In the gospel, God appoints His Son Jesus to take upon Himself the sins of the people. To that end, Jesus goes down into Sheol – down into the grave. Down into exile. In doing this, Jesus is a picture of Israel and represents God’s People.
God then brings His Son back into the land of the living and His people are commissioned to go into all the world and, by His Spirit, preach the Gospel to every creature.
The Life of Jonah tells the same story.
Jonah is commissioned by God to go into the world and preach the gospel. He goes into exile, out of the Promised land, and down to the grave, into Shoel (Jonah 2:2). The events of his life are also pictures of what would happen to Israel.
After three days and three nights God brings him up from the depths to preach the Good News, “Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be over thrown.”
The consequences are that the nation of Assyria is brought to repentance and, Jonah is made very jealous.
Jonah appeared in scripture in the days when the Northern Kingdom was going down (2 Kings 14). Jeroboam II is on the throne. He is a wicked king and yet, God prospers him. God enlarges Jeroboam’s territory and gives Israel some rest in those days.
The reason He does this is pity. God sees that there is no one to help Israel. But the rest and prosperity are short-lived and not to be trusted. The Assyrians are gathering strength and very soon the Northern Kingdom will be no more.
Elisha saw this day coming and it grieved him to the heart (2 Kings 8:9-15).
Despite the momentary prosperity under Jeroboam II, there is a cloud hanging over the Northern Kingdom and many know what’s coming. Especially Jonah. For Jonah is a prophet of the Lord.
The opening verses of Jonah, therefore, set us up for a bit of a shock.
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah…” (Jonah 1:1). We read this countless times in the books of the prophets. But Jonah 1:2 brings a small surprise. Instead of sending Jonah to preach repentance to Samaria, as all the other prophets had done, the Word sends Jonah to the capital of Assyria.
But the big shock comes in Jonah 1:3. All the other prophets have gone where God sent them. But Jonah goes in the other direction, to Tarshish. Instead of Isaiah’s, “Here I am, Lord”, when Jonah gets the call he says, “I’m outa here!.”
Why does Jonah act this way? Two things help us understand why Jonah flees to Tarshish. His reasons don’t excuse his actions, but knowing them helps us understand exactly what Jonah’s sin is.
The first reason for Jonah’s actions is his time in Israel’s history. Within a few years, God will step back from Israel and Assyria will move in to conquer them. So, Jonah could be quite pleased to hear that God was going to overthrow Assyria and destroy them for their wickedness.
If Assyria is destroyed, Israel will be much safer and maybe even spared the coming judgement. But, the more he thinks about it, the more he realises that the Lord has other plans. After all, if God simply wanted to wipe out Assyria, why send a Prophet to warn them? Why not just send a couple of Angels to check things out? Maybe look for 10 righteous persons?
Jonah knows that when God issues a warning about the sins of a nation, it’s an act of mercy giving sinners an opportunity to repent. Jonah knows the kind of God he serves. Jonah knows what God is like.
O lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster (Jonah 4:2).
Jonah is a prophet with good theology – but a bad heart. He knows God is inclined to show mercy. He also knows that if the Lord has compassion on Assyria Israel is in deep trouble and Jonah loves his country.
The other thing that helps explain Jonah’s running away is that no other prophet has been sent personally, till now, to preach to another nation this way.
This, as Jonah would well know, can only mean one thing. Judgement on Israel (Deuteronomy 32:21). Because Israel has provoked God to jealously with other gods, God is going to provoke Israel.
This, of course, will turn out to be a triumph of mercy over judgement for Israel. For when Israel sees the blessings go to the nations, they will be stirred to jealousy and seek out the God they have forsaken.
So, Jonah runs away. However, running away always brings you down. And so, Jonah goes down to Joppa, down into the boat, down into the hull, down into the depths of the sea and finally, down into the place the dead.
Yes, running away from God brings you down. But even here, Jonah is fulfilling the word of the Lord. In trying to avoid converting pagans, his actions result in a boatload of pagan conversions (Jonah 1:14-16).
God then shows compassion on Jonah by sending a whale to swallow and spew him back onto the land. Again, Jonah is a picture of Israel here because that is what God will shortly do to Israel.
In prophecy, “land” typically represents Israel – the people of God while the “sea” represents the Gentile nations. (Psalm 65:7; Isaiah 17:12-13).
Israel will be swamped and overthrown by Assyria because she has sinned against the Lord. But God will not forsake her. He sends a fish, a sea monster, who will not only take her into captivity but will also spew her back onto the land as He did with Israel through the Red Sea en route to the Promised Land (cf. Psalm 74:13-14 and Jeremiah 51:34).
The book of Jonah teaches us that these Gentile powers are appointed by the Lord for discipline. If the nations swallow up Israel, then, like Jonah, it is to save them from drowning altogether.
In the long run, Israel’s captivity, like Jonah’s, will result in mercy for the nations and salvation for the people of God. In the long run, it would mean life for the World.
But in the meantime, it will mean heavy discipline from the Lord.
It’s important to notice that all of these events are happening to God’s people. It is this way because this is God’s way of winning back and perfecting His people. It is this way, the Book of Hebrews tells us because this was God’s way of perfecting His Son.
or it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10)
The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was perfected through His chastisement. It goes on to tell us that we will be brought to perfection the same way – through our sharing in His Suffering (Hebrews 12:11.).
Perhaps you are struggling with your faith today. Perhaps love has grown cold.
Well then, here is your hope. Chastisement. Now, when this kind of chastisement happens in scripture it seems rather poetic. But when it happens to us in our job, or through family and marriage struggles or through cancer, it seems altogether unromantic. It’s painful.
Nevertheless, It is the mark – an altogether uncomfortable mark – of Gods’ naming you as His son or daughter so that, with Jonah, in becoming like Him in His death, we might become like Him in His life.
And the question is, when your chastisement comes, will you bear it, trusting in Jesus to raise you up or will you run to Tarshish?
Will we serve and kneel before Jesus, even when it becomes costly, or will we buckle and run into the open mouth of this world’s gods and be devoured by them?
Here is the good news for those who are patiently enduring their chastisement. If, on the day your chastisement comes you are found feasting in the House of the Lord, you will discover that the only thing that gets swallowed up is death.
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