Sermon Transcript
I love the book of Jonah. It’s a book about a prophet who didn’t want to be a prophet. It’s about a wicked nation who everyone had written off as without hope of redemption. It’s about some sailors who have more respect for God than the supposed holy man. And it has a huge fish.
Those are some elements of a great story. The more that I study it, the more that I seem to learn. And just like God was never quite finished with Jonah, it seems like God is never quite finished teaching out of the book of Jonah. So here we go. I want to introduce you to a resource called The Bible Project.
That’s thebibleproject.com. Thebibleproject.com. It has some fans already. These guys, they make videos explaining different books of the Bible, or maybe just a different section out of Scripture, or sometimes it’s just an individual word that they’re explaining, but they always seem to make it interesting.
And this morning we’re going to check out part of their video on Jonah for a couple of reasons. One, I wrote out a summary of the book of Jonah to introduce our time this morning, but after I did that, I realized these guys say all the same stuff that I would have mentioned, and they do it with cool graphics, meaning you’ll pay attention, especially if you’re somebody who’s normally prone to kind of nod off. And second reason I want to show you thebibleproject.com is I hope to hook you on this resource for your own personal study. Disclaimer about these guys, I have not seen all of their material, so it is possible you could run into something that’s not awesome. But their credentials— Francis Chan partners with them, and everything that I have seen is right on the money.
So you can check them out, thebibleproject.com. Not right now, you check them out later, okay? But we’ll watch of this video. Again, I had to trim it down for time, but it’s still like 6 minutes, so you can kind of settle in. Story opens as God addresses Jonah and commissions him to go preach against the evil and injustice in Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, Israel’s bitter enemy.
But instead of going east to Nineveh, Jonah goes in the opposite direction, finding a ship going as far west as you can go, to Tarshish. Now, the big question here is why? Why does Jonah run? Is he afraid? Does he just not like Ninevites?
And we’re not told yet. So, the man of God tries to run from God, and he boards a ship full of pagan sailors. He goes down into the ship, and then he falls asleep. So, God sends a huge storm to wake up his prophet, while ironically, the sailors above board are wide awake to everything that’s happening. They can discern that there’s a divine power at work.
So they throw the dice and they discover that Jonah, he is the culprit. So they ask Jonah to explain himself and Jonah spouts off a whole bunch of religious mumbo-jumbo. He says, yeah, I’m a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God who made the sea and the dry land. What a joke, right? God made the sea and the dry land, all right, and Jonah’s dumb enough to run from this God by getting on a boat?
And when the sailors ask Jonah what they should do, he says, kill me, right, by throwing me overboard, which kind of seems noble at first until you realize this could actually be his most selfish move yet. I mean, what better way to avoid going to Nineveh? So he puts his blood on these innocent sailors’ hands by trying to force them to kill him. They’re reluctant, of course, and they repent to God even as they toss him over. The storm subsides and they end up fearing the God of Israel, and unlike Jonah, they actually worship God.
But God foils Jonah’s plans to escape Nineveh. As Jonah’s sinking, God provides this strange watery tomb for him, the stomach of a large fish. Now, of course, under normal circumstances, this would be certain death, but in this story, everything’s upside down. And so Jonah’s submarine death becomes his passage back to life. Cramped in the stomach of this beast, Jonah utters a prayer where he never technically says that he’s sorry.
But he does thank God for not abandoning him, and he promises that he will obey God from this point on, no matter what. And God’s response is quite comic. The whale vomits Jonah back onto dry land. So once again, God commissions Jonah to go and preach in Nineveh, and Jonah complies. We’re told that Nineveh was a gigantic city.
It would take days to walk through. So Jonah gets one day in, and here is his message. 40 more days, and Nineveh will be overturned. It’s 5 words in Hebrew. Now, his sermon is very short, and it’s also odd.
I mean, look at what’s missing. There’s no mention of what the Ninevites have done wrong, or of what they should do to respond. There’s no mention of who might overturn them, and most noticeable, there’s no mention of God. What’s going on here? Has Jonah intentionally given the bare minimum of information?
