Life Lessons From Jonah In The Bible
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In this article When we look at Jonah in the Bible you will discover incredible life lessons that can be applied to our daily walk with God. You will see how this Jonah Bible study has changed the way I look at obedience and repentance. So, grab your Bible and lets dig in
What Is The Sign Of Jonah
Much later in the Bible, Jesus told His skeptics, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth .
Jesus said that this sign of Jonah would be the proof of His identity as the Messiah. Jonah had spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish Jesus would spend three days and three nights in the grave .
Some scholars doubt the authenticity of the biblical narrative of the book of Jonah. By acknowledging the sign of Jonah, Jesus was also acknowledging the authenticity of the book of Jonah. He even referred to Himself as One greater than Jonah an odd comparison to make if Jonah had never existed at all.
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Jonah Shows Us God’s Mercy Is Motivated By God’s Love For His Own Creation
The book of Jonah concludes with a rather enigmatic ending. Jonah sits in the heat of Northern Iraq and is so outdone with Gods grace to his enemy, seething that he has lost a gourd with its leaves to shade him, that he despairs unto death. Yes, that means precisely what it says: Jonah was preferring death over the advance of Gods grace to Nineveh. The petulant prophet is perturbed that God’s grace to pagans is of greater priority to God than Jonahs comfort. Then, God asks a question to Jonah, which echoes through the ages down to our own lives:
Jonah 4:10-11 : And the Lord said, You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?
This is both an indictment of Jonah and all who treat Gods grace as proprietary, and a challenge to begin to see the world through the eyes of God who created it. The 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, are likely infants. but how about the Lords mention of His concern about the cattle? The truth is that mans sin has a devastating effect upon creation. Conversely, when there is authentic revival from on high, when people repent and when we receive Gods grace and mercy through Jesus Christ His Son, balance and harmony return to the community.
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Jonah Teaches Us That God’s Mercy Is Wider And Gods Grace Is Greater Than All Of Our Sins
The book of Jonah begins with these words:
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Ammittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
God comes to us while we are still sinners, and still, the Lord does not wait for us to clean up our act before He comes into our lives. If that were so we would never be saved. God begins to have mercy upon us while we are still in willful disobedience and, like Nineveh, characterized by infamous sin and evil. The Bible says that God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life . This is an essential characteristic of God. The lesson that God loves us while we are living in rebellion is of great hope to our nation today.
What Is The Historical Context Of The Book Of Jonah
The Book of Jonah is a book of the Neviim in the Hebrew Bible. It tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah son of Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission. The story has a long interpretive history and has become well known through popular childrens stories. In Judaism, it is the Haftarah portion read during the afternoon of Yom Kippur to instill reflection on Gods willingness to forgive those who repent it remains a popular story
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Introduction To The Book Of Jonah
The book of Jonah is one of most remembered book of the Bible from childhood to adulthood. The book has a great picture of salvation and the coming of the Messiah. It is not stated clearly the one who wrote the book of Jonah. The prophet Jonah lived in the eighth century B.C., but we know very little about him apart from this book. We learn from 2 Kings that Jonah was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II, 786 – 746 B.C. The book of Jonah is unique among the prophetic books of the Old Testament. Rather than being a collection of the oracles of the prophet, it relates episodes in his life. In the Old Testament, the prophet Jonah is mentioned outside the book only in 2 Kings 14:25, Matthew 12:38-41, Matthew 16:4 and 17, and Luke 11:29-32. Although the prophet lived in the eighth century BC there is dispute on the correct dating of the book. It is written in the third person, and no author is identified anywhere in the Bible.
What Is The Meaning Of The Story Of Jonah And The Whale
The meaning of the story of Jonah and the whale becomes clear in the final sections of the Book of Jonah.
From Jonah 4:1 onward, we see that Jonah is angry that God shows mercy to Nineveh. Jonah has completed his mission, although with some misgivings â Jonah doesnât believe the Ninevites deserved Godâs mercy.
God disagrees, arguing that all humanity is worthy of salvation.
Godâs closing message in the Book of Jonah 4:11 is: âAnd should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left â and also many animals?â
Here, God tells us that we are all worthy of redemption if we show repentance for our sins.
