Have you ever watched children try to do something impossible? You watch them making sand castles on the beach, furiously tossing the water out of their hole, while the sea keeps filling it back up. You watch them trying to climb that embankment that is simply too steep and too slippery. You watch them going up that escalator coming down, trying to see if they can beat it. You watch, and you smile, because it’s enjoyable to see their enthusiasm and their honest attempts, but you already know the outcome. There is no way they can succeed. You know enough about the world to know that no matter how hard they try, no matter how often they try, they will not succeed.

From the perspective of Heaven, that’s how people must seem when they refuse to do God’s will. An angel watching knows that no human can fight against God and win, resist God without piercing yourself through. To throw yourself against God is a delicate wine-glass thrown against a granite rock-face.

The book of Jonah, as we began studying last week, is very much about a man who refused to love what God loved. The theme of the book is not about fish swallowing men, it is not about running away from God. It is about the heart of God, what God loved, contrasted with the heart of Jonah. It is a lesson to Israel, and by extension to every believer that God wants more than our outer conformity, He wants us to love what He loves.

Chapter one describes how the tussle between Jonah and God began. Chapter one shows how God got Jonah’s obedience, but it is only in chapter four that God gets Jonah’s heart.

In chapter one we’re going to see what happens when you refuse God’s will and God’s heart. We’ll see that if you are His child, God can, and often will, refuse your refusals. To fight with God, to run from God is to make that sandcastle in the incoming tide. It’s an exercise in futility.

I. The Request

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

You recall from last week’s introduction who we are talking about here and where he was sent. Jonah was a prophet to the northern kingdom, who lived around 760 B.C. His first assignment was a nice, popular one – he got to announce to Jereboam II that Israel was going to recover some of its land. A popular, patriotic, positive message.

But his second assignment was to go to Nineveh, the soon-to-be capital city of one of Israel’s greatest enemies, the Assyrians. The Assyrians were in fact the dominant power of the time, and just thirty or forty years after Jonah’s trip to Nineveh, Assyria would invade and destroy the ten northern kingdoms.

So Jonah is sent to foreigners: pagans, idolaters. He is sent to the uncircumcised, the dogs, the unclean.

The Assyrians were a horrible people. Among the archaeological discoveries that have been made of them are displays of them skinning their enemies alive, performing acts of unspeakable cruelty. One commentator said that the Assyrians forced parents to watch their children being burned alive before killing the parents. They would bury people alive up to their necks, till they died of hunger or thirst or wild animals. Cities had at times chosen mass suicide rather than capture by the Assyrians.

And from this ruthlessness they had profited, and built themselves an empire in the Middle East. Money and tribute flowed into the city, so that the city of Nineveh lived in lavish luxury, dwelling securely behind walls that were 15 metres wide and 10 stories high.

A proud, arrogant, cruel nation, enslaving others, growing wealthier by the day.

What do you think the average Israelite prayed for in respect of Assyria and Nineveh? I can imagine them picking out some of David’s imprecatory psalms, praying for judgement and justice, praying for the decline of this empire, whose hungry tentacles were now touching Israel’s borders. Some of the Assyrian raids had already touched north Israel. Perhaps Jonah’s hometown, Gath-Hepher had already experienced this.

So here, Jonah the nationalistic prophet who got to declare Israel’s military victory, is asked to go and preach to the nation that is Israel’s greatest threat. He is going to give them a warning of impending judgement. He is going to extend God’s mercy on a nation that shows no one else mercy!

This would be a British soldier sent to Berlin during World War 2. This would be a white supremacist sent to a black township. This would be an orthodox Jew sent to a fundamentalist Moslem town.

God is confronting Jonah with his own heart. He is giving Jonah an assignment that He knows Jonah will hate. He is pouring hot water onto the tea-bag of Jonah’s heart. And what is going to come out of Jonah’s heart is what Jonah actually loves, and what Jonah hates.

II. The Refusal

3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Here is Jonah’s response. Instead of beginning the journey by land, heading north-east for around 23 days, Jonah heads to the coast of Israel to find a ship, heading as far west as was known to Jews. He finds a ship, a trading ship, manned by pagan sailors. He is not looking for a Jewish ship which is going to return him to the Jewish coast. He wants a one-way ticket to a foreign land.

