Jonah 1:1-2
Big Idea: Jonah is a book about God’s mercy needed by all and extended to all.
3 Main Players in the Book of Jonah:
- The Lord, ________________________
Jonah 1:1 (ESV) — 1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah…
Exodus 3:14 (ESV) — 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 20:4–6 (ESV) — 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
God is present. God is watching. God is desiring to see not only Jonah thrive but also the people of Nineveh thrive. Further still, and hear this, God is not only desiring for Nineveh to thrive but he desires for us to thrive. And so, He speaks.
- Jonah, _____________________ of Amittai
Jonah 1:1 (ESV) — 1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Kings 14:25 (ESV) — 25 He (King Jeroboam II) 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-hepher.
From the book of Jonah itself it is evident that Jonah was an ardent nationalist, pro-Israel and anti-foreign; at least, anti-Assyrian. The book also reveals, implicitly, that he was a dedicated, disciplined, strong-willed prophet
We are all in need of God’s mercy.
God asks us to do the very things we don’t want to do because he loves us.
- Nineveh, the _____________ _____________
Jonah 1:2 (ESV) — 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
“It was even more shocking that the God of Israel would want to warn Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire of impending doom. Assyria was one of the cruelest and most violent empires of ancient times. Assyrian kingdom often recorded the results of their military victories, gloating of whole plans littered with corpses and of cities burned completely to the ground. The emperor Shalmaneser III is well know for depicting torture, dismembering, and decapitations of enemies in grisly detail on large stone relief panels. Assyrian history is ‘as gory and bloodcurdling a history as we know’” Tim Keller
God extends his mercy even to the worst of us.
Questions to consider
- What is the message we are going to see throughout the book of Jonah? Why is this message important to you?
- Do you have any Ninevehites in your life? Those whom you are reluctant to share God’s mercy? What does this say about your view of God? And people?
- How might you go about trusting God by declaring his love and mercy to them?