It’s like he’s trying to sabotage his own message, or ensure the Ninevites’ destruction. There’s just no effort on Jonah’s part. Whatever his motives are, the plan doesn’t work because no sooner does he utter this 5-word sermon that the king of Nineveh, the entire city, including all its cows, repent in sorrow and ashes. So, for the second time, these evil pagans show themselves to be more responsive than God’s own prophet. So, God forgives the Ninevites and he doesn’t bring destruction on the city.
Now, here’s the brilliant part of the story. The last word of Jonah’s short sermon overturned means just that— turned over. And it can refer to a city being overthrown or destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah, but it can also be used of something being transformed, like turned over and changed into its opposite. And so comically, Jonah’s words actually came true, but not in the way that he intended. Nineveh does get turned over as Jonah’s enemies repent and find God’s mercy.
The final chapter brings all the pieces together. Jonah, he’s fuming mad, and he utters his second prayer. He first tells God why he ran away back in chapter 1. It was not because he was afraid. Rather, it was because he knew that God was so merciful.
And this is great. Jonah actually quotes God’s own description of himself from the book of Exodus, and he throws it back in God’s face as an insult. He says he knew that God is compassionate and that you would find some way to forgive these horrible Ninevites. You can just hear the disgust in Jonah’s voice. Jonah then cuts off the conversation and he prays that God would kill him on the spot.
He’d rather die than live with a God who forgives his enemies. Fortunate for Jonah, God doesn’t comply and simply asks if Jonah’s anger is even justified. Jonah ignores the question and he goes outside the city to camp on a nearby hill, waiting to see what might happen. You know, the Ninevites might repent of their repentance and get roasted after all. What happens next is very odd.
God provides this viney plant to shade Jonah from the sun, and that makes him quite happy, but then God sends a tiny worm to eat up the plant, and so Jonah loses his shade. And there, in the heat of the sun, Jonah asks again that God kill him. So God, again, asks Jonah if his anger is justified, and Jonah barks back, absolutely, just let me die. And those are Jonah’s last words. In the story.
God’s final words are what concludes the book. He says that this whole vine incident was an attempt to get through to Jonah, right? Jonah got all concerned and emotional over this vine, which he only enjoyed for a day. And God asked Jonah, you know, aren’t humans a bit more valuable than vines? I mean, isn’t it okay if God might feel the same kind of emotion and concern for the city of Nineveh?
That’s full of thousands of people who have lost their way and also their cows. And that’s how the book ends, with God asking Jonah for permission to show mercy to his enemies. And what is Jonah’s answer? The story doesn’t say, because that’s not the point. The point is that the book is trying to mess with you.
And God’s questions here are actually addressed to you, the reader. Are you okay with the fact that God loves your enemy? And so this book holds a mirror up to the one who reads it. In Jonah, we see the worst parts of our own character magnified, which should generate humility and gratitude that God would love his enemies and put up with the Jonah in all of us. And so this strange story actually becomes a message of good news about the wideness of God’s mercy that ought to challenge us to to the core.
And that’s the Book of Jonah.
Isn’t that great? Um, yeah, clap for him. That’s great. Give them some, uh, clicks too, thebibleproject.com. So now that we have had an overview, we’re going to zero in on just one part of the story: when Jonah was inside the fish.
And by doing so, we’ll actually see 3 miracles, not just one. So let’s read our Scripture passage, and then we will jump into these miracles. We’re starting the last verse of Jonah chapter 1, and then we’re doing all of chapter 2. It’s in your bulletin insert. You can follow along on the screen or however else you want to do it.
Jonah 1:17 through 2:10. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and 3 nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said, in my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I cried for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, The currents swirled about me; your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple. The engulfing waters threatened me; the deep surrounded me; seaweed wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But You, Lord my God, brought me up from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered You, Lord, and my prayer rose to You, to Your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them, but I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to You. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say salvation comes from the Lord.
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. So we’re going to look at these 3 miracles. The first one is the one that is most often associated with this story. It’s the miracle of the fish. The fish is not really the point of the book, as we just saw, but the fish is usually what comes to mind for us when we think of Jonah.
So, let’s go ahead and address the fish so we can move on with our focus. There are at least, you could probably think of more, but there are at least 3 views on this fish, and there are probably people here who hold to each one of the views. So, first, whatever your view is, God loves you. If God loved Jonah, God loves you, and you are welcomed here. Okay, so, so the, the 3 views are: 1, there was no fish.
