Let us turn to Matthew, chapter 12—Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 12, verse 38.
Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from Thee.
But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of Jonah the prophet:
for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Then, the last sentence of verse 41:
Behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
Let us turn also to Luke, chapter 11—Luke’s Gospel, chapter 11, verse 29.
And when the multitudes were gathering together unto Him, He began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah.
For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
Let us look to the Lord again in prayer.
Dear Lord, thank You so much. By Your mercy, we may be here, and it is by Your mercy that we have received so much this weekend. Lord, now we pray that You will continue to speak something from Your heart.
Lord, we are here. How much we need You to anoint our ears, that we may hear Your word. Speak to the speaker, and also speak to the hearers. We will say, “Lord, we are here.” How much we need Your anointing. Lord, we pray that You will set Your throne in our midst. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Tonight we would like to continue to share concerning spiritual reality. Yesterday afternoon, I tried to present spiritual reality through a contrast: Jesus the Savior versus Judas the traitor.
Tonight I would like to find another angle. My emphasis will be: Jesus, the reality, versus Jonah, the shadow.
We would like to take this topic and know a little more about Jonah. We would like to know what kind of lessons he learned before God. Hopefully, by learning something from the Book of Jonah, we will be able to have a better understanding of spiritual reality.
We know that the Book of Jonah is a very wonderful book. Many people have tried to approach this book in very different ways. But I like one comment from an author, and I would like to quote it because I was touched by it.
He said:
I have read the Book of Jonah at least a hundred times, and I will publicly avow that I cannot even now take up this marvelous book, nay, nor even speak of it, without the tears rising to my eyes and my heart beating higher. This apparently trivial book is one of the deepest and grandest that was ever written. And I should like to say to everyone who approaches it, “Take off your shoes, for the place where thou standest is holy ground.”
Hopefully, by the mercy of the Lord, we are going to approach this wonderful book in this way. May every one of us take off our shoes, because we know that we are standing on holy ground.
The Book of Jonah has only four chapters. If we read it quickly, probably we can finish it within ten minutes in one sitting. Yet, even in this small book, I believe that the Holy Spirit can teach us many things.
Actually, in the verses we have just read, our Lord not only mentioned Jonah; He gave us two very important keys to open the Book of Jonah.
You remember that our Lord spoke to the scribes and Pharisees who wanted to see a sign. He said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and no sign shall be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet.”
Then He immediately gave us one emphasis:
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
This is the key to open the first two chapters of the Book of Jonah. This key is given by our Lord in Matthew’s Gospel.
But when we turn to Luke’s Gospel, our Lord again mentions the sign of Jonah the prophet, yet His emphasis is different. Listen carefully to what our Lord said:
For as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
This is the key to open the last two chapters of the Book of Jonah. So, brothers and sisters, our Lord not only tells us that Someone greater than Jonah is here; through these two angles of revelation, He gives us two important keys to open the whole Book of Jonah.
The first two chapters mainly tell us that Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. But this is only a type; this is only a picture. What is the antitype?
So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
That is the central revelation of the first two chapters of the Book of Jonah. But when we come to the last two chapters, the emphasis is that Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites.
Not only was there the sign of Jonah; Jonah himself, as a person, became a sign to the Ninevites. Three days and three nights in the belly of the fish was a wonderful miracle called the sign of Jonah. But in the last two chapters, the Holy Spirit emphasizes another aspect: through the lessons Jonah learned in the third and fourth chapters, Jonah himself became a miracle to the Ninevites.
But do not forget: this is nothing but a shadow. We say, Jesus, the reality, versus Jonah, the shadow. If Jonah is the type, what is the antitype?
So shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
Brothers and sisters, this is the main thought, the most important revelation, given by this wonderful Book of Jonah.
We know that types in the Old Testament are actually prophecies. But they are not prophecies in words; they are prophecies in pictures.
In the heart of God, He wants to show the whole universe—indeed, all mankind—something that is in His heart. This something is very important. It is not only the center of God’s plan of redemption; it is also that which stands at the center of the universe. It is the key for us to know the secret of the universe.
