Dwell in the Word: Jonah 1:1-17

Contemplate these questions as you dwell in Jonah 1:1-17:

1. What significance does Jonah's attempt to flee from God's command hold in highlighting the omnipresence and authority of God, especially considering Jonah's role as a prophet?

2. How does the reaction of the pagan sailors on the ship to the storm and their subsequent actions reflect their recognition and understanding of Yahweh's ultimate authority, despite their prior beliefs in regional gods?

3. In what ways does the story of Jonah's attempted escape and the sailors' response emphasize the importance of submitting to God's will and acknowledging His omnipotence, even in moments of defiance or desperation?

Transcript:

Here we find ourselves in the very familiar story of Jonah. This is a Sunday school favorite. We see in this story things that we know, but there are some important things that we can learn from this story, even though it's one that we know so well. We see here that Jonah receives the word of the Lord. Jonah is a prophet. He knows that this is God speaking to him. And Jonah is told to go to Ninevah. Ninevah is a great city, and we see that there is a great evil that has come up before God from Ninevah. Well, what is interesting about Ninevah? We're going to see this later on. Ninevah is not a Jewish city. It's not a Hebrew group of people. Jonah doesn't want to go there. God has called him to go there to speak against their evil, but he does not want to go. And so we see that Jonas rises to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now, this is always interesting to me. When I preach to Jonah, I think I mentioned this, who as a prophet of the Lord does Jonas think he is that he can escape from the presence of God?

Doesn't he know that God is everywhere? Does he know that God is omniscient? Doesn't he know about the nature of God? Well, of course, he does. And where he is going is the exact opposite direction of where God has told him to go. God wants me to go to Ninevah, so he's going to the opposite part of the world. That is his fleeing from the presence of Lord, fleeing from where God has called him to go. And we know the story. The storm comes up. And the awesome part of this is, Jonah is asleep down in the ship. They're all crying out to their false gods, and nothing is happening. Finally, the captain of the ship is like, Everybody needs to try here. We've all cried out to our gods. You should try out to yours. Maybe yours will do the trick. Well, what we find is that they cast lots. The lot falls on Jonas. They're looking at him saying, What's going on with you? Well, he tells them who they... He tells them who He is. He's a Hebrew. He fears the God of heaven who made the sea in the dry land.

We need to understand here that as a Hebrew and a... Versus these pagans, these Gentiles, they would have had more regional gods and gods who did different things maybe that they would call out to. But Jonah is talking about a God who is ultimate, a God who is Almighty, a God who made the sea and the dry land, not a God who controls them or a God that can be manipulated by their whims, but the Lord of heaven and earth. And so, they are greatly afraid. They wonder what he has done. He's told them that he's fleeing from the presence of the Lord. And so, you didn't tell us you were fleeing from the one who made everything, they understand the gravity of this. And so, when Jonah tells them that they should throw him into the sea, even though he's told them to do this, they're concerned about taking his life. They're concerned about killing this man who is the servant of this God who made the sea and the dry land who made everything, the Lord of heaven and earth. And so, once they're trying to endure the storm, doesn't work. We see here that they call it to the Lord, and that is something that's so significant here.

These pagans, these unbelievers, these Gentiles are calling out to the Lord. They're calling out to Yahweh, and they're saying, Don't let us perish for this man's life. They're calling out to Him. They have faith here. How amazing is this that they have faith that this God is ultimate, that this God is the one and they don't want to offend him? But they do, as Jonas says, because they're desperate, they hurl him into the sea, and the sea ceases from its raging. Can you imagine a how amazing this was? You'd like to imagine that it was instantaneous. It doesn't necessarily say that it's instantaneous. You get that idea that it was. But how amazing would that be to go from fearing for your life to the sea being calmed, not raging anymore. And we see how amazing this is that the men feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. They understand that this Lord that they were calling out to, that Yahweh was the one who controlled this. They saw how amazing this was. This reminds me of the story of Jesus when he comes to sea. When Jesus comes to sea, the disciples knew that he was God.

You just don't do this. You just don't see this by random happenstance. Something greater than you is in control when this happens. And this causes these pagans to offer sacrifices and make vows to the one true God, to the Lord of heaven and earth. How amazing is that? Remember, let's go back to the top of the story. What did Jonas not want to do? He didn't want to go to Ninevah because he didn't think that these Gentiles, these pagans were worthy of him going to or that they wouldn't listen. Whatever the reason was, we see here that these Gentiles on the ship are able to have understanding. They're able to have faith. They make vows to God. They understand who he is. Interesting foreshadowing of the rest of the story that we know is coming. But we see that God has not given up on Jonah. We read that the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, and that's where we leave the story. But as we think about application from this story for us today, it's important that we remember we cannot flee from the presence of God.

God is everywhere. It is best that we submit to His will, that we submit to His word, that we have faith that what He is doing is best, that we understand this God who made everything is the one that we should obey. Just as these pagans understood that day because we have been given the gift of faith, we should know this. And so, we should make our vows to the Lord and trust every day in the Lord who made heaven and earth.