Getting Started in Jonah

Jonah is probably the Minor Prophet most people know best. That familiarity is a gift, but it can also be a problem. Many people know Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. Fewer know why the book was written the way it was written.

Jonah is unlike the other prophetic books. It is short. It is narrative. It is memorable. Because it is only four chapters, preachers often choose Jonah for a four-part series. That can be a good choice. The trouble comes when the series simply follows the chapter breaks as if Stephen Langton’s divisions were part of the original manuscript. Chapter breaks can be useful. They can also quietly train us to miss the shape of the text.

Jonah is much more than a man and a fish. The fish matters, of course. Jesus mentions it. But Jonah is much more than a prophet being swallowed and spit out. It is a sharp, carefully structured book that exposes the human heart, displays the sovereign mercy of God, and calls the reader to repentance and worship.

That makes Jonah a wonderful book for preaching, teaching, and personal study. It is short enough to read in one sitting and deep enough to expose things we would rather leave undisturbed.

Jonah Is Two Parallel Narratives

The structure of Jonah is formed by two parallel narratives. The second narrative mirrors the first, but more largely and deeply. This allows the book to teach its lessons by taking the reader through a pattern once and then taking the reader through the pattern again with greater intensity.

The opening lines of the two narratives echo one another:

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah…” (Jonah 1:1)
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time…” (Jonah 3:1)

From there, the narratives follow a repeated sequence.

First narrative: Jonah 1-2

1. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah (Jonah 1:1-2).

2. Jonah acts in response by fleeing (Jonah 1:3).

3. Non-Israelites enter the picture through the sailors (Jonah 1:4-16).

4. God demonstrates his sovereignty over creation by appointing the storm and the fish (Jonah 1:4, 17).

5. Jonah prays (Jonah 2:1-9).

6. God acts by speaking to the fish, and Jonah is delivered (Jonah 2:10).

Second narrative: Jonah 3-4

1. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah again (Jonah 3:1-2).

2. Jonah acts in response by going to Nineveh (Jonah 3:3-4).

3. Non-Israelites enter the picture through the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5-9).

4. God demonstrates his sovereignty in mercy, then through the plant, worm, and wind (Jonah 3:10; 4:6-8).

5. Jonah prays (Jonah 4:1-4).

6. God acts by teaching Jonah and pressing him with a final question (Jonah 4:5-11).

This structure matters. Jonah does not merely move from chapter 1 to chapter 2 to chapter 3 to chapter 4. It moves through a pattern, then repeats the pattern with greater depth. The first half teaches us how to read the second half. The second half exposes the deeper issue in Jonah and brings the reader into the uncomfortable place where Jonah stands.

In the first narrative, Jonah’s disobedience is visible. He runs from the word of the Lord. In the second narrative, Jonah obeys outwardly, but his heart is exposed. He goes to Nineveh, preaches judgment, watches the city repent, and becomes angry because God shows mercy.

In chapter 1, Jonah’s feet run from God. In chapter 4, Jonah’s heart argues with God. That is why the parallel structure is so important. Jonah’s problem is not only that he tried to run far away. His deeper problem is that he does not love mercy when God gives it to his enemies.

Everyone Obeys Except Jonah

One of the most striking features of Jonah is that the reader should expect Jonah, the prophet of the Lord, to obey God. Instead, in a shocking reversal, everyone and everything seems to obey the Lord except Jonah. God commands the storm. The storm obeys. God appoints the fish. The fish obeys. God speaks to the fish. The fish obeys. The sailors fear the Lord. The Ninevites repent. God appoints a plant. It obeys. God appoints a worm. It obeys. God appoints a scorching east wind. It obeys. Meanwhile, Jonah runs, sleeps, resists, complains, and sulks.

This is not accidental. The book wants us to notice the irony. The pagans respond more properly than the prophet. The wicked city repents more quickly than the preacher. Creation obeys God while Jonah argues with him. That should slow down any preacher or teacher who wants to turn Jonah into a simple lesson about evangelism, courage, or missionary obedience. Those themes are present, but Jonah is not mainly a ministry recruitment poster with a fish on it. Jonah exposes the heart of a man who knows true things about God but struggles to love what God loves.

The Abrupt Ending Is the Point

Jonah ends abruptly. God asks Jonah whether he should not 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 (Jonah 4:11). Then the book ends. No final speech from Jonah. No neat resolution. No tidy line about how Jonah learned his lesson. Nothing. That abrupt ending is not a flaw. It is one of the book’s sharpest tools.

The first narrative teaches the complete pattern. It is like A+B+C=D. Jonah rebels, God pursues, Jonah is brought low, Jonah prays, Jonah confesses the truth, and Jonah is delivered. The right response is repentance and worship.