For that reason, when God created heaven and earth, we discover that in the first chapter of Genesis the word create is used three times. This refers to God’s original work—the work in which God created something out of nothing.
In Genesis 1, one use of the word create refers to God’s creating heaven and earth. That is the creation of the universe. The third use refers to God’s creating man according to His image. Think about it: in this universe, the two most important things are the universe and mankind. Here we find the origin of the universe and the origin of mankind.
But somehow the Holy Spirit also uses the word create on the fifth day. We discover that God created the great sea creatures, or sea monsters. Even when God first created heaven and earth, and even when He restored the earth, on the fifth day He did something very original—something according to His heart and according to His eternal will.
For that reason, God created a great fish. God had already prepared a great fish. The Holy Spirit did not use the word made; He used the word created. What does that mean?
Even way back, when we trace time to the very beginning of the universe and mankind, God had already prepared something. God had prepared a great fish.
It is true that, when we study the Book of Jonah, we know that at a certain point in time God prepared a fish to swallow Jonah. We know the story. But, brothers and sisters, in the Mediterranean Sea, long, long ago, God had already prepared a sea monster for one purpose: that one day Jonah would be in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
Why? Before Christ was born—roughly eight hundred years before Christ—God wanted to tell us something very important. He wanted to give us a wonderful prophecy, not a prophecy in words, but a prophecy in picture.
God wanted to show every one of us that one day Christ, the Son of man, would not only die upon the cross, but after three days and three nights He would rise again.
How was the Holy Spirit going to announce this good news in advance? God knows that it is very difficult for our human minds to comprehend the mystery of death and resurrection. But, brothers and sisters, this is the most important thing. This is the sign to this generation.
In God’s heart, we may have many miracles and many signs, but in the eyes of God and in the eyes of our Lord, there is no sign greater than this sign. There is only one sign left. There is no more sign.
For the Jewish people, they were craving more and more signs. But what is the meaning of miracles? What is the meaning of divine healing? What is the meaning of casting out demons? What is the meaning of signs and wonders?
It was our Lord who summarized all miracles into one. All the miracles that our Lord performed on earth—about thirty-five of them—and every other miracle recorded in the Bible have only one meaning: they all refer to one sign, which is the sign of Jonah.
Why is the sign of Jonah so important? Because the universe is going to witness a great reality. The universe will discover something very, very important.
Scientists today try to study the universe. The only thing they can discover is the power of creation. Nuclear power and chemical power all refer to God’s power of creation. But one day, the whole universe will discover another power.
I cannot say it is greater, but it is as great as the power of creation: the power of resurrection. That power is unknown to this world, unknown to human eyes, and unknown to the natural man.
Brothers and sisters, this is called the sign of Jonah. Today, everyone knows that death is real. Even if you do not believe it now, sooner or later you will discover that death is very real.
This whole planet is like a huge coffin. The sky is like the top of the coffin, and the earth is like the bottom of the coffin. Since the creation of man, you never find one who has really come out of this coffin except One—our Lord Jesus.
We are accustomed to death upon death. Consider the great historical figures. Napoleon was a wonderful figure, but where is Napoleon today? Alexander the Great conquered the world in his time, but finally he himself was conquered by death.
No matter whether you are a scientist, a professor, or a housewife, every one of us will discover one fact: death is very, very real.
But our God wants to teach us a lesson that will surprise us. Death is real, no doubt; but in the eyes of God, death and resurrection together are reality.
There is only one historical figure—our Lord Jesus—who was the first, the firstfruits among all those who sleep. He was the first One who really came out. He got rid of this gravity and came out from this great coffin. He was resurrected.
He was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, just like everyone else. Death tries to imprison us and keep us there. There you find great giants; there you find Napoleon, MacArthur, many wonderful people, scientists, and others. They are all there.
But thank God, our Lord was the only One and the first One who conquered death. Brothers and sisters, this is the reality of the universe.
The Holy Spirit tries to present this fact to us. But He knew it would be very difficult for the natural man to understand. Therefore, before the reality happened in the universe, the Holy Spirit had already given us a wonderful picture.
