THIRD QUARTER 2021
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #12
SEPTEMBER 18, 2021
“THE RESTLESS PROPHET”

 

Jonah, whose name in Hebrew means “dove”, is probably the most widely known of the twelve prophets, because his story tells one of the best-known narratives in all of Scripture. The story of the big fish. But is this really a story about a big fish? By the way the story is true and literal. Jesus said it Himself in Matthew 11:40, 41. Jonah is first spoken of in Scripture in 2 Kings 14:25, “He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.” This text places his ministry in the middle of the 8^th century B.C., during the reign of Jeroboam II. He was sent by God Himself saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” Jonah had other plans. He “arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” The question is why did Jonah flee? Ellen White describing Nineveh says, “Among the cities of the ancient world in the days of divided Israel, one of the greatest was Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian realm. …Nineveh was a center of crime and wickedness”, “the bloody city, ... full of lies and robbery.” PK 265.1. The Ninevites were a people notorious for their cruelty. As one of the capital cities of the Assyrians, Nineveh had exploited Israel and Judah for more than a century. But was the brutality of the people of Nineveh why he fled?

 

The story continues and we know that while in the belly of the “great fish” that God had prepared, Jonah had prayer meeting and cried out to God for grace and mercy and God answered him. Let us make a small point here. God is good and He is merciful. He bows low to hear our prayers even when we are running from Him. The Psalms convey David’s understanding of this truth: “⁵For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. ⁶Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; And attend to the voice of my supplications. ⁷In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me.” Psalms 86:5-7. The Lord answered Jonah and gave him the same call to go to Nineveh. Jonah began to preach, and his preaching was met with great success. “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.” Jonah 3:5. It was a great national revival, reformation and repentance, a lesson for our day. There are so many major lessons to be learned from the book of Jonah, three of which we will discuss here.

 

THE URGENCY OF REPENTANCE:

“A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it. Our heavenly Father is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. But it is our work, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer, to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His blessing. A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer.” 1 SM 121.1 “There is nothing that Satan fears so much as that the people of God shall clear the way by removing every hindrance, so that the Lord can pour out His Spirit upon a languishing church and an impenitent congregation. If Satan had his way, there would never be another awakening, great or small, to the end of time.” 1 SM 124.2.

 

Notice, that the experience of the Ninevites followed the steps outlined in these inspired quotes. “⁶Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. ⁷And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. ⁸But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” Jonah 3:6-9. We as people can relate more easily to revival and reformation than we can to repentance. However, before we can experience revival and reformation, we need to experience repentance. God’s last day people are to experience repentance. “¹⁴And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “¹⁵I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— ¹⁸I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. ¹⁹As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:14-19. It is from Christ’s broken heart of love that He calls His last day church to repentance. This is a last day message for the individual as well as the corporate church. The message of repentance is addressed to His church, especially to the “angel” representative of the church. “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them.” Jonah 3:10. This brings us to our second point.

 

THE BEAUTY OF GOD’S CHARACTER IS ON BOLD DISPLAY:

Ellen White writes, “The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love.” COL 415. God in His mercy relented when He saw the true and heartfelt repentance of the Ninevites. But Jonah had a different response. We asked a question earlier which was, why did Jonah flee from the direct call of God. We noted the cruelty of the people of Nineveh which was a center of crime and wickedness. Although this could have contributed to the reason for his flight, it certainly was not the only factor. He could also have seen the insurmountable task ahead and felt overwhelmed and inadequate, afraid, lacking in faith that God could enable him to fulfill the mission. After all, “As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings. COL 333.1. Armed with that truth, Jonah should have been unstoppable. I suspect that he did lack faith, but the text itself gives us what appears to be the true reason for his running and his restlessness. Note Jonah 1:3, “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” He fled from the presence of the Lord! Adding this now to Jonah 4:1, 2 which occurs after the repentance of the nation: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. ²So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” Wow! What is this saying? Jonah speaks with the Lord and tells him that he understood the character of God, that He was “a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” Jonah is quoting Exodus 34:6.

 

When Moses wanting to be reassured after Israel’s sin with the golden calf and God’s expressed displeasure, he tells God, “¹⁵If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?” Exodus 33:15, 16. The same presence that Jonah fled from, Moses wanted to go with Him. The conversation continues in Exodus 33:17-19, “So the LORD said to Moses, “¹⁷I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name. ¹⁸And he said, “Please, show me Your glory. ¹⁹Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” God hid him in the cleft of a rock and revealed a picture of Himself that touches and warms our hearts and the heart of Moses. What follows next is a list of the personal attributes of God.  “⁵Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. ⁶And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ⁷keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7. In Judaism these personal attributes are called the Shelosh-Esreh Middot Ha Rakhamim, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. Notice that the first defining word was not holiness or power but compassion. But the word we want to focus on is, “abounding in goodness”. In the Hebrew this is hesed- the covenant term par excellence. The fact that this word is used twice in the passage, indicates that this is a key attribute of God. The word is used of someone guarding a vineyard or keeping watch over the tongue. God is faithfully maintaining or keeping a guard over His hesed.

 

When Moses limped up that mountain to be hidden in the cleft of the rock at God’s invitation, he might have expected a display of awesome power. But upon hearing that God is full of hesed, he realizes that though he and his people have no right to expect anything from God, yet He will freely give them all things. When Moses hears that this abounding goodness/hesed, kindness and love is guarded, watched over and protected by the God Who even now was covering him with His hand while He passed by, a seismic shift occurs in his understanding of God. Moses “⁸made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped” and he pleaded with God “⁹O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” Jonah knew that this is the God, from Whose presence he fled, that would do the same for Nineveh. He would extend His abounding goodness to Nineveh. He knew it, he just knew it. Nineveh was stiff-necked and wicked, but the preaching of the gospel brought conviction and repentance, and the God Who is hesed relented. Hesed is the Old Testament equivalent of agape. It is a love that will not let you go! Jonah shrank from his duty not because he thought that there was no hope but because he thought there was hope. He protested the love of God. But isn’t God amazing. The good news for Jonah was that, that merciful God showed mercy to Jonah. The entire quote from COL 415 gives us our marching orders.

 

“It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth. COL 415.3

 

This is the work outlined by the prophet Isaiah in the words, “O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” Isaiah 40:9, 10. COL 415.4

 

Those who wait for the Bridegroom's coming are to say to the people, “Behold your God.” The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character, they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. COL 415.5

 

As the world sees Jesus in us it will be drawn to Him.

 

The last point.

 

SALVATION IS A GIFT FROM THE LORD:

There seem to be some uncanny parallels between the story of Jonah and the parable of the prodigal son. We can compare God to the loving parent, Nineveh to the prodigal son and Jonah to the son who stayed. Jonah resents the compassion and forgiveness shown to Nineveh. Reviewing the parable of the lost son in Luke 15:25-32: “²⁵Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’  “²⁸But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore, his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹So he answered and said to his father, “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³²It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

 

The final conversation between God and Jonah sounds very much like the one in Luke 15:25-32. “Then God said to Jonah, “⁹Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” ¹⁰But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” Jonah 4:9-11.

 

Ah, the good news of the gospel is, “⁴But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast.” But God does not leave us there. He says, “¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:4-10

 

The Book of Jonah the Restless Prophet, teaches us about a God Who is rich in mercy, abounding in hesed - a love that will not let us go, and whose goodness leads us to repentance. The Book gives God’s remnant Laodicean people hope and gives us a missionary spirit.

 

May God give us understanding.

 

~Lyndi Schwartz