The second narrative gives the pattern again, but larger. It is like AA+BB+CC=__. The reader is supposed to know the answer. Jonah should repent and worship again, but this time the repentance should go deeper because the issue is deeper. He must not only confess that salvation belongs to the Lord when God saves him. He must also confess that salvation belongs to the Lord when God saves Nineveh.

Once we know what Jonah should do, we know what we should do. That is the trapdoor under the reader. Jonah is not merely asking whether Nineveh should receive mercy. Jonah is asking whether we trust God to be merciful to whomever he pleases.

Three Big Themes in Jonah

Jonah is short, but it is not thin. Several themes stand out for preachers and teachers.

The Fear of the Lord

Jonah’s first response to God’s command is resistance. The word of the Lord comes, but Jonah rises to flee. The movement could almost be summarized this way: “The Lord said, but Jonah.” When the word of the Lord comes again in Jonah 3, the movement changes. This time Jonah goes. The contrast matters. Jonah is learning, but he is not finished learning. His outward obedience in chapter 3 is real, but chapter 4 reveals that his heart is still struggling with God’s mercy.

The fear of the Lord is more than bare submission. It includes trust. Jonah must learn that God is not only sovereign over storms, fish, plants, worms, and wind. God is also right in his mercy. Jonah does not get to approve God’s compassion before God may extend it. This is a needed lesson. Many Christians can obey God externally while quietly judging God internally. We can serve, teach, preach, give, attend, and even do the right thing while our hearts object to God’s generosity toward others. Jonah puts that ugliness on the table and refuses to let us call it maturity.

Salvation Belongs to the Lord

Jonah’s great confession comes from the belly of the fish: “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). This is one of the central lines of the book. Jonah is not saved because he has finally become impressive. The sailors are not spared because Jonah managed the crisis well. Nineveh is not spared because Jonah preached with warmth, tears, and a compelling three-point invitation. God saves because salvation belongs to the Lord. This truth is both comforting and humbling. It comforts us because God can save stubborn prophets, terrified sailors, wicked cities, and sinners like us. It humbles us because God does not need our permission to show mercy.

Jonah knows the truth, but he struggles to love it. He receives God’s mercy for himself, then resents God’s mercy for Nineveh. That is the rotten center of the book. Jonah loves grace when grace rescues Jonah. He is far less enthusiastic when grace reaches his enemies. The book will not let us admire grace in theory while despising it in practice.

God’s Patience and Grace

God is astonishingly patient with Jonah. Jonah runs, and God pursues him. Jonah sinks, and God appoints a fish. Jonah prays, and God delivers him. Jonah preaches reluctantly, and God saves Nineveh. Jonah fumes, and God reasons with him. Jonah wants to die, and God teaches him with a plant, a worm, and a question. God could have ended Jonah early. He does not. That is grace.

God’s grace to Nineveh is obvious. God’s grace to Jonah may be even more stunning because Jonah knows better. He knows God’s character. He knows God’s mercy. He knows God’s covenant name. Yet God patiently shepherds him. This makes Jonah helpful for teaching sanctification. Jonah goes around the mountain more than once. He learns something in chapter 2, but chapter 4 shows that the lesson must go deeper. That is familiar to every Christian who has ever had to relearn the same lesson with slightly different scenery and more embarrassing details. God is gracious to slow learners. That should not make us lazy. It should make us worship.

God’s Sovereignty in Mission

Jonah also shows God’s sovereignty in mission. God sends his word where he wants it to go. Jonah’s selfishness does not stop God. Jonah’s reluctance does not stop God. Nineveh’s wickedness does not stop God. Creation itself is ready to serve God’s saving purposes. This does not excuse Jonah. God’s sovereignty never turns human disobedience into faithfulness. It does, however, give hope. God can work through weak, reluctant, and badly motivated messengers. That is mercy.

God cares about sailors Jonah ignores. God cares about Ninevites Jonah hates. God cares about a city Jonah would rather see destroyed. Jonah’s mission exposes Jonah’s heart, but it also displays God’s heart.

Why a Four-Part Series Should Not Simply Follow the Chapters

A four-sermon series through Jonah is a good idea. But the easiest plan may not be the best plan. Many preachers would naturally preach Jonah something like this:

1. Jonah runs from God, chapter 1.

2. Jonah prays from the fish, chapter 2.

3. Jonah preaches to Nineveh, chapter 3.

4. Jonah gets angry, chapter 4.

That series would not be heresy. But it may miss the structure of the book.

The problem is that Jonah 1 and 3 belong together in important ways. Both begin with the word of the Lord coming to Jonah. Both show Jonah responding. Both bring non-Israelites into the story. Both show God’s sovereign work. Both display surprising responses from people we might not expect to respond.

