My notes from Richard Coekin’s talk in the third session at EMA (Evangelical Ministry Assembly)…
God is the Evangelist (Jonah 1-2)
Good news from Jonah. Preachers committed to obeying the great commission need to know that God is the evangelist.
God is the Sovereign Evangelist. This book is not about Jonah and the whale but God and the nations because God is the evangelist to the nations. Dip into Jonah and you’ll see God’s missionary heart.
The book climaxes with the question ‘Should I not pity Nineveh?’ and the truth that God desires all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). It’s a book of cycles, in chapters 1 and 2 we read about the salvation of Jonah and in chapters 3 and 4 we read about the salvation of Nineveh. The centre of the book is 2:9 where the truths that God is Sovereign (1:9) and God is merciful (4:2) come together. If God is Sovereign and merciful then God is the evangelist we need.
Jonah the prophet (1:1) emerges as the rebellious and resentful man with disgust at Syrian idolatry. Modern equivalent would be us not travelling to Tehran to proclaim the wrath of God. But Jonah is a work in progress who is learning to share God’s passion for the lost.
Nineveh the city (1:2) is evil. Both moral wickedness (crimes) and social distress (fear caused by this). God had not gone soft on sin by sending Jonah to Nineveh, every evil city must repent or be destroyed. Evil is great, but the city is important to God because it’s full of spiritually clueless people that He cares about. Kindest thing God can do for a city is offer salvation. Babylon may be the city where we are living, but Nineveh is the city of condemned unbelievers we go to with the gospel. God is the Sovereign evangelist who can do it through us.
1. God is sovereign in JUDGING the nations! (1:2)
The wickedness of Nineveh causes God to send an evangelist not an air strike because He wants the city to repent. God does not forget His hatred of sin while we do mission. Wrath is loving wrath that wants to save sinners.
Some think our mission doesn’t need to anything about God hating sin. But when you do this you no longer have a gospel of salvation from sin but inclusion in sin. God calls people to repent from sin. God expresses sovereign judgment by sending an evangelist.
2. God is sovereign in TRAINING the prophet! (1:3-10)
Jonah is the only Old Testament prophet who tried to flee from the presence of the Lord. Jonah must have known Psalm 139. Jonah should have run to God but He has to learn the Lord’s way. On the boat and in the storm the captain waits for Jonah to tell them how to be saved but Jonah remains silent (v6).
The Lord persists with Jonah. Reaching all the nations is something we all need to do. Times of hardship is where we grow the most.
3. God is sovereign in SAVING the lost! (1:11-16)
Don’t you love the fact that as Jonah runs away from evangelism, God gives it. The wrath of the storm is removed by the substitutionary sacrifice of Jonah that prefigures the sacrifice of Jesus to come.
If our God uses a rebellious prophet to bring pagan sailors to faith in God, He can use you and me. No-one gets saved according to our plan but God’s. God is reminding us that it’s His mission. If we don’t believe in the sovereignty of God we won’t do mission because we won’t believe that God can save. God will use all kinds of random events to save people.
4. God is sovereign in PROVIDING the saviour! (1:17)
God’s sovereign provision of a big fish. Jonah is somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea, can you get more lost than that? God arranges a saviour. Fish is perfect for God’s purpose of humbling Jonah. No more surprising than using a man on the cross to save people. We need to feel how utterly lost and helpless we are, to rediscover the miracle of being saved.
“Do you ever think to yourself “I should be in hell”?”
The Joy of Jonah (2:1-10)
Jonah launches into praise from the belly of the fish. Jonah pours out his heart in praise to God.
God had heard his prayers (v1, 7). He was moments from drowning.
God had saved his life (v2-4). Recognised that he deserved God’s judgment.
God had exposed idolatry (v8). Perhaps a note of self righteousness. More important realisation is the steadfast love of God that saved Jonah that the pagans need to know. There is some compassion and pity here.
Salvation belongs to the Lord! (v9) Critical declaration from the book. It is uniquely from the Lord, it is only the Lord who can raise the dead to life. It is completely from the Lord. Nothing Jonah could do from the belly of the fish. It is available from the Lord. Nothing can stop the Lord from saving.
The Sign of Jonah (Matthew 12)
Jesus saw Himself as the sign for sinners prefigured by Jonah. Jesus is greater than Jonah because He survived death not just a dunking in the sea. Great news is that God is the evangelist who sent Jonah to Nineveh and Jesus to the world. God is reaching every nation through Jesus. He’s the sign to convince sceptical pagan, He survived the grave.
