Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Stephen has been teaching the Bible for over four decades, and we bring you these messages to help you know God, think biblically, and live wisely. Just before Stephen's message today, please take a moment to like and subscribe to this podcast. that helps more people find this biblically faithful teaching.
Now, here's Stephen. God is saying, I think this: listen, Jonah, these people in that city. living around that palace. And those leaders and the hoi polloi. and the people who have enough money to live within the city gates where it's safe.
The truth is, they can't figure out the difference between their right hand and their left hand. In other words, they have no moral parameters. They're wandering around without moral guidance into doing whatever they think makes sense, but in reality they are entirely confused.
Well, now, having studied. This little journal. of Jonah together with you. And now ending it in this session, I'm convinced that Jonah would rather have ended with chapter three. In fact, had the book of Jonah ended at chapter 3.
He would have gone down in history as the greatest. Evangelist. to have ever lived. or preached. Imagine in 40 days of preaching, an entire nation has repented.
And followed after God. And not just any nation, we're talking about the dreaded Ninevites whose cruelty and idolatry was known all around the ancient world. Jonah's world would be shocked by the news. from the king all the way down to the commoner. They have all repented.
And they have thrown themselves on the mercy of God, and it has been. Absolutely amazing. Frankly, if it had ended there and had Jonah lived today, This would have Been front page news for months. He would have been sought out for advice by every Christian leader on the planet. Evangelists and pastors would be paying high dollars for his outlines that he preached in Nineveh.
He would be interviewed by the secular media, even. In fact, I'm sure he'd win Times Man of the Year and win the Nobel Peace Prize for the impact of his life. There would be revivals springing up, I think, all over the country. Banners outside, Tent Crusades would promise a revival like Nineveh here this week. books would be produced with titles like Effective sermons for effective evangelists.
How to preach like Jonah without swimming with the fishes. These just came to my mind as I thought about it. The strategies for reaching pagan unreachables, how to win a city in 40 days. Or less, I think these books would have flown off the shelves as Jonah began his bus tour, instructing the believers throughout the Mediterranean region on how to plant churches in former pagan temples. Christian bookstores would have life-sized cardboard cutouts of Jonah so everybody could have their picture taken with the greatest.
Humblest. Servant. of all time. Think of the possibilities. I just took a few minutes to think of these.
Evidently this didn't happen. in the American Church. Fortunately, None of that happened. Because Unfortunately for Jonah. There's one chapter left.
And as far as Jonah is concerned, this little book is one chapter. Too many. Actually, It's just like God to record the rest of the story. The part of the story that will protect Jonah. from becoming a celebrity.
for centuries to come. Instead, it will keep him in the category of a normal clay pot. That God just so happened to use For his own glory. And all of this would happen not because of Jonah, but because of Jonah's God. And frankly, if I do apply it to our scene today, I believe the church today is far too quick to make superstars out of saints.
The church has way too many celebrities and not enough. Clay. Parts. For that and for other reasons, I believe this is a wonderful chapter and most needed because God is going to ask not just Jonah some penetrating questions, but He's going to ask every one of us. The same things.
In this chapter, Jonah will be asked three questions by God. The first question has to do with Perspective. The second question has to do with priorities. And the third question will have to do with Passion. Let's go back to chapter 3 and get a running start with verse 10.
When God saw their deeds, that they turned away from their wicked way. Then God relented concerning the calamity which he had declared he would bring upon them. and he did not do it. But it greatly displeased Jonah. And he became angry.
Now, if you have never read the biography of Jonah given to us here before, this would come, I'm sure, as a surprise. Can you imagine someone preaching a 40-day campaign? A meeting, and everyone is converted to faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the preacher goes home angry because, would you believe it, everybody got converted. I've never been more angry in my life.
Well, that's exactly what's happening here. You would expect Jonah here to break out in great praise. Praise God, every lost pagan. got converted. But this is the very thing that caused Jonah to run from God in the first place.
In fact, Let's let Jonah. Explain it for himself, verse 2. He prayed to the Lord and said, Please, Lord. Was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this, I fled to Tarshus.