It is just like going to Sesame Street. When you see Big Bird, you know that is Big Bird. In the same way, when you see Jonah in the belly of the fish, you understand that one day the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
After three days and three nights, Jonah was on dry land. After three days and three nights, our Lord was risen. Brothers and sisters, this is the most important thing. This is the heart of the gospel.
This is why the Book of Jonah became a battlefield for higher criticism. Many modernists laugh at this book because they think it is impossible. They ask, “Can you believe that this book is historical?”
More than eighty percent of Bible scholars today, if you examine the statistics, do not believe that the Book of Jonah is historical. They say it is nothing but a parable. They say we do not have to take it seriously. Some call it prose fiction.
Some even describe the book as a practical joke played by God on His prophet. Can you believe that? Others suggest that the story of Jonah may be a parable. Even Martin Luther viewed the story as non-historical.
Why? The reason is very simple: the enemy of God tries to produce so-called reasons to mislead us from this wonderful book.
The great fish is much more famous than Jonah. When you come to this book, the first thing that comes to mind is the fish. Can a whale swallow Jonah?
Unfortunately, according to the King James Version, it has been translated as a whale rather than a great fish. In Greek, it is actually “great fish” or “sea monster.” I do not know why it was translated as a whale.
If it is a whale, people say that a whale has a very tiny throat—not as big as a baseball. So can such a fish swallow Jonah? They also say that a whale has many teeth, and before it swallowed Jonah, it would bite him. Then Jonah would already be finished.
But, brothers and sisters, that never happened. Many people criticize this account violently and say it is not scientific. But that objection rests upon a mistake in translation.
Even if you could not change the translation, and even if the word were indeed whale, if you visit the Mediterranean Sea, you will discover that there are many kinds of whales. There was one kind of whale with no teeth and with a very large throat. Even a large horse has been swallowed by such a whale. This has happened in history.
So it is no problem for Jonah to be swallowed by the fish. The problem is with the minds of these people. Their knowledge is so limited. They know only one kind of whale. They do not know that God loves variety. God created many, many whales.
One kind of whale, or great fish, God had already tailor-made. Many years before Jonah was swallowed, God said, “I am going to create a great fish.” Why? Because He wanted to teach mankind the most important lesson concerning the great reality: death and resurrection.
God did not merely arrange affairs at that time. No, long ago there was something in the heart of our Lord. There is no difficulty if we really study the Word of God. This problem does not really exist.
The Bible says Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. That is reasonable. But think about it the other way around: if Jonah had swallowed the whole sea monster in one bite, then you would say that was a myth and impossible. But you do not find that in the Word of God.
The first two chapters concern death and resurrection. The death and resurrection of our Lord are the reality. Jonah is nothing but a type; he is nothing but a shadow. That shadow refers to the great reality.
In the first two chapters, we see Jesus the reality versus Jonah the shadow. But when we come to the last two chapters, after Jonah came out from the belly of the fish, he went to Nineveh.
In Hebrew, he used only five words, spoken with a foreign accent. He could not speak their language. He preached only one day, yet he turned the whole city of Nineveh upside down—a city with perhaps more than one million people.
How could the secret experience of Jonah in the belly of the fish have such an impact upon the world? Here we understand the power of death and resurrection. It is not a mere experience; it carries an impact into this practical, physical world.
When Jonah came out from the fish, he preached the gospel with only five words. This time he had learned a lesson. He dared not change any word. Literally, he spoke five words in the original language:
Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
It was a very simple message. Jonah did not try to expand it or elaborate upon it. It was the pure Word of God. He faithfully preached it.
What was the impact of that journey in Nineveh? The whole city was turned upside down. They all repented, to such an extent that God postponed His judgment. God is love. When they turned away from evil, God did not immediately judge Nineveh.
Why was there such an impact? Why was there such a revival? The secret of this historical revival is that, after Jonah had gone through the sign and the experience in the belly of the fish, Jonah himself became the sign—the miracle—to the Ninevites.
Why? Because the Ninevites worshiped the fish god. When they saw someone who had really come out from the belly of the fish, can you imagine what impact that had? Jonah became a sign to them.
