Written by We’re reaching a point in the book of Jonah where we see the mercy and grace of God coming out as the major theme of the book. Those of you who’ve been there for the past few weeks in our series through the book of Jonah have seen such a case in the first two chapters. It continues again today.
This chapter is quick isn’t it? God speaks to Jonah, he obeys, he goes to Nineveh, he preached the Word, Nineveh repented, and God in response relented from bringing disaster on them. Taking a step back it is perhaps a bit surprising to see two whole chapters worth of attention given to “getting Jonah to Nineveh” and a few verses given to “Jonah’s activity in Nineveh.” We’ll see the same in chapter 4, God dealing with Jonah’s bad attitude. 3 chapters given to God and His rebellious prophet, and 1 chapter given to the work God did through this prophet. I think this means that though Nineveh met the true and living God and experienced a completely transformed change in life and worldview, the main lesson in the book of Jonah has more to do with God and Jonah, rather than God and Nineveh. Did God therefore call Jonah to Nineveh to reveal to Jonah his own deep-rooted idolatry? Did God call Jonah to Nineveh grow Jonah’s faith and trust in Him? Did God call Jonah to Nineveh so that Nineveh would repent? Or did God call Jonah to Nineveh so the Church would have an example of the kind of work God does in and through His people?
I think the answer we’re looking for in all of these questions is a simple “yes.” It’s good for us to see this, because God, in doing His work is an extraordinarily intricate Person. He’s never just up to one thing, and the same is true for us as well at SonRise. Let’s see what work He’ll do in us as we dive into chapter 3, which, at least 3 points stand out for us from this chapter today.
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