The God of Missions: Jonah Chapter 1
Introduction
It’s a great joy and privilege for me to speak to you at your missions conference this year. I got to spend quite a bit of time with the Kitwe Church leaders at the funeral of Pastor Saidi Chimba a few months ago. In fact, our elders from University of Zambia Baptist Church got to—it was a rare thing, I don’t think it ever happens—we got to sit down with the leaders, all our elders with the leaders who were around from Kitwe Church. And it was a thrill to hear about everything that was happening in terms of missions. It’s something that we are aspiring to, that we can participate in sending men to the ends of the earth. So not just within Lusaka or Zambia, but further afield.
Well, I would like us to spend this weekend in the book of Jonah. So please turn to Jonah, and we’re going to take one chapter for each session that we’re going to have all the way till Sunday evening. The book of Jonah is perhaps the most missional book in the Old Testament and shows, perhaps more than any other Old Testament book, God’s desire that the gospel should reach the ends of the earth. We see in Jonah that missions is the heart of God. Missions is what God is about.
The Shepherd and the Lost Sheep
If you recall in Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells the famous story about a shepherd. In fact, He asks the people around, the Pharisees, “Which of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one, will not leave the ninety-nine and go and find the other one, and search for the other one until he finds it?” Now if you think about it, the truth of the matter is there are not many shepherds who are going to endanger ninety-nine sheep to go and look for one. That’s a 1% loss. Most shepherds would take that loss and protect the ninety-nine that are secure. They won’t go out for 1%. But Jesus goes on to say that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one person who repents than ninety-nine righteous people who do not need repentance. And so, God values souls beyond measure. For God, one soul is worth leaving ninety-nine, or however many more there may be, to go and retrieve that one soul. And this is what happens in the book of Jonah.
In the book of Jonah, we see how God has this passion and determination to reach a particular group of people that otherwise would never be reached.
The Theme: Salvation Belongs to the Lord
Now, the book of Jonah is wonderfully summarized in verse 9 of chapter 2, verse 9b, where we read the words, “Salvation belongs to Yahweh.” Salvation belongs to the Lord. And what that means is that God can save anyone no matter how unsuitable the circumstances may be. God can save anyone even though the preacher is bad, even though the preaching is bad, and even though the person who is being preached to is bad. For God, it doesn’t matter either way. He is still able to bring in the lost despite circumstances that are unfavorable. Salvation belongs to the Lord. In other words, no one gets saved by accident. Salvation is always a deliberate act of God. And it’s a fitting summary for the book of Jonah because this book has the greatest revival ever recorded in the Old Testament, where over 100,000 pagans believe in Yahweh. It’s unheard of in all the Bible.
But the book of Jonah does not just teach us that salvation belongs to God—it goes further than that. It teaches us that God is determined to reach people to the ends of the earth. And that doesn’t just mean taking the gospel to the Antarctic or the Arctic, where no one is. It means that distance is not an issue for God. No matter how far people are, if they need to hear the truth, God is determined to get the truth to them and to save them through the truth that is preached to them.
We see this in the book of Jonah, because Jonah is not just such a successful prophet, but he’s one of the worst prophets in the whole Bible. In fact, he’s a backslidden prophet. And surprisingly, again, back to the theme of “salvation belongs to the Lord,” his backslidden state does not get in the way of being used by God to save the people that God wants to save. And that tells us that something more is at work. Something more is going on than just Jonah and these people he’s preaching to. God is working behind the scenes to make things happen.
So everything that Jonah touches seems to turn to gold. And here’s the point: that the success of Jonah’s ministry, which is by far the most successful ministry in the Old Testament, maybe even in the Bible, has nothing to do with Jonah. It has everything to do with God because He holds salvation in His hands and He’s determined to save people to the ends of the earth.
Scripture Reading: Jonah Chapter 1
So let’s read Jonah 1 and see the God on mission. Jonah 1, the whole chapter.
“Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.’ But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.”
Take note of that statement.
“But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, ‘What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.’
And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, ‘Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’ And he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD,” there’s that statement again, “because he had told them.
Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?’ For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, ‘Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.’ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the LORD,“—this is Yahweh they are calling to—“‘O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.’ So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
So here we have this famous account of Jonah commissioned by God—”I want you to go and preach to Nineveh about the coming judgment.” He’s not willing to do it and he goes in the opposite direction. God goes to fetch him and sends this storm and it rocks that ship until Jonah is found out as the cause, and Jonah says, “You know, toss me out and everything will be okay.” Reluctantly, they do that and sure enough, the sea quiets down.
Point One: God’s Mission to Save the Lost Will Never Be Derailed
Two things from this chapter about the God on mission. First of all, God’s mission to save the lost will never be derailed. God’s mission to save the lost will never be derailed. The book of Jonah reveals to us that God is determined to save the lost even though we may not be. That even though when the elders come up and say we need to raise money, and we need to give—look at all these men who we’ve sent out, they don’t eat verses and pages from the Bible, right? They eat real food and they need real money to do their work—even though we may not be willing, God is still determined to get His message out to the ends of the earth.
