“Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
—Jonah 2:9 ESV
If there is one story in the Bible that has captured the imagination of children everywhere, it has to be the story of Jonah.
Countless picture books, puzzles, and children’s Bibles have illustrated how Jonah the prophet ran away from God and got swallowed by a big fish. Then, from the belly of the fish (a whale?), he repented of his sin, was spit up on dry land, and lived to have a successful preaching ministry.1
Even for adults, there’s a lot to like about Jonah’s story: adventure, boats, storms, a huge fish, a rebellious runaway prophet, guts and grime, a miraculous rescue, and a dramatic ending. But more than that, when you look closer at the narrative, it’s powerful, and I would argue it has God’s redeeming love written all over it.
But Jonah’s story is often misunderstood because the main emphasis is often put in the wrong place. The main theme is not about a fish, it’s not about the city of Nineveh, and believe it or not, it’s not even about Jonah. The story of Jonah is about God and his patient, loving grace and mercy; his relentless pursuit of sinners like you and me.
The book of Jonah is one of the twelve books in the Old Testament that we call the Minor Prophets; books including Hosea, Amos, Joel, Micah, and Malachi. Though they are called “minor prophets,” there is nothing minor about them. Their prophecies are only minor in length as compared to the longer Major Prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel.
As for Jonah, it might surprise you to know that this is not the only place in the Bible where we learn about him. He is first mentioned as a prophet of God in the book of 2 Kings, where he successfully prophesied to the king of Israel that they should fortify the kingdom’s boundaries to ward off an attack from their enemies.
And the Bible says that the Lord saved Israel from attack because the king listened to Jonah’s prophecy. So Jonah was a legitimate prophet of God. Even the Jewish historian Josephus traces Jonah’s life and ministry in Jewish history. But even if those things weren’t enough, Jonah’s credibility as a real historical prophet is confirmed by none other than Jesus Christ. In talking about his future death and resurrection, Jesus said, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40 ESV).
Therefore, even Jesus confirmed the historical nature of this story, and we cannot merely dismiss it as a fable. For here in Matthew, Jesus linked the promise of his own historical death and resurrection to the historicity of the story of Jonah. This factual Old Testament story served as an event that foreshadowed the purpose of Christ’s mission to die and rise again.
But even if you have a hard time believing a fish swallowed a man and that he lived there for three days and three nights, let me remind you that the Bible is a supernatural book about a supernatural God who does supernatural things. Remember that Jesus was raised from the dead, and in Genesis 1, God created the world out of nothing. Making an air pocket for a man to survive inside a large fish doesn’t seem hard compared to those things.
Jonah was given a mission, a calling. He was called by God in the eighth century BC to preach a message of repentance to a group of Assyrians in the city of Nineveh, the archenemy of the Israelites. But this didn’t sit well with Jonah.
He hated the Assyrians. They were wicked pagans, who constantly waged war against God’s chosen people, the Israelites. In Jonah’s mind, the Assyrians were filthy, immoral, hedonistic people, who had no regard for the one true God. So why would God present an opportunity for mercy to the people who deserved judgment? And if God was merciful to the Assyrians, did this mean he had given up on and turned his back on the Israelites? Either way, Jonah didn’t want anything to do with God’s assignment for him.
So Jonah went in the opposite direction. The text says Jonah went down to the seaport of Joppa and sought to board a ship to the ancient city of Tarshish in order to escape “the presence of the Lord” (1:3 ESV). But as a prophet of God, he should have known better. No man can escape God’s presence. But again, Jonah wasn’t thinking straight. He was only thinking about himself.
In fact, one might even suggest that Jonah was mad at God, and therefore he chose to be outright rebellious and disobedient, which is what our human flesh tends to do when we are disillusioned with God. He knew the right thing to do, but didn’t do it, which is sin (James 4:17).2 Therefore, he got on a boat headed for a strange land, and it should have felt strange to him.
He should have said to himself, “I don’t belong here . . .” And in the same way today, if we are is looking at a nasty computer site or watching a filthy movie or sitting with that group of people who are gossiping about someone else, we should say to ourselves, “I don’t belong here,” and then do something about it.
However, Jonah boarded the ship anyway and set sail. But God pursued him because that’s what the Bible is about: God’s radical, pursuing grace in the midst of rebellion. God hurled a great big storm at the ship, such a powerful storm that the seasoned sailors were afraid and started crying out to their own gods for help. None of this seemed to concern Jonah, though, because he was down in the ship sleeping. And he didn’t care!
