Jonah and How to Read the Bible
by Matt Faux
Ask most people on the street to name a story from the Bible and Jonah and the Whale (or big fish…) would probably be one of the most well-known, that with David and Goliath, Noah’s Ark and of course the parable of the Good Samaritan. They would know the stories, be familiar with the plot and could name the characters and yet miss the main point. As Christians we can also become familiar with these stories, know the characters and even try to learn from their examples of how to live and how not to live as God’s people, and yet still miss the main point.
You see, the small book of Jonah, is not about Jonah, or the Whale, or the revival in Nineveh. It’s not ultimately about how not to run away from God or how to do missionary work or even how to pray. I’m not saying Jonah does not include those lessons, but if we are reading the book and only looking for what it teaches us about ourselves, our life and what we need to do, then we are reading it (and any other part of the Bible) incorrectly.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 3 asks: ‘What do the scriptures principally teach?’ Answer: ‘The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.’ Which means the first question, which we should be asking, when coming to any part of the Bible, is what does this teach us about God? What does this teach us about what God is like, about what God says and about who he is. The Bible is God’s word and it is all about God. Let me show you an example from the book of Jonah.
As a whole book it is clear that God is the main character because out of the 48 verses in the book, Jonah is mentioned 17x, Fish 2x and the LORD 35x. God begins the story in v.1, God has the last word in 4:11. God sends Jonah to Nineveh, God pursues Jonah by sending a storm, God saves Jonah by sending a great fish, God hears and answers Jonah’s prayer. God reinstates Jonah in chapter 3. God turns from his anger against the Ninevites in 3:10. God appoints a plant and sends a worm and a scorching wind to teach Jonah. Do you see, Jonah is not about Jonah or the Whale but it is all about God and his sovereignty, his unsettling grace towards judgement deserving sinners, his judgement and his missionary heart. Let me illustrate this by considering what the first 2 verses of the book can teach us about God.
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)
These verses teach us 4 things about God.
1. God is Personal
God speaks, he sends his word, in order to relate and make himself known. It’s how we relate together isn’t it, we communicate and speak to one another. Jonah is here receiving a communication from the covenant LORD, from the personal God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the LORD who bound himself to his people to be their God. What would it be like to be friends with the Queen? To receive a phone call from her, to sit and speak with her? Many of us may never find out and yet the eternal God and Most High LORD wants to relate to us. The Bible is not just what God has said, but it is also what God is saying today. He is a personal and relational God.
2. God is Sovereign
Psalm 47:2 says “For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.” God is King of Kings, he is the Sovereign potentate of time, the Lord over all the earth and in Jonah 1:1-2 we see an example of God exercising his sovereign authority. His word and command to Jonah comes with no discussion, no preface, no committee meeting beforehand, it is simply a sovereign directive from the King to his servant. It comes from the LORD’s initiative, he doesn’t ask Jonah what he thinks, he simply commands and expects obedience. Therefore, we learn that as God has ultimate authority so his word demands our attention and submission.
3. God is Just
From these opening verses we also learn what type of King God is. He wants Jonah to go to Nineveh and call out against it. Is God fair, is he a tyrant and being unnecessarily cruel, is he being oppressive because they are Ninevites? No, because he gives the reason “for their evil has come up before me.” God is making a just declaration against what is wrong. Nineveh and the Assyrians were infamous for their wickedness and cruelty. The way they would burn and destroy cities, dismember captives, force relatives to carry the head of family members, pulling tongues out and killing children. God sees, God knows but he will not turn a blind eye or ignore. He justly declares that what they are doing is evil and they need judgement. This can be such a comfort to Christians who are persecuted, victims of evil; God is just and will punish. But it also leaves us with a big problem, Rom. 3:22-23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We are all guilty and justly deserve God’s judgement, but wonderfully there is one more thing from these opening verses we can learn about God.
4. God is Gracious
Why does God send Jonah? Why send a Hebrew to go 100s of miles away from his home to pronounce God’s displeasure against this pagan city? Because God is gracious, he’s showing his unmerited kindness to judgement deserving sinners. By sending Jonah, he shows his desire that the Ninevites would turn back to him. He sends Jonah to awaken and warn them, that their destruction may be avoided and they may be saved. In doing so, he is also faithfully keeping his promise to Abraham, that through his offspring all the nations will be blessed (Gen. 12:3). Each Christmas, we remember how God, in the same manner, sent his servant far away from home to a people deserving of judgement, to bring a message of hope, goodwill and salvation. Jesus, like Jonah, was sent in love, but not just to bring a message but provide the way of rescue and salvation from condemnation in his own death in the place of sinners. God truly is gracious.
The Bible is all about God and in these opening verses of this small book, we see wonderful and glorious truths about this great God, a God who is personal, sovereign, just and gracious. When you come to read the Bible, pray that God would open your eyes that you may behold wonderful things about your God, that you may bow down and adore him.
Rev Matt Faux is the minister of Naunton Lane Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Cheltenham, UK.