The book of Jonah teaches us further that we might even be opposed to getting the message out, but that does not diminish the power of God to get it out. That doesn’t deter God in any way. That doesn’t slow God down. And this is where Jonah is. Jonah is opposed to preaching the gospel, the good news of salvation through repentance to Nineveh. He has no desire to go and preach. In fact, “opposed” is a weak word. We need a stronger word. He’s in an “over my dead body” kind of posture. Only over his dead body will he go to Nineveh. And in fact, in the end, as we will see, that’s what it comes to.
Evidence: The Direction Jonah Traveled
Where do we see God’s determination to save? We see it in the determination of Jonah not to preach. There are several evidences in the text. First of all, the direction in which he travels. Never ignore places when they are told to us in the Bible. There’s a reason. Look at the places that are named in verse 2 and verse 3.
God tells Jonah, verse 2, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
According to 2 Kings 14:25, Jonah, who’s mentioned there—the same guy—was from a place called Gath-hepher. It was in Galilee, which is the same province where Jesus was from, except Jesus was in Nazareth, but still in Galilee. That’s north of Israel. Nineveh, where Jonah was being sent, was about 800 kilometers east of where Jonah was. And this would be the distance of Lusaka to Kasama. You can ask our brother what that distance is like. I’m sure he’s traveled from Kasama to Lusaka. I’ve done it a few times. It’s long—800 kilometers.
Jonah decides to go in the opposite direction. And he goes towards the Mediterranean Sea to Joppa to board a ship going to Tarshish. Now Tarshish’s exact location is not known, but they figure that it is around Spain—southern Spain. That’s 4,000 kilometers. 4,000 kilometers across the Mediterranean. We said Nineveh was 800 kilometers from Jonah’s home. Well, that is like going down to Cape Town when you’ve been sent north to Kasama. In fact, it’s further than that. This man wanted the furthest place away in the opposite direction from where God was sending him. And he made it happen.
Evidence: Jonah Paid the Fare
But notice also in verse 3 that he paid the fare. How much is it to get to Cape Town? How much was it back then? How much was it to travel 4,000 kilometers across the Mediterranean? It had to have been expensive. This was likely a permanent move. Jonah wasn’t coming back. And this would explain verse 10b of Jonah 1:
“Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.”
These men worked on the sea and traveled back and forth, likely carrying cargo from as far back as the days of Solomon. Solomon would get gold from Tarshish, wherever exactly this place was located across the Mediterranean. But the men had to have been surprised to see a non-sailor going 4,000 kilometers away. And they had to have asked him, “Hey man, where are you going? What’s going on?” And apparently he was honest enough to tell them, “I’m running away from my God because I don’t want to do what He has told me to do.”
This was a permanent move, most likely. Jonah would have had to say goodbye to his family, to his hometown, to his prophetic ministry, to the Promised Land—bye-bye to the Promised Land of Israel, even bye-bye to God Himself. Because twice, what are we told? I told you to mark it. He was running away from the presence of God. He was done with God. He was not going to have a relationship with God anymore.
Evidence: Jonah Preferred to Die
He preferred to even die. Look at verse 12. He was ready to—it was, like I said, an “over my dead body” kind of mission.
Verse 11, Jonah 1: “Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?’ For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.”
Does he say, “Let’s just turn it around, just drop me back in Joppa and everything will be okay. Let me just follow God’s directive and you guys…”? No. He would rather die than go back and do what God is calling him to do. He says, “Throw me overboard. Better for me to die than fulfill the mission that God has given me.” Even in Jonah 4, he’s still wishing that he could die, even after Nineveh has repented.
So don’t get it twisted. This is a man who was absolutely 100% opposed to fulfilling the mission that God gave him. But he didn’t account for one thing—God’s determination. God will save the lost whether we like it or not. God will save the lost whether we are on board or not. God will save the lost whether we support the mission or not. And God will save the lost whether we are willing to participate or not.
So you might think, “Let God go ahead, let Him go save whoever He wants to save. Let Him leave me out of it.” You don’t want to do that. Ask Jonah. That was his mentality and look what it cost him.
Jonah 1 verse 4: “But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”
Disobedience to God is never straightforward, especially when we are opposed to doing what He is trying to do.
Point Two: God Can Use Our Disobedience to Fulfill His Mission
In fact, God is so determined to save the lost that if He cannot use our preaching—listen to this carefully—He will even use our rebellion. God will literally use our rebellion. “They want more money for missions, I’m not going to give. They want to send people for missions, I’m not going to go.” God will use that rebellion, that very rebellion, to save the lost. And that’s the second thing we see in this text: God can use our disobedience to fulfill His mission. God can use our disobedience to fulfill His mission.
