Bible Studies
Jonah and the Lord
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. In the previous lesson we analyzed Jonah and his relationship to the people of Nineveh.a. We learned that God commissioned him to go and warn the city about their impending calamity.
b. Jonah did not want the city to repent, but actually looked forward to their experiencing God’s judgment.
c. Thus, he took off in the other direction rather than taking God’s message to the hated Ninevites.
2. In this lesson I want us to focus special attention upon Jonah’s own personal relationship with God. From what is recorded in the text I am convinced that Jonah had a very clear perception about the nature of God and about his own relationship with him.Discussion:
I. He viewed God as Creator (1:9). II. He viewed God as intimately involved in his life (1:10-12). III. He acknowledged God as in control of the sea (1:10-12). IV. His prayer reveals the Lord God as his salvation (2:1-9).A. He recognized a separation between himself and God as a result of his rejection of God’s instruction to him (2:4). Nevertheless, he looked to God’s temple.
B. He recognized that God gives life in place of death (2:6).
C. He regarded idols as vain and understood why those who served them would forsake them, but he still respected the Lord (2:8-9).
D. He understood God as deserving of sacrifice and thanksgiving (2:9) and as one who held people accountable (“that which I have vowed I will pay”).
V. The underlying principle of Jonah’s view of the Lord is that He is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” (4:2).A. It is interesting that Jonah’s understanding of this principle actually made him angry.
1. He had tapped this principle for his own personal advantage. He sought salvation for himself from God on the basis of this principle.
2. But it angered him that God would extend this same graciousness to his enemies.
B. God’s graciousness is evident not only to the people of Ninevah but also in Jonah’s personal rescue from the sea. It is also evident in God’s patience with Jonah’s anger.
1. Note 4:5-8.
2. It must have been in the middle of September when all this transpired. The sun sure is blistering in Israel in September and I cannot imagine it being much different in Ninevah. But there is great relief in the shade.
3. God was gracious to Jonah. He caused a plant to grow up to shade Jonah’s head.
4. But He also appointed a worm that destroyed the plant.
5. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head and the east wind scorched him until he begged to die.
C. God said, “You had compassion on the plant . . . Should I not have compassion on Ninevah the great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”
1. What is it with us?
2. We can be compassionate to a plant, a dog, a cat or some other animal and yet withhold God’s forgiveness from those who are ignorant?
Conclusion:
1. Do you acknowledge God as Creator, that He is intimately involved in your life, that he controls nature? Do you pray to Him for your salvation and depend upon Him for your life? 2. Do you understand that He is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance? 3. Shall we then withhold compassion from the ignorant?
