The Man Who Said No (Part 1 of 2)

Have you ever found yourself out of sync with God's purposes or His will, thinking your plan was better than His plan or maybe you knew what He wanted you to do, you just didn't want to do it?

What happens when we try to outmaneuver God? We're considering questions like these on Truth for Life Weekend as Alistair Begg begins a study in the book of Jonah. Jonah chapter 1 and verse 1, the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own God, and they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep?

Get up and call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish. Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.

They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from?

What is your country? From what people are you? He answered, I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. This terrified them, and they asked, What have you done?

They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so. The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us? Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm. I know that this is my fault, that this great storm has come upon you.

Instead, the men did their best to roll back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the Lord, O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased. Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. Father, we pray that with our Bibles open before us, you will be our teacher. We freely acknowledge that we do not have the ability to speak or hear or understand or have the Word applied to our lives without your divine enabling. And so we pray that you will set us free from every distracting influence, that we may turn our gaze to you, and that beyond the voice of a mere man we may hear you speak in a way that is life-changing. For Jesus' sake we ask it.

Amen. Now, again, those who know the Bible will know that there are a variety of styles of writing within the Bible, that the Bible, if you like, is almost a library. It is a compendium of sixty-six books written by over forty authors, written over a period of hundreds and hundreds of years, and yet possessing a unity and a clarity of focus that points to its divine inspiration. One of the genres of literature that we find within this compendium is that which we refer to as prophetic writing. And there are some sixteen books of prophecy which come in the Old Testament.

Those books begin with Isaiah and the end with Malachi—Malachi being the last book that we have in the Old Testament. Four of those books of the prophets are referred to as major, and twelve of them are referred to as minor—the major ones being Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, the minor ones containing this book here, the book of Jonah. Now, the reason that they're referred to as minor prophets is not because of any lack of significance in them, not because they were any less inspired or any less important. Minor is not an expression of the value of the book.

It is simply an expression regarding the size of the book. And so when you, for example, compare Ezekiel in all of its length to Jonah here or to Nahum or to one of these other smaller prophecies, you can understand why they were called minor prophets. Now, each of these men, as prophets, were, if you like, in between men.

They had a responsibility to stand in between God and the day and age in which they lived. When you read the prophets, you will discover that their personalities come through and their circumstances pervade their writings, pointing to the fact that while God's Word, through human instrumentation, is supremely and expressly divine, that God has not picked up people and used them as a stenographer would use a typewriter. But he has taken the circumstances, the life, the background, the personality, the interests, the passions of these individuals, and coming with his Word to them and then through them, it takes into account who they are and where they're from and the context into which they're speaking at any given moment in time. Now, that is to remind us of the fact that ultimately the message of the prophets is not natural, but rather it is supernatural.

And each one is distinct in its emphasis. Jonah is different from the other eleven in one particular way. If you read the other minor prophets, you will discover that what you have there is largely the record of the things that they said. The Word of God came to Nahum, and Nahum said this, and then he said this, and then he said this, and then he said that, and he said that, and then it ends.

And the same as you go through the rest. When you come to the book of Jonah, as some of you would notice, you are introduced not to the pronouncements of Jonah, which are actually very, very few, but we are introduced to a narrative, to an unfolding tale, a story, an historic story, but one that picks us up and carries us along as we read of the events surrounding the life of this particular servant. In this respect, it is akin to what you find in the book of Kings regarding Elijah and Elisha. Because when you read the stories of Elijah and Elisha, you read these amazing stories and you're swept along in the narrative—tremendous, miraculous things taking place as Elijah and Elisha do and say what God demands of them. Now, that ought not to be a surprise to us, because when you're seeking to put Jonah within a historic framework, you will find that he is a contemporary of Elisha, that he is, if you like, the generation coming behind Elijah, and he would be a younger version of Elisha—a successor to them both. And it is, of course, quite interesting that this little book is full of the miraculous as well. It is impossible to read the story of Jonah without bumping up against things that immediately we say of them, How in the world could that possibly to take place? This doesn't make any sense to me at all.

I've never heard of such a thing. Now, what are we dealing with? Well, we're dealing with the fact that God has intervened in his time-space capsule in a way that is distinct from the run-of-the-mill unfolding of the laws which God has himself established for our benefit and for our wholeness and for our discovery. Now, that is a stumbling block immediately to some who are agnostic. And indeed, maybe there'll be some here this morning, and you frankly have stumbled over the whole issue of the Bible and Jesus and everything else, all because of this matter of the miraculous. And you've been saying to yourself, you know, if I could get over this miraculous question, then maybe I could get on to the question of who Jesus is. But since I stumble over all this miraculous Old Testament stuff, I can never get to Jesus.

Well, can I suggest to you that you turn your search the other way around? Because in actual fact, to reject the miraculous wholesale actually lies outside the realm of rational argument. This is not the purpose of my dissertation this morning, but let me just mention it going past. It lies outside the realm of rational argument.