Look at Jonah 1 verses 9 to 10. Remember they wake Jonah up—he’s sleeping, and the ship is almost sinking and they wake him up. “Hey, come out, come on. What’s going on? Who are you? Tell us.” The lot falls on him, and this is what he says:
“And he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.'”
Thankfully, he’s just backslidden. It’s not that he was never saved, because you can see his understanding and belief in God is intact, even while he is in rebellion.
Verse 10: “Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.”
God will save the lost whether we cooperate or not. God will save the lost by our obedience or disobedience. He can use either one of those, no problem for Him. And this is what we see in Jonah. God used the rebellion of Jonah to convert pagan sailors.
The Pagan Sailors
Look at the description of the sailors here. They were pagan. Each one had his own god. Look at verse 4 and verse 5. In verse 4, the Lord brings the wind. Verse 5, what do the sailors do? “Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god.” They did not believe in the God of Israel. In fact, they most likely did not even know He existed. That is how lost they were. That is how far away they were from salvation. They worshiped and trusted and prayed to their own gods.
But it’s not just that each one had his own god. It is that they thought there were multiple gods. They were pantheists. Verse 6 of Jonah 1: “So the captain came and said to him, ‘What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.'”
So they actually believed there were many gods, not just one God. And they thought, “If each of us—we all have our idols in our trunks—all of you go into your rooms and fish out your little idols and perform sacrifices and bow and worship, and each of us, let’s appeal to our gods and let’s see which one of the many gods will hear us.” They actually thought there were more gods than one.
The Sailors Were Upright but Lost
But also, interestingly, they were upright. These were good guys. When Jonah admits—when the lot falls on him, Jonah admits it. “Guys, I’m on the run from Yahweh and this is why we’re in this mess. It’s me that Yahweh is after.” They don’t say, “Hey, quickly, quickly, get rid of him.” No, look at verse 11. They said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” Almost afraid of what the answer is.
He said to them, verse 12, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
What did they do, rush to throw him off? No. “Nevertheless,” verse 13, “the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the LORD, ‘O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.’ So they picked up Jonah, reluctantly, and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.”
These were good men. But guess what? Being good doesn’t save us, does it? If anything, these men were more honorable and noble than Jonah. Jonah risked their lives by stepping onto that ship. Jonah was fast asleep, couldn’t care less. They could have all perished and Jonah didn’t seem bothered about it. They had to cast lots and Jonah was just sitting there waiting, hoping the lot wouldn’t fall on him. It’s only when the lot fell on him that he came out and said, “Well, actually it’s me.” So they even acted more honorably than the man of God himself.
But though we applaud the sailors for their righteousness and uprightness, we see something very important here. Those sailors were still going to hell, because it’s not enough to be good. It’s not enough to be a good guy or a good lady. You have to be a believer in the living God, in Yahweh, or else you’ll be lost forever. Only through faith in Jesus who paid the price for our sins can anyone be saved. Anything short of that is not good enough. In fact, a bad believer is better than a good non-believer.
The Sailors’ Conversion
Thankfully, Jonah was still able to declare to them that he believed in Yahweh, and he wasn’t even preaching to them. Remember, he’s done with his preaching ministry. All he’s saying is, “I’m running away from Yahweh. I believe in Yahweh, the living God. He’s the one who’s done all this. Throw me overboard and everything will be okay.” And it’s only when the sailors throw him overboard and the sea becomes quiet that they realize, “Whoa, this is the real God. What we’ve been worshiping is fake. We have found the real and living God.” And that’s what saves them. Belief in God.
These sailors came to believe in the one true God. While at first each one of them prayed to their own god, look at verse 14. Now they all turn to pray to the one true God of Israel, Yahweh. “Therefore they called out to the LORD”—when you see LORD in all caps, it’s the covenant name of God, the personal name of the God of Israel, Yahweh—”Therefore they called out to the LORD, ‘O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.'”
They believe in God’s almighty power—”You have done as it pleased You.” And when they see that the storm is calmed, what are we told? Verse 15, they throw Jonah over. Verse 16, “Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.”
This was the day of their salvation. This is what salvation looks like in the Old Testament. Jesus hasn’t yet died. You place your faith and your trust in Yahweh. You forsake all your idols and all your gods and you trust in Yahweh. And these men must have ended up taking their faith in Yahweh to the ends of the earth, Tarshish and beyond.
And how did God do it? Through a guy who had abandoned his preaching ministry. Through a guy who was in rebellion. God killed two birds with one stone. Nineveh still got the message through Jonah, but God managed through the rebellion of Jonah to get some other converts in the process. That’s God. He will use even your rebellion. That’s not a problem for Him. His plan to save to the ends of the earth will never be deterred, not even by our rebellion.
