God's Great Mercy - [Jonah 4]

Joseph, Moses, David, Daniel, Jonah.

What's the first thing that came to your mind? As I said, those names of Biblical characters.

Because the first thing that came to your mind really reveals what you believe the

Biblical account of those people is really all about. Is Joseph about the colored robe that his father made?

I remember vividly as a young child in church, back in my day, we had something much more advanced than iPads and all these electronic tablets.

We had what we called flannel boards. I can still picture them putting up Joseph in his colored robe.

But is that why God included the story of Joseph in his word? Or is it as Joseph himself said to his brothers in Genesis 50 verse 20, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.

And by God's sovereignty and his providence, the nation of Israel ended up in Egypt ultimately as slaves so that God can show his strong arm of power in salvation and deliverance.

And it ought to make us think of what Jesus said in John 8 about slavery, that he who sins is a slave to sin.

But if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Or how about when you heard the name Moses? What did you think about? The burning bush experience?

The Ten Commandments? The parting of the Red Sea? Charlton Heston? I knew it.

I could tell by the look on your faces. You wretched sinners. Or what we ought to think about,

Deuteronomy 18 .15, which the apostle Peter referenced in his message in Acts chapter 3 after healing the lame beggar.

It says, quote, Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

A direct reference to Jesus Christ. Or when you heard the name David, what do you think about?

Goliath in a slingshot? Or do you think of what the gospel writer Matthew wrote at the beginning of his gospel, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham, the son of David?

Or what the Greek doctrine, his account in the gospel, Luke wrote, And the

Lord, as he records the message of the angel to Mary, And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father

David, And of his kingdom there will be no end. Or how about Daniel?

I'm sure you thought of lions, right? But is that what Daniel is really all about? Daniel, remember, was a prophet.

And he prophesied in chapter 7 about the Lord Jesus Christ when he wrote,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man.

And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed.

All those biblical accounts ultimately relate to God's redemptive plan, culminating ultimately in the

Lord Jesus Christ. But what about Jonah? Thought of a big fish?

Is that what really Jonah is all about? Let's take a look at that this morning. Turn with me, if you will, to the fourth chapter of Jonah, Jonah chapter 4.

Jonah is considered a minor prophet, but let me assure you, there is nothing minor about the message of Jonah.

Jonah chapter 4. The liberals, of course, love Jonah, just to discredit it as part of the canon.

They actually say it's on the level of Aesop's fables in Gulliver Travels. Because a man in the belly of a fish?

Come on! But they forget they're dealing with God Almighty who raises people from the dead, who takes those who are dead in transgression and sin and gives them new life.

Second King says, for example, in chapter 14, the historicity of the book of Jonah. In the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah.

Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria and he reigned 41 years.

And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabot, which he made

Israel to sin. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath as far as the

Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant

Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath -Hephir. Jonah was his historical figure, as Second King says.

But if that's not enough, Jesus said in Matthew 12, verse 40, Jonah, quote, was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish.

Look, if Jesus said it, you can take it to the bank. It was no fairy tale.

Otherwise, you would have to question the reality and authenticity of the Lord himself. Jonah was a prophet to the northern kingdom.

The kingdom was divided at the time Jonah was around. It used to be a united kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon.

But now as Jonah, the prophet, comes around, it's a divided kingdom, the northern kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah.

And what's interesting to note, to understand the times in which Jonah was a prophet, the southern kingdom of Judah was led by godly kings.

Watch this, 234 years out of its 344 years.

In contrast, the northern kingdom of Israel, which Jonah was a prophet to, did not have a godly king for 108 years.

These were the times Jonah was prophesying in. Let's look at Jonah chapter 4 together, beginning in verse 1.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said,

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.

Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

And the Lord said, Do you do well to be angry? Verse 5. Jonah went out of the city, sat to the east of the city, and made a booth for himself there.

He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. Now the

Lord God appointed a plant and made it come over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort.

So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day,

God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose,

God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.

And he asked that he might die and said, It is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant?

And he said, Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. And the

Lord said, You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night, and should not

I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120 ,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?

To understand what the book of Jonah is all about, you have to understand chapter 4.

