Jonah 3–4: God's Mercy is Bigger Than His Wrath

Introduction & Review

Take your Bibles with me tonight and we're going to go to the book of Jonah, chapter three and four tonight. Last week Brother Adam started this story of the book of Jonah and tonight we're going to look at the last half of this story.

Just as a matter of review let's talk about it. Jonah was a prophet in Israel that God gave a special job to. He was to go and preach repentance to the Ninevites.

Jonah did not want to go to the Ninevites. The Ninevites were some of the most wicked and cruel people who ever lived. There are archaeological records, first-person records, of Ninevite soldiers bragging about making pyramids of the skulls of the people that they conquered, of them ripping open the wombs of pregnant women. They came through and terrorized, raped, pillaged, and just they were awful, wicked, violent people.

That reputation went before them and so when God told Jonah, this prophet, to go and preach to those people, he wasn't having it. Jonah most likely, like many of the Jews of his day, thought only in terms of the Jews. He wanted to see his people do well not the people that were oppressing his people.

So Jonah got on a boat going in the opposite direction of Nineveh. He went as far away from Nineveh as he possibly could in the opposite direction. God brought a storm. They found out that Jonah was running from God. They threw Jonah in the ocean. He was swallowed by a whale and spat up on dry ground.

And now Jonah has a walk. He has to go to the city of Nineveh. Most likely the acid from that whale's belly had bleached his skin and made him bald. He was probably a sight to be seen as he trudged up hundreds of miles to the city of Nineveh.

Part 1: Jonah Preaches — Jonah 3:1–10

Let's read verses one to four of chapter three. Get started tonight.

[1] And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, [2] Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. [3] So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. [4] And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

I think one of the most interesting things in this whole book is verse one of chapter three. It says, "The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time."

You know what that tells me? God is a God of second chances. God could have left Jonah in the heart of the sea. God could have let Jonah drown there in the ocean. God could have found another prophet to go and deliver this message but the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. God gave Jonah, this rebellious prophet, a second chance at obedience.

So Jonah goes to the city. Nineveh was a massive city. It would be in modern-day Iraq. They said that the city had somewhere between 500,000 and a million inhabitants inside the city walls. It was such a great city that it took three days to walk across it. Nineveh is here, the capital of the biggest empire in the world at this time. Jonah walks into the city with his disfigured skin and his interesting appearance. He walks one day, not even all the way into the center of the city, and he preaches the most pathetic message I have ever seen.

He says, "In 40 days Nineveh is going to be overthrown." That's it. That's his whole message. "You guys got 40 days."

And God does something fantastic, unbelievable, something no one would have seen coming. Let's keep reading.

[5] So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. [6] For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. [7] And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: [8] But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. [9] Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? [10] And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

The people of Nineveh come to God. The people of Nineveh repent. The people of Nineveh hear this message, this reluctant message from this prophet, and they believe. It says from the greatest of them to the least. So much, so much of them believe that even it gets to the king of Nineveh. This is like the most powerful person in the whole world.

The message comes to the king and the king hears it and he immediately covers himself with sackcloth and ashes. This is clothing that they would make to be as uncomfortable as they possibly could. He says to all the people, "Everybody needs to put on sackcloth and ashes. Everybody needs to fast. Even your animals need to have sackcloth and ashes on because who can tell if God is going to repent? Who can tell if God is going to turn away his anger from us?"

It says that God saw their works. God saw that their repentance and God repented. God chose not to bring the punishment that he was going to bring.

A couple of lessons here.

First I read this and I think God's power matters so much more than the message or the messenger. Here you have this reluctant preacher preaching a pathetic message and yet conviction comes from the power of God and these people repent en masse.

Look this was probably the most effective evangelistic event in human history. There's probably never been an evangelistic effort that had more fruit than this brief five- or six-word message from this prophet that doesn't even want to be there, named Jonah.

Everybody in this city repented. The king of the Assyrians genuinely repented. This would be like the most powerful person in the world. Imagine if Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin or somebody like that heard the words of a prophet and decided to put on sackcloth in front of everybody and publicly repent before God. That's what happened here. It happened by someone that didn't even want to be there.

Sometimes we think if God's gonna do something, we have to have a great preacher. Well that's not happening here. Jonah wasn't a great preacher. Jonah was terrible.

Maybe we think the audience has to be primed to hear the message. No these people were going about their wicked lives, doing terrible and wicked things, until the prophet showed up and God's power was in it and they came to God; they repented.

I think the second lesson that we see here in these verses is that God wants everybody to be saved. Everybody.

