A Ticket To Tarshish

Jonah was a prophet of God in Israel around eight hundred years before the coming of Christ. He is thought to be amongst the earliest of the named writers whose prophecies we have in our Bible. Jonah is called God’s prophet in 2 Kings 14:25-27. He prophesied the successful recovery of occupied land by King Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Most of what is known of Jonah comes from the book that bears his name. It tells of his calling to preach to the heathen city of Nineveh and his reluctance to do so.

Finding Christ in Jonah

There is no reason to doubt that the book of Jonah was written by Jonah himself. Its divine authority is confirmed in the New Testament by the repeated testimony of Jesus who declared, ‘an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas’ (Matthew 12:39). From this we understand Jonah to be a sign or type of the Lord Jesus. His three days and three nights in the whale’s belly typifies the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A personal testimony

Jonah was instructed to preach against the sin of Nineveh a large and growing threat to Israel. He was to warn the people of God’s impending judgment upon their sin. However, he was reluctant to undertake this task because he knew God was merciful and this was a problem to him. Instead he boarded a ship bound for Tarshish. The ship was beset by a mighty storm, and at his own request Jonah was thrown into the sea. He was swallowed by a great fish but remained alive and conscious in the belly of the animal for three days. 

A relevant message

The book of Jonah contains many enduring truths and practical applications of God’s dealings in grace with His people and His judgment against sin. Jonah is relevant to Christ’s church and the ministry of the gospel. The Saviour told those of His day, ‘The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here’. It is always important to keep focused on the Lord Jesus in these Old Testament passages, especially when the Saviour Himself leads us to do so.

The power and goodness of God

In the coming weeks, God willing, we shall witness the mercy of God to repenting sinners and the early evidence Jonah’s story gives of grace being shown to Gentile nations. We shall see the sovereign power and goodness of God in nature and providence as well as in salvation. We shall obtain an insight into the defiance and contrariness of the best of men in this life, a warning to us all. We shall be reminded of the role and work of gospel preachers and ministers of the word.

The story begins

Our tomorrow verses deal with the call of God to Jonah and Jonah’s effort to flee his responsibilities. We shall hear how God marks the sinfulness of man, notes the iniquity of cities and ultimately of nations whose ‘wickedness is come up before me’. We shall note how God holds men and women personally responsible for their sin and how the delay of justice should not be perceived as an absence of accountability. 

God’s will revealed

We shall note the determined effort of Jonah to avoid ‘the presence of the Lord’ and thereafter God’s action to restrain the wayward prophet and turn him around. We shall give attention to the religious efforts of the heathen master of the ship and his crew to call on their respective gods to deliver them and the practical steps they took to lighten their vessel and keep it afloat. We shall draw some implications for preaching the gospel today. 

An enduring lesson

The dispatch of Jonah to Nineveh by the Lord is itself an act of mercy. Being warned of impending judgment gives opportunity for repentance. The sinners of Nineveh, so cautioned, were given a way of escape. Hearing the gospel is a privilege of mercy by Almighty God. ‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?’ May the Lord give us ears to hear.

The burden of Jonah

Finally, we shall make some personal applications as to the means and method of the Lord in converting His people as He constrains and directs our insensible hearts according to His great love and wisdom. As Jonah slept it was as though hell opened wide to consume this little ship and its passengers. Today, the souls of men and women are in imminent danger of destruction unless the Lord sends a preacher with the gospel of saving grace.

 Amen.