For God loves us all and will not abandon us if we heed unto Him.
In Matthewâs gospel, Jesus compares Himself to Jonah and compares His generation to the people of Nineveh. Nineveh repented, but Jesus’s generation didn’t heed the word of the Lord.
There are parallels between Jesusâ time inside the tomb and Jonahâs time inside the whale â they both spent three days and three nights in these places.
The biblical story of Jonah and the whale is fundamentally about rebirth and redemption, as well as following God.
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Jonah Preaches To Nineveh
Making his way to Nineveh, a journey that would have taken more than a month and thus provided ample time for sober reflection, Jonah entered the great city with his blunt message :
Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Amazingly, there was mass repentance, from the king down to the commoner.
Jonah was quite distraught at this turn of events and he despaired, even to the point of wanting to die. Resolutely, he perched himself on a hilltop nearby, eagerly watching the city in hopes that the Lord would yet destroy it. His education was still incomplete!
As he sat in the scorching sun, God caused a shady vine to grow up for his refreshment and the prophet was glad. On the following day, however, Jehovah sent a worm to smite Jonahs vine, and as the blistering sun beat upon his head, the man of God again lapsed into a state of abject depression.
Then came Heavens stinging rebuke. The Lord in effect said: Jonah, why is it that you are so concerned with this vinea mere plant which is temporal, and for which you did not labor and yet, you evidence utterly no concern for the hapless inhabitants of Nineveh?
The penetrating inquiry threw a divine floodlight upon the pathetic values of the man from Gath-hepher.
B God Prevents Jonahs Escape
1. God sends a storm.
But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
a. The LORD sent out a great wind: It was the LORD who stirred up the storm. We often think of Jesus calming the waters, and He can do that. But God can also stir up the storm.
b. So that the ship was about to be broken up: The ship and the sailors were in a dangerous place. This was all due to Jonah being on the ship. There was nothing wrong with the sailors being on the ship, but Jonah had no business there though in other circumstances it might have been fine for him to go to Tarshish.
i. Jonah might have wondered: I can go to Tarshish if I want to. I paid the fare. Im not a stowaway. Yet, Apologies for disobedience are mere refuges of lies. If you do a wrong thing in the rightest way in which it can be done, it does not make it right. If you go contrary to the Lords will, even though you do it in the most decent, and, perhaps, in the most devout manner, it is, nevertheless, sinful, and it will bring you under condemnation.
2. The sailors of the ship seek their superstitious gods.
i. Many people assume that they can put off doing their business with God until they choose a better time to do it. Nevertheless, it is presumptuous to think that in the moment of crisis we will be able to call upon the true God if we have not dealt with Him before.
·We talk about Jesus but you can talk in your sleep.
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Where Can I Read And Study The Book Of Jonah Online For Free
I believe it is not your first time hearing the story of how a fish swallowed up a Prophet of God who refused to go on a mission that God almighty sent him on. Well, if you have not heart it, according to the bible, it is an honor to search the scripture, therefore, it becomes a divine responsibility of every believer to search the scriptures. Join us right here in this website and let us read the book of Jonah online for free together. In this website, you can take a journey through the Bible online for free. You can read the book of Jonah at all time with reading aid such as Audiobook of Jonah and comics of the Book.
At Bible-book.org, the Book of Jonah is presented to you in various formats online for easy understanding and for advancing our walk of faith which includes
Book of Jonah audiobook for audio display of the BibleBook of Jonah king James version in English translationIllustrated book of JonahBook of Jonah with images.With the Audiobook of Jonah, you can listen to the book of Jonah online for free as well as read the book online for free. At Bible-book.org, the book of Jonah comes with pictures for viewing while reading. With determination and persistence, we as a people can live up to expectation of being rooted in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ by studying the Bible both offline and Online.
Jonah And The Whale: Wheres Your Heart
Wheres your allegiance? Is it tied to something in this world? Or does it beat for God? As long as there is something more important than God to your heart, you will be, like Jonah, both fragile and self-righteous.
To evaluate your heart requires that you be brutally honest with yourself. Its not easy. But with the help of the Holy Spirit it is possible.
Spend some time prayerfully evaluating your heart and your life. Where does your allegiance lie? Is your desire for others or only yourself?