I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. In other words, Jonah had run from Nineveh in the first place, not because he was afraid that no one would listen, he was afraid that everyone would listen. And he hated Ninevites as much as Ninevites hated the Jews. And again, you need to understand Jonah is a superpatriot. He is a defender of Israel and Israel's belief, misguided though it is, that they are the sole owners of.
Israel's God. No wonder. Jonah prays in verse 3: Look there. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.
Now if you can imagine that Jonah would rather die than not be able to get his own way. But one author put it this way, Jonah prayed his best prayer. In the worst place, The fish's belly. And he prayed his worst. Prayer.
in the best place. In Nineveh, following this great awakening. His first prayer came from a broken heart, and his second prayer came from an angry heart. And so God suddenly asks. Jonah, a question that we're all allowed to hear.
It's in verse 4. Jonah, do you have a good reason to be angry? Doesn't that sound like a parent? Do you have a good reason for doing that, for feeling that way? This is a question of perspective.
He says, look, we're looking at the same thing. And I'm viewing it differently than you are, obviously. Like Jesus Christ, who looked out over the city of Jerusalem and he wept. Luke 19, 41. Or Paul, who walked around the city of Athens that had more statues, historians tell us, lining the streets than people.
And he was filled with alarm. He was, the word is distressed, Acts 17:16. Jonah looks at the city of Nineveh. That is now converted. And he gets angry that God has shown them mercy.
And so God asks him gently, kindly. Basically, saying, listen, Jonah, we're looking at the same situation. We have two totally different perspectives. I and the hosts of heaven are rejoicing and you're mad. You're getting madder by the minute.
Which one? Which perspective do you think is most reasonable. Did you notice, by the way, all the great theology that Jonah laid out in verse 2, Lord, I know a lot about you. I know you're gracious and compassionate. and long suffering.
and kind and merciful. But none of that affected. his perspective and it certainly didn't affect his emotions. You see, he just didn't want the truth. to control his life.
He could quote it. But he didn't want to live it. Can you imagine someone coming to faith in Christ and you mutter under your breath, oh no, not him. Not her. I hope it doesn't stick.
It's exactly what Jonah is saying here. Look at verse 5. Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade. until he could see what would happen to the city.
Now were there no places for him in the city to sit? Of course, there were. The king's own palace would have been open to him. It would have been a wonderful retreat. But Jonah isn't going to hang around the Ninevites, even converted ones.
They're not his kind of people.
Now watch as God sets up. The next penetrating question for Jonah, who is We've mentioned a prodigal prophet. who, by the way, in this text is acting more like the prodigal's older brother. Who's angry that his younger brother has returned and is now being treated with kindness? And mercy, isn't he?
by the Father. For six.
So the Lord God appointed, you ought to circle that word, it showed up earlier, you remember? The Lord God appointed a plant. And it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head. to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.
By the way, this is the first time in this story that Jonah has something he's happy about. It's the first time the word happy has ever appeared in Jonah's, at least the last few months. But would you notice how God is sort of setting the stage, verse 7? But God appointed a worm. Same word again, appointed a worm.
When dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant. and it withered. The word here refers to a fruit grub. It gnaws on the roots of vines and plants, and it attacked this particular plant under divine orders. And by the way, you cannot help.
But notice that God has appointed a great fish, God has appointed a plant. God has appointed a worm and they all obey his commands. Everything in this book obeys God but Jonah. Everything responds to God's command. The storm, The great fish swallowing Jonah, the great fish spitting Jonah up.
now the plant, then the worm, and don't forget the Ninevites. They all surrender to God. And his command, and even the wind. Notice verse 8. When the sun came up, God appointed, same word again, He appointed a scorching east wind, literally a Sirocco.
This is a hot, bursting. dust storm that can last for days. And the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint. Literally, he fainted. Away.
He revived. He begged with all his soul to die, saying, Death is better to me than life. Then God said to Jonah, Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant? And Jonah said, I have good reason to be angry even to death.