But do not forget: this is only a shadow. Everybody in this world knows that death is real. They know that death is stronger than every general. No matter how powerful a general may be, he knows that death is stronger than he is.
One day our Lord was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. He was not imprisoned; He was only passing through. After three days and three nights, He came out. Death could not keep Him in that corner.
Our Lord came out from Hades, from the place of imprisonment. As Jonah came out from the belly of the fish, so our Lord came out from death. What kind of impact is that? Jesus Himself became the sign to this generation.
Now we understand why our Lord performed wonders and miracles. In the Bible there is one miracle after another. But if you summarize all these miracles, you discover that there is only one miracle.
There are two aspects. One is death and resurrection itself. The other is that because our Lord went through death and was risen, He Himself became the miracle of miracles to this generation.
When you study miracles in the Bible, finally you come to one conclusion: the most fascinating miracle in the universe is not merely a wonder, a thing, or a miracle itself. The most wonderful miracle in this universe is Christ Himself.
Just as Jonah became the sign to Nineveh, Jesus, the Son of man, becomes the sign to this generation. We are believers in our Lord Jesus. He is the reality.
Not only do we have the act of death and resurrection, which is the sign of Jonah; our Lord Jesus, the Son of man, has become the sign, the wonder, the miracle of miracles to this generation.
This is what this wonderful book tries to tell us. If you read all four chapters, in the first half you see death and resurrection; in the last two chapters you see that Jesus Himself is the miracle of miracles.
No wonder so many people worship Him. He has drawn many people to Himself, because our Lord said that when He was lifted up, He would draw all men unto Himself.
Throughout twenty centuries, our Lord never used a weapon, never fired one bullet, and never used force. Through the love of Christ Jesus, He has won our hearts. We are willing to become His slaves.
This is indeed the most wonderful miracle in the universe and the most wonderful miracle to this generation. No wonder the enemy of the gospel hates it. They try to offer something false. They tell lies. They say there is no God, and they say God is dead.
Even today, in the twentieth century, they ask whether we still believe that this wonderful Book of Jonah is historical. Many so-called Bible scholars say, “Let us just call it a parable.” But, brothers and sisters, it is not a parable. It happened. This fact really happened in history.
Based upon that genuine history, God gives us a type, a prophecy in picture. The antitype is Christ. The antitype is death and resurrection. Jesus is the reality; Jonah is the shadow.
But we cannot stop here. If we read the Bible carefully, we find something very interesting. We can go one step further.
If we study typology in the Bible, we want to know how these types were formed. Let me give a simple example: David is a type of Christ. We know that without doubt. But how did God produce such a type in history?
If David was to be a type of Christ, how would God form that type? The process is simple. First, there must be a model, because there must be an antitype; there must be a reality. Christ, who was to come, is that reality.
One day Christ would die upon the cross. One day Christ would be risen. In history He would come. But before He came, God got hold of David in the Old Testament and wanted to make him a type of Christ.
God arranged and shaped David’s life according to a pattern, with Christ in view. For that reason, David went through sufferings that made him say:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
David went through suffering for many reasons. One reason was that he sinned against God. But David also lived a kind of life patterned after Christ, because God wanted to use him as a type.
On one hand, David lived for himself; on the other hand, David lived for Christ. God arranged his environment and his life so that one day he could say:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
I am a worm, and no man.
How could David utter such words? David had never seen any picture of Christ. Yet in Psalm 22, David went through experiences that enabled the Holy Spirit to use him to describe what happened on the cross.
David’s life was complicated. He fell and he rose again. That was David himself. But when God wanted to make a type out of him, God arranged his life until, through certain experiences, he could utter the spirit of Christ.
The same is true of Joseph. Christ would one day be betrayed by His brethren, and Joseph also was betrayed by his brethren.
When Joseph was in prison, two criminals were there. One was saved, and one was lost. The Holy Spirit used Joseph to present Christ to us. Our Lord was the innocent One, without sin, yet He was crucified beside two robbers.
Why did Joseph become a type of Christ? Before Christ was born, God had His Son in mind. He wanted to use Joseph as a type. So God arranged Joseph’s life to go through certain experiences.
