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Jonah Study#  01  02  03  04  05  06 

Dear Friends,

Awhile back the Bible study in DE looked at the book of Jonah: I would like to give an overview, looking at a few of the verses in all 4 chapters. Jonah is a wonderful book that beautifully illustrates God’s salvation program.

Chapter 1

The Hebrew name, "Jonah" means dove or pigeon. As you search the word out using Strong's Concordance: you will find that the name "Jonah" is Strong's #3124. This listing is identical to Strong's #3123. The Hebrew word for dove or pigeon is spelled identically to the Hebrew word for Jonah.

Of course, as we search the Scriptures to see how God uses doves or pigeons we notice that the---Jonah (pigeon)---was used as a sacrificial animal. See:

Leviticus 12:6b-"...and a young pigeon,...for a sin offering..."

We also need to keep in mind, that in the New Testament the Lord typifies God the Holy as a dove:

Matthew 3:16-"...and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him:"

These are the two truths that we need to keep in our minds as we begin to study the book of Jonah: 1) The name Jonah points us to a sacrificial animal (and all of the Old Testament sacrifices point us to Christ). 2) That the name Jonah points us to the person of God Himself.

Now before we start looking at some of the verses in the book of Jonah: it is important to get past the idea that this is just the story of a disobedient prophet. I have heard numerous sermons and teachings that focus on all of the troubles that came Jonah's way because of his disobedience to the Lord's command. We will see as we take a closer look at how God has written this book, that the Lord uses Jonah's apparent disobedience to picture Christ's great work of love in humbling Himself to become the God Man.

Let's look at verses 2 & 3 of chapter 1

(2) :"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it: for their wickedness is come up before me.

(3) But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish, from the presence of the LORD."

Clearly, it is obvious that Jonah was disobedient to the Word of God. But let us see why it is that the Lord allowed Jonah to flee from Him in this manner: what I mean is this---whenever we are obedient to the Word of God on any level, it is only because the Lord has worked in us to move and to do of His good pleasure. This means that any good work that we do is only the product of God the Holy Spirit working in us. Now, at times, we do not do good works: in fact, we fall into a particular sin. God is not making us sin; but He has indeed allowed us to sin simply by not moving in us to do His good pleasure in that particular area. This is what happened in Jonah's case.

God gave His Word to Jeremiah; and Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed to the people of Israel because God moved him to do so. God faithfully gave His Word to Micah; and Micah faithfully proclaimed God's Word to the wicked king of Israel because God moved him to do so. And so it was with every prophet of Jehovah. The prophets responded faithfully in every case that they did so; because God moved those prophets to do His bidding. Now, the big question as we look at Jonah is----why didn't the Lord simply move Jonah in the same way that He moved all of the other prophets to do His will? The answer is found when we look a little more carefully at the wording of verse 2:

"...to go with them unto Tarshish, from the presence of the LORD."

God allowed Jonah to flee unto Tarshish in order to turn our attention to a great spiritual truth: that greatest of all truths---that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Everlasting Father, the eternal God who inhabits all of eternity----that this great and mighty God would humble Himself and become like one of us: that He would become man. How do we know that verse 2 is spiritually teaching this? Turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 8:

"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."

Please notice that Adam and Eve "...hid themselves from the presence of the LORD..."

This is not only an identical word to what we have in Jonah; but it is an entire phrase. Jonah 1:3 says that Jonah went with them "from the presence of the LORD". Mankind, in the Garden of Eden fell into sin: as a result of this sin man no longer had fellowship with God; but rather now hated the light and hid from the presence of the Lord.

Verse 3 says that Jonah went "with them" from God's presence. Jonah's entering the ship typified the Lord Jesus' entering this sin cursed world over 2000 years ago. Jonah went with them to Tarshish from God's presence: likewise, Christ took upon Him the form of a servant and lived amongst the rest of fallen humanity: none were righteous, none did seek after God. All were going away from the presence of God just as their first father and mother did so in the Garden of Eden.

Notice also, that the language used in verse 3 points to a descent:

"...and went down to Joppa." And, "...he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it."

I hope that we can see clearly that God allowed the prophet Jonah to flee unto Tarshish, in order to illustrate for us that the Holy God of heaven came down to this wretched world and lived among us: Himself tempted in all points as like as unto us; yet without sin.

May the Lord bless you,

Chris McCann

The men struggling to steer their ship to safe waters points to those who would try to obtain the righteousness of God through some other means than the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no other way for these seamen;: all of their best efforts could not cause them to escape the forceful waters that would not cease their raging until the Master of the sea stretched out His hand to quiet the tempest. And this He would not do until His purposes were established. Is their any other way of salvation apart from the atoning work of Christ? No! Many labor spiritually, as these seamen rowed physically, to try "...hard to bring it to the land (v.13);" but all of their best works will not quiet the storm. Try hard to do good; but know this---that all of your best efforts will not provide a way of escape for you. The judgment of God will devour you in eternal depths unless Christ has been cast into the sea for your sins:

"Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, WE BESEECH THEE, O LORD, WE BESEECH THEE, let us not perish for this man's life,"

Verse 17, of chapter 1 verifies the fact that Jonah is indeed a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ: especially as Christ would undergo the wrath of God for the sins of His people. How can we know this? Go to the book of Matthew, chapter 12:(40) "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth point to that period of time when the Lord Jesus Christ would be under the wrath of God. Jesus Himself, likens the 3 days and 3 nights (or being under the wrath of God) to Jonah's experience in the belly of the whale. Therefore, as we study Jonah, chapter 2, we have complete biblical justification in seeing Jonah's ordeal as a vivid picture (taken by God Himself) of the Lord Jesus while He was under the stretched out arm of the Father's wrath.