Now, forgetting for the moment that he's actually arguing with God. The first question exposed a misdirected perspective. This second question exposes a mistaken perspective. Priority. Frankly, a test of priority is this.
What do you get excited about? And what do you get angry about? What turns your engine on? and what burns your engine up. Those are the things in your lives that would be priorities.
They come first. They affect your emotion. your mind and heart. Jonah is is miserable. Don't miss the fact that he's miserable because he's brought it on his own head.
His own selfish anger. He could have been in the palace, away from the sun, away from the dust storm, sipping Assyrian sweet tea if they had it. But no, not Jonah. I want the Ninevites wiped off the face of the earth. Jonah may have preached the message of God's Mercy that led to a national awakening, but Jonah himself is in need of reviving.
He moves from anger in verse 1. To happiness in verse 6, and now he's angry all over again over the conversion of sinners, and he's But he's happy for the moment at the creation of this plant. He's comfortable. And that happens to be his priority. What matters to me matters most.
Ladies and gentlemen, what makes you and what makes me happy And what makes us angry reveals more about our priorities, more about how we're wired, more about how we're living than probably more than we'd like to know. You say, but I can't believe. That Jonah really got upset over the condition of a plant, more so than the condition of people. He did. But not us.
Oh? Do you think people care more about their shrubbery than they do people? Ask the average church member how much time they spent on their lawn compared to how much time they spend reaching the lost. Find out how much time they focused on feathering their nest. Then on winning the world, and then ask the penetrating question: what really is our priority?
Who are we kidding? I was listening to an interview with a Washington Post reporter. He said It seems obvious from polls that even those who say they don't believe In the use of abortion to terminate a baby's life, they're voting for a candidate who supports abortion even up to the time of delivery. Why? Here were his words.
I jotted them down. Because this man said, this is a rather chilling admission: quote: even those who care about abortion. Evidently, do not care about it as much as they do about their own personal. economy. Jonah cares more about his life.
His own personal comfort. Than he does people's lives. He would fit nicely into the American culture of the 21st century. He would fit in well.
So before we say, I can't believe he's upset about a plant and it's not comfortable anymore for him, and his life is discomforted and miserable, and he's upset. And the wrong people are are moving into the wrong place. We better think twice. Verse 10. The Lord then said, Look, you had compassion.
on the plant for which you did not work. and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight, and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, that great city in which There are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right hand. And their left hand. as well as many cattle.
See, the first question had to do with misdirected perspective, the second with mistaken priority, the final question has to do with misguided passion. Should I not feel Compassion. On Nineveh. Should I not be moved with pity? and mercy.
Should I not be moved on their behalf? See, Jonah had to learn the difference between what is perishable and what is permanent. And frankly, ladies and gentlemen, everything on this planet is in the process of perishing. Except in the spiritual realm of God's glory and the lives of people who will live forever.
Now you notice What God points out to Jonah about the Ninevites back in verse 11, look there again. He says there are 120,000 people who don't know their right hand from their left. Interesting phrase.
Some Bible scholars believe this is a reference to children. who haven't learned the difference. between their right hand and their left hand. You know how they got to go left hand. Right hand.
They just haven't gotten it yet. Uh could be. Perhaps God is pointing out that this judgment will take the lives of 120,000. Toddlers. I don't think that's it.
I believe this is a reference to the people who live within the city walls. Not counting the outlying suburbs where you have 500,000 more people who will also die. God is saying, I think this: listen, Jonah, these people in that city. living around that palace. And those leaders and the hoi polloi.
and the people who have enough money to live within the city gates where it's safe. The truth is, they can't figure out the difference between the right hand And their left hand.
Now, what does he mean by that?
Well, in the Bible, the left hand is the place of ruin. or spiritual blindness. Jesus Christ said that he will set his sheep. On his right hand, and he will set the goats, that is the unbelievers, they'll be placed at his left hand. Matthew 25:33.