In this case, he finds a ship going to Tarshish, which was more than likely on the west coast of Spain. This was a distance of around 4000 kilometres. Jonah was looking for the most remote spot from Israel that he could possibly find.

And Jonah pays out of his own pocket to make sure he can keep disobeying. God does not guarantee huge wealth to every believer, but this much is certain: if you are going to disobey, you will foot the bill.

What is Jonah doing by running? Jonah thinks that by avoiding the vicinity of where God mostly operates – the land of Israel, and by going across the lonely ocean, to a place of idolaters, there will be perhaps less of God to deal with.

But God tells us whether this strategy will work in Jeremiah:

“Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off? 24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

(Jer 23:23-24)

Now we think it’s rather ridiculous to run from the Lord, but Jonah wasn’t the only one. Jeremiah was once so sick of his ministry that he wanted to open a hotel in the bundus. He said,

“Jeremiah 9:2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness A lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people, And go from them!”

(Jer 9:2)

Psalm 55:6 So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. 7 Indeed, I would wander far off, And remain in the wilderness.”

(Psa 55:6-7)

Which of us has not wished and dreamed for some kind of escape from our problems, from the pressures, from the responsibilities, from other people? Which of us has not daydreamed about some idyllic existence living far away in a lonely place where no one knows us and we don’t know anyone – just a quiet life, we tell ourselves. But what we often mean is, a life no longer fulfilling the responsibilities and tasks God has given us. A life where I do not have to love what God loves, and hate what God hates.

And dreaming is okay in its place. But when the dreaming becomes a kind of active or passive refusal to embrace the life God has given you, it becomes problematic.

Maybe we don’t refuse to love what God loves in such active, concrete ways, like getting into a ship heading west when God wants us east. But we can refuse in other ways.

• We can refuse to open our hearts to God in communion. We run from him in our hearts.
• We can refuse to head to those places and times where God is especially present – the gathering of His saints in His name.
• We can refuse to give up that thing, or that action, or that habit that we have discovered God hates. We might do it secretly, or do it when we feel we are cold toward God, but notice your heart in those times. There is an attitude as if God cannot see or stop you.
• We can refuse to begin doing those things that God loves. Witnessing. Beginning to disciple another Christian. Serving in the church. Teaching, visiting. Giving to God’s work. Actively changing.

Again, we can do it subtly. I forgot to obey. I’m too busy to obey. I mean to, but I just don’t get to it. But in the end, we do the things we think matter, and we refuse the things we don’t.

You might not be in a boat heading west when God says go east, but you can still be running, refusing, telling God one way or another that you will not love what he loves.

We should note something here about God’s will. It’s obvious that Jonah was disobeying God’s will. But note that circumstances seem to allow him to do so. The fact that there was a boat going to Joppa should tell us to stop looking for open doors when it comes to discerning God’s will. The fact that there was a ship heading west was not meant to be taken by Jonah as some kind of sign, “Look, a ship heading west. It must be an open door from God. He means I should head away from Nineveh.” No. Simply because something is available doesn’t mean it is God’s will that you do it or take it. Matthew Henry said, “The ready way is not always the right way.” God’s will is revealed in His Word, and if a door opens to disobey God’s Word, then close it and avoid it, and if a door seems to close on obeying God’s Word then open it, or try to break it down until you’re convinced God is on the other side with his foot at the base keeping it shut. Use the precepts of God’s Word to guide you, not the providences of circumstances. Charles Spurgeon said, “Precepts, not providences, are to guide believers; and when Christian men quote a providence against a precept, — which is to set God against God, — they act most strangely. There are devil’s providences as well as divine providences, and there are tempting providences as well as assisting providences, so learn to judge between the one and the other.

What happens next is an illustration of how refusing God typically goes in the life of a believer. It is a great privilege to be a child of God, for to have this much attention on you by the Almighty is a humbling thing. The saddest thing in the world is when people want God to leave them alone, and God gives them their wish. Far greater and better to wrestle with God and have him dislocate your thigh so you limp all your life, than to be a Herod that God has nothing to say to, and who lets you go your own way.