Likewise, Jonah 2 and 4 belong together. Both are prayers from Jonah. In Jonah 2, Jonah prays from distress and moves toward confession, repentance, and worship. In Jonah 4, Jonah prays from anger and still needs to be led toward the right response. Chapter 2 helps us know what should happen after chapter 4.

Therefore, a four-part series may better serve the Text by spending two sermons in Jonah and two sermons in the New Testament.

A Better Four-Sermon Path

Here is one way to preach Jonah in four sermons while honoring the book’s structure and showing its fulfillment in Christ.

Sermon 1: The Word of the Lord and the Fear of the Lord

Text: Jonah 1 and 3
Main idea: The word of the Lord exposes whether we fear God by trusting and obeying him.

This sermon should compare the two beginnings. In Jonah 1, the word comes and Jonah runs. In Jonah 3, the word comes and Jonah goes. The contrast is simple, but it opens the book’s deeper concern.

In Jonah 1, the sailors increasingly fear the Lord while Jonah resists. In Jonah 3, Nineveh repents at the preaching of Jonah. In both chapters, the people we least expect to respond are the ones responding. Jonah, the prophet, remains the troubling figure.

The sermon can press the difference between outward familiarity with God and proper fear of God. Jonah knows true theology, but he does not yet trust God’s mercy. The fear of the Lord includes believing that God is right, even when his commands and compassion confront our preferences.

Sermon 2: Repentance, Worship, and the Grace of God

Text: Jonah 2 and 4
Main idea: God graciously brings sinners around again and again so they may repent, yield, and worship.

This sermon should compare Jonah’s two prayers. In chapter 2, Jonah prays from the fish and comes to the great confession that salvation belongs to the Lord. In chapter 4, Jonah prays from anger and reveals that he resents God’s mercy to Nineveh.

The preacher can show Jonah taking two trips around the mountain. In the first, God brings Jonah low, Jonah sees God’s mercy, and Jonah worships. In the second, God brings Jonah into another lesson, but this time we get to hear the conversation. Jonah is still struggling. God is still gracious. Jonah wants to die. God reasons with him. Jonah pities the plant. God points him to the city. The ending invites the reader to respond. Jonah should repent and worship. So should we.

This sermon has a strong sanctification angle. Christians often learn the same gospel truths repeatedly. We are saved by grace, being sanctified by grace, and will be brought home by grace. God walks his people through repentance more than once because our hearts are often slower than our mouths.

Sermon 3: The Sign of Jonah and the Gospel of Jesus

Text: Matthew 12:38-42 or Luke 11:29-32
Main idea: Jesus teaches us that Jonah points beyond himself to the greater prophet, the greater sign, and the gospel of repentance and forgiveness.

If we want to understand Jonah rightly, we should listen to Jesus’ commentary on Jonah. Jesus refers to the sign of Jonah when confronting a generation that demands signs but refuses to repent. In Matthew, Jesus connects Jonah’s time in the fish with the Son of Man being in the heart of the earth. Luke does not include that specific detail, which helps us see that the sign of Jonah is larger than the fish-to-tomb comparison. In both Matthew and Luke, Jesus highlights the repentance of Nineveh. The men of Nineveh will rise in judgment against those who reject the greater one who has come. This means the sign of Jonah is bound up with the gospel. The greater prophet has come. He dies and rises. Repentance and forgiveness are proclaimed in his name. The proper response is not curiosity but repentance and faith.

Jonah preached judgment to Nineveh, and they repented. Jesus is greater than Jonah, and many still refuse him. That should sober us.

This sermon gives a clear opportunity to preach Christ. Jonah’s sin was not swept under the rug. Nineveh’s sin was not ignored. God forgives sinners because sin is finally dealt with at the cross. We look back to what Jonah could only look forward to in shadow. Jesus bears the guilt of his people and gives them his righteousness.

Sermon 4: Jesus, Jonah, and the Storm

Text: Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, or Luke 8:22-25
Main idea: The Lord who ruled the storm in Jonah is revealed in Jesus Christ, who rules creation and saves his people.

The Gospel accounts of Jesus calming the storm allude to Jonah 1 in striking ways. There is a boat. There is a dangerous storm. There are terrified men who think they may perish. There is someone asleep in the boat. There is fear. There is a question about divine concern and power. There is deliverance from death. There is amazement and worshipful fear when the wind and sea obey. In Jonah, the sailors call upon Jonah to call upon his God so perhaps they will not perish. The wind and sea obey the Lord. When the sea ceases from its raging, the sailors fear the Lord exceedingly and offer sacrifice. In the Gospel storm accounts, the disciples fear they will perish. In Mark, they ask Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” That question echoes the concern at the heart of Jonah 4, where Jonah does not care for Nineveh as God does. Jesus then rebukes the wind and sea, and they obey him. The disciples are filled with fear and ask who this is, that even wind and sea obey him.