It would seem that chapters 1 to 3 would be enough, because in chapter 1, God calls

Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against him. And what does Jonah do? He runs away. He disobeys the will of God.

I know none of you can identify with that. But then he tells, as he flees, he's on a boat, and there's a storm, and the tempest that God sends.

And the people question him, and he says, It's because of me. Throw me overboard. And the text says in Jonah that God appointed a fish to swallow him up.

So in chapter 2 of the book of Jonah, it's Jonah's prayer in the belly of the fish.

What a great devotional time place. In the belly of a fish, he's praying to God.

And he finishes by saying, Salvation belongs to you, Lord. And then in chapter 3, God gives him a second chance and says,

Go back to Nineveh, which you never went the first time. And he did this time. And he warned the city that unless they repented, they would be overthrown.

The king of Nineveh issued a decree that he proclaimed throughout the land that everyone should repent.

And they did, even as Jesus said in the gospel. And God relented from destroying them.

So that would be the end of the story, right? But no. Chapter 4 is here.

Because God is dealing with Jonah. And to understand the book of Jonah, you have to understand that.

What's interesting with Jonah, most of the other prophets, the highlight is on their message. God's message through the prophet to either the northern or southern kingdom.

But here, the emphasis is not on the message, but on the messenger, Jonah, and God's dealings with him.

And we will see that Jonah is not about a great fish. But as we culminate to the end, we will see that it is about God's great mercy.

There are really, in this chapter, three parts that it breaks down naturally. J. Vernon McGee says, and I quote, in dealing with any book of the

Bible, we need to distinguish between what Dr. G. Campbell Morgan calls the essentials and the incidentals.

The incidentals in the book of Jonah are the fish, the gourd, the east wind, the boat, and even the city of Nineveh.

The essentials here are Jehovah and Jonah, God and man. That is what the book is all about.

So let's look at the first part of Jonah chapter four. I call it, number one, the confession of an angry prophet.

Here in the first three verses, we see the confession of an angry prophet.

Notice verse one. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

Really? A prophet called by Yahweh, by God, was displeased exceedingly, and he was angry.

The question arises, what is the it, but it displeased Jonah referring to? What made Jonah so displeased, so angry?

Well, we need to look at the context. Chapter three, verse ten. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way,

God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

That's what displeased Jonah. That God spared the Ninevites. That he was merciful.

The Hebrew is particularly vivid in terms of what it says here. It displeased Jonah exceedingly.

It literally means it was exceedingly evil to Jonah. It was exceedingly evil to Jonah.

So, in other words, what God did, sparing the Ninevites in his mercy, to Jonah, it was an evil thing of God to do.

Jonah's emotion here is expressed in the strongest Hebrew language possible.

He was just displeased. He was angry, because this thing that God did was evil.

Verse two, he continues. Notice, and he's praying here. Last time he prayed, he was in the belly of a fish.

And he prayed to the Lord and said, 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.

So now he's revealing why he fled in the first place. Now he's telling this to God, not because God doesn't know.

God is omniscient. He knew in the first place why he fled. But now the story reveals to us, chapter one didn't tell us why he fled.

Now he's telling us why he's fleeing. Because in chapter one, verses three and five, it says in Jonah, Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish away from the presence of the

Lord. It says it twice in chapter one. He fled away from the presence of the Lord. Yet we know biblically,

Psalm 139, verses seven and eight says, Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall

I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

And the prophet of God is fleeing from the one who called him. But then he gives us the reason as he continues in verse two.

For I knew that you are. Stop there.

Jonah knew God. What did he know about him before he reveals to us here in verse two?

Well, from the rest of the book, Jonah chapter one, verse nine, he knew that God was the creator, the only creator.

When the men on the ship confronted him, he said to them, Jonah one nine, I am a

Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.

He knew that of God. He also knew of God, according to his prayer in the belly of the fish. Jonah chapter two, verse nine.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. Did we not read that in Psalm three? David said the same thing.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. But here he reveals to us what else he knew about God.

And this was the reason that he fled. Notice five things he highlights in verse two.

For I knew that you were, first of all, a gracious God. The Hebrew literally is that God has a innate disposition to show favor and to be benevolent.