If you are His, He will not accept your refusals. For two reasons, He will refuse your refusals. One for His own glory, He will gain from your and my life not merely our obedience, but our love. Two for our good, He will chase us down to find not only the path of life in obedience, but the fulness of joy in knowing and loving Him.

Watch how God refuses Jonah’s refusals.

III. The Results

a) The Sea

4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.

Notice who was responsible for the storm. The Lord sent a great wind, and caused a deadly storm. This storm is not only stopping the boat from reaching its destination, it is threatening the very lives of those on board. Jonah’s rebellion is actually endangering the lives of those around him. The kind of storm that can’t break up a boat is not the kind of storm you will survive if you land up in the sea. These men know that this storm could be their last.

Jonah’s boat won’t go where he wants it to go, because God is completely in control of the wind that drives that boat. God is completely in control of the sea that this boat makes its way through.

You think you can get in a plane and escape. God’s in control of whether your plane will hit a wind sheer and plummet to the ground. God’s in control of electrical storms, of fog, of visibility, of magnetic disturbances, of solar storms that can throw out GPS systems.

b) The Sailors

Not only will Jonah’s boat not go where he wants it to go, Jonah is not going to be allowed to hide away and sleep.

But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

Perhaps in his exhaustion, more likely in his depression, Jonah find the darkest, loneliest part of the boat, skulks away, and like anyone in depressed rebellion to God, pulls the covers over his head and hopes when he wakes up the world will be different. But God’s not going to let him do that.

The captain, evidently a superstitious man, as sailors often were, notices that all the prayers to all the gods by all the pagans are not having much effect on their perilous situation. So to make sure all gods have been petitioned, he finds the one man unaccounted for. Imagine his fury when in this life-threatening situation, he finds this man sleeping in the hold. He tells Jonah to do some praying as well.

We’re not told how Jonah responded, but given where he was with God, do you think he prayed? I don’t. I think he knew perfectly well that this was the chastening hand of God, and he was not about to repent. In fact, if he was going to die, he had probably decided that was better than preaching to the Ninevites.

I don’t want to play too much on the language here, but you can’t help noticing that Jonah keeps going down. He goes down to Joppa in verse 3, he goes down into a ship, in verse 5 he goes down to the lowest parts of the ship, and soon he is going to be down into the sea, and down into the belly of a sea-animal, which is going to go down to the moorings of the mountains. That’s the trajectory of our lives when we refuse to love what God loves.

But God is refusing Jonah’s refusal. He won’t let Jonah’s little sea-trip go where he wanted it to go. He won’t let Jonah skulk and sleep anonymously under the blankets. We see another act of God’s sovereignty here.

c) The Lot

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

In their panic to find out whose god is angry, they cast lots. Now however this was done, we know the basic idea. It is like drawing straws. Some game or act of chance. But the sailors believed that their throwing the bones or whatever it was would reveal the culprit. And it did just that. Why? Because of some hidden power? No? Proverbs 16:33 tells us why:

The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.

(Pro 16:33)

God is not only sovereign over the sea, and over the wind, but over the throw of a die, over what we call chance, luck, coincidence. God is not going to let Jonah remain a secretive fugitive. When God wants to expose your disobedience, he’ll do just that.

I remember Jim Berg speaking of how two students in a Christian university had been caught in sexual immorality. And the way it happened was that they had been on the phone, and somehow, the recording button was accidentally pushed, and it recorded their conversation in which they talked to each other about their immorality. And so it happened, ‘by chance’ that a few days later, a janitor was in one of those students dormitories, and accidentally bumped the answering machine, and it played that conversation to the janitor, who reported it to the staff. If God wants to expose your rebellion, he can do it, and no secretiveness, no schemes, no hiding, no coverups will keep it hidden. Just ask King David.

So as the men ask him who he is and what he is doing, he reveals that he is a Hebrew, a believer in Yahweh, the Creator of the sea and the land, and that he was on the run from Him. And now the sailors are terrified and furious at the same time, because now they understand that Jonah has painted a big target on their boat. There is a heat-seeking missile on the way from Heaven, and Jonah a red-hot flare. They can’t get away from him, and wherever he is, will be Yahweh’s chastening hand.

God is refusing Jonah’s refusals. Sovereign over the wind, sovereign over the sea, sovereign over secrecy and privacy, sovereign over chance and coincidence.