At many points, Joseph’s life was similar to the life of Christ. He was betrayed, put into prison though innocent, and later placed upon a throne. This was not by accident. God arranged his life, and here and there it reminds us of Christ.
In today’s language, we might say that God arranged the lives of Old Testament figures in such a way that, at certain points, their lives reminded us of Christ. They lived Christ-like lives before Christ was born. That was the work of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times.
David was not perfect. He was a type of Christ only in certain aspects. We cannot say that every point in David’s life was a type of Christ. He was a human being like you and me. He had failures, glory, and successful times.
When we study the lives of Joseph and David, we see how the Holy Spirit led these Old Testament figures into certain kinds of lives until they looked like Christ. The way God made them like Christ is the same way the Holy Spirit works in us.
On one hand, Jonah is a type of Christ. On the other hand, the story of Jonah presents a wonderful lesson for us. We can learn from Jonah.
God’s mind and purpose were to make something in Jonah’s life. Jonah was in the belly of the fish and became a sign to Nineveh. This part was Christ-like. But the other part of Jonah was very angry; he had failure. That part is just like us.
When we study the Old Testament, especially the Book of Jonah, we not only see typology. We see a pictorial book that teaches us how Christ transforms us into His image and how the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, guides us into all truth.
How does He make us real? If you read the Bible, you know that Jonah was not real and Jonah was not perfect. But God had a purpose. When God guided Jonah’s life, He had Christ in view.
The same is true today with us. How may the reality be realized in us? The secret is simple: we can learn many important lessons from the Book of Jonah.
We have no time, so I will present two lessons very quickly: one lesson from the first two chapters, and another lesson from the fourth chapter. Then we will see what kind of lessons we can learn and how the Spirit of truth leads us into truth and into experience, that we may be real.
Now we would like to see Jonah’s real life. We are approaching him as a person, not merely as a type. We can identify with Jonah, because what God was doing with Jonah in the Old Testament, God is doing with us today.
The Book of Jonah is full of surprises: violent sea storms, the submarine-like fish in which Jonah uttered his most difficult prayer, the mass conversion of Nineveh, the miraculous plant, and many other things.
But the shocking surprise in this book is Jonah’s refusal to carry his prophetic burden to Nineveh.
If you study Old Testament history, Moses, Elijah, and Jeremiah all shrank from their assignments for a time. But Jonah refused God in a very blunt way. Jonah’s blunt refusal goes far beyond the hesitations of Moses, Elijah, and Jeremiah.
God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh, but instead of going east, Jonah went west. Instead of going to Nineveh, he went to Tarshish. Tarshish was probably in what is today Spain.
To go to Nineveh was only about five hundred miles. But to go to Tarshish was about two thousand miles. If he took a ship, it would take at least a year and a half. If he fled from Israel and went to Tarshish, it would be perhaps three years before he came back.
Cargo ships carried very expensive goods, but they rarely arrived at the port, and they rarely took passengers. One had to wait until a ship was going to Tarshish. Then one could go.
Why did Jonah prefer to go to Tarshish rather than Nineveh? When God said, “Arise, go to Nineveh,” Jonah did arise—but he went to Tarshish. How could this be? He was a servant of God. He had learned many lessons about obedience.
At the beginning, when I studied this book, I thought Jonah was like Ezra when he was young. Ezra was very independent and had a strong personality. If I said, “Go east,” he would go west; if I said, “Go west,” he would go east. So if I wanted him to go east, I would say, “Go west.”
But we cannot apply that principle to Jonah. Jonah was not merely showing independence. He was a servant of God. He knew the presence of the Lord. He had much experience in the presence of the Lord.
For a servant of God, one moment in the presence of God is almost equivalent to a whole eternity. To miss the presence of God is a serious thing. Servants of God know how precious the presence of God is.
Yet Jonah fled from Israel and fled from the presence of God. He went to Tarshish. Why?
Sometimes, when we go through spiritual lessons, we think we are spiritual. We think we are doing the right thing. Even when we are disobedient, we may still justify ourselves. Can you believe that?