It’s a metaphor at best and a crazy story at worst. That’s one. 2, there was a fish. It swallowed Jonah, but he died in the fish, and then he was resurrected when the fish vomited him back out. Onto the shore.
Or a third view, Jonah lived in the fish for 3 days. Now, if you’re in the first category, there was no fish. People who believe it, it never happened, or it’s only a metaphor— usually the metaphor is describing how Israel needed to reach out to the nations around her instead of being like Jonah who was very inward and self-interested. Israel needed to be more outward in serving others like Jonah needed to be, not hating the enemies around her. For the most part, that view, that metaphorical view, seems to be motivated— and if you hold that view and this is not your motivation, you can tell me and I will repent of my observation— but it seems to be motivated by a disbelief in miraculous events, which I, which I get.
You know, you think a human can’t survive in a fish 3 days, therefore it never happened, therefore it must be some kind of metaphor for something else. Okay, I totally understand that thinking, and we’ll address that in a minute. Okay, second common interpretation of Jonah is that Jonah died in the fish, and when the fish spit him back on shore, God raised Jonah from the dead and and then sent him on his way. So, he wasn’t alive inside of the fish. He died in the fish, and then he was resuscitated later.
The best evidence for this is how Jonah prays while he’s in the belly of the fish, because Jonah, at least, seems to think that he’s dead. Verse 2, Jonah prays, from the realm of the dead, I cried out to you. He’s talking to God. Or more literally, from Sheol, I cried out to you. Sheol, or the realm of the dead, you might know, is a fairly generic term in the Old Testament referring to where you go when you die.
In some verses, in some places, it’s used with a context that makes it seem like a nice place, a place of rest, for example. Other times, Sheol has a rather neutral connotation as far as is it pleasant or unpleasant, and sometimes Sheol is translated into our language as hell. In fact, here in Jonah, sometimes it’s translated as hell. Jonah is saying, from hell I cry out to you. So, is that where he is?
The place of the dead, possibly hell. Verse 6 is similar. Jonah says, I sank down in the roots of the mountains. The earth beneath barred me in forever. That’s an image of the place of the dead.
He continues, but you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit, the pit being another reference to the exact same place. So, Jonah either thinks he’s dead or he’s being rather dramatic. But wherever he was at this time, it was not a pleasant place. He didn’t have a couch and room service. He was quite uncomfortable.
So, maybe he was in hell or some kind of place of the dead, in the pit, Sheol. Maybe. That’s a possibility. But, but I just want to— I just want to check with you, um, if that’s your position. Is there a part of you that holds that interpretation because it seems less ridiculous than Jonah living inside a fish for 3 days?
You might have a different motivation, just asking. But if that is your motivation for that, believing that interpretation, you basically have the same motivation as the first group. It’s impossible for a human to live in a fish for 3 days, so something else must have happened. He must have died and then come back to life. And if that’s the case— it might not be the case for why you want to hold to that interpretation, it might be textual-driven why you want to hold to that, that’s fine, okay— but if that is the case, if you think it’s more believable that he could have died and then come back to life when the fish puked him out.
I’ll just mention that is still crazy miraculous. Coming back to life is not a thing that dead people do. If a dead person comes back to life, that is still a supernatural miraculous event, right? Who knows, it might even be more miraculous than surviving in a fish for 3 days. Okay, maybe.
So thinking that he was dead and then came back to life doesn’t make the story more scientifically believable, if that was your goal for kind of choosing that interpretation. Okay, third view, what you would probably assume is the only view, but Jonah was really in the fish for 3 days. This is my view. You can judge me all you want. That’s totally fine.
I’m cool with that. I’m comfortable with who I am. I hold the view for 3 reasons, which I’ll tell you, and then we’ll talk about science, okay? So, first reason, chapter 1, verse 17, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and 3 nights. So, he wasn’t in hell, even though it might have seemed that way to him.
Second reason, very similar, chapter 2, verse 1, from inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. So again, where was Jonah when he prayed? Inside the fish, not in hell. Third reason: Jesus actually mentions Jonah in Matthew 12:40. Jesus says, as Jonah was in the fish 3 days and 3 nights, so the Son of Man— Jesus is referring to himself— so I must be in in the heart of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights.