But perhaps Jonah thinks there is one way in which he can escape God. If he cannot run from God, if he cannot be anonymous, then he can die. This violent storm can be the end of him, and then Jonah wins, and God does not.

Sovereign Over Suicide

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”– for the sea was growing more tempestuous. 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.

14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.

17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

(Jon 1:1-17)

The men ask Jonah what they should do, and Jonah recommends throwing him overboard. Now whether this was Jonah being noble, and understanding that he needed to put some distance between himself and these innocent men, or whether it was simply his death-wish, we don’t know. But notice, Jonah is not voluntarily jumping overboard. No, he apparently doesn’t want to take the risk of sinning by suicide, so he finds a little loophole. He won’t kill himself, but if they throw him overboard, then technically, he didn’t commit suicide, they killed him.

Well, the men don’t like that idea, because if this is Yahweh’s prophet, and Yahweh is causing this storm, they don’t want to make it any worse by killing His prophet. So they try to row, but find out it was impossible. The storm only got worse.

Finally, in utter desperation, they go with Jonah’s advice, but they put in a prayer beforehand. They use the personal name of God: Yahweh. They say, “Yahweh, please don’t destroy us because of him, and as we cast him into the sea, don’t hold us guilty for murder.” I hear in their voices the desperate cries of men trying a last resort before they perish.

And to their amazement, when Jonah hits the water, the sea goes calm. We can think of another occasion when a storm was calmed, and also by a man who was sleeping in the boat. But on that occasion, the man, the Lord Jesus, was Himself the sovereign over the seas, and He was not running from His Father, but in the very centre of His will.

When these pagans see this, it appears that they are converted.

16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.

They came to have deep reverence and belief in Yahweh, and in the act of making sacrifices, and taking vows, it appears they were seeking atonement and commitment to the one true God.

It’s amazing – people are getting saved all around Jonah in this book, though Jonah is not trying. Jonah hasn’t the slightest evangelistic heart for these Gentile sailors, or for the Gentiles in Nineveh, but God is using Jonah’s rebellion, and his sulky preaching to save people. God is not only sovereign over the sea, and over the lot, but over salvation too.

But back to Jonah. Has Jonah finally won? Have his refusals paid off? Is Jonah going to succeed in avoiding doing God’s will? If he drowns, then he managed to avoid preaching to the Ninevites.

God controls the sea, and controls if or when Jonah will drown. Jonah can be thrown overboard in the middle of the raging sea and God can prevent Jonah from dying. First, the sea is calmed immediately, so no wave is going to take Jonah down. But even so, that’s not enough. In the middle of the ocean, where there is no chance of surviving for more than a few hours, your only hope would be some kind of floatable thing to hang onto. God sends a submersible, airtight vehicle to get him and keep him.

That sea-animal, whatever it was, was exactly where it needed to be, at exactly the moment it needed to be there. Is God sovereign over the flap of a butterfly’s wing, the swish of a sea-creature’s fin? He is. The motions and movements of every atom of God’s universe are under His complete, and effortless control. Sovereign over sea-creatures.

Jonah though he could refuse God’s will. But God was in control of the wind, the sea, the sailors (and their salvation), the lot, the storm, the sea-creatures. Jonah could not run, he could not hide in secret, he could not remain anonymous, and he could not even end his own life. God refused his refusals. Jonah should simply have read Psalm 139.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;

12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

(Psa 139:7-12)

What would Jonah say about his actions in chapter one? He would say, I wasted time. I wasted money. I wasted effort. I lost my testimony with unbelievers. I endangered other people. I experienced a lot of pain. And in the end, I ended up right where I began, and had to do what God wanted me to do anyway. God refused my refusals, and I gained nothing from the experience, except the knowledge that you can’t win against God.

God would centuries later say to Saul, “it is hard for you to kick against the goads.” It is hard to resist the irresistible. It is hard to push against the unstoppable God.

If that is you today, why wear yourself out? Why imagine that you will get away with refusing God? The Hound of Heaven will catch you. The prison of God’s perseverance will capture you. Against God Almighty, there can be no victory. As James says, “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

7 Therefore submit to God.

(Jam 4:6-7)