Some of you remember 9/11. You remember watching those planes hit those towers. That was a real, real wake-up call for me. One of my dad's best friends was married to a flight attendant that was on one of those planes. I had gone to New York City less than six months prior to that and looked at those giant towers and I was a young man. I was 18 years old when that happened.

And I hated terrorists and got very, very angry, like so many people. Imagine if at that moment in my young life God said, "Ryan, I want you to go to Afghanistan and I want you to preach the gospel to al-Qaeda because I want to see Al-Qaeda members come to faith in Christ."

That's kind of what Jonah was doing here. Jonah was going to the terrorist of his day. These people, honestly, they made Al-Qaeda look like Boy Scouts but you know what? God had a heart to see these people come to Christ. The truth is very often Christians are like Jonah. They have a list of people. Whether they say it or not, they have a list of people that they don't believe God can forgive. Maybe it's a people group that they hate. Maybe it's the Jews. Maybe it's the Muslims. Maybe it's some group that they're prejudiced against. Maybe it's people that have committed certain crimes. I don't know but they have a list of people in their mind that they do not believe are under the blood of Jesus.

Do you know what this story shows us? This story shows us that God wants everybody to come to faith in Christ. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. And whoever pops in your mind when I say "everybody" and you think not him, not her, not them, God wants them to be saved too.

Part 2: Jonah's Anger — Jonah 4:1–4

Let's keep reading. Chapter 4:

[1] But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. [2] And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. [3] Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. [4] Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah has the most successful evangelistic undertaking in the history of the world and he hates it. He's angry about it. Imagine, if you will, some evangelist goes and preaches and the entire city comes to Christ. Name the greatest evangelists that have ever lived, think about Billy Graham or George Whitfield, and I'm gonna tell you they didn't have this much success. God really used Jonah and Jonah was mad about it.

He's so mad about it. He says to God, "This is why I ran away. I knew you're a gracious God. I knew that you're merciful. I knew that you're slow to anger. I knew that you're great, kind, that you're of great kindness and I knew that you would change your mind about destroying these people so I ran away."

And God please just kill me. It's better that I die than I see all these people receive your mercy.

Man, Jonah's a jerk, isn't he? Jonah is so full of hate for these people. He is so prejudiced against these people.

You know sometimes God uses representatives that don't match His character.

Jonah was merciless and God was merciful. Jonah was graceless and God was full of grace. Jonah was quick to anger and God is slow to anger. God repented of the evil he was going to do and Jonah wanted to see it happen.

Isn't it interesting how God used this man who very much didn't share God's character? God used this man that very much did not have God's heart.

You know it's a hope that as we grow closer to the Lord, we are changed into His image, that His character is reflected in us.

One of the things that's supposed to happen to us as we understand our sinful nature and we understand that we come before God with nothing and we have received His mercy and His righteousness as a gift, is that we're supposed to become merciful and peacemakers. As we encounter the mercy and grace of God we're supposed to reflect that.

Jonah has encountered the mercy and grace of God. Being swallowed by a whale, being given this second chance, was a direct instance of God showing his mercy and grace to Jonah. Yet Jonah had no mercy and grace for others.

It seems like Jonah's plan is to go out of the city, out of the city of Nineveh, sit down, and watch for 40 days and hope that God would change his mind.

Part 3: The Gourd and the Worm — Jonah 4:5–8

Let's keep reading. See what happens.

[5] So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. [6] And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. [7] But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. [8] And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

Jonah just goes out and he's determined to have a pity party. He's gonna watch this city and see if God changes his mind and he's gonna be excited when God decides to destroy this place.

God does something interesting. God works a miracle on Jonah's behalf. God plants a shade tree there in the desert over Jonah to protect him, to give him some shade and some comfort. Jonah is very happy about this shade, this gourd that comes up over him.

But then God sends a worm. It eats the gourd. The gourd dies. God sends wind and it beats on Jonah's head. He again wishes he could die. He says, "It's better for me to die than that I live."

And here's another lesson for us. God's care for us comes both in the form of the gourd and in the form of the worm. Let me say that better. God's care for us includes both blessings and hardships.

You see God miraculously worked to create this gourd to create this shade for Jonah but God also miraculously worked to make the gourd go away and to make the wind blow a lot of people. When good things are happening they're like, 'Oh yeah God is blessing me. Oh yeah, look the blessings of God are on my life.' But when hardships come they think, 'What did I do? Oh God's away from us. God must not be listening.'

No God works in both; God works in both the blessing and the hardship.

You might be experiencing a time of incredible blessing right now. Praise God for that. Be happy in that. Thank the Lord in your good times.

