Congratulations, you have read through and studied the book of Jonah! I hope you have learned a great deal and have gained new insight into the life of this prophet.
In Jonah chapter one (i.e., The Wind and The Waves Obey Him: A Study of Jonah Part 1), we learned that faith without works is simply not enough. No amount of contemplation or knowledge of the scripture will lead you to the fulfillment of true faith. In life, there will come many storms, but you will fall away without a confident trust in your Maker. Yet if all the hope you have to cling to is buried with the roots you dug before, you can be sure your faith will multiply like a mustard seed. Like Jonah, our storms are not always merely the course of life, but punishment from God. A careful and loving refocusing of our eyes back on His face, a tender rebuke that strikes us with its authority and cleanses us in its grace. In situations like these, we must humble ourselves and repent. Repent of our sins, repent of our hardheartedness, repent of our selfishness and pride, for a repentant heart is more productive than a prideful heart.
As we studied the second chapter of Jonah (i.e., In The Belly of A Fish: a Study of Jonah Part 2), we learned that God's mercy never has boundaries and will stretch so far that it will save us from the depths of sin and death itself. As Jonah was saved from Sheol, we must be repentant so that we also may be saved.
The unique part of Jonah's experience was not that he was saved from his watery tomb in the stomach of a fish, but that he had the faith and knowledge of God's character to be affirmed in speaking in past terms of future mercies.
Although Jonah may not (should not) be our role model for faith, humility, and obedience, we all should have the kind of faith and knowledge in and of God's character to be affirmed in speaking of future mercies in the past tense.
Chapter three (i.e., Five Words For A Sermon: A Study of Jonah Part 3) taught us absolutely nothing can hinder the work of the Lord our God. Even when the most unwilling servant is at work, like Jonah's five-word sermon given grudgingly to the Ninevites, God can use their words and deeds to show his love and merciful intent for his people and all of mankind. God can work through the obstinacy of any servant and use them for his glory, as he did with Jonah.
God's merciful beautiful intent is for us is to be transformed in and through his Son, our savior Jesus Christ, who came to redeem all of his people past, present, and future and to be made whole through his inalienable sacrifice.
The final section of Jonah, Jonah chapter four (i.e., Vines and God's Mercy: A Study of Jonah Part 4) reveals to us the destruction of pride and selfishness in our hearts. It leads to bitterness and anger and away from our purpose and our salvation in and through Jesus Christ. At times God's mercy can be hard to fathom, and in our finite, sinful human hearts, we can be bitter against God's forgiveness of our enemies' wickedness. Jonah was horribly angry at God for his mercy, he did not believe the Ninevites should be saved, but he had full faith that he would. Jonah does not understand that his sin is equal to that of the Ninevites and that God extended unlimited grace to Jonah for his mistakes. Like Jonah, we may, at times, feel justice has not been served. If God was just, our betrayer would be punished, not forgiven, our enemies destroyed not saved.
If God were simply just and not merciful, this would be our enemy's reality, but it would also be our own.
So, therefore, we should praise God for his grace and not insult him, as Jonah did. Our anger against God is not righteous, and our judgments never sound. We may believe we make relevant arguments against the wicked, but as with Jonah, they only seem petty and selfish when falling on God's ears. We must always remember and never confuse that anger against evil is righteous anger and stirred by our faith in God, but rage against those who practice evil is hatred against a brother, something we are commanded not to have. As Jonah was confronted by sin, we must also meet our sin, choosing to wander through the abundance of salvation or the desert of self-destruction.
Throughout this book, we have learned of Jonah's mistakes and of the gentile's repentance. We have seen Jonah make suicidal attempts, obey God half-heartedly, and then chew God out for his grace. This book is a rollercoaster of ups and downs in Jonah's life (mostly downs), and in his story, we laugh a bit at his pride and stare aghast as Jonah rages against God and pleads for him to take his life. We have learned so much about how not live to from Jonah, but we must ask why is this book here? As I touched on last week, it is to act as a mirror. A mirror to reflect our hearts, so that we may see how very similar we are to Jonah. Selfish, petty, and faithless. We are human, after all. We must not pretend to be righteous on our own, for we most certainly are not. We become righteous only through Jesus Christ and our redemption in him.
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