Jesus does not say, as Jonah was in the heart of the earth, so must I be in the heart of the earth. Jesus says, as Jonah was in the fish, I will be in the earth. So yes, I believe Jonah lived in that fish for 3 days. Now, how did he survive, Pastor? Not by any natural means, obviously.
I do not believe it is naturally possible for a human to live in the digestive system of a fish for 3 days. Of course, I don’t believe that, right? But this is the way that I think about it. If God made the whole world out of nothing, which I know for some of us that’s a huge if, okay, granted, but, but if If He did, if God did that, then couldn’t He make a fish capable of holding a person, a special kind of fish, or maybe a special kind of person that could be in a fish? Like for our computer programmers, our computer coders out there, I think there might be a few of you here.
I’m not— am I in Silicon Valley, right? You write programs and everything within the program has to obey the rules that you define. It must. There are no exceptions. If you live inside the program world, you have to follow those rules.
But at the same time, you as the programmer or coder, you can go in and change whatever you want whenever you want to. It is not a big deal. So, if God wrote the code for this world, so to speak. One, it makes sense the world has defined rules, like you can’t live in a digestive system of a fish. That’s a rule, and we can’t break that rule, right?
Force equals mass times acceleration. There’s all kinds of rules that they are the way that they are. But also, if he is the coder, he could just change that.
I don’t have a problem with that. That’s not a big hurdle for me to get over. The problem is never, um, could God do it? The problem is, is there a God to do it, right? And if God, then no problem with God changing the code that would otherwise be very fixed and we can’t change.
So I don’t have a problem with that, but if you do, I get it. Again, I love you, God loves you, And we can be friends. I just want you to know where I am. Okay, second miracle, repentance.
We see repentance in this story, but it’s not exactly from Jonah. Both the sailors and the Ninevites repent, but Jonah struggles with it. Why is that? Here’s the uncomfortable question for us this morning. Why do some people care they have been bad and look for mercy, and other people don’t seem to care at all?
Why is that? What makes some people care and other people not care that they have sinned? Now, neither the sailors nor the Ninevites are people that we would really expect to care or get it. At the time, the Assyrians— now, Nineveh is the capital of Assyria, so all the Ninevites are Assyrians— the Assyrians were the most barbaric hated, feared empire in the whole world. Their military commanders actually wrote accounts and even created art of how savage they were.
And we still have those accounts and this art to this day. The commanders brag about things like skinning enemy captives alive and then stacking those skins like animal hides up to great heights. Or they brag about things like cutting off all of the extremities of their conquered enemies, like arms, legs, noses, ears, eyes, everything, and then impaling those victims up on poles high in the air all around the defeated city, like, this is what will happen to you when we come to your town, so fear us. They bragged about these things. These are not the people we would expect to turn to the Lord and ask for forgiveness.
They didn’t need to ask for forgiveness from anyone. They always won until Babylon came and destroyed them later. But until then, everyone they ever faced bowed down to them. Everyone asked them for mercy, and they rarely, if ever, gave it. Yet in this story, the powerful Assyrians see that they are actually powerless and acknowledge there is a King to whom they need to bow.
There is someone greater than the mighty Assyrian army, and they have offended Him. And just like that, they turn on a dime and they repent. Jonah, on the other hand, doesn’t make quite as abrupt of a transformation. He does make some progress, but it’s not like the Assyrians. From inside the fish, he trusts that God will hear his prayer.
That’s verse 2 and verse 7. He has confidence that God will get him out of the fish someday. That’s verse 4 and verse 6. So, so he believes in God’s goodness, and that’s, that’s a good start for repentance. And then he promises to fulfill his vow, which it’s a little unclear what that means.
We assume it’s either a pledge to go to Nineveh, or maybe Jonah is remembering back to his calling as a prophet when he would have first pledged to speak whatever it was that God said to speak. So, either way, it seems like he’s promising to go to Nineveh while he’s in the fish. It’s good progress. But later, after he goes to Nineveh and says what he’s supposed to say, we learn he never really wanted to do it. His heart still isn’t in line with God’s heart.
He has not fully repented. It’s like someone has, like, a heart attack, and as they’re dropping to the floor, they throw up a quick prayer like, God, if you get me through this, I’ll go build some orphanages for you. And then, lo and behold, they make it through the surgery, and they go and build the orphanages, but they’re really sour about it the whole time. That’s Jonah. He’s in process, sort of.
