verse 9, God again tries to deal with him and said, And God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about that plant? And he said, You better believe it. He said, It is right for me to be angry even to death. Again, Jonah is just exceedingly beside himself. He is upset. Verse 10, continuing on, it says, But the Lord said... Verse 9, then... Yeah, verse 10, that's where I'm at. It says, But the Lord said, You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, Nor made it grow, which came up in a night, and it perished in a night.

Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons, Who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and also much livestock? So here God said to Jonah, You've got pity on the plant. What about all these people and all the livestock? God is actually declaring his love and his care and his mercy to Jonah. And of course, Jonah doesn't want to buy any of it.

He doesn't want any of it at all. And that is the way the book of Jonah ends. It is anything but a children's story. There are many lessons in here. I've mentioned a couple as we went along, and I'll mention a few more in conclusion.

One lesson, we cannot run or hide from God. God is sovereign over the weather, over the storm, over the great fish, over the east wind, over the plant, over the little worm. He's sovereign over nations, and he's sovereign also over us. Another point, or lesson, circumstances do not show whether God is with us or not. Another point, prophecy can be conditional. It can be absolute, it can be conditional. Another point, just backing up, I missed this one going through. I must have gone past my notes. But when you look at Jonah, just kind of an interjection, I think of 1 Corinthians 13, and you're thinking, what does that have to do? 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. You know, though I have the gift of prophecy and have not love, I am as nothing. Prophecy has nothing to do with character or a right heart. Prophecy has to do with understanding, and I can say the same thing about knowledge. We have all knowledge and have not love. Or have all faith, you know, we've got to move mountains and have not love. So this point, which again I skipped over in going through the first time, is gifts do not change a person's heart or build character. They just don't. Gifts are important, but it doesn't build character or change our heart. Another point, which I think we see coming through quite a bit, is God loves everyone and has mercy on all. And He loves those who are our enemies as much as He loves us. He gives grace to whomever He chooses. And then lastly, which follows directly, we too must have love for everyone. For everyone. There are more lessons that are in the book of Jonah, but these are enough for us to consider at this particular time. When we get to the book of Jonah, we come to the end of the book. And the book ends abruptly. It doesn't tell us what Jonah decided to do. It doesn't finish the story. We do not know what Jonah did, whether he actually softened his heart and had mercy, or whether he remained with a hard heart. We just don't know what he decided to do. But actually, in a way, we each get to write the ending of this book for ourselves. Remember I said that Jonah was a type of the people of God. He's also a type of each and every one of us. So we each, in a way, can write the end of this book by ourselves. We each get to finish the book for ourselves, by our choices and by our actions. Will we learn the lessons that are included in the book of Jonah?