Sometimes, when we sin against God, we say, “Sorry, I sinned against You.” David confessed, “I have sinned.” Many saints confessed their sin and said, “I have sinned against God.”
But here is a servant of God, sent by God and supposedly concerned with the will of God. Yet when God said, “Go east,” he went west. There must have been a reason behind it.
Jonah did not say, “I am sorry, God. I will go now.” He really went his own way. This lesson is very real to us. It is not merely plain disobedience; it is much deeper than that.
Before we go further, let me mention one thing. In Deuteronomy 33, when Moses blessed the people of Israel, he spoke concerning Zebulun:
Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out.
This was a prophecy. In Galilee, in Zebulun, there were two great figures: Jonah and our Lord Jesus. When our Lord went out from Zebulun, He was rejoicing. That is a wonderful prophecy.
But why, when Jonah went out, was he sorrowful? Why could he not obey God in that direction? Why did he have to go in the opposite direction?
Thomas John Carlyle made an interesting statement: “I was so obsessed with what was going on inside the whale that I missed seeing the drama inside Jonah.”
We ought to know the inner world of Jonah. What made him go west? Why did he disobey God? Why did he not have to say, “Sorry”?
Jonah was not acting for himself alone. He was thinking of the people of God. He was thinking of the future testimony of God. In order to promote the testimony of God and preserve the children of God, Jonah could see the future through the telescope of time.
He was a prophet and a servant of God. He loved his people, the will of God, and the testimony of God. When he spoke of his own people, he equated them with the testimony of God.
Do you want to rescue the testimony of God? Do you want to preserve the testimony of God? If you are doing something for what seems to be a noble cause, do you consider that disobedience?
Something in Jonah made him take a very strange decision. Outwardly speaking, he appeared to be right, but we know he was wrong. Something was wrong with Jonah.
Jonah was not a beginner. He had followed God for many years. He knew God too well to disobey Him lightly. Something must have happened.
If we read the Bible carefully, we discover that Jonah was one of the most successful prophets in the Old Testament. Unfortunately, his book is among the Minor Prophets, so we think he was minor. But the distinction between Major and Minor Prophets refers to the length of the books, not to the importance of the prophets.
Jonah was one of the important prophets in the Old Testament. When our Lord said, “Behold, a greater than Jonah is here,” our Lord was certainly the greatest. But if Jonah is placed alongside Christ in this way, we know that he was not insignificant. He must have been a very spiritual and successful prophet.
Jonah exercised his ministry during the reign of Jeroboam II, the most successful king of the Northern Kingdom. Jeroboam restored Israel’s territory, from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah.
The Bible says that this was according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah the prophet.
He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet.
— 2 Kings 14:25
In Jonah’s time, the people attained a height of prosperity with no parallel in the history of the kingdom. Before Jonah wrote the Book of Jonah, he was already a very successful prophet.
When he exercised his prophetic ministry, it was effective. What he prophesied came to pass. His prophecies were fulfilled. When the whole nation was in great prosperity, it meant that God was with him.
Jonah had followed God for many years and accumulated wonderful experience. In today’s language, we might say that here was a servant of God who was not only spiritual, but who had truly learned something. He had the approval of heaven. When he ministered, there was fruit.
Everybody could see the fruit, and Jonah himself could see the fruit. But unconsciously, when he had a wonderful past and a wonderful history, something began to take place in his inner being.
Even such a spiritual and successful prophet was capable of doing something against the will of God—something completely wrong in the sight of God. Jonah could not detect it. He may have had some feeling, but he thought everything was all right.
Why? Because he had what appeared to be a very noble cause before him.
Jonah was a successful prophet. He could use the telescope of time effectively. When he saw something, he could see it accurately.
No doubt, he knew that Assyria would one day become an empire. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. Jonah knew that Assyria would one day conquer Israel and swallow up all Israel.
If this prophetic insight was correct, what would Jonah do? If God said, “Do nothing; I will send judgment upon Nineveh,” Jonah would have been very happy.
But God wanted Jonah to carry a message to Nineveh and cause them to repent. Jonah tells us in Jonah 4 that he knew God very well. He knew that God is love and slow to anger.