You also might be going through some hard times. The wind is blowing. Maybe you even want to die. Maybe you're even fainting a little bit. God is in that too. God might be trying to get your attention. God might try to work something out in you. God might be squeezing you a little bit so that others can see his goodness in your life. God works in both. God's care for us includes both blessings and hardships.

You know what God is doing here? God is trying to teach Jonah his heart. God is trying to reveal to Jonah how different he is than Jonah is. God is showing Jonah that he is good and Jonah is not. That wouldn't have happened if it was just all blessings.

Part 4: God's Final Question — Jonah 4:9–11

Let's keep reading. Look at the questions that God asks Jonah. God is so merciful and patient isn't he? Even with somebody like Jonah, even as somebody that's full of hatred and somebody that's so full of prejudice, somebody that's rebelling against God, God is still talking to Jonah. God is still trying to change Jonah's mind. God's trying to bring Jonah to repentance.

Let's read the last three verses here.

[9] And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. [10] Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: [11] And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

God is asking Jonah questions. Jonah, is it right for you to be so angry? Pouty Jonah is like, "Yeah it's right for me to be angry. I'm so angry I could die."

And God says, "Jonah, you had compassion on this gourd. This thing you didn't make. This thing you didn't work on at all. It just came up in the middle of the night and it perished in the middle of the night. You had compassion on this thing. Shouldn't I have compassion on Nineveh, the city, where there are six score thousand persons that can't discern between their right hand and their left and much cattle?"

What is the six score thousand persons? That's a hundred and twenty thousand children. God was looking at that city and God cared about the children. God cared about the animals that were in that city but God really cared about the children.

And God's saying to Jonah, "You care more about that stupid gourd than you care about a hundred everlasting souls of 120,000 children."

Conclusion

A couple more lessons here and then we'll be done. One of the things that stands out to me in this story is the special care that God has for children. God cares about children and God seems to grant children a level of innocence.

I think this is what Jesus was talking about when he said, "Suffer the little children to come to me because the kingdom of God is made up of little children." Little children are in God's kingdom. I think this is reflected in the words of Christ where he said it would be better that a giant millstone be cast around your neck and you'd be thrown into the sea than for you to offend one of these little children.

I don't know about you. I don't know what your position is but I believe, based on those verses, based on this passage here, based on David's word about his passing away of his baby son, that God grants a special degree of innocence to children. I do believe in the age of accountability as it's been called.

God loves little children.

You know it's been interesting with all this Iran stuff over the last month, watching the comments of certain people that seem gleeful about the idea of nuking a country, nuking a populace. I don't think that's God's heart.

On the other hand a lot of people that have been wringing their hands about us being in a war against these people on the other side of the world are actively trying to abort as many children as they possibly can in the United States. I think God loves the little children in both places.

You know there was a Baptist pastor in Philadelphia in the late 1800s who was very good at doing magic tricks, if you will, and singing songs for children and attracted all kinds of children. At that point the city was being overrun with immigrant children, with children that were kind of the outflow of the Civil War. There were lots of black people moving into the city. Those people were making their way into his church and the deacons and the old guard in the church didn't like it.

And they asked him what he was going to do about it. This pastor said, "I'm going to teach a new song." I wrote a new song and he had everyone gather around and he sang…

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

You know, human beings may be prejudiced but God isn't. Human beings might hate people because of the color of their skin but God doesn't. God wants all men to be saved, even the Ninevites, even the Assyrians. God has a heart for them.

That brings me to the last lesson that I want to talk about tonight and that is that God's mercy is bigger than God's wrath.

Church, make no doubt about it: the Assyrians, the Ninevites, deserve the wrath of God. No doubt, if anybody ever deserved the wrath of God, it is this people. They were horrible, wicked, violent in a way that nobody else in the ancient world was. Horrible, horrible sinners and yet God was concerned with showing mercy. Our God is a God of great mercy.

We all know John 3:16 but what does John 3:17 say?

[17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. — John 3:17 (KJV)

Aren't you glad that God's mercy is bigger than God's wrath? Aren't you glad that God shows mercy to people that don't deserve it?

You should be cause that's you and that's me. I didn't deserve God's mercy when he saved me and I don't deserve it now.

Church, I hope you're not like Jonah. I hope you understand the mercy that has been shown to you and you extend that mercy and grace to others. I hope you don't give in to hate and to prejudice against people. I hope you don't sit up and think about groups of people that you think are unworthy in some special way of God's grace. That's not for you to say.

I hope you understand that God has a heart, even for children, even for people in wicked places and wicked cities. God has a heart for them and God's mercy is bigger than God's wrath.

Let's stand together and pray.