It goes like this. I do not believe that miracles happen, therefore this could not have happened. So it is a decision that is made, I do not believe that miracles happen, therefore miracles do not happen.

It's an a priori argument. Now, that is based on faith. It's not based on science, because science has nothing to say about miracles. Science deals in the realm of repetitive activity. Science can ultimately only comment on that which can be put in a laboratory and produced and reproduced again and again and again. And scientific deduction is then made on the basis of the fact that this thing happens again and again and again and again. But the very by very definition, miraculous events are not like that.

Therefore, it takes it beyond the realm of science. When I as a believer say that I accept the miraculous, what am I actually saying? I'm saying that by an act of faith, I believe that God's Word is true. When an agnostic says that he or she rejects the miraculous, they're saying the same thing. By an act of faith, I do not believe that God's Word is true. For the agnostic, faith then is grounded in the ridiculous notions that such things could possibly be true. And they say to themselves, no sensible person would ever believe that.

And since I am sensible, I therefore do not believe it. The Christian, on the other hand, comes to the miraculous via the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For this is the touchstone and the cornerstone of the apostolic emphasis concerning the nature of Christianity itself. Paul, who himself was totally opposed to Christianity, regarded Jesus as an imposter and regarded his followers as crazy, eventually becomes the great evangelist and the great proponent of the particular claims of Jesus of Nazareth.

And what was it changed him? Well, it was an encounter with Christ. How could he encounter Christ? Because Christ was alive. And so Paul says, it is the resurrection which gives basis to everything else. One settled the matter of the resurrection, and then Jonah and the great fish simply slots into line. One settled the matter of the resurrection, and then the Genesis 1–11 narratives settle into place.

And so that's the real issue. Is there sufficient evidence in the New Testament, in the unfolding arrival of the church, in the transformation of the disciples, in the absence of a body in the tomb, in all that is evolved, is there sufficient basis there for us to say, all of the evidence points to the fact that the only reasonable explanation as to why this Christianity could ever be true is that Jesus is himself alive from the dead? And it is there that we start, and then from there we go to the rest. Now, if you read The Great Apologist, you'll finally do the same thing. And Francis Schaeffer, in the sixties and seventies, was absolutely crystal clear. Any of his writings start always from that cornerstone. So if you're agnostic today and you're stumbling over the miraculous, I'm glad that you're here, and I want to encourage you to think the issue out, perhaps the reverse of what you've been doing.

In other words, start with this real issue, and then work from there. And with Paul, you can conclude very quickly, if Jesus Christ is not alive from the dead, then the whole thing is a shambles, and there's really no reason for us to consider it at all. Now, let's just discuss this on the miraculous as we go past. And the reason I do it is because one of the reasons that people fiddle around with the book of Jonah—they call it a parable, they call it a story, they call it a mythology, and I'm talking about people who are teaching in Christian colleges and universities—one of the reasons that they do this is because they just are unprepared to bow their hearts and minds to the fact that God is God, and he can do anything he wants, anytime he wants, with anyone he wants, in any way he chooses.

Because he's God! See? But as soon as there is no place here, then, of course, we're going to have to remanufacture all the material.

Okay. What is the key to this book? I think it's in the final sentence. Verse 11 of chapter 4, the question that God asks, a rhetorical question, should I not be concerned about that great city?

Should I not be concerned about that great city? One of the things we need to learn to do is answer the questions that God is asking. What we want God to do is answer the questions that we are asking.

And that's okay. But there is tremendous profit in addressing ourselves to the things that the Bible raises. And you'll find a whole selection of them as you read your Bibles. And God is asking the question here of his servant, Don't you think I should be concerned about the city of Nineveh?

After all, it is such an unrighteous and dreadful place. Now, with that in our minds as the key to what's taking place, let's go right back to the first word of the book. The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, Go to the great city of Nineveh. Actually, in the Hebrew the first word is arise, go.

And the NIV has dropped arise. Maybe they regarded it as superfluous, because you can't go unless you arise, or I don't know what the translators did. But the fact is, the word arise is an important word, because God is not saying, if you ever happen to be passing Nineveh, maybe you could drop in and preach for a little while. He's actually arresting Jonah in the midst of his life, and he's saying, I want you to get up right now, and I want you to go to Nineveh.

I want you to arise, I want you to reorientate your thinking, and I want you to proceed in the direction that I'm telling you. Nineveh was a fairly attractive place. It was in northern Mesopotamia. It was on the east bank of the Tigris River. It had developed to a substantial city. And indeed, if you take a contemporary map and you find the city of Mosul, M-O-S-U-L, then it was opposite that the city of Nineveh had been built. So that is the place that's involved.

The great city of Nineveh. Incidentally, there are a lot of things left unstated in this little book as well. The style of it is terse. It's punchy. You know, it doesn't take a lot of time. It just says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, go to the great city of Nineveh.

You know, it's like, let's get this thing going here. Who was Amittai? Nobody says. Where was his mother? We don't know.