We are approaching this chapter from the vantagepoint of Christ suffering under the tremendous weight of God's fury---what do we see as we read the language that the Lord uses in Jonah 2? Does the language of the chapter support our understanding? Or, does the language of Jonah 2 force us to re-examine our initial conclusion? Let's look at verse 2:

The great test, which our salvation depended upon: was this----would Christ remain faithful while suffering enormous agony as He paid the wages of sin---eternal damnation? O the terrors of being under the wrath of an angry God. The Bible clearly tells us that Christ is God. That He possessed all of the power and might of infinite God. He knew all things: He made all things: He held all things together by His Word; and yet, though He was (and is) all powerful---the Bible also tells us that paying the price of hell wreaked havoc upon the person of eternal God Himself, the Lord Jesus:

MT 26:38-" Then saith He unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me."

"And BEING IN AN AGONY He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

Here it was, God's entire salvation program rested on Christ's ability to go through hell faithfully. Have you ever considered what would have happened if the Lord Jesus would have fainted under God's wrath? What if Christ would have been so pained, so burdened by the weight of our sins and its consequences, that He would have been weakened to the point of sinning against the Father? This was Satan's grand hope you know: see Job 1, verses 10 & 11:

 (10) Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. (11) But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

 In the book of Job, Job is a type of the Lord Jesus: Job's afflictions are a portrait (much like Jonah) of Christ suffering for the sins of His people. Satan, hoping that the severity of Job's affliction would not result in God being glorified; but in the righteous servant greatly sinning against God and cursing Him to His face. Likewise, Satan's great hope as Christ lovingly paid the price of hell: was that the affliction of hell would be so great, so awful that Christ would sin against God, and in effect, curse Him. Jonah, chapter 2, paints a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus enduring hell faithfully. He did not curse God. He endured the trials of the second death perfectly: Philippians 2:8-"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, And became OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, even THE DEATH OF THE CROSS. Death, in the Bible points our attention to hell. Philippians 2:8 informs us that Jesus was obedient all the way through His experience of suffering the equivalent of eternal damnation. Let's go back to Jonah chapter 2 and see the Lord obediently triumphing over the depths of hell:

(7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This is God's lesson for us, I think. Christ is our example in all things. Trusting God carried Him through eternal damnation-----surely then, (if the Lord move us to do so) we can cast our petty cares upon Christ: and offer unto Him thanksgiving for His tremendous gift of eternal life.

Finally, if any one reading this is still unsaved, consider this: If the experience of hell broke and crushed the Spirit of eternal God Himself-----WHAT IS THE WRATH OF GOD GOING TO DO TO YOU? To you, who are no more powerful than a flea in comparison to Almighty God. To you, a poor wretched creature who is as weak as God is strong; who is as little in your being as God is as enormous in His infinite majesty. Can you not imagine the power of God's anger? How will you do as you experience eternal damnation? Will you pray faithfully in the pit of hell----even though you do not pray faithfully now? Will you suddenly offer up to God with the voice of thanksgiving in your eternal agony? No, my friend, you will be crushed as the grape in the great winepress of the wrath of God; and you will curse God all the more because of your affliction.

Each chapter in the book of Jonah teaches us about some aspect of God's salvation program: Chapter 1 gives us all of the spiritual information of Christ becoming a man and dying for His people's sins. Chapter 2 then reveals to us that the death that Christ had to die was the 2nd death (the equivalent of an eternity in hell for all those whom would believe upon Him). What does chapter 3 teach us about Christ? If chapter 2 teaches us about Christ's death-----then who does Jonah represent in chapter 3?

We saw as we looked a little closer at the wording of chapter 1, that one of the big reasons that God permitted Jonah to flee to Tarshish was because it typified Christ becoming a man and living amongst sinners in a cursed world. Another reason that Jonah did not go to Nineveh the first time is this: Nineveh represents the world, and the gospel message could not go into the world (or Nineveh) until Christ had actually paid the penalty for the sins of His people. Therefore, following the language of Jonah being in the belly of the whale 3 days and 3 nights: we read that Jonah is vomited out of the whale and COMMANDED to go unto Nineveh. This teaches us that Christ has accomplished His great work of salvation. Now the gospel may go into all the world (typified by Nineveh).