Jonah knew that God had this innate disposition to be gracious, to show favor towards others, to be benevolent.

But he doesn't finish there. And secondly, he says, I know that you are what? Merciful. Grace and mercy.

In grace, God gives us what we don't deserve and haven't earned.

Whereas in mercy, he withholds from us what we do deserve and have earned.

And he continues, surely I know that you are what? Slow to anger. Literally in the Hebrew, slow to wrath.

Will God punish people under his divine wrath? For sure. Romans one makes that very clear amongst other passages.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men.

But Jonah knew that God was slow to wrath. And fourthly,

I know that you are what? Abounding in steadfast love. You're abounding in your steadfast love.

And fifthly, and relenting, verse two at the end there, from disaster. You relent from disaster.

All these things that Jonah knew about God were innate to his character, to his natural disposition.

How would Jonah know these things? Well, he said earlier in Jonah chapter one, verse nine, as he's talking to the men on the ship.

He said, I'm a Hebrew. So he was Jewish. So he knew of Moses.

Moses in Exodus 34, after the people of Israel made the golden calf and worshiped this false idol.

And Moses in anger broke the tablets and went back to God for the Ten Commandments again. He asked

God to show him his glory. And it says in Exodus 34, verse six, God speaking to Moses.

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Jonah knew who God was. That he was gracious and merciful. That he was slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

I want us to just stay here in verse two for a while. Because this is foundational to understanding not only chapter four, but the whole book.

And it reveals to us very early on the nature of God. Biblically and theologically.

I always tell people in new membership class that one of our distinctives amongst many is that we have a high view of God here.

Your view of God will automatically and naturally determine your view of man. A high view of God determines your proper biblical view of man.

A high view of man determines a low view of God. And this is the view that Jonah had.

Here he said, fourthly, that God was abounding in steadfast love. This is the term in the

Hebrew, chesed. It's mentioned no less than 240 times in the

Old Testament in reference to God himself. 240 times. You think it's significant?

It literally means God's loyalty to his covenant to his people despite their disloyalty.

It means God's love for his chosen people despite their divided heart.

It means God's faithfulness to keep his promises despite their unfaithfulness.

Abounding in steadfast love. Was Jonah the only one who knew this? I'm going to peruse through some of the scriptures here to show you that this was a consistent character of God.

The prophet Joel knew of this. Joel chapter 2. Yet even now declares the

Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Chesed. Nehemiah knew this. Chapter 9 verse 17. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.

But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

And therefore you did not forsake them. King David knew this.

Psalm 103 where David begins, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name and forget none of his benefits.

What are one of those benefits? Verse 8 of Psalm 103. He says, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in chesed, steadfast love.

But the liberals like this verse because verse 2 ends with the fact that God relented from disaster.

God said, I'm going to destroy you. And he didn't. God had to somehow change his mind.

One of the verses I learned as a young Christian, as I'm thankful for that, and I would encourage you to learn it also committed to memory.

Teach it to your children. Numbers chapter 23 verse 19, which says,

God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should change his mind.

Has he said and will he not do it? Has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?

Of course, what God says and speaks will come to pass. He is not like men. God is not staying up there thinking, oh, they messed up my original plan.

Now I got to resort to plan B. God is infinite in his wisdom. He is omniscient and all knowing.

There is no plan B for God. There's no need for him to repent because he's holy. What is one of the things that God had spoken that he would fulfill?

Jeremiah 18 says this in verses 7 through 10. Exactly what has happened here in the book of Jonah. God speaking through the prophet of Jeremiah.

If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom like Nineveh, that I will pluck and break down and destroy it.

And if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do it.

And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then

I will relent of the good that I had intended to do it. Now what's really significant of import to that passage that discusses even a nation like Nineveh, is that it's in a context where God takes

Jeremiah to the potter's house to reveal God's sovereignty. And in Jeremiah 18 .6,

the verse right before what I just read, it says, God says to Jeremiah, through Jeremiah, O house of Israel, can

I not do with you as this potter has done, declares the Lord? Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand,

O house of Israel. God is a potter, in other words, and we are the clay. The potter does as he pleases with the clay.