All those kinds of questions. Why? Because of the purpose and direction of the book. It is punchy in the way that a newspaper article may be punchy, rather than more laborious. It is not, if you like, a leader. It's not one of those boring essays in the middle of the thing.

It is far more just getting the material out and getting it out quickly. That's the place. Use the proclamation. What are you supposed to say? Well, I want you to go to the great city of Nineveh, he says, and preach against it. The reason being that its wickedness has come up before me.

Now, which part of this is difficult to understand so far? I want you to go here. You know where? Yes. I want you to say this. You understand that?

Yes, I do. So you're to go, and you're to denounce the wickedness of Nineveh. Why would God be allowed to go into this city and denounce it?

Because he is the judge of all the earth. Is the reason why Nineveh should be singled out for its wickedness? Well, apparently, it was one of the most wicked places of the then-known world. If you doubt that, you can read in Nahum and chapter 3 the striking words of God through his prophet Nahum concerning the city of Nineveh and listen to the nature of its condition. Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!

The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots, charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears, many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses, all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft. I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty. I will lift your skirts over your face.

I will show the nations your nakedness. Pretty dramatic stuff. God is enraged about the circumstances in Nineveh.

So he goes to his man, and he says, Jonah, you're my man for the moment. This is the place, and here's the proclamation. Go in there and denounce it for its wickedness. Now, the interesting thing is this, that when you read the denunciations of God, you discover that it is always in the heart of God to long that as a result of his declaration of judgment and condemnation, it may stir within those who hear it a heart of repentance and of faith, so that what he says he will do in judgment, he will end up not doing on account of his mercy. And again, the Bible answers any question that may be in our mind concerning the validity of such an assertion. In Jeremiah chapter 18 and verse 7, this is what God says, this time through Jeremiah, if at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation, I warned, repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

Okay? So he says, I want you to go to Nineveh, and I want you to denounce it. Both God and his servant know they have enough theology—at least Jonah has enough theology to understand—that if he goes and pronounces condemnation, the possibility is that the people will turn in sackcloth and ashes and repent.

And that, as we shall see, unsettles him. So the place is clear, the proclamation is clear, and what about the purpose? What is the purpose of this little book? Why is it even in the Bible? Do you ever think that when you're doing your Bible reading, and you come to this, and it starts off, A word of the LORD, give to Jonah son of Amittai? And it makes you think about your tie. You know, you start saying things like, Amittai, have a tie, do I have a tie, where's my tie?

Stuff like that. Before you know where you are, you have completely nothing to do with the Bible at all. You're going through it as fast as you can. How many verses am I supposed to read?

You look up your sheet. Seventeen. Okay, let's go.

Let's get through seventeen of them. Oh, good, that's the whole chapter. Fine. Lovely. Okay, Jonah, yes, I must come back to that sometime. Sometime.

I don't know when, though. Now, the fact is, we don't know why it's there, so we need to ask the question, why is the book even there? What has God left the book in the Bible for?

Well, there are more answers than we can even give. One is to make perfectly clear to the people of his day and to us that God's ways in dealing with nations and cities and individuals are not our ways. That it is impossible for us to explain the world geographically, historically, sociologically, psychologically. All of these things may point us in a certain direction, but ultimately, we cannot make sense of the rise and fall of empires, the advancement of cities and their demise, except for the fact that God is the God who has judged over all the earth, and he sets things up and he brings them down. Now, much of that will not be apparent to us until finally we get to glory, and we are then treated to a huge panorama of world history, and we say, oh, so that's why that happened. So that's why that place never prospered.

So that's why this came to nothing at all. And the book of Jonah is a classic reminder to us that the actions of God in judgment and in mercy are not constrained by our understanding of what's taking place. In other words, we don't have to understand everything so as to give credence to the hand and the heart of God. Indeed, the fact of the matter is that our very finitude prevents us from understanding everything, and if we make the understanding of everything the basis whereby we determine what God can or cannot do, then of course we put ourselves in the place of God, and he does only what we see fit.

And the book of Jonah, classically to Jonah, says, I'm God. You go. I'll do what I'm going to do. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend.

That is Alistair Begg with a message he's titled The Man Who Said No. We'll learn more about Jonah next weekend. We're learning in this study that God's ways are not our ways. We're finding out that resisting God is ultimately futile. So what do you do when the things that impress the world are insignificant to God? How do you find significance and meaning in life? Well, you can start by reading the book Dream Small, The Secret Power of the Ordinary Christian Life. This is a book that turns how we measure success on its head. As you read Dream Small, you'll learn what God values and find out how changing your definition of success to align with his can actually bring you a greater sense of contentment. Learn more about the book Dream Small on the Truth for Life mobile app or on our website at truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for including us in your weekend. As we've begun our study in the book of Jonah, we've seen so far that his reluctance has been blatantly obvious but did you notice God's greater reluctance? We'll explore that more next weekend. I hope you can join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.