He has improved because earlier he told the sailors to throw him overboard, which apparently means he’d rather die than listen to God. But then God puts him in a place where Jonah thinks that he’s dead, so God’s like, okay, you’d rather be dead? Check this out. And Jonah thinks, oh, wait a minute, maybe listening to God is better than being dead. Maybe I should do what I’m supposed to do and Jonah goes and does it.
So he’s making progress, right? He no longer thinks it’s better to be dead than obey, but at the same time, he still hated doing the right thing. His actions are where they needed to be, but God is after more than that. God is after the heart. And how in the world do we change our heart?
That’s a big question. We could ask the sailors that question because their hearts seemed to change. And again, like the Ninevites, the sailors aren’t exactly the group we would expect to model the correct posture before God. Even today, and even more so back then, we have slang to describe the immorality of sailors, right? Like, drink like a sailor, swear like a sailor.
Girl in every port kind of thing. They aren’t the stereotypical most ethical group. But, but when these sailors believed that they encountered God, they mourned over their sin. They throw Jonah overboard and ask for forgiveness as they are doing it. They seem quite distraught at what they have done.
So opposite of Jonah, who hates doing the right thing, the sailors seem to hate doing the wrong thing. And they look to God, the true God, Yahweh. They actually call Him by His name, and they ask Him for forgiveness. This is the big question: why doesn’t Jonah do that? Why are the Ninevites and the sailors so willing to repent, and Jonah is so unwilling?
Why is that?
Ironically, Jonah tells us, this is verse 9, salvation comes from the Lord.
How do you change your heart? Answer, you don’t. God does.
What does God say to Ezekiel, or through Ezekiel, about the heart? God says, God says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit in you and I will move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep all my laws. God does not say, give yourself a new heart.
He says He will give you a new heart. That’s how you get a new heart. Salvation comes from the Lord.
Uncomfortable yet? Well, let’s not talk theoretically. Let’s just talk about us in daily life. Isn’t it true that sometimes we care a whole lot more than other times when we have done something wrong? Sometimes we think, you know, I know what I did was wrong, but Oh well.
I mean, I kind of hope nobody finds out, but if I can get away with it, I’ll probably do it again. Then there are other times we do something wrong, and here’s the weird thing, it might even be the exact same thing that we used to not care about, but this time nobody even needed to find out. It can still all be covered up, but we almost feel sick with ourselves that we could do such a thing, and we hate what we have done. What makes the difference? Why are we sometimes convicted and sometimes not?
Would you call remorse a choice, or does it come from somewhere else?
Listen, if you are actually able to grieve over your sin, thank God for that. It is a gift, and we don’t generate it on our own. Or you can think about your kids. If thinking about yourself is too introspective, just think about your children. Can you create remorse in your children?
Maybe sometimes, not always. Like, they do something wrong, but they clearly aren’t sorry, so you take away privileges, you levy consequences, you explain how they’re hurting people, and they might say sorry, but they’re not sorry, right? You can’t make them be sorry. And then there’s other times you don’t even need to say anything at all. They just immediately know.
They’re so humble and repentant and they’re contrite without any input from you, like, whatsoever.
Why? What makes that difference? A new heart is a gift from God. It’s a miracle. That’s why we should be asking Him for a new heart.
We should be asking Him for repentance, asking Him to do what only He can do.
Okay, 3rd miracle: God’s patience.
What kind of God would look at Assyria and say, I’m going to have compassion on them? Who would do that? When I was telling you about their evil deeds earlier, their military atrocities, what was your reaction? Was it compassion? Was that anybody’s reaction?
I say, they are skinning people alive, and you say, oh, I am concerned for them.
Anybody think that? No, like, of course not. You were like me. You had anger. You had disbelief.
You had disgust. But God looks at them and says, the Assyrians are people too. Should I not be concerned? About them.
What in the world is that?
It’s good news. That’s what it is. It’s good news. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love, Psalm 103:8, or 2 Peter 2:15. His patience means our salvation.
God is patient with the Assyrians. God is patient with Jonah. Jonah directly defies God’s instruction. Jonah essentially says, I’d rather be dead than listen to you, God. And even after he spends 3 days in a fish, he still has a huge attitude about doing what God wants him to do.