One can’t help but see the downward direction of Jonah at this point. The text says Jonah went down to Joppa (1:3), and then Jonah went down to the inner part of the ship, and from there Jonah lay down and was fast asleep. It seems like all along Jonah keeps going on this downward spiral, and if something doesn’t change pretty soon, the ship’s going down too. Sin doesn’t lift you up, it only brings you down, and Jonah is circling the drain.
But the captain woke him up and essentially said, “Get up, slacker! We’re going to be goners! Cry out to your God. We’re crying out to ours. Maybe one of these gods will hear us and spare us!” But Jonah knew why this was happening. He was to blame. And when the sailors figured it out too, they demanded an answer from him.
Here again is where Jonah himself testified to the one all-powerful and true living God.
And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
Jonah 1:9–10 ESV
Jonah admits he is running away from “the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” He is running away from the one true God, who is sovereign over storms because he is the Maker of the land and the sea. He is running away from the God, who is continuing to pursue Jonah even in his rebellion. This terrifies the sailors all the more because they realize that all of this is happening because of Jonah.
But instead of repenting of his rebellion and sin on the spot, Jonah surprisingly decides he would just as soon die, and he suggests to the sailors that throwing him overboard into the sea will make it quiet down because this is all his fault. Unfortunately, his pride and shame have kept him from coming back to God, a familiar theme for many people who once claimed to walk with God but seemingly have walked away.
Jonah is disgusted with God. He’s disgusted with the Ninevites, and he’s disgusted with himself. So he’d rather die. But the sailors don’t think that killing a follower of the Sovereign God of the sea is such a good idea, so they struggle desperately to row back to land, to no avail.
Rather quickly, they’ve come to fear the Lord themselves, and they decide to do what Jonah has said to do: toss him overboard. But before they do, they ask God not to punish them. They see their gods as useless, but Jonah’s God is a God of action. Remarkably, they have a healthier reverence for God than Jonah does.
So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
Jonah 1:15–16 ESV
What a contrast. The prophet didn’t care, but a group of pagan sailors did. One man refused to fear the Lord, but a whole group of outsiders gained a new fear that led them into worship. Fortunately for Jonah, God is not through with him yet. Rebelling even to the point of death, God still pursues him.
Truth be told, Jonah had a choice to make. He was either going to do this God’s way or his own way, and he chose the latter. And where did he end up? In the belly of a fish. “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (v. 17 ESV).
Now, look at that verse closely. What sticks out to you? Of course we look at the miraculous—a fish swallowing a man and the man being able to survive in his belly for three days and three nights. But what else do you see? How about the words “the Lord appointed”? Imagine the feeling of being tossed over the side of a ship in the middle of a fierce storm. Once again, Jonah is going down, this time to the depths of the sea. But here again he finds God’s grace, for “the Lord appointed a great fish” to swallow him.
First God appointed Jonah to be a prophet. He then appointed Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites. But Jonah went the other way. So God appointed a storm to intervene in the midst of Jonah’s rebellion, and now he’s appointed a great fish to be a part of the equation. The Sovereign God of the land and sea has boundless grace.
When it comes to God’s plan for our lives, sometimes we have to come to the end of ourselves. And that is exactly where God allowed Jonah to go. He was at the end of his rope. He was at the bottom of the ocean, in the belly of a fish. You can’t go anywhere but up from there.
Now imagine the darkness, the mucky-horrific-putrid place Jonah had to endure: a chewed-up fish, some rotten squid. . . . And this wasn’t for just a couple of hours. This was for three days and three nights, which we know foreshadows the time Christ spent for us in the tomb.
So here’s Jonah in complete darkness, and God is giving him a while to sort things out and experience the consequences of his own darkness. Three days’ and three nights’ worth. Though it’s difficult to see the ones we love get to this place, sometimes it’s what has to happen before there is a turnaround.