The story of Jonah in the Bible challenges us to ask ourselves, wheres our heart?
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We Mistake Recognition For Mass Conversion
Everyone got a second chance here: Jonah as the legalistic, judgmental Jew the pagans as lost men and women. We want the story of Jonah to be one of the sailors and Ninevites not only recognizing God but also turning to him as their Lord. Some of the language even suggests as much.
The king of Nineveh arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Next, the king called for a fast and decreed let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Then, God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish .
The sailors called out to the Lord, they believed in him, but there is no indication that they put their trust in him as the one true God. Meanwhile, in his explanation of Jonah, Tim Keller says we tend to think that the Ninevites repentance was a mass conversion. Yet, all that Scripture tells us is that they stopped doing violence to each other they stopped exploiting, abusing, and killing each other.
This amounted not to repentance and conversion but to social reform, which pleased God enough to spare the city. This confusion is understandable given the kings decree yet, as Keller indicates, becoming the people of God would also have involved circumcision and putting away idols.
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Jonahs Call And Response
As is typical with Twelve Prophets, the Book of Jonah begins with a call from God to the prophet . Unlike the others, however, Jonah rejects Gods call. Foolishly, he attempts to flee the presence of the Lord by taking a ship to foreign shores . This imperils not only him, but his shipmates, foras we have seen throughout the Book of the Twelvebreaking covenant with God has tangible consequences, and the actions of individuals always affect the community. God sends a storm. First, it ruins the mariners commercial prospects, as they are forced to throw all the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship . Eventually it threatens their very lives . Only when Jonah offers to be thrown into the seawhich the sailors reluctantly acceptdoes the storm abate and the danger to the community subside .
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A Theodicy Literature In The Eighth
With the employment of classical biblical Hebrew in the book of Jonah, it signals for an eighth-century composition. The period aligns with the Neo-Assyrian era , in which Israel and Judah were already subjugated under the Assyrian thumb. Retaliation to Assyrian hegemony during this period was never the best alternative, which they eventually did and consequently brought annihilation upon themselves. During the Neo-Assyrian period, Assyria was considered the ‘lion’ of the ancient Near East. Fortunately, at the outset of King Jeroboam II’s reign when the prophet Jonah was active, the Assyrian empire for a brief time experienced internal issues that enabled King Jeroboam to re-establish its economic stability and kingdom expansion. As Assyrian vassalages, Israel and Judah were also required to pay taxes to their overlord.
This ongoing frustration in Israel is also reflected in the prophet Jonah’s refusal to bring YHWH’S plan of forgiveness to Nineveh because they will eventually repent. The refusal here not only depicts Jonah resisting forgiveness of their enemy, but also raises a question on YHWH’S fidelity and righteousness concerning their established covenant. By concluding the narrative with a set of rhetorical questions , it suggests in part that despite Israel’s attempts to uphold their part of the covenant, God changes his mind. A critical question to Jonah’s eighth-century audience would then be: can God keep his promises?
Choosing The Path Of Change Over Convenience
When we choose the path of convenience rather than the path of change, our capacity to love is stunted, and our faith withers. God allows us to go through challenges in life because its only through these that we can develop a deep reliance on God.
It reminds me of a quote by author and fitness expert Fred DeVito in regard to how challenge is necessary for any real change to occur:
If it doesnt challenge you, it doesnt change you.
Fred DeVito
What we may view as a loathsome challenge, God views as the opportunity and only pathway for real change.
This is especially true when it comes to challenging relationships, through which we can learn to deeply love others if we embrace the opportunity to learn from and rely on God through the Scriptures.
What reward do you deserve if you only love the loveable? Dont even the tax collectors do that? 47 How are you any different from others if you limit your kindness only to your friends? Dont even the ungodly do that?
Matthew 5:46-47 TPT
In the face of the challenge to love those he considered enemies, Jonah bought a one-way ticket to Tarshish. While on the voyage, he took a nap in an effort to ignore the fact that he was running away from God and his challenge to love.
Meanwhile, the crew of the boat encountered a serious storm sent by God to get Jonahs attention and awaken his heart. The sailors began questioning him:
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17 NKJV
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