Three Applications
So three things as we close.
1. God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways
Number one, God’s ways are not our ways. God will save people who we do not expect Him to save. God will save people who we would rather He would not save. God will save people through the most unlikely instruments, and God will save people through the most reluctant and the most rebellious instruments.
2. Trust and Obey
Number two is that we should trust and obey. Our goal is just to be faithful. You know, this must encourage us. If the greatest salvation story in the whole Bible is through a prophet who didn’t even want to do it, and if along the way he’s even saving people he’s not intending to save—all he’s saying is “I’m a Hebrew, I believe in Yahweh, throw me overboard,” and people actually get converted—how much more through faithful instruments, faithful vessels? Our job is not to save anybody. Our job is just to preach the Word faithfully. Our job is just to support the mission faithfully. God will do the rest.
Sometimes we get discouraged when people we love are not coming to Christ. And we wonder, “Will this person ever get saved?” And maybe it reaches a point where the person even shuts you down. You know, I’ve experienced that. You see your loved ones grow cold and callous to the truth. And as soon as you even hint at beginning to talk about it, they shut you down. “We don’t want to hear it.” They get up and walk out. And you begin to wonder, “This person is just getting further and further away from God. Lord, will You ever save this person who I love so dearly?”
He can do it, no problem. It’s not a problem for God. When He’s determined to save, it will happen. Even through a reluctant and rebellious vessel. Let us preach and let us pray. Let us trust and let us obey.
3. Jonah Points to Jesus
Finally, I would like us to see that Jonah shares some striking comparisons and contrasts to Jesus. Jonah offered himself up to be thrown overboard for the sailors to be spared, just as Jesus Christ offered up Himself so that we would be spared from the coming judgment. Jonah said, “Throw me overboard and everything will be all right.” Jesus says, “Lord, crucify Me,” and He turns to us and says, “Believe in My sacrifice for your sins and it will turn the wrath of God away from you.” Jonah told the sailors, “Throw me over and everything will be fine.” Jesus told God, “Punish Me so that My people will be fine.” Jonah was ready to drown for them. Jesus was ready to die for us, to take all our sins, to take our punishment so that there will be nothing left for God to charge against us.
You know what it means to be a believer and a Christian? It means to be able to stand on the final day when God runs that video. It’s going to probably be a screen like this and all our sins will be displayed. I suspect there will be videos. Sorry to break the news to you. So that we can’t deny, right? That is right there, a video of us sinning for everybody to see. People will be looking at us and saying, “This one is finished. That’s what he was doing. There’s no hope for this one.” And God says, “How do you plead?” And believers are going to say, “Innocent.” Innocent! How? We just played your sins in front of the whole world. “I trusted in Jesus. I plead innocent. I plead the blood”—not over your car and your house, as though they can go to heaven—over your soul.
Jonah was an imperfect savior. Jesus is the perfect Savior. Jonah was seriously flawed. God used Jonah’s disobedience, but God uses Christ’s obedience—a Savior without sin, which is why when we believe in Him, all our sins are paid for. And His perfect life is accounted to us. God looks at us and He no longer sees a sinner, He sees someone as righteous as Christ is.
Jonah was an unintentional savior. He wasn’t trying to save everybody, anybody, but then everyone he seems to come across seems to get saved. Jesus was very intentional. He knew why He came. He knew what He was paying for. He knew who He was dying for. He knew the sins, the ugly, filthy sins for which He was dying. And it didn’t deter Him in any way. He said, “I’ll still die on that cross to save these sinners.”
And finally, Jonah was a savior correcting his own mistake, but Jesus is a Savior who was correcting ours. Jonah put the lives of those men in danger. His move was only to correct the mess he had thrown them into. Jesus didn’t come down to correct any mess of His own. He came down to correct our mess and to fix our mess.
The last thing we need is a Jonah—we need Jesus. We need Thee, Jesus, who will come down despite the weight of our sin and pay the price for us. Have you trusted in Him? Why should anybody be told on the final day, “Throw this wicked person into hell for eternity”? Why? When Jesus has come and Jesus Christ has died and God is determined that you get the message—and not just you, but everyone to the ends of the earth. All we need to do is trust in Him and believe in Him for our salvation.
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we are grateful for Your heart for the nations, Your heart for the lost. How You are determined even when we are determined not to be. How You are passionate when we are reluctant. How when we are second-guessing the mission, You are full on, on mission. I want to pray that we might draw strength and encouragement and look to You, that if You could use this backslidden prophet, perhaps You’d be pleased to use us for the extension of Your kingdom. So use our money, use our message, and use our very persons. Use our churches to get the gospel to the ends of the earth. And we know You’re determined to do it. So help us trust and obey. Help us preach and pray for Your glory and for the sake of Your Son we ask. Amen.