Finally, after Jonah attempts to run from God’s presence, it’s in the belly of a fish that he actually seeks his presence. We are told that “Jonah prayed to the Lord his God in the belly of the fish” (Jonah 2:1 ESV). It is a prayer of sober-minded reality. He is in distress, on the doorsteps of death, which he knows he deserves. Yet he remembers God’s character. He knows God’s mercy. He believes in a God who answers prayer, and therefore he has hope. As Jonah writes this book, looking back on what he went through that day, this is what he says,
I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol [the realm of the dead] I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, “I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.” The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
vv. 2–7 ESV
Did you catch that Jonah said, “For you cast me into the deep”? Now wait a minute here. Who cast him into the sea? The sailors, right? But we see that Jonah recognizes God’s sovereignty behind the free actions of sinful men—just like God sovereignly put Jesus on the cross through the actions of Pilate, the Romans, and the Jews. Humankind rebels, but God works all things for the good of those who are the “called” ones, those who know his salvation (see Romans 8:28).
Jonah also realized that even in the face of his impending death, there was always reason for hope because he knew he had a God who hears and answers prayer. His cry to God was heard, and the Lord brought his life back from “the pit.” Though his life was fading away, God’s plan was to rescue him from his rebellion before he could bring mercy to the Ninevites.
Jonah comes to his senses regarding his pride and says,
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
vv. 8–9 ESV
His pride, arrogance, and anger were the idols that invaded his life and took priority over God and his will. The NIV translation calls them “worthless idols.” This is true for any pagan worshiper who worships real idols, or any God-fearing believer who allows the things of the world or the things of self to get in the way of their relationship with God.
Jonah knows better. Finally, he has a heart change (at least it looks that way at this point), and he gives thanks and worships the Lord with a vow, acknowledging that “salvation belongs to the Lord!” And at the Lord’s command, the fish vomits Jonah onto the dry land.
Probably a little dazed but definitely grateful to be alive, Jonah is set free from his prison (the prison of the fish and the prison of his sin). God once again calls him to go preach to Nineveh. He hasn’t told him what to say yet, but he commands him to go, for God often chooses to reveal his full will as we obey him, just like Abraham was to go to the land that God would soon show him.
So at the beginning of the book, we see that Jonah in his rebellion “rose to flee to Tarshish” (1:3 ESV). But this time we see Jonah “arose and went to Nineveh” (3:3 ESV). This time he obeys. And as he arrives he is given the message from the Lord that is clearly a conditional promise to the Ninevites: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (3:4 ESV).
The number forty is significant, for it is a number that has often been associated with judgment. You might remember when Noah built an ark, it rained for forty days and forty nights as God destroyed mankind and judged sin on the earth. The Israelites were in the desert for forty years because of their rebellion against God, and none of that generation, except two, entered the promised land. So “Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” is a pretty serious warning.
But notice the command for the Ninevites to repent is somewhat implied in this. In forty days, Nineveh shall be overthrown . . . (so . . . repent then?). What baffles me is that Jonah doesn’t tell them to repent. He doesn’t offer forgiveness. He basically says, “You guys are going down.”
I can’t help but wonder if we are seeing more of Jonah’s initial attitude here. Remember, he hated the Ninevites. So he probably had some secret joy in being able to say that Nineveh was about to be overthrown. Was his heart really changed if the idea of repentance was not explicit but merely implied?
He’s being obedient to God, but it doesn’t seem like his heart has really changed. Nevertheless, God still uses sinners who are willing to speak for him. And to his credit, Jonah is speaking for God here. What happens next is perhaps the biggest miracle of the entire book: “And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth [a sign of repentance], from the greatest of them to the least of them” (3:5 ESV).
Jonah didn’t tell them to repent, but the people of Nineveh did anyway. They heard God’s word in the voice of Jonah. All Jonah had to do was open his mouth, and God’s word did the rest, because there is inherent power in the Word of God. Don’t worry about being a brilliant Bible teacher. Don’t worry about having all the right answers and the best arguments. Just speak, and the Word of God does its own thing. But the miracle is not over. Watch this:
The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
3:6–9 ESV
Amazingly, the king of Nineveh is so gripped by God’s word through Jonah that he even calls for the animals to be draped in the sign of repentance. I don’t know how you get a cow to repent, or why. Maybe they were producing skim milk, and it was time to be made whole again. (I couldn’t resist.)
I think the king of Nineveh was trying to cover all his bases. The great king of this great city hears God’s word, and the whole place is reduced to sackcloth and ashes.
They humbled themselves, abandoned their pride, gave up their evil ways, renounced violence, and repented on the spot. Now, that’s a miracle wrought by the word of God! They were gripped by God’s holiness while simultaneously seeing their sin. So they repented, which involves heartfelt sorrow for sin, a decision to renounce it, and a commitment to forsake it.3 Then we are told this: “Then God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it” (3:10).