Jonah's message to the Ninevites sounds nothing like good news. Look at verse 4: "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The message from God, which Jonah faithfully carried, was totally of judgment. It said nothing of God being a merciful God. It said nothing of God's grace. It said nothing of the love of God. It said only that they would be destroyed! Now please notice this----even though the Ninevites heard a message entirely of God's judgment: they responded to this message as though implied within, was also God's mercy and grace. Perhaps they reasoned that God would not bother in taking the time to send one of His prophets to warn them, unless He would yet provide a way of escape. Or, perhaps the reason the Ninevites responded with repentance to God's call for judgment is simply that within each human being, deep down inside of us, we know that the God with whom we have to do is also a God of great mercy.

The true gospel message that the Bible presents can sound pretty discouraging to a sinner's ears. God intends to save only a tiny remnant of mankind. This means that a vast majority of people will never become saved. Not only that, but of that tiny remnant that God does save: their salvation is completely a result of God's gift of grace in choosing them, in predestinating them to eternal life in Christ. Many sinners tend to respond to the truths about salvation by saying----what's the use, I'll just continue enjoying my sins since salvation is out of my hands anyway. God understands man's weak frame, and so He encourages us all with this verse in Jonah, chapter 3, verse 9: "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?" Have you heard the gospel call to repent and believe? Perhaps the Lord has also revealed to you that you are unable to do either (repent or believe): and this leaves you greatly discouraged. Jonah 3:9 instructs us to not let our discouragement stop us from beseeching the Lord for His mercy. It is our pride, it is our arrogance that says within our hearts that I CAN TELL! I know for a surety that God will not save me. This type of reasoning is just as prideful, and just as wrong as those who think that God must save them if they accept Him. Who can tell if God will save you? You cannot tell can you? So would not the wisest thing to do be to cry out for God's mercy as the king of Nineveh decreed:

Turn my friend! Go to Jeremiah 31: (18) ....turn thou me, and I shall be turned; (19) Surely after that I was turned, I repented;...Have your sins been beating you down? Day after day: year after year you continue to fall into the same sins that bring you terrible grief. And because of your on-going sin problem you seriously wonder----am I a child of God? Then cry mightily unto God-----that He would begin to turn you from the sins that you love so much. Cry mightily unto God for an abhorrence of the evil that has quickly wrapped itself about you, and tied you in the cords of your own iniquity. Day follows day my friend: and if you are still in your sins the deception of your own heart has brought you another step closer to that awful day of judgement that will devour your being as the lions devoured those who falsely accused the prophet Daniel. Today is still the day of salvation: so cry out this night-----who can tell? May the Lord grant a poor soul the gift of repentance this night: what a blessed Christmas this would be then.

Two questions arise as we think about this verse: what does it mean that He (God) repented of the evil? And how do we reconcile this verse with what we read in the book of Numbers, chapter 23, verse 19: "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should REPENT: hath He said, and shall He not do it?" First of all, when God says in Jonah (and other places) that He repented of the evil: He is not saying that He was guilty of doing any evil----but He repented of doing evil to those deserving of His judgement. This is where the difference comes in: in Numbers 23:19 God is stating that He has no need of repenting like a man needs to repent of his sins; because God has no sins.

Moses of course, is a clear picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage: the thing that I would like for us to remember is that God "repented of the evil"; and in doing so He (God) sets up Moses as a strong figure of Christ. Moses desires that God might not destroy Israel (a type of the body of believers) but (this is the point) that the evil that God intended for them fall upon himself. Another place where we read of God repenting of evil and sparing the populous is in the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 24: here David had numbered the people and as result God sent the Angel of the Lord which destroyed "from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men (v.15)." In verse 16 we see God's hand fully prepared to strike: (16) And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD REPENTED HIM OF THE EVIL, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, it is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite. What an awful fury God reveals to us in the Bible! Time after time we read about God sending a plague, or sending forth the angel of the Lord to destroy great numbers of people. Just think---70,000 Israelites died from this pestilence. We would all die (eternally) at the angel of the Lord's hand if it were not for God's great mercy in ---repenting of the evil against us. As we look at verse 17 we can thank the Lord for sending His Son to die for us: (17) And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. Again we see the pattern: God repents of evil (or bringing judgment) and sets up a type of the Lord Jesus in the person of King David. King David asks that the Lord direct His wrath towards himself. And seemingly in answer to this request----God spares those whom He intended to destroy. Now, as we return to the book of Jonah, let's read the verse in chapter 3, verse 10 once again: "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God REPENTED OF THE EVIL, that He had said that He would do unto them: and He did it not." The spiritual context of Jonah, chapter 3 fits the pattern that we saw with Moses in Exodus 32; and with David in 2 Samuel 24; but the question is here in Jonah----what happened to the evil? We have seen that when God repents of evil He sets up a type of the Lord Jesus in order that the intended evil (wrath of God) might not disappear in a vacuum; but instead by setting up a figure of Christ the evil is re-directed against the person representing the Lord Jesus. God remains consistent with this pattern in the book of Jonah: please go to Interlinear Bible (if you have one) and take a very close look at Jonah, chapter 4, verse 1. Lord willing, we will be looking at chapter 4 in the next message; and hopefully, we will see how Jonah has the evil that God repented of, directed towards him.

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