English Service by Rev, DR. Willy Mutiso

THE GOD OF JONAH

SERIES: JONAH

TEXT: JONAH 1:4-17

 

The story of Jonah is so exciting that some people believe it is no more than a fairy tale filled with exaggerations. “Exaggeration is when you draw a picture of a snake and put legs on it.”

The story of Jonah is true to fact. We know that the story of Jonah and the big fish is true to fact because Jesus Christ who knows all things stated that it was true when He compared Jonah’s being in the whale’s belly three days and three nights, to His being in the tomb three days and three nights, and surviving. Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonah 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.”

If you have a hard time believing the story of Jonah, you will have hard time believing in the resurrection of Christ.

Jesus Christ stated that just as sure as Jonah had been in that whale belly three days and three nights, so would the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth!!

In the book of Jonah we see not Jonah, but the God of Jonah. Let us see the God of Jonah:-

JONAH’S GOD IS A GOD OF CONCERN.

  • The God of Jonah is concerned about everyone, even you.
  • The God of Jonah is a caring God.
  • We live in a world where people, even Christians don’t care about people around them.
  • Many people only care for a small circle of people around them, others are only concerned about their own nuclear families.
  • The lost world can truly say with the Psalmist, “No man cared for my soul.”
  • But the God of Jonah is concerned about everyone, even the most despicable humans on earth.
  • The people of Nineveh were the most despised people on the face of the earth.
  • In Nahum 3:1-8, the prophet Nahum refers to Nineveh as the “bloody city.”
  • The people of Nineveh were the cruelest and wickedest people on earth.
  • They were always at war with surrounding nations.
  • Once they conquered a people, it was their custom to cut off their hands, feet, noses, ears and pluck out their eyes with much delight to themselves.
  • They thrived on being able to torture people in different ways.
  • Everyone near Nineveh wished that God would wipe Assyria from the face of the earth.
  • When God appeared to Jonah and told him He wanted him to go to Nineveh and preach repentance to them, Jonah did not want to go.
  • Jonah knew if after hearing the gospel, the people of Nineveh repented God would spare them.
  • Jonah did not want God to spare the people of Nineveh.
  • The people of Nineveh were not only known for their wickedness, they were also known for the ignorance.
  • In Jonah 4:11, “And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand.”
  • Ignorance and Godlessness go hand in hand.
  • Jesus Christ recognized this spiritual ignorance even as He died on the cross. He looked at those who crucified Him and prayed.
  • Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
  • People who do not know what they are doing are ignorant.
  • People who are godless are wicked and ignorant, such people are dangerous.
  • Jonah wanted them destroyed. He did not want them to hear the gospel at all.
  • There are those who did not want you saved, they wanted you to be punished to death by God.
  • The God of Jonah is a caring God. He loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

THE GOD OF JONAH IS A GOD OF CONTROL.

  • The God of Jonah is not only concerned and caring, but He is God who is in control.
  • In this sinful and wicked world, we feel like God has lost control, but truth is that God is in total control.
  • There are three things that the God of Jonah controlled.
  • God controlled the wind and the sea.
  • In Jonah 4:1, “But the Lord send out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.”
  • The storm that almost sank the ship was “an act of God.” It was sent by God.
  • When Jonah got into the ship to flee to Tarshish, he thought he was controlling the events of his life, “I am my own God.”
  • But Jonah soon found out that God was the one in control.
  • God sent a mighty wind into the sea and caused a strong storm.
  • Are you running away from God? You need to know that no matter where you are running, God is waiting for you there!!
  • God will use drastic measures to get your attention.
  • Jonah soon found out the hard way that God was in control of the winds of life.
  • God controlled the casting of lots.
  • Every sailor on that ship was convinced that the storm was no ordinary storm.
  • It was a storm sent by God because He was angry with someone-Vs. 7-8.
  • When they cast out lots, the lot fell on Jonah.
  • Jonah knew that the storm was no accident, it was not coincidence that happened in the ship.
  • When the judgement of God falls on a person, they know they are in the hands of the Almighty God.
  • The mariners asked Jonah what they could do to stop the storm. Vs. 12, “And He said unto them, take me up and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you, I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.”
  • God controlled the sea and the storm.
  • God controlled the big fish.

Vs. 17 “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

  • God knew the size of Jonah, and God knew what size of fish it would take to swallow him and hold him for three days.
  • L Moody a man came to him and said, “Mr. Moody, God told me to give you these shoes. What size do you wear?” He said, “If God told you to do it, they will fit. He knows what size I wear.”
  • God knew the size of a fish it would take for Jonah “Now the Lord had prepared a GREAT FISH.”
  • After three nights and three days, the fish was tired of carrying the backslider preacher. The fish vomited Jonah where he was supposed to be.
  • Not only did that backslider make the fish nauseated, backsliders also nauseate God-Rev. 3:15-16.
  • The God of Jonah is God who is concerned, a God who is in control.

THE GOD OF JONAH IS A GOD OF CHASTISEMENT.

  • God chastises His own children-Heb. 12:6.
  • If parents love their children, they must chastise them. Proverbs 13:24, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him.”
  • Children are full of mischief and there is only one way to get it out of them.
  • Not by taking their allowance.
  • Not by cutting TV viewing time.
  • Not by taking their food from them.
  • Not by taking your fist and beating them.
  • God says chastise with a “rod.”

Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”

  • When God chastises, His chastisement is severe and there is no doubt, you know it is God.
  • For Jonah, God prepared a storm.

God prepared a fish.

God controlled the casting of lots.

Jonah could not get away with sin, no more than we can.

CONCLUSION

  • The God of Jonah is a God of second chance.
  • The God of Jonah is a God of concern.
  • The God of Jonah is a God of control.
  • The God of Jonah is a God of chastisement.
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Rev, DR. Willy Mutiso

Rev, Dr. Willy Mutiso is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Athiriver. He is widely known for his practical and dynamic teaching style which helps people apply the timeless truths of Scripture to their everyday lives.

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