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repented of the evil which he bad said
he would do to them; and he did not
do it" (verse
10).
Now you'd think Jonah would
have rejoiced at lhis overwhelming
positive response to his preaching.
After all, the lives of more than
120,000
people had been saved! But
not Jonah. lnstead of rejoicing he
sulked and raged. "But it
displeased
Jonah exceedingly, and he was an–
gry" (
4:1 ).
lncredible! Jonah was angry at the
repentance of the people! He was ac–
lually displeased because they turned
10
God and repented! What kind of
an attitude was this? Jonah then
went outside of the city and sat in a
heap and wished destruction on
Nineveh (verse 5).
Jonah was typical of many reli–
gious people in all ages. He believed
he had the inside track to God (
1
:9).
He was a devout person and that
made him feel "one up" on those who
were not. So long as he could preach
death and destruction upon these
Genti le peoples, J onah could feel su–
perior. But like all similar prophe–
cies, this prophecy was
conditional.
When the people of Nineveh re–
pented, the prophecy "failed" (sec
1
Corinth1ans
13:8).
Now J onah had
lost his "one-up" position in relation
to the people of this Gentile city.
That's why he sat down and sulked.
Jonah Get s a Lesson
God questioned Jonah's attitude
(4:4)
and then taught him a lesson by
means of a plant. While J onah was
sitting stewing and fretting in the
heat of the day God produced a planl
("gourd") which grew up overnighl
and provided shade for the sullen
prophet. Then God made a worm to
destroy the plant and thus take away
the cool shade. J onah sweated it out,
sti ll angry-in fact, even angrier over
the plant! God asked Jonah, "Do you
do well to be angry for the plant?"
Jonah replied that he was "angry
enough to die." Then God said, "You
pily the plant, for which you did not
labor, nor did you make it grow,
which carne into being in a night, and
perished in a night. And should not
1
pity Nineveh, that great city, in
which there are more than a hundred
and twenty thousand persons who do
24
not know their right hand from their
left, and also much cattle?" (Verses
10-11.)
" l ' m OK, You' re Not"
God Himself was the ultima te source
of the people of Nineveh. They, like
all humans, were created in His very
image (Genesis
1:27).
They, as much
as the Israel ites, were " His people."
God cared for these Assyrian Gen–
tiles too. His merey was extended to
them as muchas to anyone, including
the haughty lsraelites-God's "ches–
en people." Even the popular Jewish
Soncino commentary acknowledges
this: "The essential teaching is that
the Gentiles
should not be grudged
God's !ove, care and forgiveness"
(Soncino commenta ry on
The
Twelve Prophers,
by A. Cohen, p.
137).
God is not a respecter of
persons. God delights in
and rewards the
repentance of al! peoples
who turn to him.
''
God is not a respecter of persons.
The gospel is lo be preached lo
"al/
the world" (Mark
16: 15).
The mes–
sage of God is universal in its appeal
and application. God is unchanging
in His merey (Malachi
3:6-7) .
He
will
always
extend merey to lhose
who repent and turn to Him, no
matter whether they be "Jew or
Greek" (Roma ns
1: 16).
Jonah ap–
parently didn't realize this. Like
many modern self-righteous Chris–
tians, he wanled lO retain his one-up
posilion in relalion to these Gentile
"sinners." He was in the position of
"l'm okay, you' rc not."
Tbere is a very important lesson in
all of this for today's Christian. ln
fact, there are severa! lessons.
Lessons for Today
First, God has never smiled benign–
ly upon self-righteousness. ll was
for the sin of self-righteousness lhat
Christ excoriated tbe Pharisees (see
Matthew
23
and other passages in
the four Gospels). In Christ's own
teaching it was a self-righteous
Pharisee who failed to receive justi–
fication from God because he
trusted in his own works instead of
in God's merey. But it was the de–
spised publican (tax collector) who
received justification from God be–
cause he claimed no works of righ–
teousness, only the need for merey.
He
acknowledged
his sinfulness as
did the people of Nineveh (Luke
18:9-14;
Jonah
3:10).
A second lesson we may derive
from the book of Jonah is tbat God's
true people should
delight
in the re–
pentance of others, no matter who
they may be. We are told that when
one sinner repents there is "joy in
heaven" (Luke
15:7).
But there may
be sorrow- and even anger- on
earth over the repentance of one sin–
ner if those who see themselves as
righteous lose their "superior" posi–
tion when others repent!
A third lesson we can learn is the
one earlier mentioned-that God is
not a respecter of persons. God
delights in and rewards the repen–
tance of any and all peoples who turn
lo Him. God is not a "racist." The
apostle Paul clea rl y stated and
laughl: "There is neither J ew nor
Greek ... for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. And if you are Chrisl 's,
then you are
Abraham's o.ffspring,
heirs according to promise" (Gala–
tians
3:28-29).
God's Attitude
Al/
who turn to God, no matter what
tbeir racial or ethnic heritage, can be
considered "spiritual Israelites." God
!oves all nations equally, even though
Israel was once called "the apple of
God's eye." We are told in that oft–
quoted passage, "For God so
loved
the world
that he gave his only Son,
that
whoever
believes in him should
not perish but have eterna! life"
(John
3:16).
We are told fu rther that
"God sent the Son into the world,
not
to condemn the world,
but that the
world might be
saved
through him"
(verse
17).
Of course, God is not try–
ing to save the enti re world at
this
time-but that is the ultimate and
The
PLAIN TRUTH