Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (28.5)

The Book of Jonah

Jonah Chapter 4:5-11 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

v5.  God had decided to spare Nineveh, because He saw the Ninevites had truly repented of their wicked ways, and had turned to Him.  Jonah was still so angry that he went out of the city after the 40th day to see if God perhaps would destroy Nineveh afterall.  This verse tells us that Jonah was prepared for a long wait.  He made a booth, and sat under it, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh.  God made use of this to teach Jonah a lesson.

v6.  Now the booth was sitting in the open space, exposed to wind and weather.  No doubt Jonah was feeling uncomfortable, probably feeling the heat by day, and the coldness by night. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.  See once again, how God controls his own creation.  Miraculously a gourd plant grew up instantly, full grown, so that its leaves provide Jonah with shelter from the sun and the weather.  See the love of God towards Jonah?  Have you experienced the love of God lately?

v7.  But God also prepared a worm that night and in the morning, it ate and destroyed the gourd plant.  Just as God prepared the whale to swallow up Jonah in the sea, so He now prepared the worm to carry out a mission.  The destruction of the gourd plant greatly angered Jonah.  We should learn to be content with what God has provided us.  He made the gourd plant to grow, and He sure can cause it to be destroyed.  Have you experienced something similar in your life?

v8.  Now God put Jonah through more trials. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.  Here again we see how foolish it was for Jonah, to want to end his life because of a dead plant.  Life is more precious than a plant. 

v9.  Here comes another divine rebuke. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?  Jonah should not be concerned with the gourd, for he did not plant it at all. And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.  This again shows how little reverence Jonah had for God. Have you ever had similar argument with God?  It is alright to talk with God, reason with Him, but do so in reverence, for He is God, and you are his creation.

v10.  Now God tells Jonah how ridiculous his position was.  Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a nigh.   It would have been different if Jonah had laboured to make the gourd plant grow. Then at least he could claim ownership of that gourd.  But here he did nothing, and he didn’t even own it. So what right has Jonah to be angry?  Afterall, another gourd may grow that evening.

v11.  Now God summarises His case: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?  Jonah pitied one gourd, yet had no pity for 120,000 babies in Nineveh (those that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand). Isn’t that ridiculous?  The gourd grew up overnight, but Nineveh’s history is much longer. Moreover the gourd died the next day, but the souls of men live on forever.  Therefore God is justified to spare Nineveh. Hence learn that God will always be able to justify His actions.  He has his reasons, and we do well not to be angry with Him.

Lessons from Jonah

Here are the lessons that we can learn from the book of Jonah:

Jonah disobeyed God because he did not have the righteous fear of God.  Strange as it may sound, the series of actions that Jonah took shows this to be the case.  If Jonah had a righteous fear of God, he would not have rebelled against God by fleeing to Tarshish in an attempt to escape from the presence of God.  He would not have been angry with God for saving Nineveh, or argued with God when he had no case to do so.

There are consequences for disobeying God and Jonah provide us with knowledge of these consequences.  The first consequence is that we experience disorder, chaos and confusion on all sides.  Yes the great wind and mighty tempest, the afflictions, all these can and do happen to us when we disobey God. 

The second consequence is that stubborn disobedience brings a spirit of slumber and apathy. Jonah was fast asleep when the storm and tempest was raging. There is a false sense of security, brought on by Satan, who is happy when we persist in stubborn disobedience to God.

Thirdly, our disobedience portrays God as weak and powerless. See how the shipmaster rebuked Jonah?  Moreover, our disobedience make God seems so unreasonable and even cruel, and that do not bring glory to God at all.  The mariners tried to save Jonah by rowing to shore, but they were compelled to throw him overboard, leaving him to die. Jonah's disobedience made the Lord seem vindictive. It appeared that if you crossed Jonah's God, he would hunt you down and scare the daylights out of you. Yet this wasn't the case at all. It was a total misrepresentation of God's nature.

Jonah described his ordeal as hell.  When we disobey God, we too must be prepared to face the afflictions that God would inflict upon us, afflictions that are designed to awake us, and to bring us back to God through repentence.

Jonah is a type of Christ, but he is also a type of the disobedient church today.  Can you identify yourself with Jonah?

The Bible does not tell us what happened to Jonah after this.  But one thing for sure, we should not be rebellious like Jonah.  Let’s have a reverential fear of God, for the Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.