But the whole time, what is God doing? Is God, like, powering up? He’s like, I’m going to get you, Jonah. Light you up, boy!
No, it’s like Jonah. Come here, let’s talk about this.
He’s patient with Jonah. You might right now, you might be thinking like, excuse me, I have a little question, slightly obvious point, just want to throw out here. Getting swallowed by a fish doesn’t seem very patient, right? Okay, fair point. I’m glad you brought that up.
Just a question for you to respond to your question. When Jonah gets swallowed by the fish, was that God’s wrath or God’s mercy? Was it God’s wrath or God’s mercy when Jonah was— while you’re thinking about what you would call it, let’s just see what Jonah thinks about that question. From inside the fish, Jonah says, God loves me? That’s verse 8.
And then he shouts, he actually shouts grateful praise to God from inside the fish. That’s verse 9. So don’t miss this. From inside the fish, Jonah never says, God squashed me in his anger. He never says that.
From inside the fish, he believes that God is patient with him. Jonah never speaks of God’s wrath. Now, Jonah hasn’t gotten himself all figured out yet. He’s still angry when he goes to Nineveh. He’s still a work in progress, like we talked about before, but Jonah knows one thing.
He knows who he’s tangling with. He knows God is good. Which shows what a phenomenal Father God is. What, what kind of father would you need to be to discipline your kid? I mean, in the order of magnitude that you have a fish swallow your kid.
Now, some of us are like, I, I actually hadn’t thought about that disciplinary technique. I’m kind of maybe Maybe you’re kind of like, I’m new to Christianity. Is this what we call biblical parenting?
Like, is there a Christian bookstore somewhere that I can buy a giant child-swallowing fish? You know, like the next time my kid has too much attitude, I can just kind of like wheel the tank out and be like, you want to go back in there? No? Remember when you were in there last time? You ready to straighten up?
Okay, I’m just going to leave this right here as a visual reminder of what might happen. So, you discipline your kid. Just envision this. You say, go to your room. You’re grounded.
I’m taking away the phone. Get in the fish, whatever. You’ve decreed the punishment.
And as your kid is serving her time, you hear yelling and shouting, but you can’t really make out what is being said. Now, you’d assume they’d be shouting something like, this isn’t fair! I hate you! You don’t love me! I’m leaving!
That’s what you’d assume they’d be shouting. That might be, like, normal. But as you listen, your kids are actually yelling, I know Dad loves me. I’m grateful for Him, and I will shout His praise!
That’s how patient Jonah believed God was.
Jonah thinks from inside the fish, God is giving me more time to get my act together. That’s why I’m in here. I’m in the fish so that I can get my act together. God is being patient with me.
That’s what Jonah thought.
Listen, do you know that’s the kind of patience God shows all His children?
Do you know that’s how God longs over you, for you to repent? Or do you think God is out to get you?
Do you think God longs for your suffering? He doesn’t. If He were out to get you, you wouldn’t be here. He’s being patient with you. Wanting you to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9, not wanting anyone to perish, but wanting us all to come to the knowledge of the truth. And even if we don’t get it right away, like Jonah didn’t get it right away, what does God do? Does God, like, throw up His hands in a rage and write us off as lost? No, He keeps working with us.
Jonah, He says, should I not be concerned about this city? Right up to the end of the book, God never gives up on Jonah. Listen, for the person here who is not yet convinced that God is being patient with you, for the person who thinks, I’ve been too wrong too often for God to have any patience left, Consider this. Do you know God is able to show us ultimate patience because no patience was shown to Christ? Do you know God is willing to keep you alive in order to give you a chance for repentance because Christ was not kept alive?
Do you know God will always listen to our cry of distress like He listened to Jonah’s cry of distress because He didn’t listen when Christ cried out from the cross?
He loves you.
He’s patient with you. And He’s giving us time to get home to Him.
Let’s pray together. Father, thank you for your patience. Thank you that you want all of us to come to repentance. Thank you for the gift of repentance, Lord. We pray that we would have remorse over our sin.
We pray that we would desire you more than created things. We pray that you would give Give us a new heart so that we would long only for you, Lord. We all need that. Increase that in us.
We pray all those things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