His working is not dependent on the clay. Douglas Stewart, in his commentary on Jonah, helps us understand this a little bit more.

And I quote, that God should choose to make his own actions contingent, at least in part, upon human actions is no limitation of his sovereignty.

Having first decided to place the option of obedience and disobedience before nations, his holding them responsible for their actions automatically involves a sort of contingency.

He promises blessing if they repent, punishment if not. But this hardly makes

God dependent on the nations. It rather makes them dependent on him. God holds all the rights, all the power, all the authority.

Close quote. This is highlighted further, what

Jonah knew that God relented from disaster, and that he doesn't change his mind. In 1

Samuel chapter 15, the Lord speaking to Samuel said, the word of the

Lord came to Samuel, God speaking here, I regret that I've made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.

But later in that chapter, Samuel speaking to Saul says of God, and also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man that he should have regret.

God is unlike us. He's not like many people on their deathbed who might look back over their lives and have regret.

There is no regret with God. He does as he pleases, always as he pleases, whenever he pleases.

So what does this mean that he relented from what he had planned to do? Well, the Bible uses figures of speech to help us understand a divine being in our humanness.

One of them is called an anthropomorphism. From the Greek, anthropos, which means man, and morphi, which means form.

An anthropomorphism is simply ascribing human attributes to God. For example,

Isaiah 59 verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, or his ear dull that it cannot hear.

Or in Stephen's speech in Acts 7 verse 49, God speaking,

Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. It's not that God is up in heaven relaxing like on an office desk.

It's an anthropomorphism to show us his greatness and his reign.

Well, alongside the anthropomorphism is what's called an anthropopathism. Anthropos, man, and pathos, which means passion and emotion.

And that's what's happening here in the other scriptures that I read to you, to show us that God is unchangeable, but is showing us his passion to do what he had promised to do.

If they repent, he will withhold his wrath. Notice as the text continues in verse 3.

Now remember, as I read this, this is a prophet called by God. Look what he says. Therefore now,

O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

A prophet of God? May it never be, speaking in such a manner. Why would he say that?

There's possible answers that have been given. Jonah, we know, went to pronounce judgment upon Nineveh.

Chapter 1, verse 2, God says to Jonah, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

Chapter 3 of Jonah. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.

Yet forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. So it was a message of judgment.

So one possible answer to why he's saying what he's saying in verse 3, Take my life from me, Calvin says, for example, that Jonah was concerned that if he pronounced this message of destruction against Nineveh, and God relented,

Jonah would somehow be found out to be a false prophet, and God to be a liar.

So Calvin writes, and I quote, What Jonah might have been thinking, Quote, I am to denounce a near ruin on the

Ninevites. Why does God command me to do this, except to invite these wretched men to repentance?

Now if they repent, will not God be instantly ready to forgive them? He would otherwise deny his own nature.

God cannot be unlike himself. He cannot put off that disposition of which he has once testified to Moses.

Since God that is reconcilable, if the Ninevites will return to the right way and flee to him, he will instantly embrace him.

Thus, I shall be found to be false in my preaching. What? I shall go there as God's ambassador in a short time.

I shall be discovered to be a liar. Will not this reproach be cast on the name of God himself?

It is therefore better for me to be silent than that God, the founder of my call, should be ridiculed.

That's one possible answer of why Jonah says what he says about taking his life, because he said, well, maybe

I'll be turned out to be a false prophet and God's name will be ridiculed. Maybe. Another possible answer is that Jonah was hoping somehow that with the destruction of Nineveh, because the northern kingdom of Israel was prosperous materially that time, but they were an apostate nation, remember, 108 years without a good king.

He figured, some say, that if Nineveh was overthrown, that would be an example to Israel so that they would return back to the

Lord from their apostasy. Maybe. But understanding the background historically of this book will help us see why

Jonah said what he said. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria.

The Assyrians were known for their brutality and cruelty. They would, in the desert, put a man in the sand up to his neck, tie a leather strap in his tongue, and let him die in the scorching heat.