Jonah helps us answer the disciples’ question. If the Lord commands the wind and waves in Jonah, and the wind and waves obey Jesus in the Gospels, then much is being said about Jesus. The God of Jonah is standing in the boat. But Jesus is not merely another Jonah. He is greater than Jonah. Jonah sleeps in disobedience. Jesus sleeps in perfect trust. Jonah is thrown into the sea because of his own sin. Jesus goes into death because of ours. Jonah cannot command the storm. Jesus rebukes the wind and sea, and they obey. Jonah is the prophet running from God’s mission to the nations. Jesus is the Son sent by the Father to save sinners from every nation.

This sermon brings the series to the person of Christ. Jesus is the obedient Son, the Lord of creation, the greater prophet, and the Savior who enters judgment to rescue his people.

Gospel Connections in Jonah

Jonah gives many faithful paths to Christ. Jesus himself appeals to Jonah. That should give preachers confidence to connect Jonah to Christ, but it should also keep us from creative nonsense. We do not need to invent a secret meaning for every wave, plank, and fishbone. Jesus gives us the main road.

Jonah’s three days point to Christ’s death and resurrection. Jonah’s deliverance from the fish points beyond itself to the greater deliverance accomplished by Jesus. Jonah’s preaching to Nineveh points to the greater prophet whose message demands repentance. Nineveh’s repentance exposes the guilt of those who reject Christ. Jonah’s confession that salvation belongs to the Lord is fulfilled in the saving work of Jesus.

Jonah also shows why the gospel is necessary. Jonah sins. The sailors need mercy. Nineveh deserves judgment. None of them can save themselves. God must provide salvation.

The sailors are worried about innocent blood, but Jonah is not finally innocent. The Ninevites are not innocent. We are not innocent. The only truly innocent one is Jesus Christ. He is the one whose blood saves the guilty.

Helps for Preachers and Teachers

Start by reading Jonah as a whole. It is short enough to read in one sitting, and it should be read that way several times. The book’s repetition, irony, and structure become clearer when read as a complete narrative.

Do not make the fish the center. The fish is important because God appoints it and Jesus references Jonah’s time in it. But the fish is not the point. God is the point. God’s mercy is the point. Jonah’s heart is the problem. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Do not flatten Jonah into a children’s story. Children should learn Jonah, but adults should not read it as if it were only about obeying God so you do not get swallowed by consequences. That application is not entirely wrong, but it is thin.

Do not make Jonah a hero too quickly. Jonah is a prophet, and he eventually obeys outwardly, but the book keeps pressing into his heart. The reader should feel the discomfort of seeing Jonah’s resistance and recognizing it.

Do not miss the nations. God cares about the sailors. God cares about Nineveh. God cares about people Jonah does not care about. The book rebukes small-hearted religion that enjoys mercy privately while begrudging it publicly.

Do not preach grace as if repentance is optional. Nineveh repents. Jonah must repent. Grace does not excuse rebellion. Grace overcomes it.

Questions for Personal Study

As you read Jonah, ask these questions:

1. Where does Jonah resist the word of the Lord?

2. Who obeys God in this passage, and who does not?

3. How does God show sovereignty over creation and people?

4. How do the non-Israelites respond?

5. How does God show mercy to Jonah?

6. How does God show mercy to people Jonah does not love?

7. What does Jonah believe about God, and where does he struggle to trust what he knows?

8. How does this passage point to Christ?

9. What response is the book pressing upon me?

The last question may be the most important. Jonah ends with a question because the book is not content to leave us as observers. It drags us into the courtroom.

Getting Started

To get started in Jonah, do not start with the fish. Start with the structure. Read the book as two mirrored narratives. Watch how the first half teaches you to read the second half. Notice the irony that everyone seems to obey except Jonah. Listen to Jonah’s confession that salvation belongs to the Lord. Then let the unresolved ending do its work.

It may be valuable to preach or teach Jonah first as a complete unit, drawing on the connections between the two narratives. Then, to solidify the themes, look at the New Testament passages through the lens of Jonah. Jesus’ teaching on the sign of Jonah and the Gospel accounts of Jesus calming the storm help us see how Jonah points forward to Christ.

Jonah is not merely about a prophet who ran. It is about a God who pursues. It is not merely about Nineveh’s repentance. It is about God’s mercy to sinners and his patience with a prophet who should know better. It is not merely about ancient history. It is about our hearts when God’s grace goes places we would not have sent it.

And ultimately, Jonah points us to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the greater prophet, the true sign, the perfectly obedient Son, the one with innocent blood, the Lord of the storm, and the Savior of sinners. Salvation belongs to the Lord. That is where Jonah takes us. That is where every faithful sermon on Jonah should eventually land.