Jonah (8)

Rev. C. Vogelaar, Covell Avenue, Grand Rapids, MI

What a wonder of God’s patience and mercy it was that Nineveh was spared after a general repentance by the king and his citizens. “And God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.”No, this does not mean that God changed His decrees. “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” God is faithful to His Word in His promises as well as in His threatenings.

God had decreed that the preaching of Jonah would bear fruit and that Nineveh would still receive a postponement of His judgment. We can also read of King Ahab that he repented outwardly and received a stay of execution. Nineveh received a delay, and the Lord showed that He is gracious, merciful, and full of compassion. We may say that there was fruit upon the preaching of Jonah. We would expect that this might have given him joy and would be an encouragement for him.

Jonah’s anger

We do not read of joy and thanksgiving in the heart of Jonah, however. It was just the opposite. “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.” Jonah did not delight in God’s mercy and patience. He was not just sad, but he was angry—angry because God was good for undeserving people.

Jonah, did you forget so soon that the Lord showed mercy to you when you had run away from Him and had been so disobedient to Him? If the Lord would have dealt with you according to what you deserved, where would your place have been? Jonah, it is the Lord’s mercy that you yourself are not consumed. Did you not confess, “Salvation is of the Lord”? It was His faithfulness only that you were even allowed to be His messenger again and that He gave you a message to proclaim to the people of Nineveh. It was His protection that kept you safe in the midst of a wicked city whose inhabitants could have killed you or, at least, cast you out of that place. It was His power that made them bow under the message and show tokens of repentance. What a blessing the Lord gave upon your preaching. Often, God’s servants say with Isaiah, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”

Jonah, you should be humbled under God’s goodness, for He crowned your labors with a general mourning and humiliation before the God of Israel. Should we not be glad when the Lord gives a reformation, even if it would only be outwardly as He has given also at times in the history of our country? When God’s Word had power and authority, whole towns and cities were brought to bow under that authority.

No, Jonah, you are so wrong. Do you not have any compassion for all those people in that great city? We could ask many more questions, but it is clear that Jonah is far from the right place, and this happened so soon after his wonderful deliverance out of the belly of the fish. The Lord has so much work with His people and His servants. They are and remain a stiff-necked and foolish people. One who knows his own heart a little bit will not be surprised by the reaction of Jonah. Jonah was not concerned about the salvation of the Ninevites, nor was he concerned about the honor of his Sender; he was only concerned about his own name. His prophecy had not been fulfilled, and the enemies of his own people were spared.

Jonah prays

The Lord teaches guilty sinners to love His attributes. They come to love not only His goodness, kindness, and mercy but also His justice and holiness. They would not like to be saved at the expense of God’s justice or in a way in which He would not receive His honor. A guilty sinner wants to be saved in a just way in which God will be glorified. He loves God as He is, just and holy, but, oh wonder, in Christ, He shows mercy and grace—grace, not instead of justice but in a way in which God’s justice is perfectly satisfied.

How this is possible is hidden for such a condemnable sinner until it pleases God to reveal that perfect Lamb, that complete sacrifice, that precious all-atoning blood of Christ. When Jonah spoke of the salvation which is of the Lord, he knew something of this. He knew what would have been his well-deserved place. He had been willing to be cast overboard into the sea. There had been an unconditional surrendering to God in his life. Jonah knew that he himself was a monument of God’s mercy, kindness, and faithfulness. Yet, he was offended when he saw the goodness of the Lord shown to Nineveh.

Jonah prayed to the Lord. We would say: that is an encouraging token, for at least this time he did not flee from the presence of the Lord, but when he came to Him, it was not a right prayer. It was not the prayer which is, according to our dear Heidelberg Catechism, “the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us.” The form may have been right when he said, “I pray Thee, O Lord” but the ground was not good. It was a prayer without submission to God. In fact, he was quarreling with his Master.

Jonah stood so tall and high that he wanted to instruct the Lord in how He should have dealt with Nineveh. Jonah was, like Asaph, envious at the foolish, but he did not realize how foolish he was himself. Jonah said, as it were, “I could have known that it would turn out this way. ..for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.” His prayer came forth from the wrong motives and was an offense to God who had been so good to him.

The Lord’s answer

God could have justly left Jonah over to himself and sent him away. However, God is gracious, indeed, and that to an undeserving, rebellious people. He asked Jonah a question. “Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?” He speaks to Jonah as a father would to his naughty boy, asking, “What did I do wrong that makes you so angry?” Oh, Jonah, your heart should break when hearing this loving question. It is as if the Lord asked His servant, “Is there any reason that you are so angry with My dealings? Have I not been kind, merciful, and patient but also so faithful with you? Is this now your response, Jonah, to all that I have given you and what I have been for you?”

This question should have humbled Jonah so that he in sincere sorrow and repentance would ask the Lord for forgiveness. However, we do not read this of him. Jonah went out of the city and waited. No, he did not wait upon the Lord in the confidence and trust that He was the only wise God who would take care of His own honor and would also further provide for him.

What is man, and what is also a servant of God if the Lord does not continually teach, correct, and lead him? When the Lord does not keep us close to Him, we are a man or woman such as Jonah was. Although He will never utterly forsake His people, He sometimes allows them to go their own way for a while, and that is always a path of foolishness which would lead to destruction. Then there is a spiritual declension and there are many backslidings from Him. God’s Word gives examples in an honest and true picture of what even the holiest men have been when the Lord left them but for a moment to go in the paths of their own choosing.

Therefore, it should be their prayer, “Lord, keep me and deliver me from my own foolishness, and guide me with Thy counsel.” That is the way of following the great Cross Bearer, Jesus Christ. His way, though a way of cross bearing, is the only right way. It is a way in which the Church will surely be saved, and He alone will receive the honor for His own work. Of that work and of these leadings they will sing, giving Him all the honor which He is worthy to receive from them.

(to be continued)

Infirmities of Nature

God, to prevent all escapes, hath sowed the seeds of death in our very constitution and nature so that we can as soon run from ourselves as run from death. We need no feller to come with a hand of violence and hew us down. There is in the tree a worm, which grows out of its own substance, that will destroy it. So in us, there are infirmities of nature that will bring us down to the dust.

— William Gurnall

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