Towns knew so much of the brutality and cruelty of the Assyrians that when the Assyrians were coming upon certain towns to take them over, the entire town would commit suicide rather than face the brutality of the

Assyrians. And guess what? They were the historical nemesis of Israel and Judah.

But if that wasn't enough, they were a Gentile city.

The other prophets went to the 12 tribes of Israel, whether they were part of the northern kingdom or southern kingdom.

And Jonah now is told by God to go to a Gentile city that was their nemesis, that acted so brutally.

They were not part of the covenant people of God, Israel. They were not God's chosen people, as God told

Israel in Deuteronomy 7, that I have chosen you amongst all the peoples, not because you were the greatest in number, but because I have sent my love on you.

But these were uncircumcised Gentiles. And in God's sovereign providence, about 40 to 50 years after this, in 722

B .C., the northern tribes of Israel would come under captivity by the

Assyrians. This is why Jonah said what he said in verse 3.

Lord, take my life. I want these Gentiles destroyed. Was Jonah alone in feeling this way and expressing himself this way?

What about some of the other prophets? Elijah, on the heels of his victory with the prophets of Baal, when he was ridiculing the prophets, saying, with the sacrifice on the altar, they were praying for Baal to send down fire and nothing was happening.

He said, well, maybe he's sleeping. Wake him up. But on his altar, they put water and God consumed the entire sacrifice.

And on the heels of that, it says in 1 Kings 19, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

Then Jezebel sent the messenger to Elijah, saying, so may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.

Then he was afraid and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he himself went the day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, it is enough now,

O Lord, take away my life, for I'm no better than my father's.

Jonah said it. Elijah said it. How about Jeremiah, the weeping prophet?

In Jeremiah 20, Jeremiah said, Cursed be the day on which I was born. Why did

I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow and spend my days in shame? How about the great leader of Israel, Moses, who said in Numbers 11,

Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat.

I'm not able to carry all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see wretchedness.

Job, chapter 3. And after this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

And if that wasn't enough, the great apostle Paul, in his opening chapter to the church in Corinth, his second letter to them, he writes,

For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction, which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.

The point, this was not unique to Jonah. Verse 3. But his motive for it was because he was exceedingly angry and he thought this was an evil thing, that God would show his great mercy to a

Gentile city who were the nemesis of Israel, who were brutal and cruel. Take my life.

The confession of an angry prophet. The second part of our text goes from verse 4 to verse 9.

I call it the correction by a loving God. The correction by a loving God.

Now, in Scripture, it doesn't tell us many times the tone of what is said. When back in the day

I used to take piano lessons, I remember that in the musical sheets, in the bars, above the musical bars, there would be two

Fs, and that would mean fortissimo, which would mean play this not just loud, that's forte, but fortissimo, play it very loud.

So I used to love that and tell my piano teacher, I love this, hey, I'm a Greek, I love things that are loud.

Very loud. But the Scripture doesn't tell us this is said in this tone. Sometimes we can tell by the language that is used.

For example, in the book of Philippians, Paul says to the church there, I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Very pastoral, warm and friendly. Unlike the book of Galatians, which just by what he says, you foolish

Galatians, I'm perplexed about you. I feel like I've wasted my efforts on you.

That was a sharp rebuke. But what about here? What's the tone when God responds to Jonah's confession in his anger?

He didn't kill him like in an innocence of fire on the spot. He doesn't say to Jonah what he said to Job.

Were you there when I laid the foundation of the world? Who are you to question me? But what does he say to him?

And verse nine, he repeats the same question. There are bookends to this section. Do you do well to be angry?

By the way, when God asks a question, it's not because he doesn't know the answer. The first question

God ever asked was not a question of geographic location. Do you remember when it was?

When he called out to Adam and Eve, where are you? It's not because God couldn't find them. Whenever God asks these kind of questions is to draw his people back to himself.

Do you do well to be angry, Jonah? And he continues in verse five.

Jonah went out of the city, sat to the east of the city, made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city.

Notice it says that he sat there to see what would become of the city. Maybe he was still hoping he would destroy them.

Verse six, notice God's sovereignty even throughout this object lesson that he gives Jonah to teach him.

Now the Lord God's sovereignty appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort.

