Jonah's anger at God's mercy toward Nineveh reveals the prophet's narrow heart and mind, contrasting sharply with God's boundless compassion. Despite his displeasure, Jonah still prayed, revealing his prior knowledge of God's gracious nature, which he resented when applied to the very people he wished to see judged. This attitude mirrors the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son, highlighting human inconsistency and the danger of arguing with God. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to trust God's perfect way and, for the unsaved, to seek salvation through Jesus Christ.
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Beloved radio, friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. This is your Bible teacher at the air speaking again, J.W. Bramhall, giving you a hearty welcome to the ministry and the study of God's precious and holy word. We have already had the privilege of studying in recent weeks three chapters in the great book of Jonah and We now reach the closing chapter of the book, chapter four. To very briefly and quickly review the outline messages that we have found, we noted in chapter one, the disobedience of the prophet, Jonah fleeing from the Lord and finding himself under the judgment of God in the midst of a great storm.
We also noted in chapter two, a chastened prophet being disciplined as he prayed to the Lord in the midst of his trial while in the belly of the great fish within the sea. In chapter three we noted quite a contrast between a disobedient prophet and a chastened prophet. We saw a successful prophet when Jonah was speaking for the Lord in the great city of Nineveh. In chapter four we shall find an instructed prophet.
We shall learn that Jonah was being taught by the Lord, and that a great lesson concerning the compassionate heart of God. This was so necessary for Jonah to know as we shall see. And yet when we realize it, as the Spirit of God writes any book, He completes the whole story as well as the lesson that is necessary for us to understand, and so it has been with the Book of Jonah. If the Book of Jonah had been written by men, without the aid of the Spirit of God, men would never have concluded the story of Jonah with an additional chapter, chapter number four.
They would have concluded the story of Jonah with chapter three at the very height of his success as a preacher. But nevertheless, God does not record it in that manner. And the record is not terminated until we get to chapter four. And why? There is a greater climax. There is a greater objective in the whole book revealed in chapter four. For God had to teach his servant Jonah certain principle facts about his own narrow heart and his own narrow mind, that he might learn something of the boundless and the greatness of God's loving heart.
Now will you please note carefully as we begin chapter four with verse one, that we find these words recorded. But it displeased Jonah exceeding, and he was very angry. Now what was Jonah displeased about? What was he angry about? There are some people who tell us that the prophet was more concerned about his reputation as a prophet, because his prediction of judgment upon the city of Nineveh was not fulfilled. and he may have been afraid of coming under ridicule by his fellow countrymen when he would return to his home country, Israel.
There could be this possibility, for in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy particularly, chapter eighteen and verses twenty-one and twenty-two, which we do not read, but within those words God says any prophet whose word did not come to pass was not a true prophet. But however, the reason for Jonah's anger is more definitely stated when we read verse two in chapter four of Jonah. For we hear Jonah praying unto the Lord and saying these words, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country?
Therefore I fled unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of evil. Now these words very clearly revealed the unfortunate attitude, as well as the condition of the prophet's heart. He actually resented that the Ninevites had mercifully been spared by God. Now this is an unfortunate spirit to be found in any servant of God. And what a contrast between God's attitude toward Nineveh upon its repentance and Jonah's attitude toward the same city and its repentance.
Jonah himself had received pardon and mercy and deliverance from God in bringing him through the storm and the ultimate travels that were his in the bowels of the great fish. But Jonah was not willing that Nineveh should be spared. The Lord Jesus in the parable recorded in Matthew eighteen and verse twenty three through thirty-five tells something very similar concerning a certain man who owed a great debt. He was unable to pay the debt, but he was wholly forgiven and his debt was cancelled by his creditors. And yet in turn, the same man who had been forgiven enforced the law upon another who owed him much less money.
And it showed that though his master had compassion on him, he would not show compassion not one ounce of it upon another. Now this is deceitful in the human heart. And it clearly reveals the deceitfulness of the human heart, as Jeremiah is well said. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it, in Jeremiah's seventeen nine. But is not it true that Jonah was like many today? They believe they can take care of the world better than God can. They recognize that the solemn condemnation upon Jonah and his attitude that he was angry, and this is what Jonah was like, that they were themselves beyond measure because of the pardoning grace of God.
Jonah was not just this pleased with God, he was very angry with God, because God was more gracious to spare Nineveh and its people. Now I wonder, if there are any of us today like Jonah, would we prefer to see the world of sinners destroyed? rather than pardoned? Now let us carefully judge our own hearts and never forget that if we have tasted the mercy and the compassion of God in our own lives, should we not show and manifest compassion to others? But in spite of Jonah's feelings of anger and displeasure, the second verse of our chapter tells us he prayed unto the Lord.
Thank God he was still in touch with God in prayer. though he certainly was not in harmony with the will of God and with the heart of God regarding the city of Nineveh. And this will be more in evidence toward the close of the chapter as we follow it. But now consider the words that Jonah spake to the Lord in verse two. He tells the Lord what was the preeminent thought in his own heart and mind when God first commissioned him to go to Nineveh in chapter one. And he says to God, Was not this my saying? Didn't I tell you, when you wanted me to go to Nineveh, when I was yet in my country, that I knew, thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and repentest thee of evil?
Now how did Jonah know that was the kind of a God he had? Well, the Old Testament with which the prophet was very familiar stated it many times. For God very frequently manifested his mercy upon his creatures, and always he would when they repented. But Jonah, as we noted in studying chapter one, fled from the Lord because he did not wish Nineveh to be spared. If the city repented, whether Jonah realized it or not, he seems to have revealed the terrible motive of his heart when he ran away from the Lord. And without any feeling of shame, before the Lord, he seeks to justify his flight.
And now he has a quarrel with God, because God spared Nineveh. He must have had the same attitude that was the elder brothers in the parable of the prodigal son, who, when that prodigal came home, repented and welcomed by his father, in Luke The elder son was peed and very much displeased. Jonah and this elder brother certainly seem to be identical twins. So angry is Jonah that he closes his conversation with God by asking to die. In chapter two we thank God for deliverance from death.
Now in chapter four he wants to die rather than live. One fact is very sure. that we human beings are very inconsistent and we are very queer creatures. We never seem to be satisfied to let God run the world the way He wants to. And especially we do not seem to be willing to let Him manage our lives. We sometimes think that we can tell God how to do things and what He should do. Oh, may God put some spiritual sense into our hearts and minds. To realize we dare not. We cannot. We should not.
Try to run God's business. Paul appropriately has written, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that reply us against God? Shall the thing found say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Beloved, let us not argue with God. Especially when displeased or angry, because of events that produce peevishness within us. That is just the time you and I can say the wrong thing to God. As for God, said the psalmist, his way is perfect. And may the Lord enable us, who are his people, always to acknowledge this, though we may not always clearly understand it.
Beloved Christian, do you and I leave all things in the hand of God unto his perfect control? We should. Now my unsaved listener, How much do you need God? Have you ever realized it? Do not go any further upon the road of life without knowing God and come to Him, through the Lord Jesus Christ, His beloved Son. Receiving and believing the redemptive work, the sacrificial death that Savior suffered on the cross as your only way of salvation. God bless His Word. to every heart. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, bless thy precious truth, reach our hearts and consciences for his glory.