Journeying with Jonah
This may seem a strange choice for our summer evening series. The book appears at first glance to be so disconnected to anything else we have been studying. Well, that could be reason enough for such a series as this, for students of God’s Word all like to study something fresh from time to time. Yet, on closer inspection we find substantive connection between our ongoing travels through the book of Acts and this brief study of the book of Jonah. The connection is built on the observation that although Pentecost was a definitive—i.e., once-for-all—redemptive act of Christ, with massive ramifications for the church of Jesus Christ, it was not an absolute break with what had gone before during the old covenant era.
Understand, first, that the Spirit of God has always been in existence, being mentioned a hundred times in the Old Testament. Note, how early in the book of Jonah we are told that the prophet fled “from the presence of the LORD” (1: 3, 10). Now what is the presence of the LORD other than the reality of his existence and nearness, made tangible by the Spirit? At Pentecost the exalted Christ sent the Spirit into the world in his fullness and as the Spirit of the glorified (risen and ascended) Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit is now permanently with his people, and in fact indwells each one of us as the Spirit of the exalted Christ. Our break from Acts, then, does not signify a radical change of theme. We remain connected to the work of the Spirit during these summer months, although our focus will understandable transfer to his ministry under the old covenant.
Secondly, the book of Jonah reminds us that Israel was to be a light to the nations. Although that role was typically fulfilled in passive terms through God’s redemption of Israel and their obedience to his law, the book of Jonah reminds us of an important instance in old covenant history in which God gave a specific directive to a prophet to go and minister to a Gentile people. Accordingly, in the mission of Jonah we discern that God’s heart for the nations predates the day of Pentecost. Not only so, we find evidence that God had begun communicating to his people his heart for mission. At their best they could pray that God’s way be known on earth, his saving power among all nations (Ps. 67:2); they could yearn for the whole earth to be filled with the glory of the God of Israel (Ps. 72:19). In a very real sense, it was in the sending of his Son and his Spirit that God answered these old covenant longings, the fruit of which we see every time a person embraces God’s Son for their salvation. The book of Jonah functions, accordingly, as something of a prequel to the book of Acts. It is worthy of study, especially in light of our upcoming outreach efforts and mission conference.
Thirdly, the book reminds us of the historically tense relations between Jews and Gentiles. As is well known, instead of going straight to Nineveh with the message of repentance, Jonah takes the ship in the opposite direction to Tarshish. We’ll consider his motives in disobeying, and how the last picture of Jonah is of a prophet lamenting the repentance of the Ninevehites! God, says nineteenth-century commentator Hugh Martin, was chastening Israel for her own backslidings, and provoking his people to jealousy by the Ninevehites’ acceptance of the gospel. Martin reminds us that this is what God has also intended since the hardened majority of the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ in the first century. God has been using Gentile acceptance of Christ to call his ancient people to accept Christ as his one and only Messiah.
Only against the backdrop of this larger context may we come to the lessons relevant to our personal walk with the Lord. In the individualism of western society, we too often fail to see or to value the bigger picture, for life, we have imbibed, is about us. Yet, the correction of this flawed thinking and self-preoccupation does not mean we must depersonalize the gospel and suggest it has no ramifications for our individual lives. Accordingly, our study of the book of Jonah seeks to balance its broader and narrower application, setting our own work for the kingdom in the context of the thrilling onward march of the plans and purposes of God in history. Doubtless, in an age demanding instant gratification, we find the wait for the ultimate vindication of Christ and his kingdom hard to bear, but we endure it by working faithfully for the kingdom. We learn from Jonah, at least initially, how not to respond to the challenge before us, and realize from Jonah’s backsliding how astonishing and worthy of emulation is Paul’s life of sacrifice and self-forgetfulness.
Do, then, join us for the study of Jonah, especially if you’ve not been one to attend on Sunday evenings, or have let slip the offering of an evening sacrifice of praise. The book of Jonah is well loved, and replete with many lessons worth considering for life and ministry today.
Dr. Tim J. R. Trumper