So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. What? He was exceedingly evil to him that God would spare

Nineveh because of his great mercy. But now he's glad over a little shade. Verse seven.

But when dawn came up the next day, God sovereignly appointed a worm that attacked the plant so it withered.

When the sun rose, God again sovereignly appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.

And he asked that he might die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, same question he asked him earlier, do you do well to be angry?

Earlier when he asked it in verse four, it was concerning his mercy shown to Nineveh. Now he's asking this question concerning the plant because it says, do you do well to be angry for the plant?

Notice Jonah's response. And he said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.

The last part shows us the crux of why Jonah is in the

Bible. Verses 10 to 11. I call this third part the compassion of a merciful

God. The compassion of a merciful God. In verse 10, in verse nine, rather, where it said, but God said to Jonah, the term for God is

Elohim, creator. Here in verse 10, and the

Lord, that's Yahweh, the Lord God. In Yahweh, the Lord said, you pity the plant.

In the Hebrew text, the emphasis is on the term you, as if to highlight the contrast between Jonah, the man and God.

You, Jonah, a mere man, you pity the plant. And God continues, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

Verse 11, and should not I, and there's the emphasis in the

Hebrew text, the I, contrasting to the you referring to Jonah, should not I, God, Yahweh, the

Lord, Elohim, the creator, the one whom you yourself said is gracious and merciful, you knew that about me, that I am abounding in chesed and steadfast love?

Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120 ,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?

Now, it's been said the 120 persons, many have said that, that's referring to the whole of who was in Nineveh, adults and children, because the term do not know their right hand from their left means they didn't know moralistically and spiritually evil from wrong.

Others have said that that's really a reference to children who literally don't know their right hand from their left.

And if that would be the case, it's been estimated that Nineveh would have about 600 ,000 people.

But nonetheless, the point is in the word pity. It's mentioned twice in verse 10 and 11.

First, in reference to Jonah pitying the plant, and secondly in verse 11 about God pitying

Nineveh. The Hebrew word is chas, it means to spare by sheltering.

That term pity means to spare by sheltering. Jonah was upset because the plant wasn't spared for his own comfort.

Kind of petty and selfish. But God is saying in verse 11, should

I not pity? Should I not spare Nineveh by sheltering them? The idea is that of covering, shielding them from danger, ultimately the divine wrath of God.

It's the same expression and the same idea that Jesus uses in Matthew 23 verse 37, where Jesus said,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often

I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

That's the idea of pity. It's God's great mercy. When they deserved and earned his wrath, he displayed his mercy to them.

In other words, what Jesus said, it expressed the same attitude towards Jerusalem that God expressed towards the city of Nineveh.

That is what Jonah is all about. The great mercy of our God. What can we come away with lessons that we learn from here?

First and foremost, God is gracious and merciful. That's lesson number one. God is gracious and merciful because he saves sinners.

Titus 3 .5, his mercy is highlighted. He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to what?

His own mercy. Secondly, not only is God gracious and merciful, but we've learned that God is sovereign.

God is sovereign in that he providentially controls all circumstances to accomplish his sovereign will.

There is no plan B. There's only plan A for God. And did he not do that with the story of Jonah?

We saw that in chapter four, how we appointed the plant and the worm in the east wind. But throughout the story, we see

God's sovereign hand. Jonah chapter one, verse four. The Lord hurled the great wind upon the sea.

Chapter one, verse seven. They said to one another, the men on the boat, come, let us cast lots that we may know in whose account this evil has come upon us.

So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Was that by luck? Where Proverbs 16, verse 33 tells us the lot is cast in the lap, but it's every decision is from whom?

From the Lord. Jonah 1, 17. The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.

Jonah 2, verse 10. And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah up upon the dry land.

God is sovereign. He will accomplish his purposes, even with a disobedient, rebellious prophet.

Proverbs 21, verse one says, the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the

Lord. He turns it wherever he will. And so is the prophet's heart. Third, we learn that not only is

God gracious and merciful and God is sovereign, but we learn that God is immutable. He is unchangeable.