Success. Ministry success today should never be measured by the size of the building or the crowd, but by the change in people’s hearts and lives through the message of repentance and faith.
God’s word through Jonah was powerful, and you would think Jonah would be thrilled to be a successful messenger of God, but that’s not what we see.
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. He prayed to the Lord: “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to become angry, rich in faithful love, and One who relents from sending disaster. And now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4:1–3
So once again, Jonah would rather die! Does this make any sense? Now we’re seeing the real heart of Jonah. He never wanted the Ninevites to repent in the first place. He wanted them to be judged. God was acting way outside the box here, and Jonah didn’t like it. Why?
Because Jonah was prejudiced, self-absorbed, and self-deceived. He didn’t seem to realize that he was not worthy of God’s grace either. He was too puffed up for that. He took great pride in being a prophet of God. He loved his national heritage as an Israelite. In fact, go back and look at the very first words Jonah utters in this book: “He answered [the sailors], ‘I’m a Hebrew . . .’” (Jonah 1:9).
I’m a Hebrew! See me? Hey, everyone, I’m a Hebrew. Jonah seemed to like his identity all too well. And the Ninevites are Assyrians, not Hebrews.
It seems like Jonah would have made a very good New Testament Pharisee. Proud of their religious status and who they were on the outside, but on the inside, they were someone else.
One of my favorite preachers, James MacDonald, tells the story of the boy who came into the classroom one day, and when the teacher told everyone to take a seat, the boy refused to do it. The teacher looked at the boy and said, “Please sit down.” And the boy said, “No!”
The teacher said, “Young man, you sit down right now.” And the boy again said, “No!” So the teacher walked over and pushed the kid down into his seat, forcing him to sit down. The young boy looked up and said, “I may be sitting on the outside, but on the inside I’m still standing up.”
That was Jonah! Jonah didn’t agree with how God was going about things. He may have agreed to go preach, but he still rebelled against God in his heart. Nothing had changed, and it makes you wonder what really happened to Jonah back in chapter 2, when he recited that wonderful prayer in the belly of a fish.
Crying out to God, seemingly coming to his senses, Jonah gives thanks, makes a vow, and rightly says that “salvation comes from the Lord” (2:9 NIV 1984). He is humbled and ready to do God’s will. But then all of that seems to be a bunch of wish-wash—nothing more than lip service. True repentance and true belief bear fruit. Ironically, Jonah is a prophet, called to bring a message of repentance, but he refuses to repent himself. Jonah would rather die because God didn’t meet his expectations. But God engages him: “The Lord asked, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’” (4:4).
Jonah doesn’t respond. He merely walks away and isolates himself. When people are mad and disillusioned with God, they have a tendency to distance themselves. Jonah takes his ball and goes home, so to speak. He leaves the city, makes himself a shelter, and sits down, to no avail, waiting to see if by some chance the city will be judged.
But God’s grace to Jonah is still abundant. The Lord appoints a plant to grow overnight to be a shade for Jonah’s head, which temporarily makes him happy. But then the Lord appoints a worm to chew up the vine so that it withers. The sun pounds down on Jonah, and he asks yet again to die.
Again God asks him what right he has to be angry, and Jonah says he is angry enough to die.
So the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. Should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?”
4:10–11
Notice the last words: “as well as many animals.” It’s as if God is saying, “Jonah, I am a God of grace. I care about everything I have made. Even the Ninevites. Even the animals. And I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy.” (See also Romans 9:15.)
God gives grace time and again to people who don’t deserve it. Thank you, Lord, for apart from that grace we would all be nothing.
That’s where the book of Jonah ends. There is no Jonah 5. And we are left with a Jonah, who is seemingly unreconciled to God. But remember, this story is not about Jonah.
It’s about the unending mercy and grace of God, a God who pursues us. It’s about a God who sovereignly orchestrates, appoints, and works out the details of his people’s lives—the lives of those who make willing choices, choices that God can still use for his glory and our good no matter how bad they may be.
So ask yourself this: Is my life about me? Is it about my comfort? Have I placed God in a box so that when he gets “out of line” I have a tendency to get mad and withdraw and walk away? Or do I fall down before him, and with all of my being worship him and surrender and say, “You are an awesome God! You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
This is not your average fish story—because in the end, it’s not about a fish at all. It’s not about Jonah either. It’s all about God.