Some would rather die than to see the evil live.
They’d rather take God’s message of mercy to the grave than to see him forgive.
This is the state Israel was in, and for good reason.
For the ruthless beast of a nation known as the Assyrians were amassing power and devastation.
And their capital city of Nineveh had brought consolidation to the bloodlust and barbarity that marked their population.
So, God raised up the prophet, Jonah, who prophesied to king Jeroboam,
an evil king worried about the ruthless beast of Assyria’s evil,
wondering if God would be merciful toward his people.
The Word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying that God would restore the borders of Israel.
He would be merciful. He would let them live.
He would not send them to the grave but would forgive.
Yet, how God would protect did not mean what Jonah or the king thought it meant.
[music]
The Word of the Lord came to Jonah again.
He called Jonah to go into the belly of the ruthless beast.
Go to Nineveh. Go to the Assyrians.
Go with a message of mercy, a message of repentance.
But Jonah could not stomach this. The Assyrians were monstrous.
They dragged nations away like a net full of fish.
They flayed their enemy’s skin to cover the walls of their defenses.
They used the cruelest form of torture and execution in their impalements.
They were a beast. They were ruthless.
And if they were excused despite these atrocities, if they were given lenience
in light of their savagery, if they were let off the hook, this would be exceedingly evil.
For the ruthless beast, if let loose, would swallow up God’s own people.
Jonah would not betray Israel. He would not be Nineveh’s prophet.
He saw the direction God wanted him to go and went in its opposite.
He boarded a boat bound for other nations.
He transported this message of hope away from the pagans.
But, despite his intentions, the transport God gave him was full of ruthless people.
And God would use Jonah to save them.
[music]
God unleashed a storm upon the sea.
The boat threatened to break. Its stern began to seep.
God hurled waves and winds against Jonah and his one ship fleet to capture his prophet and release his prophecy.
Unintentionally, Jonah shared a glimpse of God’s mercy to the undeserving.
But so that neither they nor Nineveh could hear of God’s leniency,
Jonah threw himself into the mouth of the sea, revealing that it was truly he and Israel that were the ruthless beasts.
Jonah would rather die than to see the evil live.
He’d rather take God’s message of mercy to the grave than to see him forgive.
But God wanted to teach Jonah about his mercy.
So, he appointed a great fish, a ruthless beast of the sea,
to swallow Jonah and take him as his messenger of repentance to the undeserving.
For three days, Jonah prayed for a mercy he was not willing to preach.
For three days, he talked about a salvation he would refuse to teach.
For three days, Jonah relished in refuge he did not want Nineveh to reach.
And then God spit him out on an Assyrian beach.
Jonah’s aquatic death and resurrection was supposed to teach him God’s mercy
and redemption, but all Jonah gave to the Assyrians was a short message of destruction.
The message he gave them stated, “In forty days, God would destroy this nation.”
The forgiveness Jonah experienced had no place in his prophetic declaration.
[music]
So, Jonah went up on a mountain to watch Nineveh receive their just devastation.
But the Assyrians repented in sackcloth and ashes.
The whole nation fasted.
They turned from their bloodlust so they might live, turned from their barbarity so God might forgive.
And God did.
The destruction Jonah wanted never came.
And he experienced the light of God’s forgiveness as nothing but hate.
To Jonah, God’s lenience was evil.
Letting the wicked off the hook was wrong.
Why should this ruthless beast be set free despite the atrocities they have done?
To Jonah, the light of God’s forgiveness, felt like the midday heat of the sweltering sun.
So, Jonah told God that he would rather die than to see the evil live.
He would rather take God’s message of mercy to the grave than to see him forgive.
But instead of granting Jonah’s request for death, God would show Jonah how he was a hypocrite.
As he appointed a fish to save from death and resurrect, God appointed a plant to shade and protect.
Jonah felt relief from the sun and its heat.
He felt God’s forgiveness under the shade of that tree.
But then God took it away, and Jonah again grew angry.
He could not see that the fish and the plant were both acts of forgiveness and mercy.
He could not see his hypocrisy that he and his people were evil and needed God’s leniency.
He could not see that both Israel and Assyria were ruthless beasts.
They both were equally undeserving.
Some would rather die than to see the evil live.
They’d rather take God’s message of mercy to the grave than to see him forgive.
Centuries later, as in Jonah, Israel had once again been swallowed by a ruthless beast known as the Romans.
Their bloodlust and barbarity moved into Israel’s capital.
Nineveh was in Jerusalem.
And once again, God would send a messenger of mercy to them.
Jesus was given the message of mercy.
And once again, Israel’s preachers did not want to see God forgive.
The Romans were monstrous.
They were a beast. They were ruthless.
But Jesus would excuse them despite their atrocities.
Jesus would give them lenience in light of their savagery.
So, Jesus was accused of being exceedingly evil for forgiving them,
the ruthless beast, and allowing it to swallow God’s own people.
So, they dragged Jesus away like a net full of fish.
They flayed Jesus’ skin with Roman whips.
They used the cruelest form of torture and execution, impaling Jesus on his crucifix.
They took God’s message of mercy to a grave, because Jesus would rather die so that the evil may live.
Jesus would rather mercifully go to the grave in order to forgive.
For three days, Jesus was in the grave for the message of mercy he gave his life to preach.
For three days, he lay dead for the salvation he died to teach.
For three days, Jesus experienced the judgment Jonah wanted Nineveh to reach.
But on the third day, from the belly of the beast, Jesus would bring life.
Jesus would bring release.
For when Jesus was spewed from the mouth of the deep, like Jonah, he came with good news for his enemies.
To the most ruthless beast, to the most bloodlusty and barbaric people, Jesus has a message of mercy.
He will forgive the worst kinds of evil.
Which angered many and makes some, even to this day,
feel like Jonah who experience the light of God’s forgiveness as nothing but hate.
Now, we may experience the truth that Jesus protects and shades us as a relief.
Like Jonah with his plant, we feel God’s forgiveness under the shade of Jesus’ tree.
But when that shade moves to protect the barbaric and bloodlusty,
some will not see mercy but evil and see it exceedingly.
Some will not see forgiveness but unjust leniency.
And so, Jonah and Jesus invite all of us to see our own hypocrisy.
That if we do not see that we are equally undeserving, it is us and not them who are the ruthless beasts.
Hey everybody!
I’m David with Spoken Gospel.
Thank you so much for watching our video introducing the book of Jonah.
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