God does not change. He remains the same forever and ever. And fourthly, we learn that God is not only the

God of the Jews, but also the Gentiles. And aren't we glad for that?

Jonah was an Old Testament Peter. He said, I'm not going to this Gentile city, the most cruel city, our nemesis.

You want me to go to them? I want them destroyed. Isn't that what Peter said in Acts 10? When God told him to go to Cornelius, Peter said, by no means.

But then he went. God saved the Gentiles. And the circumcision party said, glorifying

God, then to the Gentiles. Also, God has granted repentance that leads to life.

This is in the Old Testament. God saved a Gentile city. Romans chapter three says it well to show us that God is both the

God of the Jews and the Gentiles. For we have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also.

Since God is the one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Christian, how do you respond to trials? The Apostle Peter wrote to a group of believers who were under persecution, who were scattered.

In his opening letter in 1 Peter, he doesn't say to them, been there, done that. He doesn't say to them, I'll pray for you.

He doesn't say to them, I've gone through the difficulties you've gone through. But this is what he says to them. And notice the highlight of the mercy of God.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

So in your trial, you can bless God, worship him and praise him as you remember his mercy which caused you to be born again.

As we close, turn with me to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12.

You study the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's focus and highlight of Jesus is his royalty.

He presents Jesus as the King. And in this section,

Matthew chapter 12, the section is really Matthew chapters 11 through Matthew chapter 15.

This is the Jews' rejection of the King. It's culminating here.

The Jews' rejection of the King. And by the way, that was part of Jonah's lesson by God.

Israel is living as an apostate country. I want you to go to a Gentile nation who repented.

And notice what the Jews in Jesus' day said. Chapter 12, verse 1. At that time,

Jesus went through the grain fields of the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the

Sabbath. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him?

How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who are with him, but only for the priests?

Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

The priests served in the temple. And here Jesus was saying, I am here, fulfilling my office as a priest.

Jump to verse 42 of the same chapter. The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.

For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

Solomon was a king. Jesus was saying, I'm here to fulfill my office as a king.

Verse 38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.

That was typical of the Jews. Jews seek a sign. Greeks look for wisdom. First Corinthians 118, verse 39.

But he answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, adulterous in the sense of spiritual adultery, spiritual apostasy from God.

But no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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. A reference to his death, burial, and resurrection.

Verse 41. Notice this. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.

For they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Jonah was a prophet who did not obey the will of God. Whereas Jesus was the prophet who obeyed the will of God.

As he himself said in John 6, verse 38. For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

This was an indictment on the Jews. As Jonah, who was a Jewish prophet, didn't want to go to a Gentile city,

Christ is indicting the Jews saying, look, a Gentile city repented at the preaching of Jonah, a disobedient prophet, and you are rejecting me, the one who is the true prophet of God.

So I invite you, if Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, would you turn to Jesus Christ, the one true prophet, today?

It was Tuesday night as I was finishing some of my notes and preparing for this message, and I invited my eldest daughter to come and sit with me.

So I pointed to her in my Bible and I said, what's it say there, sweetie? She said, Jonah. I said, is Jonah about Jonah and a big fish?

Is that what the story is really all about, sweetie? No, she said, dad, it's not. I said, well, tell me about the story of Jonah.

So she proceeded to tell me the story of Jonah in her own words, taking me through chapters 1, 2, and 3. And when we got to chapter 4,

I asked her, now, was Jonah angry at God? Yes. Well, why was he angry at God?

And we talked about he was angry at God because God showed his great mercy to Nineveh.

I said to her, sweetie, you and I deserve God's punishment. You and I deserve divine wrath, but God's great mercy in Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word this morning, that your word is inspired, written by the

Holy Spirit of God, and that is why we take the time to preach it and teach it, because it alone is living and active.

I pray that you would help us through the story of Jonah. Remember that it's not about a fish, but it's ultimately about your great mercy, ultimately revealed, culminating in the one who was the prophet, unlike Jonah, who obeyed the will of God, the

Lord Jesus Christ. I pray if there's anybody here who has never repented and turned to Christ, that you would cause them to do so.

And those of us who have you graced us to do that, that we remember your great mercy in times of trial, that you are the one who's caused us to be born again.