Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20081207.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Jonah: Replacing Heartless Nationalism With God's Universal Love
Part I: God's Critiquing Discipline Of Jonah's Heartless Nationalistic Refusal To Evangelize Nineveh
(Jonah 1:1-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. Ever since the September 11, 2001 "Islamic terrorist" attacks on our country, even American Christians have been tempted to harbor animosity toward people of extreme Islamic beliefs.
    2. However, this animosity is itself an evil, a fact revealed from a study of Jonah 1:1-17 (as follows):
  2. God's Critiquing Discipline Of Jonah's Heartless Nationalistic Refusal To Evangelize Nineveh.
    1. Jonah 1:1-2 records God's call for Jonah to go to Nineveh, a large city, and to pronounce God's judgment against it since its wickedness had become great enough to warrant God's judgment.
    2. However, such a ministry sorely pressed against Jonah's nationalistic feelings toward the men of Nineveh:
      1. Jonah lived in the reign of Jeroboam II according to 2 Kings 14:25 in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around 793-753 B. C. when Nineveh was part of a city-state complex and capital of Assyria, Bible Know. Com., O. T. , p. 1461; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Jonah 1:2.
      2. Assyria was known for atrocities to its prisoners, for idolatry and for its military power, Ibid., p. 1494.
      3. Also, the prophets, Hosea and Amos had already predicted Assyria would rule over Israel because of the latter nation's refusal to repent before the Lord, Ibid., p. 1461; Hosea 11:5; Amos 5:27.
      4. Thus, Jonah would have been tempted to resist preaching to Nineveh lest it repent and God bless it so that Assyria would be able to invade and capture his own nation Israel in judgment, cf. Jonah 4:1-3!
    3. Jonah yielded to the temptation: he went down to Joppa and paid a fare to take a ship for a 3,000 mile trip in the opposite direction for Tarshish in southern Spain, Jonah 1:3; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Jonah 1:3; map 14!
    4. The Lord responded by disciplining Jonah in a way that also critiqued his heartless nationalism, 1:4-17:
      1. God could have privately corrected Jonah, but He instead used a storm to affect all those on board, 1:4.
      2. This storm was used of God to expose a reverence for God and care for Jonah in the pagan sailors that critiqued Jonah's lack of reverence for God and his calloused nationalism toward pagans (as follows):
        1. The pagan sailors reverently cried out to their gods and cast their cargo overboard to lighten the ship while Jonah lay asleep in the lower part of the ship, unconcerned about God's discipline, Jonah 1:5.
        2. The captain critiqued Jonah, telling him to rise from his sleep and call on his God that He might have mercy on them and save them, Jonah 1:6. This command critiqued Jonah's heartlessness not only toward the sailors, but toward the people of Nineveh whom Jonah did not want God to save!
        3. In desperation, the pagan sailors cast lots to see who had angered his deity, and when the lot fell on Jonah, they asked him about his background and what he had done to produce the trial, Jon. 1:7-8.
        4. Jonah had already told them that he was running away from his God, so when Jonah then reported he was a Hebrew who feared the God of heaven who made the land and the sea that was now astir, the pagan sailors were terrified, and asked why he had angered that God of the sea, Jonah 1:9-10! This question obviously critiqued Jonah's action to anger God by trying to flee from His assignment!
        5. When the sailors asked how they might appease God, and Jonah replied they had to cast him into the sea (Jonah 1:11-12), the pagans first sympathetically tried to save Jonah by rowing their ship to land in critiquing contrast to Jonah's heartless wish that God to destroy pagan men of Nineveh, Jon. 1:13!
        6. Their efforts failed, but these pagan sailors so revered God in contrast to Jonah, they begged Him not to harm them for throwing Jonah overboard before they cast him into the sea, Jonah 1:14-15a.
        7. When Jonah landed in the sea and it ceased its raging, the pagan sailors greatly revered God, and offered a sacrifice to Him and made vows in great righteous contrast to the rebellious prophet, 1:16.
        8. God then sent a special fish to swallow Jonah both to preserve him for three days and nights for his future ministry to Nineveh, and to persuade him to fulfill his mission to evangelize Nineveh, 1:17!
Lesson: God's discipline of Jonah for refusing to heed His call to evangelize Nineveh included pagan sailors God used to critique Jonah's heartless nationalistic bias that was behind his disobedience.

Application: May we rise above nationalistic feelings of animosity to realize God LOVES all men, even those who are wicked and cruel to us, and yield to His call to disciple ALL men, including the spiteful!