Christ is said to have ascended to the right hand of God the Father, which is the place of prosperity, so to speak, or blessing. Galatians chapter 2, verse 9 speaks of extending the right hand of fellowship. place a blessing. Psalm 73 in verse 23, David rejoiced, saying, I am continually with you, for you have taken hold of my right hand. The right hand in Scripture stands for that which is good and effective, and the left hand stands for moral.
compromise and blindness and coming. Judgment. God is basically saying this, using this idiom with Jonah to say, look, these people are so confused, they do not know the difference between right and wrong. In other words, they have no moral parameters. They're wandering around without moral guidance into doing whatever they think makes sense, but in reality, they are entirely.
Absolutely. Confused. Imagine Going back centuries, you have the use of The right and the left side or position in life. Listen to Solomon, who put it this way in Ecclesiastes 10:2. A wise man's heart directs him toward the right.
But a foolish man's heart directs him toward the The left. But do we care? About those who are so upside down. They don't know their right from their left. They don't know which is good and effective and a blessing and that which is blind.
Wandering. Jonah, should I not have Passionate feelings. for these people and all their livestock.
Now we're not given. Did Jonah's answer? I'd like to think it was the right one. And Jonah packed up his stuff and headed back into Nineveh to start discipleship training classes. There seems to be some evidence that he did.
In fact, the the hill Around Musul, the tell where they discovered Nineveh. was known for centuries as Jonah's Hill.
Furthermore, I have learned that Assyrian Christians living in Masul today, which is the place of ancient Nineveh. Those believers still relate Their salvation back to the coming of Jonah. to their forefathers. And listen, they are extremely grateful to this day that Jonah came preaching. The gospel.
of God. They trace it back to there. Before we wrap up the study, I have to Quickly refer to one. who was greater than Jonah. I wanted to do an entire sermon on this, but we'll tuck it in here.
In Matthew 12, verse 41, the Lord said, The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment. and will condemn it. because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold. a greater one than Jonah.
is here. Jesus is greater than Jonah. The Ninevites repented at the At the preaching of Jonah, but Jerusalem wouldn't repent at the preaching of Jesus, so. Was he really greater in that sense? He was, how?
Well, they're both Jews. And they were both prophets. But Jonah was a man. Jesus was the God-man. John 1.
Jonah preached the message of only judgment. Christ preached a message of repentance. and salvation, John 3. Jonah almost died for his own sins. Jesus died for the sins of the world.
1 John 2. Jonah's ministry was to one city. Jesus Christ's message. will circle the globe. Revelation 19.
Jonah didn't love the people he came to rescue. Jesus Christ had compassion for the lost and came to seek And to save them, Luke 19. Jonah waited outside the city, hoping God would not forgive those who hated the Jews. Christ was put on a cross outside the city. praying that his Father would forgive those.
Who hated him? Jesus Christ is greater than Jonah. In a million more ways than that. All the more reason to follow him.
So the book ends with a question. Interesting. Only Nahum and Jonah end with a question. in the Bible. And both books end with a question about Nineveh.
Naam about its Judgment and and Jonah about its Salvation or it's mercy, the mercy of God.
So you have the ending here with the questions of perspective and priority. and passion, and it occurred to me that we can't answer for Jonah. But we can answer for ourselves. What would your answer be? As it relates to perspective, At priority.
and passion. Let's give God the right answer. Shall we? Let's obey him like the wind and the waves and the fish. And the worm.
Let's obey him like that. Let's say to him, Lord, command away. Command away, I am yours. Use me, send me, let me be, as we sang, a light shining in the darkness. As our culture grows darker and darker and darker yet.
I don't want to be a prodigal. I don't want to be the prodigal's older brother either, do you?
So, Lord, let me just obey you like that worm did. I'd like to at least match the worm. That's my goal. And that fish. That'll be enough for me.
And I'm sure for you.
Well, as we leave this This journal. of a prodigal prophet. The hero of the story is clearly not Jonah, is it? And it'll never be you. or may.
It'll always be God. There's no need for Jonah's autograph. or photograph. The hero is our gracious. compassionate Long suffering.
loving merciful. God. To him be praise and honor. and glory Forever. and ever.
And all the people said, Amen. That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart, a production of Wisdom International. Learn more at wisdomonline dot org.