Jonah knew that if Nineveh repented, God would not send judgment. If Jonah’s ministry succeeded, God would relent concerning the judgment against Nineveh.
In Jonah’s eyes, if God could judge Nineveh, the future situation would be changed. Jonah loved his country, his people, and the testimony of God. Therefore, instead of going east, he made himself a self-exile and determined to go to Tarshish.
What did that mean? It meant that if he returned three years later, Nineveh might have become worse and worse, and God might have wiped out the whole nation.
Jonah wanted Nineveh to be judged. He did not want Nineveh to be forgiven. He never expected a revival in Nineveh.
When Nineveh truly had a revival and our Lord turned from His wrath, someone refused to turn. Jonah began to kindle his own wrath. When God was no longer angry with Nineveh, Jonah was very, very angry.
Now we see what obsession is. Now we see what is real and what is not real. Jonah was successful and useful in the hand of God. He could predict the future. His prophetic insight was correct.
But when he considered that God was a God of love, he reasoned that if he went to Nineveh, God would postpone judgment. Assyria would later come to power, and Israel would be under bondage. Jonah did not want that to happen.
For what he considered a noble cause, he made himself a self-exile to Tarshish. He treasured the presence of God, but in his own mind God’s testimony and God’s people were more important. He was willing to have a temporary separation from God in order to go to Tarshish.
Because Jonah was occupied with this noble cause, he could explain why he went to Tarshish and act as though nothing were wrong. He had what he considered a good reason.
But in the eyes of God, the Holy Spirit uses several words to describe what happened to Jonah. Instead of arising to go to Nineveh, Jonah chose a progressive descent.
Jonah 1:3 says that he went down to Joppa. Then he went down into the ship. Jonah 1:5 says that he went down into the lowest part of the ship. Finally, in Jonah 2, he said:
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
Finally, he really went down to death. This was progress in the wrong direction. In the eyes of God, it was not growth, and it was not love for the testimony. God wanted to awaken him to the fact that he was going in the wrong direction.
If I were Jonah, I would have run very quickly. When he arrived at Joppa, near Tel Aviv today, he discovered a ship. He must have said to himself, “Wonderful! Thank God. This must be the will of God. Otherwise, how could I find a ship like this?”
Usually, one would wait many months to find such a ship. The ship was going to Tarshish, and the journey was very expensive. Then Jonah touched his pocket and found that he had enough money. He may have said, “Thank God. God has made wonderful provision. I have enough money.”
So he paid the fare, went down into the ship, went down into the lowest part of the ship, and fell asleep.
You all have experience, do you not? If you sin against God, sometimes your conscience bothers you. You cannot sleep. Especially if you are a faithful servant of the Lord, when you sin against God, you cannot sleep.
But Jonah could sleep very, very well. What does that mean? It means that somehow his conscience did not bother him. Based upon his conclusion, he thought that what he was doing was right.
He knew God too well, or at least he thought he did. He believed his theology was correct. He believed his understanding of the character of God was correct. Therefore, he decided to go to Tarshish.
For the sake of the testimony and the people of God, he thought, “I will sacrifice myself. I will do something to preserve my people and preserve the nation of Israel.” With that kind of beautiful and noble cause, of course his conscience did not bother him.
Then something very interesting happened. Jonah slept during the storm, while the heathen prayed. The pagan captain had to plead with Jonah to pray. This was very unusual.
If God really loved Jonah, He had to wake Jonah up. He could not let him sleep any longer. God had to do something.
The Bible says that the Lord cast a great wind upon the sea. It was as though God were throwing a ball from His throne. When that ball came down upon the Mediterranean Sea, it became a great wind.
There was a great tempest upon the sea, and the ship was about to break apart. Jonah’s cradle was too comfortable, so God had to do something drastic to wake him.
The sailors threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the load. When God threw that ball, the sailors threw the cargo. Finally, they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
In Hebrew, the same word is used. Jonah himself said, “Pick me up, and throw me into the sea.” In New Testament language, this was the working of the cross.
God received Jonah’s agreement. Only when Jonah said, “I am willing to be picked up and thrown into the sea,” did God use the environment. Then the sailors threw him into the sea.
That is the working of the cross.
When Jonah was in the sea, according to his own description, he was sinking, sinking, almost to the bottom of the sea. According to him, he almost reached death; he almost reached Hades.
But thank God, before he reached the door of Hades, the Bible says that God prepared a fish.
If we study Jonah 2, there are two kinds of death. One is death in the sea. The other is death in the belly of the fish. There is a great difference between them.
When Jonah was in the belly of the fish, he was waiting there. After three days and three nights, he would be vomited out upon dry land.
When we experience the working of the cross, God always has resurrection in view. That is the meaning of placing Jonah in the belly of the fish.
Thank God, Jonah went through an experience of death and resurrection. He had no words to describe the experience, so he borrowed language and sentences from the Psalms.
This was the most difficult place to pray. But thank God, he was brought to the end of himself.
Salvation was this: God did not allow Jonah to reach the door of Hades. No, God put him in the belly of the fish. When we experience this kind of death, after three days and three nights there is resurrection. Jonah was vomited out upon the dry land.
This is how God dealt with Jonah. Jonah was obsessed with his own theology. He thought his understanding of God was correct, but actually he was wrong.
God said Jonah should go east, but Jonah went west. Obviously, he was against the will of God. Yet somehow his conscience did not bother him. Somehow he felt that he was still all right.
There are many servants of God today who are outwardly in the wrong direction, yet they are so obsessed with their own theology and their own understanding that they think they are right.
Sometimes they think, “I have exiled myself for the testimony’s sake, for the Lord’s sake. I am willing to sacrifice myself.” But actually it is all false good. It is counterfeit. There is no reality at all.
We can truly learn this lesson. This is the burden I would like to share tonight. May the Lord really speak to our hearts.
If we study this book carefully, we find not only the first lesson, but also the second lesson, especially in the fourth chapter. It illustrates how Jonah was obsessed with himself. I call this Jonah’s complex.
Sooner or later, we may experience something like Jonah. We may experience a kind of complex called Jonah’s complex. In that complex, we see how deeply he was obsessed. He needed light.
He did not need another wonder or another sign. What he needed was to encounter God face to face.
This wonderful book ends with a dialogue between God and Jonah. Through that wonderful fellowship and through the Word of God, spirit and soul are separated.
When that happens, Jonah is rescued from unreality and from obsession. Why is this so important? Because the Word of God is light.
Only when we see light—in His light we shall see light—will we cease living according to the light that we create. It must be His light.
Then we come to the point where we discover that we are unreal, even though we may serve God and be fruitful before God.
Sooner or later, we may discover that we prefer death and say, “Death is better than life.” This is one of the symptoms of Jonah’s complex.
At one moment Jonah was exceedingly angry. At another moment he was exceedingly glad because of something that happened. There was a continual vacillation between being exceedingly happy and exceedingly sorrowful. This is another symptom of Jonah’s complex.
But if the Lord really speaks to us through this wonderful book, we may learn much from it. In Jonah’s time the working of the Holy Spirit was different, but today the Holy Spirit is in us.
The Spirit of truth will lead us into all reality. He wants to make us very, very real. In other words, He will transform us into the image of Christ.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we thank You for giving us this word. Our prayer is that, if You see fit, You will use this word and impress it upon us. Speak very deeply when we come back to Your Word and study the Book of Jonah.
Lord, reveal that wonderful book to us, that we will no longer remain in darkness. By Your mercy we can serve You; by Your mercy we can follow You. But how often we are just like Jonah.
Lord, only You know our condition. Only when You speak something, only when You give us a word, can soul and spirit be separated. How much we need Your mercy today.
We pray that because of our unfaithfulness, the work You have entrusted to us may suffer great loss. That is the reason we may labor without result. Lord, forgive us, because so often we live according to our own theology.
How often we live according to our own so-called noble cause, allowing it to become master over us. May You reveal Your will to us in its true colors.
Lord, we thank You and praise You. Our desire is that we may be transformed into Your image. Thank You, Lord, for speaking to our hearts. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.